TTC 2019 - Costa del Callander

The Trossachs in all it's glory, Ben Venue in the distance - Saturday morning run perfection!

A return to the original home of TTC at Trossachs Tryst Hostel brought with it a return to absolutely perfect weather for running. Although we started off with a pretty much full house of 31, in the weeks and days leading up to the training camp the numbers were gradually eroded by circumstances such as the BA pilots' strike which knocked out our Swedish friends and some injury niggles which removed some more and in the end we had 27. Still a good number.

Off and running on TTC 2019

For a change and as this is a long post, let's start with the thank you's. Clubs such as ours depend on the voluntary services of many to put on events such as this. So its a huge thanks to Russell, Eddie, Frances and Kay for leading you all through the sessions with such enthusiasm. For the first time we trained up a reserve pack leader, ready to step in should any of the coaches pick up an injury or be otherwise unable to continue. That super-sub was Kenny who stepped up admirably to take over when Russell had to unfortunately leave on Saturday afternoon. I am sure you will all agree that we are very lucky to have club members like that who are prepared to go the extra mile (or 3)!

Cheers to Davie Herbertson for the first round

The long arms of Harriers' and TTC legend David Herbertson were much appreciated as he reached all the way from Sydney to behind The Lade Inn bar on the Saturday night to buy the first round. Thanks again Davy! Many people and organisations kept us fed and hydrated; the staff at the Lade Inn, the very cheerful lady from Cafe Albert who delivered and set out our lunches, Eddie for doing the breakfast shopping and to Kenny for the porridge. It was our first time at the hostel under its new charity ownership but it seemed just as relaxed and easy as before, especially as we had Janet and Mark (the original owners) just across the car park to chat to and to fix the shower in dorm 5. Finally, we must not forget that this event is heavily subsidised by our club sponsor EKGTA who allow us to keep the cost we charge at about 50% of what it actually costs. I doubt we could bring this event to so many people without EKGTA. We got the perfect weather too. Thanks to who ever organised that.

Pretty in pink..... and the back row!

After a fairly wet week we were all hoping that the forecast of dry weather by Friday afternoon and wall to wall sunshine for Saturday/Sunday was indeed correct. Things were looking promising when I arrived at the Trossachs Tryst to pick up the keys from the caretaker on Friday afternoon and by the time that Eddie arrived, the sun was out. Not long after, the furthest travelled participant, Ian Hunter from Nottingham arrived. Ian is a regular at the Algarve training camp and clearly brings the good weather to any training camp he participates in! Over the next 45 minutes pretty much everyone arrived and was changed and ready to go on the first run at 17:15. A quick safety briefing preceded the always controversial assignment to packs. After quelling a potential riot we were off for an easy 5 miles with the inevitable big climb thrown in for fun. The quality of the runners participating this

Morgan reminds Jim what it
was like to have hair

year was such that all the packs were doing more or less the same run, up through Callander Holiday Park and then the big climb through Coilhallan Wood emerging above the tree line before immediately looping back down through the wood for a nice run back to the hostel on fine forest trails. The pressure was then on for all to get stretched, showered and changed for dinner, particularly if you have as long hair as Morgan. At least that was the excuse being given for some of the ladies' late arrival at the Lade Inn! On the other hand, some were so efficient at getting ready and the weather was so nice, that they had time to walk the mile and a half to the Lade Inn. I am glad to report that there were no menu choice shenanigans this year and everyone ate more or less what they ordered.

Saturday dawned cold (5 degrees) and bright with perfectly clear skies. This is the busiest day and fine weather makes it all so much more practical and enjoyable. First on the agenda was the T-shirt reveal and the group photo. For many years Eddie has threatened a pink T-shirt and this year, having finally exhausted the rainbow, he (partially) delivered on that threat. Surprisingly there were some disappointed men when they found out that they were getting red T-shirts rather than pink. That leaves Eddie scope for the future though.

All smiles in Eddie's pack early on in the Saturday run high above Loch Venachar, Ben Ledi in the background

The morning run was to be a 7 to 9 miler. Both Kay and Stuart were able to join us for this run which boosted our numbers (and potentially the pace). Having recc'ed the route the weekend before with all the pack leaders, including the reserve, there were no real worries when we set off as it was one of those famous routes that is both straightforward and impossible to get lost on; just a simple out and up (of course) the north slopes of the Menteith Hills, a sharp descent, loop around Invertrossachs Estate and back. All packs were doing the same initial 4 miles (climb and descent) and thereafter Russell's pack would double back whilst the other 3 packs were to do the Invertrossachs Estate loop. The route and weather provided plenty of photo opportunities too.

