(Slightly) Warm(-er) weather training

I'm off on my travels to Sicily for a week this Saturday. As well as a nice break, meeting some nice people and some great food (it seems to be amongst the most reputable regions in Italy for this - promising simple, but great tasting fresh produce). I'm also hoping that the Island lives up to its promise from a little Wikipedia research, "The terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly,....". As those who see my RW forum posts can probably tell I'm quite excited by the prospect of a bit of holiday hill-running... not too much though, don't want to upset the missus.

(pic from Wikipedia, hope they don't mind)

I'm staying just on the edge of Messina, so it looks like 1000m+ terrain isn't too far away. Maybe an ascent and descent of Etna may be too much to ask... but how much fun would that be!!!

Hopefully will have a nice highlights blog on my return.

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!

Rudolph-a-rompin', strong wind, and snow in the hills

The title is intended as a catchall to summarise goings on since my last entry.

Rudolph Romp

After my mid-November "seeya lata" to long runs - for a few months - at Rosedale the next step was to keep myself in order for Rudolph's Romp a fortnight later. The Romp is an LDWA challenge that welcomes runners and due to what most runners would consider is an overall runnable course there is usually a large and semi-competitive runner turn out. The field dwarfs that of the inaugural Rosedale ultra - over 400 entrants - and is definitely an event that ticks a lot of boxes: inexpensive, runnable, pretty, food-a-plenty and with enough distance and hills to give all a damn good workout. It's also the most local LDWA challenge to me and popular with my running club.

A relatively inactive week followed the Rosedale with a weekend off from running in London. Lots of walking, dodging through crowds and...... ok a short run along the north bank of the Thames and through Southwark offered a different, but not unpleasant backdrop on a Sunny Sunday morning.

The week that followed was little more than running for fun so that I'd hopefully arrive at the Romp in good shape and with the benefits of recent increasing training and a 40 miler in the legs. Knowing the course and having run the 24.5 mile route in 3:48 in 2009 I had a reasonably hard target to aim at.

Those who know the route will know its almost impossible not to run the second half slower. So after a few small hills I settled into a good sub-9 min/mile pace on the flat trails, paths and tracks to Sancton, which is roughly the halfway point and the major on-route food stop.

After leaving this checkpoint after 1:44 I struggled on the next few miles to maintain a similar pace even with plenty of downhills up to about 18 miles - but I was still steadily passing others. The next small climb really kicked a hole in my pace and hereafter the challenging short climbs of the miles beyond 20 was just a case of hanging on. I arrived back at Brantingham VH after being out 3hrs 46mins. Not quite the improvement on my 2009 time I'd hoped for, but an improvement nonetheless. And in 2009 I was coming off an almost injury free summer.

Blowy days

There came some really windy days in the middle of the next week. On a particularly windy Thursday when wind speeds in the Cairngorms hit 165mph it was a little more restrained in the east, but there was certainly a strong wind as the Thursday night club run set out. The schedule for tonight was Humber bridge reps and we decided to stick with it even though it was already closed to high-sided vehicles.

A strong cross and slight headwind was tiring on the way over as we were exposed 100 or so foot above the river with no wind break around barring the slightly elevated car deck. We hoped for a boost from it back, but just as we got up onto the elevated deck again the near horizontal rain kicked in and wind seemed to go up a notch, but mostly pushing us off the bridge rather than along it. Could feel the bridge subtly wobbling below by the middle and a roar as the wind bashed part of the structure on the, more exposed, east side of the deck.....

.... in summary, a great training run :¬) 


Snowy days

Having experienced a mostly mild autumn and winter I learnt a bit more about the winter effects of the Lake District when at about 8am the next morning Mark's car - which I was in - got stuck part-way up the Honister pass. The plan had been to meet Simon at the slate mine, all jump in one car and drive to Wasdale Head to run a leg of the Bob Graham back to Honister. Simon had got here 30mins earlier and attempted to contact us to warn us as he'd got stuck and had to back down the pass too.

We got off the pass after descending back on foot to get grit and back to Seatoller where we decided to run from the National Trust car park and hit a few peaks in a loop. Not far up the pass path and we were running on ice and snow. Beyond the slate mine we headed onto trail towards Grey Knotts and Brandreth. These two bagged we decided to seek lower ground as a wicked cold wind had started blowing snow horizontally. With any true path concealed under between a few inches and feet of snow we made a best attempt to descend alongside Tongue beck into Ennerdale.

