Welcome in, 2012

It sometimes seems people only dwell on setbacks and failures and forgot all the good things, progress and positive achievements.

So in 2011 I didn't complete a 100 miler in two attempts, but I'm not going to worry about that too much. The year was great for me for many reasons. Not least visiting or plodding through new places like beautiful Swaledale (left), Rosedale and the Mont Blanc massif. Other highlights of my year in bullet points:

• Good annual training and event mileage, best ever in fact, helped by limited time spent out injured (but there was some, hope to reduce further in 2012) - 1975 miles.
• 13 more ultra-marathon distance runs. This doubled my total, the number really helped this year by running 3 days of the Coast to Coast.
• Longest unsupported run. A very memorable overnight run/walk/stagger of the Wolds Way (right). Planned as a training run for the UTLD and UTMB, but this 79-miler ended up being my longest run of the year.
• Unexpected 10k and half marathon PBs. For awhile at least long slow running wasn't making a long slow runner of me last year. Mileage still seems to be the key for improving my capacity to maintain pace over "shorter" distances.
• The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc - A fantastic and seriously tough event which introduced me to 5000ft+ ascents and provided many memorable moments.

I actually missed a load of events through injuries, which forced me to have mini-breaks or reduce mileage so I've adopted a more conservative approach to winter training this time. I was recording 200+ miles per month in early 2011, but then by April I had to cutback due to injuries and niggles - when I needed to

build for the UTLD/MB combo. And then again in September following the UTMB.

I figure if I do some good hard training this winter, but keep the mileage lower than the last few years. Just do enough to get me to the Hardmoors 55 in mid-March. Then tick over through the Woldsman 50, building to peak mileage in June/July for a stab at a good-paced Lakeland 50 and a "by any means necessary (within rules)" completion of the TDS (Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie) in the Alps.

2012 is going to be another great adventure!