Old Man of Stoer

Every since my first trip up to Ullapool to visit my wee brother I've had an urge to run out along the cliffs from the light house to the Old Man of Stoer; yesterday that urge was satisfied in style.
I woke to clear blue skies, blazing sunshine but with a crisp 2degC air temperature.
The scenery round here is stunning, so the drive up was filled with "wow!" moments coming round corners. I drove along an A road, turning off just before Lochinver onto a single track road where the frequency of those "wow!" moments was cranked up further; hills, lochs, cliffs, white sandy beaches - all in there.
I parked up near the lighthouse and had a wee blether with the lady opening up the coffee shack to get an idea of conditions. I was advised that the ground was crisp underfoot and way drier than normal for this time of year, so I opted to leave the Mudclaws behind, wear the Bear Grips for the first section and the Roclites for the rest, the selection turned out to be sound.
While the temperature had risen during my drive, it was still cold starting off, which was straight up a wee incline, so it took a while to get wqrmth into my calves. The ground felt like a top layer was frozen but that it wasn't too deep, so it had a slightly springy feel to to it underfoot, which was comfortable enough in the BGs, except when my landed on some shurned up mud that had frozen solid...
Running in the sun, a couple of layers had to come back off sooner than I expected, and it finally felt like spring has arrived.
When the Old Man first appeared, I edged out along a short knife edge spur to sit, exposed on a little peak, soaking in the scenery, before heading on round to get a closer look at the stack.
As I was the first visitor in the car park, all the way out on the run it was like I had the entire headland to myself; just me, the sea, the sky amd the ground I was running on. I wove along the paths, up grassy slopes, swooping down hills, scampering rouns the rocks and opened up my stride as the ground levelled out towards the top of the stack. This is running at its finest to me.
I changes into my Roclites at this point, as I had enough wee niggles to remind myself that I'm still working on strengthening my feet. The extra support given by the shoes meant I did run much more confidently the rest of the way, but I do hope to be doing runs like todays run entirely in the BGs in the not to distant future.
After an appropriate amount of time gawping at the Old Man (fnarr) I carried towards the tip of the headland to get other views of the stack. By now I had an unobstructed view across to the snow topped Sutherland hills. More gawping at the Old Man and then on out to the very tip of the land, where it felt kinda like I was standing at the edge of the world.
The sun had melted any ground frost so the running was now onto ground that had more gice and was a pleasure to run on. Up through the heather I ran, up to a trig poing indicating the highest point out there for a gobsmackingly beautiful 360 panorama. Words can't do it justice.
From there I dropped down off the path to run through some boggy heather as it looked much more fun than sticking to the path (it was), leading me down to a beautiful wee pool before I joined the road from the radio mast back down to the car park.
Just stunning. If you are ever up that way, make sure you have your trail shoes....

Returning Sunshine, Returning Spirit

So, for a variety of reasons my training over the winter has been pretty limited, so over the last couple of weeks I've been easing myself back in, catching a couple of the club run sessions, a ride along the canal path, an off road run and a circuit session (which *HURT*). Today, the sun shone and it was verging on being warm; the miserable weather of recent weeks melted away under the suns gentle smile and life felt good. So I got home and immediately signed myself up for 3 triathlons; Bute Sprint, Ayr Sprint & St Mary's Standard.
I've never raced at any of these locations (the St Mary's one is new but from the same location as the Durty), so looking forward to them all. Spring is in the air.

I totally burnt out after Roth last year, I just hadn't set up the mechanisms for allowing my body to recover after the beating I gave it round the course, so I plan on doing things for fun this year. Don't get me wrong, I still want to train hard and push myself on, but in reality I'm still relatively new to this training  malarky, and my body is still adapting to being treated in this fashion, but its definitely getting used to it. I was running the other day & complaining that I was so out of shape after being off the training most of the winter, until I thought about the fact that the run session I was doing would've broken me 3 years ago, rather than just leaving me a bit short of breath. My sub 40min 10k still remains a goal out there, but I want to let the next few months roll out naturally and get myself back into better form before I start targeting it. I'll take stock in a couple of months.

2013, I look forward to your challenges!