We stopped briefly outside the - shut for the winter - Black Sail YHA to take on some food before a warming walk up to Scarth Gap. At the top we turned right to follow the ridge between Ennerdale and Buttermere, picking our way over snow-covered Haystacks and down to Blackbeck tarn. We then diverted north to take in a Final peak for the day at Fleetwith Pike, before heading down to Honister. At first through thick snow, which would support weight then give without warning making for a good few soft landing stumbles and falls... and a few laughs. Then as we found the proper track to the Slate Mine the snow was great, a few inches thick and crunchy so you could run down with confidence and great cushioning.

After getting back to the cars and over to Grasmere we had a very comfortable night in the annex of the very clean and smart YHA. The guy on reception was endlessly helpful and we took up the offer of a three course dinner, which is highly recommended and about the same price as a single course elsewhere in the village. A few beers ended the night.

On Sunday we were up early for a lovely breakfast and off out towards the fells again by 8:30. We ascended past falls along the Gill then a direct route east up to Heron Pike. It was a steep climb and certainly worked off breakfast! Once atop the pike we joined the track which follows the ridge top north. Passing earlier starting walkers we trudged through thickening snow patches and into cloud up to Great Rigg before a slight descent and tough pull up to Fairfield on a track - now completely snow-covered.

Fairfield to Grisedale Tarn was steeper than I anticipated, not helped by slightly melting snow on top of loose stones it was quite a steady descent. The plan was then to take in the small climb up and down Seat Sandal. But seeing snow drifted up as high as the wall top we decided it would be easier to bypass this peak on the way to the descent along Raise beck to Dunmail Raise. Just on the feint track bypassing Seat Sandal we actually encountered the deepest snow we had all weekend.

After crossing the A591 we stopped for lunch before the steep climb up to Steel Fell. This is on the Bob Graham Round route and I could understand from this ascent why winter rounds are so much harder to take on. At the bottom it felt safe enough, but further up on the steeper crags as we climbed across snow on top of scree it got the heart racing a bit! But we were up in about twenty minutes.

From here it was more undulating than hilly for the miles up until Sergeant Man - though plenty muddy and snowing. Coming off here we headed for the Easedale route back to Grasmere as the light was running short. A bit of slow downclimbing at first was followed by some great, speedy rockhopping beyond Easedale Tarn. This gave us a great finish to a fantastic snow-bashing weekend.

A great end to a fantastic trail running year.

Rumble in the Jungle

Just a delayed report on the Rosedale Rumble 40m distance. After a rebuild of distance over the last couple of months this was still going to be more miles in one go than I'd done in a week since August. Why not though? go steady and muscle memory should see me good.

So up at 4:45 for a quick breakfast - not much as I'd overindulged on chicken fajitas the night before and still felt a bit stuffed. Said my goodbyes to a sleepy Clare and I was out the door for about 5:40 (I obviously don't move fast at this time of day as didn't even get a wash in during this time). It was a slow drive up north on minor A and B roads, too-steady drivers ahead and lots of fog on both the East Yorkshire Wolds and North York Moors meaning I arrived at Hutton-le-Hole a liitle closer to start time than I'd hoped. I stuck £4 in the meter of National trust car park for worry-free day long parking and was really glad that the WC was open, no queue for a cubicle and really pretty clean.

HLH looked very pretty with its foggy draping (pic is one from the web, none of these are my own work as I didn't carry a camera) as I sorted my pack and jog-walked to the village hall start. Met up with Mark Dalton who I would be running with today and also John Steele who would likely be a bit ahead of me. Also, just on leaving to the village edge start, saw Dave Cremins who would be out on the 30m distance, another 26mile-plus distance towards his target of 100 marathon or longer runs (many done this year).

There can't have been many more than two-dozen runners at the start briefing, maybe a 7:30 start - even early compared to an LDWA challenge - is beyond most peoples Saturday morning aspirations. We were soon onto the moor, treading the trail gradually up the Hutton Ridge with fog covering the surroundings and anybody who was more than a few hundred feet ahead. Off this path and a bit of a gulley crossing and we soon onto a track following the old railway line which hugs the the ridge side along one side of Rosedale along Blakey Ridge.

