Need Your Help Please

So things have been going rather well at moment. The trail shoes have been out after being locked away for a few months and I managed to get in a couple of 10ks on lunch breaks which was great. I was just plodding along the roads as the trails are still way too snowy for running. I hate road running but its all I can do at the moment so I will have to make do with it. A few minor niggles in my knee and my shins appeared but all to be expected. Nothing spectacular on the runs just a couple of 50 mins 10ks , will have them back down to nearer the 40 mins mark pretty easily by the end of the month but no point rushing anything just need to get the miles back in my legs.

The Cascadias are back out

I also managed a quick Cosmiques Arete lap on another lunch with Laurent. We skied over to the start and climbed the route back up to the station. Great conditions on it at the moment with the most snow on it I have ever seen. Was good to be back up high(3600m - 3800m) doing some cardio work and even though we were really only up for a total of 2 hours including waiting time on the lift I felt absolutely fine on the ridge with regards to the altitude.

Lunbreaks! Laurent at the first abseil

Now back to work

On another note , I have decided I am going to run Leadville for a Charity. It is something I always get asked when I enter races. People always ask if I am running for a charity and to be honest normally I don’t. Now I am all for Charities and everything they do but I used to feel that running under a charity would be another pressure to deal with and I would not like to fail them but since this is such a big event for me then I thought I will try make some money for a good cause. I have chosen to run for Chest , Heart and Stroke Scotland. My Gran passed away after suffering a Stroke and a very close friend of mines Father died a few years back from a Heart Attack so I feel this is the best Charity to support. The link to my sponsorship page is on this blog , just click the Chest , Heart and Stroke logo and you will be directed straight to my page. Any pennies you have spare would be very much appreciated.

I will soon be getting a little section in the Scottish Running Guide magazine to promote my run courtesy of CHSS who have a column in the magazine and are happy to use it up just for me very soon. Also the kind people of Inverclyde National Sports Centre particularly Jamie who I have been in contact with are going to help me out by also promoting me on their website which is great and also offered me use of facilities if need be. I grew up my whole life using the sports centre which is only a few minutes from my parents house in Largs. I went there to play Football , Basketball and use the gym. I also worked a fair bit up there coaching Basketball for North Ayrshire Leisure a few years back so its great that Inverclyde can help me out a little bit.

It has been rather mild lately in Chamonix so I will be getting out for another few runs this week before the snow arrives back and it will be back to ski touring for my fitness.

Finally as of the moment I do not have many races this year set up before Leadville. I am back in Scotland for 10 days in May and I will be running the Kintyre Way Ultra with my work collegue Laurent. There are 2 races , one of 107km and one of 54km. We have chosen to just run the 54km , I would have loved to run the full 107 but feel its just too close to the end of winter season to go for it. Really looking forward to it. I have also entered the Chamonix Vertical KM which is the end of June , it is pretty much a race from Chamonix Town Centre to the top of the Planpraz bubble so straight up 1000m(running straight up a munro) as fast as possible not really Leadville training but more a bit of fun. Last Years winner the awesome Killian Jornet won it in an incredible 34 mins! If I can get sub 50mins I will be happy. I would like to fit in another 50-60km at some point over the summer and will have a look around although most races here are on weekends when I work which is a problem but I am pretty confident my training days will be nice a long in this awesome playground that is Chamonix.

Sights firmly set on Colorado

It was a pretty tough month February as I have spent most of it not feeling great at all , I just couldn’t kick a bad cold that I had and had a really really bad cough for more than 3 weeks. Thankfully it has all passed now and training has begun for this summer. The end of January and all of Feb did see some great skiing with a good few big dumps of snow when I went exploring the trees at Brevent with Graham and then more Trees at Courmayeur and then over to Verbier for an amazing bluebird day.

