Running: Marathon Ultra-Marathon & Adventure

July 20, 2014

Great Glen Ultra (adult conversations and an escapee chimp)

It has been a while since D (of Conversations with the Uninitiated fame) has commented upon my running, but true to form he felt compelled to ensure that I remain grounded and understood some basic ground rules before attempting the Great Glen Ultra, my longest race to date.

July 4, 2014

A Supporting Role on the WHW

Saturday 21st June was the longest day in so many ways; and be warned this is going to be a long post. It was of course West Highland Race day meaning that a not insignificant number of people were set to have a very long day either running, crewing for a runner, or supporting the infrastructure of the event. I have to say at this point that the event was a logistical tour-de-force.

June 18, 2014

Great Glen Ultra: taper time again

The Great Glen Ultra is a big milestone for me, although you would not have realised it based upon my cool, calm demeanour and rather relaxed training schedule. It has, however, rather crept up on me, and typically, now a little over two weeks before the event, I am having a bit of a wobble and my inner chimp is chattering away furiously.

May 2, 2014

Highland Fling Race: slaying demons

There were demons to be slain at this year’s Hoka Highland Fling. I have been open and frank about my experience last year and the wake -up call that it gave me in terms of my preparations for Antarctica, especially in terms of managing hydration and food; knowing how much I need and what I can take and what my body will tolerate. A very different runner toed the start line this year: more experienced; leaner, fitter, stronger, apparently faster based upon my recent D33 time and with nutrition sorted (or so I thought).

April 20, 2014

The Highland Fling: take 2

As I taper into my 2nd attempt at the Hoka Highland Fling I find myself in an odd place both mentally and physically. To be fair a lot of this will be the effects of the taper: the whole idle body and idle mind just finding things to fixate on and worry about. A short easy run suddenly becomes very hard and niggle laden, your brain starts to dwell on the memories of last year’s fairly disastrous run, and the recent unexpectedly hard training runs on the route. How do you stem those negative thoughts and remain positive and dismiss the self-fulfilling disaster prophesy?

March 31, 2014

Here we go again – D33 Race Report

In recent months and blog posting I have devoted a lot of thought and spoken about the life changing effect of my Antarctic Odyssey and pondered on what the future holds for me. There is with no doubt a legacy, and an on-going Odyssey and my recent participation in the D33 marked the first step of the next stage of my journey.

October 6, 2013

Baxters Loch Ness Marathon

The 2013 Loch Ness Marathon was set to be fairly special for me.

It was exactly 10 years since I ran my first marathon, which had been Loch Ness in 2003 which gave me my marathon PB which still stands to this day. This would be my 7th run of this event. In addition this was my last formal running event before Antarctica. Emotions would potentially ride high this weekend.

September 1, 2013

Speyside Way Ultra – Antarctic Odyssey Rehearsal Week, Part 2

The Speyside Way is a national trail that runs from Buckie to Aviemore, following the route of the river Spey, and by default the Scottish Whisky trail . The Speyside Way Ultra covers 36.5 miles from Ballindalloch to Buckie and has been run since 2012 and is well organised by race director Sarah Louise Grigor and a band of dedicated and happy marshals and helpers.

August 28, 2013

Balmedie Beach Run Report: Antarctic Odyssey Rehearsal Part 1

The week commencing 19th August was going to be my Antarctic Odyssey rehearsal week, and as such a fairly epic and momentous week for me. It was another milestone in my preparations. The objectives for the week were: to test my ability to run long distance on a surface similar to the Antarctic snow; test the nutrition plans; test my recovery rates; hit a new weekly mileage total. The keynote activities were to be a 20 – 21 mile beach run on the Wednesday and the Speyside Way Ultra on the Saturday.

August 16, 2013

Going for that lean, mean running machine approach

With only 14 weeks to go there is light at the end of the training tunnel, but things are getting tough as my training starts to peak. I have had a tired and hungry week so far this week. A 6 mile beach run on over 24 hours without food due to bad timing on one of my fast days was tough; and the planned easy session the following day (2nd fast day) was cut short as the energy just was not there.