Race Report – Worksop Halloween Half Marathon – Sunday 28th October 2018

The training run following the Great Eastern Run two weeks prior to Worksop very nearly spelled disaster! Leading a Grantham Running Club evening run, I was paying more attention to keeping pace with my watch and chatting to friends then looking at what was heading towards me. I saw the railings protecting a pedestrian crossing too late to avert hitting them full on and with unabated speed (Around 8-9 mph). I missed squashing the boys in the barrack by about a centimetre, instead the pubic bone took the full brunt of the blow. A bit stunned it took a minute or two to regain composure. Sensing nothing was broken but plenty was very sore I continued the run, hoping to run off the injury. Nothing seemed totally amiss but things became increasingly painful in the right hip and thigh, and the left knee (which I think took a glancing blow) as I ran the six miles or so back to the Meres Leisure Centre.

A few minutes inactivity stiffened things up considerably. Thankfully one of the runners offered me a lift home rather than having to run another two miles; he had done something very similar on a identical set of railing some weeks earlier so could empathise with my discomfort.

When I woke the next morning I knew running was out of the question for a few days. The inflammation meant I could lift my leg more than a few inches. Luckily I was able to cycle with a minimum of discomfort and took solace in Zwift for a few days, testing the leg with a brick mile on the Friday with no ill effects.

The next day however and I was pretty sure I was feeling ill with something, a suspected chest infection was the reason why a reasonably routine 10 mile run on the Saturday felt like a slog and a 12 mile run the next day felt particularly arduous. The family and I were heading to Carsington Water on the Monday, I felt too lethargic to consider running. On the Tuesday I forced myself out for a lap of the man-made lake. The eight mile loop was particularly undulating but the return of the quad cramps early on in the run, becoming too severe to run by the end, were surely a sign of feeling unwell rather than unfit. I took the Wednesday off to allow me to run around the water again (this time in a clockwise direction) on Thursday morning before we left back for home). The relatively laboured pace (7:19 per mile) was exactly the same as Tuesday’s; the cramps coming on again but this time less intensely.

Friday saw a 10K effort which, to paraphrase my Strava entry, would have been easy were I not feeling so wheezy. I took Saturday off with the half on the Sunday in mind. Working on the Mexican Grand Prix meant working some late evenings, although the clocks going back on the Saturday night meant I could enjoy a fairly fully night’s sleep. Before drifting off I sensed as if the malaise that had enveloped the body for the past week may just have left the building.

I woke on Sunday morning just after 6 am and made myself breakfast, experimenting with peanut butter and banana on toast after the bad experience with cereal and milk at Peterborough. I left not long after 7 for the 50 minute or so journey to Worksop, finding the same car park I found 12 months earlier and enjoying the same 10 minute walk to the start venue that served to loosen the legs a touch.

I was happy to see on arriving that the race organisers Worksop Harriers AC had clearly listened to some of the criticisms of the race village setup and acted on them in an almost wholly positive manner. The school that they used had been converted into a one way system to avoid all the bottlenecks and congestion with number collection and baggage drop that delayed the start of the 2017 race. In particular the baggage had been moved outside and streamlined and this did wonders in minimising the congestion as best you can with around 2000 runners confined in a relatively small space.

I changed slowly into my running kit at the tables in the canteen, stretched, dropped off my bag and headed for a warm up of just over 1.5 miles. It was an unspectacular warm up – the legs felt okay, I was coughing a fair amount but didn’t feel any of the wheeziness or lethargy of previous runs in the week. Off the back of this I decided that for the race I would take a cautious approach, not going off too hard and seeing how I felt as the race progressed.

Warm up done and with 40 minutes to the start I made one last trip to the toilet which is the only area where I still feel this race could improve, there not being anywhere near enough toilets (But then again I would levee this criticism at almost every race). I ended up using the ones in the men’s changing rooms, queuing for around 10 minutes, which wasn’t too bad. Slowly exiting the school building, I lined up at the start with ten minutes to go and thanked the weather gods that the temperatures were perfect for racing. Indeed, aside from a breeze that was on the moderate side of gentle, the conditions were nigh on perfect with weak autumn sunshine and temperatures around 10 Celsius.

We had a minute’s silence before the start of the race, if memory serves me correctly, for a former chairman (perhaps President) of Worksop Harriers who had recently passed away. After a short countdown we were off. I made a comfortable start, not feeling particularly good for the first mile and sitting well outside the top 20 as we soon hit the first climb less than a mile into the race. I really took it easy up here, the effort made less hard by the steady breeze blowing into our backs.

Mile 1 was clocked at 6:01, which was five seconds down on my opening mile in 2017. The rest of the opening 5k is on the undulating B6034 taking us towards Clumber Park. Mile 2 was 5:51 which was six second slower than in 2017 but mile 3 saw me begin to come to life, 5:36 pretty quick, even if it was wind aided, and three seconds quicker than 2017.

Mile 4 saw us turn left off the main road and head through Carburton. I was beginning to pick off runners now, only in ones and twos as the field was pretty well spread. 5:39 for mile 4 matched my 2017 split. Mile 5 is mostly uphill and was possibly the hardest mile of the race – 6:00 one whole second slower than in 2017. Mile 6 is the first half of the fish as it appears on the Strava map and inevitable Strava segment. This mile saw me tuck in behind a runner for most of this section – the scenery stunning in autumn as we headed into the heart of Clumber Park, the going underfoot a little tricky in places with significant leaf fall.

5:45 for mile six was three seconds slower than a year earlier but I remember feeling particularly good at this stage back then. Mile 7 has the first of two long uphill drags – I felt sorry for the wheelchair competitor I passed who was really struggling at this stage. 5:55 was six seconds slower than in 2017, but I turned things around in mile 8, which was again mostly uphill, 6:02 was four seconds up on 2017 and I passed two or three more runners in this section.

Mile 9 is my favourite of the race, mostly downhill and as we approach a totally unnecessary sponge station (surely an in house joke from the organisers?!) we are bombarded with a plethora of amusing signs, many of them fresh for 2018 and indicative of the clear love and passion that the organisers have for putting on a really good race. As in 2017 I found myself feeling really strong, my 5:36 mile just one second down. Mile 10 had the last real hill of the race and as such I slowed to 6:00 (matching the 2017 mile) but was still catching and passing runners. It was here I saw in the distance the distinctive tri-suit of a runner that looked familiar. Approaching him I realised it was Tom Marshall, the triathlete who had beaten me in September’s Stathern Duathlon.

