Sorry if I've surprised you by dusting off the old blog magic, but I've finally got my act back in order and wished to bring you all up to speed on whats been going on in 'Sparky World'.
I can't believe that my last post was in December 2009. I knew it was a while ago but 3 months?!
So, I thought a Quarter 1 (Q1) summary would be pretty timely and hopefully interesting reading.
2010 is a really exciting year for me, due to the variety of goals, races and adventures I've got lined up.
After being totally focused on Ironman for the last few years, and then achieving that goal (twice) last year, I was keen to achieve some new goals this year. So, with no Ironman on the cards, I've lined up some different goals.
The main goal for Q1 was Eco-Trail de Paris. This is an extraordinary race held on the trails around Paris. I opted to go for the 80km Ultra distance, by far the longest foot race I've ever done.
The run focus really started in November and continued all the way through to the race on 20 March. It was tough to miss out on the swim & bike work, but there was just no way I could have developed the run volume whilst trying to fit in the other disciplines.
Firstly, I signed-up to the Endurance Life Coastal Trail Series event, a great series of trail races held on the south-west coast of the UK. This meant I had a trail marathon booked in for every 4 weeks from December onwards. Due to the off-road nature of these races, its near impossible to get the distance spot-on, so if they're in doubt they go longer!
Two of the three races I did came in at 28 miles, on some seriously challenging terrain. As tough as they were, they were perfect training for Eco-Trail, and knocking out 4 marathons in 10 weeks was a big factor in me hitting the cumulative volume target.
Eco-Trail on 20 March was an experience I'll never forget. It was pretty mind-blowing stuff both during and since the race. I remember when my friend Ian did the race last year, I couldn't comprehend running for 9 hours, it just seemed insane!
So to be lining up at the race this year with an aim to come in at under 10 hours is clearly an indication of my insanity!
I won't bore you with all the details, but in summary, I was really pleased with my race. I held a consistent pace throughout and was pleased with how I managed myself. Of course, it hurt like hell. 5000ft of climbing can do that to your legs.
The finish is on the 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower which is just a mind-blowing end to such an incredible experience. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted that it just made the whole experience kind of surreal but I know the memory will live with me for a long, long time.
With my Q1 goal achieved, I took the liberty of booking some much need vacation time and headed up to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. I had a wonderful time in an incredible part of the world. Doing absolutely nothing for 8 days was bliss, which just told me how much I needed the rest, as I'm using raring to go with 3-4 days.
I literally couldn't stay awake for the first few days and it was only the legendary Italian espressos which get me going!
I've got a few more points I'd like to share with you all over the coming days and weeks but will leave here for now as I've already gone on for too long.
Quarter 2 is already lining up to be a corker - so I can't wait to share some more tales and adventures with you all.
I've just to make sure I post more often!
Speak soon,
M.
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