Dating in the eighties

Hilarious.


Dating Montage
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Milton Keynes, it's just like the alps

Today I ran from the gloomy valleys to the lofty jagged spires of Milton Keynes. Repeatedly. As the chart belows shows. Hill training in Buckinghamhire at its most glorious on the Col du Brickhill (near Bow Brickhill for anyone from nearby).

Disregard the fact that the y-axis scale is in feet, meaning I scaled an impressive 80 vertical feet or so every rep, totalling around 930' in all, and you have some idea of what the Family members doing the UTMB / TDS / CCC will be tackling next weekend. Texts have confirmed the random Scottish punters have arrived in Chamonix although I understand George Reid's plane was 2 hours late so he'd used the time sensibly to carbo load via beer.

For the UTMB'ers there will essentially be 10 munros to climb and descend in a row spread over 103 miles of the most spectacular mountain scenery one could imagine. Half of them in the dark (unless you are really fast). The CCC'ers and TDS'ers will have essentially half the climbing and descending and about two thirds of the distance.

How I wish I could be there. Emigration to Australia has taken its toll financially and time wise so I wisely pulled out about 4 weeks ago, but the memories of the race last year still stir within me. What an event. Come on the Family, you'll have a ball. :-)))

The return, and the exit

Time to end the record (even for blog tardy me) post free stint. My blog has successfully received no postings since late April. Months of endurance, one might even say ultra, non-posting. Well all good things have to come to an end and I'm going to tell you what has been going on in the land of Doc McIntosh. Read on or stop here, you have been warned. :-)

Highland Fling (53 miles, April)

The race was going great. A bit hot and sweaty but good conditions. 10 minutes ahead of my sub-9:40 time when I hit Beinn Glas farm, feeling a little odd. I'd passed a few folk I knew near the top of the Loch including Ian B and had mentioned I was feeling a bit off but I was running well. I drank a can of coke and ate something at Beinn Glas then headed off, feeling increasingly rough. A mile out my legs seized up in a double spasm forcing me to clutch them in serious pain.. The spasm lasted for 10 minutes, me unable to move. Salt! SALT! DOH! I b****y forgotten to take any salt pills so far in the race. What a school boy error. My legs eased as I stuffed 3 tablets down with water but they spasmed again for 5 minutes then again for a further 5 minutes. I toyed with giving up but settled myself into just finishing. People overtook me as I went as fast as I could without incurring more cramping spasms. DOH! I came in rather slower than desired at 10:26. Oh well lesson learned. Other than that I had a great time.


Coming over Conic Hill

Grand Union Canal Race (145 miles, May)

My next ultra racing outing was the GUCR at the end of May. This has to be the hardest race in the UK - mentally it is draining and physically the homogeneous flat terrain really batter your calves and feet to bits. I learned a lot from doing it. Or rather DNF'ing at ~94 miles (Leighton Buzzard) despite the best efforts of Drew Sheffield to convince me otherwise (thanks Drew). I struggled with motivation from 6 hours in and knew I'd be running within 0.5 miles of my house at 87 miles into the race. I pushed on beyond this but at ~1am after 94 miles and 19 hours of flat canal running I decided I didn't want to finish enough to do the further 13 odd hours that it would take me to finish. Physically I was fine and could have gone further but mentally I just didn't want to. Why? I've mulled this over lots both during the race and afterwards and have come to 3 conclusions:

(1) I am not interested in running ultras simply for the distance challenge. There have to be mountains or some kind rugged landscape for me to run across. I found canal running just drained my motivation. It was tough.
(2) Don't run a very long, mentally hard race that goes within 0.5 miles of your house. It has to be easier to finish than to simply stop, call your wife and go home to bed.
(3) I got into ultra running to do the UTMB. Now that I've done this race I think my motivation for the very long (100 mile or so) races has waned a bit. I need to refresh my mojo. I just didn't have the necessary desire to complete as I found out.