Catching and passing him gave me renewed enthusiasm, as did my watch which was predicting a finishing time very similar to what I achieved in 2017. Considering I had felt so poor in the build up was greatly encouraging and, feeling relaxed and pain free, I pushed on. Mile 11 was 5:42, five seconds quicker than 2017, mile 12 through Worksop College was three seconds slower at 5:49 but I was running now into a headwind which we didn’t have twelve months ago. This made the slight uphill drag out of the college particularly tough, but I had time to make things look easier for the Mick Hall photographer who I knew would be in the same spot as in previous years.

Mile 13 – Mick Hall Photography in the usual spot!

The thirteenth and final mile is mostly downhill, albeit tempered with a headwind this time around, which made 5:34 four seconds slower than in 2017. Turning the corner into the Outwood Academy Portland and sprinting to the finish I knew from my watch it was going to be a very similar time to last year. I finished matching my time of 2017 to the second, the official results gave it as one second quicker in 1:16:23, the difference being this year my Garmin measured the course 0.05 mile shorter and so the final yards took 23 seconds less.

Whereas in 2017 I finished fifth overall I knew this year I hadn’t done quite so well. The results were not long in being published and I was eleventh and not first V40, despite just about bettering my 2017 time. I was partly relieved as I didn’t feel obliged to hang around for the presentations and after seeing a few club mates after they finished, I headed home to begin work on the Mexican GP.

It wasn’t until a day or two later I realised that, such is the generosity of the race organisers, they offer prizes for the first three in the younger veterans’ categories. I was third V40 and, a couple of weeks later, I received a Lincolnshire Runner voucher in the post for £20, which is £5 more than they had quoted in the prize list, which just about summed the race up!

Shy of a few toilets I cannot praise this race enough. They had worked really hard to iron out the issues pre and post race. They worked really well: I had goose bumps as I received warm applause as I walked through the gymnasium to collect my goodie bag, and t-shirt to add to the funky Halloween themed medal I had already received. The good weather helped, but standing around at the finish with cake stalls, coffee stands, music from the local radio station, gave the impression that this was a race put on by professionals rather than a large number of volunteers. I have heard they make very little money out of the race, which makes it all the more praiseworthy. It is one of the cheapest half marathons in the region, and certainly one of the best.

I didn’t have too long to recover for it was the Leeds Abbey Dash 10K in just seven days time!

Two Counties Half Marathon – Sunday 9th September 2018 – The Race

As is fairly typical I was one of the first to arrive at East Carlton Country Park, venue of the Two Counties Half Marathon, two hours or so before the start. I had a relaxed build up to what appeared to be a fairly relaxed, low key kind of race. Around an hour before the start I went on a one and a half  mile warm up which doubled up as a recce of the infamous hill that we would face at the end of the race. It’s the same hill that many a runner has moaned about in the Corby 5 Mile Race. To be honest I didn’t think that much of it – it was certainly no Casthorpe nor Minnett’s Hill, but I could see that in the final mile of a half marathon it would be a great deal harder to climb than during an easy paced warm up.

The warm up itself felt okay, if a little concerning in the sense that the head cold I had caught was definitely just knocking that 1-2% off my peak capacity. I still felt I could run a good race, I just had to be careful I didn’t push too hard. A final trip or two to the toilet and I was good to go, making my way back to the base of the steepest part of the hill where we would start. A couple more trips to a bush to lose some of the fluid I had taken on board (it was around 19C – so reasonably cool, but warm enough to require good hydration) and I was finally ready to  take my place near the front of the field on the start line.

The start of the race. Picture c/o Adam Brooks.

At just before 10am we were sent on our way. A fairly young runner (the bearded one on the video above) who had lined up just behind me, wearing the oversized Oakley Jawbreaker style sunglasses that have come back into vogue, shot past me and hurtled into the lead. We were running slightly downhill but I sensed immediately he had no hope of maintaining his pace, which I estimated to be well under five minute miles given that my watch suggested I was running at around 5:20 pace for the opening few hundred meters.

A lone figure in green with a sea of Corby blue at the start of the race.
Picture c/o Adam Brooks.

Sitting in fourth I deliberately held off the pace off the runners in front of me for the opening mile, slowing enough to go through mile 1 in 5:49. Shortly after the opening mile came the first challenging climb of the race – I was pleased to see that I could close on those in front of me without having to go full gas, although they did then pull away again on the following downhill section. At a mile and a half we reached the end of Wire Lane and headed into Ashley Road to begin a near 10 mile clockwise loop, shaped rather like a bow tie.

We had a headwind for the near two mile long stretch to the village of Ashley. Mile two was a 5:51, mile three was 6:08, but worth 5:49 on Strava gap once the ascent was taken into account (and perhaps worth a little more given the headwind). By now the gap to third and second which had been around 10 seconds had begun to close down, so that by the time we went through 5K in 18:32 and headed north to Medbourne, I was hot on their heels.

The runner who led the first 3.5 miles. Picture c/o Adam Brooks.

Aided by a tailwind and the adrenaline of running on a road open to fast moving traffic while catching those ahead of me I caught and passed the third and second placed runners in quick succession, running the fourth mile in 5:36. The fifth mile saw us run through Medbourne and it was here where I caught the leader since the start of the race, who was quite dramatically paying the penalty for his over exuberant start.

I quickly put a gap on him but noted that I still had company. The runner who I passed when he was third had moved up the field just behind me and had now closed onto my shoulder, passing me as we went through mile 5 (5:39).  The standard racing tactic would have been to sit on his shoulder and try and hold on but, given that I knew that the hardest sections of the race were still to come, I decided to stick to my own pace and let the gap grow to around 10 seconds as we passed through mile 6 (5:51), running the second 5K in 17:41. The runner at the front of the race was Luke Montgomery of local club. It was soon apparent that he was pretty well known to those supporting the race, cheering him on nearly all by name and clearly giving him that hometown adrenaline buzz.

Luke Montgomery of Corby – local hero and long time race leader. Picture c/o Adam Brooks.

Mile 7 was was another fairly swift one at 5:38 as we enjoyed flattish terrain and a rear crosswind. Not long after seven miles we began to climb. I’d had information from a club mate who had run the race in 2017 that this was a fairly testing climb. I was quite pleased to see that the Luke was coming back to me quite swiftly. Indeed as we turned off the main road to head south through Bringhurst and the road ramped up again, I caught and briefly passed him.

Feeling the legs start to get heavy from the effort of climbing I looked at my Garmin and noted that my HR had climbed over 175, which is getting towards the upper Z5 levels of my capacity. Knowing it would be unwise to go too long into the red I eased up and allowed Luke to overtake me once again and pull away as we went over the top of the climb and onto a fairly long descent. The gap pulled back out to around ten seconds before stabilising. I didn’t give up hope of a potential victory – I knew that the worst climb of the race was still to come and if I could leave something in the tank it could be expected that I could close the gap again and retake the lead.

