Country to Capital Photos

Country to Capital 45

This was my first race in a while, the last time I had raced was Vermont in July last year. Leading up to this race I hadn't been training much with going out a lot and a new job. I wasn't that confident in putting in a good performance. I have run this race the last 2 years, it was my first ultra, I like it as it's in January - straight after Xmas and you're never in your best shape but it's just nice to get out there. On Friday night I stayed at Elson's in Harpenden in his new cottage which was very nice, had a nice pasta dish and chilled out. We left at 7am and drove to the race in about 45 mins, so that left us plenty of time before the race started at 8.30am. The train up from Marylebone was a little late so the race didn't start until 8.45ish. We started in a pub in Wendover and ran down a hill to get into the countryside - Elson, I and a few others sprinted down the hill as a joke to see who could get to the bridge first. We then started weaving through the woodland, after a couple of miles we got to the first hill which I walked, Elson ran up it... I caught him up but was getting hot with my jacket on so I stopped to take my jacket off and put it in my bag and that was the last I saw of Elson all day. The first 20 miles was beautifull scenery weaving through forests and fields, I went wrong a few times which was annoying but that is to be expected in map reading. When I got to 26 miles on the canal path I was feeling okay, it was very hot and I was losing a lot of salt. I took a lot of water down, sugar and salts, I then carried on for another 5 or 6 miles to the check point, again stopped and took on lots of Jelly babies, I was taking on gels as well. My pack was annoying, was quite heavy...next time I won't be taking a pack, just a water bottle. I took a couple of pain killers at 38 miles as wasn't feeling the best, I then ran in strong to the finish and finished in 6.43. The results haven't been posted yet, Elson did very well in 6 hours flat. That was a p.b for me - 25 mins of last years time. I ran with a few interesting people yesterday, it's always good to meet new people and chat about what they have done running wise,etc. A couple of people were doing the first ultra which is always good to see. When I finished, apparently I Iooked rather pale so they sat me down and gave me loads of sugar. I didn't pee in 9 hours yesterday which was quite dangerous. Last night I went out for a few beers and a curry, I am feeling okay today, the weather is beuttifull so I am going to go out for a jog- not sure how far but just to warm the legs down. The UTMB Mont Blanc draw is on the 21st Jan so I am waiting to see if I get into that which is at the end of August which will be amazing and very tough, 51% of people drop out of that race. In the short term I have got the Benfleet 15 next Sunday, I am going to do a few halves and have a marathon in April where I am trying to break 3 hours.

This week

I feel like I am getting some sort of fitness back, I have run 7 times this week

Monday - 8 miles am, 6 miles pm
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 6 miles
Thursday - 6 miles
Friday - 9 miles
Saturday 12.3 miles
Sunday 8.5 miles

Total - 55.8 Miles

My training this week has consisted of normal running and some sprint 5ks. I entered the Bungay marathon in April, I am going to try and break 3 hours for that. It will be tough but I am going to give it a go.This week I will run a few runs in the week then I have the 45 mile country to capital race on Saturday.

Geting Back into It

I haven't blogged in over 5 months after Vermont as since I got back from America I haven't been running much. I have been boozing a lot and got a new job which has taken up a lot of my time. I have just been running here and there...trying to run at least twice a week. I have had some time off over Christmas and put a few miles in, I entered Country to Capital a month ago which is a 45 mile race from Wendover to Paddington which I have run the last 2 years so I needed to get some miles in with the race being a week on Saturday.

Friday 23rd Dec - 9
Saturday 24th - 9
Sunday 25th - 4.5
Monday 26th - Day off
Tuesday 27th - 20
Wednesday 28th - 16
Thursday 29th - 10
Friday 30th - 5k and 10k cycle
Saturday 31st - Day off
Sunday 1st Jan - 6
Monday 2nd Jan - 8 am and 6 pm

This takes me to 91.5 miles over 11 days with 2 days off. I am feeling a bit more confident now about Country to Capital. I want to enter some other races this year. Maybe Thames Trott 50 in Feb, a few marathons, I want to try and go under 3 hours which will be tough but with enough speed work I think I have the ability. I have just put myself in for Mont Blanc 100 lottery, 100 miles over Mont Blanc at the end of August which will be an amazing run. Only 2300 people get in and Thousands enter so not sure I will get in but you never know. Anyway, just thought I would write something. Happy Running!!!

Vermont 100

I woke up Thursday morning, checked my bag numerous amounts of times then made my way to Heathrow. We got to Heathrow at 2.45 - 2 hours 45 minutes pre our flight and when we went to check in they told us the flight was over booked and there were no seats left at the moment - I can't tell you how bad we felt, they said come back 50 mins pre flight and there could be some spares. So they gave us a Cafe Nero voucher and we sat in there for a while f8cked off, cutting the story short we managed to get on the flight just. I think BA are a joke of an organisation though.

We arrived in America at 8pm and we drove from Boston to Vermont and were in the hotel by 12pm. Went to sleep then the following day I felt pretty fatigued, we went to the race briefing, checked in, weighed in 169 pounds ( I had eaten a lot that morning). We dropped off our drop bags for all the aids station, then we listened to the race director, medical director go through the race details. We had a meal then went back to the hotel. We went to bed at 8pm, my night sleep was very patchy, a lot going through my mind and the couple next door in out Motel were bonking which woke me up at 11am - I was looking at Elson thinking whats he doing then heard a creaking noise coming through the wall - FINE that one.

