too busy recently

After work and training I seem to have had too many other things to do recently which has left no time to update this blog ... apologies for that but things should be back to normal now.

Visiting far flung relatives ... being a volunteer postman with the local scouts ... having the gas fire repaired ... meeting Keir at the airport ... a couple of Christmas parties ... and attending an awards ceremony at which Keir received a shield for best overall year 12 student from his old school.

The ankle seems to be holding up well to increasing training loads and I'm hopeful of being able to actually enter a race next month.

Still keeping up with the rehab exercises three times a day (which are not detailed in the 'training' tab above) and remembering to ice the area at least twice per day - although I suspect that is not really so important anymore.

Interesting to read about last weekend's Barcelona 24 hour race.  Fantastic result from Matthew Moroz who finished third with 234.893 km and Robbie Britton in third with 231.392 km ... both have now qualified for the UK team at next year's World Championships in Steenbergen.  WELL DONE TO THEM BOTH.

I suspect John Pares may have learned the hard way that he wasn't quite as fit as he thought he was, despite immense training in October and November.  He was sixth with 222.638 km.  I have no doubt he'll be ready for a good one next May.  Also well done to (not so) new mum Vicky Hart who ran 164.125 km which is a new pb.

I'd like to end this post by saying that typing this hasn't really been easy after injuring my index finger this afternoon.  Doing some DIY for my mother in law.  She wasn't impressed to have my blood dripping all over her new carpet.  I wasn't impressed by her worn out tools and lack of first aid knowledge.

now .. and next year

Just a short post today because, as you probably know, I haven't been running for almost three weeks now. At the start of this week the right ankle was still periodically aching but with each passing day that became less and less.  Today has been the best day since the injury.

At the start of this week I began strength and core work, being careful not to do anything to further damage my ankle or hinder the recovery.  It now seems very likely that I can begin cycling on Sunday ... that's never been my favourite form of exercise but I guess at the moment it's necessary.  More fun than swimming though.

At the moment it's unlikely that I'll be able to run for at least another seven to ten days.

That hasn't stopped me planning next year's racing and training though.  Many of you will know that I had planned to enter the Barcelona 24 hr race when I arrived home from Poland.  Well ... for the second consecutive year that has had to be abandoned.  Maybe next year ... or maybe it just isn't meant to be.

So, next year.  The World Championships will be held in Steenbergen (Netherlands) in May and UK Team Management have already informally suggested that those who ran in Poland should also run in the Netherlands.  I may have trouble proving my fitness though ... we'll see.

And then, in August 2013, I plan to be in Abingdon, Oxfordshire at the British Ultra Fest.  I know that Pam Storey has long wanted to stage a six day and 48 hr race in England and it seems that she's finally succeeded by getting together with Alan Young and Abichal Sherrington.  Should be good fun.

And then, maybe, if all goes well, I'll be off to Barcelona, at last ...

Now that I've got some time out from running I can properly review what I've done over the past year or so and ask myself some serious questions.  Did my training work ?  Could I have done anything better ? What are my weaknesses ?  etc, etc

Answers please to me at the usual address ...

some ultra races

OK ... I know I haven't actually entered any races at the moment, and that will be corrected in the next week or so, but I have been making sure the heel and achilles injuries will stand up to running 100 miles or more non-stop.

Following some good training recently I'm now confident that the old legs can withstand the demands I'll be placing on them for the rest of this year.

Apart from the usual array of shorter races - mainly for speedwork, etc - the first important race will be the ULTRArace 100 mile in June.  I know I ran this last year but for a number of reasons I decided to go to Stratford-upon-Avon again (2011 race report here):

• I really enjoyed my time in the Cotswold's last year and hopefully the weather will be better
• last year's race worked very well as preparation for a 24 hr race in September
• after quite a serious injury last October, a 24 hr race this Spring may be a step too far
• Rory Coleman (race director) invited me back to "smash the course record" - that's a challenge worth pursuing
• after last year's mistake I feel I have a point to prove to myself

I'm also lucky to have Hugh Pearson crewing for me.  He's an experienced competitor in IronMan Triathlons and also the club's senior coach and junior co-ordinator, we've already been planning a long practise run and talking about nutrition, medical stuff and the logistics of crewing.  I'm very happy to be working with him.

Following that I hope to be running in the World & European 24 hr Championships in Katowiche, Poland.  This takes place on 8/9 September and I know I haven't been selected yet ... but I believe I will be in the team primarily because of my win in Perth (Sep 2010) but also because of my relative consistency.  The average of my best six 24 hour distances will probably be above the required 'team qualification standard' ... that's something I'm quite proud of actually.

After that - well I haven't decided yet but maybe Barcelona to make up for last year's disappointment of not being able to make it because of a clash of dates with Keir's visit to Rome University.  And then being injured anyway.

See here for the full list of planned races.

All in all ... I feel good right now.