Mile 8, which featured the long climb was a 5:57, mile 9 a little quicker at 5:53 but effectively saw a  slight slowing as it was mostly flat. This was also the diciest section of the race as the narrow road, open to traffic, was busier than it should have been thanks to a local car boot sale that was just starting and attracting plenty of somewhat impatient visitors.

As we ran first through Cottingham and which led near seamlessly into Middleton, there was a sharp right hand bend which took us onto a pleasant tree covered road that would take us back to the opening road of the race and the finish. There was good crowd support here for a small rural race – all of it though was for the leader, who appeared to be coming back to me as I clocked the gradually uphill mile 10 in 5:58.

The road was now closed to traffic as it would be to the finish. Mile 11 was slightly downhill for the most part, the pace picked up up to 5:48. Without consciously picking up the pace I had all but caught the leader. Rather than sit with him and run at his pace, risking the possibility that he could rally in the final stages – especially with the local crowd support, I maintained my pace and pulled alongside and ahead of Luke. He tried to stay on my heels, but as we turned left into the long, mainly uphill finishing straight, the gap began to quickly grow as Luke appeared to crack.

Me in the closing mile of the race – looking surprisingly fresh. Picture c/o Adam Brooks.

Mile 12 was 5:49 and the biggest test of the race was about to commence. The first of two climbs, the first was a short, sharp test, which I managed without too much difficulty. I relaxed as I went over and down over the other side, encouraged by what appeared to be the race organisers roadside. Taking a breather as I knew the bigger climb lay ahead, I took a little look around and was relieved to see that there was no one in sight.

Looking not quite so fresh a few seconds earlier.
Picture c/o Adam Brooks.

Knowing that, barring absolute disaster, victory was mine, I could have eased up the final climb and cruised to a win. However, this was a club GP Series race and times converted to age grade is the all important factor, so there was no letting up. My rather brilliant Peter’s (Race) Pacer data field on my newish Garmin had been telling me for some miles I was looking at a low 1:16, which began to drift a little as I began the final climb. Keen to keep it under 1:17 I kept the effort high, pushing all the way to the top of the hill and onto the finishing line inside the Country Park.

There was a little celebration at the finish, the raising of both hands and a big smile across the face. The finishing time was 1:16:52, which was apparently a new course record (The race is only in its second year). The final mile was the slowest of the race at 6:12 but the Strava GAP reckons it was worth 5:37, which makes it one of the quickest of the race.

The winner’s finishing medal at the Two Counties Half Marathon!

As a result of this strong final mile the record books will show that I ended up winning by a fairly comfortable minute and fifty seconds. That won’t tell the full story of the race, how I sat off the pace at the start, took the lead only to lose it, then sat fairly patiently off the leader suspecting that he may not be able to sustain his pace.

It turned out to be a high risk strategy that paid off, especially when I looked up Luke’s Power of 10 profile at the end of the race which revealed he has a  10K PB nearly two minutes quicker than mine. The reason he cracked was that he specialises in the shorter distances (he runs a lot of 3000 and 5000 meter races on the track) and this was only his second foray over the half marathon distance (his other effort was in 2014) and he found his stamina on the day a little wanting.

With plenty of spectators wishing me a warm well done I moved back a few yards down the circuit to see in the small contingency of fellow Grantham Running Clubbers who were also taking part. We had to wait an eternity for the ultimately rather low key prize giving, but it was worth it for the generous cash prize that came my way. With the sense that I had won the race in the quickest possible time with the least possible effort and hadn’t strained myself too much – especially with the cold I was carrying, it was definitely a sense of mission accomplished as I made my way back home.

Trophy and cash in an envelope for winning the Two Counties Half Marathon!

The ‘2018 Tour of Britain’ Leg One – Stockton

The ‘Tour of Britain’ – An Explanation

Back in 2016 on my first three week caravan holiday I attempted to run pretty much every day. I missed a run on the opening day thanks to problems with the car and then took two Fridays off. After ten days or so I aimed to run at least 10 miles, but for the first week, thanks to some injury issues and lack of established plan I had a few runs of less than 10 miles. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the places we visited through running and also the challenge of finding three pictures to be uploaded to Strava to reflect what I saw on the run.

For our second three week caravan holiday in 2018 I formalised my running plans some time before I left. Quite simply I aimed to run a minimum of 10 miles a day for each of the 21 days I was on holiday. I could run where I wanted or at any pace, the only condition was I had to start and finish from wherever I was staying – no travelling by car to a possibly more preferable venue. As in 2016, I also had to upload three pictures to Strava that told the story of the run.

We stayed at seven caravan parks on our three week family holiday, spending three nights at all of them except the last, where we spent two nights, but I would attempt three runs.

A note about the data used for the reports of the runs: the mile splits in the written reports, distances, times of runs and Strava segments come from Strava. The Split Summary at the bottom of each day’s run and the Leg Summary comes from FetchEveryone, with the exception of the Total Ascent, which comes from Garmin Connect with, in most instances, the elevation corrected as the altimeter/barometer on the Garmin Forerunner 935 leaves a little to be desired.

Leg One – Stockton-on-Tees

The Water Sports Centre

Stockton is a market town on the River Tees with a population of 105,000 and closely neighbours the better known Middlesborough.

The Tees Barrage

Staying at the Tees Barrage Caravan Site we were impressed by the water sports centre.

The Water Sports Centre

We also thoroughly enjoyed the Stockton International Riverside Festival which, by pure coincidence, began the day we arrived in Stockton.

The Stockton International Riverside Festival

Day 1 – Thursday August 2 2018 – Stockton to Middlesborough & Back

The first run of the Tour took place, not long after arriving in Stockton-on-Tees at the warmest part of the day (4pm) and what would be the warmest run of the holiday at 25C and pretty humid. The run was a simple out and back affair to Middlesborough town centre and back. I used the cycle path that runs along the River Tees for the most part. This section was quite enjoyable – the bit through some industrial zone in and around Vulcan Street was less pleasant with some reminders that this is not the most affluent area in the country.

A Bridge on the River Tees

Once in Middlesborough I looked for some decent buildings to take a photo of. This proved a bit of a struggle and I resorted to black and white to make things look a bit more impressive. 

Middlesborough Town Centre

A struggle too was the actual run itself. I’d left Grantham feeling sub-par with some mild virus which affected me badly on a cycling TT just two days earlier. Added to that the right Achilles was grumbling and not enjoying the warm weather – plus I picked up some weird sharp pain in the left foot at just after halfway which led to me removing trainers and socks expecting to find a thorn or something equally sharp, but finding nothing. The pain soon went and did not return.

