Looking back at 2011...

30/12/11 15:56
2011 started and finished OK, but the big chunk in the middle was a bit crap. The highlight of the beginning of the year was taking nearly an hour off my 2010 Hardmoors 55 time (although much better weather should get most of the credit for that). Things went very pear shaped a few weeks later when I got injured, crossing the road on the way to the doctors to get my UTMB medical certificate signed... I managed to plod my way around Fellsman and the LDWA Housman 100. In the 100 not being able to eat in the last 40 miles slowed me down nearly as much as my trashed feet did in last years Heart of Scotland 100. Officially it was a 100 mile PB, but not really since the HoS was really nearly 105 miles.

I recovered from the 100 pretty quickly, but never really managed to get a solid block of training in. A stomach bug picked up in Burma on holiday followed by a tough training course on the UTMB route and I arrived at the big one seriously lacking in fitness and confidence. And bad weather and reduced cut-offs turned it into 'mission not a hope in hell'...

My running fitness started coming back in Autumn, just as term started leaving me exhausted and short of time. A couple more OK runs (squeezing inside 11 hours at Round Rotherham, nearly half an hour outside my PB, but a decent result in the circumstances) and that was that.

I'm not sure there are many lessons to be learned beyond: don't get injured and do more specific hill training.