My pack looking relaxed

The first problem was of my doing. As all will have noticed, since April, 90% of my runs have been wrecked by gut problems. This run was to be no different and just before the steep descent, I had to explore the undergrowth for a minute or two, sending my pack on round the corner with the instruction to wait for me at the bottom of the long descent where the track rejoined the road. As I emerged back on to the track and round the corner, I saw what I had forgotten to mention, a junction with a track (dead end after a very long way) veering down to the left and the intended track climbing ever so slightly to the right before the long descent. I feared that my pack had taken the left turn as I had said continue "down" to the road but I carried on to the right anyway at speed (passing Russell's pack for the second time) all the way to the bottom where my pack were nowhere to be seen. I knew where they were so had no option but to turn around and start running back up the very steep hill (passing Russell's pack for a third time!). Much to my relief after only a few hundred metres of ascending, I met my pack coming down the correct route, all smiles. They had indeed taken that wrong turn but had the sense to send Stuart on when that route started to climb steeply after a few hundred metres to see if it did indeed start to descend steeply. It didn't descend, so they came back. We carried on trouble free from there to complete the route, meeting up with one of my Callander running pals (Andy Dimmer) on the way.

Frances' pack pose at the top beside the lochan on the Rob Roy Way

We stretched and waited for the other packs to return. I was surprised to see Billy as the next one back, thinking that he must have been running very well indeed to have left Frances' pack and caught and overtaken everyone in Eddie's pack to finish ahead of them all. Looked like Billy would be in my pack for the Sunday run on that form. However, a minute later the rest of Frances' pack arrived and they denied any knowledge of having seen Eddie's pack, thinking we were joking when we said that they were not back yet! It's another Eddie wind up. Eddie and his pack are hiding behind the hostel aren't they? Oh no they are not!

Where could they be? Again, I knew the only place they could be..... they had missed the turn back at Invertrossachs House (the very turn that I had stopped at during the recce and pointed out that they should not miss this turn as the other road is a long way to nowhere) and were on the road to the back of beyond (which is another dead end). The weather was fine and they would eventually realise they were wrong and find their way back, was my thinking, so I had a shower. Indeed this turned out to be the case and 30 minutes later they appeared to rapturous applause, having covered an extra 3 - 4 miles of exploration through remote trails and bogs to rediscover the shore of Loch Venachar via the dam at Loch Drunkie (and another extra bit from Loch Drunkie to the Achray Forest Drive before doubling back). There's no hiding with Garmin/Strava. These are all places we have visited (intentionally) in previous TTC's over the past 13 years, so it was really just a run down memory lane (I think we need a special Calderglen Harriers TTC map with those place names on it, back of beyond, dead end, memory lane etc, because it would be about as much use as the real maps I provided which were in various pack leaders' cars for safe keeping rather than with them on the run).

Despite two fully trained pack leaders in the pack, it needed the calm, logical mind of Julie to quietly point out that they were standing beneath a sign post with directions and a map on it to bring them back on track.  There is a reality/comedy/TV show/disaster movie in there somewhere if we can get Bear Grylls interested. Should have given them Phimi's GoPro. On the bright side, the long Sunday run would seem relatively short in comparison.

Warm up before running drills

We now had a few hours to relax in the sun and to enjoy the fine buffet lunch. The afternoon started with a running drills session on the hostel's lawn. Good running form is vital to run efficiently and to avoid injury but it is something that most runners neglect until they go on a training camp. In the space of a half hour and after only a few simple drills, improvements were evident, hopefully not to be immediately forgotten and undone. Unfortunately at this time we lost Russell as Catherine had had an accident at home. We wish Catherine a speedy recovery.

Kay surveys the damage

Training camps provide different things to different people. There are those who are consistently training hard and have a specific event coming up for which the training camp provides a planned peak in the training. There are those who are getting back after injury or who train at a leisurely level throughout the year. For those, the training camp helps identify aspects of their fitness that are lacking and should provide the motivation to work on those weak areas in the months following the training camp. It might be a lack of endurance or general fitness identified by the concentrated volume of running over the TTC weekend, it might be a lack of strength highlighted by the hilly routes, it might be the inability to handle a full Lade Inn three course dinner. Or it might be a lack of overall body condition. Running is second only to cross-country skiing in the percentage of the body's muscle that is used. Consequently if you are carrying any non-productive flesh that is not muscle, running form and efficiency is going to suffer lugging that around. A handful of us came to that realisation some years ago on another of the club's concentrated training camps (the Pub Run) and introduced weekly circuit training to our training. But who do you call if you really want to quickly identify lack of condition?

