TTC 2015 - Wet and Dry

Mid-September usually means an Indian summer and a gathering of Harriers and friends in the Trossachs for a weekend of running and almost certainly some hearty meals and drinks. All these things were present this year apart from the Indian summer as Friday evening warm sunshine turned into overnight torrential rain and persistent drizzle for much of Saturday before returning to fine conditions for Sunday. However, a wee bit of rain does not deter Calderglen Harriers (fortunately).

This year 21 Harriers and one Westie (Dawn) had signed up for the weekend. An unfortunate spate of last minute injuries but equally fortunate substitutions caused a few weeks of “will we/won’t we fill it to capacity” doubts but in the end 22 (plus Karen for Saturday only) was a nice number for the various packs and also the dormitories. The coaches leading the packs this year were Frances, Eddie, Russell and myself. Unfortunately, Eddie’s long term injury had not recovered sufficiently for him to run with his pack which meant that he was on a mountain bike for the weekend; something that his pack would view with trepidation as Eddie could afford to get very lost on the bike without over-exerting himself (not that Eddie has ever been lost on a run, he just likes to trailblaze)!

So on the Friday evening, most of the participants set off in beautiful, warm sunshine for the acclimatisation run through Coillhalan woods, a distance of 2.5 to 5.5 miles depending on the pack. Recent extensive tree felling had opened up expansive views of Loch Venachar from the highest point of the route, setting the scene perfectly for a weekend of loch-side and high altitude loch-view runs. Showered and beautified, everyone was now ready for the first dinner at the Lade Inn, some choosing to walk the mile and a half and others sharing cars. As always, Frank Park and family did themsleves proud, quickly and efficiently serving a tasty and filling selection of meals. The evening was rounded off with Three-Harriers-a-Heckling the folk singer performing in the bar. To be fair, he gave as good as he got and even with the help of song books, the Harriers present were better at heckling than they were at singing.

And so it was back to the Trossachs Tryst Hostel for the first night of sleep, or not. In a master stroke of pure guesswork, I had somehow managed to put all the male snorers in the same dorm; 6 of them all together in an 8 man dorm whilst the other dorms, including mine, were a picture of serene peace and quiet. This accumulation of snorers pushed some over the edge (Eddie) whilst others discovered skills they did not have (Martin) and became heroes overnight. At some point during the night, a certain Mr Reid was driven to stuffing wet toilet paper into his ears to cut out the sound of snoring. This proved to be acoustically very effective but a somewhat permanent solution as the toilet paper disappeared out of reach deep within his ears. Health Warning: please do not try any of the following at home; the following operations were performed by untrained professionals. After some toing and froing between the bathroom mirror and the dorm, during which the innards of a biro proved to be a useless toilet paper extractor but a very effective ram rod, Martin Howell was sufficiently curious to ask Eddie what the ***** he was doing. The aggravated Martin then became the hero with the help of Harriers newcomer and TTC first timer Gordon who had a pair of tweezers in his bag. One can only imagine what then went on in the bathroom as we only have snippets of the commentary but there were apparently strained instructions from both parties, which I shall leave to the imagination, as Martin went to work deep within Eddie’s ears. In the end the operation was a success and only a small quantity of blood was drawn along with a large quantity of toilet roll. Martin has to be considered a hero despite his exploits later on in the weekend and Eddie has to be considered a poor toilet paper dispenser but internally very clean.

Saturday morning at the breakfast table was a scene of contrasts; those who had slept, those who had not and Neil Green in his bedtime onesy, having been driven from the snore-dorm to the lounge in the middle of the night where he spent many hours reading a book about polar bears apparently! Kenny Leinster is to be congratulated for taking charge of the breakfast kitchen, setting the tables and preparing a large pot of porridge for all to enjoy.
After breakfast, this year’s event t-shirt was revealed, a fetching purple colour, before I gradually coaxed everyone out into the rain for the team photo. The Saturday morning run started at 9am. This year we returned to the foothills of Ben Ledi via Bochastle, climbing in steady rain all the way to the top of the Stank Glen. Fortunately the rain clouds were high and we still had great views along Loch Lubnaig towards Strathyre and down the Leny Gorge towards Callander. This year we skipped all possible short cuts and turned the run into a full 10-miler, dropping down via the new Callander Community Hydro Power Plant to the Forest Holidays log cabins beside Loch Lubnaig, giving us an easy, slightly downhill run back to the hostel on the route of the old Callander to Oban railway line. Russell’s pack, consisting of Liz Simpson, took an equally nice, low level route into Callander via the railway line and the River Teith footpath, returning via Invertrossachs to give a run of around 5 miles.
Everyone was delighted that the pre-lunch presentation was indoors this year as the rain continued to fall. As many at the club now use GPS watches and heart rate monitors, I had prepared a talk on how to get the most from these devices and the associated training log software. The presentation can be downloaded here. Lunch was then provided by the acclaimed Gargunnock Inn/Café Albert and was well received by all.

