UltramarathonMike

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…

I’m not much of a gear freak, I like good quality kit which performs, no gimmicks. Some of my kit is all a bit homespun and customised, and liking it is a fairly personal affair! So, when it comes to finding some gear that performs and does the trick I like to write about it and spread the joy.

After my experience in the recent Beacon Ultra in which I foolishly went ahead with utilising my uber lightweight windproof as a waterproof whilst it was blowin’ a hoolie I knew I needed to add a decent waterproof for running in. I asked around that weekend and a whole bunch of people highly rated the OMM Kamleika jackets. Not a traditional Kamleika (there are no mammals large enough around here) jacket but a lightweight taped seam, stretchy waterproof from OMM.

When I first got the jacket from Sand Baggers I was certainly impressed by the construction and the material which did indeed stretch in four ways. The features were pretty comprehensive too … weather proof zips, double zip on the smock, reflective patches, decent pocket, thumbloops, extra long back for when you are on the bike (or if you like a dry arse) and a full hood with a decent sized foam peak to keep the worst of the rain off your face.

Today I went out for a 12 mile slog (I was out probably around 2 hours) in the driving wind, rain, sleet and snow and did give the jacket a good test. The wind and the rain conspired to wet my lower half through to the skin in no time and it kept up all the way through the run, but my top half stayed dry, lovely and dry, the water was beading off the top all the way through and only a little water crept in at the wrists (I wasn’t wearing gloves which at 3C in those conditions was a big mistake!). I had a lightweight bladder on my back for water and even where that was sat it didn’t let any water through. The hood kept the rain out of my face for the most part, but 100% protection is almost impossible without a full face covering against horizontal rain blown in from the side. My only niggle comes from the fit of the jacket around the neck when the hood is fully up, the top of the zip tends tends to slip and sort of jam under my chin rather than sit over my chin as I would like. This though I think is more because I have silly long hair tied back pushing the hood back, it really wasn’t much of an issue.
I am a dedicated wearer of Medium sized clothes and this jacket is a large. Based on the fit of this one on me, comfortable with enough room to put warm clothing on underneath, I would suggest most people would prefer a size up from normal were possible.

I haven’t commented on the breathability of the garment because all of our sweat rates are different under different conditions and 100% breathable is such an arbitrary claim. Anything that I feel works to about 25% of a manufacturers claims/hype on breathability and I’m a happy man.

In short this jackets has performed well for me running and biking, it’s certainly beaten my expectations so far, and it’s price tag is a not unreasonable (for a UK price/product!) £100-116.

http://www.theomm.com/products/garments/kamleikaSmock.html

I have managed to avoid much of the associated Christmas excess during the festive season, heck, I started writing this on New Years Eve. I can’t say I have exactly been an angel though and there is a mostly empty box of Guinness in the drinks cupboard, my Laphroaig Quarter Cask is almost empty, and a bumper trip to the bottle bank is necessary, but compared to most I have been good.

The unusually cold weather has been a great excuse for many to stay inside and wrap up warm and, whilst there has been some snow and ice cover almost continually for the past four weeks and with some heavy snow, severe frosts and negative daytime temperatures I have managed to chip away at the miles, get back on the bike to work and even increase the mileage.

Since Brecon though that’s it, just training, little in the way of events (bar the Christmas handicap run dressed dubiously as Mrs Claus) it’s just been about planning, trying out some new gear, running and more planning. Sometime during February I will see if I can plan effectively when I go for a supported test run along the 79(+1) miles of the Wolds Way.

In the mean time, more OS maps, spreadsheets and training.

When Matt and the crew at Likeys organise a race they do it properly and the second running of the Beacons Ultra was going to be no exception.

This year the course ran from Talybont-on-Usk at the Outdoor Recreation Centre. I had made it down to Wales in good time this year, and caught up with Matt for a kit check early evening and picked up some technical undercrackers from Martin. At the kit check I bumped into Alan Silcock who, despite talking about the MdS via the forum for almost three years, I have not yet met!

I was staying in the Bunk House with the likes of Graham, Rab, Perks, Rach, Steph, Graham, Mike, Sharky, Andy, Jeff, Kevin, Bill, Pete, Cookie, Steve, Kobus etc etc. Quite a crowd … many MdS vets and experienced ultra runners, and me!

The race started at 7am so after about 4 minutes sleep and a 5am wake up for breakfast (mmmmm porridge) I headed down in the dark with everyone else, over 100 people were gathered at the start line and we set off on the short stretch with a police escort. Last years winner female winner Jo Kilkenny was here defending her title and was looking keen on the start line, also back was Mark Palmer who last year put in an astonishing time.

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