No regrets though. It's all a learning experience. Maybe I'll come back another year, don't know.


Me somewhere north of Milton Keynes on the GUCR, I think around mile 60

France

I've been on holiday in France camping with our daughter near Marennes, just south of La Rochelle. It was great. She stayed up late and we all went to bed together in the same tent. Given that she sleeps for 10-12 hours a night we ended up with more sleep than we've had since she was born. I'd do it again at a drop of a hat.



Australia

And our big news is that we are emigrating as a family to Australia, to Brisbane more specifically. It wasn't on our plan but Kirstin's folks need some support so we've moved quickly and I've got a good job sorted out (at http://www.watercentre.org/). We're waiting for my visa to come through ad our house to sell but it looks like the start of November will be our leaving date. I'll be sad to leave the UK ultra running scene behind but there's a decent enough ultra and trail running scene in Queensland and northern New South Wales so I'll be OK. Thinking of taking up triathlon for a bit to spice things up as well ... :-)

If any Family members find themselves in that bit of the world then make sure you give me a shout.

Looking forward to the Fling

Well not long to go now to the Highland Fling, a cracker of a race from Milngavie to Tyndrum. I'm going to try to beat my PB of 9:56 by as much as I can manage. Quite how much will, as ever in an ultra, depend partly on training so far (I'm feeling strong) and partly on the day (for how long can I push myself to continue at 09:30 pace or thereabouts?). Let's see. I'll employ the strategy of going out reasonably fast and trying not to slow down, and will be interested to see how my pace changes over the course of the race.

I've got a 10 mile hilly trail run today, a hill repeat session tomorrow, a 13 mile canal / trail run on Friday and an 8 mile 6:45 pace tempo run on Sunday left to do this week. I'll then taper next week with a speed session on Monday and a 7 mile trail run on Wednesday.

Woohoo, getting excited about stoating down this hill already!

Thoughts on pace at Compton 40

This year I decided back in January that I'd try to run at between 9 and 9:30 min miles except when climbing, and largely I've been successful. I've been toying with running faster at the start of a race for a few years now having noticed that I tended to slow down after about the same time running, so thought, why not run faster at the start. Now that I've been running ultras for 4 years I am noticing that I can keep the faster pace up for longer and so have decided to increase my pace a bit, and run the start of races faster - at somewhere under 9 min miles depending on how I am feeling. This strategy has been put forward by Stuart Mills too in an interesting post. John Kynaston is toying with varying his pace too so it will be interesting to see if a common pattern emerges in terms of successful race strategy.

I thought I'd start logging some graph data to see how my pace is decreasing over the distance of a run, so that I can (i) determine if I get slower in a linear manner or (ii) start to slow after a particular distance or (iii) something else. I'll plot elevation on these graphs too as climbing and descending is an obvious determinant of pace.

Compton 40 pace by distance, and elevation plot

At the Compton 40 my pace gradually and fairly linearly decreased from ~8 min miles to just below 10 min miles, ignoring the various climbs / descends and obvious stops / slow downs for food and navigation. I ran the last 4 or 5 miles easily so they don't represent an accurate picture of the pace I could have achieved if I'd pushed it. But the first 30-35 miles I was going at pretty much my maximum sustainable pace I think (but then again this will be a function of psychology on the day I suspect).

Let's see how my pace in the Fling compares.

Compton 40 race report

I ran my 3rd ultra this year on Saturday, making a total of 16 so far, ranging in distance from 31 to 103 miles, and from fairly flat (2500' +/-) to not flat at all (31,000' +/-). This one was the Compton 40, a local race for me, being in Berkshire just a little bit south of Oxford and only a few miles off the A34. I'd never heard of it before so am thankful to Drew Sheffield for suggesting it as a nice complement to the HM55 and the forthcoming Highland Fling.

My verdict? A superbly well organised race over nice runnable chalky downland terrain. A fair amount of sticky mud in places, quite some potential for navigational errors going into and out of small villages en route, but overall a good, nicely undulating course.


