news ...

William Sichel has almost finished the 1000 mile race in Athens - only 100k remaining and he looks set to come away with three records.  More details about those later.  Wolfgang Schwerk won the event by completing the distance in just a shade less than 12 days.

Full details of this amazingly inspiring race here.

A few days ago the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer had a piece about me being selected to represent UK in the World 24 hr Championships.  Read it on the media page as it isn't on their website yet.

Race day planning (pacing and nutrition mainly) is going very well at the moment but in some ways it still seems a very long way off.  Only six and a half weeks to go now though ... and three of those involve tapering.

Fay has developed a really bad cough.  It began about ten days ago and almost disappeared after about five days - but then came back with a vengeance and yesterday she began to develop a cold too.  She's not too happy at the moment.

various things

William Sichel in Greece is doing very well indeed in the 1000 mile race.  So far his plans for pacing, eating, sleeping, etc have held together perfectly and he's in second position ... I hope everything continues to go so well for him.  He's not even half way yet though.

My training has been going well too and this week, for the first time this year, I've been able to run without gloves.  Temperatures are above average for the first time this year too and we've had quite a lot of sunshine over the past week or so.  It is raining at the moment though.

Recently I've been drinking a nice coffee from Malawi.  I'm not a big fan of the fruity coffees from Africa but this one has been rather pleasant.  Over the past twelve months or so I've been trying lots of coffees from different parts of the world but I think that in April and May I'm going to concentrate on my favourites in the build up to the World Championships (and as a personal reward just after).  Not forgetting the decaffeinated stuff in the three weeks before the actual race.

I also feel that in the last few weeks I need to relax as much as possible between training sessions. Tim Noakes points out that "... the more time you can spend in solitude and in personal refection during the last few weeks, the better you will cope with the mental demands of the last 25 to 35 km of the ultramarathon."

Suits me fine.

things are coming together nicely ...

Things have been a bit hectic here over the last few days.  Paperwork completed for UK Athletics - checking my passport, ordering my GB kit, officially accepting my place on the team - and emails flying backwards and forwards between various runners and team managers.   Everything seems to be going well though and it seems that, at the moment, final travel details are being sorted out.

Still over eight weeks to go though before the World Championships - and a lot of training to do.

Yesterday morning I completed an easy 23 miler ... over The Chevin to Guiseley, then through Rawdon to join the Leeds Liverpool Canal at Calverley.  On the towpath to Hirst Lock then home via Shipley and Hollins Hill.  Two big hills and lots of wind ... 3 hrs 20.  An hour on the bike in the afternoon.

This morning was another 23 miler. Fartlek. Chose a hilly route (of course ...) that extended over to Silsden and Addingham. Very good run ... 2hrs 57. Just about to head out with members of Otley AC on a run of about 10k.

Eleven miles tomorrow morning and 10k again in the evening.

Have you been following William Sichel in the 1000 mile World Cup race in Athens ?  No, why not ?  It is a fascinating (and very long event) and all the details can be found on his blog.  Shaun Brassfield-Thorpe is doing a fantastic job posting things and I've already picked up a few tips which I could use in my races.  Go William Go ...

missed training ... and other stuff

Yesterday, for the first time in at least four months I decided to rearrange my training at short notice.

It wasn't that I was too tired or too lazy or ill ... I had a wedding to attend.   I figured that I could miss one run and one stretching session in order to go to what I hope will be the happiest day of my friend's life.   It was a wonderful occasion and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  I hope John and Donna have many happy year's together (and no sad ones).

I did manage to fit in my usual strength and conditioning exercises in the morning before I left home.

As well as a piece about William Sichel and the upcoming 1000 mile race in Athens there is, in the current issue of Athletics Weekly, an article about the death of ultra running legend Cavin Woodward.  His 100 mile world record of 11h 38:54 in 1975 at Tipton was a truly remarkable race ... en route he also broke world records for 50 miles, 100 km and 150 km.  Andy Milroy's article about the race is essential reading.

My condolences to his family and friends.

news update

Still very cold outside.  Not running today but yesterday I still needed a hat and three pairs of gloves!!!!  There hasn't been any snow for a week or so now but the average temperature on my training runs has still been around zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit).

Mike Blamires recently picked up on the item from my last post about the Melbourne to Sydney race of 1985.  His recent post compares the nutrition strategy of Yiannis Kouros in that race to my nutrition strategy during the Run To London.  Mike does know a bit about that as he was one of my helpers last May - he ran with me for 25 miles or so beginning at about 4.30am on the Sunday morning.  One thing he later said will always stay with me:  "I never thought I'd see a man run 200km in 24 hours and yet look so fresh."

Thanks Mike ... without your help I couldn't have raised well over £2000.

A few days into the future now and on Friday there's the Annual Presentation Evening of my club - Otley AC. The Runner Of The Year competition was won by Tom Hannah and the Handicap competition by Billy Rayner. I didn't finish in the top three in either of those competitions but I do think that the rules of the Runner Of The Year competition make it very difficult, if not impossible, for an ultra distance runner to win.

Although I doubt I'll be collecting any trophies this year it's still an enjoyable evening with lots of food, drink and memories of 2009 with the good company of over 50 members of Otley AC.   Unfortunately Fay will be absent this year, for the first time, she has another important meeting to attend instead.

Speaking of Fay ... she fell badly at lunchtime today and came home with torn trousers, a cut and badly bruised knee and a swollen hand.

On a final note all the best to William Sichel who's taking part in the Espoo indoor 24hr race in Helsinki at the weekend. He's using it as part of his build up to the 1000 mile race in Athens in March. I believe Paul Hart is also running in Helsinki.