Giffordtown & the 'Autumn' Training Week 2021

It’s the penultimate day of the Aberfoyle training week. It’s been pouring these last 2 days. The bizarre heat of the Wrekenton Cross Country in Gateshead a fortnight ago is a long gone memory. All that dust and heat haze. There is something re-assuring about the cool west coast rain and misty clag that clings to the hills and forest at this time of year. We walked Conic Hill on Monday and Ben Lomond on Wednesday in bright sunshine. It was busy. Some folk had stripped down to their t-shirts. Several were in their trainers. On Lomond, as if trying to make a point, I ploughed on regardless wearing my camouflage goretex smock until we were almost back in Rowardennan when I submitted to the warmth of the lower slopes. The last time I was up Lomond was in 2009 when I was up and back in 1:27.  It snowed on the top if my recall is correct.  We had a tea in the garden of the Hotel. Wasn't too inspiring, I must admit. 

The plan today was to walk up the Corbett Ben Ledi, but this morning I settled instead for a 9 mile plod through the rain. Very wet I was when I finished. 

At the start of our week last Sunday, we mooched across to the old Kingdom to do the Giffordtown 5k. I don’t think it was a full field, but it was, nevertheless, a pretty decent field that gathered in deepest Fife for this out and back affair. Starting at 11am, I was raring to go and at the 1km mark, which came very quickly, I thought I’d better get a shifty on otherwise I might run out of road. The first mile was a 5:49 and I was still galloping forward at that pace into the second mile with purpose. Speedy Joe and Ant were running as was Mrs Mac, and I wasn’t too far behind Ant at the turn. I was aware that toward the end of the race I had to work harder when a Lothian runner crept up on my flank. I caught a glimpse of his grey hair and thought ‘M50’.  We ran the last 400m together before I dug into my reserves (which I had thanks to my weights work) in the last 50m to reclaim my lead. It was a well earned 18:32, 3^rd M50 and an 8 second improvement on July’s Sunderland 5k. Definitely worth the trip.  I warmed down with Ant and Speedy Joe who had finished second to Rebecca Burns of Edinburgh AC. We were joined by an affable young man with red hair who introduced himself as Noah Lambert. A Gloucester lad, he was running for St Andrews Uni. He had beaten the best Fife AC had to offer, crossing the line in 15:05 and only a handful of seconds off the record. We chatted a little before getting back to the car and after getting changed, we took off for tea and soup at the Pillars of Hercules café in Falkland. Organic, trendy perhaps, but not that cheap. Is anything anymore?

Back to today and this afternoon after getting dried out from this mornings run, It was a 5 mile slog in the mist and rain halfway up Ben Venue. There was no one else around but no shortage of interesting fungi. On this holiday I’ve finished Joe Haldemans Classic 'The Forever War' and moved on with Rankins novel 'The Black Book'.(not sure if I've read this before or not?). I've bought a wooden chess set and a set of old dominoes from an antique centre in Doune. I have also discovered the panorama tool on my phone. I haven’t managed to stick to the diet or weights regime, so I reckon my time for Sundays Redcar 5k might well creep into 19 minutes. However, it’s the price of a weeks holiday that has been one and a half years in coming, so I’m not too bothered. It was almost a sesh in the nearby hotel tonight before coming back with a fish supper to share. I’ve just changed the newspaper packing in several pairs of sodden shoes lined up and trying to dry out beside the door and tomorrow its goodbye to the cracking trails around Aberfoyle (until the next time).