June... That turned out alright!

June was a big month of racing for me in terms of results and length of races.  On the first weekend of June I took on my first ultra, the Dartmoor Discovery race which is a rather hilly 32 mile race over the roads of Dartmoor.  Then the second race of the month was Mont Blanc Marathon on the last weekend of the month, which was my first mountain run.  In short the former was an overall win and the latter was an age group 2nd.

Following London I managed to get back to some consistent training steadily finding some speed and getting in some trail runs a couple times a week.  I also headed out to the Alps for a few days at the end of May to spend some time training on the race route and just generally getting use to running in the mountains.  

Dartmoor Discovery was a race that I heard lots of positives about prior to starting and very much lived up to this.  For me this was a chance to get a long run in of close to 4 hrs in with some undulations to try to build up some strength for the mountains.  Early on I let a group of 3 or so go up the road and I just tried to keep a steady pace without taking to much out of the legs.  Just over the half way point I had reeled in the leaders and was feeling alright so just tried to keep a steady pace and execute a decent long run.  Over the last couple miles or so I began to flag probaly partly due to the distance and the fact I had not taken on board any extra energy.  In the end I finished in 3'51'41 with average HR of 157bpm, but had a rest day to look forward at the athletics in Birmingham.

Mont Blanc marathon was what the previous couple months had really been about and did not disappoint.  Prior to the race I had a few days with family spending time in Chamonix town and hiking around the valley.  This time was valuable to appreciate the mountains and to sample the race atmosphere in the town.  On the Friday evening there was the vertical kilometer along with a steady stream of 80km competitors finishing in the town with the buzz of full restaurants and supportive family's waiting to see their loved ones finish.  

The marathon took place on the Sunday morning leaving town at 07'00, with over 2,000 competitors there was a frantic start which was not help by me doing the typical brit abroad trait in the start pen joining the cue without pushing through to a better starting position.  This meant I had to push harder than planned in the early stages of the race to get closer to the sort of position I had hoped to be in, moving up to 50th by the 17.2km mark.  At this point I was feeling good, taking on a steady climb of the Posettes, but then as I descended from the high point of the race I sprained my ankle forcing a tentative time descent.  I then got in some steady running struggling up the next climb as one of those low points which are inevitable in endurance racing, although carried this on with a yet another tentative descent, rapidly loosing places.  After the dark periods getting up to towards the finish I heard Manol (another Bournemouth runner), behind me looking a lot fresher than I felt pushing on to the finish.  After 5hrs 15mins of racing I eventually made it in the finish to find out I had finished 93rd, but more pleasing 2nd in the Espoir category.  Which translate to English literally as hope, which I think sums up wonderfully what it means to be a young athlete in a sport where physiological development over a number of year is key.  Within the Espoir category the other competitors were all French with a team Salomon athlete from Australia dropping out mid race.

The whole experience of being in Chamonix on a race week was awesome and coming away with a trophy for a 2nd place finish after competing in a international field  was a great experience one which I look forward doing more over the coming years.  

For the remainder of the summer I am going to just get out and enjoy some steady training doing smaller races potentially running 3 marathons in 3 months to end the year if my body is feeling good.  The thought post race was to possible to go to a GB mountain running trial in Wales in August which would be a great chance to show what southern based trail runners have to offer but with no U23 category and a slack return to training I am going to give it a miss for this year and consider gaining experience going to trials next year.  This year there will hopefully be one more trip to Chamonix in September, again staying in a hostel making it less then £200 for 5 days making it all too much of a temptation.