Well life happened. Busy at work, busy with community activities and busy family life.....not to mention 2 trips to the Far East (Philippines and Thailand) and lots of training.
And oh yes, my big training weekend for the upcoming 69mile Ultra Marathon.
All the books and experts say 3 to 4 weeks before the ultra is when you should do the last session of any great distance and begin to taper down.
So in my incredibly sensible plan I scheduled an iron distance duathlon in for 3 weeks before The Wall with just 4 days rest before I did a 58mile Sportive in The Trossachs!
One week prior to the Duathlon - which started in South Queensferry on the Forth with a 112mile cycle to Glencoe, followed by 26.2mile run which finished with a climb to the summit of Ben Nevis and back down - apparently according to my wife and work Colleagues, I was pretty 'unapproachable'!
I thought I was coping with the nerves quite well - better than last September before Coast to Coast in fact.
Reality was different......snappy, moody, irritable!
My worry was I had concentrated too much on the running - racking up 100miles plus each month - but not on the bike.
So on the Bank Holiday Monday, I decided to cycle 60miles of the route for practice and confidence.
I managed 25 - 12.5 out and 12.5 back. Not only that but I crashed!! In fairness, I was knocked off by the lady driver who decided to pull out in front of me and then stop.....needless to say confidence dented a little more (but not as much as her car door!!).
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| Approaching summit of Ben Nevis |
Didn't matter that I had crashed or I had not trained as much as I felt I should.....it came down on the day to having a base level of fitness, good energy levels and a rock solid state of mind.
2 out of 3 wasn't a bad start and I could work on my state of mind over the course of the next 17hrs!
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| Glencoe and Loch Leven in the background |
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| Summit of Ben Nevis |
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| 'Can you see Dad? He's up there....somewhere!!' |
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| Last 8miles on the bike - 'You have to earn your downhills!' |
Throughout the entire weekend and especially during the cycle section, Vicky, Lauren and Georgia were there at every pitstop, roadside opportunity and even sometimes behind me to keep me going.
Arriving into Tyndrum at 80miles having just finished the toughest section and thoroughly miserable, to have Lauren buzzing around, refilling my H24 bottles and generally fussing around me was so lovely...........in hindsight! At the time I just wanted 5 minutes of peace!
Scotland is reknowned for its long, flat roads with very little hills.......or so I wished at times.
It was during the climb out of Lochearnhead to Tyndrum (about a 15% incline for several miles) that I coined a phrase to myself that I kept saying whenever I headed up....'You've got to earn your downhills!'
And I had an almighty downhill coming....the 8mile descent from Glencoe...........stunning! Certainly earnt this downhill and enjoyed every second of it.
So, with one week to go before my biggest challenge, 69miles along Hadrian's Wall, I just got to keep telling myself that 'I've got to earn my downhills'! That means digging deep when the going is tough, putting in the effort when the path seems too steep so that when at the top I can enjoy the view and coast down with pace towards my goal!
As ever, my family are my biggest supporters and I couldn't achieve anything without their support! 17hrs of an event is little effort in comparison to the months, weeks and days putting up with me during training!
With a team of 6 of us working together to complete this next event, we are raising funds for a charity close to all our hearts...more information on the link below!
https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/TeamHFF/thewallultrarun#.
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