One of my overdue reports is for a 600km Audax from Blackpool to Glasgow and back again (starting at 10pm on a Friday just to make things interesting). There’s lots to say about that experience I’m sure but with only one manned control all evidence of passing was in the form of receipts which also coincides with buying food !

So it struck me that this makes almost an entire record of what I ate on that ride so here’s the occasionally filthy truth of the matter: Continue reading “The “art” of Audax fuelling” →

Time to bash out a quick report and write something rather than nothing, maybe I’ll eventually catch up on the race report over Christmas ?… maybe not 🙂

At the beginning of this year it was my pleasure to help marshall at the first of Paul “Big Bear” Albon’s events at Ryton Pools near Coventry. In truth I’d gone to enter only to be surprised to find it full, since I’d already booked the time off I loaded my pack up and used the trip there and a couple of laps of the course as Dead Sheep training. Why was I surprised to find it full ?… well this seemed like a niche of a niche..  time based multilap trail ultras on a weekday ? Kind of make sense and if this year has been anything to go by its proving a popular niche.

So it was I got my free place on the 6hr event in Salcey forest near Northampton which took place on Monday 3rd December. Continue reading “Big Bear Events Christmas Challenge” →

Not that people often ask me, but if they did I’d say every run should be form focused, intervals, hills, long slow run, there’s never an excuse not to be thinking about it.
I’ve been doing this a while now and maybe it was going quickly into ultra stuff that meant I’ve always been interested in maximising efficiency, noisy footsteps are surely inefficient right ?
So whether its Pose, Pirie, Chi running, Barefoot, Minimalist or whatever you like to call it for matters.

Here’s a few things I like to try when I’m out and about, the last two being my favourites (Interspersed with some piccies from my run home the other day): Continue reading “Form Focused Running” →

Today was a road out and back aiming to be a bit pacey, unfortunately I kept running out of road and having to invent an extra section.. and inevitably the turn around was at the bottom of a hill.

However this is going to be a pretty dull blog if all I do is tell you what I ran today…. there are plenty of those out there 🙂

So instead I’ll just put these photos of the previous Sunday’s rainy long run, a few people off work with colds and I wasn’t feeling massively motivated or 100% so just had to dial back the pace and enjoy the view, after the first mile I decided to take a picture every 15mins, plus of any extra interesting things along the way, so these are they.
Continue reading “Out & Out & Back” →

Ignoring the fact I haven’t made a post since 2016 the title is a touch misleading.

Today was a getting back with the plan run targeting 3hrs/20miles and breakfast was in fact my newly discovered favourite of cinnamon & raisin bagel with peanut butter, the only way this could have been better was maybe bacon (‘cos that improved everything right?).

Last weekend I took an anticlockwise loop out and round the Coventry Way from Stoneleigh through to Wolston so this time I decided on a Clockwise loop that took in the section from Bedworth to almost Brinklow.

This loop starts very urban going through the city centre and onto the Coventry Canal for which ranges from Grim post industrial to surprisingly pleasant and takes the most tortuous route out of town possible.

The initial pace was a little slow but I’d have settled for slower, gradually picking up on the easy going canal finally breaking down close to 9/mile average in open countryside past Hawkesbury. The route then finds the Coventry Way near Bedworth & heads across to Barnacle and Ansty skimming the Coventry Canal as you pass under the M66. Crossing the canal again before making a bee-line along one side of the golf course to take the towpath again. Continue reading “Cake for Breakfast” →

So way back in err May(?) whilst I was staggering to a barely deserved victory at Trail Attack, Mr Cotswold Running mentioned they were running a 3 & 6hr race later in the year which I duly filed away in the back of my mind.

Prelude

Since I’m training for a double Ironman (there, I said it) and this fell on a free weekend around about peak silly training season I entered. I always had in mind to ride there and back too although perhaps hadn’t considered quite what a long day this would make it until the Friday before.