Amon Amarth - Cry of the Black Birds

Pauper of the Crow

What a way to start the new year: a time trial up the Crow road. Now, before I get into it, let me list all the excuses I have:
1) I only got to bed at 2
2) It was the first time I'd been on the road bike since about August
3) Everyone knows I suck at climbs
4) Its hard to cycle with a full bladder
5) Contrary to popular belief, warm ups are *not* just for wimps.
6) I rocked up so late to satisfy myself that I was fit to drive before doing so
7) My quads hurt from a run 2 days before
8) My stomach has been a mess since I went out drinking on the Friday before Christmas

Right, now that these facts have been established (100% facts!) on with the rest of it

Well, while most people were abed, nursing their hangovers, a bunch of GTCers took to the roads to prove our mettle. The weather was kind to us, presenting clear skies for us to enjoy with our cycling. In classy style, I turned up late, missing out on the warm up ride from the Kirkhouse arriving instead with just enough time to get my bike out of the car, but not enough to deal with the bladder that was full following my mornings rehydration strategy of 2 pi ts of water, a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice or get the slightest of warm ups.

The King of the Crow is run as a time trial with 30 seconds between each rider; I started fourth, so had a 90 seconds of bladder distracting time to wait before I started, and what a start!!!!!!
* Improvement Point 1: off foot should be clipped in as soon as possible, not 100m up the road *
Anyways. After a brief run in, the climb begins. After bashing through the gears, I reached the biggest one on the back and settled into my slog up the hill. And slow this slog was, regularly dipping beneath 10km/min according to my on board computer.
* Improvement Point 2: get some sessions back focussed on hills - my technique started improving last year before my knee problems, so get back out and improve again *
It wasn't long before the first of those starting behind me passed, and it wasn't all that long before everyone else had passed too, leaving just me and the hill. I wanted to puke, I wanted to pee, my quads burned and I couldn't bend forward properly due to the rock solid bladder restricting my motion. The climb was grim. I flirted with the idea of bailing at the car park, but the torrent of scorn that would be rained down apon me kept me from chickening out. Round past the car park comes the steep bit, then the blessed relief of the shallower incline up to the border signpost, where I allowed myself to start getting up the gears.
* Improvement Point 3: I could've cranked up harder at this point, but wussed out. Don't be a wuss Colm, get up the gears faster *
In a desperate hope to not look as rotten as I actually was, over the border I cranked up the speed as hard as I could. Sadly, my enfeebled quads and dodgy stomach weren't for doing this for long, but it did feel good while it lasted!
Sweeping round the corner just over 30 minutes from my start time, I dropped round the final bend to the rapturous applause (and relief as it meant they weren't going to have to stand around in the cold much longer, or send out the search parties) of the assembled masses, then dissapeared across a field of grasses saturated with ice cold water to reach the tree line & get the relief at last (meaning I alsoanaged to miss the awards!). The lantern rouge was mine!
A kilo lighter, the hop up to the border was far easier and was followed by a relativelt fasr and  fun return to the foot of the crow, then post ride banter at the Kirkhouse. Wouldn't've has it any other way!

For all my so called excuses at the start, I don't give a monkeys about my performance. I'm just glad that ,after the post Roth lull & general lack of cycling since, I managed to get up the hill!!!

Happy New Year everyone, hope 2013 is a brilliant year for you all!

Christmas Ride

I know, I know, I've beem way too quiet on here recently, but I'm working on a diploma, so thats unlikely to change anytime soon.
Still, I managed to get out for an hour or so on Christmas day on my mountain bike - it was a lovely day, but my hangover was a pain climbing, so I didn't go as far as I'd planned. Fun though, and I was left with tons of time to actually wash the bike properly. Which was nice.

Off Season Alternative Training

Like many things in life, I kinda this one found me.  A Living Social deal popped in the inbox months ago for an introductary lesson in the flying trapeze at Aerial Edge. Following a brief moment of thinking "coooooooooooool" I bought a voucher with the aim of having it there for something fun to do in the off season.
About a month ago, while in the midst of my crappy bunged up and lethargic phase I booked the session to give me something active & fun to look forward to, but that didn't carry any pressure to compqre myself against where I'd been earlier in the year; Wednesday was the day I had my lesson.
The brief summary: it was brilliant!

