I can’t help it……

I signed off from my last post saying that I wasn’t going to take part in any ultras until next year so that I could concentrate on the final year of my distance learning honours degree – and that I was looking forward to helping out at the WHW race.

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!