View from Stockton Tees Barrage Bridge

All that said, 10 miles at 6:46 pace was a solid start to the campaign.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:24(7:24/m) 133/148bpm 94cal 8.11/9.02mph
2) 1m – 6:37(6:37/m) 143/157bpm 92cal 9.06/9.64mph
3) 1m – 6:40(6:40/m) 152/156bpm 100cal 9.01/9.98mph
4) 1m – 6:36(6:36/m) 153/158bpm 99cal 9.08/9.43mph
5) 1m – 6:53(6:53/m) 146/157bpm 90cal 8.72/9.46mph
6) 1m – 6:48(6:48/m) 146/155bpm 89cal 8.83/10.18mph
7) 1m – 6:48(6:48/m) 152/158bpm 98cal 8.81/9.29mph
8) 1m – 6:39(6:39/m) 153/159bpm 97cal 9.03/9.68mph
9) 1m – 6:44(6:44/m) 152/158bpm 91cal 8.91/9.35mph
10) 1m – 6:32(6:32/m) 154/161bpm 94cal 9.18/10.08mph
11) 0.13m – 48(6:03/m) 158/162bpm 12cal 9.92/9.96mph

Best Strava Segment Performance: Forty Foot Teesaurus – 24th/334

Day 2 – Friday 3 August 2018 – Stockton Loops

Not beginning the run until 11am meant that I was unable to use the Caravan site toilets (They were closed for cleaning) which meant the first couple of miles was spent trying to find a public convenience, which I eventually found in the Stockton Shopping Centre.

Stockton Town Centre, looking for toilets.

Once that had been sorted the rest of the run was trying to explore Stockton without resorting to an out and back effort. The town centre was all geared up for its Riverside Festival (Which we enjoyed the following day). The first half saw me try to follow the River Tees unsuccessfully, making my way through the Durham University Campus and back to the Tees Barrage where I was staying.

A Cycle Path on the Second Loop, close to a prison apparently.

The second half had me following a Cycle Path around the back of the Caravan Site. This proved fruitful literally in the discovery of a bounty of early ripened blackberries which the kids returned to later that day to harvest. This path went past the Asda I had spent ages trying to find by car the day before (It was around half a mile away if you walked, rather than drove, which was nearer 3-4 miles). It then went over some barren land around the back of the prison with a path which looked like it served some other purpose years ago.

A Foot Path on the Second Loop

The cycle path briefly degenerated to a footpath before once again becoming a fully fledged cycle path. I could have followed this for ages but with over 10K covered I opted to head back into town on a main road before returning again on the Tees cycle path and back to the caravan park with a loop or two of the site to bring myself over 10 Miles.

As with Day One I was still feeling a little sub-par with the right Achilles hurting a fair amount. Some hamstring stretching appeared to be helping though. The photos too were struggling for inspiration…

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:54(7:54/m) 123/138bpm 85cal 7.59/8.72mph
2) 1m – 7:53(7:53/m) 128/140bpm 87cal 7.61/8.35mph
3) 1m – 7:18(7:18/m) 134/144bpm 91cal 8.22/8.87mph
4) 1m – 7:05(7:05/m) 136/141bpm 88cal 8.48/9.25mph
5) 1m – 7:06(7:06/m) 139/148bpm 89cal 8.45/8.93mph
6) 1m – 6:59(6:59/m) 132/141bpm 71cal 8.58/10.54mph
7) 1m – 6:49(6:49/m) 134/141bpm 72cal 8.79/9.48mph
8) 1m – 7:02(7:02/m) 136/145bpm 76cal 8.53/9.83mph
9) 1m – 6:49(6:49/m) 140/148bpm 81cal 8.8/9.5mph
10) 1m – 6:51(6:51/m) 140/148bpm 79cal 8.76/9.52mph
11) 0.07m – 26(6:33/m) 141/142bpm 5cal 9.15/9.46mph

Best Strava Segment Performance: Dubliners to Barrage – 11th/115

Day 3 – Saturday 4th August 2018 – Tees Barrage parkrun

It took a lot of convincing that it was a genuine coincidence that the first caravan site of the holiday was literally less than 400 meters from the start of Tees Barrage parkrun. I only caught wind of it a few weeks before the holiday, but was unsure of the route. It was only when I arrived in Stockton that I guessed this would not be your typical parkrun as none of it actually takes place in a park.

Setting off at 8am, an hour before the start, the first mile or so had me wondering whether I’d be able to complete the 5K course – the legs felt dreadful! It took at least three miles before the legs felt anywhere near half decent and even by the time I’d run 5.5 miles (Mostly covering sections that I thought were on the course) I held little hope for a respectable performance.

Pre parkrun at the start line five minutes before the off.

The pre-run guide to first timers was the best I’ve experienced so far at a parkrun – they had printed a large laminated map of the course and told me, as someone hoping to run around 18 minutes, to take a good look at it! I tried as best as possible to memorise it, but wasn’t totally convinced I knew where to go.

When the traditional question of whether any tourists were taking part, by coincidence I was stood next to a pair of runners who came for Holme Pierrepont Running Club, which is based in Nottingham – the closest city to Grantham. Talking to them further after the run, if this wasn’t coincidence enough it transpired they had taken part in the Belton House parkrun the week before and had spotted me running to the start of that parkrun along the A607. They also pointed out that I was wearing the same 2017 London Marathon finishers’ T-Shirt as I did at Belton House. They also noted that I finished first at Belton House. Would I repeat the feat 105 miles or so further North?

The Millennium Bridge – which we only covered once, thankfully!

I made my usual fairly cautious parkrun start, that is to say I didn’t set off at a pace I couldn’t sustain. After 200 meters or so I found my legs were working quite well all of a sudden and I soon eased to the lead, eking out a 20 meter gap as we headed to the Millennium Bridge. As I’m really not a fan of bridges over water, especially when on foot or on bike, I went a bit more conservatively than those behind me and I was caught by a small group which soon became a group of myself and one other runner. We were running relatively swiftly, enough to ease ahead of the following pack, and as I wasn’t totally sure where I was running, I decided to stick on his shoulder and let him, for the most part, lead the way, only moving ahead when I felt the pace was slowing too much.

The canal section of the parkrun course (this photo wasn’t used on Strava).

As the course traversed canal paths, bridges and rivers, it soon become apparent why this is not a particularly quick parkrun course. Despite being pretty flat there are numerous sharp 180 degree turns and a fair number of steps to be climbed too. I’d overheard a runner at the start saying that once we’d crossed the third bridge it was a mile to the finish and mostly free of any twists and turns. I took this as an opportunity to put the hammer down and picked up the pace. If you believe the Strava segment I ran the final mile and a bit at 5:06 pace, which I find surprising, but could explain why I pulled out 24 seconds on second placed James by the finish, which came all of a sudden and a bit sooner than expected!

