Looking Ahead

Well I have had a good rest the past week and also managed two decent runs , one of and hour and one of an hour and a half and got out for a bit of rock climbing aswell

Paul and Gary , on Point Gaspard(5c), Aiguille Rouges

Gary showing how its done on the trickiest move.

I thought that after the CCC I would be bored of running and just want to chill out for a while but to be honest that lasted about 3 days and then I started to think of things in the future. I have already signed up for some other races. I have entered the Dumfries Half Marathon for when I am back in Scotland next week , I ran this race years ago and liked the route so thought I would go do it again since I will be around. It is going to be a strange one I reckon as I havent really  run on a road all season , probably a maximum of 10km I reckon in total! So going back to do a road half marathon wont be as easy as some may think given the distances I have covered this summer on trails. I will probably just be happy to finish it in around an hour and half and feel fresh as ever after but not fussed either way , just dont want to get injured pounding the pavements again.

Post race meal. Only reason I ran the CCC was so
I could enjoy this without feeling guilty.

And these went down rather nicely aswell

Then it is not until May that I have my next Ultra. The Kintyre Way Ultra in Scotland. It was super cheap to enter(£20) so I thought why not. The full race is 107km from Tarbert to Campbeltown and mostly on trails. The good thing about this race is that you can decide what distance you want to do right up until the day before the event. As I said you can do the full 107km or join the route further ahead and do either 70km or 50km. I dont know what one to go for yet but obviously in the back of my mind the 107km is looming there somewhere , although a nice wee 50km may be the wiser option after a winter season of no running.

I have also be thinking hard about what BIG one to do next year and the one that I have been looking into is the 100 mile Leadville 100 in Colorado in the US.

http://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/page/show/311976-leadville-trail-100-run

It is a super famous trail ultra and I have read many books with articles about this race and it sounds right up my street. Its 100 miles with about 5000m of ascent but it is run quite high in altitude ranging from 9000ft to 12500ft so training in Chamonix is a must. You dont require any points to enter the race but do need to prove you have Ultra experience. Entries are not open yet and when they do I will apply and just see what happens , no point making any plans until I know I am in it. It is also the first race I may do that allows you to run with a pacer from the 50 mile mark , something I think would help me massively , after having already asked Scott if he would like to join me if I get in he has had to decline as the idiot has entered an Ironman next year. So anyone who fancies a trip to the states next August please get in touch , oh and make sure you can run 50 miles.

The other option to fall back on is the TDS in Chamonix one of the other UTMB races. It is slightly longer than the CCC at 112km and has a bigger ascent of 7000m so it looks like a good stepping stone to the full UTMB one day. I will send applications to both the TDS and Leadville and just see if I get in any of them.

Lots of people ask me if I am going to try the full UTMB (164km , 9500m+) and my answer is always the same , yeah probably one day. I firstly dont have enough points yet to qualify for it but if I complete one of the chosen races next year then that will give me the points to try and enter in 2014. Secondly I just dont think I have it in me yet to do something that big , yes the Leadville is the same distance but its not nearly as technical a trail and has half the ascent , just by looking and comparing times of UTMB and Leadville it is obvious that Leadville is the  "easier" of the two.

I was going to pack in the blog after the CCC but to be honest I quite enjoy doing it and it is a great way for me to keep track of what I have been doing so I am just going to continue with it over winter so hope you enjoy.