I’ve thought about writing a blog post West Highland Way but
couldn’t bring myself to do it, or own up to what happened really at the time.
WHW race
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| The crew at 1.00am: Ben, Rob, me, Steph, Vicky, Lesley |
I got injured in March and never fully came back, it was
very naïve of me to think it would be possible to complete the West Highland
Way after only two training runs, both were 9 hour efforts in the mountains
without much running. The training suited the CCC perfectly but not the WHW.
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| Coming down into Balmaha around 4.00am |
I went into the race and low and behold within 5 miles I
could feel the same pain again in my ankle, I pushed through Drymen, took
painkillers at Balmaha and just felt awful about the prospect of stopping.
Unfortunately at Rowardennan I made the tough call to end my race, ending my
journey for the WHW in 2016. In hindsight it might have been
a better idea to stop earlier and take less time to recovery before the damage
was worsened.
Huge props to my support crew for sacrificing their weekends
to help me try and achieve one of my dreams, thank you Vicky, Rob, Steph, Ben
& Lesley!
We went up to the finish to see some runners in and went to
the award ceremony, which was really good to see everyone else get their
goblets. I’m not putting my name in the hat for next year’s race. A few of my
friends say it’s a good idea to go for it again next year, finish it and get
some closure but I’ve got my eyes on other targets next year, and the race will
always be there to conquer one day!
Post WHW
So I took some sensible advice and had two full weeks off
without running or any form of exercise, limiting the walking to hopefully heal
it faster. Three weeks after I tentatively started back up, running short
distances and very slow to see if it came back. After two build up low mileage
weeks I was feeling really good about it and ready to step up the game for some
descent weeks and fantastic long runs to train for the CCC specifically on the
climbing/descending.
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| Mid week run up Ben Lomond - Photo: Stuart Chalmers |
CCC Details
The CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix) is 101 km long with 20,000ft of
ascent (spread across 5 main climbs). The race is the 'little sister' of the UTMB race but now attacts 1900 runners and takes in almost 3/4 of the UTMB course. Starting in Italy we go through Switzerland before coming back into France and finishing in Chamonix.
CCC Training
There were four long runs I’d planned and each of them was
fantastic in their own right and I’d like to write about them and hopefully
showcase how beautiful they were.
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| Profile |
#1 – Ring of
Steall
Wow this route is very tough! There were five of us doing
this run starting and finishing in Kinlochleven: Alan, Gavin, Ross, Carol and
myself. This would be a full recce of the Skyrunning race.
The route was fantastic, we went clockwise, tackling the
Devils Ridge early on was pretty fun, the descent to Glen Nevis was excellent
where Carol fell in the water and almost down a waterfall! The fields after Steall
Falls were very very boggy and the climb up the 2nd munro was tough
as hell. Some fine ridge running before the final munro in wet conditions,
quickly down to the bealach and back onto the West Highland Way before heading
back to the cars to get changed and get some dinner in Tyndrum.
Mountain: Sgurr An Lubhair
Munros: Sgurr a'Mhaim, An Gearanach, Stob Coire a' Chairn and
Am Bodach.
8 hours, 8,800ft+, 17 miles
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| Full Ring of Steal route |
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| Devils Ridge |
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| Carefully crossing |
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| Don't wanna fall |
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| Fun scree descent into Glen Nevis |
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| Refilling water |
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| Here we go |
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| The fun wire bridge |
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| Steall Falls |
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| The ridge and 3 more munros |
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| Profile |
#2 – Cairngorm
4000er’s
Okay so this was by far the hardest and longest run during
training. Gavin came over and we set off early hoping to get up to the
Cairngorms and ready to run by about 9.30am from the Sugarbowl car park beneath
Cairngorm.
I fell within the first 2 miles crossing the boulder ridden
Chalamain Gap, spraining my finger and gashing my legs. We continued on the
run, going up some of the highest mountains in the UK, with rainbows all
around. Great chatting to walkers at the Corrour Bothy on the Larig Ghru, and
being well fed by them! I snapped a pole on the ascent to MacDui in horrendous
conditions. We took shelter near the top to try and warm our hands before
seeing the summit cairn and getting off the mountain fast. Beautiful to see
some reindeer in the field near the start of our run too, the Cairngorms are
really a fantastic and wild place.
4000ft Munros: Braeriach, Sgor an Lochain Uanie, Cairntoul,
Ben MacDui
3000ft Munro: Carn a'Mhaim
9 hours, 8,500ft+, 26
miles
#3 Long WHW and
Ben Lomond
Two more ‘long’ runs left but no more weekends to get these
done because our best friend’s wedding was at the weekend between these next 2
runs.
Plan was to finish work, drive straight to Balmaha and
follow the West Highland Way to Rowardennan, meet Ryan and take on Ben Lomond
and see how I’m feeling by then.
Didn’t realise how tiring it would be after work without a
proper meal before running, so pretty fatigued throughout, climb up Ben Lomond
via Ptarmagin was a real slog, chaffing pretty badly too. Got no views at the
top due to the clouds and when we got back to Rowardennan it was starting to
get dark so I knocked it on the head there.
Munro: Ben Lomond
4 hours, 4,200ft+, 15
miles
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| Ascending Ben Lomond - Photo: Ryan Scott |
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| Ascending Ben Lomond - Photo: Ryan Scott |
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| Profile |
#4 Conic Hill x10
I booked a day off work for this final long run. Plan was to
go it alone up and down Ben Nevis twice, getting about 8,000ft in 20 miles, but
two things put me off doing this alone:
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The big flat rocky platau and getting lost like
on MacDui
- The really bad wind the evening before made me
think it would be horrendous on the tops.
The great thing about doing hill reps on Conic Hill was I
could test race nutrition and clothing, using my car as an ‘aid
station’ seeing it every 4 miles to refuel, and to gain some mental toughness
of doing the same loop over and over.
Managed to get to the top of Conic Hill 10 miles, it was
quiet at the start but by the final time it was super busy with walkers. The final
descent down from Conic Hill to Balmaha was so fun, it was pretty busy but I
just ran down hard, my legs felt great considering it was 20 miles in with just
over 7,000ft, I ran strong and managed to get a Strava PB for myself haha. Just
goes to show! This was a nice confidence booster for the CCC and now I’m
feeling ready.
Hill: Conic Hill x10
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| Profile |
Final thoughts:
Feels good to be tapering, keeping the legs ticking over and
getting ready for race day. Going to concentrate on strengthening and core work
these next 2 weeks and mobility exercises.
Thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed this. And look
forward to being in Chamonix toeing the start line!
“We are as precise as engineers with the dreams of an
artist” – I heard that quote on the podcast and really liked it. TrailRunnerNation
Episode
What great preparation you've had for the CCC, a world away from your WHW preparation, don't be disappointed with you're WHW, you gave it a go, it was a brave effort considering your injury before hand and it will be there for when whenever you want to take it on again. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Fiona, you're an inspiration! I'll hopefully see you at the award ceremony on year with a goblet in hand :D
DeleteFantastic Ian, i am sure you are going to have a great race. I have been doing core work too and am concentrating on that now and staying injury and illness free (wore a mask for work on friday as everyone had colds!) We will have to meet up in Chamonix.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Anne, we must meet up in Chamonix while we're over there :)
Delete