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May 2009

Well the World and European 24 hours didn't quite go according to plan - the full report exlpains more, the weather was hot and looks like I had a fraction too much salt this time and also a bit of a virus with swollen glands and began to suffer around the half way mark and made a visit to the medical tent. The knock on effect from this was that I could take on little energy and food and a second visit to the medical tent just after 20 hours saw my championchip removed (saline and glucose drips administered) and it was the end of the race for me - so 172km after 20 hours of running. Although there were high hopes of a team medal I can't say the rest of the team performed fantastic either, so not bringing a medal home was not just my fault!! All of us were well below our 2008 performances and none of the women made the 200km mark and the only male represented also struggled and was well below his 2008 performance.

But as I did only run for 20 hours and didn't battle through that last hard 4 hours the recovery has gone well. It needed to as my next big race was just under 3 weeks after this one!! The Surgeres 48 Hour race starts at 4pm (French time) on 22nd May -24th May and you can again follow my progress with the hourly splits the website gives at www.48heures-surgeres.net.

Download full report: bergamo2009.doc

I have done a few short 5km races since the 24 hours in Italy, got good times in all of them - was even first lady in some of them, my lymph glands are slowly retreating and the schedule is written. The plan is to take just 2 x 1 hour breaks in the full 48 hours and guess these breaks will come some time into the second day, I do hope to hit the 200km mark by 24 hours to top the GB rankings for the time being. Bill will be with me for this one, a great stabilising factor and comfort for me (but he will get much more sleep than me). He has been granted time off from work for this one - but beginning to wonder how much longer his new job will last, Corus is shutting down with massive job losses, much of Bill's work is on the Corus site. So fingers crossed for that one.

I have been doing quite a bit of "ambassador" work recently, last week was fantatic to be the official starter for the new mid-week series 5km park runs at Stewart's Park to support Women and Domestic Violence, along with Boro goalie Ross Turnbull, next it was club presentation night at Scarborough AC and wonderful to see all the juniors doing so well, along with a lot of familiar senior faces, I think their long runs just won't seem so long after what I told them!! And just before travelling to Surgeres their is one last honour - presenting an award as a VIP guest at the Evening Gazette Awards, great to be the "other side" of this event.

Hopefully I will soon add a nutrition page to the website - there is never week that goes by without an interested party making contact - various questions on daily diet, pre and post race diet and racing strategy - and how I get away with doing so many races!! (Don't ask me about salt intake is all I ask!!). Having done a project on nutrition while studying MSc at the University of Teesside and done many 7 days diet analysis this is a subject I love. Salt is a curious issue though - it appears I need far less than an average runner by the looks of things.

April 2009

The first bit of news to start the month was that selection finally took place and I head a strong women’s team (Sharon Gayter 219km, Vicky Skelton 211km, Pauline Walker 209km and Lynne Kuz 201km). Stephen Mason was the only man selected. If the women all perform to the standards achieved in 2008 there is every chance we will bring home a medal. Individually I am hoping for a top 10 position and improvement of the 219km achieved last December, which is currently being ratified as a World Best Performance for 24 hours indoor age group 45.

The last few weeks have seen much higher mileage and lots of short, sharp races. My 5km time has improved significantly since before Bislett and now down to 20 mins and 12 secs. In the last 23 days I have completed 11 races, in one 7 day period from Sunday 5th April to Saturday 11th April I ran over 120 miles of training for that period that included over 70 miles of racing, the last of this being the Compton 40. Having just completed a 25 miles off-road event in 4 hrs 4 mins, an average of around 10 minutes per mile I continued heavy training to keep tiredness in my legs, ran a 10km race in just over 44 minutes five days later and then the Compton 40 the day after this.

My goal was to run at a stable pace and the tiredness from the week should make this feel like the second half of a 12 hour race. I estimated a reasonable pace to be the same as the 25 miles – that was 10 minutes per mile for this slightly undulating trail event; that would mean a finishing time of 6 hours 40 minutes. In that event I started steadily and wasn’t feeling particularly great but going steady until 17 miles when I “tweaked” my right ankle that I had sprained nearly two weeks earlier. It was still heavily strapped and came very close to calling it a day at the 19 mile point where you could cut off to run the Compton 20, but Bill was supporting me and took a couple of Ibuprofen to prevent too much swelling and continued on my way, I had reached this point at 2 hrs 58 minutes so was still inside my 6 hrs 40 minutes goal. I then made a couple of minor navigational errors and got overtaken by a group of runners that I caught at the next checkpoint at 25 miles. I was feeling very low at this point and began to doubt my ability but that was all it was, a bad spell, onwards and upwards and by 30 miles the group of runners were out of sight behind me and “firing on all cylinders”, I was back and in confident mood and thoroughly enjoyed the final 15 miles of the event and finished quicker than my target time in 6 hrs 17 minutes. So I am now tapering and ready to take on the World in Bergamo, Italy as part of the Great Britain team, the event will have live updates on the IAU website www.iau.org.tw should you wish to follow our progress.

The Commonwealth Demonstration event is gathering pace, there is now a website with interviews of some of the potential athletes for this event ready for reading, as No 1 in the Commonwealth at 24 Hours I have been added – the website is www.cumbriacommonwealthchampionships.org

Other news to report is that Bill now has a job, he is working locally and home every night, far less hours than previous, less wages but he has a life again and is back running and racing and improving all the time. His two new hips are great and give him no trouble (apart from at Airport security!!) but has been having problems with his ankles and knees which now seem to be settling down. The good news about this is that I now get more massages too!!

