The Long Road To My First Ultra Event

Part of the Stort 30 route

 Like a lot of runners I have had a long term plan to run further and faster as time goes on. When I decided to get back to running as a serious hobby I was a 1 hour 10k runner which used to take some considerable effort and would leave me gasping. Through regular runs, dedication and joining a running club the distance has slowly increased and the times have come down.

 I have now gone and registered for he Stort 30 ultra, a 30 mile ultra in Hertfordshire along the river Stort tow path on October 27th 2013. This has been 18 months in the making with setbacks along the way. Through all of 2012 I was running 5 times a week with Tuesday and Saturday being my only rest days. This I now know in hindsight was too much and i kept getting colds and injuries. In 2013 I reduced my runs to 3 or 4 times a week, this did help a lot but I was booking lots of races on back to back weekends. The recovery periods weren’t really adequate, so again i was picking up injuries. I sought help for my injuries with www.thesportsinjuryclinic.org who gave me some useful information, exercises and causes. Through using better technique and sports massage it has really helped get on top of some of my problems and helped me progress further with my running.

My entire list of competitive events and times achieved that have led me to this point are below. As you can see the times slowly improve.

June 2012 10k Stansted 51 minutes 55 seconds

July 2012 10k Clapham 47 minutes 59 seconds

August 2012 10k BBC 45 minutes 59 seconds

September 2012 10k Saffron Walden 46 minutes 13 seconds

October 2012 10k Manuden 45 minutes 01 seconds

December 2012 Club Cross Country 5 mile 36 minutes 32 seconds

December 2012 Club Cross Country 5 mile 45 minutes 58 seconds

December 2012 10 mile Buntingford 1 hour 16 minutes 19 seconds

January 2013 Club Cross Country 5 mile 37 minutes 40 seconds

March 2013 Bath Half Marathon 1 hour 40 minutes 42 seconds – CURRENT PB

March 2013 Cambridge Half Marathon 1 hour 42 minutes

March 2013 10k Harlow 43 minutes 27 seconds – CURRENT PB

May 2013 10k Ashdon 47 minutes 44 seconds

May 2013 10k Clapham 44 minutes 49 seconds

May 2013 10k Henham 45 minutes 09 seconds

May 2013 10k Hatfield Broad Oak 44 minutes 10 seconds

July 2013 10k Lee Valley 45 minutes 43 seconds

I had been trying to improve the 10k time but as we went into May onwards the weather started to heat up and it affected me during races. It was during the summer I turned my attention to longer distances and other possible races to enter. I have applied for the London Marathon for which I should find out soon if I have been successful in the ballot or not. At the end of July I started on a marathon plan with a possible idea of entering an ultra in the Autumn of 2013 and then following training through winter for a spring marathon. This is the point I am now at. I have entered the Stort 30. I now have 7 weeks to go with my longest run in 5 weeks peaking at 25 miles before tapering for 2 weeks.

Other notable times and achievements from the last couple of months are below.

1k 3 minutes 4 seconds

1 mile 5 minues 36 seconds

5k 21 minutes 02 seconds

Thanks for taking a look and reading, other stats can be viewed at Nike+