Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

Normally, for 95% of races or events I rope myself into, I go on my own, rather than drag Becky and the girls along with me.  Jura is a long way from the world though, so we decided to have a wee holiday there to coincide with the race.

The default choice for Jura is to camp in the field by the Jura Hotel.  The main problem with that, for us, is that Becky has never been camping before, I'm used to camping on my own and don't have family camping gear (including a decent sized tent) and the Emily and Esme haven't experienced sleeping in a tent and they are still quite young for camping.

We had borrowed a tent from a friend but discovered just before we were to go, that it was going to be far too big for the small camping field, so we managed to procure a smaller family tent at the last minute from a neighbour.  My plan is to buy a tent before the next trip, whenever that is to be.  Becky managed to get hold of everything else we needed, that I didn't already have.

The trip to Jura is very long - it can't be very far as the crow flies from Cardrona but to get there by car necessitates a bit of a Cook's Tour, going to Edinburgh, then Stirling, along to Loch Lomond and up the other side before turning down to Kintyre from Arrochar.  Then, a 2+ hour ferry journey, with very excitable children who had been cooped up in a car for 4 hours, to Islay.  A bit of a wait and then another short hop to Jura and a single track road to Craighouse.  All in all, from door to door, it took about 10 hours.

The campsite was a bit empty when we got there, so we picked a spot near the sea (hoping to avoid midges as much as possible) and set up the tent.  Unfortunately, the girls were both tired and a bit hyper, so they made a bit of a racket, which was a wee bit embarrassing.  They settled down the next day but I definitely felt the weight of some stares from campers whose peace we were disturbing.  Getting the tent up was a pain, since I didn't know how it worked and the instructions were terrible.  Luckily a fellow camper, Arthur, came to help and after a bit of trial and error, we got it up.

The first evening was a bit quiet since we were all tired and after dinner, we got the girls ready for bed, deciding to put them in the main sleeping area with us.  There was no chance that Esme would sleep though, having slept late in the car, so she was bouncing off the tent walls until well after 10.  Normally, she'd be in bed by 7 but since she had a captive audience in Mum and Dad, she made the most of the experience.  Poor Emily would have been asleep much earlier if Esme hadn't kept her awake.  This pattern repeated the next 2 nights - Emily would be in bed before 8 but Esme took another hour or two of hyper-activity in the tent before she'd drop off.

Emily had a nightmare on the first night, which I'm sure woke everyone up at 1am but she settled down after Becky took her out into the night air, which woke her up.  For anyone reading this now, after being woken, I'll take the opportunity to apologise.

On Friday, the weather was fine - sunny and dry - so we took a trip north along the single track road to find a beach to play on. We found a long expanse of sand a few miles up the road from Craighouse and took a wee walk along it, and a cold paddle in the sea. Unfortunately, it was a bit parky and the girls got a bit grumpy after a while, so we gave it up as a bad job and headed back to the village.

We spent lunch at the play park, which the girls loved and the sun was shining. After the play park, Becky and I relaxed into the trip and we managed to enjoy ourselves a lot more. Saturday was, unfortunately, not the best weather, so while I was racing, the girls had to put up with the drizzle. Sunday was a bit better, weather-wise, for the trip home. It's a long way to Jura and the journey took almost 11 hours. The girls loved the ferry again but Mum and Dad were tired and had to take it in turns to entertain them.

Hopefully, we'll get our own family tent soon, and get away somewhere northwards for another camping trip during the summer.

