All 4 Marathons done now

Hi everyone,

Well i've completed my 4 marathons in 4 weeks and apart from a tight calf and achilles all is well.

The last two marathons were pretty tough. One was over the South Downs so loads of big hills, over 3400 ft ascent and descent in total!. This one was an odd run. The first 10 miles were ok, the secnd 10 were really hard and then the last 7 miles were the best of the whole race!! No idea what happened except that I had an extreme viper bar and 2 ibuprofen around mile 20!

Best tune of the day was an old hardcore tune from around 1993 Force Mass Motion - Panic. Cracking tune, took me back to the old days.

The marathon last weekend was definately one of two halves. I canned the first half in around 1.35 and then fell apart a bit during the second doing that in 1.55! The course was pretty hilly and it was pretty warm so I was pretty happy with my time of 3.30.

Now I have a month off racing with my next Marathon being on 13th June. This one will be a killer as it has 6500ft ascent and descent!!! Oooch, should be a laugh though.

Until them all i have to do is train for my 85 miler that is coming up in August.

Cheers

Johnny

Shakespeare Marathon Done....

Hi All,

Today I completed theSakespeare Marathon in 3:23 which I was pleased with. My calf held up which was good. I came 119th out of 860 which wasnt too bad.

Me at the start...as you can see it was quite warm so another good day to get a tan.

So thats 2 in two weeks now and I am really looking forward to the next one which is the 3 Forts Challenge which is an off road run over lots of hills. Its nickname is the tough one!!

Top tune of the day was a trance classsic - Shadow World by Thomas Bronzwaer, cracking.

Till next time, have a good week. Cheers

One down, 3 to go.

Hi everyone,

I had a cracking run at the Bungay marathon last sunday, everything went well and I finished in 3hrs 12 mins which is a personal best of 9 minutes. Very pleased with that.

The week has been ok. I have a slight calf strain which is getting better but it not going to be fully recovered before tomorrows marathon in Stratford so i'll just take it easy and see what happens.

I'm really looking forward to the one next weekend in the South Downs which is an off road, hilly one which should make it more interesting.

Tunes update, I only listened to one CD during the Bungay run which was Anjunbeats 100, cracking trance. they had a stupid rule that you were not allowed to listen to ipods!!

But for Stratford I have got a new Happy Hardcore CD which is banging, loads of dark, jungly type hardcore. That should keep me going.

have a good weekend.

Johnny

1 week until my 4 marathons in 4 weeks....

Happy Easter everyone,

I've just been out for my last long run before my next challenge starts. The challenge is 4 marathons in 4 weeks. I think I am ready for it.

The marathons I am doing are:

1. Bungay Black Dog - Suffolk

2. Shakespeare - Stratford Upon Avon

3. Three Forts Challenge - Off road marathon - Brighton

4. Halstead - Essex

I am also aiming to get a personal best in the Bungay Marathon going for a time of 3hrs 15mins.

I'll keep you allm posted as I finish each one and also post the run up so you can see I actually did it!.

My sponsorship money is coming along nicely now and I have just over £2300 which is excellent. It feels like it is all coming together so if you want to help please do. http://www.justgiving.com/johnnyultra

Cheers

Johnny

Rain in the Desert

I've just looked at the MDS website and the first day has been cancelled because of rain!!. Its rained so much in the desert they can't run, what a bummer. Here's the website. http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php

Had a good run yesterday, 19 miles in 2hrs 40mins.

Feeling pretty ready for the Bungay Marathon in 3 weeks time. Still planning on a 3.15 time which I think is going to be tough but if it was easy I wouldnt be doing it.

Just a little one today, have a good rest of weekend.

Johnny

What!! 85 miles in day!

Hi All,

I got thinking the other day that it would be good to do a really long run. So, after a little investgation I found that there was one in August which starts very near my house and then ends up near Swindon!!!

