Week 48 : Trail Vacation Diary in the Scottish Highlands
I just spent a fantastic week unwinding in the Scottish highlands. We stayed in Inverness for a day and a half before heading to the Isle of Skye, where we lodged in Portree for 3 days. Besides the training I did, which consisted of three runs, we had a private tour around the island, which took us to some incredible places, like the Old man of Storr, the fairy pools, and Duntulm Castle. I’m not sure there is a place on Earth with such epic incredible differing landscapes. It also made me realize how well the Scottish are at storytelling.
Distance covered: 34.50km
Time spent running: 3h 32m
Number of runs: 3
Trail runs
Two of my runs were among some epic trails that showcased the beautiful region. The first run was a 1.5-hour run just North of Portree, with jagged rocks, steep climbing through fields, and a section on the highlands running through bogs, with many sheep for company.
The second fun run that I did was just outside of Fort William. There are many different trails to choose from in the area, which makes it a great location for trail running. This city also hosts Ring of Steall, a well-known international trail race that has existed since 2015. It has been featured in the Golden Trail Series, the Skyrunning World Series, and the Spartan World Championships, and takes place near the Ben Nevis mountain, the tallest mountain in the UK.
Upcoming plans
I am now focusing on an 8-week base building block where I will also throw in speed workouts to gain a better top-end speed. Then on February 8th, I will start a 12-week marathon training block focusing on endurance and speed for my big goal race in Innsbruck, Austria, a 35km race with about 2000m of elevation. I am currently able to run 4x a week and am ramping up mileage slowly while keeping an eye on my Achilles tendon.
So far my schedule looks like this:
- March 17th — Voorturen Trail (Golden Trail National Series), Ameland, NL — 35km, 350m of elevation
- May 4 — Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun — 35km, 2000m of elevation
I may add another shorter race before March to work on some speed in a race environment. In total, I will do about 5–7 trail races, stay tuned for updates on that front.
That is all for this week!
I hope you enjoyed this article! Leave a comment and tell me about your training and upcoming races!
