2015

2015 was a good year for me.  It started with a 202km 24 hour run at Athens Ultra festival followed a few weeks later by a 12 hour PB of 118 km at Crawley.

I was accepted to race for the GB AG Triathlon team in Weymouth and also was in the unofficial GB team for the Spartathlon in Greece.  It was an honour to represent my country in 2 different sports

Next year  I am going to put my name forward for the Spartathlon again, but will give triathlon a break so I can focus and do a better job in ultra running.

A100

At the weekend I ran the A100.  As it was 3 weeks after Sparta and my quads blowing  up I didn't have any expectations except that I didn't expect to finish!

The whole 21 and 1/2 hours I was waiting for my legs to give up but they didn't.  My quads ached from time to time, but I tried to ignore them and keep running.  After Sparta I did some reading and apparently, even though you think slowing will rest the quads and get you back on track it is the wrong thing to do.  You really need to run through it.  I also know that if I start walking for too long I never get running again.  So I try to keep running even if I drop to 9 minute kilometres as I know at some point I will speed up again.  I do of course walk the steeper hills still.

The race is 4 x 25 mile out and back spurs.  During the first 25 miles I wondered what I was doing and was trying to think of a reason to stop, but I couldn't find one.  On the second leg at mile 36 I went flying down a hill landing on my right elbow and knee and winding myself.  I walked the last mile and a 1/2 to the turn point, thinking this was my reason to quit.  I got some wet wipes and wiped the mud off, there were no cuts, just a scratch on my elbow.  I turned to the guy at the checkpoint who was helping me and said ' I can't quit can I, it's just a scratch.'  He of course said no.  So I left for the return leg.  I was a little worried my knee may have taken a knock during the fall, but it was fine and by the time I got to the cross over point at mile 50 I had forgotten all about it.  So now I knew I would finish,  whatever this race threw at me wasn't going to stop me.  It wasn't going to let me have a decent enough excuse to stop!.  I had 19 hours left to do 50 miles  and 15 hours for a sub 24.  I was even thinking about a sub 20.  It was definitely doable at this point.  The last 50 miles went without incident and I slowed as expected. Returning on the last leg I met Emily looking a bit lost.  She had somehow gone in a circle and was heading the wrong way.  I remembered her passing me a while back.  We joined up and I showed her the right way back to the river.  By now  I had settled for sub 24 in my head and that was easy with a walk.  However we teamed up and ran together the for  last 10 miles and this helped me run a bit more than I was prepared to do on my own.  Chatting and running made the time go by and we soon finished.

I enjoyed the race and it has made me wonder what I could do if I trained for it and didn't do it off the back of another silly season of too many races too close together.  So next year is all down to the Sparta raffle.  If I get in it's only Sparta and If I don't I have a race calendar to work out.  A100?

Spartathlon 2015

I have added a new race report for the Spartathlon

Pacing

I was really pleased with my pace today.  Each lap got faster, except the last one which was a cool down.  My heart rate was interesting too.  Seeing how much each extra little bit of effort made.

TP100 2015

Last weekend saw the TP100. Richmond to Oxford on the Thames path. I need to write it up, but for now a few pictures from the event.

Photo by Stuart March Photography

Photo by Nigel Rothwell

Photo by Angharad Thomas

10th Athens Ultra festival

I have added a new race report here for the 10th Athens International Ultra festival

Training Week 4 2015

Week 4 2015 - Next race Athens 24 hour on March the 28th

Monday	Cycled to  work and ran home - 22k,21k
Tuesday	Ran to work and cycled home - 21k, 22k
Wednesday	Cycled to  work and ran home - 22k,21k Ran 6.2k at lunchtime @ 4.21 per km
Thursday	Ran to work and cycled home - 21k, 22k
Friday	Ran to work - 21k
Saturday	Rest day
Sunday	Ran 2.6km

Run: 113.6k

Bike: 88k

Swim: 0k

A tiring but rewarding week.  I ran to or from work every day.  So a 1/2 marathon a day for 5 days.  With a bit of speed midweek, when a steady recovery run turned into a bit of a race with work colleagues. On Wednesday I felt a twinge at the back of my left knee on the run home.  It didn't stop me running but twinges every now and then and I have to be careful not to twist it.  I rested Saturday and had the opportunity to run Sunday, even though I was at home with my family. The twinge was still there.  So I stopped running and walked home.  Hopefully next week it will be better.  It's not something I can't run with, but I want to be careful not to compensate and cause a real injury, with only 8  weeks to go until my first race of the season and with the build up going so well.