Yes, this is a long one. It is an 85 mile, single stage run which I estimate will take me around 17-22 hours depending upon how it goes, maybe longer!

It will include a night stage, cracking!! If you want to have a look go to http://www.tra-uk.org/downloads/ridgeway_challenge_2009_flyer.pdf

I haven't entered yet but I think I will....

Thats all for now.

Cheers

Johnny

Whats Coming Up

Oi oi,

Well, i've got my two ultra's out the way now and its back to plain old marathons for a while.

So, whats coming up? My next race is not until April 19th and its the Bungay Marathon in Suffolk. I thought it would be too easy to just do the odd marathon here and there so i have booked myself into 4 in consecutive weekends. The plan looks like this:

April 19th - Bungay Marathon

April 26th - Shakespeare Marathon

May 3rd - 3 Forts Marathon near Brighton

May 10th - Halstead Marathon

When ive finished these 4 marathons that will bring my total to 20 marathons, one fifth of the way to joining the 100 Marathon club!!

Got a new CD to listen to while im training this week. Its Above and Beyond Anjunbeats100, cracking tunes, top quality trance.

To give you an idea of my training schedule I will be running 5 times a week and doing between 40 - 55 miles over the 5 sessions with one long run of upto 20 miles per week. Easy.....!

Right thats me done for this post.

Until next time enjoy.

Johnny

One more under the belt

Hi everyone.

Yesterday I took part in and finished the first ever Grantham Canal run. It was supposed to be 29.3 miles but a slight wrong turn near the start meant I did about 29.8 miles!!

This is Matt, who i ran the first 20 miles with, and I powering on through the early part of the race with funny faces!

It was quite a run. It started well and I got through the first half marathon in 1,45 which was spot on to finish around 4hours. I held up the pace to around 20 miles and then it started to get a bit tough.

The last 10 miles were a bit of a struggle but i quite enjoyed it. The point of these runs is to see what you can put yourself through and how your body and mind copes with it so when its tough, mentally its a challenge.

I plodded on though and ended up finishing in 4hrs 13mins which i was actually really happy with. Out of 72 runners I finished 12th which is great. I think I am actually getting pretty good at this ultra running stuff!

There must have been something interesting over there!!! cant remember what though... Cheers matt for th great company during the run.

My next challenge is the Bungay Marathon on 19th April. I will say now that I am going to aim for 3.15 which will be a marathon pb. I'll confirm ths is my target time closer to the race.

I'll keep you posted with my training but i am looking forward to doing a marathon next.

Cheers. Johnny

Off to Grantham to my Ultra

Hi again,

Its been a little while since my last post but not a lot has happened. I've stepped back from the training a bit as I have felt a little drained and a bit spluttery so a bit of rest will do me good.

That will come to a sharp finish on Saturday when I run the Grantham Canal 29.3 miler. I am really looking forward to it despite the lack of preperation. There are a few guys I spoken to on www.therunningbug.co.uk so it will be good to meet up with them. I should be running with a guy called Matt as we are both aiming for the same time.

Im looking to do it in 4 hours if everything goes well, I'll let you all know next week when i'm done.

I've got some very cheesy donk to keep me going if I need to stick the tunes on.

Until next time, have fun.

Johnny

The next two weeks

Hi,

I've had a nice and easy couple of weeks since the 40 miler and i've only done two runs. My legs felt fine by Tuesday which is great, I could clearly have pushed it harder!!

For the past 5 days I have been in Portugal visiting a good mate and running partner Joe. He is the guy I am doing all my ultras with so it was great to catch up. We did one longish 10 mile run and with the sun out and temperatures at 18 C it was a very pleasant change to the freezing UK runs.

So over the coming weeks I am going to do a couple of long runs, this weekend will be 18 miles, and next weekend 13 miles. The following weekend is the Grantham 29.3 mile run and my strategy at the moment is to run around with a guy called Matt i've met on Joe's running site http://www.therunningbug.co.uk.

