Tuesday 30 December 2008

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year


On the run up to Christmas training was going well until the dreaded "man flu" took hold which floored me for 2 weeks. Now over the flu and back in training, its only a 115 days to the Highland Fling Foot Race so training will need to be step up in the coming weeks.

Training Over Christams and New Year

1. 2 x Hill climbing days.
2. 2 x Hill rep sessions, 1 mile warm up and 2 mile warm down.
3. 2 x 7 mile steady runs.
4. 1 x 10 mile trail run.
5. 1 x 6 mile road run.
So all in all its been a good 2 weeks.

Saturday 13 December 2008

Introduction

Hi

Thanks for visiting.

Where to start. I am a late starter when it comes to running. I was challenged to run a 5k Christmas handicap race by my son who runs with our local running club Kirkintilloch Olympians at the age of 38 then followed the challenge of 10k and half marathon. The thought of running a full marathon is something that I have no interest in "why"? I dont know. As someone who enjoys the great outdoors ie hillwalking, mountain biking, camping I was looking for new challenges that would encompass all of the above and this is were I entered the mad world of Ultra Marathons.

Ultra Marathons are generally events over 30miles and normally 1 day races and as runners look for the next challenge more and more are looking to multi-day event like the Marathon des Sables, Gobi Challenge and 6633 Ultra Race which allow athletes to race over distances of 140+ miles. I have to date taken part in three 1 day event, twice in the Maggies Challenge which is a 30 mile bike section followed by a 43 mile run/hike to be complete in 24hrs and recently The Devil o the Highlands 08 a 43 mile footrace to be complete in 12hrs along the latter part of the West Highland Way. My next Ultra is the Highland Fling a 53 mile race along the the lower half of the West Highland Way this will be used as training for my main challenge in 2009. I am taken part in the Gobi Challenge which races 140+ mile through mountains, ice gorges, desert plains and the highest sand dunes in Asia.