This is a collection of short entries into a running diary in 2020 which highlight some of the high and lows of training. It covers my attempt at progressive overload where I add 10% distance onto my runs every week.
First Training Run
Date: 21/06/2020 Time: 06:50
Run Stats – 8.5 miles, 1,079ft elevation gain, time: 1 hr 22m.
I completed my first training run this morning. An 8.5 mile loop around one of the hills in Tomatin. I have created a Strava account (MacSween Fitness) and I am currently trying to get it linked up to my fundraising page; I’ll let you know how this goes. The idea is that I will record all my training runs so anyone that is interested can see what I’m doing. To begin with, my training runs will be predominantly at the weekends.
Since lockdown, I have been running 2 miles each day as part of my morning routine (this is the most consistent I have been with running for a long time so I’m pretty pleased about it). I know 2 miles doesn’t seem much, and if you are considering doing an 80 mile run, it certainly isn’t much, but I have managed to build up my fitness level with these runs and it has become a good habit that I now do without thinking too much about it. No matter what the weather has been like, no matter how I’ve been feeling, I’ve managed to get my running shoes on and get out for a 2 mile run. I feel this ‘just get on with it no matter what’ mindset that I’ve been trying to develop will help me through the more rigorous training to come. I’ve also been testing out this mindset when taking cold showers in the morning (also since lockdown) but I’ll write about that in another post.
I still plan to continue with the 2 mile runs on the days I’m not doing my training runs but I will not be recording them using Strava. I am classing them as general fitness runs as I have started incorporating all sorts of movements and exercises into them. I look ridiculous doing them but it has made the runs far more enjoyable (and entertaining for anyone who has happened to see me). Leaping, bounding, and pirouetting has never looked so graceless. Unfortunately, I don’t have a video capturing this. I should really start taking videos 🙂
My First Video
Date: 28/06/2020 Time: 07:07
Run Stats – 10.2 miles, 1,341ft elevation gain, time: 1 hr 42m.
I completed my second training run this morning. I ran the same 8.5 mile loop around one of the hills in Tomatin but added an extra little section at the top. I did manage to link my new Strava account (MacSween Fitness) to my fundraising page but after some consideration I removed it again. I have fifty weeks until the event and that is a lot of runs to add to the page so I thought I would just add them to this site with a description instead, or you can follow me on Strava to see further details if you want.
The run itself took me from the village of Tomatin through Corrybrough Estate to Raigbeg then back to the village, quite a nice run, good points: saw a couple of deer on the way up, bad points: got dive bombed by some overprotective birds. This was my first mid-run video, learning point – do not look away from the camera when talking, and try not to be so serious 🙂
Perspective
Date: 05/07/2020 Time: 07:20
Run Stats – 11.4 miles, 1,332ft elevation gain, time: 1 hr 55m.
When it comes to Scottish weather I know you just have to take it as it comes, but knowing this intellectually doesn’t stop me getting caught emotionally in the trap of wanting something different and then being disappointed with what I get. That is what happened on my run at the weekend. It is the start of July, the height of summer (supposedly) but with the drop in temperature and greyness all around it seems like winter is about to kick in. ‘Winter is coming’ is the cry in my head which actually makes me smile because of the GOT reference but also annoys me because we haven’t had a summer yet and my mind was already picturing the short, cold, days of winter.
To be honest, I just wasn’t feeling it this weekend; my motivation was low, I was quite irritable, and I think the idea that summer has passed us by without stopping here didn’t help. I struggled getting that thought out of my head and I let it spoil what could have been a really nice run. The whole thing reminded me of the ‘Every Cloud‘ story. I must remember not to expect, or hope, that we will see the sun in the Highlands during the summer months, it will save me a lot of disappointment. The funny thing about it is that if this particular run was during the winter months it would be a really good day and I would be totally thankful for the weather being like this, I guess it’s all down to perspective. Between the weather and my perspective there is only one of them that I have any control over so that’s something I need to remind myself of in the future.
During my inner dialogue, I did tell myself to stop whingeing about the weather and try to enjoy it but sometimes you just can’t force yourself to change your mindset at that particular moment. I find that sometimes if I just get on with it time will pass and I will feel a differently about things pretty soon. Another technique that usually works really well which I forgot to use (because I’m definitely not perfect) is Stop, Look, & Listen. I ‘Stop’ (literally stop everything), ‘Look’ at the situation, really examine it, see what the issue is, and then ‘Listen’ to my values. This process puts things in perspective and helps me move towards being the person I want to be rather than being a reactive person influenced by everything that is going on around me. There was a bit of work involved in this initially because I had to take some time figuring out what was important to me and which values I wanted to follow. This has helped me in all sorts of situations, especially controlling what I eat and drink, and other lifestyle choices. I will write more about this in a dedicated post explaining the process in more detail and I’ll see if I can figure out how to add a download section so I can put some resources on here.
