Mike Cudahy - Inspirational Words

I have just finished reading Mike Cudahy's book Wild Trails to Far Horizons - again. For those who haven't heard of Mike, he is one of our greatest "Ultra" runners whose achievements include being the first person to complete the 270 mile Pennine Way in under 3 days (on his 7th attempt) and he completed the "Coast to Coast" in under 2 days.

His book, "Wild Trails to far Horizons" is a fantastic tale of his adventures and achievements and his talent for running is matched by his talent for words. It was after completing his sub 2 day Coast to Coast run in what were challenging conditions to say the least and overcoming the mental battle to retire on a number of occassions that he wrote the following words which I thought captured the emotion and sense of fulfillment that I have shared on completing the West Highland Way. I hope he doesn't mind me quoting from his book.

"Never have I felt such sheer and simle joy at the end of a run. Moments such as these not only provide the answer to why one does things like this but why we are alive at all. One moment of such joy is worth far more than countless years of steady rational living. To have encountered hardship, discomfort, to have experienced one's physical, mental and spiritual limitations and weaknesses, to have found a path beyond them, not conquering them but accepting and yet transcending them, to have been supported, guarded and guided lovingly by friends represents, for me, a joy both sublime and supreme. I ask for no more."

If you haven't read his book - I would urge you to do so and see what running really is about.

Hill Reps

My training for Mont Blanc has begun in earnest and in an attempt to gauge my current "state" I thought I would head off last Friday and do some hill reps.
Now bearing in mind that Mont Blanc has around 29,000 foot of ascent, a few sprints up the hill from my house wasn't really going to cut it so I set off first thing in the morning to Rowardennan where there was a slightly larger hill to use.
It's been a long time since I climbed Ben Lomond but it all seemed very familiar as I headed up through the trees and onto the hillside. Four and a half hours later I returned to the car after two consecutive trips to the summit and back.
On the whole, I felt pretty good. As I suspected, my climbing is fairly solid and I can keep a good pace most of the way up. Where I struggle is on the descents, partly through being a wimp and partly due to my weak ankles but the path is generally pretty good and there were no mishaps.
I used my sons trekking poles for the first time and these were fanatstic for the climb and will be a very helpful addition to my kit list in August.
The main thing that came out of my hill session was that for the next two days my quads were really painful. This is down to the descents rather than the climbing and is something I need to work on over the next few months.
So there we go. The first of many trips to hills and and a taster of things to come. All together now - "Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York, he had....................."

UTMB! OMG! TTFU!

You know what they say, "be careful what you wish for" well, for the past few months I have been wishing for a place in this years UTMB - and guess what; this afternoon I got my wish.

http://www.ultratrailmb.com/

This is fantastic news but it does mean that things have to kind of get serious now. My training has gone really well over the last couple of months and, despite the poor weather, I managed my highest monthly mileage for 2 1/2 years in December! - thank goodness for micro-spikes. January has satrted off well and I've joined a gym to try and put in some strength work.

At the moment my weekly schedule looks something like this:

Monday - 6:30am gym

Tuesday - Steady 5 miles

Wednesday - either run to and from work (7 miles each way) or a 10 mile run in the evening

Thursday - 6:30am gym

Friday - run to and from work

Saturday - rest

Sunday - long run (15 - 20 miles)

This equates to around 50 miles per week and given my other committments is probably about as much as I can manage. I aim to take 1 day off work a month and do a long day in the hills and make one of my Sunday runs a month up around the 25-30 mile mark.

Now that the reality of have a place has sunk in, I'll need to have a look at my schedule and see what changes I need to make. I'll need to calm down first though!!!!!!

Me and my girl

Sunday morning, 7:00am, the first footprints on the West Highland Way and me and my girl spend 2 1/2 glorious hours running through the trails and woods.

An evening run

I had a hard few weeks with work. Clients were being overly demanding, staff were stressed and we were all working flat out. Tonight's run therefore was more for my head than my body.

I set off out of the door and turned up the road heading towards the woods that skirt around the golf course. The sky was still light and clear although the sun was starting to dip and a slight chill forced me to set off at a brisk pace to warm up. My legs felt great and the immediate release out into the fresh air felt good.

The first 1/4 mile is uphill and is always a a bit of a shock to my system as it wakes up to the realisation that it is going running but tonight felt comfortable from the start. I turned at the top of the road and joined the woodland path as it wound its way through the trees, my feet hardly making a sound on the soft earth but my thoughts still wrestling with the issues of the day and the problems of tomorrow. I disturbed a small deer who looked as shocked as me as I rounded a corner and it bounded away effortlessly as if teasing me to chase it.

My breathing was coming easily and steady as I sped along the path by the small loch, my legs had found a rythm now and I started to look around and take in my surroundings in the fading light.

The next two miles were all woodland path, a few steep climbs and one or two descents didn't disrupt my rythym and I kept pushing on, the sound of my breathing and footsteps accompanied by the evening birdsong as they found a roost for the night. There was no-one else around tonight, the usual dog walkers were done for the day and the golfers ensconsed at the 19th hole and I revelled in the glorious isolation as my mind started to clear and focus on the here and now.

I left the woods and turned onto the country lane that leads me further out on my route, a stiff climb up to Baldernock Church and I was breathing hard but clear and strong. My arms working as hard as my legs as I pushed to the top of the hill and headed out along quiet farm roads. I kept glancing over my shoulder to watch the sun as it began to disappear behind the distant hills in a final burst of orange and I returned to my rythym, strong and steady.

