Training Log Archive: Cjcollins

Highland fling ultra 2019
After a few hours of tossing and turning in bed it was time to get up at just before 4am and get ready. After breakfast I made a last minute change to my kit, swapping out my lightweight wind proof jacket for my heavier OMM waterproof - great decision!! Everything was feeling good and the sickness from earlier in the week had gone. Race plan was to get to Rowardennan quicker than I had done last year whilst conserving plenty of energy for the challenging second half. Succeeded with this and left the Rowardennan checkpoint looking forward to the technical lochside section. Shortly after this I went through my worst spell of the race. Started to feel low on energy and a little queasy so walked up the hill for a while and took on board a gel and the coke I had picked up at the checkpoint. Started to feel better after this and got moving again. The rest of the race went pretty well although I was finding some of the later climbs tough, particularly the section in the forest before the A82 road crossing at mile 49. Once I had crossed the road with 4 miles to go I picked up the pace and had a strong finish running everything including the climbs. Felt great to hit the red carpet in line with my target time.
Pleasingly my legs feel sore today (Sunday) but nothing like the soreness I had last year which ended up lasting for about 2 weeks! One slight concern is that my right Achilles is a little tender. Not sure why as I didn’t feel it at all yesterday or last night, just this morning when I got up.

Easy run around Ballyboley forest with Billy. Nice enough evening but chilly and moderately windy, realised that a T-shirt wasn’t the best choice at the far side of the forest running into the wind. Main issue I had on this run was feeling sick. Have been sort of feeling off all day and was holding it in at both ends for a while during the run. Could be the beetroot juice shot I took last night. Also hardly slept again, not really sure what the problem is with that at the minute.

Felt a bit crap today, tired and lightheaded. Maybe taper madness kicking in, I don’t know. A bit like yesterday I have done quite a bit of activity including a 10 mile bike ride with my daughter but decided not to run. Back to work and normal routine tomorrow.

Rest day . . . sort of. Spent most of the day on my feet playing football, rounders etc with the kids in the good weather. Also a 3 mile walk to visit the amusement arcade!