Centurion Ultramarathon Blog

am: 4 miles: 29 minutes

pm: 6 miles: 45 minutes

Less is more has been a big part of my belief system for about 15 years. I've never really owned much/ any 'stuff' and went through a period in my middle teenage years of throwing pretty much everything I had accumulated up to that point, away. This drove Mum crazy I guess it didn't really make any sense. Well 15 years later and everything I own still fits into one cupboard at my parents house and a pretty small cloth wardrobe in our room at Battersea. On top of pretty much minimal amount of clothing and some CDs the only thing Ive accumulated in recent years is a bunch of medals/ race numbers and some running shoes (about 25 pairs) plus thankfully a few buckles which are now on the wall. I realise that my philosophy hasn't really changed. More stuff means more to think about, more hassle, more to lose etc etc.

Each day I get up put on some shorts and a t shirt and run to work where most of my clothes live. Then at the end of the day I get changed back into the running gear and head home whichever way I feel like going. When I left work this evening in a the late summer sun I thought about the fact that I don't need any more 'stuff' to survive and be happy. Pretty much all my efforts go into trying to travel as much as possible and finish the races I so desperately want to run. That has gone from a list of 100s of marathons to about 8 ultras.

I also thought how great it was that I can train for a 100 mile race with total belief that I can finish and feel comfortable knocking out good quality mileage rather than cramming in as much as possible. Badwater was all about more is king. Caesars Camp has been about less, higher quality mileage.

There are people out there running 200 miles a week+. There are people out there running 80 miles a week and beating them over the highest level. Sometimes mileage is king. Sometimes less is more.....

pm: 25 miles: 4 hours 30

Long and slow again because I was map reading for large chunks of it. Unfortunately map reading through the streets of north west london as I ran from Battersea to Radlett.

Weekly Total: 83 Miles.

pm:  1hr 58: 14 miles

Nice easy run 2 laps of Hyde Park with Pete. Felt good tonight absolutely no issues and the first time I felt like Ive had bundles of pace in my legs almost since Badwater. I guess I must be over that car crash by now....

Pretty excited about all of these:

January: Country to Capital 45 mile. Repeat of this year.

February: Thames Trot 50 mile. Want to really nail a 50 miler as good as I know I can. 7hrs49 to beat.

March: Eco Trail De Paris 50 mile. Finish by running up the Eiffel Tower. Awesome.

April: Umstead 100 mile. Heading to North Carolina with Pete for his first 100. I hope to just have a solid run and maybe if all comes good i'll go under 20 hours for 100.

May: Comrades 56 mile. South Africa. No intro needed for this one. Will be with Lisa for the week leading up to it during her half term.

June: Western States 100 mile. California. Please please please please please etc etc.

August: Leadville 100 mile. Colorado. Im not going back to UTMB in 2011 now, I have a wedding to attend. Shame but I can live with missing it for a 3rd year in a row. Probably more excited about running Leadville to be honest.

So thats it. So many choices but I want to give myself time to train right and race properly rather than cramming them all in and running pointless marathons every weekend.

The year kind of hinges on Western States entry for me. If I get in that and Leadville will be my A races. If not then I may switch to Vermont instead and Im relaxed about that also.

Ive binned Hardrock for a time when Im actually qualified rather than crossing my fingers and writing essays to get in.

pm 4 miles 35 easy minutes

Just an easy run home today. Back to normal mileage tomorrow. Needed this though I slept pretty rough on Sunday night and probably wanted a day off after the longer one yesterday.

I read an interview with Jamie Donaldson today where she talked about her prep for Badwater being 4 - 6 weeks of 200 miles + per week. Thats what I did yesterday (50km) ie. 5 miles more than a marathon, every day of the week for a month and a half. I would like someone to explain to me how that is possible with a job (Jamie is a primary school teacher). I have found that when I run exactly half that for a few weeks in a row (ie 100 mile weeks or 14-15 miles per day) I can't really function properly at work and am knackered all week long. Pretty sure thats big mountain miles as well and not just flat road runs which is what i do most of the time. Wow.