Petestack Blog

This weekend I was marshalling on the West Highland Way Race. Six hours last night assisting Duncan Watson at the Lundavra checkpoint (where I helped to set/maintain the bonfire and saw all the leaders go through) followed by an even longer stint from 5.00am this morning sweeping the course from Kinlochleven to the Fort to bring the tail-enders home. And it was a great race, producing the second, third and fourth fastest times ever and spectacular new ‘sub-17’ PBs for popular repeat competitors Richie Cunningham and local runner George Cairns in third and fourth position respectively. So watching everyone go through after pulling out of this year’s race at the start of the May has also been prompting some serious thought on my side, but gut feeling ATM has to be that taking part is not incompatible with getting the boat afloat if I’m organised, this year’s effort was compromised from the start by the December illness wipeout and May SPA assessment, and I’m currently more likely than not to go for it again in 2010 rather than 2011!

Haven’t done much running since pulling out of the big race three weeks ago, so not much to say here except that it was a timely decision. Have managed approximately weekly (rather than daily) runs since, with back-to-back outings yesterday and Sunday, but definitely still carrying some kind of niggle to my right hamstring and surely would have been struggling to cover the necessary May mileage even without my current climbing commitments. Also met the cavalry (or maybe just about half a dozen horses with riders) on Sunday where the top end of the ‘white’ trail meets the Mamore track at NN 190632, and think that’s a first for my runs out of the village!

Having done the West Highland Way Race in 2007 and wanting to give it another go sometime but not immediately, I’d found myself drawn back for 2009 after assisting at the Kinlochleven checkpoint and through the Lairig Mor in 2008. But, despite taking a somewhat reluctant decision to leave the boat ashore again this year to give me some chance of notching up the necessary training mileage, things still had to run (no pun intended!) to a pretty tight schedule to get there with other competing interests like climbing back on the agenda.

December 2008 was a write-off, with a month-long cough/cold thing with headaches keeping me off work for several days (missing all my Christmas concerts when I’d never missed *one* in twenty years of teaching) and restricting my running to an unprecedented solitary outing on Hogmanay. January and February went rather better, and I was running quite a lot (though perhaps still a month behind my 2007 schedule) by March. But things started to break down a bit again in April with the coming of some sunshine to go rock climbing, the loss of three days’ running to a calf tweak two weeks ago and similar time out for a hamstring niggle (on the opposite leg!) last week.

Now we’re into May (NB at this time in 2007 I was running my 60 mile quadruple Lairig Mor), and I’d been depending on some big, meaty hill runs to really test myself before tapering off in June. But I’m either climbing or supervising climbing groups pretty well every weekend in May with my SPA Assessment booked for the last weekend of the month, and there’s just no way I’m going to knock up 50+ miles a week (with 20 mile hill rounds?) on weekday, working evenings. So that’s it, really! Perhaps I should have pulled out sooner, but I’ve been reluctant to do so for face-saving reasons (which is silly, and no reason to run!) while there’s still been a chance. And, while I believe I could still do the race and complete the course as things stand, I’m simply not up for it with negligible chance of matching or beating my 22 hrs 15 mins from 2007. The fire just isn’t there this year, and I’m not sure I want to commit to 2010 either with the boat quite simply begging for attention. So maybe 2011, because I am still keen to give it another real go before I slow down too much…

So what now? Have to contact race organiser Dario so he can offer my place to someone who’s been training hard enough to appreciate it! And talk to my projected support crew, on which note I discussed everything with Angus (who agreed) last night and must contact Eileen and Jon ASAP. Might also consider something else (like another, faster Tranter’s or even an optimistic crack at Ramsay’s Round) in July to fill the void, because I’m still pretty fit really and enjoying running without immediate pressure. Just not able to commit to 95 miles as soon as June!

Anyway, that’s it. I’ve told the world. It’s been coming for a week or two, the decision was effectively taken while nursing that hamstring niggle round the Mamore track on Friday evening and confirmed during last night’s conversation with Angus. It’s already final and I’m comfortable with it, but the moment I hit that ‘Publish’ button it’s irrevocably official.

