team news

Recently there's been a couple of last minute additions to the England team for the 24hr race in next week's Commonwealth Championships.  The five men are:  Ken Fancett, Chris Finill, Pat Robbins, Jim Rogers and myself.  The five women are:  Sandra Brown, Marie Doke, Sharon Gayter, Vicky Skelton and Ramona Thevenet-Smith.

There are 22 runners in the men's race and 22 in the women's race from the following countries:

Australia (six men and six women)
Canada (three men and four women)
England (five men and five women)
India (one man)
Isle Of Man (one man and one woman)
Kenya (one man)
New Zealand (one man and three women)
Scotland (three men and three women)
Wales (one man)


A few surprises here:   Kenya - hope their guy isn't as good as the top 10k and marathon runners; only four countries have sent men's teams - increasing the likelihood of England being among the medals; no runners from South Africa (none in the 100k race either).

I would guess that the individual favourites would be Martin Fryer and Jonathan Blake (both from Australia) and Sharon Gayter (although Vicky Skelton isn't far behind).  Martin ran a fantastic 48hr race in Surgeres earlier this year to place second on the all time list with 433.686 km - his feet were a real mess afterwards though.  Sharon had a great run at Badwater [hope she's recovered].

Still relaxing lots - no loud music, no late nights, no stress ... and no caffeine.

nine days and counting

Everything seems to be moving in the right direction again thanks to my father (Keith), my mother in law (Elizabeth) and most importantly my father in law (Keith).

Special thanks to Sharon too ... reading her email brought a tear to my eye !!!

Back to normality.  Over the last few days I've been buying last minute supplies of custard, protein recovery bars, flapjack, jaffa cakes, dried apricots.  Only have grapes to buy and obviously I'm going to get those nearer the time.

Second week of tapering and I'm beginning to relax a lot more now.   Tim Noakes writes: "the more time you can spend in solitude and in personal reflection during this period, the better you will cope with the mental demands of the final quarter of the ultra marathon."

With a teenage son I know this isn't going to be easy but it can be done and now that all the planning and shopping is out of the way there's an increasing amount of time for relaxing.

Nervous though - this is easily the most important race I've taken part in ... and I started running in 1972.

well prepared

Well, today is the first day since my crash training week that I've not felt tired.  The worst day for tiredness was yesterday ... five days after crash training finished.  I've still been training - about half my normal load, but that's OK as I'm now in tapering mode anyway.  The big race is only two weeks away ...

I've also had a headache for the past couple of days (it is slowly getting better now though) which I reckon is due to my switch from normal to decaffeinated coffee in preparation for the Commonwealth Championships. Caffeine withdrawal sucks.

Now, lets have a look at some statistics.  These figures refer to an 'average' week between 1 Aug 2009 and 28 Aug 2009.  I've included for comparison, in red, figures relating to an 'average' week between 31 Aug 2008 and 28 Sep 2008 which was just before my last 24 hr race (when I set my pb).

miles per week ... 104.34 ... 87.68

running time ... 15h 11:16 ... 12h 54:34
cycling time ... 2h 19:25 ... 2h 05:24
stretching time ... 1h 47:13 ... 1h 25:09
strength/conditioning time ... 1h 15:52 ... 1h 41:42
eccentric achilles stretches time ... 30:01 ... 27:21

total time ... 21h 03:46 ... 18h 34:10

running sessions ... 8 ... 5.75
cycling sessions ... 2.75 ... 2.5
stretching sessions ... 8 ... 6
strength/conditioning sessions ... 2.25 ... 3
eccentric achilles stretches sessions ... 2.25 ... 2.5

resting heart rate ... 43.4 ... 45.5
weight ... 57.2 kg (126.0 lb) ... 57.7 kg (127.1 lb)



The upshot of all this is that I appear to be quite a bit fitter and healthier than I was 12 months ago.  I'm in good shape to do well at the Commonwealth Championships in a couple of weeks time - I'm looking forward to it.  Seven days intensive training inevitably took it's toll but I'm feeling much better now and tapering hard.

Although as a non-driver it isn't going to be easy getting there on public transport, especially as Keir wants £200 to £300 in the next fortnight as a deposit for a school trip to Russia as part of his A level History course. Is anyone out there driving from (or through) West Yorkshire to Keswick on Wednesday 16 September and can give me a lift ?

crash training - day 7

7.25am steady (approx 6.5 miles)

noon stretching

2.25pm tempo run (approx 10.5 miles)

5.45pm stretching

6.50pm strength and conditioning


7.35pm 50 minutes on the bike


Heavy rain and strong winds this morning.  The plan for this afternoon's run was to do 8 miles at 6:37 to 6:42 per mile.  It was far too windy and in the end I was pleased with 6:53 per mile.

Well, it's all over ... at last.

Overall I spent over 32 hours 20 minutes training during the past seven days.  This included over 162 miles of running in over 23 h 41 m.  Cycling took over 3h 20 m, stretching took over 3 h 5 m and strength/conditioning exercises took almost 2 h 14 m.

Got to go now ... very tired ... zzzzz

crash training - day 6

7.40am steady (13 miles +)

11.35am stretching

1.50pm eccentric achilles stretches

3.20pm strength and conditioning

6.35pm stretching

7.15pm social run with club (6 miles +)

I had noticed that my morning runs were becoming slower as the week progressed: 8:20 per mile last Saturday, 8:51 on Sunday, 8:36 on Monday, 8:41 on Tuesday and 9:10 yesterday.  I decided to try and run a bit quicker this morning - despite my tired legs - and managed a very pleasing 8:16 per mile.  Ankle is good.

crash training - day 5

7.35am steady (15 miles +)

12.45pm stretching

3.15pm 50 minutes on the bike

7.05pm fartlek (6 miles +)

8.15pm stretching

Not as tired as expected. Ankle still not perfect. This morning's run was on the slow side but the weather was terrible. Finding it quite hard now to generally eat and drink enough throughout the day.

crash training - day 4

7.25am steady run (17 miles +)

1.10pm stretching

3.30pm strength and conditioning exercises

6.20pm stretching

7.20pm social run with my club (Otley AC) (6 miles +)

Ankle is not getting any worse despite all this training. It seems to be an old injury flaring up - and I know exactly how to manage it. It's nowhere near serious enough to stop me training.

a lift anyone ?

Another appeal for help ...

If anyone reading this is travelling to Keswick by car (or van) and passing anywhere near Otley, Leeds or Bradford on Wednesday 16 September I would appreciate a lift. Obviously I would make a suitable contribution towards fuel costs, etc.

If you can help please email chris.carver@btopenworld.com

I have to be at the youth hostel in Keswick at the very latest by 3.00pm on Wednesday 16 September and I'm expected to stay until Monday 21 September.

Even if you can only offer a lift one way it would be much appreciated ... and there's so much happening in Keswick between 17 and 20 September - see here for details.

crash training - day 3

7.25am long run (20 miles +)

1.00pm stretching

2.15pm eccentric achilles stretches

3.15pm 50 minutes on the bike

5.20pm stretching

7.20pm fartlek (5 miles +)

Ankle felt a bit sore during first and last ten minutes of this morning's run. Nothing to worry about though, plenty of ice through the day and everything seems fine.

crash training - day 2

8.45am steady 19 miles +

1.40pm stretching

2.55pm strength and conditioning

6.30pm fartlek (8 miles +)

8.25pm stretching

Felt a bit tired this morning but this evening's fartlek was very good.   My ankle/achilles is much better today - not perfect but obviously on the mend.