West highland Way September 2019

In September 2019 I took a trip back home to visit family and friends.  While over there I spent some time running most of the West Highland Way.  The West Highland Way is a 96 mile trail heading mostly in a north-south direction from just outside of Glasgow to Fort William.  The southerly end is fairly flat and as it heads north the climbing gets more intense.  Overall the elevation gain adds up to 4,300 meters (14,000 feet) give or take a bit.  Adding a detour to the summit of Ben Nevis which is the UK's highest mountain brings that up to about 5,800 meters (19,000 feet).

I have signed up for the West Highland Way Challenge Race, so on the last weekend of May 2020 I will be running the entire length of the trail in one go.  Well that's the plan anyway, but a lot can happen in an endurance event like that.

I wanted to see what I had got myself into so I used part of my time back home running as much of the route as I could.  Some of it was self supported out and back running, and other parts were by pickup/dropoff at various points.  More on that later.

Map of the route from Milngavie to Fort William.  The markers on the route are what would be a recommended daily mileage for "sensible" people hiking the route over multiple days.

Day 1 - Milngavie to Conic Hill.

The weather wasn't great, but I didn't have many options given my short stay in Scotland.  I took the train from Glasgow city center where I was staying out to Milngavie to the starting point of the West Highland Way.

The start of the West Highland Way in Milngavie town center.  I took this picture the day before my run on this section.  It was nice and dry then, but the next day when I started my run from here it was wet and cooler.  The next time I see this sign will be for the start of the race, and it will be in the dark as the race starts at midnight.

The route heads through a park and along a river bank.  Once you are out of the built up area it opens up into low rolling hills and some flatter moorlands.

The next four pictures show the route through a valley and up to Conic Hill.  When I run the race this will all be done in the dark.  The trail surface here apart from a few muddy puddles is all fairly good and easy to run on.

I ran around the left of this hill and passed it.

The first view of Loch Lomond.

Conic Hill in the distance.  The route goes over the top of this one, and this is the biggest climb on the south end of the West Highland Way.

After stopping at the top for a few minutes to take in the views I turned round and headed all the way back to the start, making the mileage for day 1 about 36 miles and about 900 meters (3,000 feet).

The route heads downhill here, but I'm saving that part for the race.  It will probably be just about daylight when I get here in the race so I'll be able to enjoy the views after here.

Elevation profile for day 1.

Day 2:  Drymen to Glencoe Ski Center.

Due to the remote locations of the next sections my friend Euan dropped me off and we had a pickup time estimate arranged so I was able to run longer sections and not have to do an out and back run.

A few miles into day 2.

This part of the route has some amazing views and passes through a diverse environment.  There was a bit of climbing to do but nothing too bad.  However, given that it's a good bit further north and well into the race route I won't be feeling quite as energetic as I was this day.

Lots of interesting views along this section.
Heading down into Bridge of Orchy.  First signs of civilisation for quite some time.

The surface was starting to get a bit rougher.  I'm used to running on uneven and rocky trails but a lot of the sections of the West Highland Way are really deep ruts and big rocks so it makes it hard to run on.

Somewhere between the picture above and the one below I caught up with a couple out on mountain bikes.  It's usually much faster running up a hill than biking up it.  So we had a good long conversation to help pass the time of the long hill climb and I ran alongside them for a few miles.  Once we crested the top of the hill and headed down towards Glen Coe they went on ahead as I wasn't going to try to keep up with a bike going down hill.

Getting closer to the end of the route for my second day.

Looking down towards the road again.

Rather than running down the hill to wait at the bus stop for my pick up I decided to head left at a path that intersects the route because the lure of a hot mug of tea was pulling me in.  I met up with the couple on the mountain bikes in the Glen Coe Ski Center coffee shop and enjoyed the warmth and conversation while I waited on Euan to pick me up.

Elevation profile for this section.  Total miles for today was 17.5 with 600 meters (2,000 feet) of climbing.

Day 3:  Glen Coe to Fort William.

The section I ran for day 3 started from about 2 miles further up the trail than my finish point yesterday.  I decided there was no point in running that as I had already seen what I need to know prior to the race.

Euan dropped me off where the West Highland Way crosses the main road (A82) and I once again headed uphill and over some really interesting scenery.

Starting point for day 3

After the first climb up out of the valley floor the route winds past other hills and mountains.  There was a lot to see on this section, but some of it was really long distances where I could see the route and could see how far I had to go before the scenery changed again.

The route is visible all the way across this valley in the picture below.

Amazing scenery everywhere.

I really liked this section.  The abandoned cottage was in a really remote location.

