The big day is getting ever closer, just over ten weeks until we fly out, spend a day standing in queues (the one part of the event the British always come first in) and then start our cruel and unusual punishment, sorry, I mean the 2014 MdS of course.
There are many facets to preparing for the MdS as those of you that have been following my blog will know. The most obvious is training, I've been running a lot to prepare for this event and still have a lot more running planned. The one thing that is reasonably certain is that running in the UK climate isn't going to entirely prepare me for running in the desert. However training must continue regardless of weather so I've been trying to use it to my best advantage. I know I have some readers from outside the UK so for those I will mention that the weather here has consisted largely of rain up until the last week and many parts of the country have been flooded. Fortunately where I live has simply been very wet and floods have been restricted to fairly small areas and sections of road. The result of this has been that many of my favourite foot paths have been reduced to what, in horse racing parlance, could be referred to as 'heavy going' - in other words thick mud.
Up to a point I've tried to embrace the mud. I feel the slipping and sliding actually helps my training as a sand dune isn't exactly likely to provide the most stable, grippy surface to run on. At least this was what I told myself when I decided to spend an entire Friday afternoon running up and down the same muddy hill trying to pretend it was a sand dune. Many people recommend doing additional gym work to strength the legs. This is probably good advice but when each step feels like you've stepped on a small child who is now hanging on to your trainer and trying to pull it off as you lift your foot up, it may not be so necessary.
The mud got thicker, then deeper, then thinner as it turned into knee deep ooze. I'll give anything a go but when I'm getting ready for a run and seriously choosing between running gear and my wetsuit its time to give up on trail running and had to go back to the roads and pavements, for me anyway. I'm aware cross-country and fell runners are reading this with a look of disgust on their faces - sorry.
So the next great experiment would take place on the roads - rain would still play a part as some of my runs took a slight detour - when a road is flooded and I can't see the end of the flood water I decide discretion is the better part of staying dry and go round. Once again, apologies to those that feel I'm giving in too easily. Anyway the next experiment was to try running with a 'Day One' weight pack. As I've said in a previous blog I'm determined to minimise weight and so 'Day One' should be 6.5kg of pack plus 1.5l (i.e. 1.5kg) of water, 8kg in all. In order to make things a bit more interesting I decided it was time to try freeze dried food with lukewarm water too, so the plan was for three runs of fifteen miles with an 8kg pack on consecutive days. Two days would be pure MdS rations, after the third run I would be allowed real food in the evening.
My days rations consisted of granola (with added powdered milk), a freeze dried meal, a Peperami (of course!), 25g of peanuts, an oatmeal bar and half a dozen Clif-bloks - a sort of expensive jelly baby for those that have never heard of them.The granola was breakfast, the freeze dried meal my 'main meal' and everything else snacks for the day. I was also allowed a recovery drink after each run.
So how did I get on? Well much better than I thought I would! The pack was energy sapping but manageable. It has left me more convinced than ever that minimum weight is essential (apart from the camera of course). On the event my pack will lose around 500 - 600g a day as I eat the food so three days at maximum weight was more than I will have to do, but Day One will be longer, hotter, more sandy... so three days training with it was good. The food didn't leave me permanently hungry as I thought it might. The first day was a slight challenge but day two was fine and actually I didn't eat until the evening of day three even though my run ended before lunchtime. I also didn't get uncontrollable wind as I (and even more so Sharon) feared I might. The freeze dried meals were edible with lukewarm water and hopefully might be even a little hotter in the desert sun so all in all a successful experiment! At some point I will have to try it for longer of course...
As my loyal followers will know the next great adventure is the Pilgrims' Challenge, two days of 33 miles per day on the North Downs Way. Apparently its only flooded in one place at the moment but there's still two weeks to go, so that could go either way. That was also supposed to be my last great adventure apart from 10 days of sand and heat training in Fuerteventura, however...
...The man that brought us the Festive Frolic, Ian, posted a link on Facebook to a series of races he is involved in which includes a 45 mile romp along St Peters Way. One thing that is missing from my training plan is a 'long day' simulation so as this is reasonably local, and Ian has promised me a lift to the start, it seemed too good to miss. Ian is also going to be the tail runner so if I don't get a move on he will be shouting 'encouragement' in my ear all the way along the course. This will also give me a chance to try out my Peronin strategy for the long day. Peronin is something entirely different to Peroni for those that were wondering. (Peronin is liquid food whereas Peroni is lager, which is also liquid food in some peoples' eyes, so maybe not as different as I first thought.)
So with ten weeks to go the plans are all coming together. The race shoes are purchased, just need the gaiters, I've nearly decided on my sleeping bag and the food plan is in good shape. hopefully you will all stay with me as we head into the home straight...
