Last August Mrs A and I found ourselves in the centre of Chamonix town square where we came across the finishing line of the 5 UTMB ultra races. It was a truly inspirational setting and I found it utterly captivating, I posted about it here The emotion within the square was palpable and infectious. On one of the nights we sat having a beer watching everyone pass through the town, every finisher was totally spent and utterly happy. I decided there and then that I wanted to cross that finish line. The UTMB race is spectacular in its length and challenge. This would be too much. There is however a smaller race. The Orsières - Champex - Chamonix (OCC). If you can count 32mile/ 53km and 3,300m/10876 feet of ascent as short. Some bizarrely do.
Unfortunately the shear size and popularity of these races mean that in order to enter you need to have earned enough UTMB qualification points to enter. Fortunately as the OCC is the shortest and easiest (I cringe when referring to this as easy) of these races you only need one point to be able to enter. The points are allocated based on how hard/ long the qualification race is. Because I haven't researched properly I only now realised that you need to have 1 qualification point to enter the OCC in 2016. With there only being so many races left this year I have had to act quickly. The only achievable race that I felt I could do was in either October or November. With the weather in the UK a factor I choose to enter the Round Ripon Ultra in October.
The round Ripon Ultra is a 35 mile Circular route ultra that has 2856ft/ 870 metres of ascent and takes place on Saturday 3rd October through Yorkshire.
Ideally I would have longer to train and get ready for this but sometimes you need to step forward and take stake your claim. I wont break any records but if I'm willing to entertain the idea of entering the OCC. I need to be fit and strong enough to complete this. More and more I have been reading Ultra Blogs and podcasts. Mainly because of the sense of community they have. I haven't had any desire to enter an Ultra especially the huge distances but the smaller ultras do hold an appeal generally because they tend to involve beautiful places and great terrain.
All of this means that I have to ensure I am running regularly and at a decent level. I haven't posted recently but I have been running or hill walking but without any structure or even using my Garmin regularly.
I have 16 weeks to prepare but that includes a big US holiday and the inevitable nightshifts that my job brings. I'm not sure if that gives me enough time to prepare or if I have enough of a base, but that's life. I have spent the day looking at various training plans and am not sure what the best way forward is. One thing I have been looking into for a while is getting a running coach. Originally this would have been after Christmas to train for the OCC (last year you didn't need any qualification points). They aren't cheap though and although I understand that there will likely be huge benefits from getting some proper structured help I can't stop myself thinking 'it's only running'. A statement I'm sure I'll regret putting into ink. Either way I'll have to decide soon.
Have I taken on too much? Probably
I'll find out in 16 weeks.
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