So here was the plan:
– Get up early
– Ride 50miles to the race with a few hills thrown in
– Amble round for 6 hours
– Ride home the shortest possible distance (around 30miles)

Continue reading “Ellenden Farm Frolic 6hr” →

It’s been a while since I ventured into the murky world of Audax riding but when this came onto my radar (care of club mates, one of whom then buggered off to do something else instead) I was inevitably drawn to it. The bike training has been ramping up so the distance and the timing seemed an ideal culmination before my A race in September.

Audax is basically a low key organised ride with a planned route & control points to prove you got to key points along the route. Aside from the controls you are unsupported and expected to be self sufficient, that said where there are controls they’re usually welcomingly stocked with cake & food, this one would not disappoint in that respect.

We had a brief conflab on the Thursday night to discuss kit & the plan, I was self confessedly blase about the whole thing, something Clare no longer believed when I pulled out the spreadsheet. Really I’d done this just to get my head around what was being asked of us and as usual (for me) had 3 schedules; A was decent pace with minimal but sensible rest and came in at about 20hrs, B was sensible early pace, slowing through the night with increasingly long stops to allow for fatigue coming in a little over 24hrs whilst C was cranking things down further and allowing for a potential 2hr sleep stop to come in before the 27hr cut off.

With a 7am start I hadn’t really considered logistics too much, leaving the option of a silly early start to get there or paying for a hotel room / b&b that you’re basically going to lay in for 6 hours. So it was at 4:30am I was eating peanut butter on toast & collecting Clare and her bike.
Aside from getting a little lost round Derby we got to the start a bit after 6, collected our Brevet cards and got the bikes ready.

Peak Audax National 400 page…. all the info you could ever need !

After admiring the range of beards & bike weaponry on show and after a brief intro we were free to roam…
Continue reading “Audax National 400” →

It’s just struck me that I never really gathered my thoughts about this little escapade the other weekend. Dave (Although I don’t know his middle name I go with the initials DNF for reasons that need little further explanation) had asked me to crew for Hardmoors 160, and event to be honest I’d barely heard of.

A quick bit of probing suggested yes it would a bit of an off road slog around the North York Moors and starting at 5pm meant would include two full nights of running.

Two things I’ve said for the last several years:
– Faster is probably easier if you can manage it, even 20miles from the end of a 100miler (for example) is close to 4 hours, more like 6 if you are close to walking. At this stage the sheer mental effort to maintain focus is the issue, I’ve been in positions where yes I know I can complete the challenge in the cut offs even walking but the thought of maintaining that focus for that much longer was the concern.
– Crewing & supporting is harder than running, I mean ultra running is hard physically and mentally no doubt but you are allowed to be a bit of a princess and get pampered by your crew at every checkpoint before being sent on your way. No one pampers the crew, you have to get on with it, work the logistics, get from point to point, look after your runner, look after yourself, true heroes.
Continue reading “Crewing at Hardmoors 160” →

…you’re ill. How very annoying, just when I was ready to get some serious miles in I’ve gone down with a sore throat developing to a cough over the last week and a half.
I was hoping to ride to work tomorrow but things don’t feel quite right just yet and I have a pretty big long weekend planned in the hills so I really need to be better by then.

Until then I’ll have to stare out of the window and keep on tweaking my plan, watch this space.

Oh and the blog is now officially live at ultrabunny.uk (yes there’s a story there) although some of my forwarding and links won’t look too pretty just yet. Nice comments and any necessary sharing welcome of course.

Phew, I just had a major wibble when I looked at the calendar and seen quite how FEW weeks it seems to my big numero uno A race for the year. Ok it’s in September but it feels like no time at all and all those good ideas for training I had better be getting on with !

So I spent a little time today putting together a plan with 2.5 training blocks, recovery between and longish taper with intermediate goals for each peak week and a few targets in between. After that the plan mostly wrote itself, now just the challenge of finding time to do it all.
Will give it better scrutiny at the weekend to see if the progression of time / distance looks right, lets just say I’ll be busy.

FAB Virgil.