School boy error

School boy error at the Brecon ultra, didn't eat properly and my body run out of sugar and scary things happen when you get go that point, well you say i didn't eat properly during the race i eat everything i had and nothing different to what i normally carry during race like this, the difference was that i didn't eat properly leading up to the race so i started on half empty, add that to the fact we flew round the first lap (23 miles in 4hrs on that course is quite quick for me) anyway it's another 35 mile training run!, i have some time off leading up and over Christmas so the plan is to do the full distance (48 miles) during that time.

Marvellous Mimi

now I've done a few miles on a treadmill in my time, but can't even begin to think what it would be like to spend 7 days on one, but that is exactly what Mimi has just done in the process of setting a new world record, she beat the previous record of 395 miles early Saturday morning and after a few hours sleep went on to add a further 9 miles before the full 7 days were up, all that with a stress fracture in her foot!!, i had the privilege to watch first hand as i helped for 3 of the night during the attempt, it was truly inspirational stuff.

never really on the cards

100 miles is a long way, but it is even longer if you haven't trained properly for weeks, you calf is still causing problems and you haven't slept for a week, but i still turned up for the Ceasers Camp 100, i fully expected my calf to cause problems from the off but it was fine, which considering the hilly nature of the route was quite a surprise, what was even more of a surprise was that after 20 miles it still felt fine, 30 miles was a different story my lack of training was starting to show, my calf was begining to hurt and i was knackered, it was 30 miles further than i really expected and on that course it was a tough 30 miles.....

now that's a long way down....

Been in Chamonix for a week and what a beautiful place, as you can imagine there is some great walking/running to be done, (unintentially) i picked the steepest route up the Mont Blanc side of the valley towards the top the visibility was 10ft at best i had stopped to decide if this was a good idea when a bloke walked passed and said if walked another 30ft that way i would be at the top, i had been just 30ft from the top and could not see it!! after further discussion with various other people at the top i decided to continue following the ridge as it was a single pathway and as it dropped the cloud would clear which was the case and there were some spectacular views of the valley.

The trails on the opposite side to Mont Blanc were quite busy(!) i picked alternate route towards the top the trail became quite exposed to the point that i decided to turn around and come back down, I've noticed that over the years I've had more and more problems with height, I'm not scared as such it just un nerves me a bit, but that said was really quite a narrow wet path and it was a very long way down....

The Ridgeway

And still this one eludes me, work commitments meant that training for this event was far from ideal, but i had put the hours in and felt confident i could put up a reasonable showing, a few people at work have had heavy colds but i had done best to avoid them, felt fine during the week leading up to the race but woke up Friday with a sore throat and dodgy head and by Saturday morning i had a full on man flu, had it been a 50 miler or shorter i probably would have given it a go but at 86 miles it's a bit far to run when you are not even feeling 10%, annoying on 2 fronts, it's a great race, and it was 2 points towards my UTMB entry......

Comrades 2010

What a astonishing experience, this year was a down run so from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, 16,000 of us started at 05:30 in the dark, even at that time the supporters were out, basically there was support along the whole 56.7 mile route, everybody wants to talk to the blue running numbers as they are the international entrants of which the was about 500 of us, the finish is in the Sahara cricket stadium which was packed you do a lap of the stadium before crossing the line, it really is a quite a special finish, i finished in 10hrs 17mins which got me a Bronze medal, the international athletes had their own enclosure in the stadium were you could watch the finish, it also served unlimited beef/chicken curry and beer which was a right result!!!, next year is a up run and it would be rude not to enter, entries open on the 1st Sept 2010 and with only 16000 places up from grabs i better get my entry in early.