Training Week 3 2015

Week 3 2015 - Next race Athens 24 hour on March the 28th

Monday	Cycled to  work and ran home - 22k,21k
Tuesday	Ran to work and cycled home - 21k, 22k
Wednesday	Ran 7k at lunchtime
Thursday	Cycled to  work and ran home - 22k,21k
Friday	Ran to work and cycled home - 21k, 22k
Saturday	Rest day
Sunday	Cycled to pool and swam 35k,2.25k

Run: 91k

Bike: 167k

Swim: 2.25k

A good week, building up running distance nicely. I am pleased with how I felt and the pace on the 21k runs was consistent.  Wednesday being shorter was faster and with company to push me on a bit. Friday was due to be my rest day, but with the weather below freezing I decided it was safer to run to work than cycle and took Saturday as a rest day instead.  Sunday the legs were still a little tired so I opted for a swim instead of a run. 

Training Week 2 2015

Next race Athens 24 hour on March the 28th

Saturday	Ran - 12.8k
Sunday	Rest day
Monday	Cycled to  work and ran home - 22k,21k
Tuesday	Ran to work and cycled home - 21k, 22k  (also took my C25K group out)
Wednesday	Cycled to and from work Ran 6k at lunchtime - 44k, 6.3k
Thursday	Cycled to and from work  (also took my C25K group out) - 44k
Friday	Cycled to and from work - 44k
Saturday	Ran - 25k
Sunday	Rest day

Run: 88k

Bike: 182k

Swim: 0k

I have switched to reporting from Monday to Sunday as that’s how I have my spreadsheet laid out!

I started a C25K session at work for people new to running.  I have 6 willing souls and it has been great fun.  I am surprised how much it has motivated me too! Also on Wednesday 4 people joined me for a lunch time run, again the motivation was great, running with other people.

It was a good week for me.  The running was nice ranging from feeling good to excellent.  Swimming took a hit as the weather got colder, but there's no hurry with that, as the race with a swim in it is a long way off!

Training Week 1 2015

Next race Athens 24 hour on March the 28th

Monday        Cycled to and from work - 44k

Tuesday        Cycled to work ran home - 22k, 21k

Wednesday  Cycled to and from work- 44k

Thursday      Ran to work Cycled home 21k, 22k

Friday           Cycled to work, swam on the way and cycled home 28k,2k,22k

Run: 42k

Bike: 182k

Swim: 2k

I now have 11 weeks to go until the 24 hour race in Athens.  My primary training is running with swimming as cross training and cycling to work on the days I don't run.  I managed all my planned sessions this week except Wednesday morning when I decide to miss my swim.  I had a cold over the new year and my RHR was 42 when I woke up.  It had dropped back down to 38 by Friday. This is still high for me and it did make the swim hard work.  During the first 10 lengths I nearly stopped as I was out of breath. I slowed down a little and felt better so was able to make my planned 2k in the end.  I have a fairly light weekend planned, so am hoping the rest/recovery will get my RHR down to normal and training can pick up a little.

Both the runs were also hard work.  On Tuesday I started out feeling good only to fatigue pretty quickly and Thursday had more walking in the run than I would of liked.  I was about 10 minutes over my easy pace for the 21k.  I think the Xmas break and the cold took a little of my endurance away.  Still, there's no need to panic as this will pick up over the coming month.

I've also started a lunch time running session at work for some people new to running.  Next Tuesday I am going to start them on a C25k plan.  I am looking forward to this and really hope I can get some of them enjoy running and want to get them all to a parkrun 5k at the end of 9 or 10 weeks. (I haven't told them this as I don't want to scare them off and I think 5k will seem like a step too far on day 1)  I am also planning a run with some other colleagues who already run a little.  So a bit faster, but hopefully slow enough to be a recovery run though, as I plan to run to and from work a more as the weeks go by.