I spoke too soon when I said that things would be back to ‘normal service’ last week. Turns out that I had not in fact kicked the chest and throat infection and it did indeed return for a further few days to give me a kicking!
Despite this I have still managed to keep up the Movember pledge to run every day through Movember and my tally for the month is currently sitting at 80 miles, all of which has been done on the confines of the treadmill!
I use a program called SportTracks to keep tabs on my running and I have to say that this is a real boost to my running. When I am in the mood to run, it feels great to log the miles and compare how I was doing at this point last year… and when I am not in the mood to run, it is equally constructive to look at the monthly mileage and how it compares to other months and, again, how it compares to last year. That is usually enough of an incentive to get me back in the mood and, more often than not, I am usually glad that I did run.
Looking at the stats now, I will soon hit a ‘double whammy’ – 80 miles more will see me surpass both last year’s total mileage and also 2500 miles in 2 years, something I would never have dreamed of only a few short years ago. In fact, that’s probably more than I even travelled a few years ago, never mind being how far I have run. That equates roughly to me running from my home in the North East of Scotland to London and back 3 times, or to running to Madrid and back, or to Rome and back! And so on… but suffice to say I would really recommend logging the mileage as it is something that you can really look back on whether it be in some useful fashion or as a flight of fancy!
2012 is well and truly shaping up as being an excellent year for ultras and I am just waiting on the remaining 3 races opening up entry for next year. The West Highland Way Race, as expected, now has more applicants than places. After the initial flurry of applications (111 on day 1!) it did indeed slow down but surpassed the 200 mark with half a month of entry time remaining. As such it is time to cross my fingers and hope that I, along with all of my running friends, am fortunate enough to get a guaranteed place.
If you read my last post you will recall I mentioned the new sponsor for the Highland Fling – Hoka One One. Steve from Hoka very kindly provided me with a pair of Mafate shoes to try which arrived just a couple of hours ago. I will soon be heading out for my first non-treadmill based run this month and can’t wait to try them out. I think I am going to be spending a fair portion of this weekend out on the trails, both enjoying being back out in the fresh air and testing out the new shoes.
The word Hoka is derived from the ancient Maori language and roughly translates to 'now it is time to fly', hence the title of this blog posting as it will indeed soon be ‘time to fly’ for me.
After Hoka got in touch I did a bit more investigation on the web and found this remarkable video of Karl Meltzer completing the 2,064 mile Pony Express route - it's well worth watching
So that’s where I will leave it for this post, heading off out for a run to herald the start of the weekend.
Wherever you are, regardless of how far and fast you run, be sure to have a good one :o)
how are the trainers working out? They seem to have worked ok for Karl Meltzer! i need a new pair-let me know how you get on!
Hello. They would appear to be working well for me but I have yet to try them on a mega long run when I am sure they really would come in to their own. At the moment my plan is to run my first ultra of the year in them (March, the D33, 33 miles) and, if all goes well, to use them in subsequent ultras. I also need to test them on similar terrain to that found on the West Highland Way, where 3 of my ultras will hopefully be this year, as it can be quite rocky in places. I am sure the shoes would cope, more just an issue of my being able to place my feet well! They are more expensive than your average trainer but will apparently provide 7-800 miles of use. Again, would be good to see how they fare in this respect, especially for a heavier runner like myself.
At the moment I am almost half way through my challenge to run every day in November (for Movember) and in December (for Marcothon). I am mixing up the shoes, from the Hokas (mainly at the weekend for longer stuff) to inov8s and New Balances for the shorter stuff through the week so it will be good to see how my legs feel running in the Hokas after a couple of days rest in the New Year. At the moment I have some tightness and niggles but put this down to the continued hammering the legs are getting rather than as a result of any trainers that I am using.
Thanks for the comment
J :o)