Its been a few months since my last post.
Since that time I have been training and running, training and running.. I had such a great 2011 in terms of running in the end. I completed 3 marathons, 1 Ultra Marathon and 2 Half Marathons, which if you had told me at the start of the year I was going to do I would have been blown away.
After Round the Rock Ultra in Aug I entered the Jersey marathon here, and completed that in 3 hours 48 on a very hot day. I believe temperatures were in the high 20’s and it was felt! I started off well and looked good for my target time of 3 hours 30, however as is the case with these races (I am now discovering!) things started to unravel at mile 16 and I had to walk for a bit as I was struggling.. I made it the end however and came in at 3 hours 48, which was a new PB.
I then took part in the Endurance Life Coastal Trail Series Dorset Trail Marathon in December 2011. This was another kettle of fish altogether! It was a brutal course taking in about 5000 feet of elevation, and to be honest by the time December had come around mentally I had taken my foot off the gas a little as far as training and motivation. See the GPS Data Here:
I came in just under 5 and a half hours and had added alot more experience to my running arsenal believe me!
So whats next in 2012? Well in just under 2 months I will be taking part in the Jurassic Coast Challenge which is a 3 day race taking in the beautiful Dorset Coast once again doing 3 marathons in 3 days. I am currently in serious training for this. I have upped my mileage and am now averaging between 30 and 40 miles per week, and am training on cliff paths, hills and trails as my main terrain. Training is going well, I am introducing back to back sessions currently to get used to the feeling of getting up and running after having run high mileage the previous day. I just need to do the miles to get me to the race so I know I will have prepared and deserve to be there.
I also have a number of other challenges for this year planned: I am crewing a record attempt for the course record for the Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge across the South Downs so have been lucky enough to be training with those guys. Very excited to be involved and see how they prepare for that. Also I will be doing the St Malo Marathon in May, Round The rock Ultra here in Jersey in July, Berlin Marathon in October and Jersey Marathon also in October. At the end of the year I will look at doing some more Endurance Life Coastal Trail Events as I believe these will give me good prep for the ultimate goal in 2013 the MDS! 🙂
