In Glasgow

I arrived in Glasgow yesterday after a 30 hire flight. It's cold and wet. At 2pm yesterday it was about 7deg although the prediction for the weekend is fine and 13. I fly out to Islay this afternoon (Friday) so will spend the next 8 nights in a tent. I feel OK. My left heel is still a little worrying but is better and the physio has shown me how to tape it up to prevent over pronating. My race plan at the moment is of denial and disbelief that I am actually here. I just want the race to start so I can think "oh, how did I get here?" I just found out that I made the local Pine Rivers Press newspaper who ran a bit of a story on me, which was pretty cool. It's also on their website.

Isle of Jura Blog

This following is taken from the Isle of Jura Blog website:
http://www.jurainfo.com/blog/news/scottish-ultra-marathon-to-return-to-islayjura/Scottish Ultra Marathon to return to Islay/Jura
April 10th, 2009
Niall Colthart of Port Ellen has finalised the route for Scotland’s toughest race which will take place over six days from May 3rd this year starting at Ardbeg distillery. Around 50 competitors are expected and a part of each runners entry fee will be going to Islay and Jura Sick Children’s Fund. Niall: ‘We also have a guy from Australia competing who is asking people not to sponsor him with monetary contributions but by donating blood - which is at a premium in Australia after the bush fires. All of us in the organising team have done this.’
The event attracts some truly tough nuts. One girl who came last year is planning to swim to the start line from the mainland while another guy is competing having lost a leg in the Falklands conflict. He is now the High Constable of Perth. Niall says that the organisers are keen to see some local athletes competing. He says: ‘It is possible to do the route without actually running. Each stage can be completed at walking pace - and at least one competitor did exactly that last year. This is where the event differs from the likes of the fells race with its timed cut off stages. It is however being tipped as the toughest multi-day event in the UK.’ Competitors carry everything with them as they run, including all food and a tent, camping in makeshift villages overnight. The only thing supplied at support stations is water.
The RouteDay 1 - Sunday 3rd May: Ardbeg to Bunnahabhain via Claggain bay, Beinn Vicar, Kynagarry and Balulive above Finlaggan.Day 2: Bunnahabhain to Feolin via Rhuval. Killinallan, Craigens and West Carrabus. Then Knockdonn, Loch Skerrols, Scarrabus, Balole, Loch Finlaggan and down to Port Askaig to camp across at Feolin on Jura.Day 3: Feolin to Glenbattrick via Inver through the Paps, Knockrome, Evans Walk to Loch Tarbert at Glenbattrick.Day 4 (the shortest but toughest!!) Glenbattrick to Rhuantailain along the shores of Loch TarbertDay 5: Rhuantailain to Tarbert Standing Stone via raised and shiant beaches to Corpach and then following the corpach river up to the watershed and then decending down to the road over five miles of tussock grass and bog north of Tarbert.Day 6: The runners run down from Tarbert on the road to finish in the filling store at Jura Distillery for a well earned dram.
Niall is also appealing for volunteers to marshall some of the sections saying: ‘We hope to grow this event in the future to add another date to the island calendar and bring people to Islay and Jura in particular who might not otherwise have come.’
for more info visit the website www.scottishultra.com

“Control the controllable and manage the uncontrollable!”

I had my first restless sleep last night. I felt really anxious about 2am wondering if I had any idea what I was getting myself into. Started to think of all the things that I'd forgotten to do and the extra training that I should have done. It's all due to a silly heel injury that I have suffered on my left foot caused by using the Merrel shoes and road running in them. They were fine in the 30km Wild Horse run but I think that I have a over-pronation strain from the Twilight HM road run. I cycled on the Monday & Tuesday after, then swam on the Wednesday. On Thursday I decided to take a break as I still felt quite stiff from the weekend. I had planned to do 10km out to work on Friday morning, then 10km home, then back that up with 10km on Saturday & Sunday. I got to work on Friday OK, however the Merrel shoes felt uncomfortable. I think they have a higher centre of gravity than the Salomons. When I started to run home that arvo, it felt like I was running with a stone in my shoe causing a sharp pain in my heel. 1km down the road I turned back to the workshop. Luckily I had my mountain bike there so was able to ride home. Saturday morning arrived and I could hardly place my heel down to walk - it was really painful. It's still uncomfortable today (Wednesday) but feels as though it's healing.It did allow me to get back onto my road bike on Monday for a fast 45km hit out. I've only been out on it a couple of times since I rode to the Gold Coast last October and it felt really good. I'm off to the gym this afternoon for a proper weights session. I'm searching for any cross training that I can do at the moment to rest my foot. I'll swim tomorrow, cycle Friday and then try a 5km run on Saturday in my old shoes. If my foot is still playing up I may be having a few more restless nights. As Pastor Stan says: “Control the controllable and manage the uncontrollable!”

Wet Shoes and a Dodgy Pakistani Shirt

I really don't enjoy road running. The sense of achievement when you finish a HM, particularly if you've run well is great but other than that it's fairly monotonous. I entered the UQ Twilight Half Marathon event on Sunday night, knowing full well that it was more an exercise in mental preparation for the Scottish Ultra than anything else. I started out well, feeling very comfortable for the first 10km keeping a 5 min per km pace. Then at the turnaround for the second lap, things started to go slightly pear shaped. The course took a detour before the 2nd outbound crossing of the Green Bridge to make up the extra 1.1km on the second lap (The first lap was only 10km). This messed with my race plan and my head as I had set this bridge crossing as a "slow & steady" sector of the race. So when I saw the bridge coming up I didn't realise that I had another km to go. This meant that I started my "slow & steady" sector way too early and it seemed to take forever to get to the turnaround and the 5 km to the finish. After the turnaround (where I had hoped to make a big push to the finish) I started to feel a sharp nerve pain in my lower back which started to worsen until the hill leading up to the last Green Bridge crossing. Everyone was passing me, little old ladies, crippled old fellas, crawling babies, three toed sloths. I had to stop and walk up the hill. When I walk up hills I take fairly wide steps. Strangely, after about 10 paces the nerves in my back eased. it was like I was carrying someone piggy-back and then they got off. I felt fantastic and started running at about a 5 min/km pace. I started passing people like they were standing still (sort of) and even managed an Orangutan sprint around the last 300m of track to the finish line!

I had used the HM to test some of my gear which I had hoped to take to Scotland. Firstly the new Merrel shoes that I have been using hurt my feet and I managed to get small blood blisters on both big toes, They also seemed to retain heaps of moisture. I'm not sure whether it is the Gore-Tex that stops them draining. I have decided to stick with my trusty Salomon Wings.

I bought a shirt on Ebay. It is a CoolMax type cycling shirt with the pockets at the back. I thought that this type of shirt would offer sun protection, give my a bit of extra storage and most of all not give me any rash/abrasion issues. I was wrong.The shirt was made in Pakistan. I think they used a combination of sand paper, barbed wire and asbestos to sew the underarm panels. Suffice to say that I couldn't use underarm deoderant this morning.........