Having spent quite a few days of the past fortnight rock climbing but kept myself running on every day I wasn’t out on the rock, I’d hoped to manage a run on absolutely every day this week including something short before tomorrow evening’s proposed first Polldubh Club outdoor meet. But, after starting as I meant to continue last night with a favourite (sub) 60 minute hill circuit taking the ‘yellow’ trail up past the Grey Mare’s Waterfall to where it meets the landrover track at the Hugh McNeill memorial bench before following the track back past the estate cottage, Mamore Lodge and TV mast to descend the West Highland Way, I found myself with this slight niggle to my left calf. Possibly something to do with Sunday’s slightly harder climbing (feels more like I’ve been front-pointing steep ice than climbing rock!) and probably not very serious at all, but maybe enough to stop me running for a couple of days (had to skip tonight) and a bit annoying when I was fully prepared to kick myself out of the house come rain or shine and quite late into my busy evenings (taking my group at the Ice Factor yesterday and meeting parents at school tonight).

Still intending to go climbing tomorrow (have a massed 50th Anniversary ascent of Ian Clough’s Wanderlust in mind) if it’s outdoor weather, but will tread carefully, skip it if indoors and hope to get running again ASAP after that.

After taking a few days off to go climbing with Jamie H and Angus, I’ve been running again since Monday and feeling stronger for the break. So this afternoon I ran over the Devil’s Staircase to Altnafeadh and back in good conditions (sunshine and light showers), and came home with my first ‘sub-2’ in a while (not in my top four or five at 1:58 or 59, but still my fastest since 2006). Also pleased to report that I ran absolutely every step of the way (not always the quickest thing on hill runs, but satisfying self-discipline for training) and turned straight round without stopping when I hit the roadside in Glen Coe.

There’s fresh snow on the hills, but not quite down to the top of the Devil’s, so I’d put the snowline at about 650 to 700m. And the walkers are starting to return in force, along with a few mountain bikers.

Quite recently (a week or two back?) I suddenly found myself wondering why, in all my many, many trips to the Dam, I’d never taken the obvious through route from Altnafeadh when it’s broad, characterised by gentle gradients and quite clearly the shortest approach from any road. So I decided pretty well there and then to try it out (as part of a loop taking in both Devil’s Staircase and Dam) at the first reasonable opportunity, and took that chance today.

After briefly following a rough path/muddy track due north from Altnafeadh until it became obvious that it would not pass below the wooded area centred on NN 223569, I simply set off cross-country, and continued like that over terrain that was wet (so not quick) but not especially rough all the way to the Dam. After which a somewhat faster run brought me home by the familiar Penstock track, although some degree of dehydration on a warm afternoon (not helped by not drinking when I could have!) stiffened up my legs a little and effectively prevented me from cutting loose on the final descent to the village.

Overall, it’s an excellent circuit and should also be good run clockwise (when you’d benefit from stunning views of both Buachailles to pull you over from the Dam to Altnafeadh, but lose the fantastically exhilarating descent from the top of the Devil’s towards the big Buachaille that’s one of my favourite bits of running anywhere). 15.06 miles measured by GPS in just over 2 hrs 39 mins (so 5.7 mph average), breaking down to 6.05 miles to Altnafeadh at 5.4 mph, 3.06 miles to the Dam at 4.5 mph and 5.95 miles home at 6.9 mph.

As for March as a whole, I ran 22 out of 31 days, but had just 4 days when I didn’t climb or walk either, so not bad considering work and other commitments at a busy time for me, and surely in keeping with my WHW training plan ‘to [simply] keep running, walking or climbing six days a week’. :-)

I should be running! Or something like that. (Just can’t afford to pass up the chance of a good workout with the big race in June.)

