Friday 18 March 2011

the long and the short ...

Starting to seriously think about my first ultra of 2011 - a 100 miler in June.  Plans need to be made:  travel, nutrition, pacing, etc.

I know that race will only be a warm up for the Commonwealth Championships in September so I'm using it to try out one or two new ideas -

(1) pacing ... I still feel that on the whole I need to slow down less during my 24 hour races.  Maybe start a bit slower and finish a bit quicker than usual,

(2) food and drink ... this will be a good opportunity to try new foods, different protein drinks, etc.  I have been using some protein bars as well as protein drinks but the bars become difficult to chew in the latter half of a long race.  A combination of my tired jaw muscles and the bars becoming harder during the cold night.

Of course, I'm still looking to win the race with a decent time, but I think a personal best is out of the question on such a hilly course.

Before all that though there's a (much) shorter race on Sunday.  It's the North of England 12 stage relay and I'll be running a measly 4k.  I've no idea what time to expect as I can't say I've done a lot of speedwork so far this year.  I do know that, in training, I can comfortably run 4k in 16:10.  But that was a flattish route and I don't know anything about the course in Catterick.  Hilly or not ?

For me though it's all about turning out for my club, having a bit of fun and doing some speedwork at the same time.

See you there perhaps ...

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