The finish of the parkrun.

18:11 was a pleasing time given how bad the legs felt when I first started running, and has me 24th all time currently at the time of writing. After a good chat with the Holme Pirerrpont runners it was merely a case of an easy 1.5 miles warm down and a couple more loops of the Caravan Park to take the mileage just over the 10 miles.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 8:15(8:15/m) 118/134bpm 83cal 7.28/9.04mph
2) 1m – 7:31(7:31/m) 132/137bpm 94cal 7.97/8.37mph
3) 1m – 7:26(7:26/m) 134/142bpm 91cal 8.06/8.77mph
4) 1m – 6:56(6:56/m) 141/145bpm 94cal 8.65/9.06mph
5) 1m – 7:28(7:28/m) 136/147bpm 87cal 8.04/9.46mph
6) 1m – 6:04(6:04/m) 152/168bpm 85cal 9.89/13.3mph
7) 1m – 5:48(5:48/m) 166/169bpm 96cal 10.35/10.96mph
8) 1m – 5:50(5:50/m) 170/176bpm 99cal 10.29/11.33mph
9) 1m – 6:08(6:08/m) 156/175bpm 85cal 9.79/11.4mph
10) 1m – 6:55(6:55/m) 140/149bpm 78cal 8.67/9.5mph
11) 0.07m – 28(6:27/m) 142/144bpm 5cal 9.3/9.18mph

Best Strava Segment Performance: Difficult 4th km – 7th/1966

With the third run completed it was onwards and upwards to Berwick!

Leg One Summary

Distance Run: 30.3 miles. Average Pace: 6:55 per mile. Accumulated Time: 3:29:32. Average HR: 142; Total Ascent: 150 meters.

The ‘2018 Tour of Britain’ – Leg Two – Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed panorama.

Berwick-upon-Tweed is the northernmost town in England, so close to the border with Scotland that it has changed country allegiance on more than one occasion (The football team plays in the Scottish Second Division) and has been fortified to protect itself from attack over the generations.

Spittal taken from the Caravan Park.

Famous for its castle, its walls and its impressive railway bridge, we didn’t actually spend any time in Berwick itself, staying at the Caravan Site in the town of Spittal (across the Tweed from Berwick).

Seahouses harbour.

We spent our leisure time south of Berwick itself, enjoying the famous Barter Book Shop in Alnwick, the beach at Seahouses and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

The multiple benches configuration at Seahouses harbour.

Having stayed near Alnwick on our previous visit we passed on the opportunity to revisit the impressive Alnwick and Bamburgh Castles.

Seahouses beach.

Day 4 – Sunday 5th August 2018 – Exploring Berwick

Spittal Beach

Sunday morning saw us travel north along the A1 to Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is just about as far north as you can get in England before entering Scotland. I expected a tough run on tired legs but, surprisingly, I felt pretty fresh and blissfully free of Achilles pain after a calf stretch on some railings early in the run at Spittal promenade.

Berwick-on Tweed – inspired by Lowry.

I headed to the historic town of Berwick, stopping frequently to take photos, some of which inspired (poorly) by the work of Lowry, who apparently loved the place and painted numerous scenes around the town.

The Royal Border Bridge

I found the viewpoint for the spectacular River Border Bridge, which carries the same trains that run through Grantham, albeit more grandly than the all too low bridges that are the curse of Grantham lorry drivers. From there I found a shared cycle path (Route 1 if I remember correctly – a favourite from my 2016 holiday, which runs from Dover to Shetland) and headed along the riverside for a mile or so before heading on more dedicated cycle lanes which brought me tantalisingly close to, but not quite at, the Scottish border.

At the top of the main climb for the day I checked Google Maps in the hope of  making a loop of the run rather than an out and back. There were a couple of options but as they included running alongside the A1 I decided to play it safe and returned the way I came to Berwick. Feeling good I picked up the pace quite a bit back along the river path where I felt sure there would be a Strava segment to contest. To my disappointment there wasn’t, but I made a mental note that this would be one of many segments that I would have to create when I returned home and had access to a computer (And some decent internet). Alas I was only 4th.

From there it was a continued tempo effort back to the Spittal promenade and along that for a segment attempt (This did have an existing segment – only 9th best for me) before returning back to the caravan site – 10.6 miles bagged.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:35(7:35/m) 119/136bpm 78cal 7.91/8.97mph
2) 1m – 7:16(7:16/m) 133/146bpm 92cal 8.25/8.93mph
3) 1m – 7:40(7:40/m) 131/155bpm 84cal 7.83/10.08mph
4) 1m – 7:12(7:12/m) 144/156bpm 99cal 8.33/10.29mph
5) 1m – 7:03(7:03/m) 144/163bpm 90cal 8.52/9.37mph
6) 1m – 6:41(6:41/m) 137/159bpm 73cal 8.99/10.42mph
7) 1m – 6:12(6:12/m) 143/156bpm 74cal 9.67/12.33mph
8) 1m – 6:12(6:12/m) 152/165bpm 88cal 9.68/10.9mph
9) 1m – 6:31(6:31/m) 151/158bpm 93cal 9.2/9.81mph
10) 1m – 6:33(6:33/m) 146/154bpm 79cal 9.15/9.54mph
11) 0.59m – 3:59(6:48/m) 146/158bpm 49cal 8.83/9.23mph

Best Strava Segment Performance:  Just a Climb – 1st/7*

* A segment I created.

Day 5 – Monday 6 August 2018 – Cows and Cliffs

I’d spotted on Sunday’s run that  Cycle Path Route 1 continued its way past Spittal promenade and along the coast southwards. On Monday morning I decided to run along this path on a straightforward out and back – making it just past the small village of Cheswick before turning around and returning.

The cycle path looking to Spittal.

As it was a cycle path – off road in parts, the terrain was never particularly demanding and not at all technical, which made for a pleasant, mostly trouble free run, where the emphasis was on recovering from the hard efforts of the previous two days. The coast line was at times stunning, other times obscured by the grass in the dunes of Cheswick Sands. I thankfully had a side wind for the entirety of the run – when I met it briefly head on near the turnaround point, it certainly did its best to stop me in its tracks!

Cows on the cliff!

