"It could rain on race day...."

Ooft what a run today!  The forecast promised rain and gales, and didn't fail to deliver on that!  What they didn't mention was the sleet and snow, and the icebergs floating down the Sherrifmuir road, requiring a detour!

This weekend's planned long run was for 20 miles, and as I've not been adhering to the rest of the schedule particularly well, I was keen to nail it this weekend, and get over that psychological hurdle.

Yesterday might've been the better day to do it - clear, dry, but bitterly cold and snowy (still lying deep on the paths and trails), and there was an alluring optional distraction....a trip to the Cairngorms (one of my favourite ever places) to see the Husky Rally (oh, and we happened to detour into the Mountain Cafe afterwards for a cheeky wee scoff!)

Wise and contemplative!

I could easily have stolen this wee man

So, today I knew the miles had to be done, so I wrapped up in 4 layers, thermal tights, spare clothes/gloves/buff in Camelbak, and set off at good pace (probably a little too quick in hindsight looking at the stats).  I'd pretty much planned all week that I'd run on the road this weekend, so headed into Braco, Kinbuck, Dunblane, Bridge of Allan and back via Pendreich and Sherrifmuir. 

My latest "secret weapon" on the long slow solo runs is audio books, and I've been trying to catch up with the rest of the world by listening to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  It seems to be working well so far.  I started listening to WHW podcasts last year and really find the spoken voice a better tempo for the longer stuff.  You just have to make sure you don't forget to listen for traffic, watch for potholes/pavements etc....nor get distracted and let your mind wander and miss key points of the story!

Still I had to dig pretty deep....back to that old mantra "it could rain on race day" to get through it.  it's not that long until the D33 and the fling, and the way this climate is going there's going to be many a "character building" run to be done (thanks Helen!).  And I'd back-weighted all the hills...so the challenge mentally was to build in the "walk the steep bits" philosophy, even though there was tarmac down there somewhere!

I detoured the last 3 miles - Clark had been running out from the house to meet me, and called to warn of 1 foot-deep ice rivers of icebergs on the descent from Sheriffmuir to Greenloaning and loss of feeling in his feet.  Thankfully my superhero was on hand to drive to Dunblane to pick me up at the revised end point!

So glad of a hot shower (with cold jets on the legs first!), the big pot of homemade soup, a wee square of Mrs Tilly's fudge and a lazy afternoon by the log fire (and without the almost obligatory afternoon nap!)!

I'll sleep well tonight I think!

Life is a roller coaster....but then, so is the WHW...

It's been another one of those 'interesting' weeks...and given I couldn't get to sleep last night (very abnormal for me!), I thought maybe it was time to blog again and download some of what's in my head!

Oh look, there's me scoffing the sweeties!

After a great run last weekend from Drymen to Balmaha over Conic (& back!) with the Glasgow D33 Training (but really training for all sorts of things) Group I was feeling pretty good - new friends, new route, good running.....a riding the roller coaster of the WHW...up, down, left, right, mud, rocks, rivers, bridges, gates, great views....(and subsequently pleased to hear Emma hadn't broken her ankle on the tumble down Conic!).  Followed with 5ish miles in muddy Crieff on the Sunday, and a good weekend was in the bag!

And then the week became a swift carriage of ups and downs.  It's always busy at work, and that's kinda why I like it!  Always the diversity of things to be done (in too little time), but great brands and mostly great people to work with!

Monday became 'interesting' because Cori the dog had an appointment at the Vet School in Edinburgh, which I somewhat mistakenly thought was for a consultation about his ongoing limp issue.....turned into 7 hours of Clark nervously hanging around Edinburgh while they knocked him out again, shaved an inordinate number of body parts and took CT scans, fluid samples and what-not....and still we end up no further to a diagnosis, and with a confused, dazed, vomitty dog.....! Oh, and it was 'rest day'....erghh!

On Tuesday, another fast downhill as I was feeling pretty grim.  I'd been started on some medication (another long dull story!), which I'm pretty sure wasn't fixing anything and was having some nasty side-effects, so by the time I finished work, and headed for pilates, everything was a bit dizzy and sick feeling.....which in my wisdom, I decided a bag of sour Skittles would help!  Well, yes and no....and I'm sure it didn't help my Slimming World weigh-in later that night!!  The result on the scales would count as an uphill on my roller coaster but only because it was a + and not a -!

Anyway, apologies for the long boring story (if anyone has actually read this far!).

