Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

Last night was my second Bog and Burn race - Red Moss Revolution, organised by HBT. Red Moss is probably the fastest hill race in the calendar (given my limited knowledge, this probably isn't strictly true) since there's only about 200m of climbing and much of the course is on tracks and tarmac. Still, it seemed hard enough to me, with most of it runnable, with a couple of nice descents and almost all of the 200m climbing coming on a long runnable ascent up Hare Hill, which made it hard to pace I'd been down in Leek at my in-laws for a couple of days, so that Becky could go and scream at Barlow and Owen at Old Trafford on Tuesday, so much of the day leading up to the race was spent in a car on the motorway coming back to Scotland. Certainly, this wasn't ideal preparation but probably not much worse than sitting at a desk. I felt pretty good beforehand though, which was a nice change - I'm starting to feel fitter and less tired at the moment, maybe it's the weather. I warmed up with Westies Chris, Ellie and Owen and chatted to a few folks including Jon from Carnethy, Kate and Ian from HBT. I feel very at home at a hill race, in a few short months I've gotten to know a lot of friendly and welcoming people. A big crowd of runners assembled at the start and I took position behind the front group of speedsters. I kept up a fast pace along the road at the beginning, despite knowing I was likely to pay for it later (though I'm not sure that I did). The road rears up a bit and a few runners came past. As I get to know more runners, I'll be better placed to judge whether to follow them or not. We turned onto the trail and the climb up to Hare Hill. I kept a steady pace and tried to keep my breathing controlled. The hill passed quickly and then we started down a heather-covered slope. I got stuck behind someone here and made the mistake of not passing him early. Someone else came flying past and reminded me I was racing, so I got round my blocker too. Then, down a steep slope to Green Cleuch, where I passed another couple of hesitant non-hill runners. I walked all the way up the wee horrible path from there since running didn't seem to be any benefit at any point (and because I couldn't!) and then there was a long, rough descent, which I enjoyed. It needed a lot of concentration though. Then, we were on the long run-in alongside Threipmuir Reservoir and someone was breathing down my neck and then passed me. This turned out to be Davie Duncan again - he did the same thing to me at Stuc a'Chroin and Cort-ma Law. In retrospect, I could have stayed with him but I'd gone to sleep a bit. Another runner came up to me and I settled in behind him and then, when he faltered, I re-passed him and pulled away and gained on Davie again. I should have put the gas down earlier and stayed on his feet. I finished in 46:07, which was maybe a little slower than I was hoping. I did have 42 minutes in my head for some daft reason (I'd checked out last years results) but then I realised I'd meant 45 minutes (not sure where 42 came from). So, I hadn't executed particularly well, but I enjoyed running in the evening sunshine and felt my legs were quite strong.

