I've been meaning to get round to a running round up post for some time (since the end of 2013!) but seem to be too busy with the adventure that is life to write about what I've been up to.
So why now? Well I was lucky enough to be selected for the Trail Team selection day in London over the weekend and it gave me the kick of inspiration to get some thoughts down in ink. I also had a 3 hour train journey down to the South West straight after so no excuse not to!
Around the end of 2013 I'd been planning a post on a 2013 roundup and a look forward to 2014 so I'll begin with a quick running roundup!
After a couple of satisfying performances last year at the London Marathon (3:31) and the Ultimate Trails 100k (16:51 , race review), my focus for 2014 was always going to be the North Downs Way 50 in May and the North Downs 100 in August. I then got a place in the ballot for the 2014 London Marathon so I set out a rough training plan with it in mind. In the end I deferred my place to next year as I developed a slight ITB issue a few weeks before. I instantly backed off training and focused on fixing the issue and decided to defer the place since it wasn't my focus and I didn't want to run it, injure myself and then miss the NDW50 and scupper a good base of training for the NDW100.
With the ITB issue largely sorted I've been able to get a few weeks of solid training in and am feeling confident and looking forward to the NDW50 which is now less than two weeks away. A recent move near to Streatham Common has provided an off road 'hill' to train on which although not exactly steep has introduce hill repeats into my training for the past couple of months which I think is helping!
This weekend just gone, I was one of a hundred individuals short listed for one of four places in the 2014 Trail Team, which is supported by Berghaus, Torq and LED Lenser.
It was a fantastic day at Hampstead Heath speaking to like minded runners about their experiences and training as well as listening to some advice and stories from some guest speakers.
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| View of London from Hampstead Heath |
As someone who likes to research gear a lot before buying, it was interesting to hear about the new Berghaus running range, in particular, the super lightweight waterproof. I spent some time last year researching a waterproof as a piece of mandatory kit for the UT 100k and eventually went for a Montane Minimus Jacket which weighed in at 208 grams. At the time I was after a full zipped jacket and it seemed one of the lightest options. In hindsight I don't think I've ever worn it unzipped more than half way so a smock would probably be fine and the smock version weighs in at 148 grams. The new Berghaus VaporLight Hyper Smock weighs in at only 110g for a large so it's about half the size and weight of my current jacket and is definitely on my wanted kit list!
It was also interesting to hear from X at Torq about fueling techniques. For some time now I've been training fasted into work as i like to just get up and go in the mornings. Moving flat recently has meant an increase in distance to work which is now 8.5 miles which I generally do twice a week. In the past few months I've also been training fasted on long runs too up to 20 miles. I came away from the trail team day thinking this is probably not going to help my speed increase as the 'ceiling' performance level is much lower on fat burning than it is on carbohydrate burning. I'm going to do some more reading up in this area but have decided to stop running long at weekends fasted, just keeping the run's to work fasted.
The ability to train at a higher intensity with correct fueling also ties into some other thoughts on the type of training I do. I'm a novice really in all of this long distance running and every block of training and race is a learning experience. There is much talk about whether quantity or quality is the best form of training and I'm beginning to think that a more quality oriented approach to training rather than quantity might be the way to go and might explore this for the NDW100. I'm going to do some reading up on this but I imagine this would still involve long runs at weekends and some back to back but less mid-week mileage which would be focused on quality, ie speed work, fartlek sessions, hill repeats, interval tempo training.
This in turn leads nicely into the topics and thoughts that Surat Mills (@ultrastu1), winner of the 2014 Montane Lakeland 100. I had heard an interview with Stuart on the TalkUltra podcast after his win when he talked about mental training including knowing the course. One aspect of this was for situations where you can't recce the course, get to know the facts and figures so for the UT100k last September I made up some small laminated cards with the facts and elevation profile for each leg of the race. This definitely helped me and I was able to pick up more advice at the weekend especially when I had the chance to pick his brain for a mile or two on our group run!
Other highlights of the day included a chat with Tim Ellis about training and his experiences of the 2013 Trail Team and also hearing from David and Katherine about their 5000 mile project. I had heard an interview with them on TalkUltra previously but was great to meet them! Unfortunately there was no time for questions so my only question is when is the book out!
Even if I'm not selected for the 2014 TrailTeam it was a cracking day and gave me lots of food for thought!
That's enough waffle for now, but as I'm now an official blogger (this being my second post and all), I'll be back with a write up of the NDW 50 very soon!
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