First view of Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain.

Passing by the Ben.

Looking down towards Fort William where the end of the West Highland Way awaits me.

Made it to the finish.

During the race the route passes by this sign and heads into Fort William to the official race finish line.  Once there you have the option to head back out and run up and down Ben Nevis.  My plan is to go out with the intent of doing this extra section.  I think If I went with the mindset of "lets see how I feel" after the race I wouldn't do it.  Time will tell.

The race is 96 miles, and if you complete it in under 24 hours there's an additional reward, so me being me I'm aiming high again and hoping for a sub 24 hour finish.

For day three the final section it was 21.5 miles and elevation gain was 900 meters (3,000 feet).

Elevation profile for this section.

Summary

The race is going to be a tough one.  But that's why I do this crazy stuff.  My mantra "if it was easy everyone would do it" is calling to me.

I'm looking forward to the race.  Time will tell how it goes.

There's a lot of running to do to get to the fitness level I need to do it, but that's also a huge part of the enjoyment for me.

The website for the West Highland Way has more detail on the route etc.
https://www.westhighlandway.org/

The website for the race I am doing.
http://whwracechallenge.co.uk/

Wy'East Howl 100k Race

A long race with a short-ish report and a few pictures.
My first 100k (63 mile) race.

I planned my year where my big "A" race event was in the middle of my race calendar with a 50 miler one side and a 50k the other and lots of recovery time in between them.

A few things didn't quite go as planned leading up the race, but that's life and it's how you deal with those challenges that makes the difference between success and failure or misery and enjoyment.  Hard as it was I kept positive but realistic and continued to do the best I could.  After having a cold/flu type bug that took me out for almost three weeks I managed to get to one week away from the race feeling like I was at a reasonable level of fitness but knowing I wasn't anywhere near as fit as I had planned to be at that point.

I left home on Friday afternoon, drove over to My Hood (Wy'east) and spent the night in the car.  Well when I say spent the "night" it was more like a few hours of attempted sleep as I was up at 3am to get prepared for the long day ahead.

My mental preparation was done in the week leading up to the race so Saturday morning was simply a case of getting up and going for a run in the hills with a bunch of like minded people.

For this race, although it's my longest run to date I decided my minimalist Lems shoes were the best option.  I had ran 34 miles with 7,500 feet of climbing the week before the race in them and my feet felt great, so I decided it was a good idea to go a bit further in them.  My reasoning for doing this would make the blog rather lengthy, so I may cover that separately in the future.

At the start line it was still dark at 4:45 ish so we needed headlights.
I'm right in the middle of this picture between number 28  & 50.  My head was in a really calm place and I wasn't even thinking about the long day ahead, I was just really grateful to be there and enjoy the event.

Almost time to go,  I'm the old person on the right.  I usually go light, but for this race I used my running vest/pack so I could carry all the food I needed and it was somewhere to stash my headlight and long sleeve shirt once it got light and warmed up.

The race started at 5am exactly.  We had to do a group howl before the start.  I guess it's not the Wy'east Howl 100k Trail Race without one!

A few miles into the race it got warm and light.

Being happy and smiling helps in a lot of ways.

I think this is somewhere near to the turn around point probably at about mile 28 ish.  Wy'east was looking much smaller now!

I'm not in this picture, but I liked this view, it was very typical of the whole route with the trees and dusty dry trails.

For such a warm and very dry place there were lots of patches of green trees and lots of wild plants.

When it warmed up it was tempting to jump into these cool streams.

Wy'east in the distance.

Somewhere around mile 38 on a seven mile long climbing section of the route I was in a bit of a low point feeling the fatigue and knowing there was still a long way to go so it was the first point I stopped running and slowed down to a fast walk.  As much as I love running up hills I was really looking forward to getting to the top of this one and running down hill for a bit.  I had no intention or thoughts of stopping, I just didn't feel like running much of it and hoped it would save some reserves for the remaining 20 plus miles.

Having now slowed down I knew the huge lead I had at the beginning of the climb was slowly shrinking.  I knew I was in 7th place at this point and at the turn around point I could see I was really far ahead, but I had no idea how fast anyone was gaining on me so it was good motivation to keep going.  I thought I could maybe stay in the top 10 for the finish.

In that section after having ran 30+ miles on my own I was glad of some company when Kami Semick caught up with me and we started a conversation and that got me back on track.  Kami is an elite ultra runner athlete with a lot of experience, I didn't know that it was her until some time into the conversation when we exchanged names.  That's another thing I really love about ultra running, nobody cares who you "are" or "aren't" we are all out there suffering/enjoying the sport together!

