Training Log Archive: OJ

Run of the year so far. With Oleg around a chunk of the Glencoe skyline route. Took in Annoch Eagach first (not as tricky as I had imagined, although could be a different story 6hrs+ in), continued along the N side of the valley and finished up Curved Ridge (intimidating to look at but not too bad once on it). Glad to have the company and enjoyed a spectacular evening of views as the sun cast low shadows over the peaks. Missed off a chunk of GPS.

C • Movie 3

From Glen Muic towards Lochnagar until I ran out of time. Took in a couple of smaller summits and cruised back down. The legs woke up on the climb and felt much better today in general.

Experimenting with some running poles up the hill behind our house. Results inconclusive but seem to point towards a small speed benefit but a bigger impact on perceived exertion. To be continued...

Whoops, didn't mean to go this far. Ran off memory from a glance at Steve's map and misjudged it a little. Oh well, took it very slow and the legs sort of behaved.

S6D day 6, Glen Feader W. Good to have the reverse order start to give a bit of impetus to weary legs. Started hard up the hill, but was blowing quickly and missed when we dropped into a bit of heathery moraine. I didn't realise I had passed Will here, but knew that the wolves would soon be biting at my heels. Some big climbs and heather bashing ensued with Mark and Will chasing me down and just as I was getting ready to hop on the train I missed on the slope allowing both to slip past above me. Hammered the next leg to try to get back in touch and was lucky that they missed the control. Phew, needed to sit in for a bit to recover and enjoyed letting someone else do the work. Hung on to Mark for all I was worth through the last part, he was running well!

Got to be happy with the week - it's been a pleasure to be back in the forest and running relatively competitively. Great planning every day made the most of the terrain in spite of a few areas that were only OK. Great for the kids too, Alex loved running up the run in on the big screen!

S6D day 6, Glen Feader E. Tired today for the first time, but felt good as soon as I got moving. Another surprisingly good course although pretty fast and straightforward. A couple of wobbles, but generally pretty good. Not much chance on the overall.

S6D day 4: Creag Choinnich. Nice aesthetically, all views over the mountains, rivers and castles, but not nice to run through. Felt strong on the climbs but struggled a bit in the rougher stuff. Silly mistakes on a couple of slope controls, getting carried away with the running. Some work to do to narrow the gap in front and protect my gap behind!

Up to the start running late and a cruise with Will and Dane to warm down, pretending not to be knackered.