Glee Club

Picked up at 0830 this morning to get a head start on the Glee Club's run from Inverarnan to Tyndrum. Jim wanted to get away as it takes him a while to get going and I must say I sympathise these days. Today's run took my weeks mileage to 71, a previously unheard of level, so it took me a wee while to get going too! An easy run from the Drover's to Carmyle before the splash through the climb to Ewich Forest. The cattle had obviously been on the curries this week. This was one of the parts of the WHW that I was unfamiliar with and those Millies who have been up there before me were sure to let me know it was a toughie. I didn't find it too bad, but I was sticking with Jim at this point so perhaps the pace made it easier, but I was aware from what I was running that it was going to be worse on the way back. Towards the end of the descent we were caught by Aileen, John and Jamie from the following group and I got the message from Jim to head on as he would have plenty of company from then on to Tyndrum. Right I thought "I'm off" and immediately lost it on the descent to the A82 and went over on my ankle. No real damage though and the run through Strathfillan to Tyndrum was fine, except that I was caught by Keith "Corn Beef" Hughes and his mate(?) Norman. That meant I had to put up with a "race commentary" into the Fling Finish line with a dip finish from guess who to win the world title.
Soup in the Green Welly set us up for the home leg, and after after being dumped by JR who told me not to wait on him and his new running partner Ellen, I set off feeling refreshed from our break. Ran fine until climbing through Ewich, as tough as I'd thought, temperature inside my jacket rising, until I decided to take it off, at which point I was passed by Keith and three others. Run/walk from there to the top of the hill and down through the farmyard smells to the A82 before I was forced to replace the jacket due to being freezing. As I did so I suddenly felt the right Hammy tweek, although why I put the jacket over my head as I stepped onto the flight of stairs at the A82,only I can tell(donkey).
Simultaneously, I suddenly lost energy and I had run out of fruit juice and couldn't face a Trek bar. So it was a struggle from there, although a Robertson loop (navigational error? Me?) didn't help. Garmin showed that the last 12 miles completed were done in 2.45. Good enough for me as I wanted to run at a realistic pace and as I'd now done 70 miles this week (did I mention that?) I wasn't expecting a fast time.
Some light refreshment in the Drover's afterwards, good company and lot's of laughs, although Jamie who had spent the night there certainly doesn't recommend an overnight stay! And did you know that the Loch Lomond Mongoose was hunted to extinction and the only remaining example is a stuffed and mounted one in the Drover's snug?

A Bank Holiday Run

A day off imposed upon me as my company is based in Yorkshire and they gave everyone the English bank holiday. I was making breakfast when my dog went berserk and when I investigated found a young lady ready to go running. I don't remember joining Running Singles, and Mairi might have had something to say about that in any case. Then it clicked that this was Kim, who is my son's training partner, and he was supposed to be running with her this morning. He of course was still in his scratcher. So we had a wee blether about her running programme and I of course went into coach/jogleader mode. Suffice to say she has run 2.2 miles as her longest run and spends her time trying to beat her fastest time each time she runs. By the time he was ready she had a better idea of what she was doing and, when he returned, they had done a six mile run/walk on hills. He'll never learn, but then he was a sprinter and they know it all! I wonder how many potential runners are put off by going about programs in all the wrong ways. I know my injury problems all stemmed from running too fast when I was coaching kids and accompanying them in 200m reps.
Hopefully I know a bit more about what is appropriate for me. However, I still think that too much slow running, whereby the joints aren't put through their full range of motion, leads to lots of injuries when the runner suddenly decides to speed up. That is one thing about running the WHW that worries me. Hopefully I can deal with it by ensuring some sessions that put the knee (especially) through full ROM.
Today's run was on a small part of the Way. I was out for a run in the car looking for some holiday clothes, but dressed to run as I intended doing a run before going home. I went down to Balmaha and did 6 miles on the trail and road. Quite difficult to get a good run as the Way was full of walkers and other tourists, and getting past them broke up my running. But good in parts and as it was intended as a recovery run (although yesterday was a rest day I still felt Saturday's ru in my legs) it served the purpose. Very muddy in places and perhaps would have been better in trail shoes.