It took me until about an hour into the race, when I finally found checkpoint two on Glas Bheinn, for me to realise that this was going to be a long day and to throw my schedule out the window. After taking almost 30 minutes for a short 15 minute section of the course, there was no way I was going to make that time up, with the conditions as they were - wet, low cloud and high winds. It took me until the end of the race to realise, daft as it might sound, that everyone else was struggling to some extent as well. When we arrived on the island on 2 days earlier on Thursday evening, the weather was very different - the sun was high in the sky. We could see the hills I was about to run over from the ferry to Islay and, from a different angle, the short hopper ferry to Jura. Friday was much the same - warm sun and a light breeze. More runners appeared throughout the day and I started to get the first inklings that the weather was about to take a turn for the worst. Despite years of climbing hills in terrible weather, I'm still far too optimistic when it comes down to it, so I felt confident that the conditions would be decent. I don't mind bad weather as long as the cloud doesn't descend too far - ultimately, wind and rain make the going slow but having to have map and compass in hand to navigate the course makes the going even slower. Of course, on Saturday morning, the weather was dismal. There wasn't a break in the clouds anywhere and it seemed to be lying very low, almost down to the sea. There appeared little chance of it lifting any time soon. In bad weather there is an alternative course, which avoids the higher hills but the wind wasn't too bad, so the full course was to be run. I had a race plan calculated which would see me get round in about 4:30 but this was ambitious anyway and impossible given the weather conditions. Unfortunately, I made my biggest mistake before the race had even started. I had brought two pairs of shoes - my Mudrocs and my Roclites, which were new. I wore the Roclites and suffered with a lack of grip all the way around the course, in the muddy conditions. The only time they were an advantage was the 30 minute run back along the road at the end of the day. I still don't understand what I was thinking when I chose to use them. The route to the first checkpoint drags on a bit and I tried to keep a steady pace and not to go too hard early on. The ground was very wet and I managed to get up to my knees in a bog after about 15 minutes, which wasn't pleasant. I hit the first checkpoint on Dubh Bheinn at about 45 minutes, more or less on schedule. Then, without looking at the map, I turned and set off after the runners ahead of me, quickly losing sight of them in the mist. CP1 to CP2 is probably the hardest bit of navigation on the whole course and I should have taken the time to read the map, take a bearing and calmly make my way to the next summit. I did none of those things and blindly followed feet before realising that I was... misplaced. I came on a handful of similarly misplaced racers (including the organiser) and luckily we'd found a fence line marked on the map, which allowed us to take an accurate bearing to CP2. We'd probably dropped about 100m too far but it could have been a lot worse - I met at least one runner who got lost there and had to give up, barely an hour into the race. The run to CP3 is pretty straightforward and there were plenty of others surrounding me at this point for me to not bother navigating. I maybe dropped a couple of minutes on schedule but I was more or less on track but of course, by this time, I had realised that this wasn't a normal day out and aiming for a time wasn't the point, just getting round would be a decent achievement, particularly since only a week before it seemed to be unlikely that I'd make it. The rain and wind had also picked up and forced me to put on my Goretex jacket. I picked a bad line down to the low ground below Beinn a' Chaolais and that cost me a few places, so I made determined efforts to keep the pressure on up the long 650m to the first Pap. I climbed pretty strongly for the entire race, only fading a bit on the last climb, when I found it tough. Again, I lost time