Svartåloppet 14.5km Trail race: Degerfors, Sweden. 12th August 2012

http://www.svarta.nu/f%C3%B6reningar-org./svart%C3%A5-if/svart%C3%A5loppet-4225347

Small race, 1st place and course record. Write ups to follow.

CxM 23.5km mountain race- III Sierra Nevada Mountain Festival: Sunday 15th July

http://racesplitter.com/races/A2334334A

III Sierra Nevada Mountain Festival 2012: KM Vertical (Saturday 14th July)

http://www.grupoalpinobenalmadena.com/images/actividades/festival12/clasifica/KmV/Clasif_General_KmV_III_Sierra_Nevada_MF.pdf

II Carrera internacional del Mamut - 10k Padul, Granada

http://conxip.com/resultados/392general10000.pdf

10,000 hours

I read a book last year called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The book examines factors which determine high level of success and provides examples such as the high percentage of Ice Hockey players being born in the first three months of the year, how the Beatles became a household name and how Bill Gates became the richest man in the world. The key is how they became fortunate enough to get into a situation so they could acquire 10,000 hours of practise in order to thrive when the timing was right.  I think that this golden rule is important for athletics, and no more so than in long distance running. The increase in mileage, base endurance and fully developing your heart and lungs must be gradual and consistent over years. Shortcuts are possible, but you are at a greater risk to burn out or to get injured. A Kenyan marathoner arrives at 10,000 hours in their teens with a heart, lungs, ligaments and muscles ready to step up and adapt easily to the training required to become great.

This year I have struggled with a silly number of injuries. We are now in May, and I planned to be so much fitter and further forward by now. Last weekend was the Bupa Manchester 10k, which marks exactly two years since I started running again, having run 40:18 and getting fixated on improving. After being away from running so long, I figured out what I had missed so much, I love/loved running and especially competing. I wanted to get fit again, run marathons and do something useful with my spare time. I had got to a point where I ran 2:37 at Seville Marathon in February, and 72:04 at Malaga Half in March this year along with an unofficial 31.59 at Armilla 10km too. Good progress in a short time, but I’ve not been clever with my training yet. Anyway, I feel like it’s a good thing strive for more and be intense because I think, finally I’m getting towards the cause of problems, instead of just fixing the injury and carrying on.

I’ve realised that it’s not possible to run fast or hard all the time, the recovery and easy runs prepare you to be fully fit and ready to gain the most from your key sessions. It’s not so wise for me to run on feel all the time, I start a run with good intentions to go easy and feel recovered or fresher when I finish but I don’t fight the urge to go quicker and factor in some quicker sections of the run. I’ve learnt now that I need a plan, and to stick to it. I plan to have a goal, 11 or 12 weeks from now and build gradual over that time to be in shape for it and any race a long the race will be, for me a training race, or a B race. I’ll do my very best to stay focused and listen to my body more. I plan to work hard on my weaknesses whilst improving my strengths and hopefully I will benefit from dedicating time each day to injury proof my body. I will also focus more on nutrition for endurance and less on losing weight.

It’s possible to find everything and anything by researching on the net. There are endless sources of information and opinions available to the point where it is important to take information from many sources, gather your own view and make a plan specifically for you. It’s key to keep a detailed diary of all your training factors such as diet, strength training, stretching, cross training, running and even sleep. What works for one person may not work for you, so become your own guinea pig and record your findings. Eventually you will discover the perfect recipe for success and along the way, log those 10,000 hours.

The future is bright, soon.

Alhama de Granada - 11.3km (15th April 2012)

A month ago I was really looking forward to this race. The town of Alhama is something very special, partly due to it's difficult to get to location but mostly because the surrounding scenery really is incredible. The typical Andalusian market town sits on the edge of a dramatic Gorge, filled with medieval architecture and an ancient Arabic quarter and literally home to bags of lively characters in amongst plenty of tapas bars, it's a great find. I wanted to do well here because of the interaction I have with the people when I run here, they don't see so many runners and they love it. 

