A hilly lessons learned

This weekend I’ve learned so much about running that I thought I’d document it. On Friday my LAMM partner Stephen and Derren and Marc from my club headed north and knocked off a few munros: Ben Vorlich and Ben Vane. Derren and Marc have done a lot of this type of event and I learned a great deal just by watching them. It’s not just about being good at hill running. It’s about working as a team and being able to read the terrain and maps. It’s also about knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Photo taken by Derren of Stephen and I going up Ben Vorlich

Stephen and I, understandably have to work on this as it doesn’t just click overnight and we are going to make a lot mistakes which we can learn from.

What I learned from yesterday was:

•           Going uphill Stephen and I are about the same pace.
•           Going downhill, if technical (lots of loose rocks and steep) I was miles behind (Although that path going down Ben Vane is torture!).  I kind of knew this already. But if you saw the way the other 3 guys bounded down Ben Vane it really does highlight that this is not one of my strengths.
•           Even if the contours are far apart (which means it is less steep), doesn't necessarily mean it is easy terrain to run over. So even If we made a decision based on the map, the best route decision might actually be made when we can see for ourselves where the best route to take is.
•           Where to stop and eat – always best to find shelter from the wind. Also knowing when one and other needs to take breaks.

It does feel like Stephen and myself have gone through the toughest tests that we are likely to encounter come June. Both in terms of the Navigating side of things from Steven Fallon's course. And now today from Derren and Marc on route selection, difficult terrain and teamwork.

Today I went up to Alva to do some of the Ochil hills with Andy, Ash, Fraser and Tomasz from my work. We did 3 hills in Ben Ever, Ben Cleuch and The Law. It was a great day and we had some stunning views. When I looked at the map I thought I’d never go running in this area as the hills looks really steep. But the opposite happened today compared to point 3 above yesterday. The hills looked very run able as it was all really grassy paths. I say run able but there is always an exception which was coming down the Law. WOW, that is a beast of a descent. There is a hill race on there at the end of the year which has been going for 3 years. In that time it has run the full course once, a looped course another time and had to be cancelled the other. I can’t actually believe people can run down some of the sections. It took me more time to walk down, than it would take a mid packer to do the whole thing, never mind the front runners.

View looking to the fourth 

So another lesson is that I’m always going to recky hill race routes before deciding whether or not to do them. There is a few round this area which were in the 'No' category are now in the ‘Yes’ category. On the other hand, races like the Law and Arrochar Alps firmly in the ‘No’ category.

Now focus is firmly on Kintyre - a week from now - fingers crossed - I'll be finished or roundabout there.