Ultra Running & Reviews

Myself & Ruby went for a run the other day & it was the first day of JOGLE 2011. I wore my JOGLE T-shirt for the first time since JOGLE and thought about the race & how the seven guys who would be running this year would fair? It seems hard running our 2 mile loop & hard to imagine what another 61 miles would be like. Today is Sunday and sadly only 4 of the seven are left. It’s been great watching the story unfold from this side this year and remembering when things happened last year. It’s like being in your own little bubble with pain, joy & sadness all in equal measure. The road seems to stretch out in front of you forever and your left only with your own thoughts & fears.

One thing is for sure every one of them will know the uniqe feeling you get from running JOGLE and they will remember it forever. . . .

If you’d like to watch the story unfold visit Rory’s blog here http://9barjogleultra.blogspot.com/

Pictures from the event are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultraracephotos/sets/72157626217520131/

happy running

Every day this week myself & Ruby, my 8 year old daughter have been running a 2.25 mile loop through the woods near our home. It’s quite a hilly run with around 300 feet of climb over the 2 miles & she’s really improved over the week, I wish I could see the same improvement in myself! It’s quite disconcerting to see your 8 year old daughter skipping past you on a steep up hill section. This week has made me realize how long a road it’s going to be back to full fitness. I used to have the odd bottle of win and the odd bar of chocolate here & there when I was fit and it would make very little difference to my fitness but as the days turned into weeks then months without running the weight slowly creeps up and all the fitness you took for granted gradually ebbs away. Looking ahead though I have just started to get back into the running habit and made a commitment to myself to run every day. In the words of the song “things can only get better. . . ”

happy running

I’ve been finding time for a few runs this week & also gone from 13st 7lbs to 12st 10lbs, the weight really makes a huge difference. Already up to 2 miles, got a long way to go before reaching the 100+ mile runs of last year! Just 2 miles seems to be just as hard as running 50 miles was last year, it made me realise how soon you can lose all the fitness it takes so long to build up. Not setting myself any goals yet just want to enjoy running again, it had got to be a bit of a chore & I must admit I was getting bored & tired mentally from all the running. Suppose I’d forgotten how much other things meant to me & how ultra running can take over. I’ll try to update this blog when I get time, as much to just keep a diary as anything else. It’s good to keep a record of what your doing, then if you get injured it’s possible to look back & see how it started. Thats it for now

happy running . . . .

I’ve been very busy recently with my day job as a property developer; this is a great time for us to take advantage of the falling market. I’ve not done ANY running at all for at least 5 months other than a very slow 5 miles off road. This along with eating as I did when running ultras has meant my weight increasing from 11st 4lbs to 13st 7lbs! Yes the belly has got me. I look at this in a positive way though, I think not running for a few months has made me look at my fitness in a new way & also given me a rest mentally which after last year can only be a good thing.

I’m now looking for new goals with the ultimate aim of completing JOGLE in 2012. I’ve got some new ideas which I’ve had time to think about during my rest & am looking forward to putting them into practice. At the end of last year I got a Kurt Kinetic spin trainer (review soon) for my bike which should get the pounds off fast. I used a spin bike last year in my training for longer ultras & it seemed to work well. It’s a good idea to use none impact exercise when possible if you’re doing lots of road miles, gives the joints a bit of time to recover from the constant pounding.

We also moved house this year which is always fun. I’m looking forward to running some new trails from here, it’s just a few yards to the local park and up onto the moors.

That’s all for now, happy running. . . .