Ultra-marathon | Obsessive Ramblings

Obsessive Ramblings » Entries tagged with "Ultra-marathon"

Tentative Steps

July 6th, 2012 | Comments Off

Training this week has not gone too badly. After my visit to the physio I have taken my first few tentative steps back outside with my trainers on. I say tentative because my foot still feels as though it has something amiss; some sort of stiffness in the upper-mid foot, so I have been taking it fairly gingerly. In fact, when I thing about it that could be why I am so slow at the moment, as I am probably favouring my right leg to propel me along the trails, while my left is in a guarded holding pattern around the airfield of full performance. On Tuesday I did an easy 6km followed by Thursday’s 9km and then did some physio on Friday, with some gym running to warmup and cool down. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Blogaday, Injury, Recovery, Running, Training

UTMB® Qualification Updates

February 9th, 2012 | Comments Off

Got an newsletter from the nice people at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB®) today. One of my blog colleagues and friend that ran with Liz and Greg at last year’s MdS, Ben, managed to get into the UTMB in 2012, and I have been thinking about applying for next year (2013) as it is in August and I have other plans for August this year. So it is timely to understand how many ‘points’ I will … Read entire article »

Filed under: Running

The Story so Far

September 12th, 2010 | 6 Comments

The prognosis is not good… but could have been a lot worse. After finishing the Leadville race we had planned to stay a a few days in the town in order to rest and perhaps see the rest of the area. While running down to Turquoise Lake a couple of days earlier, I had thought it would be great to take Liz down to see the stars and the sunrise that I had experienced in the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discussion, Running

The Leadville Aftermath – Lessons Learned

September 1st, 2010 | 2 Comments

So. What did I learn from the Leadville experience? It seems to be an often used cliché nowadays, that one learns more from the lessons of failure than the experience of success. Success in my terms is finishing an event, in a time better than I have done previously for a similar event, without injury, so in that respect I guess I have some ‘areas of improvement’ for the Leadville event. Having said that, I certainly have no … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discussion, Psychology, Running

The Battle of Wounded Hip

August 22nd, 2010 | 16 Comments

It was bound to happen, but at least I am now in good company. Many, if not most of the top ultrarunners in the world have suffered defeat at the hands of their instrument of success – Scott Jurek, Dean Karnazes, Anton Krupicka……. It has to be expected and accepted as a normal part of such an extreme sport that not everything will go right all the time. I had felt no more nervous about this race, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Events

Born to Run

August 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments

Just met Christopher McDougall. What a surprise and honour to meet the author of the now famous (if you are a runner) ‘Born to Run’ story about all sorts of things, such as the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico’s Copper Canyon, barefoot running, pinole, chia seeds and a band of ultramarathon runners, including Scott Jurek and other characters like Caballo Blanco (The White Horse) and Barefoot Ted, and their exploits both in Leadville at the very race … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discussion, Running

Bogs, bracken and the night of a thousand steps

July 25th, 2010 | 7 Comments

I had lost count of the number of times I wanted to abandon this race. In fact, I could hardly believe, after suffering exhaustion in the early hours of Saturday morning, such that I was falling asleep as I was running (not advisable) and also after later in the afternoon lying down on my own in the middle of an exposed fellside for forty winks as it was starting to rain (definitely not advisable!), that I … Read entire article »

Filed under: Events, Running

Cotswold 100 mile UltraRace

June 26th, 2010 | 8 Comments

When you are running through the stillness of the English countryside at 2:00 in the morning after a perfect summer’s day, chasing a full moon with nothing but the bats and badgers, foxes and fireflies to keep you company, there is a lot of time to think and enjoy the views and the imposed solitude of the environment. So I was more surprised than anything that I found myself concentrating mostly on getting food and sickly … Read entire article »

Filed under: Events, Running

Fear and loathing

June 18th, 2010 | 3 Comments

One week to go. My last couple of weeks have been easy by comparison to the peak of my training schedule, but there is nothing better than having reached and passed that point without having sustained an injury. Nevertheless I have to keep telling myself it’s alright to have a rest, as I feel a bit lazy, a bit of a ‘slacker’ having only completed a minimal 50 miles last week and with only a paltry 30 miles planned this week I will need all the rest I can get as the races I am attempting are only four weeks apart, so with a recovery week after each (to let feet and legs, body and mind recuperate) and a taper week before each race, that does not leave … Read entire article »

Filed under: Psychology, Running

The Road of Recovery

May 7th, 2010 | 1 Comment

So here we are in May with the Mayday Bank holiday out the way, the election all but over and it is nearly two weeks since the bustle of the London marathon. I have been keen to get my training levels back up to schedule, having had nearly a month of disrupted activity since my foot problem and especially with only a couple of months to the ‘end’ of the schedule which marks the first of my 100-milers in the Cotswolds. Now is the important time to get the long mile sessions in, to ensure my body is suitably familiar with the endurance I am to expect of it. After the marathon last week my calves have been stiff, my right ankle aching alternately with various parts of my foot and my … Read entire article »

Filed under: Running, Training