The only drama of the run came in the form of a fairly large herd of cows who had made themselves comfortable by the cliff’s edge on the cycle path fairly early on in the run and later on when I returned. I’m not a huge fan of cows and not at my best by the edge of cliffs – so the two combined made for rather interesting moments as I briefly stopped the Garmin and walked through the herd as unobtrusively as possible. Thankfully the cows seemed largely disinterested in me and more concerned with gorging themselves on the grass, and I was able to continue on my run, which ended just as the Garmin accumulated 10 miles entering the Caravan Park. I was disappointed to see there were no meaningful Strava Segments created so, once again, a note was made to, at a later point, create some of my own.

The coast line.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:46(7:46/m) 119/133bpm 81cal 7.73/8.35mph
2) 1m – 7:42(7:42/m) 132/147bpm 93cal 7.8/9.85mph
3) 1m – 6:58(6:58/m) 133/146bpm 84cal 8.62/9.16mph
4) 1m – 7:08(7:08/m) 138/145bpm 91cal 8.41/9.18mph
5) 1m – 7:25(7:25/m) 143/153bpm 99cal 8.1/9.02mph
6) 1m – 6:54(6:54/m) 138/149bpm 80cal 8.69/9.27mph
7) 1m – 6:57(6:57/m) 141/146bpm 85cal 8.64/9.2mph
8) 1m – 6:54(6:54/m) 145/154bpm 92cal 8.69/9.08mph
9) 1m – 7:09(7:09/m) 143/150bpm 89cal 8.38/9.16mph
10) 1m – 7:00(7:00/m) 141/147bpm 80cal 8.58/9.25mph
11) 0.08m – 39(8:05/m) 150/154bpm 9cal 7.42/8.5mph

Best Strava Segment Performance:  Quiet beaches to be found* – 4th/87

* A segment I created.

Day 6 – Tuesday 7 August 2018 – A Bit of Everything in Berwick-upon-Tweed

A Lowry Rip Off!

On a very overcast morning for the last run in Berwick, I was in the mood for exploring! Back it was into Berwick, running along the castle wall and ramparts; mimicking the work of Lowry and generally trying to see as much of the town as possible.

Cliffs In Berwick – a bit too much for me!

This exploration took me on a path around the back of the golf course and a holiday path. This was all well and good and I opted at a footpath junction to try and head to Marshall Meadows Bay. The path became increasingly technical, increasingly narrow and increasingly closer to the cliff’s edge. This was the explanation behind the slowest mile of the holiday at 10:09! – It wasn’t long before I abandoned this increasingly perilous idea and returned to the safety of the A1167 and the less scenic, but more comforting sights of a McDonalds drive thru and a Morrisions. This slow mile and the stop-start affair of the opening miles meant that this would be the slowest run, on average, of the Tour at 7:41 per mile.

Returning to Spittal it was clear I had to make up some miles to get to and beyond 10. So it was then a climb up the old A1, down Cow Road, over a Level Crossing, back through Spittal and a lap and an extension of the Caravan Park to bring it home in a smidge over 10 miles.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:45(7:45/m) 122/133bpm 88cal 7.75/9mph
2) 1m – 7:56(7:56/m) 129/143bpm 93cal 7.56/10.02mph
3) 1m – 8:22(8:22/m) 122/139bpm 81cal 7.17/9.87mph
4) 1m – 7:35(7:35/m) 132/145bpm 86cal 7.91/8.93mph
5) 1m – 10:09(10:09/m) 127/143bpm 94cal 5.91/8.06mph
6) 1m – 7:07(7:07/m) 134/144bpm 81cal 8.44/9.1mph
7) 1m – 6:55(6:55/m) 129/138bpm 66cal 8.68/9.5mph
8) 1m – 7:11(7:11/m) 141/154bpm 90cal 8.35/9.02mph
9) 1m – 6:58(6:58/m) 141/154bpm 84cal 8.6/9.35mph
10) 1m – 6:59(6:59/m) 135/153bpm 72cal 8.6/9.81mph
11) 0.03m – 11(6:42/m) 136/137bpm 1cal 8.95/8.18mph

Best Strava Segment Performance:  Old A1 Climb* 3rd/78

* A segment I created.

Leg 2 Summary

Distance Run: 30.7 miles. Average Pace: 7:15 per mile. Accumulated Time: 3:42:35. Average HR: 136. Total Ascent: 495 meters.

The ‘2018 Tour of Britain’ Leg Four – Morvich

 

Spectacular surrounds at Morvich Caravan Park.

Morvich is a very small highland settlement within land owned by the Scottish National Trust consisting of no more than a few houses, a youth hostel or two, a mountain rescue centre and a Caravan Park in the Highlands of Scotland on the southern edge of Loch Duich.

Loch Duich from the village of Morvich.

Morvich is very close to the A87 which heads north to the Isle of Skye and other popular tourist destinations. it is also a popular base for hiking.

Heading to the The Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye.
The Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye – the best we saw of it on a very cloudy day.

The Highlands is renowned for its climate that helps keep the grass lush and green and the lochs full of water. While it was noticeable how scorched much of the grass looked and how low the lochs appeared, the weather was mostly cloudy and sometimes wet on our visit – which is what we half expected, but was a touch disappointed nonetheless.

Plockton on a wet, drab afternoon.

Day 10 – Saturday 11th August 2018 – Almost Solitude 👌

This was a run I was fearing and looking forward to in equal measure. The opportunity to run in the spectacular surrounds of the Highlands was a thrilling prospect. The thought of having to get my body up and active after a 180 mile drive towing a caravan on some of the more demanding A roads on these isles was less than attractive. Having done the drive, set up the caravan and had lunch I was ready to collapse. But there was a run to be done and so I changed into my kit and off I headed.

I’d already decided for my first run in the Highlands I was going to do an out and back on a track that appeared to run for several miles to nowhere in particular except for a building that was marked on Google Maps. Fearing some really tired legs I was pleasantly surprised that the opening mile was a not too slow 7:35. I was a touch disappointed to see the road turn into a gravel track (as I predicted) and then stop at a cul-de-sac of two houses. A quick inspection on the Google Maps showed that the track I wanted I’d missed (It was a gated bridle path I’d ignored a little while earlier). Heading back I felt my guts churn in a not pleasant way so I opted to head back to the Caravan Park to use the facilities and begin the run afresh.

The beautiful trail running from Morvinch.

Feeling much better and a little lighter I resumed the run. Mile two was a 6:39 which was really quite unexpected. Finding the correct bridle path this time I set off on what turned out to be three and a half miles of almost pure solitude and pure bliss.

Spectacular views on the trail from Morvich. (Not a Strava picture)

Hugging the River Croe the path offered constantly changing views of the multitude of surrounding hills and mountains knwn as the Five Sisters of Kintail. The run out was a start / stop affair as I spent almost as much time admiring the scenery and taking photos as I did running.

