Allie
got injured not long afterwards and rather sensibly pulled the plug from what
would’ve been the longest race of her life to date. I sometimes wish I had the
sense of a female and not the ego of a man!
Which
brings me to my next point; my exams are during the first 2 weeks of September
when it’s fair to say that my stress levels may be a bit elevated (stress and
its hormone cortisol – something I’ll come to blog about at some point in the
future) so what better to do than sign up for an ultra which takes place at the
end of those 2 weeks. Just what I said I wouldn’t do!
I’m
going to give the High Peak 40 a bash.
Unfortunately
this doesn’t detract from the fact that I’ve got a wee bit of studying to get
on with in the mean time which means that I can’t really focus on the blog too
much. This is a bit of a bummer as I have loads to write about e.g. I’ve found
out more stuff about specific training and nutrition.
The
next few months for me are an experiment. I dare say I’ll not get to the bottom
of anything but I’ll hopefully keep progressing in the right direction. But
there’s no way I can share any of this stuff at the moment. Firstly, I’ve not
got the time to write about it properly and secondly the experiment is ongoing.
My
aim is to race the Highland Fling next year. I’ve gone on record as saying that
I can do a sub 9. Considering my 10:25 the first time round I now know that
sounds a bit gobby. So there’s my challenge. The thing is I truly believe it
will happen. By the same token though, I don’t really know how far I can take
this game.
Does
one believe in the chat about talent? I had let this get to me for a while but
then I read a book called ‘Bounce’ (recommended by Rob and more recently by
Debs MC) which basically explodes talent as a myth. Instead all it takes is
effort and some good fortune. We can only control the first part and let fate
take care of the rest.
Look
at Kilian Jornet for example; it wasn’t so long ago that experts were saying
that no-one in their twenties would ever be regarded as a great ultra runner.
Well read up and it’s all relatable to ‘Bounce’; it didn’t just happen! So what’s
to stop anyone else, regardless of what age you are from becoming world class
at your age group?
I
digress………one for another day perhaps…………the HP40 will be a useful benchmark in
my ongoing test, assuming I don’t succumb to the pressure of my exams!
