WHW Training Weekend

Well, what an amazing weekend that was!

It's 4 weeks until the West Highland Way race (WHWR), all 95 miles of it from Milgavnie to Fort William, so the race organisers arranged for a training weekend based out the fantastic By The Way campsite in Tyndrum.

Despite not actually running the WHWR this year, I invited myself along as it would be an ideal opportunity to recce the route north (that I'll be running during the Devil o' The Highlands in August).

Strangely though, the 'organised' run on Saturday was heading south from Tyndrum. Strange as most folk had just recently run the Highland Fling, so had no desire to cover that ground again.

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing on social media, a plan was hatched with most of us heading north. My plan was to get to the Glencoe ski centre, stop for coffee and cake, then head back to Tyndrum; a run that would somewhere in the region of 56km.

So, at 9am on Saturday a decent sized group assembled in the By The Way car park. A few folk looked slightly bleary eyed, having had the chance the night before to catch up with friends (old and new) in the bunkhouse... I may or may not have been one of the bleary eyed folk.

The consensus was definitely to head north, with people deciding for themselves where to turn back.

The sun was shining brightly as we set off, crossing the main road and heading off towards Bridge of Orchy. The day was truly setting itself up to be another one of those days that makes you appreciate everything; especially when you're out in the countryside doing this crazy little hobby / obsession of mine!

Climbing out of Tyndrum

I took up a place at the front of the group along with a few other guys who were planning on running to Glencoe too, setting a reasonably fast yet comfortable pace. Stuart, Jonas, Robin and I trotted along quite happily in the sunshine enjoying each others company and talking about everything from our home lives to the latest trainers that everyone was wearing; what a great way to spend a morning.

Jonas and Robin heading towards Bridge of Orchy

I was enjoying myself so much, that that's the last photo I took all weekend!

We hit Glencoe in the not too disrespectful time of 2h43m, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy a brew and some food before the return to Tyndrum.

On heading back over Rannoch Moor, we bumped into Rhona who was also heading to the ski centre. As we passed, we were treated to the sight of 3 vintage planes flying in low formation over us almost within touching distance; incredible!

As I was still not fully recovered and refreshed from Kintyre 2 weeks previously, I let the other guys press on ahead of me while I eased off the pace and enjoyed some peace and solitude; finally arriving back in Tyndrum (via an off license) in around 3 hours.

Kirsty from By The Way had organised some fabulous food for us that evening (including the amazing sticky toffee pudding, that Katie elbowed us all out of the way to get to first!...). The evening then included some interesting talks on polar marathons and injury treatment, before we all consumed possibly a little too much alcohol (purely to rehydrate ourselves, obviously!).

Sunday started fuzzily, both in terms of the weather and my head... a few folk were heading home early due to other commitments or injury. 

My plan was to head to Kingshouse to see what all the fuss about the Devil's Staircase was, dropping down to Kinlochleven, before turning around and doing it all again.

Setting off along Glen Coe, my waterproof jacket zipped all the way up, the infamous climb soon loomed into view; but it seemed no sooner had I started the ascent than I was stood next the cairn at the top! Even with the previous day's exertions in my legs, I'm not sure where the climb's reputation comes from. 51 mins from Kingshouse to the top.

I paused at the summit cairn chatting to a lovely lady who was on her 6th day of 7 walking the whole Way. She told me she was in awe of some runners she'd seen the day before running from Tyndrum to Glencoe; I let her know that that was me, but didn't have the heart to tell her that we'd run back as well!

Onwards and downwards! The descent into Kinlochleven is a long one; 550m all the way back to sea level. If anything, I'll be more concerned about burning out my quads during this descent during the Devil than the climb to get there.

Anyway, no time to to think about that now... after a quick sandwich and a coke in KLL, I turned about face and headed straight back up past the bemused faces of numerous walkers that I'd overtaken not long previously.

I was back to the Kingshouse in under 3h30m after I'd left, just as it really started to rain; this brought my total running for the weekend to over 85km with around 2,500m of ascent.

As I poured myself into the car for the long drive back to Aberdeen I was left to reflect on what was a great weekend:

Meeting some fantastic new friends, enjoying some amazing runs and generally feeling satisfied with life in general.

I think there'll be an entry into the 2016 WHWR ballot with my name on it too!...