Creating Your Own Path
Date: 11/07/2020 Time: 07:42
Today, I was in Dornie on the West Coast of Scotland, near Eilean Donan Castle. Instead of the daily jog I am currently convincing myself to do, I decided to walk up one of the hills near Dornie. This little hill is located in Ardelve just across the bridge from Dornie. It gives you a nice view of Eilean Donan Castle which is situated at the meeting point of three lochs; Loch Long, Loch Duich, and Loch Alsh, along with a nice backdrop of The Five Sisters of Kintail.
I have been up this hill many times before and one of the things I like most about it is the fact it has no set path to the top. However, having no set path to the top is sometimes what I like least about it. The route you choose on your journey to the top can result in the walk being a relatively easy jaunt or an unbelievably difficult slog. This fact was highlighted on Saturdays walk when I wandered into a large area of shoulder high ferns on a steep piece of ground (as seen in the photo). This made me think about the difficulty of that walk. The degree of difficulty is probably dependant on three things; the route I choose, the weather, and my mindset. My choice of route can add or reduce steepness to the ascent, it can also direct me through thick heather, tall ferns or large rocky patches, all which require more energy to navigate my way through. The weather can also be energy zapping or energy boosting. A nice warm day with the sun shining and a gentle breeze can give me a bounce in my step making it easier, while high winds, heavy snow, or torrential rain increases the level of difficulty and adds time to the journey. And lastly, my mindset. How I am feeling about the walk can determine how difficult it seems. Even as I’m writing this I am thinking when you really break it down the only factor dictating how difficult it feels is my mindset. The route can throw multiple obstacles in my way and the weather can be comforting or harsh but at the end of the day it is all down to how I perceive these things that really makes the difference to the difficulty level.
The ferns I encountered had me cursing for a second and thinking it was a nightmare slog but then luckily my imagination kicked into gear and I pictured myself as a intrepid explorer kicking and hacking my way through the jungle before me which changed my perspective on it completely. I was still stuck in shoulder high ferns, soaked, tangled up, going nowhere, but I was instantly calm, smiling, and having an adventure. I made my way to the top just in time to see the rain coming in.
Tomatin Hills
Date: 12/07/2020 Time: 07:03
Run Stats – 12.4 miles, 1,915ft elevation gain, time: 2 hr 07m
This training run was from the woods behind Tomatin distillery over the hills towards Inverness (and back). The tracks are in pretty good condition used predominantly by estate personnel. Weather was dry but windy. It is always windy up there, you can tell by the amount of wind farms that have been built around the area. The run itself was pretty uneventful but I did start a new audiobook; Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor.
Audible summary: No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and wellbeing than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.
I’ve read a few books on breathing over the last few years and practiced the Wim Hof breathing method on and off for a couple of years (consistently for about 6 months). I find breath work fascinating. Being an asthma sufferer in my younger days and having experienced the discomfort and fear of struggling to breathe normally I think I really appreciate the feeling of control when practicing various breathing methods. Breath work also has the added bonus of reducing anxiety and giving you at total high when saturating your system with oxygen. It amazes me that as an asthmatic child I was never taught how to breath properly, I was giving medication and inhalers galore and occasionally rushed to hospital and put in an oxygen tent but no one ever gave me lessons on how to breath efficiently and effectively. My visits to hospital to stay in an oxygen tent were my first ‘camping trips’. The whole experience was quite bizarre. The feeling of panic and fear when you cannot get the air you need, you feel like you are drowning on dry land, then you get rushed to a busy hospital where you are placed in a bed with a plastic tent around it, you are on your own, you cannot touch anyone or get a hug because you are in your little plastic bubble and everyone else is outside it, staff buzz about and upset family peer in with tears in their eyes, all very strange.
As personal trainer, I feel breathing is a fundamental of fitness and should be taught in any health and fitness programme. Breathing, along with drinking water, eating food, moving, connecting, and challenging myself covers most things that I have found to progress me to a healthier, happier life. I will explain each of them in detail in other articles.
This book touches on the the vast array of breathing techniques, as well as, delving into the history of our breathing practices. If you want to find out more have a read of the book (Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art) or you can get an idea of what it is all about by watching James Nestor’s interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. Additionally, if you have never heard of Wim Hof and the work he has done I definitely recommend that you look into that, it really could be a game changer for you.
Tomatin Hills (again)
Date: 18/07/2020 Time: 08:39
Run Stats – 12.2 miles, 1,910ft elevation gain, time: 2 hr 09m
This weeks training run was actually the same route as last weeks run. I wanted to stick to my plan of increasing my milage by 10% every week so I thought I would run the same route and it would get me back on track. I was a little surprised though when I got back home and discovered that the milage was slightly under what I did last week but then I recalled I had gone out to the trig points and cairns to take photographs and videos last week which would have added a little distance and elevation.
