Salomon Speedcross

So, another running blogger is about to ramble on about kit. I make no appologies, you must be as sick of reading about me already as I am about writing it.

Noone is sending me this stuff, nor is anyone asking me to review it, I'm just one of those fussy shoppers, I try not to be a goon with loads of kit he never uses, and the scotsman in me means the cash is hard parted with at times. So I read a lot of stuff before buying and thought I'd have a go a writing about my own kit...starting with the favourites:

You won't see Salomon Speedcross shoes that look like these in a catalogue. I've chosen these first up as I just couldn't be without them off road. This Sunday I did 23 miles in this pair, there had been a couple of inches of snow on the cotswold hills which nicely covered the rock, grass or mainly mud that is the cotswold way this time of year. These shoes just take whatever you throw at them.

I was out with a friend who had a pair of asics something or others (now I'm a big asics fan) and the grip you get from the lugs on the sole makes these much better in the slippy mud, and goign uphill. He's a smidge faster than me normally, but not yesterday! Going downhill I get great confidence from, just knowing that when I plant a foot it's not going sliding away. They're really light too.

To be honest I'm not a big fan of the quick lace system, once on, I like to keep a shoe on so why do I need a techno quick release shoe lace? Saying that they have never come off in the mud. The shoes are a snug fit some say, but my feet are quite narrow and these fit like a glove. At about 2 years old the laces did both snap on me which was a major annoyance, but that happens sometimes to normal laces I suppose. It was easy enough to tie them in a temporary knot and finish the run though and I did find a replacement pair easily enough: http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=370712743861&index=0&nav=WATCHING&nid=08910121175

I've done distances up to 37 miles in these with no blisters and did most of Offas Dyke in them over 7 days too. There's at least 600 miles in this pair now and there's plenty of life in them yet. I've got the gortex ones which are perfect for when it's wet, but of course if you go in too deep and the water is over your ancle or even through a river then you would probably want a breathable none waterproof pair which would dry out rather than keep the water in!

If there are long stretches of tarmac these are not the best plan, they can feel a bit skittish. But on mud, trails, snow, grass, rock....I wouldn't choose anything else.

Where is it headed?

So there are 3 aims for 2013.

1. Get Cheltenham Parkrun going: tick it's amazing with 170+ runners a week!

2. Get a GFA qualifying time for the 2014 London marathon this is sub 3 hours ten minutes and if achieved means I get in guaranteed without the 1 in 10 ballot nonsense. Because you're supposedly a bit quick, there's a separate start too, muddled in with celeb joggers.

So 2 weeks today I'll line up at Blackpool Marathon with all the signs saying 2:59 - 3:05 is a good expectation. Fingers crossed! If this doesn't come off I've got another attempt in June, and may line one more up too, because the fitness is there, I've just got to execute the plan. Have till end of June to achieve the 3:10 but would really rather nail it at Blackpool.

3. Run the full length of the Cotswold way in September. This is a mind boggling 102 miles! I'm loving running far and off-road more and more. It takes me back to my original love of the outdoors: fell walking, except this time it's ultra running. I'm comfortable enough with 40 miles now, and have two 50 milers lined up late April and mid June. The step up to running through the night and aiming to do 100 hilly miles in 24 hours is a huge step up from that though. So lots of work to do!

Which brings me onto this blog title; where is it headed?

What do I want to achieve in running then? Obviously not taking this too seriously, just that if my aims are 5k & 10K times, then I need to do something different to if I want to be the best marathon runner I can be. OK yes, that one. But I also want to be the best ultra runner I can be, so need a plan that covers both marathon & ultra.

Well, having got into running a bit mid 2009 I've only been training consistently for 15 months (from Christmas 2011). I did 1654 miles in 2012, and hope to get to over 2000 in 2013. I feel like I could do more than 50 a week, but need to balance it with staying injury free, so building slowly. Marathon times should continue to come down, but it's surely going to be diminishing returns from here.

April 2011: 4:09
April 2012: 3:42
October 2012: 3:18
April 2013:  ?:??

I do now think there's a chance I've got the engine for a 2:45 (6:18 pace which seems nuts!!!) can only try and find out. Would need to get to faster than 36:00 10K and 79:00 Half Marathon. So basically 6 min miles for the half (that's my current 10K pace) - so looking at it like that turning 10K pace into half marathon  pace is something I've done before more than once....we'll see.

To do this, firstly aerobic base needs building some more, so that's loads of steady running at sub 70% max heart rate have you heard of a Mr Hadd?  Hadd's document  is somewhat of a distance runners bible, although Hadd is not the only one to preach on such matters, and there's always plenty of debate. However Phase 1 (the base phase) seems perfect prep for the Cotswold Century.  I'm really loving running on trails and will need as much trail time as running the off road needs much more stability and uses muscles in a way the road just doesn't.

I also need to accept that I'll get better if I work on core and other strength. I find William Sichel talks a lot of sense on training (and achieves a hell of a lot). I'm also always dreaming of escaping it all and living on an Outer Hebride, so the fact that the guy lives and trains on a tiny Orkney island before beating the rest of the world at stupidly long races mkaes me want to train like he does a little more than others I read about. From what I have read William believes that for ultra distances the body needs to be trained as much for strength as aerobic work, there's a lot of weight training and even running with a weighted vest in his routine.

I'm not going to neglect speed work though. Even though disciples of Hadd would tell me otherwise, I'm going to a Tuesday night speed session once a week with Stroud AC. I want to run with the club, and that's what they do! Plus It's going to hopefully keep that sharpness for some other shorter fun races over the summer.

Other events this year will include:

27th April - Highland Fling, 53 miles (followed by a week in the highlands on foot)
19th May - Cardiff Ultra, 50 miles
15th June - 3 rings of Shap, 62 miles
13th July - Ultra tour of the Peak District, 60 miles
16th Nov - Beacons Ultra, 45 miles

new running blog

So it's time to get another blog going. I wrote one last year on the cycle ride through France and thought about adding onto that, but totallymed.blogspot.com doesn't really fit with running etc and so I think I'll leave that as a piece in time. You never know there may be some more med trips I add to it one day.

Plans for 2013

April 7th Blackpool Marathon - aiming sub 3:10

April 27th Highland Fling Race - 52 miles followed by a week in the highlands with a tent

September 21st Cotswold Way Century - aiming to finish

to be continued....