here, probably most of it getting off Aonach Bheinn, where I struggled with my bone-headed shoe choice. The descent off a' Chaolais was fast and furious - it's definitely the easiest of the 3 Paps and a lot of it is scree which can be run at a fair chop if you commit to it, which I did. I was out of breath by the time I reached the col, which wasn't ideal but I had enjoyed myself! The climb up Beinn an Oir started slowly as I was at the back of a line of runners which was moving slowly. So, grasping the nettle, I jumped the queue at an opportune moment and got ahead of them. Any sort of effort at this point was starting to hurt though and I regretted it a little when we hit a boulder field, which was very hard work. I kept a decent pace on this hill though and lost only a handful of minutes. The descent of Oir was a bit tricky to find and involved some slow bouldery running. About halfway down, I had to leap a shallow gully and I led with my left leg and put it straight down a hole where I thought there was solid ground. I cut my knee in a couple of places and worse, I pranged my damaged left ankle again. For a short time, I thought that the game was up and I'd have to limp back down to the road but I took some painkillers and walked it off for a few minutes - by the time of the next climb, it had settled down a bit. I'd definitely lost some momentum though and the last big climb up the final Pap was a bit of a toil and I seemed to be on my own for most of it. The descent off that last Pap is brutal. The course takes you away from the last top, Corra Bheinn, to avoid some very steep, dangerous ground and it crossed a very slippery, awkward boulder field, which I had to traverse most of using my hands. Then, we hit a muddy path, but my Roclites wouldn't let me run it at pace and my left ankle was giving me trouble, so I slowed down quite a bit here. By the time I got to the top of Corra Bheinn, I'd lost another 16 minutes on the fast schedule. Of course, it's pointless to compare times against my plan but it will hopefully be of use for me to take a look at next year when I try to improve. Certainly, it will be useful to see that of the 63 minutes that I lost, 28 of them were on 2 short legs - from CP1 to CP2 (navigation) and from CP6 to CP7 (injury, shoes). Those legs were scheduled to take 46 minutes and actually took 74. Against that, I lost 24 minutes on schedule for the traverse of the 3 Paps which make up the bulk of the hard work. The last 5 miles are theoretically a lot easier that the first 11 but unfortunately, by the time you get to them, there is little likelihood of enjoying them. There is a long, numbing descent to the road, on rough, tussocky ground which gives way to one of the boggiest "paths" I've ever run on - it was ankle deep mud for most of the way. I kept the pace up here though and it's useful to note that I ran more or less to plan. In drier years, I'll be able to make up time here. The last 3 miles are on the road and I started fairly well but my heavy pack was bouncing a bit too much and if I cinched up the waist belt, my stomach muscles started to rebel, so I had to give in a bit with about a mile to go and I was forced down to about 9 minute miles and lost a couple of places. Luckily, I gained another close to the line, which meant I finished in 5:33 for 99th place. In retrospect, I made a couple of rookie errors - shoes, navigation - and didn't have quite the fitness I needed after a poor April and May and a dodgy ankle. However, I'm pleased with my efforts - I got round in one piece, my ankle more or less held out (though it's swollen up again now, understandably) and my endurance lasted for most of the course, only letting me down over Shiantaidh and Corra Bheinn after I'd stacked my leg in a hole. Times were universally slow this year - the winning time was 40 minutes down on 2008 for both men and women, only 2 runners went under 4 hours compared to 26 last year and there were a fair number of DNSs, DNFs and timeouts, along with quite a few people who got lost. I'll definitely be back next year to try to get under 4:30 (or better). Now I have a wee rest to rehab my ankle (again) and then it's Yetholm, Loch Lochy and Glen Rosa in June.