This week, like last week, was quite uneventful; just plodding along against the howling wind. At the points I could hear legible sound from my headphones, I managed to finish my breathing audiobook by James Nestor and started a new book by Vassos Alexander called ‘Running Up That Hill – The Highs and Lows of Going That Bit Further’. I’ve been listening to a fair few running books recently which has inspired me and given me a bit of an insight into distance running. I liked this book, there is a good balance of information, inspiration, and humour, which works for me. The reoccurring theme of all these ultra running books seems to be ‘just keep moving forward’, no matter how you are feeling, no matter how slow you are going ‘just keep moving forward’, and this will bring success in the end. They all tell you that things will undoubtedly go wrong in ultra running, so the sooner you accept that, the better. I am trying to get this in my head now so I won’t be so surprised when the inevitable happens on my run. I suppose it is a bit like life; things will undoubtedly go wrong but it’s how quickly we accept it and adapt that makes all the difference.
Bynack More
Date: 26/07/2020 Time: 10:59
Run Stats – 13.9 miles, 2,835ft elevation gain, time: 2 hr 37m
This training run was a jog up Bynack More with Andy, one of my college friends from Edinburgh. We set off from Glenmore Lodge about 11.30 with clear skies and reasonable temperatures. We knew the weather was supposed to change about 13.00 that day so we tried to get as far up the hill as possible before the rain moved in and visibility was compromised around the summit. The misty rain did move in as we ascended but it cleared for us reaching the summit so we took the time to run down the other side to see some of the rock formations situated there. It was quite bizarre because the skies cleared a fair bit for the summit then the misty rain moved in again at the same spot on our descent, which was fine with us as we got clear views from the top. Bynack More is a pretty straightforward Munro with a really good path; a good choice for a run. It was a good day and its always great to catch up with friends for a spot of training.
Below is a link to the Walk Highlands route description.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/cairngorms/bynackmore.shtml
Carn na h-Easgainn
Date: Time: 02/08/2020 Time: 07:27
Run Stats – 15.3 miles, 2,108ft elevation gain, time: 2 hr 36m
Training run 7 was a jog from Tomatin village centre through the distillery grounds toward the hills lying behind. I went up past Carn Moraig and on to Carn na h-Easgainn, then followed the path down to the turning area and headed back the way I came. The route can be seen below.
Bynack More, Bynack Beag & Meall a’Bhuachaille
Date: 09/08/2020 Time: 06:47
Run stats – 16.2 miles, 4,613ft elevation gain, time: 3 hr 47m
This training run was another trip up Bynack More with slight detour of Bynack Beag and the addition of Meall a’Bhuachaille.
The weather was tremendous, couldn’t have asked for a better day. I set off quite early and parked beside the road just along from the Glenmore Visitor Centre. I left the car at 06.47, not bad I thought for a Sunday morning. From the visitor centre I ran up past Glenmore Lodge to An Lochan Uaine (Green Loch) and up the Ryvoan pass and taking the route to the right where the track splits which takes you up towards the summit of Bynack More. There wasn’t many people about and I savoured the peace and quiet in the beautiful sunshine. I took a moment to soak in the views from the summit then popped across to Bynack Beag before heading back the way I came. Instead of following the track back to Glenmore past the Green Loch, I turned up towards Ryvoan Bothy and followed the path over Meall a’Bhuachaille and returned to the car that way.
Below is a link to the Walk Highlands route description.
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=74488
Below is a link to Trip Advisors Green Loch page, check out the gallery for pictures.
Carn Dubh Ic an Deoir
Date: 16/08/2020 Time: 06:09
Run Stats – 19.5 miles, 2,964ft elevation gain, time: 3hr 38m
This training run was a jog up Carn Dubh Ic an Deoir. It was another dreary day so not much of a view from the summit but the run itself felt okay. Carn Dubh Ic an Deoir is a Graham; a mountain between 2,000–2,500 feet (609.6–762.0 m) in height. The tracks through these hills are pretty good so quite easy to navigate around. The undulating hills and the odd easy river crossing make it quite a pleasant jaunt, more so if the sun is out, but I’ll have to make another visit to experience that.
As I have mentioned in an earlier post, I decided to add roughly 10% distance to each training run and it seems to be working quite well. I am still doing a 2 mile jog every morning but only doing one long run a week (usually a Saturday or Sunday morning). I am trying to get my training runs in before the family are up and about and ready to do something together so heading I am out the door pretty early for the most part. I did this run a few years ago but for that one I drove up from Tomatin towards Clune and parked the car at the side of the road at the end of one of the tracks making it about 13.5 miles in total. I seem to remember struggling the last couple of miles so was surprised when this run felt okay. To be fair, for this run I was eating a fair bit and taking things pretty easy when it came to pace. To be honest, I only really go one speed when running, I never push it too much, I just plod along. I have been taking a couple of litres of water and some fruit and some cold pressed bars along with me on my training runs. I haven’t been using gels at all as I prefer the idea of being fuelled by actual food. I tried a gel once and didn’t really like it but that was many years ago and only one out of the hundreds available so I am not writing them off altogether. I am trying to get used to eating on the run as I’ve read consuming enough calories is one of the many challenges associated with ultra running. I’m testing different foods and varying amounts to see how my stomach handles it and how it translates into energy levels. I will keep you updated as to how things progress on this side of things.
