Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

The last two wednesday nights have seen me lining up for midweek hill racing, Bog-n-Burn style.  Last week was Maddy Moss in the Ochils (710m of ascent over 10km) and this week was Turnhouse in the Pentlands (350m of ascent over 5km, so a Turnhouse equals exactly half of a Maddy). I've not been training a huge amount recently - a combination of some tiredness, lack of motivation and wanting to spend more time with my girls has limited me to a bare minimum.  I've kept racing but, understandably, I've not been expecting too much from my results. Maddy Moss was hard.  A steep climb into the clouds, followed by a long, tough descent.  The descent was where I lost time - the path is deeply rutted and narrow and I had great difficulty getting any speed going and many runners overtook me.  I finished well down on expectations (although it seemed like times were slower across the board) in about 1:10 for 64th out of 121 finishers.  I didn't feel great and was a bit downcast about my speed. Last night was Turnhouse in the pouring rain.  Another big turnout made life difficult at the start where the path narrows and I got caught up behind the masses.  Once up the first climb, the path levels out a bit for a while before entering some trees and then striking up Turnhouse itself on a pathless, steep ascent.  It was here I started to pass some folks.  My legs were still fresh and I wasn't choking as I normally am when climbing, so I used my long legs to generate a bit of speed.  Then it was a case of holding on down the long, slippery, wet descent.  I was passed by a few here but generally, I seemed to hold my position reasonably and didn't let anyone who had passed me get too far ahead.  I finished in 33 minutes dead and hopefully, quite far up the field compared to Maddy Moss. So, where Maddy Moss was bad, Turnhouse was unexpectedly good.  I've got a couple of different races (triathlons and mountain biking as well as a long, long hill race) in August that I'm probably not fit for but I can't be too far off.

I completed another midweek hill race last night over Carnethy hill in the Pentlands. I had a week off running and training last week - I just lost the will and decided a rest was in order - so my legs probably weren't up to a hard effort. So, with that in mind, I decided to go hard off the line. Yes, I am that stupid.

Every race I do this year is a new experience for me and there's a definite learning curve involved, both for my mind and my body, neither of which are quite ready for those experiences. I've tried going easy at the start of races and I've tried going hard and holding on - I'm not sure what works. Probably, I should have been more conservative last night but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The race started whilst we were all getting dowsed by a heavy rain shower. I moved myself towards the front behind the fastest fellas and just in front of the faster fellas. The course takes a couple of short, sharp climbs upwards onto Falla Hill before dropping. I tried to hold a quick pace up the hills, and managed quite well, though I was blowing a bit, I felt like I was managing. Figuring I would catch my breath a bit running off the hill, I had made my big mistake. The downhill was boggy and heathery and my big bambi legs didn't like it one bit. By the bottom, I'd been caught by a few and once on the climb up Carnethy, I think I gave up a bit (though it didn't seem like that at the time). I probably should have pushed on but figured I'd take it steady.

Over the top of the hill, another couple of runners caught me and I struggled to keep on their heels on the fast descent. Then, the Scald Law col and down the trail to the finish and another couple passed me.

I finished in 33:31 and 27th out of 57 runners. I'm fairly certain I would have finished further up had I not gone out too hard. Still, who knows? I quite enjoyed myself and I now know how to run faster, I just need to put in the training to be able to sustain it for longer.