The Long Classics series of hill races is my main target this year, beyond just getting a bunch of hill racing done and staying fit and healthy through the year.  There are 11 races altogether and you need to run 5 to get a placing.  After this weekend, when I ran the Glen Rosa Horseshoe race, I've now completed 4, and, essentially by default because not many others are daft enough to run so many in a short period of time, I'm now lying 3rd in the table (behind some real winners).  Still, I'm up there for the moment at least.  I expect to be languishing by the end of the season. I travelled over to Arran with Russell again.  This time I was hoping to actually race for the duration and to make a decent fist of things.  Last week at Loch Lochy, I ran badly, due to fatigue.  This week, I wasn't quite so tired.  The journey over is pleasant enough - just getting on a ferry makes things fun.  The hills were in cloud at the beginning but it didn't look too thick and I expected to be able to see the route at least part of the time.  In the end, the clouds lifted but kept the sun shielded for us for most of the race, which suited me. There were only 23 runners, unfortunately.  It's a classic race which deserves more attention - we discussed this quite a bit during the journey but I'm no closer to understanding why not many people ran.  Alternatives, I guess - the Lairig Ghru race, Tebay (British Championships), Arrochar the next week.  Who knows?  Hopefully, the race will continue, since it's a great event.  If not, at least I've experienced it. We barrelled off at the start and I settled in with a few Westies that I know are a bit quicker than I am - Don Reid, Graham Kelly, Murdo McLeod and Ellie Homewood.  The pace was pretty hot but I wasn't breathing too heavily, not until we started the big climb onto the ridge.  We took the path and Don, Graham and Murdo steadily pulled away, whilst I led a small group consisting on Nigel Thomas, Ellie and Michael Diver.  Michael decided that some of the climb was runnable, where I was walking and he opened up a short gap, whilst Nigel caught and ran with me until the summit when I put in a spurt to catch Michael again.  I put another effort in to get past him and then concentrated on staying upright down the steep descent (which seemed vertical at the top). We seemed to drop a lot of height here but I felt good so I kept the pace strong whilst we bashed through high heather and deer trods contouring under the A' Chir ridge.  I was glad of my knee-high socks here, which protected my shins at the same time as looking ridiculous.  Then, a path and a staircase to the col under Cir Mhor.  I passed Don here - he'd been racing too much and was having a bad day, so wisely packed it in.  It didn't take long to get to the col and then up and down to the summit, where I worked out I was in 11th position as the other ten in front of me could all be counted as I climbed.  Russell was having a good race, battling it out with Chris Upson for 4th and 5th place. Eleventh place put some pressure on me though, since it meant I was in the top half of the field - get overtaken and I'd be in the bottom half.  After dropping back down the staircase, there is a long, tricky contour around to the Saddle, where the best advice is to stay high and climb over some difficult slabs.  I felt like perhaps I went a bit too high here but it's hard to say.  After the saddle, it's a long climb to North Goatfell and then Goatfell.  I started to feel the pace here and found it hard to push on up the ascent.  No-one seemed to be catching me though, so I got my head down and got on with the job. At the summit, I was feeling very tired but glad I only had the rocky descent down the tourist path to go.  I looked back and saw Ellie a couple of minutes back, which was a pain since I couldn't relax and cruise down to the finish.  Off I went and almost immediately turned my bad right ankle again.  I stopped and assessed the damage - not too bad it seemed, after the initial shock - so I took some painkillers and continued.  Almost immediately, another runner passed me, pushing me into 12th.  I hadn't seen this fella apart from near the bottom of Cir Mhor, so he must have save the best for last, whilst I was tiring. I couldn't keep with him, so there I just concentrated on keeping Ellie at bay.  The path is notorious for hill runners taking falls, so I had to keep what little wits I had left, about me.  Soon enough, the path hit the burn and forked into the forest and easier running.  Ten minutes later, and I hit the field and the end and was done - 12th place in a bit over 3:25, which was more or less on target (though I'd had a fantasy time a bit quicker!). I feel like a ran better for longer and made a race of it, despite there not being many people to run against.  My % of winner time was much more respectable and I didn't die a death.  Russell ran very well for 4th place and I had a good time, chatting with other folks, particularly the super-friendly Westies and Carnethies, on the ferry over and back.  Good times.

I ran my third long hill race of the year yesterday, over the two Loch Lochy Munros north of Fort William. This was the first running of the race, over hills that I hadn't climbed before (Meall na Teanga and Sron a' Choire Ghairbh), which was part of the attraction. Unfortunately, it's a fair drive to Loch Lochy from the Borders and none of my clubmates were coming for the trip. I didn't fancy driving up there alone, so I was lucky to find a couple of chaps from the Edinburgh clubs who needed a ride (Mark from HBT and Andy from Carnethy, both much quicker than I am). The race HQ was based in a private estate, called Achnacarry, which was very pleasant. The start itself was a kilometre or so up the road at a beautiful waterfall (a registered wedding spot, apparently). There were 57 runners in the race and we made a lovely meal for the midges as we waited to begin, which made the surroundings a little less endearing. We were underway soon enough, along the road for a few hundred metres and then we turned up a forest track. This would be my third hill race in 7 days, after Yetholm and Cort-ma Law, so I figured I'd be tired and would be conservative for the first few miles. I had a small group of decent runners (including Don Reid and Kate Jenkins) in my sights all the way up the track until we entered the forest and the track turned into a narrower path (which would make great mountain biking), which included a tricky, stony downhill section. After a short while, we came into a big wide glen and started to run in the open, on rough, slightly boggy ground. The sun came out here and I began to realise that I was not just tired but very tired. I didn't really have the ability to pick up the pace, so I decided to take it easy and not break myself, treating the race as a training run in beautiful surroundings. The race had strung out here and we started up a steep ascent to the first munro summit. I could still see a lot of runners ahead of me but I didn't make any headway - I'm usually pretty quick at steep, walkable ascents, given my long legs (the only advantage my size gives me). My shoes have started to blister my heels too, which made the climb a bit unpleasant. It's certainly a beautiful, remote place but the sweat in my eyes stopped me from enjoying it too much. The first summit appeared through the mist and we turned and barreled down a steep, runnable descent to the bealach under the next hill. Once we started to climb again my legs felt completely dead - I still haven't gotten used to the transitions between running up and down hill. Five minutes later, my legs were back and I got myself up and over the second summit. Another short descent and a nice wee climb up to a lower hill and then there was a flatter section before the final descent to the forest for the long run back to the road.  Looking at the final results, the runner I chased down to the col, put 12 minutes into me over the second half of the race - so I think I must have just gotten slower and slower.  I lost 3 or 4 minutes on the runner ahead of me in the last 30 minutes of running. The descent was tough on my legs and I was feeling very tired here. I managed to keep a reasonable pace up on the run out but it wouldn't matter much, I wasn't catching the runner in front and the runner behind seemed to be struggling too, so I kept it moving without killing myself. I finished in about 3:07, with the winning time of 2:06, so I was very slow. I had been hoping to get well under 3 hours but my legs were shot at after some hard training and racing. This week, I'll run intervals and spend some extra time on the bike instead of running a lot before the Glen Rosa Horseshoe race.