When I arrived back at the house I was a little under my 18.1 miles target so I continued on from there around a little track in the woods. At this point my legs seemed heavy and energy levels seemed low. I think the thought of being finished and then setting off again smashed my system a bit, but it was probably good practice for the mind and body to experience that feeling. I ran round the little woodland loop and arrived back at the house with 19.5 miles in the bag.
Inverness to Drumnadrochit
Date: 23/08/2020 Time: 06:57
Run Stats – 20.7 miles, 1,843ft elevation gain, time: 3hr 35m
This weeks training run was from Inverness to Drumnadrochit which is part of the Loch Ness Ultra route and part of The Great Glen way. I drove to Inverness, parked up, and started my run just before 7am. I left from Inverness Castle and made my way the through the islands and across the canal swing bridge over to the houses of Kinmylies, this is probably the only point where I thought ‘where am I supposed to be going?’. It might just be me but I thought the markers could definitely be clearer. Once I was on the track it was fine though. The weather okay; a little bit of sun, a little bit of rain, not too much wind, can’t complain really. The terrain underfoot is good; a lot of reasonably wide forestry track, some single track tarmac road, some stoney paths, all very runnable. There are some really nice views and the paths/tracks seem well maintained. Details of the route can be found through the link below.
https://lochness360.com/section-one/.
I arrived in Drumnadrochit clocking 19.1 miles so ran round the village to make it up to the 20 mile target, then popped in to see some friends for a coffee and chat before meeting up with family for lunch and a little woodland walk with the kids.
The run went well and I felt okay through the whole journey. I have been experimenting with different foods and on the run I tried rice cakes with honey on them as well as the staple banana and bars. I normally take about 1.5 litres of water with me on all of my runs now. This is made up from 1 litre platypus in my backpack and 2x 250ml soft flasks that I carry in the chest straps. It felt really good completing my first 20 mile run and I was quite chuffed with myself that I felt okay at the end of it, I was glad to be stopping, but felt okay. As I said, I was feeling quite chuffed with myself until the thought crossed my mind that I had just completed a quarter of the ultra course… one quarter. My mind still has trouble processing the fact that I am going to try and run 80 miles. I shouldn’t really be saying ‘I am going to try and run 80 miles’, it should just be ‘I am going to run 80 miles’, positive thinking and all that 🙂
Best Laid Plans – A Mini Adventure
Date: 29/08/2020 Time: 07:49
Run Stats – 25.2 miles, 3,618ft elevation gain, time: 4hr 59m
This weeks run was supposed to be 22 miles but it ended up being just over 25 miles. The 5 mile jump in distance, the doubling in elevation gain, and the extra hour and 25 minutes running time difference from last week, took its toll, leaving me for the first time since I started these runs feeling properly sore. I think changing my planned route midway through the run didn’t help either. My original route was 3 circuits of a 7.4 mile loop through the hills just behind Tomatin distillery. I had taken a bag with some water and supplies and hung it on a fence post at the start of the loop and my plan was to refuel each time I passed it. Well, best-laid plans and all that.
The run started fine, the weather, standard for here, cold with fine, misty rain. Someone I talked to the other day called this ‘stupid rain’, stupid because you stupidly think you won’t get that wet in it… but you most definitely do. I never put my jacket on until about 5 miles in 🙂
About half a mile into the first loop I passed some cows and their young. I always get a little nervous when moving through a herd of animals due to the unpredictably of their behaviour but it never stops me doing it. They were a bit startled from me approaching and legged it away from me through some bushes and across the moorland but something made a huge amount of noise once I passed. I suspected this could be a bull but I hadn’t seen it so carried on with my run and never thought too much of it. I completed loop one covering just over 7 miles, had some food (a bar, a banana, and a rice cake with honey) and some water that had some lemon and salt in it. I found by the time I completed last weeks run I needed to rebalance my sodium levels so I thought I would preempt this by having some en route.