View across Compton Downs (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)


Race profile (my Garmin gave 2429' +/- rather than the advertised 3900' +/-)

The race is combined with a 20 mile option so has a fast start and you never quite know who is running what race until the peel off point back at Compton for the 40 milers. I had decided before the race started to stick to my run fast at the start plan, and ended up doing round about 8:30 min / miles at the start. I ran along by myself, chatting to the odd person until somewhere around mile 10ish Drew caught up wth me.


My pace against total elevation change for each mile

Drew, along with Mark Cobain and a lad called Steve from Northampton's Wootton running club had done the 78 mile ~16,000' +/- ONER race along the jurassic coast the weekend before so I assumed they'd all be creaking round together, just getting the miles done. But no, they all gave it a great shot. I ran with Drew until around mile 14 and gradually peeled away as his legs just didn't have anywhere near his normal strength on the ascents. Not suprising really - 16,000' of climbing 1 week previously. Superb effort by all 3 of them, and all finished the race in under 7 hours. Don't think I'd have been capable of that.


Lough Down, one of the hills we climbed and descended in the first half (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

I chatted to a few other folk and gradually fell in around miles 20-25 with a Bob Graham club member called Pete who is running the WHWR this year, and David, a chap who, along with Mark and Steve is running the JOGLE on 30th April - 16 days back to back of ~50 miles each day, what a challenge. David was struggling a bit with a sore back but was relatively easily running alongside me. I kept my pace as near to 9:30 as I could except when climbing, when wading through oozing mud or when reading my map. We stayed together chatting until we reached the top of the last big ascent when I stopped to put on my gloves (yes, memories of the HM55 DNF were fresh) and windproof as the weather coldly closed in. He peeled away and had a good run down into West Ilsley where I caught him after overtaking a few other folk, and we ambled our way out, Pete joining us and helping with the navigation.

I wasn't really fussed about putting in the best time I could, and neither of them seemed to be either so we trotted along chatting at a reasonably relaxed pace up and then down the slope into East Ilsley (where Pete fell back) then up and out of the village, up and down a few last downs and onto the finish. I could have ran the last 4 miles a good bit faster, and I suspect David could have too, but there seemed to be no rush as we ran along sharing stories and views. If you are reading this David then thanks for the company and all the best for the JOGLE (same to you Mark, Steve and Robert).

So, how'd I do? I came in 22nd out of 105 finishers with a time of 6:38:51 so pleased about that. I kept a reasonable average pace of 9:58 min/miles so also pleased about that. My legs were stiff yesterday and a little sore today but not bad. I'll take this week easyish then have a more intense week next week before tapering off a bit for the Fling where I'm out to beat my PB of 9:56, hopefully by a decent 10-15 minutes or so.

The best dressed ultra runner in Britain

Good quality woollen flat caps are not normally associated with the world of ultra running. However a revolution in race wear is about to sweep the community.

Picture this man, the svelte gazelle like Andy Cole:



Wearing this kind of cap as he runs boldly across the North York moors in wet and windy conditions:


What a paragon of athletic sartorial elegance. The best dressed ultra runner in Britain without doubt.

I expect he will up his game as we all seek to emulate. It'll plus fours, tweed and brogues for Andy next. A tough game to follow. :-))))

Recovery

I know I only ran part of the HM55 - actually the HM34 for me. But my recovery this week has been great and very pleasing anyway - a day off on Sunday to drive home, then a 6 mile speed session on Monday consisting of 1 min reps, 1 min recovery where I even managed to hold 5:50 pace. Tuesday saw an exercise bike and rowing machine session at the gym then a 13 mile canal and trail run on Wednesday. Today I did a gym strength session and am planning to take tomorrow off before doing some runs over the weekend.

