On Saturday I ran my first ultra marathon since 2011. Les Drayes du Vercors is ‘only’ 62km, but represented the first big test of the year, and a baking hot mid-June day, and 3,800m of vertical meant it was a tough old day on the trail. The day before we drove from my home to the fabulous Auberge Collet which…
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Author: jamie
Sunny Southern Spain
This week I was lucky enough to be in the beautiful Spanish city of Seville for work. It was a busy programme and we spent most of our days in doors, but we got to see the sights at night and enjoy Spanish food and drink. On the first morning I managed to sneak in a run along the Guadalquivir…
The World in 360°
I went out for a 10 mile run this morning in beautiful weather – not too hot, and the ferocious storms that have been battering the southeast of France for the past few days had finally cleared. I took a couple of 360° panoramas using Photosynth on my iPhone. I’ve usually had questionable results with it but they weren’t too…
Warm Weather Running
I was in Budapest this week on business and the weather was fantastic – sunny and dry and in the high twenties. The Hungarian parliament on the banks of the Danube I took the opportunity of flat tarmac, warm weather and daylight at 6am to get a few runs in around the river. A loop of the Margaret Island running…
Winter Again
After a week of beautiful weather where I was lounging around in shorts and flip flops, I awoke this morning to 20cm of snow and wintry winds. Running the snow-shoe trail was quite appropriate Eric crossing the river using the rocks as stepping stones Just like February again
Race Report: 2013 Paris Marathon
Its been a while since I’ve run a marathon on tarmac. 3 years in fact. London 2010 was my first and only road marathon which I managed in a respectably 3:35. I was a bit of a wreck at the end, but the crowd were amazing and the time was decent enough to encourage me that I had room for…
Long Run – Then Tapering
With just a few weeks to go until the Paris Marathon, I needed to do my ‘long run’, the traditional 20 miler that is the bedrock of all marathon training plans. I considered running it in Milan, where I was on business and the terrain was flat, as I also had a few hours spare one morning before meetings. However…
Desperately Seeking Tarmac – A Few Thoughts on City Running
Now we’re getting into the end of February, the trails around me have been under a thick blanket of snow for a good three months now and as such my weekly distances have dropped off dramatically. I’m putting in some lung-busting efforts running along the snowshoe hiking trails, often in deep powder, but the pace is slow and its not…
Strava 100 Mile Trail Challenge
I’ve been using Strava to log my runs for about a month now, after having previously used a combination of Fetch Everyone and Garmin Connect for a number of years. About 4 years ago when I first got into running, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 405, which despite its downfalls (dodgy bezel, poor batter life, quirks picking up satellites) has…
Home Made Energy Bars
Energy bars are expensive, and generally not full of anything special. I also live miles from anywhere so its useful to be able to rustle some up out of store cupboard ingredients. You need: 240grams of peanut butter240 grams of clear honey175 grams of sugar-free mueseli200 grams dried fruit (I use 50 grams each of pineapple, apricot, raisins & sultanas)100…