About a mile and a half into the next loop on another section of the track I approached the herd again, this time they saw me coming up the hill. They were in the middle of the path with a steep drop down to a river on the left hand side and a high bank leading to boggy moorland to the right. Because they had seen me plodding slowly up the hill from a distance they didn’t run away this time, they just waited and watched me. Anytime I see cows standing and staring I can’t help but think of the cows in South Park and it always makes me chuckle. A young bull stood at the edge of the group looking inquisitively at this skinny runt of a thing heading towards it. I was hoping it would turn and leg it away but unfortunately it stood it’s ground which made me slightly nervous. It watched me, head tilted, trying to work out what I was, whether I was a threat perhaps, and whether to charge at me or retreat up the hill (this made me think of the bull scene in ‘Withnail and I’ and the advice Marwood got from Withnail and the farmer). I got closer and closer, still no movement from any of the herd, then all of a sudden one of the younger ones bolted up the track away from me. This startled the others and lead all of them, apart from the bull, to run away. The only problem was they were running in the direction I was going. As I approached the bull I did think about stopping and returning the way I came but I was just about level with it by this point and I thought it might charge me if I ran back down the hill. The bull looked undecided about what it was going to do, ‘to charge or not to charge, that was the question’. It stood its ground as I ran past, as fast as was possible at this point. It was then that the bull must have realised that the rest of the herd were running away just ahead of me so it started running behind me. I don’t think it was charging me as I imagine it would have caught up with me up pretty quickly and steamrolled me if it was. I really started sprinting up the track with the bull running behind me. I think it was still deciding what to do at this point. With fear and frustration in my voice I shouted at the herd to get off the track and out of my way, they didn’t oblige. With the best hill sprint of my life I managed to pass through them and they slowed from a run to a walk behind me. Once they were out of sight, I chuckled myself through the next mile or so thinking how bizarre it must have looked and how lucky I was that the bull wasn’t that little bit grumpier. It’s amazing how the adrenaline kicks in during situations like this, it leaves you feeling buzzed, then exhausted.
(I never managed to get any pictures of the cows and bull as I was a little preoccupied with legging it away when my life preservation instincts kicked in, so I have added a photo from another little adventure I had.)
I opted not to go for a third loop in case the bull decided he had enough of me disturbing him and his group and wanted to put me in my place. I chose to head out to one of the trig points instead, this added the extra mileage and extra elevation meaning I added 20% to last weeks run rather than the intended 10%. During the forced hill sprint I think I strained my hamstrings a little which resulted in a sore back for the remainder of the run. When I got to the trig point at Carn na h-Easgainn I was smiling again; someone had left a Princess Poppy painted stone on it. I have two young daughters and instantly thought how this would have made their trip if they had been with me. They wouldn’t have been bothered about any views from the top of the hills, or the challenge of getting there, just the fact that there was a Trolls stone at the top.
I jogged tentatively down the hill with a tightness in my back thinking this run had turned into a bit of an adventure. By the time I got back to the car I was quite ready for some food and water, I picked up the bag that I had left near the start of the run, ate the rest of my snacks, then headed home.
During that night I woke up soaked in sweat, I felt okay (other than a sore back) so didn’t really understand why I was drenched in sweat. I figured I would deal with it in the morning so I dried myself off, laid a towel out on my mattress, turned my duvet and pillow over, and went back to sleep. The next day I searched on the internet for information and discovered that this was a reasonably common occurrence when doing strenuous exercise, particularly if you have just increased the duration or intensity of the session (my run ticked both these boxes). Apparently, this is because strenuous exercise can kick your metabolism into overdrive for up to 14 hours after you have finished, your body’s response to this is to cool you down by sweating (even if you happen to be sleeping). You have taken your body literally outside your comfort zone and it is trying to rebalance itself (return to homeostasis). All in all, it was quite an interesting, and educational, run 🙂
Meall a’ Bhuachaille (x4)
Date: 06/09/2020 Time: 07:15
Run Stats – 22.1 miles, 6,702ft elevation gain, time: 5hr 6m
My milage target for this week’s run was 24.3 miles but I opted for doing slightly less milage and increasing the elevation gain instead. My plan was to do four loops of the Meall a’ Bhuachaille circuit, but to be totally honest, I very nearly never made it out for this run at all. I had a cold for the first time in at least a couple of years and my back was still sore from last weeks escapade. I woke up early with a blocked up nose and a thick fuzzy head. My sleep had been broken, as it had been for the previous two nights. I was waking during the night unable to breath through my nose and having to resort to mouth breathing. As I’m a very light sleeper, all the snorting and snoring noises escaping me woke me up and had me blowing my nose and drinking water to try to help me back to normal breathing, and with any luck, sleep. When I woke up again just before 5am, I thought I would get up and have a coffee. I got up but I really didn’t think I would go for the run.
I find it really difficult to just lie in bed (even if I’m not feeling great), my brain goes into overdrive and I think of all the things that I should be doing, this eventually forces me to get up, so now I know just to get up and save going through that process. If I’m tired or not feeling the best I tell myself I can go back to bed later on, but I never do.
While in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil I always do my little mobilisation routine, it’s really quick and easy so I never have an excuse not to do it. I then take my coffee to the living room and sip away at it when I’m doing some simple exercises (floor movements mainly). By the time I had finished my coffee and moved about a little I started to think I could probably drive to Glenmore Lodge and see how I felt. The day promised to be a good one with sunshine and reasonably clear skies so I thought just go and decide there. Even if I got there and decided against it, I could go for a short walk down the beach at Loch Morlich, then head back home and go back to bed. When I got out to the car, I almost retreated back into the house when I found the windscreen to be iced over, but I got the car started, scraped off the ice, jumped in and headed off towards Aviemore with 3 degrees sowing on the car thermometer.
