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| What does that spell? |
First problem of the weekend was how to pronounce the name
of the little village we were staying at. It was firmly established that the
proper and correct pronunciation was “Tyne –drum” and most certainly not
“Tin-drum” after all, I was informed there’s no Tin in “Tyne-drum” (there is
gold but that’s another story) That sorted out it was time to do some
running….and talk about running….and listen to stories about running.
No sooner had I signed up for this weekend did I end up with
a gammy hamstring which was less than ideal prep for a weekend based around running,
and not just running but ultra-running. However it was a weekend that I had
been looking forward to so I decided to go along. It wasn’t as though I’d
actually have to do much actual running
was it?
Leaving late from work and roadworks wherever I looked meant
that I didn’t reach the “by-the-way hostel” until late but re-assuring my
arrival was met with a lovely degree of enthusiasm from people I had never met
before. Although the fact that I had bought a cake with me might have been the
reason. I was given a delicious bowl of veggie stew before heading to bed in my
“camping cabin”, a camping cabin being a sort of shed containing bunk beds, a
posh shed mind you, it had a heater and a window complete with curtains. The
hostel itself was lovely and John had organised everything amazingly well
especially the group meal on the Saturday night which was served complete with
wine.
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| A camping cabin |
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| Group dinner with the other runners |
The following day saw people taking lots of different
options. The majority were there for the official Highland fling training run
of 33 miles and they caught the early bus taking them south along the west
highland way to their start point. There was also a 20 mile option if you got
off the bus a little bit earlier. Other people and smaller groups headed off to
do their own thing and so I joined Lorna who was also struggling with a
hamstring injury for a run north from the Inveroran Hotel which was also the
starting point for both Emma’s run to Kinlochleven and Sandra’s epic run all
the way to Fort William. Sandra had run over 40 miles the previous day and was
in training for the South Downs way 100 mile race. Ian, her husband and better known as the West Highland Way Race director, had taken
the car down to Bridge of Orchy and he was going to run to Fort William from
there.
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| Lorna, Emma, Sandra and me! |
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| A sunny day on the West Highland Way |
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| Cheery West Highland Way walkers |
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| Frog! |
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| Ian Beattie on his way to Fort William |
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| Owls eggs maybe? |
It was a bright, sunny, breezy day and we all enjoyed a
relaxed run over the first part of Rannoch Moor. Frogspawn on the water and a
frog on the trail confirmed that spring really was here and it was all too soon
that Lorna and I had to turn back to the car at Inveroran leaving Emma and
Sandra to carry on their way. We turned back into a slightly stiffer breeze but
both of us reached inveroran hotel after 2 hours of gentle running with our
injuries none the worse for it.
The advantage in being back earlier than the main group was
that the showers were all free and so I got washed and settled down with a cup
of tea (ok, ok it was actually a glass of red wine…) to listen to a practice
run of one of the talks that was to take place later in the evening as people
started to return gradually from their adventures in varying degrees of
knackered-ness, head for showers and crack open a beer before dinner was
served.
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| Running essentials |
After the group meal we were entertained firstly by a talk
from Paul Tierney and Sarah McCormack of “Missing Link Coaching”. Based in
Cumbria they offer an online coaching service and they went through some
coaching and physio basics with us. Paul is an experienced ultra-runner,
recently winning the epic Lakeland 100mile race and Sarah is a former Irish
Cross country champion, European cross country gold medallist and top 10
finisher in the world mountain running championships. They both clearly knew
what they were talking about.
The following day they took us through various exercises
including running with sticky tape over our mouths to prompt breathing through
the nose. This is not as easy as it sounds and it makes sure you get some very
odd looks from other users of the West Highland Way path. Paul also took us
through some foot exercises but I was distinctly nervous about these given the
injuries I have suffered in recent years but I gave them ago – until my feet
got too cold to stand it. He had us on the damp morning dew covered grass in
bare feet! It was freezing!
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| How to plank! |
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| A talk from Paul and Sarah of "Missing Link Coaching" |
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| Question and answer session with the panel |
After Paul and Sarah’s talk Kirsten Cowling, the last place
finisher in last year’s Highland Fling race, gave a talk about her race prep
and training and the race itself and his has got to have been one of the best,
funniest and most entertaining running talks I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening
to. I really look forward to hearing her account of this year’s race that she
is in training for.
Finally it was a Q&A session with Paul, Sarah and 15
time West Highland Way finisher and all round ultra-running legend Adrian Stott
and some useful running hints and tips materialised from this. The ones that I
found most interesting was the lack of focus on mega-mileage. I was surprised
by how little mileage many of the participants of ultras do (or say they do!)
so maybe the Don Ritchie Style of 140 mile per week isn’t totally necessary.
The other was that walking can be a useful addition to a training programme.
Bob Graham round record holder Jasmin Paris cites some of her best races coming
after holidays featuring long days of walking in the mountains and it seemed to
confirm my own experience of how strong people with a mountaineering background
rather than a running background were when it came to races like the Tour de
Monte Rosa stage race.
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| Sunday recovery run |
The following day it was time for a short recovery run on
the West highland way before heading home after a fun weekend with lots learned
and new friends made. It actually felt like a very relaxed weekend despite it
being all about running mega distances. The people that I got to know there
were not running bores as I had expected and were friendly and welcoming
towards an obvious non-ultra-runner and I definitely plan to go along to
another one of these Highland Fling training weekends next year. I might even
do the race some time. Maybe….no rash promises now…
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