my year in brief

Well ... the end of another year and for me it was a year of three parts.

The first part was spent recovering from a broken bone in my foot - falling down a flight of steps at home is not a good idea.

The second (and best ...) part was training for, and taking part in, two long ultra distance races.  The first was the ULTRArace 100 mile event around the Cotswolds in England.  Really enjoyed this race in stunning scenery and good weather.  It was good to have Hugh Pearson (Otley AC clubmate) crewing for me and hopefully we'll be able to continue that relationship as his running and coaching experience is invaluable.  My report can be read here.

The second - and most important - race was the World 24 hour Championships which were held in Poland at the beginning of September.  The first 21 hours of that race were fantastic as I was on schedule for well over 240 km .. and feeling good too.  The atmosphere was terrific and the crewing was brilliant (thanks go to Eleanor Robinson, Richard Brown, Adrian Stott, Rory Coleman, Marco Consani and Andy Smith).  My brief report can be read here.

The third part of my running year began at 9:00am on Sunday 9 September.  Injury struck during that 24 hour race as it did for about 10% of the runners.  I've since learned that the IAU considered moving the race to a different part of the park because of the poor condition of the road surface and sharp corners.  This report by US runner Jonathan Savage explains ...

Although I seem to have now recovered from that badly sprained ankle I was also struck down by gout in late November and early December which delayed my return to running somewhat.  Thaings are now progressing nicely though and today's 20 minute run scored an encouraging 97.5 % although the abysmal weather made it very hard work.

That's a brief account of my running year but there has been other highlights too.  Most notably Keir successfully passing his A levels and getting into the university of his choice - Ulster - to read History.  That's been his plan for a few year's now and I'm pleased that it's come off for him.  I'm so proud of his achievements too.  He's worked hard for that and he deserves it ... I remember spending about an hour a day for three or four years helping him with speech therapy exercises.

And next year ... more races of course ... have fun and take care.

Perth - in brief

Well ... some good news.  After a disappointing performance at the World Championships back in May I redeemed myself somewhat in Scotland.

My pre-race target was two-fold really:

1 - to finish with an overall distance of somewhere between 236.0k and 239.4k (146.7 to 148.7 miles)
2 - to not fade badly during the final few hours but to keep pushing right to the end

This initial report is largely based on memory and without looking at the actual figures (that will come in the 'proper report' later) it would appear that almost every lap was at the pace I needed for 239k or more.  Obviously pee breaks and other unplanned stops make the average speed slower but I think I hit every single one of my hourly targets.

The last few hours were painful indeed and I REALLY DID NEED to change my shoes at 22 hours.  Crew members Eleanor Robinson and Andy Smith explained that I'd lose a kilometre if I changed my shoes ... I tried to explain to them that I'd probably lose two or three if I didn't because I'd be reduced to walking shortly.  The soles of my feet were very painful and I felt I needed the extra cushioning provided by fresh shoes and socks.

In the final hour Eleanor was absolutely fantastic (for most of the race really ...) and the way she motivated me worked superbly well.  I'm pleased to say that I remained strong right to the end and my last two or three laps were probably quicker than planned.

Final result ... I won with a distance of 238.286 km (148.064 miles).  A new pb.  England won the team prize too, so a good performance all round.

Full report later.

world 24 hr challenge 2010

I've just been looking at the IAU website on which are the up to date world rankings - thanks to Andy Smith.

Looking carefully at the statistics shows that if those were the finishing distances and positions in next year's World Championship then the UK men would finish as fourth team behind Australia, Germany and Russia.

That is a fantastic thought and surely on that basis John Pares, Stephen Mason, Jim Rogers and myself will be selected for the race which is on May 13/14 next year at Brive-la-Gaillarde in France

Ultra Squad Weekend

I was at the England Athletics Ultra Distance Squad Weekend in Gloucester on Saturday and Sunday.  I wasn't particularly looking forward to the five hour journey involving two buses and two trains. It could have been worse though.

Everything was fine until we reached Birmingham a bit late. The train was supposed to arrive at 1107 but arrived at 1128. My next train was supposed to leave Birmingham at 1130 so I was beginning to panic a bit until I found that it was due to leave from the same platform I had just arrived at ... but it was going to be 10 minutes late.  We all got on and a few minutes later heard the following message over the public address system:  "this train will now leave at 1200 because there's no driver available."

Arrived in Gloucester half an hour late and not too happy.

Got to the hotel at two o'clock, on the early side but it would give me time to meet everyone before proceedings began at three.  Never been invited to one of these before - never considered myself 'elite' before and that's still an unfamiliar tag.  Chris Finill, Vicky Skelton, Ramona Thevenet-Smith, Andy Smith, Jez Bragg, Dominic Croft, Matthew Lynas, Brian Cole and the other runners I spoke to were great at making me feel very welcome and I'm very grateful to them for that (particularly Chris and Ramona - you were both fantastic).

I always find these type of get togethers rather awkward, mainly because I'm a shy and introverted person by nature - mainly because of my medical history.  Apart from cancer as an adult I had recurring major throat problems as a child and I spent three or four weeks in hospital every 18 months or so having throat surgery and not being able to talk for a couple of months afterwards.

Had less than four hours sleep before going for a run on Sunday morning with Jez Bragg, Chris Finill, Matthew Lynas and Dominic Croft.  I found that quite a surreal experience ... running down the road with a group of international runners, chatting away and covering well over nine miles in 70 minutes or less before breakfast.

Then came a long relaxed breakfast before the rain started.  That wasn't good as I had to walk back into Gloucester to the train station [no buses there on a Sunday].  Journey home was uneventful except that we left Sheffield seven minutes late and arrived in Leeds two minutes early !!! The scheduled journey of 48 minutes actually took 37 minutes - very strange.

Overall a good weekend.  I picked up a few tips from Chris Finill, Andy Smith and Hilary Walker and learned about the forthcoming Commonwealth Championships. It still rankles a bit that I haven't been officially selected yet even though I exceeded the tough qualification criteria easily in my last 24 hr race ... all this waiting makes planning and training a bit difficult.

Oh yes, less than four hours sleep.  Well, the bloke I was sharing a room with snores, loudly.  Very loudly at times.  So loudly that, a couple of hours after getting into bed I decided to try using my MP3 earphones as makeshift earplugs.  Not much better but I eventually drifted off to sleep ... sort of.