As I drove along I considered my options. What I would do when I got there? Would I try one Meall a’ Bhuachaille loop, or go for a walk to The Green Loch and back, or just do the short walk at Loch Morlich, or maybe just head straight back home. I’m usually up a few hours before the rest of the household so I could be away and back before anyone else got up. As soon as I arrived at Glenmore, I knew I would try one loop, maybe two. The temperature was still low but the sun was starting to show its face. It took me a wee while to warm up as I jogged along the undulating track through the forest towards Ryvoan bothy. When I reached the bothy, I turned up the Meall a’ Bhuachaille summit path and headed for the top.
On the odd occasion I have ran the entire loop, not walking at all, but most of the time I walk the stone step sections and run the rest. On this visit I gave up the ghost a bit before the stone steps and walked until just before the summit, by the time I got back down and round to the car the clock was showing 1 hour 15 minutes. I didn’t feel great, but it wasn’t the worst I’d ever felt, so I set off on another loop. This one went pretty much the same as the first one and I reached the car again with the clock showing 2 hours 30 minutes. I thought about finishing here as it was two loops I had in mind as I made my way round the first one.
It was still reasonably early and I felt okay so I set off on another loop knowing this was to be my last. When I reached the summit for a third time a small part of me thought “it would be really good if I did four loops, this would take me over the 20 mile mark’. As I was descending the hill for the third time I bumped into a couple of friends so stopped to chat to them. As we talked, I realised that I wasn’t feeling the best, I had that bizarre feeling you get when you have a thick cold, everything seems slightly surreal. During the conversation, I said I was considering a forth loop as that was the original plan but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. We parted ways, me heading down and round towards Glenmore and the car, and them heading up Allt Coire Chondliach towards the summit. By the time I got to the car I was pretty spent. My legs were feeling it and the cold had taken it’s toll on my energy levels so I thought that it was time to head home. I got in the car and prepared to leave. As I sat in the drivers seat of the car, my ‘crazy brain’ started picking away at my mornings effort and turned my attention to the fact I had originally planned to do four loops, and the fact I had said to Scott and Helena on the way down the hill that I was thinking about doing a forth loop. That was it, I was out of the car and back on the track heading towards Ryvoan bothy for the forth time. The mind and body weren’t up for it but that small piece of me that won’t let things lie took control, and forced the rest of me to just get the job done.
I plodded my way round the forest track, past The Green Loch, and up the path to the summit. It was very much ‘head down, move forward, focus on the breathing’. When I got to the summit, Scott, Helena, and their kids were sitting beside the cairn sheltered from the wind by the stone wall that surrounds it, I said hi again, gave them a wave, and headed down for the final time. When I got back to the car the clock was showing 5 hours 6 minutes, not bad I thought, for someone who really wasn’t planning leaving the house when they woke up 🙂
Greenock Cut (x3)
Date: 19/09/2020 Time: 07:25
Run Stats – 22 miles, 917ft elevation gain, time: 3hr 28m
What my Meall a’ Bhuachaille circuit run on the 6th taught me was that I can go out and work through situations where my mind is full of doubt and body doesn’t seem up to the task. By convincing myself I was only going to do a small amount, I took the pressure off and eased myself into it. It was definitely one of those runs where you only focus on putting one foot in front of the other and just ‘keep moving forward’. It is amazing how far you can get with that with that simple strategy, no matter how you think you feel.
This weeks run was 3 times around the Greenock Cut. It was the flattest route since starting this little adventure but it actually gave me the most pain. I think I may still have been recovering from the cold as my energy levels were still pretty low but that the fact I never really ate anything might have contributed to that a little too. I’m starting to get used to eating on the run and that was one of my aims in this first stage of preparation. The other aim was to simply get some miles on the legs and get used to ‘the grind’ of long distance running.
I parked the car at the Overton car park and set off anticlockwise around the cut. I met one runner coming the other way but apart from them the place was quiet.
My companion on this run was Adharanand Finn and his book ‘Running with the Kenyans’ (2012). This was the third Adharanand Finn book I had read (listened to), but the first he had written. The first one I read was ‘The Rise of the Ultra Runners: A Journey to the Edge of Human Endurance’ (2019) which I loved. It was instantly one of my favourite books on the subject of running and would totally recommend it. The next one was ‘The Way of the Runner: A Journey Into the Fabled World of Japanese Running’ (2014) which left me feeling somewhat disappointed. I was expecting the same energy from the first book of his that I had read but it just felt me feeling flat. I am having a similar experience with ‘Running with the Kenyans'(2012). This might be in part because Finn narrates ‘The Rise of the Ultra Runners’, while other people narrated his first two books. Maybe some of that energy is lost when someone other than the writer narrates , or maybe he has developed as a writer and his writing draws you in more now, or maybe the other stories were just not as interesting. All I know is that I really liked ‘Rise’ and felt pretty ‘meh’ about the others.
