Pilates and Running with Sarah

A brilliant result over in Chamonix for Kat running the OCC🏃‍♀️🇨🇭🇫🇷

Kat is a road runner at heart, but decided to put the 2 UTMB stones she’d earned at Chianti last year into the OCC ballot (after I’d told her she was unlikely to get in with 2 stones🫣😆). Kat threw herself into training, racking up some big elevation weeks and transforming herself from marathon runner into mountain 🐐!

And all her dedication was rewarded with an exceptionally strong race, finishing in 10:41 hours in the top 1/4 of female finishers, a brilliant result, especially for someone who had never run in the Alps before and had done all their training on the South Downs🤩 And the best thing, she loved mostly every minute of it, and her poles and trail trainers might make a reappearance in the future😉

Another superb result from last weekend, this time Eric running Race Across Scotland, a mere 220 miles across Scotland😅

Eric lives in the US and has previously run a couple of American 200 mile races in the mountains and desert, but a 200+ mile race in Scotland presents a completely different challenge and he discovered bogs, midges and waterproof socks🤪

After a fantastic training block, Eric put together a brilliant race and executed it like a pro - he was 10th from the back during the first day, and then continually moved up the field, he ate well throughout, napped strategically, and finished in 93:48 hours and comfortably in the top 3rd of the field of starters🤩

Amazing work Eric, you well and truly deserved this result🙌

A superb result from Alice in Switzerland last weekend, running Sierre-Zinal, one of the most competitive mountain races out there🔥

Last year Alice ran this race in 4:19 hours, and the goal this year was to come and run sub 4👊 And she well and truly smashed her goal with a 3:50 finish time🤩

The thing that makes Alice’s result even more impressive is she lives in London with no hills close by, so we get creative with treadmill sessions and the occasional weekend trip to the Lakes/Peaks👊

Amazing work Alice, the question is how much quicker can you go next year at Sierre-Zinal?!🙃😉

A super result from Kat in the Lake District this weekend🏃‍♀️ Kat is usually at home on the roads, but after picking up 2 UTMB stones at Chianti last year I suggested she entered OCC (telling her hardly anyone gets in with 2 stones🫣). Well the ballot gods had other ideas and she secured her place for this year’s OCC🤪

We’ve spent the last few months turning her into a mountain 🐐 and we were using Lakeland Trails 55k as a tune-up race in the build to OCC…and she had a fantastic race, finishing in 8:50 for 8th female🤩 The road to Chamonix is shapely up nicely for Kat🙌

Great to see Tim back to racing ways at the hilly Barra Half Marathon this weekend🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Tim is a poster boy for addressing any weaknesses and has been complimenting his run training with a targeted S+C programme😇….and all his hard work has paid off with a super block of consistent training, no niggles, and culminating in a strong happy race finishing the tough hilly course in a brilliant 1:56🙌

Some superb running over in South Africa last weekend with 2 runners taking on Comrades, the oldest and (imo!) best ultramarathon in the world🇿🇦🙌

Aoife (second right) had run the race last year and was returning this year to complete her back to backs, and she ran a super 9:40 hours to secure her Robert Mtshali and back to back medals🏅🏅🤩 And I don’t think this is going to be the last time we’ll see her on the road between Durban and Pietermaritzburg😆

And then Katie (right) was running her first Comrades, and had a brilliant run, finishing in a fantastic 9:28 hours, again for the Robert Mtshali medal🏅😍 And she’d already decided she was returning next year for her back to backs before she’d even crossed the start line➡️🏅😆

Great running from Alice at the Ennerdale Horseshoe race Saturday🏃‍♀️ Despite living in London and having few hills and no mountain terrain to train on, she showed once again what a strong mountain runner she is, finishing in a brilliant 5:53 for 6th place🤩

And then on Sunday Aysha was running Worthing 10k, where on a very windy day🫠 where times were slower, she still ran a strong 42:16 and is in a great place to kick off marathon training again🙌

2 runners demonstrating perfect examples of smart racing last weekend😇

Andy (left) was running South Downs 50k, which was to be only his second ultra after a successful debut at Run to the Sea last year🏃‍♂️ When we knew Saturday was forecast to be the hottest day of the year, we talked hydration, electrolyte and pacing strategies and Andy backed off the pace and ran a well-executed race, to finish in 7:07 hours and had an absolute blast🤩

And then Harry (right) was running London to Brighton 100k🏃‍♂️ Coming off a strong Seville marathon training block and SDW50, he was hoping to run a big course PB at L2B, but again when the weather wasn’t playing ball, he adjusted his race goals and ran a really well-paced race, moving up the field as the race progressed, to finish in 14:47 hours🙌

A great run from Claire last weekend as she ran NDW50, the second race in her Centurion Grand Slam finishing in 10:48 hours and enjoying every minute of it🤩

She’s now got a bit of a break from the GS before the next race In September, but has got a busy summer planned with a 5 marathons in 5 days in July🏃‍♀️

It was another busy weekend of racing with marathon season in full swing🙌 In alphabetical order…..

Kat was running London Marathon after running a big PB at Seville earlier in the year, and she’s now in mountain 🐐 training for OCC so the plan was to treat London as a controlled fun run out🥳 And she ran 3:37, a time which only 2.5 years ago would have been a PB for her……and now she’s running that time for fun in the middle of mountain training!🙃

Katie (pic 1) was also running London as part of her build to Comrades in June, and she ran a brilliantly executed race to finish in 3:35, for her second fastest marathon ever🤩

Also at London was Maria (pic 2), who continues to amaze me what is possible with her running at the age of 76😍 After an amazing training block, gastroenteritis hit in race week😭, but Maria still managed to finish in 5:36, beating the GFA qualifying time for her age group by a whopping 30 minutes🩷

And then up in Stratford upon Avon, Suzy (pic 3) was running the Shakespeare Marathon, this was the final marathon of her 50s…..and she ran her second fastest marathon ever and fastest time since 2015 to finish in a brilliant 3:48🤩