A multitude of demanding positions

Kay Coneff, that's who! I was delighted that Kay was able to join us again this year to deliver a core conditioning session and to run with us over the weekend. I gave Kay a full hour to do whatever she wanted with everyone but kind hearted Kay came to the conclusion that 45 minutes would be enough. I don't think anyone was arguing. We had the benefit of being out in the warm sun this year and Kay had also brought a sound system to further distract us from the pain. The photos (and videos) tell most of the story. I also hear that downloads of the Police hit Roxanne have slumped to an all time low this week. Personally, I fear the potential accidents that may occur should I ever hear that song on the car radio and I automatically drop to the press-up position. Kay's session finished with a competitive element splitting us into two teams passing (in our case) a heavy kettle bell or (in the other team's case) a beach ball that looked like a medicine ball along the line whilst adopting a stress position. Obviously the team with the "medicine" ball won but the real winners were those who benefited from the core strength boost realised with the heavy kettle bell. Not that we are a competitive club or anything. A huge thanks to Kay and here's hoping that at least a few more people have awoken to the idea that they need to use it or lose it (muscle condition) and join us for weekly circuits.

Stranded in the Lade

Ready for the Lade Inn

After some more relaxation in the sun we had a final mild interval session to finish off. I chose the flattest place in Callander for this (the old railway line) although we had to climb over a hill to get to it (naturally). Unfortunately the railway line appeared to be mobbed with tourists so I made a stupid decision to change to the farm access road (which was too short for the planned session). As it turned
out, the crowds on the railway were only there for that brief moment when we first arrived. If we had waited 5 minutes we would have had it to ourselves. Oh well, lesson to self - make a plan and stick to it. And so to the Lade Inn again. There was more time for those who have hair to dry it this time, so no rush. We were surprised and delighted to hear that Davie Herbertson had phoned the Lade Inn from Australia to organise paying for the first round. Once again, thank you! Other than the fact that some Harriers were inexplicably stranded at The Lade Inn until 1am, everything went as smooth as clockwork as usual.

Sunday run - I'm not saying Gerry Mullen has a favourite son but I have heard him say that he thinks the sun shines out of Michael's a?$e! He could be right.

So to the Sunday run, a straightforward route on which it is impossible to get lost (like the other routes). The mist was hanging low over the loch and conditions were absolutely perfect for the run. In Russell's absence, we reorganised the pack leaders. Frances would take Russell's pack, Eddie would take Frances' pack (almost a riot there), Kenny would take Eddie's pack and I would take my pack. There were a few changes to pack members too given the cumulative effects of the TTC so far although I gained one as Andy Dimmer would join us for the Loop of the Loch. To keep the distance up, I added the zig zag road up Glen Finglas back in which climbed a bit higher than the usual route before dropping down to join the high path on the north side of Loch Venachar. All in this run would be about 22km and 550m of climbing, so not too bad. Kenny and I would take the full route whilst Frances would take the old route up via Brig O Turk. A mutiny within Eddie's pack resulted in them also taking that route (sensible decision as it cuts a 2 to 3km off and there were a few weary souls).
Amazingly, the run went very well. Nobody got lost and everyone finished in fine form. Ann got exactly what she asked for on the registration form, and I quote "Make the Sunday long run more than 8 miles. 16 can be too long and 8 is too short", so I gave her 12 miles, exactly in the middle of the requested range! We rounded off with another fine buffet lunch of sandwiches and soup and another TTC was over. This was definitely a more appropriate venue.

What it's all about - running in spectacular
surroundings

We had several photographers documenting our exploits throughout the weekend (Frances, Eddie, Martin so far) and I have uploaded a selection of these photos in this album. If you have more photos of different aspects of the weekend, drag and drop into the album or forward to me. There is also a much anticipated series of videos of the core conditioning session courtesy of Martin. I am in the process of ratifying the video clips with the British Board of Film Classification to determine if they are suitable for public release. Watch this space.

Finally, thanks to all of the participants from near and far who made this one of the most enjoyable TTC's yet.
Alan