My stomach wasn't feeling great, feeling a bit acidic/bloated, I guess the breakfast on top of stuffing the previous night hadn't mixed well with the early start. It was a cold morning in the fog, but the air was still and there was soon evidence of sunlight trying to burn through. The sunny day I'd seen predicted on the Pickering forecast started looking likely to be extended onto this southern part of the moors - though I've learned in the past that moors weather can be very different to that of the towns on the flatter lands around. Whatever the temperature right now I'd got a bit of a sweat on in the early ascending miles in my t-shirt / windproof combination so was looking forward to a drink at CP1.

CP1 was a friendly, but low key affair with cups of water and a top up for bottles if needed. No food here, but we knew not to expect food on the way around. This provision is a bit of a departure from other long distance events I've done where checkpoint food is usually provided, sometimes in great variety and quantity (e.g. Fellsman, Lakeland 100, UTMB and *every* LDWA challenge I've done). No problem though, I'd come prepared with celebration-sized snickers bars, cheap but substantial flapjack bars, beef sandwiches, and tomato/chicken pasta - not to mention the scientific stuff, an energy drink powder refill for halfway and electolyte tabs. Enough to see me around, but not to overly weigh me down.

Onwards down the railway line and the climb seems to peak as it hits a tight right hand bend around what I guess is the northerly extent of Rosedale. This bit of ex-track has certainly not been as extensively restored as the earlier straight bits as we undulate up and down following the bend of the valley. Across a gill and soon after we break into a walk as we leave the railway line and climup onto Rosedale Moor. At this point I'm heading a little group including a dog who seems to be a liitle upset that his owner can't keep up.

As the climb finishes its onto open moor and soon after crossing an improved track we soon hit a right turn on the route which should takes us on a very minor path which nestles almost invisibly under the County parish boundary on the map. At this point I should point out that as well as not providing food on route the other difference to the norm is that unlike most British trail ultra's this is actually route marked. I've only seen this once before and this was at the UTMB where they did an impressive job marking the route with little night-glow posts. Here a similar job had been done by a much smaller organising team using read-and-white riboon tape every few yards on route and in greater quantities at turns. This is great 90% of the time, but unfortunately in mid-flow of running and conversation we did sometimes miss turns on the route or lose it on open moor.

In this case our group just ran off the route somehow, I must take some of the blame for this as I was heading the group at this stage. As the track weaved through heather and crossed a muddy confluence of gills we just lost the true route. Two of us realised quickly that we hadn't seen any tape for a few minutes, but another in the group convinced us we were going the right way, but later admitted he hadn't been this way on the recce. We seemed to be south of marshy land and a gill, consulting maps we found a safe crossing point and continued with the gill to the right. Small paths appeared and disappeared, but consulting the map the only gill marked and slight countour of its banks was heading almost south, when we needed to be closer to east. As I couldn't convince everybody, Mark one other and I decided to head almost north across the heather to try and cross the marked path and refind the route.

Not to say I told you so to others, but this did work as we soon saw other runners approaching from the west - much of the early mist was now dispersed - and headed on a course to disect their route. Happily we were back on route, probably not too much distance added, but probably a decent chunk of time and energy wasted. Thankfully checkpoint 2 and an unexpected bonus of flapjack and biscuits was not far away as the path crossed the remote moor road. Another bonus was that visibility was better, the sun was breaking through making it pleseantly warm and my stomach had settled down at some point during our moorland meandering.

On from CP2 and the order of the day was further progression westward. Incidentally, the other members of our former lost band had remerged onto the road where the checkpoint was about a third of a mile south and five minutes after us. Mark and I chatted happily in our usual manner about the merits of the course/day so far, how we were feeling, general catchup and the other subject dear to a long distance runners heart - what the carb-refuel would be tonight. I was going out for a family meal so would be able to really fill my boots on three courses of Italian food.... assuming I finished this 40+ miler and got home in time!