I sent off my entry to the Compton 40 which takes place on the 3rd April. I've not run the course before so navigation might be an issue. I'll try to run it hard anyway and take the navigation as it comes. The race organisers have provided an excellent page full of downloads and Google Earth fly throughs to help - http://www.comptonharriers.org.uk/Challenge_2010.htm

Hardmoors 55 race report - or don't underestimate the weather on the North Yorkshire Moors

Just got back from a weekend away up in the North Yorkshire Moors, running the Hardmoors 55 race. I was staying in a hotel with various WHWR family members - John Kynaston, Sharon Law and Tim Downie, and the race was organise and marshalled by even more of said family - Jon Steele, Dave Waterman, Mike Mason and Lee MacLean (honorary member).

What did I think of the race? Great course, really runnable with various stiff but nicely spaced climbs. Well organised too and good technical t-shirts in the goody bag. Potentially some serious weather en route though. In fact, don't underestimate the weather like I did. The moors may not be high but if there is continuous rain throughout the day and a strong northerly wind, the conditions are pretty brutal in their effects.

What I thought was Jon's (the race organiser) slightly OTT kit advice for carrying and leaving along the course in drop-bags was actually spot on. I went for a rather more minimal approach with no clothes left in drop-bags and suffered the consequences, having to retire just before mile 34 with just over 6 hours of running and 5100' of climbing done, my hands frozen to the point of uselessness, unable to grasp or do anything with zips or anything else for that matter - I couldn't even apply enough pressure to un-clip my bumbag.

I hadn't been able to feed myself or drink water properly for a good hour or more without completely stopping and fumbling around for ages with my bum bag zips whilst standing still in the blasting wind and driving rain atop the moors. My blood sugar was getting lower as I expended more energy on keeping warm and despite this I was getting colder and colder, already tipped onto the shivery slope towards hypothermia. Recognising that without a pair of windproof second gloves on top of my thin fleece ones (a pair which I had stupidly left in my kit bag to save weight rather than carry them) I would continue to deteriorate I called it a day at the road crossing just after the Wainstones, before the 9 mile high open country commit to Kildale.

I knocked on a car window and a kind fellow who was supporting some other runners let me sit in his car, dripping wet and shivering badly. He even took my bumbag off me as I couldn't. It took me a good 30-40 minutes to stop shivering in the warm car and feel my hands again properly. It turned out that the two runners he was supporting also called it a day at this point for similar reasons so we all sat together shivering uncontrollably saying hello. Fairly comical in retrospect.

Until about 30-40 minutes before I bailed out the race was going really well for me. I was managing to keep within my target pace of 9-9:30 min/miles except when climbing and had been running with Colin Hutt and a tall lad with curly hair called Ricky from Tring since well before Osmotherly, the first drop bag point. Together we were keeping up a good pace and I was hopeful for a 10:30 finish. My hands and core temperature really started to suffer on the open moorland and hills after Lords Cafe though and ever so gradually I dropped back from the group as it took me longer and longer to get food out and I seemed to need more and more food. Colin and Ricky finished somewhere around the 10 hour mark which is great so well done those two.

Congratulations have also got to go to John Kynaston and Andy Cole who both slogged it out to come in around the 11:45 and just below 12 hour marks, to Richie C who came in 3rd with a time around 9:15 and to John Millen who came in 9th with a time just below 10 hours - well done all. I later met up with Sharon and Tim, who both also called it a day, both suffering from some degree of hypothermia as well. Sharon hadn't been able to access food for 20 miles for the same frozen hands reasons as me, and so was in bad shape by Kildale where she stopped. She had to spend over an hour in a sleeping bag next to a radiator before the shivering would stop.

I feel a bit annoyed at myself today for not having carried my second pair of gloves during the race as I feel certain I would have finished if I had - not having them is why I couldn't eat properly, why I had to stop in an attempt to eat and therefore why I got so seriously cold. I also feel a bit stupid however at not having put on an extra layer at Osmotherly as I knew the length of open moorland ahead, and had just had a taster of it above the village which had already frozen my hands. Daft errors that cost me the race really. I'll be better prepared next year if the weather is the same, but for now it's time to think about the next race - the Compton 40 in 2 weeks time, then the Highland Fling 3 weeks after that. Then it's the biggy - the GUCR. Gulp.

