My plan for this week was mainly centred around covering at least marathon distance in the woods yesterday. Everything else was always going to be secondary.

I started the week with 4 laps on Tuesday evening and repeated this on Thursday and Friday. I was pleased to maintain a relatively consistent pace throughout each session and speed up a bit for the last mile a few times.

Yesterday was the hottest I have trained in since the St I'lltyd Ultra. I set off at 11am with 2 litres of Tailwind nutrition drink in my water bladder and a 5 litre bottle in the car as a reserve. My first 4 laps were quite comfortable and I could keep a slower but measured pace for each lap. I had a Clif peanut butter bar and sat on a rock for a few minutes before setting off again.

I must have been sipping the drink far too infrequently in the first section as I was ridiculously thirsty and really struggled...

I hated waiting until Wednesday to go running but managed to hold off and allow my legs some recovery from last weekend’s efforts. Part of what I use running for is reflection on how adequate my training is for that stage in my plan, based on if I can justify that workload however close it is to a race.

Unfortunately there is a confidence you can only really get back about running when you are actually doing it. I had beaten myself up a bit about not pushing on and trying to get some pace back for the last 25km section last weekend. Because the total elevation was a lot more than I had covered in training, this may have been unrealistic.

After 4 laps of Post Hill Woods which was around 8 miles and over 1000ft of climb, I had a good feeling about being able to cover the required elevation for Great Glen Ultra over the course of the week. I’m now trying a slight variation of “if you can...

I had planned to just do one lap of 5.4 miles on Tuesday and then rest until yesterday to give myself every chance of finishing the St I'lltyd 100k ultra. While my speed for this was faster than usual, I did not feel sluggish at all when starting and thought I had the balance right in terms of my taper for the last 2 weeks.

After volunteering at a checkpoint at this event last year. I was adamant that dropping down to the 50k at half way was never going to be an option for me. I was fully aware that all of the difficulties this race involved would not be obvious from what I saw of the route a year ago, but with only 2 months until having to cover 72 miles in a day, no amount of hills, heat or other issues were going to let me retire at that point.

Setting off at 6am was great, there was fresh dew on the trail and it was overcast without being cold. 2 runners set off suicidally fast...

I was pleased to manage a steady 5.4 miles on Monday evening after only taking Sunday as a rest day after the Beer Ultra. This was then repeated on Tuesday and Thursday which I found quite comfortable each time. I had a small knot in my left calf muscle on the first 2 outings but it was more of a inconvenience than anything I would struggle to run on.

Yesterday I did 8 laps of a 2 mile route in Wythenshawe Park. This was great as the weather was warm but not overly bright, I managed to settle into a rhythm for most of it and listen to a Talking Comics podcast for 90% of it. The passion what the hosts have for the comics they have read recently and how they can transport you into the world of that comic really held my attention. I had a bottle of coke after 4 laps and again at the end.

I decided to do 24 miles instead of 20 this morning so I could divide up my rest breaks easier...

I had planned to have another week where I would finish with around 70 miles but must have underestimated how much last week’s long training run in the woods took out of me.

After a few rest days, I managed to fit in 3 laps of the 7.5 mile route midweek, once on Wednesday and twice on Thursday. The weather was noticeably hotter for the evening runs but my Thursday morning effort was considerably more comfortable.

I decided to have Friday as an extra rest day taking into account both the weather and the total elevation the Beer Ultra prides itself on having.

Technical trail routes are usually far more enjoyable than even trail in my experience and the first loop of the course had a few points where I had to plan out where my feet should land. Whilst it does add to the challenge, I do like that you have to pay more attention than routes where you can just push forwards.

The second...

This week I have really focused on just completing my running for each day and not thinking about what is coming for later in the week.

I was able to do this for 7 loops of the 7.5 mile route between Tuesday and Saturday. This was one a day during the week with the remaining 3 yesterday. My legs were quite fresh compared to the cement like feeling I had to start last week with following the King of The Hill race. I enjoyed listening to several podcasts and was confident of returning to running in woods this morning without much trouble.

Post Hill Woods has a sentimental value for me as I mainly used these in training for the Beauty and the Beast marathon in 2013 (4800ft of elevation) and both times when I was training for Grand Tour of Skiddaw (7000ft of elevation) in 2015 and 2017.

I got up at 4:30am and was starting my first lap of the woods by 5:05am. This was my first time...

The King of the Hill race last weekend had tired me out more than I was anticipating. I did an immensely sluggish 5,4 miles before and after work on Wednesday which was tortuous. I couldn’t generate any momentum on either outing.

Luckily Thursday morning was a bit easier, it was brighter as I set off at 8am rather than the 5am start of the day before. I was able to listen to podcasts and music without having to constantly focus on maintaining forward progress.

I continued on with another 5.4 mile loop after work that evening and then a 10 mile effort on the treadmill at lunchtime on Friday.

This left me with 42 miles to cover across this weekend to reach my target of 74 for the week. Apart from a bit of indecision around whether to do 21 each day or 27 then 15, I was pretty confident I could manage this.

Taking my wife into work is never going to make my favourite activities of...

This week’s motivation has been split very clearly between trying to maintain a 72-75 miles per week average for the month of March, and being well rested enough to run the 6 hours today taking into account the level of elevation for each 10k.

I did 2 laps of the 5.4 mile route on Wednesday and then just one loop of the 7.5 mile route on Thursday and Friday. Apart from being appalled at how cold I was on the last of these, the rest of it was pretty uneventful.

This balancing act paid off based on today’s race, I had set out aiming for 5 laps of the 10km route which averaged out to 1hr 12 minds per lap. I was able to start at a fast pace and finished the first lap in just over an hour. Since the first 5k felt virtually all uphill, I was happy with this. I was very conscious of the time for reaching the top of the hill on each lap and then getting back to the start. Apart from a...

This week was going well up until this morning. I had covered 48 miles and was quite looking forward to only having to cover 3 laps of the 7.5 mile route to get back above 70 again this week.

I have remained in an auto pilot mode recently of wearing a base layer top, running shirt and waterproof jacket regardless of the weather. This morning was the first time in ages I actually felt warm! Although the first lap was quite settled and it was just getting light on account of the clocks changing, my 2nd and 3rd laps were very sluggish and it was purely a stubborn mindset that I wasn’t going to slow too much that got me through it.

The midweek and Saturday sessions included 2 laps of the 5.4 mile route followed by 5 laps of the 7.5 miler. My 2nd 7.5 mile run on Saturday evening was 100% so that I didn’t have to get up at 4am with the clocks going forward an hour last night.
I was also...

I wrote last week about being able to let my mind wander for most of that weeks running, like a balloon on a string. For the past 7 days I have had to run mostly with no metaphorical balloon or string!

I did 8 laps of the 5.4 mile route between Tuesday and Saturday morning. These included a cement legged effort where someone sped past me in the opposite direction in a suit using both crutches and several where I was persevering in horrific driving rain and snow. The highlight was definitely managing a coffee fuelled 7:30 min-mile outing. About half an hour before I’d made a large coffee in which I’d used 2 nespresso pods in one cup and more Black Forest syrup than someone my age should admit to! My first 2 miles were around 6:40 pace then I hung on for dear life for the last 3 miles!

My long run today was very difficult to not chicken out of or shorten. Weather reports were...