UltramarathonMike

Now part of the new ULTRArace series this was the second running of the 29.3 mile Grantham ultra, the course takes in 29.3 (a bit less I think though!) miles of the now mostly disused canal between Nottingham and Grantham. The terrain is canal tow path, mud, grass and is surprisingly resistive.
Today I was really really keen on ensuring I kept a constant pace, something I am not very good at one my own, and was using my Polar rs3000x to ensure I kept pace. 9 minute miles was the goal, stick on a few minutes for checkpoint faffing and that gives a 4 hour 30 finish.

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This time last year I was into the final preparation for the MdS, things were getting packed, repacked, ECGs, medicals and training were all in full swing. This year though, I am just winding up and the training events are getting more and more wild.

This week is a 90+ mile week with the longest run being the 29.3 mile ULTRArace Grantham organised by Mr Coleman. I did the recce and then day one of the race last year.

What I have found has been astonishing this week is the speed of my training which was consistent on the same run both Monday, each around 9 miles and at 8.3min/mile and yesterday I ran just a shade shy of 16 miles in around 7.3 min/miles average. OK, so I’m barely going to set the world on fire with these times but for me they are excellent and the consistency over three days is a great sign that things are on track. Tomorrow will be a nice slow long run ready for Saturday.

That’s all just small fry though compared to next weeks GUCR ‘dry run’ along the Wolds Way … more on that shortly!

Another few weeks fly by without another post, thankfully training hasn’t suffered the same hiatus. Although there was a light couple of weeks when some mystery knee pain (mostly experienced during periods of sitting down…) slowed me down, it didn’t stop me and running didn’t cause any issue.
The weather of course is still cold so icy pavements, snow and sleet are the norm, tonight’s pyramid session was no exception, 2C and sleet.

This did give me a perfect excuse to keep it shortish and get out the exercise ball and have a good old core workout. Many runners just run, many run and cross train with other sports, not so many fit the essential core work into the regime … at least not before they are injured and advised to by the physiotherapist.

In some ways the last few weeks have epitomised winter training, it’s been icy, cold, frequently wet or snowy and there are more excuses not to go that there are to go, but whilst the training slips into the unremarkable it’s better than not training and does you the power of good physically and mentally.

There is still enough of winter left to see the temperature drop a few degrees and give us those crystal clear blue sky ice days which would suit me down to the ground, but if that doesn’t happen it’s not so long before spring will be in the air.

A long while back I got an email from Keith who runs ultramarathonrunning.com asking about putting a link on here. His email pushed me to have a look at what is a rather unkempt part of the site, the links section, it should be full of links to helpful resources like this, so here I am trying to make some sort of amends (and rambling on horrifically).
So, now there are a few new links on the right now and I’ll try and keep it up to date!

As far as training and race listings links go it’s a fair bet to say that Ultramarathonrunning.com is probably the most comprehensive resource out there and will be useful for pretty much anyone. Chris Carver has recently highlighted a link which I managed to read this lunch, it’s a study of the race time nutrition of ultrarunner Yiannis Kouros’ Sydney to Melbourne run. see, http://run-to-london.blogspot.com/. What I really found interesting about the article was how similar it seemed to be to Chris Carvers plan on his Run to London.

If you’re beginning to think that Winter is only about bare minimum training and dashes out between the rain/snow/wind/ice then Jez Braggs excellent report on a Winter run of the West Highland Way may just make you rethink. Although good I’m not sure the 80 miles of the Wolds Way will be quite as magical in a couple of weeks! Jez is making another appearance at the Western States 100 this year, going by last years ever increasing performances I can imagine he has it in him to deliver an even more amazing run in than 2009 … that would be incredible.

In the mean time enjoy this excellent video from James Jarvis:

Not a huge amount to update but this weeks training has kicked off to a great start. Yesterday I took my good friend Adam on wee a beasting of a fartlek session, covering 10 miles some decent climbs and ensuring the first 10k got him a 50 minute p.b. not bad with a tempo, long increasing hill sprint and a slowish mile chucked in!
It must have been a good session as tonight I only manages 45 minutes for the first 10k of my run home. Still not bad, there’s some minor speed kicking around in these legs somewhere. He’s off for a recovery 5 miles tonight, I did my 9 miles and it’s the same again tomorrow (though a fraction slower I suspect).

The mental boost of a serious event looming ever closer and the feel good factor of great training I feel very similar to how I did this time last year. And it’s great!

With a short fast run on Thursday, a cheeky lookout on Friday evening perhaps and a nice long one at the weekend this should be a good week. I might rest Sunday - but some stretching and core work might be a better option…