Somewhere along here the track started to turn south as expected, but alarm bells rang again as I could see no route markers on the route and consulting the map the wooded area on the left was far too close, the one on the right too far away - we'd missed a turning. Worse still, although we were running in just a group of two at this point we could see a few hundred yards back that at least two had followed. As I was holding the map at this point I somehow convinced Mark that we should go heather bashing again in a Westerly direction to again reach the correct path. The others behind didn't follow though could definately see that we had left the path, we left them heading off towards RAF Fylingdales.

So, again through burnt bracken, bushy bracken, very boggy, muddy ground and some deep tussocks. I fell over for the second time that day - soaking my remaining dry leg from the first fall - thankfully another soft landing. We hit the 'ribboned' route just before the woods and just in front of another group of people who must have been some way behind us.

Now the Rumble in the Jungle began. I'd mapped the route the previous day and learned then that to add distance over the 30 mile route criss-crossing forest tracks in all directions would make up most of the extra 10 miles. So lots of back and forth in the woods for nearly 15 miles now, but it was mostly good going and enough variation that it didn't get laborious.

Back and forth with the distraction of passing a few hikers and then the local hunt complete with jacketed horseman blowing bugles, energetic beagles and even a bloke one one of those quad bike things tearing up the trail. Away from this Mark and I kept the bloke just behind on his toes by missing turnings just when we were nearly out of yelling range. Mucho cheers for the 2 or callbacks in this section, he undoubtably saved us a mile or two. And eventually we got it into our heads to keep a close eye out for areas of hevay ribbon - marking turns.

Soon we passed through another relative hub of actvity amongst the trees, Keldy Castle cabins. I was suprised just how much the layout and look of the buildings and dwellings was just how I remembered it from a holiday here as a youngster - well a bit smaller. My memory then was the scary noise that kept waking me in the early hours getting seemingly nearer the cabin, I now know this was a pheasent, having scared a few hundred of them as a trail runner, into making that sharp "squawk" as they flew away. Beyond here more miles of trails cut through the evergreen tree's before another campsite and then, finally CP3 as the forest track ran into Moor Lane.

I was glad of the chance to top up my water and energy drink here as it had been quite warm the last few hours as the sun came out and the forest kept any cold air movement out. Half a pot of pasta later and we were stiffly off across the road and back into woodland. Both Mark and I now feeling the miles of the day - including those extra-tough off-piste heather-bashing miles to refind the route in the first half.

As we ran out of the forest to the moor road and crossed we were again in amongst a mini-group again as we had congregated at the CP. Five of us crossed the stepping stones, which had been almost overrun by the River Seven (no "R"). The lady of the couple in our group took a tumble into the river here, but seemed all ok. The fifth member of our group, the aforementioned guy who saved us navigationally on a few occasions, ran a bit behind us, suffering a bit at this stage I suspect. It's a small world and we found the man of the couple was another who had completed the Lakeland 100, in a damn good time too. For the lady this was only her second ultra, but she had her eye on next years Lakeland 50.

This part of the route saw us back in Rosedale, this time following close to bottom, just above the river, arcing north and east. After some rough and sloppy stuff we were soon back on good running surface, but at this point were all walking on any rise longer than a few yards.

I didn't realise at the time, but our next bit of mini-civilisation was Rosedale Abbey, well the edge of it, our route didn't quite take us within site of the Abbey itself. With the end now in site and the sun heading for the horizon we got going again quickly, tackling the stiff path climb adjacent to the road up Chimney bank - depending who you believe "the steepest road in England". But we were soon up the suprisingly short climb and onto our last moor of the day.

The joy of Rosedale went on, after the fairly stiff climb out of Rosedale we now had a gradual descent all the way till we slid off the moor into Lastingham. Dropping off the bank into a little valley, we walked up the other bank - the area looking gorgeous in twilight - and then descended across about half a dozen fields. As we approached the village we passed a course marshall who was putting out glowsticks to mark this bit of route for those still out there. I'd felt after our detours we must be near last, but it turns out this was far from true and others had added far more extra miles than we even had. Into the village and the route took us right back out up a hill onto the moor edge again, but in the direction of H-L-H at least.

