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. :-)