Journey to the end

Winter Spine Sprint preparation I over-thought and planned and stressed about this so much! What's involved 70km from Edale to Hebden Bridge along the Pennine Way. No proper luxury aid stations.  At a few road crossings Mountain Rescue teams have gazebos to give a little respite from the conditions and offer drinks.  (we're encouraged not to rely on these being here as the teams may be called away to attend an emergency). It starts noon, so there's 4 1/2 hours of daylight, and then the rest in darkness. Being January the weather is usually difficult Why am I doing this? (pre-race thoughts) Not just a rhetorical question, you do need to have a decent answer to this, for a race of this nature, or you'd just not bother, or quit at the first obstacle. It involves a fair amount of cost, and the commitment to training and preparation is significant, and then once you're out there it's going to be pretty tough. I can't believe anyone cruises through these things ef...

 Starting a blog as a place to write down things. Late to the game here I know! Race to the stones 2019 was my 4th race and second ultra. Summary/ lessons learnt Pacing worked well. Not super fast for first half, but had energy to keep up pace in second half Got hydration right 100km is hard on the ankles, no getting away from that. Maybe 100km a sensible distance limit. Even though had energy, not sure legs could get conditioned to more without serious high mileage training, Ate a lot, possibly even too much, but energy levels fine all race Mentally mainly positive whole way Splitting into sections worked as strategy Nice to chat to people, but music definitely helped in parts. Very pleased all round with how it went. Awesome fun. Time 15:06 Plan Run at 07:30 per km (which seemed reasonable pace based on what we did last year, and given the terrain - not too fast, and probably sustainable all day)  stop for 10 minutes at each stop  stop for 40 minutes at basecamp at half...

I had another go at the Summer Spine Challenger race last weekend, here's a very self indulgent write up that i feel the need to get out of my system... It's about 108 miles from Edale to Hardraw along the Pennine Way... Initial thoughts - I bloody love this race! I started running kind of seriously in 2018, and did a first ultra. Since then, roughly once a year, I've done a big challenge which has stretched me further than the previous. This year, my challenge was to go back to the toughest race i've ever done, and do it better. That's putting myself under pressure, which i think i needed. For a race to return to, this is the one for me. I've been obsessing over it for so long, the Summer Spine Challenger somehow brings loads of my favourite things into a weekend. The Plan So, no plan survives contact with the enemy, blah blah, but i'm still going to have one. Last time, i finished in 41:17. This time, I wanted to achieve a better time. Training...

Summary Official Time 41:17:54   Position: 36t h of 110 starters (43 DNFs - 39%) This was a non-stop 108 mile (174 km) race along the Pennine Way from Edale to Hardraw (Strava says a bit longer, certainly my longest run to date either way), with one major checkpoint at Hebden Bridge providing food, water, medics and even floor space to sleep. Outside that there was only one small checkpoint (Malham Tarn) with water and medics only, and a few water points along the course. Also one additional unofficial stop around Cowling. We were allowed to stop at cafes or shops for food etc., but not to receive any assistance from others while on the course. This was an ambitious thing for me to try, a bit of a stretch. Although I'd done a 100 mile run once, last year, that wasn't a race and it was nowhere near this challenge. I'm really glad to have gone for something a little beyond my comfort zone. I suppose that was in part prompted by Covid, which has been a reminder not to put thin...