About Me

Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom

Thursday, February 28, 2013

2013 race schedule




It is the last day of February, and I feel like it is time to commit to some races: 

1. A flat marathon (or two?). Probably Manchester (28 Apr). But  if I continue to be as uninspired about speed training as I have been in the last few months, this may have to be postponed until the fall, in which case it would probably be Chester again (6 Oct). Overall, this is the goal that I am least fired up about right now, but this may change, as the weather gets warmer. It is still possible that I end up running both of these marathons. 

2. Local fell races (mid and North Wales). I will run a few of these, but the two that are going to be my focus are Cader Idris 10M (18 May ) and Welsh 1000m Peaks ~20M (1 Jun). I am curious to see what I can do at Cader without having run the gruelling Brecon Beacons 40-miler one or two weeks before. And as for the Welsh 1000m, I would be happy to just get to the start line and run the full course this year, but will probably give it a fair effort. 

3.  Man v Horse ~22M (8 Jun). A local classic that I am curious to try this year. 

4. Vitosha ~100K? (21 Jun). I am still not sure if I will be able to make it for this one, but it is also hard to imagine missing it.


There you have it. Not nearly as ambitious as in previous years, as far as distance is concerned, but hopefully it will be a refreshing change of pace (pun intended).

Monday, February 18, 2013

Here we go again…


I am finally back to running regularly, after an agonisingly long winter layoff. Here are the highlights from my first couple of weeks of more consistent training:

  • Tarren Hendre (9 Feb 2013, 0:58:50, 10th). Fun carpool with Aber AC club-mates Cameron and Lauren (despite Cameron’s reckless driving). Decent ascent (4th at the top) and even worse than usual descent.  To be fair, I lost several positions to not knowing the best line and deciding not to take chances in the fog. But I am also still scared to run the open fell descents hard, especially in wet conditions. Tried to start practicing that on my lunchtime run last Thursday, but just ended up on my back, to the amusement of my training partners at work. Anything to cheer you up, guys!

  My first ever fell race in rainy weather!
The Flying Scot (why can’t I have a beard like that!)

  • The beautiful weather last week has inspired me to run more frequently to Moel Y Llyn – my new local favourite.
 

http://v-g.me.uk/Trips/G0052/G0052.htm


  • Time to plan out the season – nothing is set in stone just yet, but will probably stick with the plan of racing shorter and (hopefully) faster.