I've done London twice, neither were done to raise money for charity (and oh boy wasn't I made aware of that on the start line!!), once was a club place and the other a GFA place. The atmosphere IS something else if you like that kind of thing, but I don't and I hate all the bustling, people dodging etc but for many people London is IT and they go back time and again. So very much horses for courses.
I ran my first ultra on the back of a Spring marathon (Shakespeare), did hardly anything for three weeks after it and then did Marlborough Challenge (33) miles of trail so the marathon served as my longest training run and then I just got on with enjoying the ultra - all on trail.
My training works around two young children and a husband that works away all week, I work random daytime hours but it's amazing what you can fit in if you try. Building back up the weekly mileage after it being destroyed over the summer hols (post 100-mile race too!). I try and run at least 3x on bad week but aim for 5x plus 1 hour pilates. Is important to keep up somekind of strength/flexibility training to combat the increased mileage. My second ultra I did on about 35 mpw and running 3x per week (it was 46 miles in the Brecon Beacons) and I finished in a decent time too, so mega weekly mileage does not always mean mega speedy times, you just have to work with what you can manage and not get caught up with what such and such a person seems to be doing.
Long runs are the main thing for ultra training, and long and SLOW is very important. In fact ultra-training completely redefined my idea of a slow run, it's much slower than it used to be and much more beneficial.
Wannabe thread is great for inspiration (and entertainment
). A very friendly bunch.
End of monologue!!!