Spot me if you can

Steep and Deep at Brevent

Me Loving it  in the Brevent Trees
Thanks Graham for a great shot

I have just returned from a quick trip back to Scotland where I spent Thurs evening – Sunday up north climbing. Squeezing in around 10 hours sleep in three and a half days. I must say though that the climbing on Nevis was the best conditions I have ever had in Scotland and along with that came probably the greatest sunrise I have ever seen and the coldest night I have ever spent out on the hill. It was a pretty full on time back home and awesome to be back climbing with Scott. I arrived in Edinburgh at 5.30pm and we were on the Nevis Summit at 3am and had a horrible freezing time in the summit shelter for a couple of hours and managed about 10 mins of sleep and decided it was best to get up and warm ourselves best we could and as we popped our heads out the door we were greeted by absolute heaven. Climbing commenced for all of Friday and Saturday and it was just a great time albeit way too short. I have missed climbing so much and forgot how much I love it. After all it is the reason I came to Chamonix although skiing really did take a hold of me climbing is back on my agenda big time.

Oh how I love Scotland

Terribly Cold

Try beating that for a morning

Me on Pitch 3 of Green Gully

Soloing up Taxus

I am now just starting to get into full on training mode for Leadville and last week went my first run for months. It was only a 10k on my lunch but it went ok although the next day my shins were a bit sore from pounding along the road as the trails have way too much snow. Yesterday I went skinning up Les Houches. Its about 850m up from the bottom to top of Prarion and I managed two and a half ascents before my blister got too big and I decided to bail. It was hard work but was happy with 2hrs 40mins. Not exactly a fast time but its the usual when getting back into training like every year , its super tough at the start but will ease off I am sure in next couple of weeks.

The suffering begins.

So my plan now is just train , train , train. I will be getting some climbing in and of course more skiing but I am now pretty focused on getting my fitness up to a good level again and then raising the bar higher than I ever have before as Leadville is only 6 months away and that is not a long time really. So everything for Leadville is booked up. I am currently on the pursuit of any kind of sponsorship possible. I am not interested in money...well not really but I am trying to find companies willing to offer any kind of kit like trainers or tops or even energy gels/bars. Flights , Accomodation etc has not come cheap and little things like shoes of which I will need 3 pairs plus gels and bars actually ramp up the cost a fair bit so if I am lucky I may get a little help with these things. At the moment it is not going well as most big companies already have proper sponsored athletes to support although Go Fast Sports are sending me some energy drinks and the lovely people at Tunnocks in Scotland are giving me some boxes of cakes and also very kindly donated a little cash to help me on my trip for which I am very grateful. I will certainly be sporting a Tunnocks tshirt for all the people in Colorado to see. I still have a few companies to hear back from but fingers crossed something comes up.

Colorado Calling

Happy New Year Folks! I suppose it comes as no surprise that Christmas and New Year were a mass of amazing food and some rather mental nights out so I planned on spending January recovering and getting the fitness level back up to where it should be. All was going well with some great skiing and ace little tours and then I got hit with a pretty bad cold and that has floored me for a good ten days and counting although it looks as though I may be on the mend and hopefully all good again for my days off.

Awesome Tree Skiing

Traversing up to Col Beaugent

So not much to report on on the training side of things but as soon as I feel 100% again then it will be full steam ahead and to be honest I cannot wait.

 

 

The best news I got over the New Year was that I have been accepted to run in the Leadville 100 in August in Colorado USA! I found out on January 1^st and I was super happy. I cannot wait to go over there and have a go at what is one of the most famous and toughest Ultras not just in the States but in the world. I am not kidding myself on here thinking it will all go smoothly but I am so excited now to have my main goal for the rest of winter and summer and something to focus on. It is going to be so much tougher than the CCC not just because its an extra 65km but there are a few other reasons. One being that the race is never below 3000m in altitude so training high in Cham this summer is a must. Also I will be going there with no support team and no knowledge of the course. It is quite a small race in terms of famous Ultras with only around 700 competitors and the scariest part is the 45% success rate.

