Petestack Blog

Just back from the Highlander Mountain Marathon at ‘Ullapool’ (the true centre given away by the T-shirts as Dundonell), where Jon and I came a slightly disappointing 15th from 22 starters in the A Class but still had a cracking (= hard!) weekend’s running in stunning surroundings…

Saturday’s course took us from Druim nam Fuath above Little Loch Broom back past Shenavall Bothy to Dundonell, although the optimum route (missed by half the class) on a day when we were permitted to visit the checkpoints in any order apparently skirted An Teallach to the north rather than south. But our real disaster came much earlier than that when taking completely the wrong line between our first and second checkpoints then compounding the error by making things ‘fit’ cost us about two miles of extra ground including some thigh-deep bog swimming! So that was us playing ‘catch up’ almost from the start, with a pretty decent run over the later stages sadly being more about damage limitation (lying 16th overnight but closing on those immediately above) than any kind of glory and my subsequent quick/crude calculation of our track (drawn from memory in the appropriately-named Memory-Map) suggesting about 38.6km/2,000m against the route planner’s ‘optimum’ 33.0km/1,540m.

Sunday was better, with the linear course (no choice of order) giving us a grand tour of the peninsula north of Dundonell before a final 40-knot RIB trip across Loch Broom back to Ullapool. But, despite a cracking start, we still surely lost time dropping too low too soon while skirting Beinn Ghobhlach to the north en route to a sea-level checkpoint at Camas a’ Mhaoraich, finishing 12th for the day (calculating 25.1km/1,300m against the nominal 23.8km/1,400m) and 15th overall. Physically a very hard weekend in increasingly bright conditions (NB arrived home 3kg lighter last night than I weighed on Friday morning), although both thankful for the good visibility when some of the controls could otherwise have been pretty tricky to locate and hampered by more muddy slips, slides and falls than I can ever remember while running! Also no question that Jon was dragging me round and, despite sometimes getting the better of him on training/fun runs (especially uphill), I’m not really fast enough to be competing with him at this level. But then again, neither of us are even on the same planet as the top guys, with the times recorded by the likes of Tim Higginbottom and Chris Near doubtless registering the same mixture of disbelief, awe and respect with most of the other also-rans as they do with me!

Think that’s most of what I really wanted to say said now, but mustn’t forget the number of mashed/bruised toenails (a regular problem with my truly weird feet) plaguing me today. Or the super-light, not-even-full, 20-litre weekend sacks that at least let us start feeling (and looking?) like elite athletes even if we didn’t/couldn’t behave as such in the end!

• Overall results
• Saturday results
• Saturday splits
• Sunday results
• Sunday splits

No joint training for the Highlander this past weekend with Jon and me heading for separate weddings (his brother, my cousin) on Saturday. But, with a high-level circuit of Glen Turret (or Loch Turret if you prefer) to grab Auchnafree Hill and Ben Chonzie (my only ‘unticked’ Munro or Top in the Southern Highlands) not too far off my direct route to Edinburgh, you can probably guess what I did on the way! So you might spot some interesting zigzags in my track as I played ‘join the dots’ with multiple, hilltop cairns to give 12.7 miles/3,700 ft of ascent on mostly rolling heathery terrain (not forgetting all those peat hags on the north-east side!) and might be interested to know that I’ve never seen so many mountain hares in my life (now all on the turn from winter to summer colouring) but, apart a quick mention for the burning April sun, I think that’s about it for now.

Another great training run for the Highlander with Jon yesterday, although we nearly canned our plans (to go ‘almost regardless of conditions’) for a two-Munro, three-Corbett circuit of Loch an Daimh after a night of wild weather and the MWIS forecast from hell. But a good thing we didn’t because, despite a fair breeze and a few showers, we were never fighting the grim battle implied by the forecast and conditions were both surprisingly benign and pretty enjoyable for most of the day.

Now, this circuit (cooked up mainly to let me ‘clean up’ Section 2 of Munro’s Tables with bonus Corbetts) proved to be a true runners’ round on rolling hills with well-spaced contours, straightforward climbs, largely carefree descents (periodically enhanced by lingering snow patches!) on gentle gradients, almost no ‘dancing’ through rocks or scree and only really a few awkward peat hags on some of the bealachs to impede progress at all. Should be pretty obvious from the maps where we went (NB the first shows the route I’d planned in blue and the second our actual track in red), but probably worth highlighting a couple of points in 1. our little triangular tour of the Corbett Meall Buidhe’s summit (where we changed direction to head for the cairn I spied as we arrived, then discovered another two with each one looking higher from the others!) and 2. our run southwards down the open scoop from the final Corbett of Cam Chreag (not what I’d drawn but a prettier shape on the map, right?). 21.9 miles and 6,900 ft of ascent all in, definitely a recommended running route and I still managed to hit 5:08 mile pace on a final ‘sprint’ down the last short section of track! :-)