The post lunch sessions were supposed to be split into two groups, one doing running drills, the other doing core work. However, the weather was too bad to do the sessions outside so we dropped the running drills and squeezed everyone into the hall for the core session taken by Eddie. The session subjected everyone to various versions of plank, squat and sit-up for the best part of 45 minutes, a challenging work out for those who had not done this before. We then had an hour or so of relaxation before the afternoon run. This session was switched from the railway, which was flooded, to Invertrossachs road alongside Loch Venachar, a nice, smooth, flat tarmac surface. A moderate session of threshold effort intervals was easily managed by all before returning to the hostel to prepare for Lade Inn dinner number 2.

The Lade Inn dinner was outwardly routine but there was some over indulgence in the water of life going on in the background which ultimately bit back on the Sunday run. It was noted that some individuals (myself included) successfully accomplished the Lade Inn Grand Slam (3 courses on both nights) whilst others easily coped with the half slam (Alison would have succeeded with the Grand Slam had she been able to attend the Lade Inn on Friday night, I am sure).
Saturday night was a much more peaceful night in the snore-dorm as Sandra had kindly nipped into Callander during the day to buy a large quantity of ear plugs which seemed to do the trick. However, Neil did manage to finish the polar bear book!
For Sunday’s long run, we made use of the “Loop O’ the Loch” 12.5/14 mile circuit (one small short-cut possible to give the 12.5 mile option), taking in a full clockwise lap of Loch Venachar via Glen Finglas Reservoir “Dam” road or Brig O’ Turk for the slightly shorter option. This is a challenging circuit involving 500m of ascent but was managed more comfortably by all this year than last year. The fast pack led by me had a few issues on the way round (except for David Herbertson who was in fine form). The first sign of trouble came at about 6 miles as we neared the Achray Farm turn-off and had just passed a team of school children on an adventure weekend. From behind me I heard Martin Howell making the sound of an unwell person and turned to see him rushing to the ditch at the side of the road where these sounds continued. Apparently the “Running Dynamics” accelerometer in Martin’s Garmin chest strap recorded a peak (or should that be “pewk”) acceleration at this point together with a maximum vertical oscillation. Further proof that whisky and water can mix but whisky and anything else (e.g. running) do not mix.

Having survived this moment, we continued onwards. However the brief pause had caused Neil Green’s Achilles tendon pain to flare up and he was now running with a limp. As we were effectively at half way, there was no option but to continue though. The next interesting part of the route was the “Dam Road”, a series of switch back hairpin bends climbing about 150m over the space of 2 miles, initially on tarmac before diverting to a narrow gravel path. Neil could manage this but preferred not to stop as his Achilles would flare up. The pack ran together to the end of the tarmac climb and then let Neil continue on alone as we took a breather. It was a great effort by the whole pack to run this entire tarmac stage without stopping, demonstrating that the strength and fitness are there. Finally we were at the top with great views into Achray Forest and the Trossachs. After a slight descent, we caught up with Neil who was waiting at the only junction on this route.

Thereafter the run in was a rollercoaster of ups and downs but overall gradually descending towards Callander. The run (including a few stops) took 2 hours 13 minutes and was thankfully completed in fine sunshine throughout. Not long after, Billy Buchanan and Kenny Leinster came flying in, having been pulling the first pack in on the descent. Both are in great form for their mid-October marathon in Amsterdam for which there could not be a more inappropriate training run than this Loop O’ the Loch! After another short while, the remainder of Eddie’s pack arrived with no signs or news of any problems. Frances had taken her pack on the 12.5  mile option. The distance was not a problem for anyone but the climbing, reduced pace and hence increased time on the feet made this a very long run for many in Frances’ pack. But they all did it and can now work towards this duration of run as a regular part of their training. Russell had accompanied Liz on a mountain bike tour of the south side of the loch which proved to be the ideal gentle end to Liz’s training weekend as a relative newcomer to running. Finally, the Sunday lunch was enjoyed by all with many eager to return next year.

All in all the TTC was a success and achieved its objectives of giving the participants the experience and confidence to push their limits, whether that was their longest run, their first threshold session, their first core stability workout or, indeed, their first ear nose and throat operation. None of this would be possible without the assistance and time given by your coaches, Frances, Russell and Eddie preparing for the event, arranging t-shirts and supplies and of course looking after you all on the day. We could not do this for such great value without the financial help of our sponsor, EKGTA Ltd. There may be some changes next year as the venue is in the process of being sold and may not be operating on the same basis. However, fear not, an alternative venue only a few miles away (and even closer to the Lade Inn) has been identified ensuring that the 2016 TTC (the 10th edition) should go ahead. Please let us know if you are likely to be interested so we can get a rough feel for numbers before booking the new (or old) venue.

All the photos from me, Frances and Sandy are in the album here.
Alan