2016 Races 1. 2016 DNSs 1.

As hundreds of fellow ultrarunners head for a frozen Wendover, I am instead sitting on my comfy and warm sofa with my packed bags still piled up in the hallway.

Walked through the pros and cons of skipping the race:

• Con – I’m a runner.  Not turning up to an event that I have committed to, which is also part of a series I’m planning to race through the year, directly conflicts with this.
• Pro – I am actually sick.  I had a doctor’s note and drugs and everything.  The combination is causing some dehydration, poor quality sleep and stomach distress.
• Con – Dehydration, poor quality sleep and stomach distress are pretty a pretty usual combination for the period of a taper and race.
• Pro – This is supposed to be a race for me, not the usual long run in the beautiful wilds.  If I cannot confidently push myself, I’m better off playing safe.
• Can – It means I can tell the people who know about the race how well I did.  Most of them will have no idea what would be a good result.
• Pro – There is a small chance that I might not complete the race.  It is a point to point a couple of hours away and getting back from one of the checkpoints is likely to be a pain in the arse.
• Con – Even if I jog the thing, it would be a result for the race series and might be useful if I have to pull out of one of the later races unexpectedly.
• Pro – I would get the whole day back to do something more useful with my time.
• Con – I will actually spend most of that time mulling over sacking off this race and generally feeling sorry for myself.
• Con – I still have to run today anyway.  Not having this long run does somewhat interfere with the training plan for the next.
• Pro – I won’t have to clean all of my kit?
• Con – I do have quite a lot of unwatched stuff on my TiVo.

 Anyway.  I’m 90% sure that it was the right decision to not race today.  I shall be spending the next few days thinking mainly about that 10%.

Time to let the race organiser know that he has a spare slot that he will not have time to utilise.

2016 - Two weeks in

14th of January and most things are running smoothly.  Sitting here on Thursday night, other than a slight snag, all systems would be go for Saturday's first race of the year.  Sadly, that fly in the ointment is an infection which has today required a course of antibiotics.  Bother.  So I'll be seeing how I take to those over the next 24 hours before deciding whether to toe the line.  With the plan being to race reasonably hard, a drug which unsettles my stomach or causes me to be constantly dehydrated is going to be a real problem.  But do I cross my fingers for a good Friday or a free weekend?

Other plans for the year have gone well.  No injuries.  A cool but gentle winter has recently snapped cold but a pile of good technical equipment has proved its worth and there have been no excuses to park on the sofa, thus running plans have been maintained and the target of the daily mile run is being met.  As for the 2016 distance challenge with Mr P, he is currently sitting at 189.8 km while I am at
167.3 km.  A half marathon between us.  It could seem daunting so early in the year but it is just a two hour jog in the hills.

Or the first 40% of the first race of the year...

And on to 2016

And it's time for that clichéd end of year post.  As usual, I've not much to share nor many I wish to share it with, but a public record of a few running commitments for next year may remind me to put in a little more effort on the various start lines throughout the year.

2015 has been a little variable.  A couple of injuries that felt significant but in reality meant 3-4 months in total of reduced running.  The year was still interspersed with a number of good events, a number of marathons, some on road, many on trail and a couple in the mountains of the Beacons.  These latter ones speak better to me.  Maintaining an even effort in difficult conditions works well for me, and although it is unlikely to put me near the front of any well attended race, these races allow me to test myself against similar runners in environments that leave me smiling after the finish.  And with these types of events in my mind, and closing out the year with relatively good fitness, I’ve put more than the usual effort into planning out 2016.  As well as picking out a few race series, I’ve a couple of bits of guidance, reminders and little challenges to complete.

• Goals:
• Might Contain Nuts Ultra series.  Four 42 mile runs in the Brecon Beacons.
• Go Beyond Ultra series.  Four races of lengths between 50 and 30 miles across England.
• Run Further Ultra series.  More complex requirements but three from twelve races.

• Guidance:
• 50+ miles per week – exceptions for the week before and after a goal race or when injured.
• At least one quality session per week – exceptions for two weeks after a goal race of when injured.

• Challenges:
• Run a mile each and every day.  No exceptions.  (I feel this will be the first thing to fall by the wayside.)
• Track mileage against the cycling of Andy Perry via Strava.  (Minor fun and will not impact training or racing.  Well, unless it is very close in December and then all bets are off.)

In terms of those goals, all of the must-do races are now booked.  There is the opportunity to run a couple of others in the Run Further series but I’ll leave those decisions until the year has started to pan out.

The most immediate focus is Country to Capital on Saturday 16^th January which seems a bit close now.  It will be my first time at the event and my knowledge is based mainly on a couple of blogs.  My key takeaways so far is that the second half is flat running alongside the canal and that many experienced ultra-runners still decided to set a 400 metre PB from the line to avoid congestion at an early gate.  I do not plan to get involved with the latter competition, but I’d like to have enough in the legs to benefit from 20 miles of flat path on the way into London.  We shall see.