4 weeks to go

What an amazing week it's been in the ultra running world. I was pretty much glued to Twitter feeds last weekend with regards to the fabled Western States 100 miler and this possibly didn't help sleeping patterns for a couple of days but it turned out to be an amazing race. Well done to Kilian Jornet for winning the overall event. He is one hell of a mountain runner and some of the things he does it quite mind boggling. Also well done to Nick Clark, Jez Bragg and Ian Sharman who all finished in the top 10 plus James Elson who put in an awesome effort to finish within the 30 hr cutoff despite not being able to run literally weeks before.

Now back down to Earth..The last 3 weeks have been some of the best training runs I have done since taking up running. I have clocked some great long runs (21 miles fast paced, 25 and 27 miles at race pace), some great tempo runs and recovery has been fast. Definitely feeling like I am in great shape and with tomorrows long run I have one more week of big training ahead before starting a three week taper leading up to race day.

I had planned to do a two week taper for this event but have decided to take a longer three week taper to see whether there is benefits to how I will feel leading up to the day. I will be on my feet for 24 hours so to be honest I want to be as fresh and pumped as possible on race day.

During the long runs I have felt good and eating wise it has all worked out ok. Ho but the next couple of long runs being in the 5-6 hours range we shall see if that changes. If tomorrow works out well then I will hit 65 miles for this week which will be my biggest volume in a week ever. Not long by some peoples standards of course but i have been happy how things have worked out as I have mixed in quality tempo runs, hills and long runs throughout my build up to Thunder Run 24hr so far. If this week goes well then another 60-70 miles next week will follow before I start tapering for what will be completely new territory for me and to be honest I just cannot wait.

Happy running all.