With a little help from my friends

Sorry I missed my blog last week but I was on holiday.  A well earned staycation touring the highlands of Scotland.  It was well timed because the week before I injured my ribs and couldn't run.  It didn't help that I also fell down the stairs on holiday and injured my lower back as well so it's fair to say any form of training was out of the question as I hobbled around.
On Tuesday I came back with a fast 8km walk.  Wednesday an 8km fast walk with a 2 km run at the end.  Thursday was a gentle 9km run and a pacier 10km run on Friday.   This was all preparation for the Mountains on Saturday and what a day that was.
A 4.30am start, my wingman Michael and I headed off to complete "two Munro's that nobody seems to link together" he said - that should have been the warning!  I was expecting a 30km distance in total but the map apps don't take account the zig zagging when going up vertical climbs so that proved a bit of an under estimation.  
The first munro was Ben Vorlich at Loch Lomond.  OMG that was really tough.  After a 3km run on a track we climbed a smaller hill traversed across the top and then followed a forest track for quite some distance before descending to the bottom of Ben Vorlich.  Thereafter it was straight up - there was 1 km that took 28 minutes!  It advertises a "track" but it's like no track I've ever gone up.  Very difficult under foot, it's like a step machine in a gym except you are walking on loose and sharp stones.  It just keeps on going on and on and just over half way up we found ourselves at cloud base so now view to reward us for a very tough climb.  As I was getting my breath back at the top I realised that we were going back the same way we came up.  Well if the ascent was tough, the descent was horrendous as we slipped and slid down the loose rocks.  I don't know how anyone could ascend and descent this mountain without poles.  They saved me on numerous occasions.  On reaching the bottom we climbed another smaller hill, traversed across the top and down to a forest track.  At one stage Michael said, "there should be a bridge here" - well there used to be a bridge and the best we could do was walk across a metal support which had a reasonable drop should we miss our step - more adventure than I wanted!
The final munro was Ben Bhunidhe.  I was now struggling as I hadn't brought enough food as I was expecting a 5 hour trip not 8.5 hours.  I ran out of water due to a failure of one of my bottles but we were able to get some from a fast flowing mountain stream - it was nectar!  The climb was relentless and again difficult under foot.  Michael powered ahead in "beast mode" and I managed to put one foot in front of the other.  Michael would wait for me at either scrambling spots or when the route had a choice of direction and put his time to good use taking amazing photographs.  A five minute rest at the top and I really could have done with some food other than the gel and protein bar I ate.  The descent for the first third was really technical and difficult.  Then you are on a land rover track with rocks and there were some steep sections that were difficult to run.  To complete the agony less than a kilometer from my car we ran past a brewery which was open and people were sitting outside having a pint!  We didn't have time to stop as the planned 30km adventure turned into 42.4km.  I was bust but this is exactly the type of training I need to complete the goals I have set.  Did I enjoy it, no but any day with a pal on the hills has got to be good and without him I'd have called it a day after the first munro.
I got home and ate my body weight in food.  My quads knew they had had a workout and I had a 14 km recover run planned for Sunday.  I'd know idea how I'd feel in the morning.
Sunday morning I got up, ate a huge breakfast and was picked up by Stuart.  We headed off for a flat trail run at a slow pace.  Again I wouldn't have completed it without him dragging me along.  My Garmin gives a "training effort" score and yesterdays was 4.2/5 but today was 4.8!  Obviously the fatigue from yesterday impacted but back to back efforts like this is the best way to get ready for long ultras or a multi-day staged event like those I have lined up.  This will prove to have been a key weekend in my preparation for my races.
The good news is my quads feel fine which is the benefit of running down hill on a regular basis.  The first couple of efforts really hurt then your legs get used to it.  I can build from here.
Tomorrow is a well earned day off training and once my ribs and back are 100% I can go back to my core training.  My gym has been built in the back garden so I have no excuse not to train.
I entitled this blog "with a little help from my friends" and this weekend Michael and Stuart both got me through a tough time, challenged my limits and didn't let me give up.  You can't always have a training partner and some times need to train on your own but this weekend I really appreciated the support as I return from a couple of weeks of due to injury.  Thanks guys.