Hardmoors 55 or how to get lost on the north yorkshire moors

Well after a dismal February, the month of March has seen more running and more motivation. Hurrah and just as well as my 2nd ultra of the year, the Hardmoors 55 (actually now 54 as the course has been shrunk by 1 mile to avoid a mass roadkill of runners) is this weekend, the 20th March.

I did my 'train to Northampton then run back home' 32 mile canal run the other weekend in glorious sunshine, then at the weekend just past did a strange combination of 5 mile sub 7 tempo session early on Saturday morning followed by a 17 mile canal - trail - footpath run in the afternoon. A speed interval session last night left me panting away as I've missed out on these sessions for the past 3 or 4 weeks due to illness. Just 1 more session this week before the HM54 - a good old off road hill rep session on the local Col du Brickhill. Tres fantastique.

The race should be good fun although I'll be hoping not to get lost. I've never recce'd the course or been anywhere near it except once for a Scarborough holiday as a kid. The weather reports vary from light rain and 7C to cloudy and 5C feeling like 3C with windchill. Not tropical weather then.

I've heard that the course sweeper, Dave Waterman, has now been promoted (?) to checkpoint marshall. I'll be relying on his finely honed search and rescue skills should I become hopelessly lost. Picture a cockney speaking running boxing ex-forces fireman with a liking for red wine bounding out of the windswept moors, cans of super lager strapped to his back like a very alcoholic version of a St. Bernard to rescue runners hopelessly lost and in need of re-fuelling. Er, I can't wait.

Justice and James

Last week one of the killers of James Bulger, John Venables, was remanded in custody, for reasons as yet formally unconfirmed. I haven't been able to put the case out of my head since then.

James was battered to death in 1993 when he was only 2 years old. The details of his killing are beyond words, truly horrific. The two killers were only 10 at the time of the murder and so were released on bail in 2001.

This is not right. They have not paid a sufficient price for their crime. Punishment should be determined in terms of relative impact on a criminal's life and in relation to the severity of the crime. That James's killers were released after only 9 years cannot be right - what impact has their jail sentence had? Not enough. Their lives can be re-established and remain effectively in front of them.

James's mum has supported a fundraising campaign to build a facility for bullied children in Liverpool which isn't doing so well, probably because the case is so old and until the events of last week, not high in the public mind. I donated and urge you to as well. Donate here. Rest in peace little James.

Pain in the back

Sunday morning. Kit all ready for 35 mile run from Northampton to my house in Bletchley. I am down on my knees changing a nappy before I go (wife getting a lie in as compensation for my buggering off to run all day) and I go to stand up. Aaaaarrrggh a sharp pain gives my upwards motion a rather geriatric appearance.

I shall now use a phrase frequently employed by the dear Debbie M-C. WTF? 2 weeks off from the worst chest cold I have ever had, 1 week of getting back to training and I now twang my back as I am getting ready to do a long run. Am I the unluckiest man in the world?

Well, I couldn't bend over for most of yesterday and my back is stiff today so I'll do some gentle exercise bike this evening at the gym then try running tomorrow. Gaah. The frustration.

JK appears to be almost as injury prone as me just now, although he has better reason than I, being genuinely geriatric. Cheap shot I know John, but I couldn't resist it. Sorry. :-)

Misjudge and wheeze

You know the feeling you get when you think a cold is nearly over and exercise would kick it finally into the grave? I do too. But sometimes you don't get it right, like me last Thursday. Day 8 of a bad chest cold with lots of phlegm and wheezing and coughing and not much running. A 55 mile race on the horizon and no running. So I ran, thinking the cold would be kicked into submission. Not the case. My head was like an aftershock hangover on Friday and I ended up taking my asthma inhaler 15 odd times on Saturday my breathing was so bad.