Having tried several potential partners for some ice climbing today and been unable to sort anything out, I’d thought of a wander up to Polldubh Crags if it stayed dry to solo some old favourites, shunt something new or maybe hook up with some other solitary climber for some routes. But it started raining quite heavily at about 9:30am and I thought that was it for the day. Looks like I missed a trick there because most of the afternoon was fine and sunny, but I’d already made the decision and simply had to get in a decent hill run instead. So I thought about some interesting variations to some of my trade routes before deciding on a big loop taking the Ciaran Path (in much more benign conditions than the previous two weekends) to the Blackwater Dam, continuing over Meall na Cruaidhe to Loch Eilde Mor and adding some further length by returning past the Lodge and TV Mast to finish down the West Highland Way.

And that’s it really. The GPS says I did 14.59 miles in just over 2 hrs 45 mins at an average pace of 11:19 per mile (5.3 mph), which isn’t great but isn’t too bad for the terrain and height gain (allegedly well over 3000 ft!) either. It’s about an hour slower than I’d hope to do a similar distance on roads or even something like the LAC Lairig Mor race (which I’ve done in under 1 hr 49), but mostly much rougher, and the paths through the boggy ground north-east of the Dam are (as demonstrated by the ‘wayward’ track I could have predicted from previous experience) tenuous enough to result in some slow going.

Another wet and windy weekend day that just didn’t say ‘let’s go climbing’, so I had to get out for a decent run, and found it in a route to the Blackwater Dam that I’ve unaccountably never taken before! So I took the start of the Ciaran Path and sustained (but runnable) ascent to the pipeline at Leitir Bo Fionn that I’ve taken many times as an alternative route to Loch Eilde Mor, before following the pipes east instead of north for a change. And what a good run it is, although the Allt Coire na Duibhe was still no joke a mile or so above the ford that stopped me last weekend. Measured by GPS at 11.64 miles round trip, so the longest of the three obvious routes to the Dam, and tough enough returning into a stiff breeze to take nearly as long on the way back as out, but lots of lovely, almost level, running alongside (and occasionally on top of) the pipes and great views of the Dam and Dubh Lochan to make me want to do it again!

Also pleased to report that I’ve run on 14 of the last 18 days, been climbing on Ben Nevis and walking on Aonach Mor two of the others, and haven’t run a ‘road only’ course since 25 February. So I’m starting to knock myself back into some half-decent shape and enjoying the running all the more for that!

It’s raining cats and dogs today. Can’t say that stopped me trying to run to the Blackwater Dam by the Ciaran Path, but it was ‘upstream’ (think about it!) all the way and I had to turn back at the bad ford at the Allt Coire na Duibhe (NN 226606), which was absolutely raging and a long way beyond justifiable. Think that’s only the second or third time ever I’ve turned there for that reason, but I’d likely be floating down the River Leven right now if I hadn’t!

Finished by a clockwise ‘big lap’ of the village to make up the lost mileage, and found that quite strange because I’ve always run it anticlockwise before. Also pleased to report that today’s my fifth in a row of decent off-road running, so the March masterplan seems to be working so far. :-)

So I managed to kick myself out of the house for a run this evening (6.3 mile hill/road combo up past Mamore Lodge and the mast and then round the village)…

And what’s special about that? Well, nothing really, but I was tired, it was wet, snowing and cold (= horrible on the hill!), I needed to do it and I did it. Can’t say I’m working from the ideal base for this year’s West Highland Way Race after an unprecedented ‘one-run’ December caused by a nasty, prolonged cough/cold thing with headaches, but March, April and May were my peak mileage months for the 2007 race and there’s still time if I treat this March seriously. Possibly not planning to run quite so much this spring after a couple of injury scares last time (thinking climbing and meaty hillwalking are also good for the job!) but, having run five of the past seven days, spent one of the others climbing on the Ben and dragged myself into the Ice Factor for some plastic rock climbing on one of my ‘running’ evenings, probably just need more of the same with some longer runs in the mix now. Time will tell (can’t tell you this year’s target time because it’s ‘classified’!), but simply trying to keep running, walking or climbing six days a week through the next three months sounds like a plan to me? :-/