Kintail, Scotland

place keeper

Glen Affric

place keeper

BA to Kincraig

place keeper for Blair Atholl - Kincraig

Scotland - Pentland Hills

Taking advantage of the sunny weather (never a certainty in Scotland), we took a short walk into the Pentlands, the hills just on my brother's doorstep in Edinburgh. We made it over Caerketton to Allenmuir Hill, it's summit a smidgin over 1600 feet.

Charleston Sprint Tri No 3

Well, I didn't manage to do more than 2 sessions in the pool in the interim, but I did manage to take 31s off the swim - mainly by keeping away from the breast-stroke!! Jenny had to work so I didn't have much support on the sidelines.

Bike went well too - kept off the bottle - just sips this time - hammered a bit from the turn on the bike to improve by almost 2 mins - although one of these minutes was due to the 2.5% shorter course from the previous week :)

Run felt so much better, but only 17 secs faster on the clock. Managed to make my 3 min improvement target (almost) - not feeling great though - think I've got some sort of infection.

swim 00:13:37
T1 00:01:21
bike 00:31:50
T2 00:00:37
run 00:23:09

total 01:10:32

Full Results here: http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=1445

Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series #2

I finally started a triathlon this summer... Last year's Charleston Sprint series was quite good fun - apart from the baking heat - so I decided to give it a go, despite only two sessions in the pool beforehand

Last Sunday weather was pretty nice, cool, with only a very slight breeze. The dog pond at James Island was it's usual mirky self - but warm like bath water. Got a reasonably decent spot on the bike rack (it's first come first serve at this triathlon) and went off to warm up. I didn't used to believe in warming up much - but I think the shorter the event, the longer you need to bike / run beforehand. I started at the back of the swim pack and my half freestyle half breast-stroke technique pretty much kept me there until the swim heroes from the next wave went through me like a dose of salts. 14 :08 for 600 yards is def. slower than any of the swims I did last year - will need to get my landlubber backside into the pool for a few sessions before the next one.

Nice to see Jenny on exiting that water - I think she was more relieved than I was to get out of there. Good steady transition then settled into the 20km bike. Passed a lot of people as usual and had a few disc-wheel-merchants pass me - Trevor, my Sunday running pal, caught me for 3 minutes on the swim, then showed me a clean rear wheel to put another 30 seconds into me on the bike. I managed 33:37 for the cycle, which is about a minute slower than my PB from last year, executed a great dismount into fast transition to running gear and out onto the 5 km run course.

My guts started aching at after about 500 yards - I hadn't drunk much fuel on the ride so slammed about half the bottle in the last mile to "give me a little something" for the run. Well - a little indigestion is about all I got. My innards were not happy at all. Reduced to a trot for the run which was becoming very painful. Took 8 minutes to knock out the first mile then it got a little easier. Happy to finish with 23:26 for the run and a total of 1:13:28 for the tri, about a minute faster than my first attempt last year - so not bad all things considered. Next tri is Sprint #3 on 2nd August. I want to take 1 minute off the swim, 30s off the bike and 1.5 mins off the run for about a 1:10:30 - Better go train....

Results here: http://www.setupevents.com/files/csts2agegroupmale09.html

I still have half an idea to attempt an Iron distance race this fall - I keep checking the Beach to Battleship site for entries - I feel if I could pull off that flat course in about the same time as my Lanzarote Ironman time 5 years ago, then I'm not aging too disgracefully...

New title page

...a new title page is under construction - trying to keep all this in order - watch this space :)

Chatooga 50K Ultra

With maybe 12 miles of "running" in my legs between October and April, I knew this ultra trail race was going to be a bit of a big ask, which is probably why I only got 3 hours of restless sleep the night before, camping in Oconee State Park (You don't want to camp in the wild up here - this is where they filmed "Deliverance" !)


71 souls of various ages showed up at Burrells Ford trailhead for a 32 mile slog out-and-back along the south-western end of the Foothills Trail. I started well behind the self-proclaimed front runners, determined to keep my pace in check. I had researched the previous years results, winners time was 5h30 mins, 1st lady at 7h11m and figured with my 3 week crash course in flat mileage in Charleston I'd be doing well to finish under 7hours. I soon found myself frustrated at runners picking their way around the rocks and roots in front of me and started moving up the field. I knew Jenny was at the aid station at the road crossing, the highest point of the race at 10.4 miles and was pleased to get there in 2h06m. I reckon I was about 21st going through this point.


The next section had a long 700 ft descent and bees stinging unsuspecting runners! I got one right on the pip! I clocked 1h03 for the 5.6mile section to the turnaround and then 1h08 for the slog back up to Jenny's aid station. I had made up some 8 places over the 11 miles, as the 83 degree heat and the 90% humidity began to take it's toll on the field, despite the extensive leafy canopy throughout most of the course.


It was great to see Jenny again to fill up bottles and stuff my belt with goodies before heading back to the river for the final stretch. She told me later that many of the other competitors were a bit peeved not to be receiving the same kisses I was at the feed station !!


The wheels started falling off with about 6 miles to go. With tired legs it was taking me much longer to negotiate the fallen trees, rocks and roots and I ran out of water with about 3 miles still to cover. Although I had made up 1 more place another couple of folks passed me plodding uphill, so eventually I finished in 14th, scraping under my 7hour target at 6:53:35. I reckon there was at least 3600 feet ascent along the whole course - so I am really happy with that result. The winner came in with an incredible 5h08 - I swear he wasn't running - more like floating.


More info and official results should be here soon.