Day 13 (this Tuesday) of same cold and I try again. The next day no ill effects, and in fact I feel better so I go out for a much craved for 18 miler in the rain at night. The next day (Thursday) no ill effects. Ha ha take that cold. I'll do a 35 miler this weekend by running to the train statin, getting the train to Northampton and running back to my house in Bletchley. This should get me somewhere back on track training wise after a frustrating 2 weeks off.

Oh well, time to listen to calm music (Kings of Convenience) ...

Peak week training

Well I am peaking nicely in my periodised 4 weekly training plan. Unfortunately I am peaking in terms of the number of dry days in a week, dry days being ones without alcoholic refreshment. I haven't had a drink since last Tuesday. Over a week. I can't remember the last time that happened.

I should have been peaking mileage wise last week but caught a real beast of a chest cold off our little daughter. It has taken the whole family down. Eilidh for 10 days now, Kirstin for 8 days and me for 6 days. No running. Just a lot of phlegm, coughing and not much sleeping.

I am going to go for a 5 mile splutter filled run this evening I think to try to get my body moving again. Funny thing is, I am not even thinking of drinking. Almost JK-like in abstinence (ssh listen and you will hear the angelic chorus surrounding my very being). :-)

Huarache hokum

I am naturally fairly sceptical, and so I have followed form with regards to the claims about barefoot running, or the rise of Huarache hokum as I'll label it here in a good humoured manner. I've been particularly sceptical about:

(1) claims about how bad trainers are for you, with some book authors seeming to claim that about 80% of the running population are at any one time injured as a direct consequence of wearing trainers. Eh? Where on earth does that figure come from? This sounds very suspicious and anecdotal. What is being counted as an injury? How was the data gathered?

There appear to be 2 key review papers in the scientific literature about incidence of running injuries - Richards et al 2009 and van Mechelen (1992) (not available online - too old I guess). Note however none have found evidence of the cause of running injuries as being the use of trainers, and none have done so experimentally.

So, the evidence is not anywhere near being robust at the present time. What is clear is that the forces experienced by runners differ in where they are exerted and their magnitude, depending on footstrike (heel based as with trainers, or mid- or fore-foot based as with barefoot) - see Lieberman et al 2010. So there is the potential for there to be differences in both type of injury, and injury incidence rates between barefoot and trainer wearing running, but the difference or cause of difference is not yet established.

(2) taking the stance that it is reasonable to compare incidence of injuries between lifelong barefoot running and largely sedentary western populations

Huarache Indians I assume run from a very early age, have a lifestyle which is not dominated by sedentary activities and are therefore well adapted physically to not wearing trainers. Most westerners who run probably take up running relatively late in life (i.e. post 18) and live largely sedentary lives. They have not grown up with the motion of running and consequently have not physically adapted to the same extent.

To then think about comparing the levels of running induced injuries between the two populations just seems crazy. It wouldn't be surprising if Huarache Indians were injured less from running, but not because of running barefoot, simply because they've been doing it for most of their lives.

A more valid, and interesting comparison, would be to compare injury rates between Huarache Indians (or other lifelong barefoot runners like some Kenyans), and any population of trainer wearing runners who had been running for the same length of time (so you control for extent of physical adaptation). I suspect you'd also need to control for biomechanic characteristics to ensure that the two groups were equivalent in terms of propensities to pronate etc.

So what is my position?

It is certainly worthwhile trying to establish whether there is a link between the use of trainers and incidence, type and severity of injury in running. No argument there.

If one found that there was a link, what would be the advice? Everyone to go barefoot? I suspect this would lead to injury too, partly as folk adapt to the new style and different stresses and strains are placed on the body. I do wonder whether even after adaptation to the new style that injury rates, types and severities would be reduced if everyone now with trainers went barefoot? I have a suspicion that the distribution of biomechanical characteristics might play an important mediating role. Are all Huaraches biomechanically neutral or is the incidence of pronation the same in western and lifelong barefoot running populations? Characterising this would be important before issuing general guidance on the appropriateness of running - whether barefoot or with trainers. Having said that, review evidence would suggest that the use of long distance, pronation control trainers has no effect on injury prevention (Richards et al 2009).