I sprained my ankle at Ben Lomond last weekend and it has turned out to be a bit worse than I feared. I had hoped it would be ok for Gypsy Glen, a hill race local to Tweeddale, but there was no chance of running there. I think I have a grade I sprain, since I could bear weight on my foot straight away, but since I kept running on it at the race, I must have made the swelling worse. I couldn't get the swelling to go down, particularly since I had to go to work (back on the bus, no cycling or running in), which meant being on my feet and not being able to keep my ankle elevated and iced.

So, I resorted to the wonderful Internet to find ways to improve my rehab time. The problem I have now is getting my ankle ready for the Isle of Jura Hill Race a week today. Unfortunately, there now seems little likelihood that I'll be ready but I need to give myself a chance.

By the end of this week, the swelling had reduced a bit but not enough to do any rehab on the ankle, so I found a programme which I hope will work. Job 1 - lose the swelling. This meant doing a very odd exercise which used my body's natural processes to get rid of it. Off to the gym, I had to immerse my foot in ice for 15 minutes (excruciatingly painful) and then walk backwards on the treadmill at a 8% gradient for 15 minutes, which pumped the excess blood away from my ankle. I repeated this 4 times and by the end, the swelling was much reduced. Well worth the pain and the funny looks in the gym.

Rehab started in anger today. I have a wobble board which I'm using to stretch and strengthen the ligaments and I'm working on my balance. The pain has mostly gone but the ankle is stiff. I ran for a couple of miles on the road this morning with no ill effects. I need to keep working on improving my range of motion and strengthening the ankle for the rest of the week (and beyond), as well as working the right ankle (my weaker one) at the same time.

I am doubtful about Jura, although we are still going for the trip with the girls. Still, I'm going to give myself a chance and make a decision when I get to the island. If I don't make it, it won't be the end of the world, although I'll be disappointed. I'll race Loch Lochy and/or Arrochar in June to make up for it.

Another weekend, another hill race - the last major hill race for me before Jura in a couple of weeks. I'm very conscious that so far, I've had pretty poor results in the Scottish hill races I've competed in this year. I did reasonably at the Moelwyns race but that was sandwiched by Clachnaben, where I was ill, and Stuc a' Chroin, which I screwed up by running too hard too early.

So, my pre-race target for Ben Lomond, of 1:30, was wildly out of line with those results. At Clachnaben and Stuc, I've been around 150% of the winning time, which had something to do with the fact that those races were championship races, and a lot to do with my poor running. A 1:30 run at Lomond would be closer to 125% of the winner, which seemed a bit optimistic. Still, I was confident of doing better - my running has improved steadily again since I've gotten over my illness.

The weather was a bit miserable - cold (for May) and wet. The top of the Ben was in the clouds and it had been snowing steadily higher up. This suited me, since I prefer the cold and don't mind bad weather - I put a long sleeved top on under my vest but a lot of runners were in waterproofs. I would be soaked wet through after 10 minutes. The weather obviously didn't suit a lot of people since around a third of the field either didn't start or didn't finish. I kept my speed in check early on to avoid blowing up later and once out of the trees, I started to move up the field, simply by keeping my pace steady and closing gaps when others let them go.

The course is straightforward, more or less straight up and then straight down. We detoured off the path in a few places, which I found harder going but where we were on the track, I managed to keep running rather than walking. Towards the top, the track eases off a bit and I ran this hard - I had to put my hat on here since it had started to snow and the wind was driving it into my freshly shaved head. Soon enough, I was on the tough uphill section to the summit, which avoided the zig zag path. There was a lot of snow on the summit but I had my Mudclaws on and it wasn't slippy. I started down after less than a hour, which I hoped gave me a chance of hitting my target. I seemed to be quite far up the field.

Downhill running isn't a strength of mine, with my weak right ankle but I can run down a track fairly quickly and I managed to overtake a few runners and hold others at bay. Before the race, I'd been warned that the track is treacherous and I kept telling myself to be careful, even as I was careering down the slope. Sure enough, I still fell twice - once I tripped on a rock and just managed to save myself and I slipped on a muddy section and did a very well executed barrel roll down the slope.

There were a couple of sections off the path that I couldn't run hard because they were too uneven but my legs still felt good and I didn't slow too much. Soon, I was back in the trees and had only been overtaken by a couple of runners all the way down, whilst overtaking several myself. Just the rocky steps to negotiate. Unfortunately, I turned my left ankle (my good one) on one of those steps - I've no idea why - which slowed me down due to the pain. At this point, another couple of runners came past and I was powerless to keep with them with my ankle screaming at me.

Then, i was onto the last section of road, a smile for the camera, and through the finishing line. A look at my watch - 1:30:53. Amazing, considering the conditions. Finally, I had had a strong race. This would be good enough for 34th place, of 120 finishers, a lot better than previous races and it gives me confidence for Jura. I finished in front of many people who had been well ahead of me before and I was much closer to the fast guys.

My ankle swelled to be 4 times its normal size and now, a day later, it still hurts. Hopefully, it'll be fine by Gypsy Glen.

