(C) London Marathon, press conference for Flora 1000 Mile Challenge, December 2002
(C) London Marathon, press conference for Flora 1000 Mile Challenge, December 2002

 

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February 2010

Many thanks to all those that followed and supported my recent run in the winter edition of the Trans-Slovenia ultra run 220km over 4 days. The weather in the north east prepared me well for the freezing temperatures and heavy snow, and was extreme even by Slovenia standards. It never stopped snowing from the time we arrived until the end of Day 1. Temperatures were reported to hit a high of -6 and a low of -12 on the last day, so this was definitely my coldest ever run. I kept many layers on and wore a face mask throughout to try to keep my asthma under control. Although this restricts my breathing it was better to go slow and finish rather than not finish at all.

The report is done for detailed enthusiasts among you, but I ran a steady and contolled pace throughout the 60km, 55km, 58km and 34 km stages, winning the ladies race on all 4 stages with a total time of 19 hours and 19 minutes. I hate the cold but managed well throughout and was good to have support from Andrew and Caitlin Webb-Ellis from who are doing a documentary on ultra running and me. They have put together a short youtube film to give a little idea of the event:

Link to youtube video highlights
Video highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib0iovFYYtE

Race website: http://winter.trans-slo.si/en

Full report: trans-slovenia-report-2010.doc (63kb)

I came back in good shape to the news that my selection has come through for the World 24 hours in France in May, along with a female team. A mens team has also been selected. I have heard 4 women and 6 men. I have several long races in this country to contest over the next couple of months to continue my preparation. Trans-slo was 8 weeks into a 20 week program to build me up for this event. Being ranked no 4 in the world at 24 hours last year in no way guarantees a medal and will have to be at my best to be in with a shot of a medal and improve on my 226km (140 miles)
.

Sharon and Thomaz

January 2010

Nearly all of my planned races have either been postponed or cancelled this month. Since the snow began before Christmas I have had 7 planned races that suffered because of the weather. The parkrun at Albert Park of 5km continued whatever the weather and managed to get a new personal worst by some considerable amount, my only consolation was that the mens winner was 3 minutes slower than my best time for the course, just to indiciate how bad conditions have been. The last race of the month was the first race to be postponed due to the weather and that was the Loftus Poultry Run. It was still a snow covered, icy course thanks to another covering the day before and freezing overnight temperatures, but it is called the Poultry Run for a reason and I came home with two rather large turkeys, courtesy of a Vet45 and team prize. We are now living off turkey sandwiches.

I have completed the planned mileage this month but not with much quality work. What outdoor runs I have done have been very slow, hampered by snow and ice and have to run slowly in the bitterly cold conditions to control my breathing that can easily turn asthmatic. Most runs have been done on the treadmill in the garage with the heater on to help my breathing. There was a one week reprieve in the weather where some road running could be done (the hills were still far to deep in snow) and mangaged to get within a few seconds of my pre-Christmas 5km times.

I had a slight re-occurance of a knee problem that I "tweaked" about 4 weeks before the Commonwealth 24 hours last year. Back then I had an injection in the area to help me on my way. This time it has been diagnosed by Darren Cooper at Teesside University, basically a knock on effect from last year and I have not been extending my knee properly trying to nurse it through that has created other problems. Poplitieus (at the back of the knee) was the damaged muscle and having identified this the job of fixing it has been accelerated enormously and feel as though I am running much better, although there appears to me some weakness in my left leg still.

The Trans-slo Ultra run is fast approaching, I have just mananged to squeeze this into the reading week at University so I am not in lessons, so if you want to follow this 4 day stage race of 220km (www.trans-slo.si/en from 10th - 14th February). I will be treating this as a long training run, I have many long races planned, some I will race, some I will run, this one is to run.


   
   
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