It has been a very long time since my last post...and therefore a lot to catch up on. It has been a very busy period in my personal and work life...and a moderate period in my athletic career.
Well in my personal life the major changes are that I am now a married man. Not sure that it has actually changed too much. Not sure what I was expecting, that my wife would turn into some kind of wonder woman who supported my running activities even more than she already does, prepares me more meals and ironed all my shirts for work...I should be so lucky. But being married is cool and I've kind of got used to the ring on my finger now!
On the work front I am no longer stuck in Bristol, staying in a hotel three nights a week (I was doing this for 14 months...looking back not sure how I lasted quite so long). This means I am now working back in London which should help with my running. However, since returning from honeymoon I seem to have taken on a bit more responsibility and have also been working on one crazy busy project (one week the earliest I was home was midnight...). This period of time really hampered my running and also made me re-assess my running goals and ambitions. A rash decision and I temporarily retired from ultrarunning as I decided I could not handle the pressure of work, study, ultrarunning and being a husband.
The retirement was fairly similiar to the boxer David Haye's recent retirement, shortlived but the difference being I bought myself out of retirement for the passion of ultrarunning and David Haye will be bringing himself out of retirement for a huge pay day and another beating by the Klitschkos! I recieved an email from the England and UK utlrarunning representative Norman Wilson which prompted my 'comeback'. The email detailed the ultrarunning fixture list for the season, including provisional dates for the UK championsips and the Anglo Celtic Plate. I thought I would fancy a piece of this again this year. However, my brother will be competing in a half ironman event in Belgium this year and I really must go out and watch him, which means I will miss the Anglo Celtic Plate and my next opportunity for an England vest. But as the wife says there will be a number of other opportunities over the year. My brother has always been very supportive of my sporting events and always comes to cheer me on, so I must repay the favour in his biggest event yet!
On the running front training is going reasonably well and I've managed to re-introduce interval training back into the schedule. Interval training seemed to drop out of my schedule when training for the Anglo Celtic Plate last year, but I feel it is an essential part of my schedule and a strangely enjoyable piece. I've run in a few shorter races with a reasonable amount of success. These are detailed below. I only have the garmin output for the Denmead 10km, should be useful for anyone wanting to see the course profile.
Black Park ParkRun: 1st / 16m35 (very pleased and suprised by this one...maybe I shouldn't bother with the ultras)
Henley Half Marathon: 3rd / 1h17m24
Denmead 10km: 3rd / 34m22
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| 9kms into the Denmead 10km |
I do quite enjoy doing the shorter races as does the wife. It is very easy to get up, romp around a 10km race, go grab some lunch afterwards and then still have the afternoon to do as the wife pleases ;-) Not so easily for races longer than 6 hours...
So what are my plans for 2012. Well 2011 was quite a stable year in the my running career. I maybe had a bit of a breakthrough with my 50km performance earlier on in the year (3h13 on a hilly course, all the way back in January) and obviously running for England at the Anglo Celtic Plate was a very proud moment, but other than that I did not see too much improvement or have many great successes..well I was quite happy with that 16m35 at the ParkRun. So I plan for 2012 to have some breakthroughs. I would love to improve my PBs over the shorter distances and am sure this can be done, however I will not get too hung up on these to be honest. My currently planned races are below, with the Barry 40 Miler and Biel being my A races. My aim towards 2013 is to get selected to get the GB vest and go to the world championships for the 100km distance. Although there is some work to be done to get there first.
4th February 2012: Thames Trot 50 Miler
I will be returning to the Thames Trot. I had my first ultra victory here back in 2010. This year I will be running the whole way with my friend visiting from Switzerland. I assume we will be aiming for a sub 7 finish, but I am taking this as a 'training' event. Looking forward to the mud!
4th March 2012: Barry 40 Miler
My first ever track race, 161 laps on a 400m loop...perfect for pacing and nutrition. People seem to think this will be overly dull and boring. I'm not going to pretend it will be the most interesting course I've ever run but in my opinion this is a race, not a scenic tour of Wales. I do a lot of my training at the running track for example I recently ran 1h20 @ 6m13 pace down at my local running track. It is very easy to zone into the pace as I just set the garmin to autolap and every 1m30 or so I get a little reminder of what pace I am running and this is enough to keep me entertained...I lead a simple life. I am awaiting for my cheque to be cashed to know I'm officially in the race.
7th June 2012: Biel 100km
I am long overdue a trip to Switzerland and have had Biel on the radar for a few years. Comes highly recommended from my Swiss ultrarunning friends. I will be looking for a sub 7h30 here.
So that's my fill for now, lots to look forward to in 2012 and lots of running to do.
Looking forward to keeping you more informed in the new year.