Of our earlier group of five the couple had pulled away over the moor and our nav assistant had dropped out of sight behind. But he then reappeared ahead of us having seemingly missed Lastingham - even his nav errors worked out as shortcuts (wish I had this skill). Nethertheless we soon repassed and onto a strong last mile. Back onto the road and just as we approached H-L-H, into the - now dark - woods one last time and dived out a few hundred yards later at the village hall.

A tuck in on some nice thick soup with pasta was our immeadiate reward for 9 hrs and 41.5 miles on our feet. I was pretty happy with that. Then a drive home in the fog (again) and I still got back to Hull in good time for a relaxing bath before all that lovely italian food.

Oktoberfest

Isn't October just the strangest month? Sure, we have none of the freezing conditions or snow of December to March (or these last few years seemingly November and April), none of the long and sometimes hot days of May to September. But wait, 30c on October 1st! Frost overnight the week before last, strong wintry winds and a proper soaking for me during last Thursdays club speed session.

It's transition time, in summer I can usually just pack a tshirt, shorts and windproof for a normal outing; in winter, tracksters, underlayer, windproof and/or waterproof top. October it seems anything goes and I've found myself wearing most of the above kit in some combination and packing all of it. Its quite pleasent really though, reminders of whats passed and also a taste of whats to come. Afterall I like winter running, with the right kit, motivation to train big-miles for a new years events and christmas overindulgence to run off why should cold weather be so bad? My biggest mileage month ever was January 2010 and there was no shortage of snow then. "Bring it on!!" I say

For me October comes to a close on a conservative high. I'd ended September tentatively upping mileage following a sprained ankle. I'd missed out on the Hardmoors 60, which was disappointing, but would have been running suicide - undulating coastal trails, stony, uneven, possibly muddy - on a weak joint. Then fate intervened to give me a diahorrea overnight before my first planned event of October. Weak as a kitten the next day it was another DNS, this in the excellent Hope Moors and Tors 20 - with its superb event-signature climb of Grinds Brook clough that always excited me so much in my first few years of trail running.

Not a good start, but back to harder training with the club on Thursday nights and the second weekend in the month saw the start of the Cross Country season. Over the tough trail loop on the Wolds-edge course at Bishop Wilton I set out a good effort. Not tiring too much into the last few miles I was happy, if a bit pace-less.

So back to it next week with back-to-back-to-back sessions before a mini-break in Rome. Great place for a break, loads of walking between sites had me appreciating the lack of a massive underground transport system like in so many big cities. The next weekend I joined Clairster to bag 25 miles at the John O Gaunt 25m LDWA challenge. A lovely scenic and undulating event around the Resovoirs of Nidderdale. It wasn't easy, the great LDWA catering (as nearly always) got me through as the legs felt stiff and sore from about 15m onwards. But with these miles in the bag, I felt I'd given my body the awakening it needed.

This last week has been better still, a few short runs focusing on technique then the first Thursday speed session of the month where I felt I was getting pace and stamina back. Saturday morning came and I was pleased to knock out an 18m+ local, undulating to hilly route in less than 3 hours, can't recall when I last did that kind of pace on any off-road route without absolutely bashing my pan out.

Roll on November, its going to get cold, thats innevitable. But, things are looking up for the Rosedale Ultra 40 miler in three weeks time. A new event to enjoy and a distance I couldn't have done this time last year whilst I was still recovering from injury (another small victory) :¬)

Injury, self doubt and 60 fantastic miles coming soon?

Call me a wimp, but I didn't want to write a more thorough report of what happened at the UTMB. It was such a great atmosphere pre and post race and at times great fun taking part. A lot of the detail isn't reflected in my 'picture tour' blog entry before.

The eventual end to my event was pain slowing me down and tiredness making my progression unsafe. I think without the combination of the two I could have got on ok. As it was after losing loads of time on my ultimate stage, cooling down too much and just making a cut off at Arnuva it would have been foolish to go on and attempt Grand Col Ferret. Maybe with a few strong coffees and a bout of 'runners high' I might have made the next cut-off, but it may have just been several miles of misery and the further ruining of what had been a great experiance for the most part.

So injury, I mentioned this was a factor in my UTMB performance. The sore knee seemed to disappear almost straight after stopping. The ankle was worse, distinct swelling a few inches above my foot at the front of my ankle afterwards. I might have been ok with pain management during the event. But the aggrevation mentioned in my post-UTMB blog, catching my toe on a tree root or planted stone before Refuge Bonnetti, really didn't help. I was running along, not knowing what was causing the pain, whether it was serious or not.