The big fall - Wednesday!  I'll give you any number of reasons....it was 7am, it was dark, the batteries in my head-torch were low, I was chasing Clark, it was rocky, my head was still sore...and I was bizarrely thinking about Luco the running pug..and obviously just not paying enough attention...but anyhow, I came tumbling to a painful thud, squealled for quite some time, ripped a hole in my trousers (and my good knee!)...and then spent the rest of the day unable to put any weight on it!  So...another 2 days of rest then!  Arghhh!!!

Thursday was a bad dizzy sick ('am I getting the lurgy'?) day, combined with the knee still throbbing and the DOMS from the impact running through the rest of the body.  So, I decided to stop taking the tablets, as they weren't fixing what they were meant to anyway!  Winner!  Much better day on Friday!  The fastest and most productive day of the week...decided the best option was just to MTFU....and Saturday's run to look forward to!

A lovely 10 miler, in great cold conditions and some lovely views, checking out another bit of the WHW I've never run on before from Balmaha to Sallochy Bay and back with Bob, Clark and the 2 pooches.

Doesn't do it justice but an awesome early view

The knee(s) held out - hurrah!  I didn't fall (despite ice, tree routes, windy tracks etc etc) - hurrah! And we ended up going further than I thought - hurrah!

Bob and I were slower than Clark as usual...as he skipped like a mini-mountain goat up the hills and scoffed at my "I'm an ultra-runner - we're allowed to walk the hills!" logic!  But a good effort all round, and no bad after effects (yet!)!

So, looking like a high end to the week - aiming for another few miles tomorrow just to keep myself ahead of Clark in the miles-to-date challenge!  I'm less than quarter of a mile ahead at the moment at just over 67 for the month......!

So, apologies for the 'Dear Diary' effort on today's blog!  Glass of wine and some cheese & biscuits if you read this far!

Happy weekend all!  Run on friends!

Recaps and Resolutions

Well, that'll be 2012 over then!  There's been good times, there's been some bad times, and although I'm not superstitious, entering 2013 does make you wonder....

The highlights of 2012 for me have to include staying pretty much injury free (touch wood), getting some decent mileages done, and completing my first Scottish Ultra at Devil O' the Highlands....set your mind to it, and anything is possible!  Along the journey, I also ran a PB at the lovely Strathearn Marathon, which I aim to go back and run again this year (and hopefully shave 43 seconds off my time to get in under 4 hours)!  I also had a great run at Cape Wrath Marathon, a race I've been hankering to do for a good few years!

Finishing at Cape Wrath

I entered the infamous marcothon in December...running 3 miles or 25 minutes every day for the month....I did miss 4 days, but boy, that was hard enough to keep up with given how busy the month is, and how crap the weather was!  But, I guess that's the whole point!!  Clark soldiered on and completed with flying colours!  So the picture below has to be for him really!

Analyst by day, I'll be keeping a closer eye on my training stats this year... 2012 got me to 1,180.24 miles running (had I spotted this a little sooner I could've pushed it to 1,200...I don't know why I think that's important!), and (a better, more rounded) 1,801 from all activities!  The more exciting numbers are 155,400 calories (119,000 from running!)...which is a good few pounds of fat (about 45 I think)!!  

1lb of fat!

In 2013 I'll be trying to increase the quality and quantity of those run miles, as well as shifting the extra half-stone that has crept on post-Devil...back at Slimming World to save me getting into my bad habits....and because it's a good laugh every week!  Had a look back recently at some of my 'before' photos from 2010 before I lost the 3 stone 4 lbs, and that was a scary flash back too, as if the motivation of having less weight to carry around on the long runs wasn't enough!!!

So, the grand plan for the events in 2013 then.....

March: D33 to give me some motivation to get out there and get the miles in, followed by a training week later in the month in Nethy Bridge 
April: Hoka Highland Fling to have a stab at the first 'half' of the WHW
May: supporting Clark & Steven at Bealach Beag, followed by some good scoff and a week of sunshine (I can dream!) in Plockton
June: Strathearn Marathon and hopefully some supporting, by way of sports massage at the WHW race
July: hopefully supporting Clark & Bob at the Corrieyairack Challenge
August: Devil O The Highlands
September: Glenmore 24 to challenge myself to see if I can run through the night

So, here's to a happy, healthy 2013 for all, with stress free solid training, great events, good times and much fun!