Quite a weekend

It was quite a weekend. On Saturday I was dragged from Balmaha all the way up Loch Lomondside to Doune Bothy by the gang - Keith, Norman, Ian, Jon, John and Jaimie - before we turned around and did it all again in reverse. In total that was almost 38 miles and 9 hours of running on the WHW, including the section from Inversnaid to the top of the loch twice. What a slog. These training runs aren't getting any easier. For a lot of the day I had no idea how I was going to make it back but just dug in, gritted my teeth, and told myself to TTFU - as I'm sure Keith would have told me if he hadn't been so far ahead. The way back was a bit better than the way out, although I was very glad to reach the finish at Balmaha just before 6 o'clock and be able to stop. I had a few twinges of cramp during the drive home, but after the pain I had been through for most of the day it didn't seem that significant. I was just pleased to be finished. It had been a lovely day - almost perfect running conditions - which was probably just as well, as I found it a difficult enough run without the added difficulty of poor weather.

Not surprisingly I travelled to Alloa for the half marathon on Sunday morning without any great hope of a fast time. I was keen to do it for 2 reasons, however: it was a good chance to do 2 hard back-to-back runs, which would be good training for the forthcoming ultras, and it was a race that the club had targeted and was encouraging as many members as possible to take part. My warm up felt ok, the weather was just about perfect, and I set off at a fairly steady 7.25 pace feeling reasonably good. I managed to keep that pace going for most of the run and was pleased to finish in a time of 1 hour 36 minutes and 25 seconds, only 5 minutes slower than Inverness last week. It was probably a much better performance than Inverness, given the efforts of the previous day, and proved once again that it is speed rather than stamina which is my issue at the moment. It was also good to see 9 club members taking part, some of them doing a half marathon for the first time.

I was completely shattered last night, but with the benefit of hindsight I'm pleased at getting the 2 runs done - I'm sure I'll look back on the weekend as an important stepping stone in my preparation for the WHW race. And, on another positive note, at least I didn't have to face the wild and wet conditions at the Hardmoors 55. The weather there sounded appalling so well done to all who took part, whatever you finished or not. Let's hope there's no repeat of these conditions on the 19th June...