I have also been accepted to run in the TDS in Chamonix , the race slightly longer than the CCC but shorter than the full UTMB. It is 120km with 7000m of ascent. Now this was my fall back race in case I didn’t get into Leadville but I got an email to say I had a place to I paid the fee and that was that. One small detail however is the TDS is 10 days after Leadville!Yup I know , it sounds mad but I will just see how I feel. I am living in Chamonix anyway so I don’t have to make travel or accommodation plans for the TDS. My main goal is Leadville , IF I return to Chamonix as a Leadville finisher or not and I feel good enough to give the TDS a bash then so be it. Why not.

So at the moment it is get back to feeling 100% then I can start touring and getting my legs fit again , sure there is still plenty of partying to be had this season but it may be a bit more mellow now. Real training will without a doubt start Mid March or early April.

Pow Pow

Well it has been way too long since I last posted but now I have some internet back here goes.

It has been a pretty hectic few weeks with friends arriving back to Cham for the Winter and we have had a huge amount of snowfall so I have just been skiing some incredible powder with friends and then celebrating some great skiing with a few too many drinks.

 

Me in the Trees in Italy

1hr 15mins to skin up , 1hr 30mins down! A very sketchy descent , enough said.

I was getting on the bike pretty regularly in the house at nights but now the skiing has begun I have kind of given up on it as I can now start skinning up the mountain at night for my fitness. I also bought a pair of track running spikes to use on the cross country ski track in town and I am super impressed with them already. Very cheap at only £20 and stick on a pair of neoprene socks to keep me dry and warm and it seems to work fine.

Next weeks plans are a bit of Christmas celebrating and there is talks of going through to Ice Climb in Italy as I really need to get my axes out as I am visiting Scotland for a few days in Feb and skiing powder is not going to help me get strong for that.

Lorne showing how its done in Verbier

I will be trying to update more often from now but here are some more ski pics from past couple weeks.

Fleur pinning it in Italy

Graham enjoying awesome tree skiing In Courmayeur

Laurent in Deep Snow in Verbier


 



Nearly Ski Time

It has been a long time since my last post and since then I really haven’t done a huge amount except work. To be quite honest I have been struggling to get motivated especially to go out running in the evenings now it is dark and cold! Yeah I know that sounds pathetic but after the entire summer of amazing running in perfect temperatures it is now starting to feel like winter again and the running gear is slowly creeping back into the cupboard and the skis are out.

I have managed a couple of decent sized runs around the valley but nothing more than 2 hours and in the evenings I am getting on the turbo trainer , which is the most boring thing ever but if I just stick on music I can usually blast out a good hour or hour and half a few times a week.

 

Last run up high this year. Lifts now closed until Skiing begins.

The great news is that the skis are out and have been used. I headed over to Switzerland with Graham , Ally and Robbie last week to get in some early season turns. We went over in the direction of the Grand St Bernard and skinned up for about an hour and a half going up about 800m. It had been snowing quite a bit and we found some lovely powder albeit with a few rocks here and there. It was great to get back out and find that I could still ski.

Excited to start my season in some nice fresh Powder

Ally showing us how it's done , we gave him first tracks after his
effort at putting in the skinnng track up.

Graham Lovin' it

It is still really cold at the moment in the mornings and in the evening but when the sun creeps out in the afternoons it is actually quite pleasant so if this keeps up then I may well get out running on lunch breaks but to be honest I just want it to snow again so the trail shoes can go away and I can start getting ski fit again. It has been the same old process for a couple of years now. Come December my legs and body suffers for a few weeks trying to get my ski fitness back and then come April/May I suffer for a few weeks getting my running legs back. I am going to try once or twice a week to do a couple of short evening runs over the season and when I say short I mean short like 30-40 mins max. Just to keep me ticking over. I am going to need to invest in some spike running shoes though and they don’t come cheap.