Might just add that this was the first outing for my new OMM Cypher smock, which finally got christened on Cam Chreag after spending most of the day in my sack and looks like a great lightweight shell top (post edited 1 June 2011 by quoting email below!). Quite snug (but not tight) in a ‘large’ size (specified for height 5’10″ to 6’2″ and chest up to 43″ when I’m 5’11″ and would normally buy 42″ for 40″ chest), with a nice ‘drop tail’ and truly excellent hood which somehow manages to provide good protection while overcoming my normal dislike of hoods as making me feel ‘blinkered’. So perhaps I’m still not wholly convinced by the cuff/thumb loop arrangement, but can see a trivial modification to improve that later if I’m not getting on with it exactly as supplied. Didn’t take the Kamleika pants (ordered simultaneously), however, which just aren’t cut for me at all and will be getting changed for some other waterproofs that fit.

Peter Duggan wrote (2011-05-22 19:40):
> Just discovered today that the front panel of my Cypher Smock has
> started delaminating badly after being worn just a handful of times, so
> afraid I’m looking for a refund (might have got a rogue sample, but
> couldn’t trust the eVent fabric in any like-for-like replacement) and
> think you might also want to pass this on to OMM.
>
> So how do I go about returning it to you and securing a refund?

(Note: tried plotting both tracks on a single map, but didn’t like the look of that!)

Been out running with Jon today after he suggested some training together for the Highlander Mountain Marathon in three weeks time, so headed for a round of four ‘new’ hills (including Corbetts Geal Charn and Meall na h-Eilde) north of the ‘Dark Mile’ at the east end of Loch Arkaig. And this gave us a satisfying day out, with about 15.2 miles and 4,400 ft of ascent on runnable terrain with some interestingly varied contours (why we chose it!) completed at a respectable but reasonably comfortable pace. Some snow patches to cross, but nothing left requiring spikes/crampons or axes, which all got left in the van when we saw what it was like.

Might not have snow at sea level here, but 500ft or so up that all changes and along the main track to the Dam (at c.1,000ft) there’s way more than I expected. So perhaps the Dam (where I didn’t go yesterday because of the wind) wasn’t the most obvious target for today either but, sick of the roads and low-level village circuits that have formed much of this week’s weather-influenced fair, I stuck to it like a pig-headed bull, ploughing a furrow through the deepest snow of the year (fantastically sculpted into drifts of up to chest height), running as much as I could and taking about three hours for a return trip I habitually complete in well under two. But, strangely enough, also finding myself strong enough to be actually enjoying it!

Also met David Graham from Ardfern (who said he’d been expecting to meet me at any minute!) walking the dog up the Penstock track, so popped into The Ice Factor on my way home to say hi to Carol and young Tom, who he’d left climbing there.

Just finished John L. Parker, Jr’s Again to Carthage (sequel to Once a Runner), which I’ve had begging for attention since receiving my pre-ordered paperback last July but only got around to reading this past week. And it’s another cracker… longer than its predecessor and perhaps yet slower to catch fire, but building a similar sense of unstoppable momentum (think he knows what he’s doing here!) as it proceeds. Have to say I was wondering how he could top (or even match) the perfectly-judged ending of Once a Runner, but (without even hinting at spoilers for those who’ve yet to read either book) can only observe that I found the conclusion of this one (informed by something I might have spotted but still took me by surprise) equally satisfying.

Now, on quite another note (if there was a prize for non sequitur of the day I’d win it?), I’ve been quite amused/intrigued by some ‘Piles of Stones’ shown (at OS 1:25,000 scale) on Meall a’ Bhainne, which I passed on Sunday’s run, find myself debating the difference between a cairn and a pile of stones (well, come on, a cairn and three piles of stones all marked in a line?) and know that I’ll have to check it out sometime. But it won’t be today, with wet, sleety conditions meaning that I’m keeping an eye out for a more pleasant running ‘window’ to head off somewhere not quite so far away! ;-)

Thought my mileage was looking a bit weedy this week after missing Tuesday (brought my headache home from a late night at work!) as well as my usual Monday then turning down two climbing partners for Saturday to work on the boat with Twig (after which I managed just the 9.1 miles to the Dam and back by the Ciaran Path), so boldly set out to restore some 55-mile respectability (actually 54.7) by going for something reasonably meaty today. And this took the shape of a big loop up the brutal hill (toughest of any local trail) to An Cumhann and Loch Eilde Mor (where I met Martin and Liz Basil enjoying a walk), over the more runnable hill of Meall na Cruaidhe and through to Loch Treig by Loch Chiarain before returning by Luibeilt for a total of 22.7 miles at a modest 3,600 ft of ascent. So who knows why it felt as hard as it did in the end, but my gels and chewy bars just weren’t keeping me going and, in pushing for a >5mph average (doesn’t sound that fast but goes with the terrain), I found myself getting so dizzy coming down the final hill that I just had to blow that target (finishing with 4:34:34 ‘moving time’ from a total of 4:41:42) and take a sit-down stop to wolf down the better part of my 250g packet of apricots. And my head was spinning again by the back fence!