The Greenock Cut is a 7.3 mile circuit. The first loop went fine, the time ticked by and the miles passed. At the start of the second loop I spotted another runner up ahead so I picked up the pace a little to catch them. This new faster running style felt good. I’m so used to just plodding along that actually running with some speed made me feel a little bit more like a runner. I ran a few miles at what felt like a good pace but I knew my form wasn’t very good, I would pay for this later. I made my way back around to the starting point where I met up with Mhairi, from there we set off together on the final loop. She said I looked like I was sore, she was right, my quads were killing me. My legs weren’t used to running faster on flatter ground. I am normally trotting along undulating hill paths. We made it around the third loop with 21.9 miles showing on the gps so I ran past the car and down the road a little before making a U-turn and returning to the car. The final gps reading was 22 miles.
I’ll be honest, I was feeling quite broken after this run again. My form on the flat was really poor and my legs paid the price. I actually got relief running the short steeper section of The Cut. I really need to practice running on the flat.
Around Meall a’ Bhreacraibh
Date: 27/09/2020 Time: 09:34
Run Stats – 23.1 miles, 1,734ft elevation gain, time: 4hr 37m
This was my longest run so far which took me from Tomatin, along past Loch Moy, up to the mast and back, through the wind farm, around to Ruthven, then back to Tomatin.
To get some family time in and do a bit of training at the same time we decided Mhairi, Abby and Lily would cycle with me as I ran the first part of todays route, it meant starting later than usual but I was okay with that for a change and I was hoping it would be a nice family adventure. It started off well but then Abby got a flat tyre and Lil decided she didn’t want to go at the same pace as everyone else so it meant a lot of stopping and standing about during the first mile and a half. Not the best start for a long run, but what can you do. I eventually had to leave them and make my way towards Moy while they turned around and headed home. Not quite the family adventure I had envisioned but at least we had tried.
The section past Loch Moy is lovely, nice track, great views. Beside the track, looking out onto the loch there is an awesome hide in the trees which amazes me each time I pass it, I would have loved to see how they built it. These trees are tall and the hide is a reasonable size. It just looks like a shed has been picked up in a strong wind and just ended up there.
From the Loch Moy track I connected onto the wind farm road which leads into the hills. From this road you can nip up another track to the communication mast that sits on the hill behind Moy so I did that to add a bit of elevation gain. After running up to the mast and back I continued on the wind farm road through the hills. Running through wind farms is strange. You are out in these barren undulating hills with these gigantic alien looking things towering over you. It always makes me think of H. G. Wells ‘War of the Worlds’.
My legs were in bits from the last few weeks and I knew I should probably change things up and let them recover but I had written the target mileage down on my plan so that is what I was determined to do. About half way round, I was feeling rubbish, front of my ankles were killing me and my mind was not on my side. I was focussing on the pain and my run was now all about enduring the suffering. I kept going, plodding up and down the rough estate tracks that continue after the wind farm road ends. I was doing everything wrong; head down, wallowing in the pain. I know now what I should have been doing was trying to run as mindful as possible by acknowledging the pain, being non judgmental about it, and then letting go of it. I should have been focussing on my breathing and my form, keeping my head up and looking to the horizon as much as possible. Recently, I read the book The Lost Art of Running: A Journey to Rediscover the Forgotten Essence of Human Movement by Shane Benzie (brilliant book, highly recommend it) where I learnt that the human head weighs about 12 pounds, but as the neck bends forward and down, the weight on the cervical spine begins to increase. At a 15-degree angle, this weight is about 27 pounds, at 30 degrees it’s 40 pounds, at 45 degrees it’s 49 pounds, and at 60 degrees it’s 60 pounds. So you can imagine running with your head down is not a good idea, unfortunately when we tire as we run that’s precisely what we tend to do. I continued through the hill tracks, getting lost at one point, which definitely didn’t help my mental outlook. I was in pain, cursing myself for letting it bother me so much, and basically not having a very good time. The front of my ankle area lit up with pain on each step and I thought about giving up, a lot, but up in the hills there is no point stopping as no one can come and pick you up so you have to endure until you get back to a main road. When I did finally got back to the road I took my phone out to call Mhairi and ask her to pick me up. I held the phone in my hand for a minute or so, thinking about things, before returning it to my backpack. I figured this was one of those test myself moments. I hobbled home trying to think positive thoughts. This was the closest I had got to cutting short a run due to an injury and getting someone to pick me up. In hindsight, it probably would have been the smart thing to do but my ego got the better of me and I persevered, which I have no doubt made the tendinitis worse. On the positive side, it gave me another experience of continuing through pain. Moving forward, no matter how you feel. I’m pretty sure this is all part of building my mental fitness if not my physical so I can’t complain 🙂
Tendinitis Hits Again
Date: 10/10/2020 Time: 09:10
Run Stats – 20 miles, 1,315ft elevation gain, time: 3hr 47m
I took a week off running to see if the tendinitis in my ankle would ease and it did help, walking seemed okay again so I decided to do another longish run on the weekend. Looking back now I think how ridiculous that idea was; take a few days off then run a 20 miler, but that’s what happens when you are focussed on a goal or determined to follow a plan. I couldn’t walk the week before then I thought I could go out and run 20 miles on rough track through the hills; not the best plan. I studied Sports Therapy in college and Sport and Exercise Science in Uni, I am a qualified Personal Trainer and jogscotland coach, if someone asked advice regarding a similar injury I certainly wouldn’t tell them to go run in the hills for nearly four hours. For some reason though, I thought my willpower and resolve would see me through, but apparently not. I had in my head that I wanted to be able to run a 20 miler or so every weekend without too much effort but I discovered my body wasn’t quite ready for that yet. Sometimes having great willpower (or stubbornness) can be very detrimental.
