Training Week 20

29 miles running

16 miles walking the dogs

This was my usual schedule of 3 short runs during the week, and 1 long run at the weekend.

In January I will up the short runs to 4, then start increasing the mileage of my long run gradually.

The race is in June and that will soon come around. I feel like I have given myself plenty of time to train for my first ultra, but at the same time I don’t have time to mess about. I still need to keep on top of things and keep progressing.

I felt pretty good this week in general with my running and I felt really strong on my long run.

Currently my goal is to run the ultra with an average of 4 miles an hour, which will take about 18 hours. This average includes taking photos, videos, and pit stops. So it isn’t as slow as it sounds.

With this in mind, this is how I treat my long runs at the weekend… there is a lot of messing about doing photos and videos. I am not worried about how my runs look on Strava, I just go out and enjoy my time spend on my feet. For me ultratraining is learning how to spend 3/4 of a day on my feet without crying haha.

Strava craic

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

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Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
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Training Week 19

This weeks mileage:

29 miles running

14 miles walking the dogs

I didn’t walk as much as usual this week, which is a little disappointing but it is winter and I have skinny Lurchers so they hate going out in the cold haha.

Plus The Wife finished her virtual LEJOG walking and running challenge, and that meant I would go out walking with her on top of the dog walking. But that isn’t needed anymore, so I best factor that in, so my overall mileage of walking and running doesn’t drop too much.

Running wise I was pretty happy with my running this week. Got 3 good 4 mile runs in during the week on the paths in and around my town. The my “usual” 17 and a bit miler around the trails of my town on Saturday. The trail is a loop of 2 disused railway lines that have been converted into walking, cycling and horse riding paths. It was a bit icy in places on Saturday, and quite muddy, and one section was flooded. Which I had to wade through in my minimalist running shoes. So my feet got cold and very wet. With this in my as soon as I got home, I ordered some ArticDry waterproof socks. Hopefully they are a gamechanger for my winter running and hiking.

Sunday was a pretty miserable day weather wise, but I had a lot of fun testing out our new Alcohol and Wood Stove, these coupled with our “normal” gas stove means we should have a lot of options for our camping cooking next year and beyond.

Strava craic

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Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

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Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK.

Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Training Week 18

This weeks mileage:

24 miles walking, mainly with the dogs

29 mile running

This will be a pretty normal amount of walking and running for me over the winter months.

Having dogs is such an advantage, it is extra time and miles on your feet that is non-negotiable. My dogs might and do disagree but they have to be walked everyday no matter the weather.

And that is all ultra training is really time on your feet, dog walking isn’t gonna help you PB a 5k but it could help you PB an ultra. It will 100% help me get a PB in The Wall… as it is my first ultra so I just have to finish it to get a PB haha. Awesome.

My winter training is going to be all about consistency and repetition. Due to lockdowns and dark nights I am restricted to where I can run. So I am not going worry about it, I am just gonna crank out the miles.

Then hopefully as spring comes I can start hitting the trails, ways, and fells of the Lakes, Yorkshire, and Northumberland. As I am very excited to get my fastpacking career on the go, not that I have any of the equipment to do it yet!

Strava craic

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK.

Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Training Week 17

Had a lovely week and a productive week at that. Who would have thought that Ultramarathon training was a perfect lockdown pastime haha… but still Fuck You lockdown you bag of shite.

I actually ran 5 times this week which is not the norm for me, I usually aim for 4 times a week but probably often only hit 3 times a week. In my head as I get deeper into my ultra training, 5 times a week will be the norm hopefully.

The Wife got over her injury so started joining me on the 4 milers during the week, but didn’t feel comfortable trying my 18 miler at the weekend. So she did a 10 miler by herself.

But it was good to have her back for a bit, having a training partner is always handy.

All in all I ran 30 miles and walked 21 miles, not bad at all. But it is only the start really. Onwards and upwards.

Strava craic

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK.

Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Training Week 16

Seriously undercooked the running this week, as I only did 2 * 4 mile runs. Whilst I did enjoy them when I was out, it was mentally challenging to do any more running this week. Just winter blues I think.

But on the bright side I did a lot of walking, 26 miles. Then I swapped my weekend long run for a tootle on the trails with my bike, 24 miles.

So it certainly wasn’t a lazy week.

That is what I like about ultra training over say marathon or half marathon training. You don’t have to be as specific with what you do. Ultra training is more about just getting used to moving for hours and hours on end. So to me its all ultra training whether I am dog walking, hiking, running or cycling. Although you obviously do have to put the milage in with your running but you do have a little more leeway to keep things interesting.

I can find marathon training is an absolute slog, but but in a funny way ultra training could be less draining. As anything you do outside, in nature, and moving by your own volition… is training. And I like being outdoors, so this will suit me better hopefully.

Strava craic

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK.

Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Training week 15

I ran 21.5 miles this week over 2 runs, a 17.5 miler and a 4 miler. On top of that I walked 22 miles, mainly with the dogs.

It was a difficult week to get more runs in. The dark nights are here and it was bonfire night on Thursday. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it was just one night, but for some reason people seem to set off fireworks for at least a week. Bambi our Saluki gets scared of fireworks, so we had to make sure she was ok. Running was secondary. Hopefully the fireworks will come to an end now. So I can have a better running schedule next week.

I did feel really good on the long run, felt strong and had consistent energy, and pretty much kept to the same pace throughout.

I am guessing this is very important for ultra running. The ability to just keep going at the same pace for hours and hours. I am not looking to win, I am looking to complete. So I need to be able to keep a sensible pace throughout. This moderate pace strategy, is a better method than running a quick 35 miles in the beginning, then blowing up, and having to walk the last 35 miles.

This weeks runs

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK.

Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Week 14

Without thinking to much about what I have done this week, I would have said I hadn’t done much because of The Wife haha. We train together you see, but she has had a niggle in the butt (snigger snigger) which got worse this week. However, we are doing the Virtual RUNLEJOG challenge and there is only a month to go, so she cant not walk or run. Therefore, we switched to walking for the most but I got some runs in on top of that.

All said and done I still got in 25 miles of running, and around 25 miles of walking too. So, actually it was a pretty active week all in all.

Monday

First test of my new headtorch, it was pretty funny actually running in the woods with The Wife. I am pretty happy with the lumen of the torch, did not fit great on my head though. I was stuck between using my cap on or off. Both had their pros and cons. This was the last run The Wife did this week.

Thursday

Just another usual 4 mile ish after work run. These are my mid week standards, especially during the winter. I just stuck to the town paths this time around though, so no headtorch needed.

Saturday

This 17 miler is a really easy trail loop from my home town. I used to do this loop a lot when training for my Bournemouth and Loch Ness Marathons. But I am used to running it with The Wife now. So running it again by myself was a little unusual. So I just stuck a Hardcore History Podcast on about Alexander the Great’s mother, and got the miles done.

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK. Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Training Week 13

Whoop whoop my virtual London Marathon t-shirt and medal have finally arrived. The medal is massive, the bigger the better in my eyes. Love it.

My calf was a little sore after my run last Sunday. So I decided to take advantage of the fact this was the last week before the clocks went forward, meaning I had a bit of time after work before it got dark. So got 3 rides in during the week.

I could have ran by Wednesday or Thursday, but riding instead of running was definitely the sensible thing to do. As it meant I was ship shape for my weekend long run on Saturday.

I woke up a bit beat up on Sunday, just felt sore all over. Luckily we already planned to get a bit of active recovery in. We went for a 4 mile walk around Allen Banks which is part of the National Trust, UK. It is a hilly river walk, and a perfect place for a camp stove coffee. The Princesses got pitted, and were raging that we had to bath them when we got back. They were also raging because they presumed we fed them a hour late!

The more I walked the more my joints were oiled, and I will wake up feeling better on Monday than if I had done nothing today.

My new head torch arrived a couple of days ago, so all ready for some winter running, I could probably do with a windproof jacket and trousers, but that might have to wait for a month or so. As I have realised some brands are expensive for a reason… aka they produce good stuff that lasts. So I have stopped trying to get stuff on the cheap.

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.

The Wall is an Ultramarathon. 69 miles from Carlisle to Gateshead, UK. Race is June 2021.

The training continues.

Training Week 11

After the Virtual London Marathon, I had a week off from running. Just to recover physically and mentally and to put an end to that training block.

Week 11 is basically the start of my true ultra training as I have nothing else planned.

Even though I did no running, I did spend 3 days camping and walking fells in the Lake District. This included Bowscale Tarn and Sale Fell, classed as in the Northern Fells in the Wainwright books.

Really enjoyed the walks and it was the first time this year I was able to get the big Air Tent out of the garage!

Week 12

Again just easing myself into my ultra training haha. Just 2 midweek short runs, and a longer weekend run.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Sunday

I have just ordered a running headtorch from Amazon. This will enable me to keep running on my home town trails in the dark depths of winter. Trails are definitely easier on my body, however I will need to make sure I still do road running as a lot of The Wall Ultra is on roads.

To keep things interesting The Wife and I will spend more time over the Lakes running, however, as we will have the dogs. We will have to split the runs over the weekend and camp, eg I will run on the Saturday and The Wife will look after the dogs, camp somewhere on the night. Then vice versa on the Sunday. It will be a good way to keep things interesting I think.

Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.

If you like what I am about, check out the below.

Amazon

Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.

Low Content Books – Carnivore & Keto inspired Journals, Notebooks, Diaries, and Planners.

Media

• The majority of my personal journey is documented on Instagram.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Facebook group.
• Carnivore Diet Success Stories Newsletter.