Planning for 2012 – The West Highland Way Race
New post at The Running Bug, ‘Planning for 2012 – The West Highland Way Race‘.
I am thankfully back on track (not literally!) and hope to be back to ‘normal service’ soon having just about kicked the chest and throat infection that has laid me low for the past week. In keeping with my Movember pledge, I have continued to run each day, albeit at a vastly reduced effort and mileage, and have in fact found that this has helped to ‘clear the airwaves’ somewhat.
Despite my relative physical inactivity, I have been ‘busy’ in a planning sense, having had plenty time this past week to reflect on 2011 and to consider my running goals for 2012.
At the beginning of the month entry to two of my favourite races opened up – the 55 mile Cateran Trail Ultramarathon and the 53 Highland Fling.
The Fling, much to everyones surprise, has a new sponsor as Hoka One One takes over the reigns from Montane.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Montane for their sponsorship of past events and also welcome to the new race sponsor. Without sponsorship I am sure that a lot of events would not be able to take place, and certainly not without a sharp increase in the entry fee levels given the relatively small scale participation in ultra events.
The new sponsor certainly got people chatting on Facebook. Other than the general shock at the change of sponsor, the nature of the product also resulted in considerable comment. As more and more people, myself included, are looking to minimal footwear for their running, the emergence of a sponsor whose products appear to have gone in the opposite direction came as a bit of a shock to all.
If you are not familiar with the product then head over to http://www.hokaoneone.com/en/hokaeurope.html to see for yourself.
Aesthetically, the stand out point with the Hoka One One has to be the sole. The shoe itself is billed as being lightweight, with increased stability due to a 35% wider platform and the sole, as might be expected given the look of the shoe, uses up to 2.5x the volume of EVA in the midsole compared to standard running shoes.
The marketing has got me interested in at least trying out a pair of the shoes – “The word Hoka is derived from the ancient Maori language and roughly translates to ‘now it is time to fly’. That’s just how it feels to run in a pair of Hoka One One shoes; with each and every step your foot takes flight.” That sounds like just the ticket for ultra events and further exploration of the site highlighted that the shoe certainly seems to be making inroads in the long distance market with, amongst others (http://www.hokaoneone.com/en/pro-team.html), Karl Meltzer wearing the shoe.
Anyway – I digress – back to the results of my planning.
I intend to again run the 6 ultramarathons that I completed in 2011 – The D33 (33), The Highland Fling (53), The Cateran Trail (55), The Clyde Stride (40), The Devil O’ The Highlands (43), & the Speyside Way Race (36.5) – and to hopefully improve on my times for each of these events.
I have also applied to enter the 95 mile West Highland Way Race – this will hopefully be my main focus for 2012.
Entry to the West Highland Way Race opened on the evening of 31st October. By the evening of 1st November, over 100 people had already signed up and there is every chance that the final entry list (restricted to 200) will be decided by ballot. Entry is open for a month and is not determined on a first come, first served basis so there was technically no need for all of those entries in such a short space of time. However, the volume of entries in such a short space of time and the buzz on the forums and social networking sites is testament to the high esteem in which the race is held. It is the pinnacle of the ultra running world in Scotland and those who are fortunate enough to last the distance are affectionately known henceforth as one of ‘the Family’.
Starting at 1am on Saturday 23rd June 2012, competitors have 35 hours (until noon Sunday 24th June 2012) to cover the 95 miles of the complete West Highland Way and this includes 14,760ft of ascent. A good portion of the run, including Conic Hill, will be run in darkness by torchlight and, in the past few years, competitors have been subjected to extremes of weather. As an added bonus, the race provides 4 qualifying points for UTMB (Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc) which is useful for those people who fancy turning their attention to surely THE ultra race in the world.
Is it too much? Have I bitten off more than I can handle?
There is definitely a school of thought that would say yes, absolutely. However, from time spent this past week reading the forums (even illness has a silver lining!), it is obvious that the jury is out on this one. Given that, technically, 6 ultras is regarded as ‘too much’, I am going to side with those who say do what you feel comfortable with and that you feel that your body can handle. I am not ‘racing’ these ultras as such. Completion is the main aim, albeit with better times than previous years.
Only time will tell – and in the meantime, that potentially gives me a lot to write about!