I ran from Tomatin, along the A9 to Moy where my route changed from road to track as I moved around Loch Moy and onto the wind farm road before making my way up the hill to the mast, then returned the same way. The tendinitis reared its ugly head again but not quite as severely as it had previously; this gave me hope. One of the issues with this sort of injury is that it only comes out to play when you are doing the activity that caused it so you can get mentally prepared to do it and then have to stop if you feel it returning; this takes a huge amount of self discipline if you have mentally committed to do the activity. Having the mindset to endure pain and continue no matter what is great, but at what cost. I guess that’s what ‘training smart’ is all about. I feel the trouble with ultra training is that you want to put yourself in uncomfortable and often painful situations during training so you are prepared for when you encounter them in the race. Switching off to pain over a long period of time is part of the skill of ultra running so you want to show yourself that you can do this to build the confidence you need to participate. Unfortunately, this can exacerbate injuries. Ultra training is all a learning curve for me and I am discovering that ‘training smart’ is easier said than done. I know we all have it in us to endure huge amounts of pain if our minds are aligned with a purpose, but being able to control that willpower is key. It makes me think of Cyclops from X-men, he has all this power but if it is not controlled he doesn’t benefit from it, but when his power is controlled and focussed, it is immense. I think we all have amazing capability if we are focussed and self disciplined, we just have to tap into it and control it.
When things don’t work out. What do you do?
My plan was to build my running fitness base over a few months by doing a short run every weekday morning and a long run on Saturday or Sunday, with the other weekend day off. I would increase my long runs by 10% every week so my body would adapt to the increasing workload as the weeks went on. That was the plan, however, things do not always go according to plan.
Over the past few months I was getting on well, increasing my mileage every week but I naively never factored in how changes in run elevation would impact things. I was so focussed on increasing my mileage by 10% that I ignored the affect that large changes of elevation would have on my running time which in turn would impact my body. I had built up my mileage to over 20 miles for the long runs but I also added thousands of foot elevation to some of my runs, this resulted in some runs taking about 3 hours and other runs taking over 5 hours. This large jump in running time was too much for my body to handle (I’m getting older and my body doesn’t recover like it used to) and I ended up getting tendinitis (an overuse injury) in the front of my ankle. I still followed my plan and persevered with the last few runs until it got to a point where it was painful just walking. I finally acknowledged that this was not going to get me where I wanted to go so, I have had to re-evaluate and take some decisive action. I stopped running for a couple of weeks (which was stressful as the clock was ticking and my first ultra-marathon was just a few months away), went to a sports therapist (thank you Lorna at Inverness Therapy Clinic), and took some time to come up with an alternative plan (one that considers run time). It has been a bit of a setback, but I am hopeful that this new plan will be more successful.
Looking back at this experience I have observed a few things:
- It’s always a challenge when things don’t go according to plan.
- If something really isn’t working, change it.
- Setbacks feel rubbish at the time.
- If you look at each failure as just a stage of your evolution then you can turn a negative into a positive.
One of the main learning points for me, is to be more adaptable as the situation changes. I really thought being strong willed (stubborn) was going to be enough to get me through this challenge but I realise now I am going to need to be more flexible in my thinking. The path to achieving your goal is rarely a straightforward one and the sooner I understand and accept that the better.
I do like a good motivational quote and I saw this ‘Plot Twist’ one recently which I thought suited my situation at the time. It helped me to stop feeling sorry for myself and to look at things in a more light hearted manner 😊
This challenge is dedicated to the charity Befrienders Highland. I would really appreciate your support, if you can sponsor me that would be awesome, and if you could share my fundraising page that would be tremendous too.
You can access, read, and share my fundraising page by clicking the link below. If you have already sponsored me or shared my page, I just want to say a massive thanks to you 🙂
