Gently does it...

Only a gentle five mile bimble today to shake off the stiffness from the 45 mile event at the weekend.
I talked yesterday about ...respecting the distance, and understanding the demands that I would be asking my body to meet... let me expand on that as I bring you up to date.

What is all the training for... to enable me to succeed in carrying a backpack loaded to 9.8kg or 21.6lbs (in old money) with everything I will need to survive for 7 days whilst running five and a half marathons through the Sahara Desert in daytime temperatures of up to 50C. That's why the Marathon des Sables has earned its title as "The Toughest Foot Race in The World"

So far on top of training mileages of up to 70 miles a week, I have also completed the Rowbothams Round Rotherham 50 mile Ultra-Marathon race, and the Tring 2 Town 45 mile Ultra-Marathon race down the Grand Union Canal.

So In the words of Andy Mouncy, Performance coach at the recent www.Ambitionevents.com Tring2Town event, I've learned to Respect the distances, and I've also learned to Rest, Recuperate, and Reflect, when the body fails, and injuries manifest themselves and the pain kicks in.
The tally so far is;

• 6 weeks training lost to torn hamstrings.(I didn't discipline myself to stretch thouroughly enough)
• 4 Toenails lost to pressure blisters.(2 at Rotherham, 2 at Tring)
• 3 weeks training lost to a torn collateral ligament.(I incured this at Rotherham at mile 28, and was reduced to speed march pace for the last 12 miles of the 50 mile race).

Much of the training for this extreme event is physical, but so much of the ability to succeed is psychological.

Pain is a very individual thing, but whilst its purpose is to alert you to impending damage or failure of part of the body, it is also a subject of Mind Over Matter, because if you don't mind ... it doesn't matter. To put it another way for you, once you have run another 20 miles on top of your blisters, you will never think about blisters the same way again.

more soon.

The story so far....

Well, to bring you all up to speed, as I write this it is now 29th Jan 07 and in a little over 7 weeks time my bid to test myself against some of the harshest terrain in the world and all that Nature can throw at me in the Sahara Desert will become real.
I will be on the outbound flight to Morocco full of adrenaline, excitement, anticipation and most of all a healthy respect for the distance and the demands that I will be asking my body to deliver as I compete in the "Toughest Foot Race in The World" the Marathon des Sables. But hey,... if it was easy... if everyone was doing it... it wouldn't be a challenge, and that's exactly why you'll find me there, for the challenge. That, and of course the fact that I'm not exactly in the league of those with the bank balance that allows them to become Space Tourists, so the Sahara it is.

Most importantly the reason I have created this Blog is to help me share with you my latest progress, trials and successes, and to let you know that I really do value your encouragement, and support as the training window erodes and the start line approaches
Oh... and lets not forget the sponsorship either, that helps too.

So over the next day or two I'll bring you up to speed on my training so far, the good, the bad, and the ugly bits.... bet you can't wait.
See you again soon