Gadgets, and i do like a gadget

And the Garmin 310 xt is a great gadget, I've been using a GPS watch for a few years now to log my miles but the problem has always been the time it takes to lock onto the satellites and the battery run time, well the 310 xt fixes both of these problems and if i ever learn to swim i can use it in the water as well, the xt has a 20 hour run time which is good enough for most of the races i do, the satellite lock is really quick so no more hanging around waiting for the satellite lock before i could start running or cycling, i also went for the heart rate option which allows me to track my heart rate which is interesting in a very nerdy sort of way, the xt works well with sporttracks software (http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/) which allows me to log and report on all this running and cycling i do.

it's been a while......

well since my last post i have not done anyway near the training i had hoped for, excuses include proper bout of flu, a normal cold, and a heavy workload, even so i still managed 4 marathons over a 4 week period, and then followed it up with 39 miles of the Malvern ultra, i never really intended to do the full 54 miles distance but was happy to do so if i felt good, as it was a cold and a sore hip stopped me, i have a couple more weeks of training until the Comrades race in SA, as if running 56 miles in under 12 hours is not difficult enough, I've decided to make it a little more difficult by flying on Friday to Durban via Dubai meaning i don't land until Saturday lunch time, the race starts at 05:00am on Sunday and finishes at 17:00 Sunday, my flight out of Durban is at 23:00 Sunday night and again returns via Dubai before landing in London late Monday night....one day I'll learn.....

Special people

This year's 6633 was very mild, i recon the average temp was around -15 which in reality are quite comfortable temp's to race in, there were a couple of reminders of how hospitable the environment can be when temps dropped to the -40's, but regardless of the temp 26/120/350 miles is still a long way, there were 3 finishers in the marathon, with Lory setting a pb which wasn't to difficult as this was her first marathon, quite a toughy for you first I'll think you will agree, Andy, Tony and Nik all finished the 120, and Chris and Sean finished the 350 with Chris doing the race unsupported, as for me i never got started withdrawing before the start, i have thought long and hard about my decision and it was the right one, I've started work on addressing these issues but unfortunately there is no quick fix, i switched to support duties and Martin soon had me running the last 5 miles with Lory in the marathon and walking with most of the competitors at some stage during the race, it was a great bunch of people this year but honourable mentions go to PJ who just never stopped smiling (even when it was soooooooooo cold) and for getting as far as Arctic chalets, Tony for quietly going about the job of racing the 120 even when the wheels quite literally fell off, and Sean and Chris who both did an awesome job in the 350, it takes a special type of person to finish any race like this, it about time i stepped up to the mark and become one of these people...

National pie week.....

I may not ever win any sort of running race, but i don't think i would be a also run in a pie eating competition, my training for the Arctic is over all but a couple of 10 milers this week to keep the legs ticking over, I've packed the sled, so the rest of the week is going to be spent chilling out and eating!!!, I've got the day off on Friday to get my medical form signed, hopefully a quite weekend, the taxi is booked for 08:30 on Monday for a 13:00 flight to Vancouver and onto Whitehorse, Chris (last years winning) is on my flight so it will be good to catch up with him, it's been warmer in Whitehorse than London this week with the lowest temp i have seen of about -5, and the temps in Inuvik have only been in the -20 region, let's hope the ice road is still frozen by the time i get to it!!

Well it wasn't a fluke....

the recent weather has played havoc with my training, all my normal routes both round Loughton and between work and home have been sheets of ice, the snow in the forest has been too deep to run properly and safely, i had a couple of good sessions up in Brecon before the snow arrived and a couple of Saturdays I've got the train into town and walked around the city purely because it had been cleared of snow, I've managed the longer runs at the weekend but weekday runs have been missed, but to be honest the i think the reduced mileage has helped, I've felt strong on my long runs and this was bared out by the Ultra Race 45 at the weekend apart from an an issue with my calf/shin at the start of the race i managed the 46.1 miles in 8hrs 45min, i lost at least 30 mins at the start but finished strong and fit, i even walked the 2 miles from the finish to the hotel afterwards, i had planned to do the second day but decided to rest my calf/shin as it was sore in the morning, i probably would have been OK, because i walked the 2 miles from the hotel to the station without any issue....
So thats 2 races and 2 finishes, long may it continue!