Oh well, perhaps I am mad!

The contrast between my triathlon club mates and other pals always makes me laugh. When I mentioned over the last couple of days to various people that I plan to cycle from home to New Cumnock in Ayrshire to visit a friend my tri club mates look kind of envious but not in the least bit surprised. It could amount to about 50 miles all in but to the tri club folk this sounds like a I was going in case they might be able to fit in the ride, too.

However, when I talk about such an outing with other people they raise their eyebrows in shock. They ask why I would not take the car, train - perhaps a plane! They wonder why? They look at me as if I'm insane.

When I think back to my early days in the club I can recall the same feeling. I clearly remember a few conversations where members told me that before coming to the track for the running session they had been out for a 60-mile cycle. Many triathletes think nothing of training twice a day. Back then I thought they were mad. For me a 6-mile cycle to work and back was enough and I ran only twice a week.

Now, having become quite a bit fitter, I look forward to the chance to cycle 50 miles to visit a friend. I don't think it's madness - just a good use of time and a great opportunity to do some training while also seeing some of Ayrshire's countryside.

It would be rubbish if we were all the same, eh?!

How far would you go for a fish supper?

The start

Some people will go a long way to buy a fish supper – but it could be that myself and fellow members of the Glasgow Triathlon Club went the furthest ever this weekend. I blogged previously about the Big Long Chippie Run triathlon but I had no idea, until taking part, what a hugely fantabulous event this would be. Every single person who participated or supported the event arrived at Sunday evening exhausted but utterly uplifted. Some people said it was one of the best weekends of their lives.

The event saw members cycling from Helensburgh to the southern end of Loch Lomond. An 11.5 nour relay swim took our triathletes some 22 miles north to the top of the stunning loch. After a fairly nightmarish night (for those eaten alive by midges at Beinglas Campsite. PS It won't help now but you could read my summer guide to nasty Scottish beasties for future reference!) the following day comprised a mass 95-mile cycle to Kinross. While some went the whole distance others did whatever mileage they fancied, while being supported by a Mitchells Hire drive van and mini bus. (Thanks Mitchells for your generous sponsorship.)

Sunday was another fabulous cycle (should have been 27 miles, ended up 40 miles due to terrible navigation!) and then a 11-mile run. The final mile of the run involved all participants as we ran together into Anstruther.

While utterly knackered I have to say it was one of the most amazing weekends I've ever enjoyed. Fab company, an amazing route and all for charity. Plus I don't think a fish supper has ever tasted so good as it did yesterday after cycling and running some 52 miles!

Let's do it this again next year. . .

The End at the Anstruther Fish Bar

...And you can still donate money to the three charities in recognition our epic effort.

(I think) I'm loving this. . .

With forecasters predicting a sunnier summer and tourism bods reporting a rise in the value-for-money staycation, it's likely that good old-fashioned camping is going to be a hot trend. So maybe this strange new product is going to be a novel hit.

Actually, when you see it up close, the Slanket (not a great name - but it pretty much does what it says on the label) is a great idea. Essentially a blanket with sleeves, the Slanket offers warmth for campers or any outdoorsy folk on cool UK evenings.

I know it will work for me. Last year on a camping hol in Wales I spent hours every evening sat on a camp chair trying to keep warm by snuggling into my sleeping bag. However, every time I needed to get up to pop to the loo or fix another drink I had to climb out of the bag (or alternatively do a series of incongruous sleeping bag jumps). With a Slanket I would never need to discard the warm outer.

The only thing is the Slanket does look a bit granny-ish (although some colours are better than others) and I don't think the publicity pics do it much justice but having tried one for size I know it'll be the first thing to be packed for this year's camping trip. See www.theslanket.com

Sunday's "instead" hill run

Campsie Fells

Having not even made it into the car to head north to support the West Highland Way race, let alone on foot into the great outdoors, I was keen to find a hill run to offer some replacement therapy. While I've been up and Dumgoyne a few times recently I have not done so with Mr Outdoors for ages, so this is where we headed.

Mr Outdoors is keen to rediscover his hill walking legs for a forthcoming trip to the Cuillin Ridge so he suggested the idea of running up and down "our hill" (remember, this is where we were married in 2006) twice . This seemed like a good challenge until we reached the summit (in a great time) and looked over to the next summit in the Campsie Fells. Strangely we've never ventured over to this hill called (I think) Earl's Seat (578m). (See here for info about these hills). So two hills in one outing rather than one hill twice became our new goal.

We found the trail was easy to identify and while there was a reasonable ascent it was very easy-going compared to the steep side of Dumgoyne. The views from Earl's Seat (the highest summit in this string of hills) were every bit as gorgeous although I'm still pleased we chose Dumgoyne for the wedding.

