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 ...

recovering

I'd just like to say 'thanks' to everyone for their 'get well soon' messages after my recent mishaps.

I'm still feeling a bit sorry for myself after Monday's accident.  My right hand is still very painful and the bruise on my arm is now less than half the size it was.  On Monday evening the swelling was so severe Fay thought I had a hens egg up my sleeve !!!!

Because of the location of the bad cut it took almost 48 hours to form a scab.  Not a pretty sight.

Missed no training this week though but holding a dumbbell in my right hand is difficult and showering isn't easy.  Using soap or shower gel with one hand is about all I can manage at the moment.

Well done and congratulations to William Sichel for his recent first place in the UNIX 6 day road race in Hungary.  He also set a couple more records I believe.  Well done too to Heather Foundling-Hawker who finished 3rd (?) in the women's race.

I am a tad jealous of the people who compete in these races but I know that my 24 hour race experiences will stand me in good stead when I eventually find a suitable 48 hr race that doesn't seem to clash with World and/or Commonwealth Championships and/or family stuff.  It will happen.  I would need a good crew though.

quick update

Having sought advice on my painful foot (see previous post) ... and following that advice ... I can now report that ibuprofen, rest, ice and the use of 'ball of foot cushions' from Scholl are beginning to reduce the inflammation and pain.  Unfortunately the cushions aren't available on the Scholl website but I bought mine at Boots.

Very good they are too.  I'm now confident again about this year's major races.

The results are now available from last Sunday's Fountain's 10k.  They show that my actual time was 41:53 which represents an age graded time of 37:29.  Both of those times are my best since the Horsforth 10k on 27 September 2008.  This means that last weekend's race was my M45 personal best.

Further details of all my races are available on this page.

All the best to William Sichel and Heather Foundling Hawker for the 6 day race in which they are currently competing.  Full details are available on William's website.  Including live coverage of the whole event via webcam ... wonderful.

snow, snow and more snow

Since my very enjoyable run on Monday we've had lots more snow here in Wharfedale.  Tuesday was a planned rest day so I visited my dad in Castleford and took him some grocery supplies.  Travelling wasn't easy as roads were covered in snow and trains were not running to time ... took over three hours to travel 20 miles !!!  And then three hours home again - not fun.

On Wednesday I was planning to go for a long run but as we had heavy snow and strong winds all day I decided to have an endurance session on the bike instead - almost three hours in front of a DVD.

Yesterday morning I went for another run and managed eight miles fartlek.  Fartlek is fun when maintaining a steady pace across snow and ice is difficult ... the temperature was about -1 C but again it was enjoyable because I was well wrapped up and insulated.

This morning I just went for a steady eight miler through the snow and the even colder temperature of -7 C.  Those eight miles seemed like ten though as I was trudging through the snow - 20 cm deep in places - and trying to avoid other pedestrians and cars travelling at 10 mph (and those travelling at 40 mph on frozen roads).

William Sichel seems to be doing well (again) in his latest race in Normandy.  Full details here.  Heather Foundling-Hawker appears to be doing exceptionally well too at the half way stage.