Billed as an introduction session, I was plopped into the deep end with 4 other fliers who had experience with this and other aerial acrobatic skills, which suited me fine as there was way less faffing and more time on the trapeze.
I had figured that this was going to be a good workout for the upper body & the core in particular and I wasn't wrong! From the moment I climbed up onto the platform, it was all about core, poise and control. Onto the trapeze itself and the core had to be completely switched on to provide the power to beat the legs forward and back, powering the swing. The timing started to come reasonably quickly and I had a grin on my face everytime I landed in the crash mats, even the time I slipped off at the start of my swing. There is lots to learn there, but in the process of learning, I'll also learn a lot about my body and get some upper body strength again!
With my arms having the same feeling as post rock climbing, it was time to stop with the trapeze and get sent up to the catchers cradle. I don't think many people without aerial experience get put up there on their first lesson, so I'm quite chuffed.
The trapeze platform must've been about 12' off the deck and the cradle maybe 15', which for me, after climbing up the rigging to then step across the 3' gap is quite high up. The platform itself is only a frame with a wee boarded out bit either side. You sit down on a bar and lower yourself backwars to hang, with your calves on top of the first bar and your feet underneath another and then swing from the knees. To say this was a slightly odd sensation at first would be an understatement, as the first time I went back I freaked out and had a sensatiom that I was falling and sat back up immediately.
After a few long deep yoga breaths to calm me down and some chat from the instructor I got myself back down and swinging. A few more of those and it was time to get back down. It was quite a buzz, to be fair.
The only downside of the whole things is that 48 hours later the DOMS really kicked in, with my abs in particular feeling it. It tells me though that if I keep going back as intended, I'll get the core workout I'm looking for and also brings something completely different to my training to mix things up!

This morning's blog was written while listening to the gentle tones of Slaughter of the Soul by At The Gates. A mighty fine album.

Stuck in a Rut

So I probably chose the wrong time to announce my new challenge, as I've done hee haw since, between hangovers and colds. Still, I can just call it the off season, eh?
In truth, I've been in a total rut aince Roth. I've allowed myself to be lazy in many aspects since then, particularly my diet, which has been spectacularly bad since then, and I've probably been slightly dehydrated something stupid like 80% of the time, both of which add into the cloak of lethargy that I have woven around myself.
There are many excuses, but no solid reasons, just slipping back into bad habits, habits that need to be eradicated once and for all, because at the peak of training for Roth I felt strength in my body that I'd always assumed I'd never be able to attain, and energy levels that I'd not had since being a kid and I want them back.

Year 2

Yesterday, I was complimented on my running style. Apparently it looks effortless or easy when I run. I can't honestly remember the wording on account of the fact that I was trying to get my heart rate back down & some oxygen into my blood before the next rep started.
This outwardly relaxed look I seem to have is a direct result of the running form I have cultivated; to stand tall, engage the core, front foot strike, shoulders away from ears and enjoy the sensation of running.

How I got to this stage is a mixture of the work of the coaches at the club (particularly Vikky & Tommy), my yoga practice and going to a minimal running shoe. So if you want to get better, and stop looking in pain all the time (like I'm sure I did a year ago), here are my key tips:

Talk to coaches. They will give you pointers & technique tips regardless, but if you have a discussion on it, you'll glean more, and the feedback you give them can be used to personalise the advice they'll give you more.
Listen to the coaches. Talking isn't enough. Listen, absorb, follow. There's a reason they're coaching.
Go to yoga. Seriously. It improves flexibility, can aid in recovery and improves your core strength, and core strength is vital for good form whether you are running, cycling or swimming.
Get the right footwear (or none if thats right for you). I moved onto minimal shoes as part of a shift to frontfoot striking to help issues with ITB pain, which has worked. But the shoes & running style make it easier for me to maintain my form.

But what does this all have to do with Year 2? Well, I've been flopping around with my training post Roth, with nothing to really focus towards and I find it much easier to head for something with a target in place. I've talked about my desire to go sub 40 minutes for a 10km run, but thats a bit vague, so I'm going to give myself a real target and aim to be able to run a sub 40min 10k by the Men's Health Forum 10k in June 2013.

I'll keep you posted on my progress

Vangelis - Chariots of Fire