Slip Sliding Away

"You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip sliding away."

A slippy sliding end to this weeks training which had me in Tyndrum for the Highland Fling training weekend.

Training has been a bit hit and miss, and work has been a COMPLETE nightmare for the last few weeks.  Hopefully the latter will settle down a bit now, and the training can get back on track.  Looking back though, to reflect on it properly, it was only really the last week that I struggled with the mid-week stuff, only getting a 7 mile hill/road run in very early one morning...the prior week I managed 4 runs, 2 spin sessions, some strength training and an hour of pilates...so maybe the slacking is just in my head.  Putting in 14 hours plus at the day job, and working over the last few weekends has just ground me down.  

But, less of that, and more of the running chat!

View from the car en route!

Friday brought forecasts of heavy snow, and delivered on schedule!  A nice snowy crawl to Tyndrum......I "borrowed" the big truck from Clark just in case (meant he had a bit of a challenging weekend at home, while I made it safely north!).  Oh yes, and it was Valentine's Day...spent apart...but heck, I say if you love someone, you love them everyday, not just when someone tells you that you ought to!

Arrived safely at By The Way, checked in and said some hello's....and then time to pre-load for the next day.....cheesy chips and diet coke.....and I managed to say no to a beer in the pub! I did relent later and have a wee Ginger Grouse when we got back to the hostel and there was loads more chat to be had with the masses, including the lovely Fiona, Rachel and Sam who'd come down from Skye.  And later than my usual Friday night early collapse into bed, got tucked up with my new roomie Sharon.

View from Murdo's Mount (no jelly babies!)

Saturday dawned better than expected.  Most folk were heading South - driving to Beinglas to do an out and back, but a few of us were heading North, hoping for some more runnable terrain.

The views were great, and the underfoot conditions less so.....deep slushy snow to start with before drying out for the run towards Bridge of Orchy (and the drymax socks still worked!).

Keziah Higgins, me, John Munro, (Kirsty's pal)
and Kirsty Burnett 

We were also carrying a fair bit of kit - better safe than sorry!  Kahtoolas, foil blankets, head torch, spare batteries, spare gloves, hats, socks, waterproof trousers (a borrow from Helen), and enough food to survive for a week in the Arctic.  

Thankfully, the majority of this was all precautionary, and I'm sure carrying all the extra weight is good training!

We made good progress, and the group seemed pretty well paced (less so on the return leg) all the way out across Rannoch Moor, except for Keith, who we pretty much lost after about a mile at the start as he was too speedy!  


Aiming for 30 miles total, but we turned at 14 as the snow was just getting less and less fun the further across the moor we got.  Each step was icy and slippy...many with deep slush underneath the foot-deep snowy topping, and I know I had a sense of humor failure just before we turned...and thankfully the others seemed to be feeling the same.

I did stop to take quite a few photos too - I'm not sure they do it any justice, but you can't beat the changing light sweeping across the snow (and an excuse for a wee breather)...it's one of those things that remind you why you love to do this crazy running stuff!  

Just next to Forest Lodge

Oh yes, that, and other crazy stuff that doesn't happen in everyday life, like being able to hand feed wild stags with pretzels and jaffa cakes (sorry anyone offended by us feeding the wildlife with rubbish, but we didn't really have anything sensible for it, and it was certainly keen to scoff!).  What a gentle and beautiful beast it was!

So, we finally made it back, all in one piece (28 ish miles in 6hrs 19 ish).  Pretty burst but pleased with the effort.  Sliding around in the slush and snow certainly works the muscles that you forgot you had!

There wasn't much time for my usual post-run coma (sorry, nap).....for fear of never waking back up in time for the mass participation (60 folk?!) dinner, and chat from Marcus (the Hoka athlete and recent winner of Spine) and Ellen (one of the race creators).  But I sure didn't last the night!  A couple of beers, some great curry and chat, and that was me destined for bed.  Didn't get to sleep very well (mucho party antics from everyone else...oh, and maybe suffering from some of that over-training syndrome Marcus was warning us of!)

View towards Ben Lui

No real aches and pains on waking (bonus!) - wee niggle in my big toe (which I get on and off when the terrain is tough, and I'd felt it coming back down the cobbles off the moor, and had stubbed it a couple of times), but my knee which had felt a wee bit sore after the slipping and twisting was pretty fine.  So, on with the kit (pretty black and pinky purple x-bionic tights today) and out for a recovery run with (David for a bit) and John (thanks David for the uphill start!?!), and a chance to pick John's brain about some tips for the WHW race (including advice to test run from Milngavie in the dark, in the wee small hours, as this was something I'd not really thought necessary, being 'easier' terrain....but clearly forgot I'd be doing it at 1am in a state of shock and sleep deprivation!)

Running Drills Workshop

Watched the guys doing the running skills workshop, from the comfort of the veranda, with a coffee in my hand....

And then it was almost time to head back to reality!

After a quick visit to Mr Mike from Out-Run to collect the goodies I'd ordered (can't wait for some rain to try out my new OMM Kamleika waterproof trousers...and with the benefits of no postage charge since he was up for the training weekend too), another coffee top up (think I was tired!), and into the car for a bimble home...sun still shining and the mountains looking braw.  Happy Sunday!

So...what did the weekend teach me....?

1. Take some ear-plugs to the March training weekend...or learn to stay up later!
2. The kit is still working well for me (but I still need a new waterproof jacket).  I was warm enough, dry enough (or dried quick enough when wet), no chaffing and carrying everything I needed for all emergencies
3. Don't leave it too late to eat...or eat too little early on (Mrs Tilly's fudge is a saviour!)
4. David will be a good support crew member (to be fair, I think I already suspected this, that's why he's in my crew!)
5. Don't neglect to ask those with experience for advice - even if you think it's a stupid question!
6. I think I could do with some more hill work

Well, enough rambling from me for now!  I'm doing my next podcast interview this week, so I'd better start thinking of clever stuff to say...and work out what to wear/do with my hair in case JK takes another photo of me!

The Goodbye Group Shot (taken by Johnny Fling)