Spectacular views on the path from Morvich (Also not  a Strava picture).

The path was easy to run on at first but as the minutes passed the gravel began to get bigger and more of the path took on the form of small rocks, which were tricky to run on and required a good deal of concentration to avoid trips and potential ankle sprains.

The beautiful trail running from Morvinch – the sheep nearly the only company I found.

Despite the lack of recent rain there were also quite a few small streams to cross, most of which had rocks handily placed to tip toe across. I imagine in wetter times this run would have been far more challenging. It was at such a stream I encountered pretty much my only company for the day – a flock of sheep. The solitude was further broken a little while later when I passed a small group of young trekkers who looked distinctly weary. I passed them on the way back and rather creepily perhaps (for them) twice more on future runs as they were staying in the same caravan park.

A lone inhabited building in the middle of nowhere.

Having run a couple of miles before hitting the path I knew it would be around six miles before I hopefully spotted the lone building. Sure enough I crested a small rise and spotted it in the distance. As I passed it I had to stop and wonder how it must feel to live in a house as secluded as this and what fate befell the owners of a very derelict house next to it.

A derlict lone building on the trail (Another picture that failed to make the Strava cut).

Just a short way past the house was a bridge which I crossed and continued running for just a short way before I sensed it was going to get very technical very quickly as it narrowed and steepened. I turned back around and headed to the bridge – stopping for a minute or two to enjoy the tranquillity.

The view from the bridge (Not on Strava either).

With the sightseeing over it was a case of running the next four and a bit miles back to base. There was no stopping now as I enjoyed the moderately technical nature of the path which was by now really working the muscles in the feet and legs far more used to running on roads and fairly level terrain.

I wasn’t particularly interested in the pace of the run but was pleased to have covered the 10.6 miles in 7:04, especially given how tired I was after the long journey into the Highlands.

Once I’d uploaded my run, I noted there was a Strava segment that looked like it was for a race that takes place in the area. I had no chance of claiming that as I had stopped many times to take pictures. On my return home I did though create a similar segment for the return back to Morvinch which I was pleased to have claimed top spot! This though was not a run about segments but about soaking in the stunning scenery that this part of the world has to offer.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:35(7:35/m) 121/138bpm 82cal 7.91/9mph
2) 1m – 6:40(6:40/m) 132/146bpm 82cal 9/10.52mph
3) 1m – 6:59(6:59/m) 141/150bpm 97cal 8.59/9.41mph
4) 1m – 7:03(7:03/m) 141/151bpm 95cal 8.51/9.46mph
5) 1m – 7:10(7:10/m) 148/152bpm 106cal 8.38/9.18mph
6) 1m – 7:44(7:44/m) 139/158bpm 87cal 7.77/9.43mph
7) 1m – 7:45(7:45/m) 138/152bpm 87cal 7.74/9.41mph
8) 1m – 6:48(6:48/m) 144/151bpm 89cal 8.83/10.75mph
9) 1m – 6:45(6:45/m) 147/154bpm 93cal 8.9/9.52mph
10) 1m – 6:40(6:40/m) 150/156bpm 96cal 9/9.75mph
11) 0.61m – 3:51(6:15/m) 146/150bpm 47cal 9.59/11.81mph

Best Strava Segment Performance: Back to Morvich – 1st/79

Day 11 – Sunday 12th August 2018 – Mam Ratagan and Back

The second run in Morvich and I decided to attempt to take to the only road I could relatively safely tackle in the area. The A87 has a section with a pavement as it heads to Inverinate but much beyond that and it is no place for a runner to be, especially in the month of August with the multitude of caravans and motorhomes flying along the twisting road.

The road I had to play with was the Old Military Road, which runs on the opposite side of Loch Duich and is signposted as a tourist route alternative to the A87 and the Isle of Skye via a ferry. While it was unlikely to be traffic free I was confident that the A87 would take the vast majority of the through traffic and it would be no more risky than many other country roads I have run on.

Heading off at 8:30am the run was immediately compromised by a landslide (which had occurred some time before we had arrived) on the most direct route out of Morvich to the A87. I had no alternative but to take the diversion onto the A87 and over the causeway and bridge that was built to bypass the A87 away from Morvich itself. This added around a mile each way to the run, but thankfully at least there was a pavement to run on.

Loch Duich at Shiel Bridge.

Once over the bridge the pavement left the main road briefly to a quiet footpath before rejoining the A87 at Shiel Bridge. Just as the pavement ran out I could take the right turn over Shiel Bridge and onto the Old Military Road. This road was originally built in the 1750s before being rebuilt in the 1820s taking a route from Fort Augustus to Bernera. Having perused the road on Google Maps I fancied a run up to the Mam Ratagan viewpoint a few miles literally up the road.

My legs were not too bad after the day before – after the customary steady opening mile (7:34) I slipped into a comfortable pace of around 6:50 for miles 2 to 4. I then began the near two mile long climb which only averaged 5% but held some surprises along the way. Part of the Highlands experience has to be running some proper hills, so I was, in a perverse way, looking forward to the challenge.

Loch Duich running up Mam Ratagan.

It began as a drag and then as I worked my way further and further up it began to steepen: 8%, then 10% then, as it approached where I assumed was the top it was signposted as 18% average but in places felt much steeper – not quite the 30% the Strava segment suggests, but probably short sections were around 20-25%.

Slowly making my way up I stopped briefly to take a photo before taking on the final onslaught via a set of steep hairpin bends which made my running feel like a crawl to the extent where walking felt like it could have been a quicker option.

View from Mam Ratagan.

With one final effort I finally reached the Mam Ratagan viewpoint. I stopped briefly to take in the scenery and to take a photo, but as I was sharing the experience with a young couple who had clearly slept the night there in their car (A common occurrence in Scotland where laws on where you can stay overnight are different from the rest of the UK) were thankfully doing nothing more than brushing their teeth, I kept the visit short. While the view there was good, the abundance of growing trees at this point, made the vista slightly lower down the hill, in my opinion, slightly superior.

A little later on in the day, it was a surprise when I uploaded my run to the world that I had claimed both the Old Military Road Climb segments on Strava despite at least one stop to take photos. That said, the road is not exactly over frequented by runners, based on the single digit numbers of those who have uploaded to Strava and covered the segment. It may though be more popular with cyclists as it features in the Scotland edition of the seminal Britain’s Greatest Cycling Climbs. I only discovered this by chance from a club mate who noted my effort on Strava and wondered if I’d deliberately targeted it. I was a bit disappointed to find out that I never quite made it to the top of the climb as described in the book. It’s a long way to go back to finish the job!

