endurance running | UltraBoyRuns

It’s August and the year is drawing to a close. Yes, you read correctly, we are now on the swift spiral down to the 2017 races. Strangely, you, like me, have probably started your planning – undoubtedly you’ve already picked a couple of possibilities for your ‘A race’ and you’ll have some ideas regarding the races you’ll run as supporting ones but how far and wide have you looked for races this year? What are your criteria for running in 2017?

I have a range of criteria that help me draw up my options race selection.

Location and accessibility
Distance
Size of field
Heat
Medal
Elevation
Views of previous participants
Opportunity
Public profile
Proximity to fun

Location: A good race, as far as I’m concerned should achieve ticks next to at least half the list above; with some carrying more decisive weight than others. Location and accessibility are key, if I can’t get there then it’s not going to happen and as I’m reliant on the GingaNinja or public transport then there are races that simply aren’t reachable. However, because of my interest in the Bob Graham I’m finally resigned to learning to drive! The location also has to interest me – so Bristol for the Green Man was awesome, Isle of Skye was inspiring and Lanzarote will I know be tremendous.

Field Size: Also carrying lots of importance for me over the last three years is the size of the field – I’ve run ultras with 10 other people and I’ve run them with thousands of other participants. What has become clear is that I prefer less runners. A centurion race for example is a good size with a couple of hundred runners that spreads out quite nicely and the Skye Trail Ultra with less than 20 runners was absolutely brilliant. SVN events typically have 100 runners at most and this gives it a great atmosphere but also once a race gets going it can develop a nice sense of space, freedom and even peaceful isolation. My experience at the CCC start line (nasty and aggressive) and ‘follow the leader’ trail felt quite false so I’ve been avoiding bigger races – although the SainteLyon with nearly 6,000 runners never felt crowded and the atmosphere was electric. I suppose this also leads in to preferring a race with a lower profile – therefore the London Marathon wasn’t entered this year for the first time in seven years.

With regard to the CCC though – it did give me another important criteria ‘elevation’. I realised that the thing I love doing is ‘up and down’ or at least ‘undulating’ and years of bombing around the Lake District have been some of the happiest in my life. So after my failure in Champex I have used 2016 as an opportunity to add hills into my events. Rachel’s Ranscombe Ramble, Skye Trail Ultra and the Vanguard Way Marathon spring to mind and both the Ridgeway and Haria Extreme will have testing elevation.

So looking ahead I’ve been drawing up plans for 2017 and the list of potentials is quite long but I’m only looking at a couple of race types; marathon or above and the mile (that is unless Vigo Runners get their act together on out on the Valentines 10 mile!!). Below is the long list, some of these are worth looking up!

January Winter Tanners (50km)
January Ranscombe (8hr)
January Peddars Way (77km)
February Thames Trot (80km)
March Skraping Ultra (47km)
March Green Man (75km)
Apr Highland Fling (80km)
Apr Liverpool to Manchester (80km)
Apr Le Grand Defi des Vosges (132km)
Apr Rodopi Challenge ( 80km)
Apr Rachel’s Ranscombe Ramble
May L2M (160km)
May Ridgeway 40 (64km)
May UTSM – Ultra Trail de São Mamede (100km)
May Westminster Mile
June City of London Mile
June Mont Blanc Marathon (80km)
June Lavaredo (119km)
June Tenerife Blue Trail (97km)
June Ultra Trail Serra da Freita (100km)
July GranTrail Courmayeur (90km)
July Ice Trail Tarentaise (64km)
July Medway Mile
Aug Stour Valley Path (100km)
Aug Ultra Great Britain (320km)
Aug Green Man Express (76km)
Sept Trails du Haut-Koenigsbourg (108km)
Sept Isle of Man Ultra (55km)
Sept Ultra Trail Monte Rosa (116km)
Oct Autumn 100 (160km)
Dec Saintelyon (76km)
Dec Dawn ’til Dusk Ultra (50km)

At the moment the anchor point to the year would be the Trails du Haut-Koenigsbourg as its near the GingaNinja’s French family contingent and I’d like to go back and run sub 10hrs at SainteLyon. The one that niggles is the Autumn 100 which having DNF’d so spectacularly a couple of years back I really want to prove to myself that I can do it – but this means returning to Centurion and I’m not sure I’m quite ready to do that – but we’ll see by the time 2017 A100 comes round I won’t have run a Centurion race for more than 2 years. The only one I might miss out on because of my anchor race might be the GB Ultra in late August but plans do have a habit of revising themselves as the year rolls on.

Anyway good luck in your plans for 2017 and if you have criteria or a race I should be considering then let me know.

Happy running.

Ultra running and parenting are two things that require a genuine level of dedication where you must give your all if you are to get the rewards you desire. Now despite my best efforts I’m feeling the strain of that dedication at the moment – it didn’t go unnoticed in my dismantling of my failure at the CCC that it was not helped by the fact that the two weeks prior to the race had seen the baby more restless than normal and my (already limited) sleeping pattern further hindered.
UltraBaby is a genuinely good child when it comes to letting us rest and catch up but with teething now in full swing I’m starting to understand the struggles that runners have when young children are involved.

The Before Pre-UltraBaby it was easy to get home from work, change into running kit, kiss GingaNinja goodbye and then go running for several hours. Pre-UltraBaby it was easy to say ‘I’ll run home from work tonight – all 40odd kilometres.

The Now Now I spend most of my time wondering if I’ll get back in time to collect her from the childminders or get home in time to put her to bed so that gran doesn’t have to. By the time this is done, baby and work prep for the next day and well you don’t always feel like going and banging out 20km or more.

The Commute None of this is helped by (on average) my 2 hour commute (each way) from my Central London job to home in sunny Kent and it’s further compounded by my partners regular late finishes which simply make me feel like I’ve got to get home. Weekends are equally prone to fracture with the GingaNinjas work and a lack of family network close by that we can draw on for support – therefore running is now challenging.

I do as many of the right things as possible. I run pre and/or post work most days. I’ll parkrun, I’ll buggy run and I’ll race regularly so I’m still achieving bigger distances even when training isn’t going well. But there’s only so long you can keep going like this before the lack of coherent training, sleep and even eating cause some mischief.

I’m Lucky Really I shouldn’t complain, I have it relatively easy, I have a supportive partner, a baby that isn’t too demonic and a dedication to the medals – I just want my cake and to eat it too – and I mean the whole cake, not a slice! Running is my primary hobby but UltraBaby is my responsibility and so I need to learn a greater degree of balance to ensure that I can continue to successfully parent but without too much compromise in ultra running!

What about you? I’m curious to hear how other running mothers and fathers manage to get the ‘time on their feet’ in and what ‘little tricks’ they’ve developed to make running, especially ultra running possible in the face of full time work, children, commuting and the plethora of other things that seem to get priority over running!

—UltraBoyRuns

Saving the world one run at a time

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