Monday 28 February 2011

The London Ultra Race Report

Well kinda....The 50k London Ultra was just over a week ago so I have decided to log a quick recap, mainly because I barely remember what happened yesterday!
The back drop is the biggest ultra (by number of participants only) that England has to offer with nearly 300 participants- kinda puts the 36,000 london marathon runners into perspective! The route follows 50km of the capital ring route and is generally pan flat (about 1000ft of climb) the only banana slip being the dirty muddy slippy sections near harrow that reaped havoc amongst the 90% of people, including my numb nuts self, in road shoes. Although it did provide some unexpected entertainment when people started to slip and slide down hills and cantered fields. Anyway, end result was a 4:51 for about 29th I think. The day certainly served its purpose, I got to run and chat with some familiar faces which included a conversation about me believing a was a walrus in a previous life- guess that might have something to do with the two energy gels and a flapjack I ate as my entire race nutrition. Dont learn from this.

Off the race subject, my training has been poor through February which is part to work schedules, a dicky knee and moving in with a drunken Australian but on a positive note I have raced 96miles since the new year as opposed to the 31miles I had raced at this point last year. Next race looks like the 24hour challenge in May so until then I am hoping for some pretty solid training weeks.

I have some gear reviews ready to throw up soon that I have tested for a couple of outlets and I have a training plan being put onto www.nwconditioning.com which is a strength and conditioning site based at elite performance. It has lots of research based articles, definitely worth a read!

Finally, an added bonus to the london 50k was seeing Jo Kilkenny who kindly volunteered at aid station 4 and also popped up at the finish. We had a brief chat and she has crazy stuff planned this year. A 24 hour treadmill run in March, followed by a 24 hour swim in April I think. And that's all to prepare her for the epic Arch to Arc attempt later in the year which is basically a triathlon from Marble arch to Arc Du Triomphe (run to Dover, swim the channel and cycle to the arc!). Best of all she does this all for charity, check out her website for some inspirational material and to donate of course! www.jokilkenny.com (if any of the info is wrong I am sure Jo's website can rectify!)

Stay safe folks

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