After the Malaga Half I sprained the ligament on my inside knee, I still haven't really pinpointed the problem, or a way to cure it but I'm working on it. I didn't run for over 2 weeks and it gets painfully frustrating, like a kid screaming for sweets. I was climbing the walls and tried to go out a few times only to turn back after less than a few hundred metres. Anyway, I got going with a week or so until the race and tried to build some confidence that the niggle would be ok for the race. 

I registered on the Wednesday before and decided to use it as a nice training run. The weather strangely forecast rain and even snow, which it did later in the day but on the morning it was just overcast and cool, maybe the reason for just over eight hundred starters which usually is well over a thousand.

I got a decent position about 3 or 4 rows back on a narrow start and at the gym a group of 5 or so shot off and I decided to stay back and wait for the hills on an underlating course which i knew well. I took it really easy on the descent out of town and began working my way through the field on the first or three hills. I found it very easy to climb faster than others, so took it easy on the descents knowing the main climb was between 7km and 9km back towards the town. I caught another few guys on that final climb and got behind Marcos Jesus who I knew from other races, I stayed behind him on the final descent with the thought of passing him at the short ascent into town, but the course had changed, so twisted in another direction and around the Arabic quarter to take in some views. At one point we were nearly lost but eventually found the climb, which was in my favour as I managed to get away from him and in the final straight saw Juan, also Bikila crossing the line who came first Senior with me second. he's a good guy, really friendly and also consistent. 

I was really pleased with how controlled the race was for me, and considering the lost training time I felt relatively fit. 

One thing I will take from this is a longer warm up for a shorter race, I ran more that usual and made sure my final efforts were above the race pace. I also remembered how much I love running hills, I need to do more of that.

Media Marathon Málaga (March 18th 2012) - 12th Place 72:04

Media Maraton Malaga Resultados - March 18th 2012

Video of finish 1:12:00-1:13:00

Loja Cruzcampo Series Race 11.3km - March 4th 2012

Full Results - Loja 11km - March 4th 2012

Great day, and very well organised race in the Cruzcampo Series again with guge crowds and over 1000 runners but I just wasn't feeling it from very early in the race. I thought it would have really suited me because there was plenty of long up hills but after being in the lead group for the first couple of k's I really began to feel it and had to drop back. These guys at the front are all capable of between 29 and 30 minutes for 10km and I'm just not there yet so I should probably start off a little slower. It's tricky not to get carried away though. 

During the race I found I was catching everyone going up but then losing on the downs, so definitely something to practise on. After about 7/8km a group of 5 or 6 runners passed me and I had nothing left to hang on, so I resorted to just trying to hold on until the end and call it a good training run. At the 8k mark until the finish I was chased by another local guy but after he passed me with about 200m to go I managed to get some strength from somewhere and beat him to the line. I could hardly stand up, really tough day. Hopefully I can get some good recovery from Seville in and start training towards the Edinburgh Marathon (27th May) and another similar race to Loja in Alhama in the middle of April. Great to have so many races to look forward to, but means I have to be clever with training to improve and not just stay at one level. 

Malaga Half Marathon is the next race in 2 weeks.

Ascent of Maroma Mountain 2068m - Andalucia, Southern Spain - "Lord of the Rings" - Trail Run Spain

Maroma Mountain Loop "Lord of the Rings" Sunday 26th February Album (FB)

33km mountain route up forest trails, through snow up to the peak of Maroma at 2068m see level. As we dipped over the peak, we hit a hidden single trail that looped up and over another smaller mountain and then descended to a view point of Africa, peering over Malaga and the Mediterranean sea. We picked up a jeep track traail that took up through forests on a jeep track trail but twisting and turning into a valley river track that had been made more technical by storms. We climbed up from the river over olive farms and woodland before circling around back to base where we had began over 4 hours ago. Breathtaking is a word to often used, but today was. This route has everything :)