So with all these 90 minute, easier effort, bike rides I am doing, I find myself watching a lot of YouTube videos.  As a result, I am getting sucked into the world of ultrarunning.

Tonight I watched a video of Paul Tierney, setting the fastest known time for “Running The Wainwrights”.  I highly recommend it.  The Wainwrights are a series of 214 peaks in the beautiful Lake District of England. They are named The Wainwrights after Alfred Wainwright, who wrote the famous seven volume, “Pictorial Guide to the 214 Lakeland Fells”.  The route is 328 miles long, with almost 120,000 feet of elevation gain … it’s almost unfathomable how Paul completed it in 6 days and 6 hours!

I loved the show for two reasons.  Firstly, the beauty of the Lake District.  I grew up in England and have visited this amazing National Park many times.  The show brought back many memories of my time there and I even saw a distant shot of the area, where my wife and I spent our Honeymoon.

Secondly, I find so many similarities between ultrarunning and long course triathlon.  Watching these ultrarunners, they stress things like, pacing correctly (don’t start too fast), nutrition during the event and focussing on the ‘moment you are in’ rather than the finish line.  All great advice for anyone doing a long course triathlon.

The only concern I have is that, watching all these videos, is starting to convince me that I would like to try an ultramarathon one day.  I know one thing that is a definite plus for these races; they all seem to be staged in stunning locations…