The Campsie Fells are a range of hills in central Scotland, popular with Glaswegians, less so with those of us (like me) from the East (who use the Pentlands instead). So, last night, I raced (again) over a hill called Cort-ma Law, and took my first trip to the Campsies.  The weather was good for running, dry, with a cool breeze.  I travelled up with Russell and James after work and it made a grand wee trip - decent car conversation, race in the middle, meet a few folks, chip supper on the way home. My right leg has been more or less seized since Yetholm with a tight calf and a wee tear in the quad.  I've also got a very unpleasant blister on my right heel (I believe the blister and the bad leg are related).  So, I probably shouldn't have raced but I'm not so sensible.  In the end, my leg was fine and it's even feeling better now, the day after. Cort-ma Law starts with a steep pull up onto an undulating ridge to the hilltop, before turning north and running over boggy ground to another hill, Lecket, then descending steep, tussocky ground to an awkward set of burn crossings, another steep pull, back onto the undulations and then back down the quick and potentially hazardous decent to the line. I decided to further my race experimentations by taking it fairly easy on the first climb and not to go off hard and pay for it later.  This was accomplished and I kept the pace low and managed not to get the debilitating feeling in my legs when I had to start running hard again.  However, after 15 minutes, I started to feel good, so i picked up the pace but it didn't last long and I started blowing all too soon. I felt heavy on the mid-section of the race over the boggy ground (which was fairly dry, it'd be hideous in the rain) and lost a couple of places.  However, I was determined to try to descend better and I feel that I managed that - I kept the group I was pursuing in my sights all the way down the first, tough descent, over the kind of tussocky, uneven ground that I would normally struggle over.  I even managed a very nice barrel roll when I put my left foot in a hole. Steep climbs aren't a problem for me, it's the only time I tend not to lose places, so I kept the pace up and then tried to stay strong on the drag back to the last descent.  I had someone breathing down my neck here and a couple of runners in my sights, so I tried manfully to keep the pace up here.  A final, mad rush to the line with 4 of us crossing more or less together - by this time, I was moving full pelt and I almost lost it 2 yards from the end when my leg buckled but I held it together. I missed my sub-hour target by a minute or so, which was a shame, but I don't really have the fitness right now.  I'm running fine, just not brilliantly.  Hopefully, in a month or so, I'll have picked up when I have a bit more hard running in my legs.

After a wee hiatus after Jura, to let my ankle settle and to let my body recover a bit, I raced again today. This time, it was a much smaller race in the Borders at Yetholm, which is the northern terminus of the Pennine Way. Indeed, part of the route ran along the end of the Way, straddling the border of Scotland with England. Most of the active members of the club were out today. Out of 45 runners, there were 9 of us (Darin, Mike, Wull, Russell, Kenny, myself, Julia, Steve and Dave) - we outnumbered every club there, even the organising club, by quite a margin. It's a great club to be part of - there's some great runners in there and everyone is friendly and there's a bit of banter, which suits me. I haven't run much in the last couple of weeks. When I ran last weekend, we were in the middle of a heatwave and my body rebelled - I can't run in the sun until I've acclimated (which is hard when we only get a few such days every summer). I knocked the running on the head until yesterday, when I had a wee blast round the forest and found my legs in decent nick, so I thought I'd give it a wee go today. So, I kept the pace up on the first hill, hovering around just after the top ten (5 of which were Moorfoots). That climb was tough to start with - steep and uneven. I was blowing out my backside by the time I hit the top, trying to keep pace with some better runners. In retrospect, hitting the first hill so hard was a mistake since I couldn't get my breath back for the rest of the race it seemed. Still, I gave it a go and didn't really slow much, so maybe I just am not fit enough. The route is very good - pretty runnable and with decent terrain. There was a bit climb in the middle which slowed down proceedings but it was over in 15 minutes and the run back to the finish was predominantly downhill. I couldn't catch anyone after the last ascent, so I made sure I wasn't going to be caught and then cruised back to the end. The club did well. We had 7 runners in the first 19 (I was 18th) and several placings - 3rd, 6th, 7th and 10th; first senior, first V50; first senior lady and first team. I ran more or less to target and didn't kill myself or turn my ankle, which is a bonus. I could have paced myself better and I never felt comfortable, but I don't think you are supposed to. Next week, Loch Lochy.