About 25 folks at my work had entered this race, most of them non-runners, so I thought I'd get in on the action and see if I could improve upon my 2 previous attempts. Unfortunately, my big target for the year was to complete the Long Classics series of Scottish hill races, and the first of those was the day before the 10k. So, I decided to wait until the morning of the race to decide if I was up to it. Luckily (I think), I didn't feel too bad on Sunday morning, so we all drove into Edinburgh and made our way to the play park at the Meadows, where the girls played while I warmed up. I jogged up to the start, saw a few work folks and got myself up to the front, in order to be in front of the masses when we hit the choke point through Prince's Street Gardens. This also meant that I was on TV (hello Mum!) because the race was live on Five and I was right behind the elite men when the race started, and I was wearing my Moorfoots vest which is pretty noticeable. I got off to a quick start to get my legs moving and tried to relax into it. A couple of people from work caught me at the foot of the climb through Holyrood Park, so I settled in behind them. The climb through the park is long and draggy for a road race but compared to a hill race, it's nothing, so I kept up the pace pretty well. The half way mark came at 20:25 for me, which meant that I was running well, if not brilliantly, I just had to make sure not to die a death (like the day before), so I kept it all steady and then concentrated on form through the tricky bits at Cowgate and the Grassmarket, when there was a headwind and a couple of short, sharp rises. Through the Meadows, there were a few people there that knew me, which was nice, including Becky and the girls - I got a nice shout for "Daddy" from Emily, so I kept the pace on and pushed on. The last kilometre was a drag up to Potterrow, with another wee headwind - I didn't feel like pushing the boat out, so I just ran normally through the finish, for a final time of 41:24 and a top 200 finish (out of 7800 starters). Can't complain about that. I was fourth finisher from the work contingent too, out of 24 starters, not too far from the "winner", who went about 30 seconds faster. Not an amazing time, but a PB (I've not run too many 10k races though) and close enough to 40 minutes to help me realise I can get under that barrier if I commit to it. All that, and we were still only at about 11am, so I went back to the play park, met the girls and wandered up to the Commonwealth Pool with Emily on my shoulders so the 4 of us could play at Clambers and have lunch.

On Saturday, I was given another education in the sport of hill running at Stuc a' Chroin. You'd have thought that I'd know not to charge on early in a 3 hour race and to not get stuck at the back of the pack before the start and work too hard to get through the field. Still, learning from mistakes is one way to get better. Stuc is a very popular, very well organised race, starting from Strathyre in Perthshire, which makes an unconventional route up the mountain. There's a bit of everything - forest tracks, boggy paths, steep descents and climbs, heather scrambling, rocks and grass. I've just started to feel right again after most of April, I felt rubbish, so I was hopeful of doing ok. As it was, I did ok for about 90 minutes and then my legs just went and I was left a bit powerless to lift the pace.  I'd ran too hard for the first couple of miles through the forest and then kept the gas on through the boggy climb above Glen Ample.  I wanted to be further up the field by the time of the single line climb up Beinn Each but in retrospect, it would have been better to be further behind and then keep some energy for the long descent back to Glen Ample and then back up Meall Mor. I caught my dodgy right ankle a couple of times on the rocky ridge to Stuc itself and that coincided with my slowdown and I went into survival mode.  Still, I pushed on and despite being passed by quite a few folks, I managed to keep a steady plod on, finishing in 3:12 for 185th place.  Not magic, I was hoping to get close to 3 hours but certainly not a disgrace. If I'd done that time last year (when the going was faster with less wet ground), I'd have been 60th of 120.  The quality of the field was much higher this year because it was part of the British and Scottish Championships.  My club mate James was 51st in a time which would have been good enough for the top 10 any other year. I can recommend the race, the organisation is first class, it's dirt cheap, entry on the day, a marked course and loads of marshalls, all with water and most with jelly babies.  I'll be back next year to get under 3 hours. Ben Lomond next weekend.