I can't wait for this run. I am not going to cane it as I want to be in good shape to get straight back into my training as I really want o do well in the Bungay Marathon, I am looking for a pb in that run somewhere around 3.10 - 3.15.

I'll keep you posted on my training and how I get on at Grantham.

Cheers

Johnny.

Town to Tring - 40 miler. What a day

Hi again,

Its the day after the Town to Tring 40 mile run and I feel pretty good. My legs ache abit and knees and hips are a little stiff if I sit down for too long but overall I feel pretty good.

I had a great day and managed to get a time which I am really pleased with. I started the race running with this girl who is off to the MDS in April (very envious), so it was a nice and slow first hour which I am sure helped later on.

The first checkpoint came around after 1hr 45mins, each checkpoint was about 10 miles apart. I reached the second checkpoint, which was halfway, just after 3 hours so I made up some decent time.

The first half of the race included a Jungle CD - Hospital Mix 6.

My plan for the next 10 miles was to keep up the good pace as everything felt good and see what happened. So i stuck on Anjunbeats Vol.6 - Disc 1 which helped distract for the next hour or so.

I got to checkpoint 3 after 4.45 hours of running so I was well on track for coming in under 7 hours. I necked another viper bar, got rid of some weight out of my rucksack (thanks Meredith) and then ran on.

To help keep the pace up it was hardcore time. On came Clubland Extreme Hardcore 5 Disc 3 mixed by Breeze. Definately the best tune of the day was a banging hardcore remix of the Sugerbabes About you Now, oh yes.

I finished after 6 hours 18 minutes of running in 17th place (out of 60). Very pleased with that.

A few days off now to let my legs rebuild then on with the training for the Grantham 29 miler at the end of Feb. I reckon a sub 4 hour finish on this is the target.

Me at the end...

Cheers for all your support.

Johnny x

Good Weeks Running

Evening,

I've had a good week, got loads done at work and ran most days so i am builing up to the big one next weekend.

This week I have done:

Monday 5 miles

Tuesday 5.5 miles

Wed 5 miles

Thurs 9.5 miles

Friday rest

Saturday 15 miles

Sunday rest

I am really looking forward to the 40 miler next weekend, i am getting all my stuff together ready for the race. I still think 7 hours is acheivable and anything under that I will be happy with.

I'm going to kick start my sponsorship raising this week as well so hopefully that will jump up a bit.

Until next time, have a good week and I'll let you know how I get on after next weekend!

Cheers Johnny

On track and I've hit £1000 - woohooo

Morning all,

Its been a great start to the year for my running. I've been stepping it up and reached a total of 43 miles last week which included a 25 mile run on Saturday.

It was a great run as well, all the way from my house to a mates in London for dinner! I did manage to scratch all my legs up running through a spikey bush (no jokes) trying to avoid the 6 lanes of teh A40...all part of the fun.

The run took me 3.30 hours so I really feel like I am on track for my 40 miler in two weeks time. The calves are a little stiff today but nothing a little run later and some stretchning wont sort out.

There has been a slight change of plan to the Marathon list below so it currently stands as:

1. Tring to Town - January - 40 miles

2. Grantham Canal - February - 29.3 miles

3. Bungay Marathon - April - 26.2 miles

4. Shakespear Marathon - April 26.2 miles

5. 3 Forts Marathon - May - 26.2 miles

6. Halstead Marathon - May 26.2 miles

7. South Downs - June - 26.2 miles

8. Fairlands Valley Challenge - July - 26.2 miles

9. Lane End Marathon - September - 26.2 miles

10. Himalayas - Oct/Nov - 100 miles

11. Luton Marathon - December - 26.2 mile

This plan includes a bit of a busy bit during April and May where it do one a weekend for 4 weekends!!! Brilliant.

I've also hit £1,000 now on my sponsorship total so bring it on.

Until next time.

Cheers.