As ever however I am open to good quality evidence so my intention with this post is to encourage responses which might alert me to evidence I am missing. Comment away you barefoot runners, I remain to be convinced! :-)))

Funniest blog in the world er ever

One of my running club mates Ryan emailed me the link to this guys blog. It is absoutely hilarious. I particularly like this post about being fined for late return of DVDs.

Training plans

This year is a world of difference from last year. I am actually mostly awake and cold free instead of being knackered, demotivated and sniffling. Aaah, little Eilidh is sleeping through the nights now and has a reasonably robust immune system. Hoorah. Also, like Ian Beattie, I am moving towards a booze-free mid-week with pretty good success (zero alcohol beer is a wonder - Becks Blue and Cobra Zero are the best I've tried). No booze, means fresh as a daisy in the morning. Well, almost.

Last year I didn't formulate a nice training spreadsheet, instead preferring to follow a roughly similar week on week but increasing intensity training plan from memory. It didn't work. It was too easy to drop sessions because I was knackered. This year I have a multi-coloured spreadsheet (yes geeky I know) and am following it to make sure I keep up the mileage and am progressing. My mileage isn't as long as others like JKs but I can't do anything about that due to work and family committments. I'll just have to make the quality and diversity of sessions count.

My basic weekly plan, periodised for increasing intensity and with every 4th week as an easy week, is:

Monday - speed intervals
Tuesday - hill reps or gym strength training (alternating weeks)
Wednesday - long slow run (18-20 miles)
Thursday - rest
Friday - medium trail run
Saturday - tempo run (sub 6:50 pace for 6 miles)
Sunday - rest or medium trail /road run

I am tying together my peak weeks with an ultra race to increase the distance so that I am ready for the 145 mile GUCR by the end of May. It'll be a killer mentally as the terrain will be very homogenous and essentially flat, so I need to read some material on psychological preparation. Andy Cole has posted on this subject lately but I'd appreciate any books that anyone can recommend. Thanks.

TDS 2009

I'm not running this race which is part of the UTMB family of races. But the video is superb and gives a real flavour of what running any of the UTMB races is like - superb mountain scenery and such local support you would not believe all the way through.

George Reid and Andy Cole are running this race in 2010 - it'll be great guys!


TDS 2009

UTMB 2010

I'm in (barely contained glee with a strong undercurrent of oh s**t) ... who else?

Top ten!

Top 10 (out of 90 finishers) position for the 45 mile Country to Capital race on Saturday with a time of 6:45. A cracking start to the season. I am very pleased.

I ran the race and came in with fellow Family member Drew Sheffield, each of us going through bad patches when the other was running fine. It worked very well. A 3rd guy we hooked up with en route called Stephen came in at the same time.

The official results have our timings and positions a little out. Basically Drew came first in 7th position as he did the nav for the first section having scoped the route out a few weeks back (many thanks for that - I owe you), me next in 8th and Stephen in 9th.

But anyhoo, top ten. Only my second ever top ten (Marlborough Downs 33 in 2008 being the other). Full race report describing the world of pain and psychological battle that is canal ultra running to come ... :-)

Clothing dilemma for tomorrow's race

Running a 45 ultra tomorrow from Wendover in the Chilterns to Maida Vale in London. Forecast for heavy rain, windy and max 5C temp all the way. 7 hours or so of running in what will probably be pretty cold conditions, with the possibility of slushy snow underfoot in the Chilterns.

I'm having a clothing dilemma. I usually run with a helly hansen long sleeve and a pertex jacket if it is windy and wet, but tomorrow will be cold as well. I'm thinking instead I should wear a short sleeve t-shirt, a lightweight running polartec long sleeve top and a pertex jacket to give a extra warmth without the risk of overheating.