The route back would have been oh-so-simple if we'd just retraced our steps but this is so not the way of Mr Outdoors. He likes to try new routes. Instead he decided to navigate us off the hill by another route he swore he could see from the top of Earl's Seat. Only, it turns out, that this trail didn't quite go where he'd expected and we ended up spending 20 minutes traipsing through tedious ankle twisting heather. (Apparently I was also to blame as this route had been a "joint" decision. Hmmm!).

Finally, though, we picked up a trail at the bottom of the hills running back towards the Strathblane Valley. I believe this is called the "pipe trail" or similar. It did offer a lovely final mile or so to our run and meant that we arrived back at Glengoyne Distillery (and the car) with smiles back on our faces.

Update: West Highland Way madness

So it seems that Charlie was proper poorly. Just a few hours into the event he felt weary, clammy and ended up with bad diarrhoea. He was right to stop where he did and to recognise that to continue would have been a disaster, not to mention the potential for laying him up for weeks afterwards. It's a brave man that admits defeat! I spoke to Charlie on Monday and he is majorly gutted not to have completed however he plans to try again next year. Hopefully he'll ask me to support him again.

The madness that never happened

Sadly Charlie was forced to pull out of the bonkers WHW race at Beinglas. He had been running for about 8hrs (some 40 or so miles) by this point and while I haven't spoken to him yet I imagine he was gutted to have come so far.. yet have to go home early. His wife called me at 10am to tell me the news and she thinks it had something to do with a sore throat that Charlie had been suffering the week before.

I was really disappointed for Charlie after all the amazing training that he'd put in this year. I was also (selfishly) a tad disappointed myself. I was really excited about supporting Charlie on those final 20 miles or so.

But the real bummer was that because I wasn't heading north for the event I had to stay home and attend to domestic chores, including the gardening. Boy did I feel sorry for myself by the end of the day. I kept thinking about the allure of the hills vs the repulsiveness of the weeds.

The WHW race did not provide any record breaking runs this year. Bradley Scott won in 16hrs 11 secs (the record is held by Jez Bragg in 15:44 from 2006). While the fastest woman was Sharon Law in 19hrs 55mins (2007 saw the fastest ever lady Lucy Colquhoun in 17:16). I've not heard a race report but the results suggest that conditions were tough at the weekend.

West Highland Way madness?

For those of you who don't know, the West Highland Way is a long distance walking route that stretches 95 miles from Milngavie, near Glasgow, to Fort William. Most people take around five days to walk this trail, stopping overnight at one of numerous B&Bs or campsites. However every year a group of people take part in a truly mad race – walking/jogging/running the full length in one go.

It's hard to believe that anyone can run this far over such tough terrain (we're talking here about a rough trail, lots of big hills and a mountain or two). The West Highland Way Race record is an incredible 15 hrs and 44mins. The female record is 17hrs and 16 mins. Every participant is required to complete in less than 36hrs and for most the Holy grail is sub 24 hours.

Now I have no real desire to complete such an event. The Loch Ness Marathon last year was way more than enough for me. However, I am keen to support anyone bonkers enough to want to give it a go, especially if it's in the name of charity.

Which is why, this weekend, I will be joining one competitor, Charlie M, for the final 23 miles or so. Charlie is a member of my tri club and an all-round adrenaline junkie. He has done this race before but he's also completed a host of other insane events including the Marathon Des Sables. He always raises money for the Beanfeast children's charity. (You can see his justgiving site here)

The things is, until last night, I hadn't really given much thought to what I would be doing. It was another tri pal Jim that first suggested the idea many months ago. Jim supported Charlie on the final 12 miles of the WHW Race a couple of years ago. "Go on." Jim told me. "It's a good thing to do and actually quite ok because Charlie is only able to walk by that point."

Only Charlie has got himself super fit this year. He's ahead of me at tri club track sessions and I've been keeping an eye on various events he's taken part in over the last six months. Charlie has clocked some impressive times.

But I've committed myself and I want to help Charlie out. I hope to start at Kingshouse, head over the Devil's Staircase, then on to Kinlochleven before the final descent into Fort William. Put like this it all seems fine. Afterall I know I can walk 23 miles. But in reality it will be at night, it is likely to be wet and windy, Charlie will be desperate to finish (and in under 24 hours) and I have no idea if I'll be a good support or not. I mean, will Charlie want me to chat to him? Or just be there? Will he be grumpy? Will I be able to keep up?

Goodness knows. Still, I'm pretty excited about it all. I'll report back after the weekend to tell you how Charlie got on. And how it felt to do only a fraction of the epic event.