lots of stuff in this post ...

A few bits and pieces to get though in this post ...

The official world rankings have been issued on the IAU website.  The performances on their list only include those set at officially labelled races, ie those with doping control and a proven accuracy regarding course measurement.

My name appears at number 30 on the list which I'm very pleased about.  Over 80% of the performances ranked above mine were set at last year's world championships which goes to show just how high the quality of that race was.  I'm sure that a few people will have runner farther than me in an unlabelled 24 hr race though so my 'actual' world ranking will be a bit lower than 30.  Fuller details will be on the German DUV website ... I don't have time to check it out right now though (apologies for that).

At the moment I'm reading a very good biography of acclaimed ultra runner Arthur Newton.  The book is called Tea With Mr Newton and was written by Rob Hadgraft ... and published by Desert Island Books.

The book is very readable, even for someone without much interest in running, and the author obviously loves the subject of long distance running.  I look forward to reading shortly his other biographies of some of the great distance runners of yesteryear (even though their races were a bit short for me):  Deerfoot, Walter George and Alf Shrubb.

Recently I've been looking at this ultra running website and found a few great articles about training and nutrition.  I've certainly found them helpful and plan to incorporate one or two of the author's ideas into my own training and racing.

There is a great line in one of the pieces by Sunny Blende, MS, sports nutritionist:
" An ultramarathon is an eating and drinking contest, with a little exercise and scenery thrown in."

I would certainly agree with that. In a single day in Perth last September I drank over 7.4 litres (13 pints) and consumed a total of over 5800 kcal made up of 95g protein, 1211g carbohydrates and 55g fat.

Finally I feel the need to briefly report that one of Keir's friends from primary school was hit by a car on 31 December in Otley and killed.  Keir is still quite shocked by what happened but our thoughts go out to the 16 year old's parents at this sad time.  A link to the story in the local newspaper is here.