Woke up at 2am, put my kit on and then we drove to the race, we got there at 3am (They were playing "Eye of the tiger" fall blast which was quite funny) with the race starting at 4am, so a bit of waiting around and then onto the starting line with the head torches. It's amazing really, your standing in a field in America with 300 Americans at 4am with Head torches on - Loved it. The race we were doing was a horse race as well, they started a little later and passed us during the race.

I started off with James and Sniper (James's mate who was running the last great race - 6 x 100s, he was actually doing about 10 this year and has done 36 now) The race started off with us running down a hill then onto trails through a forest. I started off at 10 - 11 min miles, I always think in a 100 mile race you need to start slow and conserve your energy. I ran a few miles with a guy called Gary who was from the UK and lived in Montreal, it's mental when your over the other side of the world and you meet people who are from the UK. I ran the first 6-7 miles in about 1.10 which was what I was after. Came into the first aid station re-filled my water bottle and it was starting to get lighter - some of the scenery was amazing. The race was mainly uphill and down hill (Total elevation of 15,000 ft, Umstead 100 was 8000ft) through trails and on gravel roads. By about 8am it was starting to get hot and I was running along quite smoothly and had built up a good cadence, running and walking the hills to conserve energy. From this race I wanted to break 24 hours to receive a buckle. I came into the check point at 21 miles and I saw Sniper, then I lost him and later I found out I had left the aid station before him. I carried on running and was starting to get hotter, I was sweating up and was thinking I have never run in anything like this. By the time I got to Camp Bear aid station the first weigh in, my weight was 160 pounds (So 9 pounds down from yesterday) I knew I was a bit over weight yesterday lunch time as had drunk sh8t loads of water and eaten loads. The medical guy started questioning me saying - Am I okay? I was like yes I am fine I was over weight yesterday, they can pull you out of the race if you're over 10% lower than weigh in so 153.1 for me so was over half of that. He was fine in the end and I took off. It was starting to get really hot now and I was thinking how am I going to do this, I got to 50 miles in 9 hours 40 mins so was way ahead of schedule for 24 hours. I came to a point at 51 miles where there was a yellow arrow pointing one way - I took that direction and ran up this hill half a mile in I couldn't see any signs, I was swearing at myself in the woods, turned round and saw an American guy called Mike, we ran back to the original point and had taken a wrong turning - that p8ssed me off - you do not need that in a 100 mile race. I then ran with Mike for the next 20 miles, he had the same goal as me - to break 24 hours as had run the race 6 years ago in 26 hours. We ran along chatting about life, miles passing by, his wife who was 8 months pregnant and a professional triathlete ran 5 miles with us which I thought was pretty amazing. At 70 miles you were allowed a pacer, I didn't have one but Mike had two and he said do you want to run the last 30 with us, I was like hell yeah. We reached 70 miles in 14 hours so we had 10 hours to run 30 miles which was fine. We took off and after about 3 miles Mike was slowing up a bit and I said do you mind if I go, he said go and get them,it was quite emotional but everyone feels different at different stages in a 100 miler. I took off and felt very strong, I was smashing it up and down hills, running past people, I was high on life. At about mile 82 it started to get dark so I put on my head torch which wasn't very good (Need a new one) and carried on running, I was now thinking, I have nearly done this, another journey completed, was counting down the miles in my head. I was thinking of all the good things in my life and it spurred me on. I got to mile 85 and saw Katie who was driving around in the car, she had my jacket so took that off her and asked if Mike was okay - she said he was doing fine. I got to 90 miles in about 19 hours so I thought I want to break 21 hours now, I carried on running, I was over taking people feeling strong. I ended up running the last 5 miles with another dude and we finished together in 20.54, he was slightly further ahead. I can't describe the feeling when you cross the finish line, it's amazing. That was by far the hardest race I have ever done, too hot and very hill but a great experience. I hobbled back to the car and saw James asleep, he had unfortunately DNF'd as was sick all day and had fainted at mile 57, I felt for him. We waited for Sniper to come in who finished in 22.59 and then Sniper collected his stuff and James and I were off. I am now laying on my bed watching The Open with some sore legs but feel good. Another great trip!!!!

Monday

4 miles at lunch today and a walk for half a k up a hill on elevation 10. That's me done now until Saturday at 4am American time and 9am UK time. We fly from Heathrow on Thursday at 5.10 in the afternoon and the flight is about 7 hours. We land in Boston at 7pm American time and drive from Boston to Vermont across New England which will take about 3 hours. Game on!!!!!!

This Week

This week I managed to run about 38 miles. Not bad but I haven't trained much over the last couple of months but I am still going to give Vermont a go. I am going to do a small run tomorrow and that will be it. I fly out Thursday and the run starts 4am Saturday American time. I am currently working out how many Gels and Salt tablets I need to leave in each drop bag across the course. I have just had an email from the race director and the temperature looks to be 80f in the day so 27c and 60f in the eve so 15c...so it's going to be pretty, pretty hot. All I want to do is finish this race, it should be a great experience and fun to travel with my mate Elson and watch him take on part 2 of the Grand Slam.