link to photo gallery here The Preparation Having taken part in the 2018 race. and loved it, I was quick to sign up to the 2019 race. 2018 gave me my HM PB and though its a hilly course I immediately thought, great, lets keep doing that as its clearly my PB course. Now, if…
The route through my first 100Km
How I handled my first Ultra Marathon Having written a review of the Race to the Stones 2019 (LINK), I have now reflected more on what I did on the day and in the lead up to the race. The race was great and I really enjoyed it. The experience. was unbelievable and one I…
2 Years can take you a long way!
On the eve of my first Ultra marathon – The Dixons Carphone Race to the Stones 2019, I realised I’ve just gone past my second anniversary of having taken up running. I knew it was about June/July 2017 but I checked back on MapMyRun which I used when I started and realised that my first…
Hampshire Hoppit Trail Marathon 2019
Photo gallery here. The Hampshire Hoppit is trail run through the North Hampshire hills. On offer to budding trail runners is a Marathon and Half Marathon distance. I decided that this would be the best option for my second marathon and my first ever trail marathon. From the offset the organisation is great. Some good…
Marathon recovery
There’s not one rule to fit everyone’s recovery requirements but sometimes a little helping hand in understanding how to look at recovery periods can be useful … http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20832684/when-to-return-to-running-after-a-marathon
Half Marathon Nutrition
It’s only 13.1 miles, don’t worry about nutrition planning. That’s easy for a seasoned marathoner to say but for many the half marathon distance is a real challenge and one that suitable nutrition planning can really be important. There’s as many answers to the question of what’s best as there is grains of sand on…
Half Marathon Training – Week 8
Well I guess there are the good times and the bad times. And in a similar vein there are the easy going and the frustratingly difficult days. Week 8 training has definitely fallen into the frustratingly difficult. I started the week with a recurrence of the knee ache that I had the week before. Given…
Treadmill workouts for runners
As a treadmill user using it as the basis of various workouts is a great way to break the stigma of monotonous running. Some of these are great ideas to just give tour treadmill workouts a bit more interest and value in your training. Certainly worth a look! http://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/a28192841/treadmill-workouts
Training your brain for Ultras
Saw this on Facebook and really enjoy reading about the psychology behind ultra running. It’s such a large part of the battle. When you run you have to listen to your body, but when you venture into Ultras you have to change your thoughts. Your mind starts to shout louder than your body at times…
Exercise, running and depression
With it having been suicide awareness day this week this article is a timely and simply put article about the virtues of exercise, particularly running, in fighting depression and mental illness. Some references and links to more in depth material as well http://www.outsideonline.com/2401557/exercise-depression-research
Half Marathon Training – Week 7
The training plan for the week looked like this: As a result of that my training ended up as: So not at all bad really. Overall on the week I felt OK. Started with a stiff left knee so dropped Monday training. Through in a hard treadmill session on Saturday rather than a recovery session…
Running in winter
Well sad as it may seem, winter is just around the corner and so thoughts start to turn towards changing the plan for what to wear, running with a lighthouse sized lamp strapped to my head and the inevitable challenge of finding both running gloves for each of my three pairs – yes I know…
