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Also
look at News for
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:
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).
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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