The out section of the run covered with just under six miles on the Garmin I knew it was going to be run closer to 12 miles than the customary 10. As I plunged down the steepest section of the climb I had some severe pains in the quads which normally precedes a bout of debilitating cramp. I tried my best to relax and not tense the legs and was relieved when the gradient reduced a little and the pains subsided, not to the point of them disappearing, but enough for it to not affect the remainder of the run.

Having taken a hit with the uphill (a 7:05 and a 7:59 mile, although Strava GAP has them both as sub six minute miles) the average pace for the run recovered as I continued the 2.4 mile downhill run back to Shiel Bridge, running 5:58, 6:15, and 6:28 for miles 7-9. Back on the A87 I decided that it was probably best to continuing pushing rather than easing up as far as the quads were concerned, so continued with 6:37, 6:30 and 6:29 miles, not stopping at any point of the run, to end the 12 miles in 1:21:43 at an average of 6:47. This was pretty pleasing considering the severity of the climb I’d run as I passed the halfway mark in the Tour of Britain.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 7:35(7:35/m) 124/138bpm 88cal 7.91/8.97mph
2) 1m – 6:55(6:55/m) 132/140bpm 89cal 8.67/9.18mph
3) 1m – 6:46(6:46/m) 135/143bpm 86cal 8.87/9.75mph
4) 1m – 6:48(6:48/m) 138/147bpm 85cal 8.83/10.98mph
5) 1m – 7:05(7:05/m) 153/165bpm 108cal 8.47/9.35mph
6) 1m – 8:00(8:00/m) 160/169bpm 122cal 7.5/9.85mph
7) 1m – 5:58(5:58/m) 133/138bpm 50cal 10.06/11mph
8) 1m – 6:15(6:15/m) 139/148bpm 72cal 9.59/10.54mph
9) 1m – 6:28(6:28/m) 146/150bpm 86cal 9.29/9.87mph
10) 1m – 6:37(6:37/m) 149/152bpm 92cal 9.06/9.43mph
11) 1m – 6:30(6:30/m) 151/155bpm 91cal 9.22/10.27mph
12) 1m – 6:29(6:29/m) 148/156bpm 81cal 9.25/9.83mph
13) 0.04m – 17(7:22/m) 146/146bpm 3cal 8.15/8.83mph

Best Strava Segment Performance:s Old Military Road Climb – 1st/12; Old Military Road Climb – 1st/7; Down Old Military Road to Shiel Bridge – 1st/2; Keeping Safe on the A87 – 1st/72; From the A87 to Morvich – 1st/28

Day 12 – Monday 13th August 2018 – Loch Duich – high and low

Having tackled the only obvious footpath on the Saturday and the only real safe road on the Sunday, I must admit I was wondering where I was going to run for the third and final run in Morvich. It was only when I was driving back along the A87 near Inverinate with the family from a trip to Kyle of Lochalsh and a rainy Plockton, that I spotted on the side of the road a sign for a footpath into woodland. This looked as though it could be just what I needed!

A long journey to the Isle of Skye was planned for later in the day so it was out of the caravan fairly early at 8 am for the Monday morning run. The first mile was fairly slow and tortuous while the legs struggled to wake up on the road out of Morvich. I wasn’t long on the A87 when I spotted a different path to the woodland than the one I’d seen the day before, and grabbed the opportunity to explore without hesitation.

A woodland path heading towards Inverinate.

I soon began heading upwards: rocks, trees, and the occasional stream to the right of me, trees, trees, and more trees to the left. It was quite hard work as I climbed a not especially steep gradient, the legs still a little unwilling to activate. Mile three was a pedestrian 9:01, although Strava GAP reckons it was worth a 6:45 once the elevation is taken into account.

After a mile and a half of climbing the hill levelled off and there was quite a rock formation to the right of me and quite a remarkable view to the left of me, with a splendid vista of Loch Duich around 200 feet below me.  I stopped to reel off some photos and take stock of the view before carrying on along the track. Alas as the track became less pronounced and the abundance of grass more apparent I feared the end was nigh and indeed it was that the path came to an abrupt end.

Loch Duich – high.

There was little else to do but turn around and head back from where I came – this time quicker thanks to gravity but not especially fast – this was not a day where any world records would be set. Two thirds of the way down I spotted what looked like an alternate route but reckoned it would be prudent to stay on the path I knew. This took me back on the A87, but with only just over five miles covered, I knew I had to do some more exploring to make up the distance.

So I headed up the A87 back towards Inverinate, knowing there was a pavement beside it for a good deal of the way. I passed some houses and a small primary school; once the houses ceased a fairly long uphill drag commenced. I spotted the gate to the woodland path I’d spotted in the car the day before and tried to get in. However I couldn’t get the gate to open and the sight of an unleashed dog staring at me with angry eyes in the distance made me think better of this route and went back to the main road.

Loch Duich – low.

After a mile and a half or so I reckoned I could turn around and head back and clock 10 miles by the time I reached the Caravan Park. This I did via a small diversion from the A87 down a small footpath and a quiet road where the select group of residents could enjoy a most tranquil view of Loch Duich each and every morning. Buoyed on by quite a long gentle down hill run I was able to maintain a good steady pace for the remaining couple of miles in 6:35 and 6:25 respectably. This couldn’t prevent however, at 7:20 per mile, this run being the fourth slowest of the Tour. But what it lacked in pace it made up with one of the most memorable Surprise Views of the holiday.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m – 8:03(8:03/m) 122/134bpm 90cal 7.45/8.33mph
2) 1m – 8:04(8:04/m) 129/143bpm 96cal 7.44/9.2mph
3) 1m – 9:01(9:01/m) 139/151bpm 117cal 6.65/7.58mph
4) 1m – 7:31(7:31/m) 124/146bpm 65cal 7.98/8.87mph
5) 1m – 6:49(6:49/m) 121/136bpm 52cal 8.8/9.27mph
6) 1m – 6:57(6:57/m) 127/140bpm 66cal 8.64/9.5mph
7) 1m – 7:10(7:10/m) 137/149bpm 85cal 8.36/10.6mph
8) 1m – 6:46(6:46/m) 132/146bpm 67cal 8.88/9.91mph
9) 1m – 6:35(6:35/m) 142/147bpm 88cal 9.1/9.73mph
10) 1m – 6:25(6:25/m) 146/152bpm 89cal 9.36/10.18mph
11) 0.05m – 23(7:04/m) 143/145bpm 5cal 8.48/9.31mph

Best Strava Segment Performance: From the A87 to Morvich – 1st/28

Leg Four Summary

Distance Run: 32.7 miles. Average Pace: 7:03 per mile. Accumulated Time: 3:50:27. Average HR: 138; Total Ascent: 1174 meters.