March 2009

After pulling out of Croft I completed the World's Biggest Jig-saw puzzle of 24000 pieces in record time (4 weeks and 13 hours with all pieces mixed together) which took up my entire conservatory but is a very colourful picture titled "life". By the time I finished in between lots of cross training, aqua-jogging, cycling and eventually elliptical trainer I was able to start running again.

Initially only short distances to ensure the bone could take the impact. I did a few short races by the end of the month while hearing whispers that Great Britain may send a women's team to the World 24 Hours in May, but selection has been left very late - now just 5 weeks until the event. The next big planned event is the Surgeres 48 hours - the one where I sustained my stress fracture last year that put me out for 3 months, so hopefully can have a good performance here this year.

Although it appears the shin has mended well the rest of my body has been rebelling, initially I came down with a cold that restricted all training and fast running and saw a dip in my times, then to finish the month off I cleverly sprained my ankle doing a recce of a route for an off-road 25 miler, I was at 11 miles into the route, running along admiring the view to Bolton Abbey and relaxed a bit too much. I then had to nurse it and hobble the remaining 14 miles back to the van and spent the next 3 days doing RICE, but the swelling is now 90% down and only slight discolouration and back running again.

Looks like my first run in February broke the club record and so now hold all the club records for the V40 category (barring 5 miles which has not been set yet), so 5km, 10km, 10 miles, half marathon and marathon. Not that the club website has been updated yet. The only distance not run this year is the 10 miles, so have set the 5km, 10km, half marathon and marathon club records all wearing the Spira Shoes. I now have the complete set of shoes to play with and its a hard decision which to wear for the impending 24/48 hours. The Elite is a racing flat so dare not chance that for 24 hours, I wore the Del Sol in the Gloucester Marathon and the Volare at the Croft 6 Days, the heaviest shoe is the Striker, but this is a good, solid, hard working trainer that may be best for the cushioning needed in 24 hours, so may do some of my longer runs in this shoe to prepare.

February 2009

The big month has arrived and the snow along with it. Hopefully all the snow will be gone in time for the race. The forecast is for a couple of wet/rainy days, never above 5 degrees during the day and a couple of frosty nights. So every long sleeve top I own has been packed, I will probably be wearing two pairs of tights and even have a mountain down jacket just in case.

The shopping has been done, schedule checked and re-checked, permits and labels in place, officials, first aiders and everything required has been achieved. The press has been busy this week with reports going out on BBC and ITV, the local newspapers have done excellent, and even got one last interview on Radio Tees at 7:20 in the morning on race day!!

I am the fittest I have been in a long time, my last two short races I managed to shave another few seconds off my 5km time and took 3 miuntes of my best 10km time for 2008, so can't do anymore. I am ready, confident and as they say in Formula 1 - go, go, go.........

Link: Latest news on Croft 6 Day race

January 2009

I don’t know where to start this month as so much has happened in such a short space of time. 2008 finished as it started, with a new record for the event. Although an up-and-down year with a big chunk out due to injury it was still a very successful year. I am still thoroughly enjoying every step of being out running and got bigger and better plans for the future. 2008 started with a course record in Libya, then a mediocre performance in the Marathon des Sables, a major injury in the Surgeres 48 hour races which resulted in missing the big event for the year at Badwater. Plenty of time to reflect and correct the cause of the problem to come back stronger and more determined than ever to break the British Indoor Record with a new 24 hour pb at the Bislett Stadium 24 hour event, what more can I say about 2008.

Roll on 2009 and this year will be starting with another big bang – straight into a massive event for me on my doorstep and a challenge at the long standing 6 day records. Croft Circuit 6 Days is taking place near Darlington from 9th – 15th February 2009 and I will be aiming at an excess of 820km (approx 510 miles). The weather may be poor but I know this and just got to get on with the job of focussing on the goal, it will be a long lonely run with very few runners taking part but a dedicated crew of officials to back up the attempt. Darlington Building Society are generously sponsoring the event, sponsors are hard to come by in these tough times but they are standing by me with great confidence and am really grateful for their assistance, without it this event would not be taking place and have been with me since the initial stages of planning back in June last year.

LEJOG gave me a few lessons in real distance events and have adjusted the nutrition and running schedule from this to gain a few more miles. Mannatech products supplied most of my nutritional needs and will again be taking the products for this event. The other issue with LEJOG was my poor, sore feet, but this year started with a surprise new sponsor and some fantastic new innovative shoes from Spira. I have only been running in these shoes for a few weeks, I would like to think my training has played a part in this but considering it is nearing the end of January and barely 6 weeks since Bislett and I have already bettered my 5km and half marathon times set in 2008 and my marathon time has bettered even 2007 performances. These shoes are just incredibly comfortable, no rough seams, generous toe boxes that are excellent for me and spring technology not seen in other shoes – just take a look at the website and try a pair (www.spirafootwear.co.uk). The first outings in the Del Sol and Striker shoes I ran over 3 hours on consecutive days with no problems and even dared wear the Stinger Elite racing shoe for a half marathon, whereas before I would never exceed the 10km distance in racing flats. I have really taken to these shoes already and the real test will come at Croft Circuit. Being a high mileage runner cushioning is very important to me and so far these shoes have not let me down.

News is that I could possibly be taking part in two races for my country this year – UKA looks like it may have the funding to send teams to the World 24 Hours to be held in Italy in May and Norman Wilson has been beavering away at the Commonwealth Demonstration events to be held in September in Keswick, of which 24 hours is one of the planned events and I am number 1 in the Commonwealth.