Things....

[skoptic]

Sun - a family party completely trashed my long run... But it's all in the bank by now.. It was just a vanity run ... Managed 5 miles.

Mon - rest

Tue - 5 miles ... Bought food for sat.

[IronGirl]

Good luck Skoptic, know you can do it!

[baldy]

Not the best weather for your little jog, have fun.
SMASH IT UP!

[Konstantin]

Hey - it's this weekend! Enjoy the carbo loading and have a great event.

[veganlisa]

Hey, congrats with baby on the way and good luck with the race!

[skoptic]

Thanks guys... looks OK weather wise (dry is all I want or the trails / hills will be twice as hard). I'll try to smash it up.. but might just knock it over and spit on it.

With the passing of Caballo Blanco last weekend, there's been a lot written about ultra running this week. It's very sad to hear about his tragic death, it has given a lot of media / pundit coverage to a sport which is essentially a mental game, and principally about enjoying running, running in nature and finding out about yourself. All this has given me good food for thought this week.

Wed - restathon
Thurs - 3 miles quick
Fri - rest

"Don't fight the trail. Take what it gives you. Make it effortless, like you don't care how high the hill is or how far you've got to go." Micah True (Caballo Blanco)

[veganlisa]

With the passing of Caballo Blanco last weekend, there's been a lot written about ultra running this week. It's very sad to hear about his tragic death, it has given a lot of media / pundit coverage to a sport which is essentially a mental game, and principally about enjoying running, running in nature and finding out about yourself. All this has given me good food for thought this week.

"Don't fight the trail. Take what it gives you. Make it effortless, like you don't care how high the hill is or how far you've got to go." Micah True (Caballo Blanco)

What Scott Jurek said about him really hit home with me:

"He always wanted to get people to understand what was most important in life and running. It was always about community and camaraderie and celebration. Running should be fun and running should be free. And that was his spirit always."

[skoptic]

Yeah - good post, I never got a chance to reply to it yet... but will do

So 40 miles nailed yesterday - great day out and a really lovely course round the Chiltern Hills. It was pretty damn hilly, and it did rain a bit in the middle of the day, but as my first ultra (and first race) in 18 months... it was great to have a number pinned on my chest again

The race is a figure of 8 with half the field doing just 20 miles. Everything was great until about 25 when my back started to really hurt (I haven't been stretching enough and my hams / lower back were very tight). I had to keep pausing to stretch which meant progress slowed down. The last 10 were tough because my training hadn't gone past 22 miles - but I never signed up to this for an easy ride! Ended up taking 8 hours which was very slow for me, but it was very hilly and I didn't really care about time.

It was a beautiful race.. brilliant to do my first ultra in so long, and I managed to raise over £1000 for my friend, so all in all a very good day

[IronGirl]

Awesome run Skoptic. I have no idea how you can up the distance like that, amazing well done you!

Fantastic on the fundraising as well. I'm thinking of doing my Ironman this year for charity. How did you do it?

[purple_mog]

wow - sounds amazing and congrats on finishing and enjoying it

[skoptic]

Awesome run Skoptic. I have no idea how you can up the distance like that, amazing well done you!

Fantastic on the fundraising as well. I'm thinking of doing my Ironman this year for charity. How did you do it?

Yeah - it was a careful balance getting from 8 miles a week to 40 mile race in 10 weeks

I'd usually do fundraising through justgiving.com ... but did this one through gofundme.com because I was doing it for someone who had other events happening. It's sad but it these days it was easiest to promote it through facecrack.. as it was a very tragic and personal cause it didn't need a very hard sell.

[skoptic]

OK ... new challenges

Plan is to have a baby (1 week and counting) ....
Do more biking (turbo, so I'm in the house)
Start barefoot running (shorter runs to start off, so will be around more)
Restart weight training / general conditioning (might try some P90X)

[Konstantin]

Well done, mind-blowing distance and all that from such a short training period. Cracking stuff dude, feel chuffed.

[baldy]

Great run dude, but as expected all this jogging has ruined your back and knees.

[skoptic]

Great run dude, but as expected all this jogging has ruined your back and knees.

I'll never be able to squat again So next stage

Thurs - 1.5 mile 'barefoot' run
Fri - 2 mile 'barefoot' run / 20 SUps / 10 PUps / 12 BRow / 10 BCurl / 10 BPull / 10 BPress / .. some weights, innit.