After the event, with RICE, the swelling and pain both went. All was looking good, but then last Thursday on my first hard outing since - 13 days post-UTMB - I was burning up local hilly trail, pushing hard on the 7 hills route that my club regularly run in training. I was well up in the group of club runners, I'd regrouped twice, but then ran straight on as others stopped for another regoup - only one descent and ascent from the last... stopping would have been lazy. I was feeling pretty good, I felt I could tackle the remaining 3 hills in one blast at pace without too much hardship.

Then it happened, slam! So fast.... descending fairly steeply, but at controlled pace, I landed on the outside of my ankle and it rolled over so fast I didn't, seemingly couldn't, react to prevent a sprain. I held the fence, grimacing as others went passed. I was offered help but I said I'd "run it off", in reality this didn't feel like something I could run off. I ended up limping back several miles to the start point, via a road shortcut, somebody kindly picking me up as soon as they'd finished so my pain wasn't prolonged.

I'd sprained my ankle, probably not badly, from Internet research it looks like 'bad' grade 1 at the worst. I visited the doctor the next day, who didn't seem concerned enough to even examine my claim (maybe I didn't look "pained" enough?), but he did prescibe some heat rub and a tubigrip bandage. The combo and innactivity have helped. I even ran a few miles this Tuesday - probably too soon - but I felt good, ableit at very slow pace on very flat ground in a very supportive road shoe. And the a similar distance tonight, but slightly faster.

The mental aspect - self doubt - is something I really need to work on. Why have I retired after roughly 60m of my last two 100's. I'm not overly bothered that I didn't complete, 60m is good distance but I would like to have and wonder if some mental weakness is just jumping on convenient excuses, making pain and tiredness (both muscular and sleepiness) bigger issues then they actually were? Maybe thats an easy presumption in hindsight and now the reality of the moments is a somewhat hazy summary in my mind. Was UTLD 2010 a fluke? Am I not prepared to work that hard, suffer that much again. The answer seems to be, right now..... yes. I have no guarantee of improvement every time at any distance even if I've trained hard. So when you factor in the mental battle of a 100, the miles may have been run to prepare my legs, but were they in my head. Or am I just overthinking this?

There is no clear answer. But it seems sensiblethat I change something and that something would be to back off from and remove the 100mile obstacle - respect the distance (and the big hills). 100 is just a big number in terms of miles, but 60 is still a good one, 79 was also a good one when I completed the Wold's way unaided a few months ago. So I figure I'll bring in a three-figure mileage embargo for 2012, see how that goes. There are some great events that must be classified as long, tough ultra's I can test myself on, but are 99.9 miles or less.

How about the Hardmoors 55 (March) to start with, it's got a deceivingly easy opening 22m, which in two attempts has lulled me into an over-eagerly paced start. I can do better here, a great first long ultra of the year.

Then a step up to the Lakeland 50. Even with the 100 on offer by no means am I shirking if I train hard and do this one justice, finishing before the sun dawns on Sunday (e.g. sub 15 hours or so).

And how about the TDS (Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie), the tough little brother of the UTMB at 70-or-so miles. Ok, so its shorter than the UTMB, but it packs in more elevation change per mile, a tougher 70m is hard to imagine.

A return to the Fellsman is also a must, even if they move the date. The Woldsman will be a good substitute in the space between Hardmoors 55 and Lakeland 50.

Before all this I hope I have the potential to complete 60 fantastic miles in the inaugural Hardmoors 60. It will be a joy to run along this part of Yorkshires undulating, hilly and often wild coast and to complete the course would be a 60 mile run I could be very satisfied with. And satisfaction that I can still complete a long event. Here's hoping the sprain keeps healing quickly and I can have a steady and safe saunter around this one.

Gremlins !!

I seem to be having some issues posting comments on others and my own blogs. So I'm not ignoring any comments or questions on mine and also would like to comment on some of the fine blog posts of others I've read of late. When I get a spare few minutes I'll try and use my IT skills (hrmmpphh!) to get back my accustomed level of access.