The West Highland Way ultra – A Training Journey (part 6)

I am a little behind writing blog posts for my training journey, compared to my actual training! This post relates to week 5 of training which ran (pun intended) from 6th - 12th January! I'll get caught up soon...😅

Recovery week has come and gone! If you read part 5 of this West Highland Way ultra training journey blog then you will know that very tight hamstrings curtailed much of the flush out I was looking forward to in recovery week. This knocked a couple of days into week 5 and so the week of running detailed below begins on Wednesday. Did I make up the shortfall or just let the missed miles slide? Read on to find out!

Time on feet (running!)

I totaled 84.6 miles/136.2km of time on feet in week 5. I ran 57.9 miles/93.2km of this, accounting for 68% overall. This is pretty similar to my week 3 percentage (prior to recovery week). Given I couldn’t get started until Wednesday, I am pleased with this stat.

Runs for week 5

Tentative steps back

Despite the delay in getting started, I actually added an extra 3.5 miles of running this week 🙂. I am confident that my careful management of last weeks hamstring issue, and the saviour that is K-tape – that brightly coloured tape you see holding most athletes together 😂 – helped me stay on track with my goal of hitting the 56-58 mile/90-93km range in week 5.

My first run on Wednesday was a cold morning effort. As I usually do, I took the time to warm my body into the first couple of miles. Mid-way through mile 4, I started to feel my right hamstring tighten slightly so I kept the pace down and stopped at 5 miles.

I monitored my hamstring through the day with a view to doing another run in the evening. Feeling recovered, I set off again after work with the target of an hour plodding around the streets. Thankfully, there was no further issue in my left hamstring during or after this run!

I suspect the second run was more successful because naturally my body was more limber from a day of movement. My brain does not operate in a way that sustains the chances of a run happening into the evening hours. I’m usually too tired or just plain can’t be bothered. If it did, I’d enjoy doing more evening efforts, but I prefer to take my medicine in the morning, so I’ll be sticking with that whenever I can!

Hill work

Feeling confident enough to tackle a 2-parter of hill repeats the following morning, I set to work on some steep hill endurance followed by a short recovery run then hill sprints. I had no more hamstring issues but I chose the wrong hill again! Although a different hill to that in week 3 (part 4), this one still ran out quite quickly. I did the best I could but as before some ups had downs, and vice versa.

The sprints were great fun, though in hindsight I need a steeper gradient for shorter hill work. Despite having it programmed into my Garmin, I also miscounted and completed an extra sprint effort. Being my last one (or so I thought), I tried to leave it all out there…and Garmin didn’t give me, or it, any credit 😭.

Longer efforts

I spent the remainder of the week gathering mileage and elevation at a leisurely pace. On Sunday I had the treacherous (but very fun) task of running a 19 mile/ 30.6km hilly trail effort in snow, slush and sheet ice. I chose the same route as week 3’s 18-mile long run, gathering 833 metres/2,733ft with the extra mile being on a flattish section of trail. Some of this was running in the dark due to a later start (having other morning commitments). But despite the dodgy underfoot conditions, and with only my headtorch for company, I returned home unscathed. And the hamstrings? All fine 👍🏽.

Gaining Elevation

After a recovery week, my body was itching to get back to elevation. I’m not sure where this desire has sprung from – it’s not the Shari of old, but let’s roll with it. On my Wednesday runs I kept the elevation sensible. I did not actively seek out inclines, instead focusing on how my body felt, my hamstrings in particular. That changed from Thursday onwards when I enjoyed more ascent and descent. I eventually covered 1,682 metres/5,518ft which was an increase of almost 100m/328ft from the pre-recovery week elevation total (1,586m/5,203ft). Not bad for a half weeks work!

Garmin Endurance Score

I forgot to screen grab my Garmin Endurance Score at the end of this week 🤦‍♀️. Garmin Connect is not standardised across metrics, so although I can go back day by day in some areas, I can’t for Endurance Score. At best, I can show you a blue dot to the right of the second image shown below. I have crudely circled the relevant part as evidence that my score has increased! Sidenote: If this image not being centered is as itchy to your brain as it is mine, I’ve only done this to avoid spoilers for future weeks scores. It won’t become a habit, I promise 😂.

So I’m not sure what my exact Endurance Score is at the end of week 5, but if you squint your eyes and follow the x-axis, it’s somewhere in the region of high 7,100’s to low 7,200’s. Based on Garmin’s Endurance Score norms table I introduced in part 5 of this training journey blog, a person will tip into Elite (the pink part of Garmin’s score gauge) at a score of 7,200. I may have made it into Elite by week 5 of training for my West Highland Way ultra. We will never know 😂. In any case, the precise number is not the important part, is it? It’s the trajectory – and mine is looking healthy 🙂.

Endurance Score (end of week 3/4 v end of week 5) 👇

Garmin Hill Score

Although my Garmin Hill Score at the end of training week 5 remains similar to that showing at the end of recovery week 4, there is actually one sub-score that has jumped up. My hill strength score has increased from 63 (moderate) to 70 (high). This doesn’t surprise me as Garmin has finally been able to run some calculations based on me actually running hills with some power, rather than the pure long endurance efforts I was doing in the first block of training. Nevertheless, it is nice to see!

The small shift in the other scores is of no concern to me. To my mind, a a single score shift here and there only becomes worth paying attention to if a trend develops over time.

Hill Score (end of week 4 recovery week v end of week 5) 👇

Supplementary training

A short nod to what else I have been doing in week 5 of my training. I have kept up the increased use of the massage gun and the foam roller. Yoga and general stretching is also making a more regular appearance in my programme. I am not yet writing it down, preferring to just remember to do something most days. Luckily, I am seasoned enough to know what my body needs most of the time, be it gentle yoga, less gentle massage gunning, etc.

If you are wondering where the acupressure mat has gone, it has been back on it’s shelf this week, simply because I felt I needed a more movement based form of staying loose in the muscles. It will return soon, spikes and all.

Week 6 West Highland Way ultra training

I am excited for a full week of run training and building on what I achieved in week 5. I have another hill strength/power session in this week – let’s hope it is more successful than this weeks effort! My long run should hit the 20 mile/32km mark this weekend, all being well. I would like to get up some steeper hills too for more elevation in week 6 than I gained this week.

My overall target distance in week 6 should be in the realm of 58-61 miles/93-98km. Bring it on!

Follow along with my West Highland Way ultra training!

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I’d love to have you share my West Highland Way Ultra 2025 training journey! Curious about something I’ve said (or not said) or want me to dive into certain training areas in future West Highland Way ultra training blog posts? Let me know in the comments!

Shari 💚