This weekend

Just time to let you know about a couple of things happening this weekend in the world of ultra running:

First of all Sharon Gayter is on a treadmill at Teeside University going well in her attempt to record the farthest distance ever in a seven day period.  The current record is 753 km by Lee Chamberlain back in 2009.  All the news is on Sharon's website.

Then, over in Spain, there's the Barcelona 24 hr race.  I know there's at least three British runners out there - Heather Foundling-Hawker, Paul Hart and Jen Salter.  I wish I could be there but, apart from my injury, I'll be flying to Rome this afternoon with Keir as he's been invited to look around the university there as it's his favoured place of undergraduate study at the moment.  He'll be reading Roman History from September 2012.

I wish the Scots, English and Welsh runners all the best.

Finally ... Athletics Weekly have just published, in their latest edition, something I wrote a week or two ago.  This is a good move as the media do tend to ignore ultra running a bit.  For instance, in the same issue, they have a month by month review of the year in athletics terms ... but for September no mention is made of the Commonwealth Championships despite all the home countries medals (and world best performance).  Not had time to check everything yet but I hope there's no typos and that any photos have been correctly attributed.  My apologies if anything is amiss.

And then there's the Otley AC Christmas handicap.  The culmination of a running competition lasting almost twelve months ...

This year's races ... at last

OK here we go ... time to get serious.

As mentioned in a previous post I plan to take part in three long ultras this year - that's anything over 100 miles.

Originally I had also planned to take part in the open 100k race which is being staged at the same time as the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k in Perth, Scotland.  That's at the end of March but my recent knee injury scuppered that plan.

Sorry Adrian.

But then, only about 10 days ago, I received a phone call from Norman Wilson (chairman of selectors, England Athletics) asking if I would consider representing England at the Anglo Celtic Plate.  Apparently they were having trouble finding enough 100k runners to complete the team - injuries, etc - and so the 24 hr runners were being asked if they would be able step into the breach.  Unfortunately my lack of running recently meant that I had to turn down the offer as there's no way I'd be fit enough to run 100k at the end of March.

100k is a long way - even for a 24 hr runner.

It's a shame really because I really like the course at North Inch and I know Adrian and the team will put on a terrific race.  I know the course well, having completed almost 100 laps last September - see this page for full details.

Recently I've been putting in place my racing plans now that I'm fully recovered from that injury and I can now reveal that my first long ultra this year will be on 24 June.  It will be the ...

... which starts and finishes in Stratford upon Avon.  All the event details can be found here.

I'm really looking forward to this race as it's the first open ultra race I've entered since ... the Tooting Bec 24 hr event in October 2008.

Wow ... is it really so long ago?  Since then I've had the Run To London in May 2009, Commonwealth Championships in Sep 2009, World Championships in May 2010 and the Perth Ultra Fest in Sep 2010.

It's also the first time I've taken part in a long ultra which hasn't been staged on a closed loop - it's going to be fun.  Even in the heat of summer, on a hilly course.  Last year the temperature apparently reached 31 degrees Celsius (88 F) but it must have been close to that on the Run to London.

Or when, in June 2006, I warmed up for the Thirsk 10 by running 45 miles from my home to the start.

For me, this will be the ideal build up race for the year's big one [for me at least] which takes place in September.  The Commonwealth Championships ... the inaugural event was in Keswick in 2009 and now, the second championships will take place in Llandudno, Wales, at the end of September.

All the details for that can be found on this page.  I know there isn't very much on that site at the moment but I'm sure more and more will be added in the coming months.

The event in Keswick was an extremely enjoyable experience - my first international race - and I'm expecting to do quite well in Wales.  I finished fifth last time with a pb of 231k (143 miles) but I'll be looking to go a lot further in about seven months time.  I never aim for positions, I only aim for distance or time and if that's only good enough for 8th or 23rd then so be it, if I come away with a personal best I can't really complain.  It just means the other runners ran better than me.

Of course, there are occasions when some of the other runners can push or pull me to a better performance and to some extent that happened in Perth last September.

My third long ultra of the year will most likely be either the World 24 hr Championships or the Barcelona 24 hr race.  The World Championships were due to be held in Brugg, Switzerland but that was cancelled and now it seems likely that they will be held in Taiwan in December ... but if, for any reason that doesn't happen, or if UK Athletics decide not to send a team, then I'll probably take part in the race in Barcelona where Emily Gelder ran over 220k last year.

Barcelona is a wonderful city which I visited in October 2005, only five months before my ultra running debut at the Barry 40.

So ... lots of training to occupy me this year.  I'm very happy with how things are progressing with all the running, cycling, strength work, etc [well over 12 hours per week at the moment, but not enough yet] and I'm relishing the challenges to come in June, September and December.

There's also going to be quite a few shorter races this year and full details of everything I've got in the pipeline can be seen on this page.

I'd like to finish this post by thanking Angie and Phil for agreeing to crew for me in the first race and offering me somewhere to stay too.