Cows glanced up from the adjacent fields to see me run by, expressionless and unimpressed, they returned to their grazing and I turned the corner to start the climb to my turnaround point. The road climbs steeply before giving way to a farm track and I am pushing hard now, legs are starting to hurt and my breathing is getting faster but it feels good; no, it feels great! I push on, harder still as I see the small cairn on top of the hill getting closer. The sun is now just a faint red glow behind my left shoulder but there is still enough light in the sky to make out the path and I bound over the small puddles left by the previous days rain as climb higher and higher before finally arriving at the cairn.

I stand there breathing hard, sweat pouring down my face and look around me to take in the view before darkness fully takes hold. Ben Lomond in the distance one way and the lights of Glasgow the other. Finally, as the sound of my breathes subsides, I am left with complete stillness, there is not a sound to be heard and the breeze that had chilled me when I set off is now completely gone.

I am conscious however of the fading light so I turn and set off back down the path I have just come up. My pace getting faster and faster as gravity takes hold and I am just barely able to make out my footing in the darkness. Onto the road now and throwing caution to the wind I speed up faster still, my legs shuddering with each footfall and my arms flailing like a windmill as I eventually reach the level once more and return to my rythym.

I decide to stay on the road all the way back as darkness has now descended and the woodland path is not a sensible option. The road rollercoasters up and down and I push on hard, totally absorbed now in the act of running. The darkness having robbed me of my sight, I am totally tuned in to what I am doing. Legs are hurting but going strong, breathing is fast but clear, arms pumping as I climb and relaxing as I descend and my mind in its own place, at peace yet completely absorbed.

As I approach the top of my road, the streetlights break my focus and I ease back and jog the last few yards back to my front door. 11 miles done and I am elated, tired and completely stress free.

That's why I run!

RAW

See me eh? two posts within a week.

Saturday saw me at the start line for the 41 mile River Ayr Way (RAW) Challenge. Feeling particularly unprepared, I decided to set off at a nice steady 9min mile pace and see how long I could keep it going for. I had set myself a 7hrs 30min target which seemed reasonable if not too challenging.
The first few miles went by ok and I was running comfortably right on pace. This was my first time on the route and I was pleasantly surprised by how scenic it was. It starts with a lot of open farmland and rough grazing and then as it gets closer in towards the coast, there is a lot of natural woodland and some beautiful trails along the rivers edge.
I kept a nice even pace and despite one minor naivigation hic-cup I was feeling pretty happy about how things were going. In a bid to try and stave off my dreaded cramp problems, I had decided to drink an isotonic fluid rather than water and so I topped up with my individual sachets of High 5 at various stages along the way. I am please to say that I didn't experience any cramp whatsoever - so a bit of a result there!
I went through the marathon in 4hrs 15mins and although going ok I was starting to feel the effects of my lack of training miles. Still, I seemed to be picking off other runners now and again so I was still feeling remarkably upbeat.
By about 31 miles, I started to struggle and over the next mile or so my pace dropped and was interspersed with the occassional walk. I managed to adopt a nice little routine of running 200 steps and then walking 100 and so on. I kept a close eye on my Garmin and just focussed on ticking off the next mile, then the next one and then the next one. This worked really well and my overall pace settled out at about 10:30 and gradually he miles ticked by until I found myself on the long road section by Auchencruive.
By now I knew I was going to make it and so ditched the number counting and pressed on as best I could. I managed to pass another couple of runners in the lat mile or so and crossed the line in 7hrs 11mins.
Overall I was pretty pleased with my performance, not exactly a contender but I think I finished about 35th out of around 80 starters so I'm happy with that.
This was also the last race in the SUMS (Scottish Ultra Marathon Series) and with me now having 4 races completed my name appears in 37th place overall and 10th Male Vet.

So what next? I'm going to ease back a bit over the next few weeks and enjoy some nice easy running. I've got the Saab Salomon Turbo X run in Mugdock Park in a couple of weeks which is a bit of a novelty event run through mud, rivers, steep hils and trails and although 10 miles it is more about the enjoyment rather than a time.

October sees the entries for next years WHW Race opening but my main focus on next year will be on the UTMB. I am hoping to get a ballot place in the January draw so in anticipation, I need to start getting some time in the hills!

Where the hell have you been!

I have not disappeared off the face of the planet - I am alive and well and active, I just don't seem to have had time to put much of my life down on "paper" as it were.

Anyway, this is just a brief note by way of a catch up but I promise to be slightly more proactive in the blogging stakes.

Much has happened since the WHW Race in June. Still on a high, I had two fabulous weeks in France, resting, drinking large amounts of wine and I even managed 3 runs. A week after I got back I was on the starting line for the Clydestride and finished in just over 7 hours but was once again plagued with cramp from about 30 miles onwards. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here as I was eating "S" Caps like sweeties but they didn't seem tobe making a difference.

Bit of a rest through August having had to pull out of the Speyside Way due to other commitments but then completed my 21st running of the Glasgow Half Marathon in a time of 1hr 34mins. I has set off on a sub 1hr 30min pace but after about 3 miles I realised it wasn't going to happen to eased off and came in 3 mins slower than last year. I'm sure I've got a sub 1:30 half in me if only I got round to training for one!

My planned 4th run at the Longmynd Hike was scuppered due to an over subscribed entry and the usual woeful race admin not sending me the email alert to let me know entries were open. As a last minute decision, I have therefore decided to run the River Ayr Way Race (RAW) tomorrow which will give me 4 counting events for the SUMS (Scottish Ultra Marathon Series). I feel particularly undertrained for 41 miles but I plan to set off really gently and plod round in somewhere near 7hours 30mins.

That's you pretty much up to date. It feels good to be back in blog land so watch this space!