We went back and forth for 20 something miles taking it in turns to take the lead and to keep us both moving forward as fast as we could.

I think I still have a smile in this picture.  This was taken in the last 7 mile section.  You can smile and tell yourself it's only 7 miles to go which is usually just a warm-up run distance for me but it doesn't necessarily make it "easy" when you're already at mile 50 something into a run.

I crossed the finish line in 13hrs 30 minutes and 10 seconds.
Still smiling but really glad to be finished and looking forward to some real food.
Kami came in just a second or two behind me and she was also happy to finish and also to see me get into the top 10.  The conversations we had kept us both going for that last 20 miles.

Credit for all the photos above here goes to Steven Mortinson.
https://vimeo.com/stevenmortinson


In 8th place overall and 5th male.  Not bad for my first 100k race!

Elevation profile.  Total climbing was about 11,600 feet.
First half was 5,100 feet gain and 6,500 loss, the return was 6,500 gain and 5,100 loss.
In short, a lot of climbing and a tough return leg with more climbing than the first half and higher temperatures.

The age I feel... Ha! ha!

Cool finishers award.  We got a pint glass too, but that's currently in the dishwasher as it was used after the race for a much needed nice cold drink.

The good stuff:

• I had a great time.  That's always number one goal.
• Had some great conversations along the way. 
• As usual at theses events I met some really interesting people that I know I will see again.
• I finished the race. Bonus!  
• I was struggling to make a good estimate of how long this was going to take me, but I had sub 14 hrs in mind on a good day and 13 hrs on a really good day.  Got bang in the middle of that and happy with the finish time.  The placing doesn't matter and is just a bonus to do well.
• The race was really well organised.  Thanks Jeremy at Daybreak Racing.
• Thanks to all the volunteers at the aid stations.
• My minimalist Lems shoes gamble paid off.  I'm glad I used them and not the alternative.

The not so good stuff:

• Need to work on eating more during a long race.  I took lots with me but I just didn't eat it.  I think I faded on the long grueling climbs partly due to lack of fuel in the tank.
• Add more speed work to my regular running!  I neglected that partly due to losing pretty much three weeks training so I got slower over time.
• There's always room for improvement in mental toughness training too.

If you got this far, thanks for reading my blog.  If not then I guess I done a good job of curing insomnia!

Coldwater Peak loop with Brianne

Another run around Coldwater Peak loop and to the Summit.

Brianne and I took a trip to Mt St Helens, so we started the day at 3am and drove to the Coldwater Lake boat launch, which is roughly a 3 hour drive.  Quickly ate some food and headed out on our run as soon as we could so we would be back to the car before the heat really built up.

Since it was going to be a burning hot day we had to carry a lot of weight in food and water.
I was feeling a bit fatigued from the start from the previous 9 days running load, the extra weight of water added to that fun feeling.  This run rounded off a 10 day block where I ran 130 miles and was a really good high intensity block leading up to my next race.  For me running is fun and I run for enjoyment not just to log miles for training.

We started at the boat launch, ran round the side of the lake for 4.5 miles and then headed up hill for 6 miles to get to the summit of Coldwater Peak.

First views of Mt St Helens after climbing from the lake side.  The flattened tree corpses still left where they were snapped off in 1980 from the eruption blast are just visible.

Coldwater Peak where we were heading for.

We were up above the snow line but it was mostly melted out.  I noticed quite a bit of change in the snow level since being here a week before this picture.

Action shot of Brianne part way up.

Mt St Helens behind Brianne.  This was about 50 feet below the Coldwater Peak summit.

Its such a beautiful place and views like this make the early start and long drive there and back worth the effort.

At the summit of Coldwater Peak.  Mt Rainier is behind us.  The wind was quite strong but the heat from the sun was still very evident.

Brianne enjoying the view.  This is on the way down about 2 miles from the summit.

Beside the rock with the hole in it.

The trail heads though this hole in the rock. 

This is an interesting rock feature.  Its apparently a massive land slide which exposed the harder rock.  The picture doesn't give the scale but it was quite a few hundred feet high.

The mountain in the background adds a little perspective.

After we eventually finished the run (I was feeling the effects of my high mileage 10 days block) we cooled off in the lake after eating.  Then it was time for the long drive home.

See my previous blog entry for the stats of the route.  I don't need to repeat them here again.

This is quite an interesting bridge on the Spirit Lake Highway, the bridge is about 400 feet high.  The little dot on the road in the distance was a fairly large pickup truck for scale.

Some details about the bridge.