An insignificant dilemma given what is happening in Haiti (if you've not donated to the DEC appeal yet you can do so here) but any clothing advice given will be gratefully received. Thanks.

Ultra running tips

This guy, James Adams, has written a long, informative and humourous set of ultra running tips (or things which have helped him). Check it out. Good stuff.

What ever happened to our stiff upper lip?

I must admit that I have a very stiff upper lip. So stiff, well actually, so tiny and non-moving, in fact that deaf people trying to lip read me have serious difficulties. Seriously. My wife takes the mickey out of me about it.

But that's not why I post today. If, like me you watched the ITV news on Friday night you'd have been forgiven for thinking that Britain was about to collapse into an apocalytpic doom within days Gas supplies running out, nobody able to get out of their house, half the nation unable to make it to work and almost half the nation's schools closed (probably the reason why half the population can't get to work). What on earth is going on?

Leaving aside the usual media hyperbole (what was to be a further 10 days of solid freezing appears by tonight to have turned into a slow thaw) we appear to have coped miserably with this cold weather. Litigation culture means we have hamstrung ourselves with plainly ridiculous health and safety laws and practices that no-one with responsibility is willing to ignore and say 'get a grip' to those who whine and try to make profit out of genuine accidents. People seem unable to cope with risk unless it involves lane weaving at 90mph on the M1 or drinking too much booze. We've lost our stiff upper lip. Where has it gone?

Caring family man

Google throws up the oddest results sometimes. I think it may have developed a sense of fairly sick humour. I wanted some kind of cheesey, super white teeth smiling family man photo with which to illustrate this post, but instead the first image result for 'caring family man' was this ...



Not really what I had in mind. Anyhoo ...

In my efforts to combine running with being a caring family man and generally good dad I have been trying to figure out how I can increase my mileage and at the same time drop my weekend long run. No idea why I didn't think of it before but I have decided to run to my running club (a distance of 6 miles), do the run (5-8 miles) then run back (another 6 miles). I'll do this every Wednesday with the 4th one off for recovery purposes giving me a mid-week run of 17-20 miles. That way I have Saturdays free to be a dad and my wife is much happier with the whole ultra running daftness. Super.

I did my first such run this week with a nice 17 mile snow and ice filled escapade in my new Kahtoolas. Marvellous.

Running on snow and eyeing up the year ahead

I started up my training for the 2010 season just before Christmas and have been building up the miles and time on feet. I found that running on snow whilst up in Scotland meant I had to cut back my mileage aspirations and change them to time on feet aspirations. Cumbernauld, where I was staying, was, like most of Scotland, snow bound so 9.5 mile fast trail runs turned into 1hr 30 mins events as I worked hard through knee deep snow in places on the moorland around the local country park. I used to live in arctic Sweden and love the snow. Soft and fluffy or hard and icy. It's all good. I can see from Ian B's and John K's blogs that they don't share my love here though. I can't understand it. Snow is great to run on, much better than pavements. :-)

I had a great 14.5 mile run around the Trossachs with Stan B and John Malcolm just before Christmas. Nice powdery snow and a hilly circular trail with good company and crisp blue skies. What more could you ask for? But my munro bagging, microspike wearing ambitions came to nothing when a brief but sudden kidney / UT infection hit me on the 27th, putting me out of running action for a few days. C'est la vie. All I can do is read about Pete Duggan's exploits in microspikes and gaze lovingly at how to put them on now that I am back in snow-less MK.

What's coming up first racing wise then this year? The 45 mile Wendover to London Country to Capital race is in less than 2 weeks. Drew Sheffield and John Millen should be running it so it'll be a good chance to catch up with them as we pound out the miles. Before that there's a sneaky wee hilly multi-terrain 5 miler in the Wendover Woods. Stoating down a clay mud forest trail then back up another one as fast as possible. Superb fun. 2010 here I come!