Mission Accomplished!

I'm fresh back home from my 244 km desert stroll with my feet up and it seems like a good opportunity for a few initial reflections. It still doesn't quite feel like I've done it, after over two years of planning and obsessing about kit and training, its done! Even looking through all my photographs, it doesn't quite seem real yet...

The week I spent in the desert was everything I had hoped for - a great physical and mental challenge and a really intense experience. The landscapes the stages took us through were stunning and other-worldly; every time I was feeling tired physically or mentally I would look up and the views would help me out of head and push me on. The environment was the first (though not only) thing that attracted me to the race and it certainly didn't disappoint!

The time went so fast but when we were out there it was difficult to remember a time before it started. It was a real bubble; the limited communications resulting in isolation (in a good way) from the outside world, along with Patrick's special MdS Time (or Bauer Meant Time as I heard someone call it!) - 1 hour behind Morocco time.  One of the best things about the 'MdS life' you live for those few days is its simplicity 'all' you have to worry about is running, self-maintenance (feet, food etc.) and sleep. Oh, and a lot of queuing!

Definitely one of the best things about it for me is that while it is grueling and a huge challenge, very ordinary people like me can do it. It expands your horizons and opens your eyes to what you are capable of if you put your mind to it.

Despite the efforts to get rid of them, my ITB issues did impact on my race both physically and psychologically. I took the first three stages very easily, not sure how my body would respond to the distance and environment. In retrospect I think I could have pushed quite a lot harder those first few days but I was determined to finish the race and didn't want to do anything to compromise that.  I may have been a little over cautious (a psychological effect of the injury) but better that than ruining the culmination of two years planning and training! I only felt a few twinges when running those first few days which gave me the confidence to push on for stages 4 and 5. I ran most of the way to the first check point on Stage 4 and my ITB flared up - annoying but not unexpected which makes me think it was a good idea I was conservative over the preceding stages. This was a bit of a pain for the rest of the stage because it stopped my making faster progress on some of the flat planes throughout the stage which could have cut down on time on my feet which was one of the things I found most challenging. Stage 5 however was another story, with no further long stage to worry about I could push my leg further and not worry so much about failure - only 42 Km to go by that point after all! A good opportunity to punish it for slowing me down earlier on :)

Overall it is well organised (if inefficient!) event with great support from the volunteers both in the bivouac and especially at the checkpoints on the course. I was fortunate to have the company of some great people in my tent (Tent X) who were very tolerant of me over the week and I thoroughly enjoyed being around them all. We all finished which was a great collective achievement - many of the tents did not have their full compliment by the end.

Almost There...!

Packing done, and sorting the last few bits and bobs before heading to the station and down to Gatwick so seems like a good time to reflect on my preparation....

Its been two years since I registered for the MdS and even longer since the idea first captured my imagination and suddenly its here. Its been such a long time coming and taken so much preparation and this has always been the goal but it always seemed like such a long way off. I can't quite believe its here and I'm actually going to this (or try at least!). I've been through stressed, nervous and excited stages but I'm feeling more relaxed now with background excitement and nerves.

I'm trying not to focus too much on the training - I have worked hard and it felt like it was going really well up until the ITB problems started at the beginning of February. Since then I haven't managed to do most of the dedicated training I had planned, though I have carried on doing the training I could (which is a fair amount in reality, just different to what I had planned). The result is that I think I'm in pretty good shape and my ITB feels ok but I'm not sure what impact all of this will have on my running in the desert. I'm prepared to feel my ITB and even have it go properly like it did before but I'm going to take it easy and see how it goes. If need be I'll just do lots of walking! I'll be needing to do a lot of that anyway I think but I'd prefer to be able to make faster progress with the odd spurt of running.

Food and kitwise, I've put a lot of thought into it - I think it'll differ at least to a certain degree from other people's though hopefully not too significantly. I haven't gone for the ultra minimalist approach but I'm reasonably pleased with the weight of my pack. I think the food could be a little lighter and i might shed a out there but I'll make the decision there.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a memorable experience whatever happens! And the (hopefully!) well deserved rest after :)

Packing and Tanning

Not much kit for a week in the desert! 

Between yoga and gym sessions, the main focus over the last couple of weeks has been feverishly packing, and picking up all the last minute bits and bobs like lighters, hand gel… and immodium. I’ve managed to pack all my it into my 25 L innov8 rucksack – that vast majority of the volume of which seems to be filled with food. Looking at the kit I’m taking, it looks like very little for a week in the desert! Its certainly outweighed by the food anyway. I’ve packed up and labelled all my food, with a separate bag for each day, and practiced packing my bag. Unfortunately because of the hand baggage limits on the plane I can’t take it packed, so I’m having to re-organise things for the travelling.

I could probably have managed with a slightly smaller rucksack, but I’m quite happy with the size as it wasn’t too stressful. It should cinch down well as the amount of food in it reduces over the race as well – any way we’ll see what I think of it when I’m back! Weight wise, it looks like it’s going to start out around 8.8 kg with the flare and road book etc. I weighed it without the fuel (which I’ll pick up at the first bivouac) and a couple of small bits and it came in about 8.2 kg. It’s a little heavier than I might have hoped for but it didn’t feel too bad on my back in comparison with the training weights I’ve been using – I’ll probably disagree with this completely after the first 500m, but at least I feel ok about it now!

On top of the yoga (which has been getting easier with the heat, though I’m hoping the sweat is going to evaporate off better in the desert!), I’ve had a couple of goes on a sun bed to try and prepare my skin a little. Not something I’ve ever done before, and not sure I’ll do again… I jumped out after a couple of minutes the first time – it felt like I was in a big microwave! After being reassured that I wasn’t the colour of a tomato after this I’ve been in for two more short periods which has given me a little colour – not sure it will make much difference but hopefully it can’t of done any harm. I did end up paranoid the last time as I couldn’t be bothered to find my socks and was worried that the tops of my feet were going to go red and sore – perfect for running across the desert! This, combined with me opening my bedroom door onto my toes and taking a load of skin off the tops of them, has made me very cautious not to do anything silly to myself before I go – there’s still time yet though…!

Any way tops of my feet are a normal colour and my toes have pretty much healed – just a bit more packing and then off we go!

Mountains, Dunes and Hot Yoga

Most of my recent training has been in the gym, doing as much low impact exercise – walking on a steep incline on the treadmill, or on the elliptical cross trainer.  I think it has managed to maintain my fitness as much as I could have hoped for, though obviously it’s not ideal.  Having said that, either way I will be doing a lot of walking in the Sahara, and the elliptical cross trainer movement seems like a good approximation for running in sand… so hopefully there has been a bit of a silver lining!

It was A LOT windier than it looks!

I've had the last two weekends up in the Lakes where I've been doing some fast walking with a pack up mountains.  The first Saturday outing was over Grisdale Pike and behind VERY windy – I almost got blown off the top!  I got some ITB twinges but they weren't bad considering, given the wind though and me building confidence in my legs again I decided not to stay up high for too long (the gusts were making me land in odd positions on my legs) and not to push my luck.  So I didn't go too far but got some good ascent in and resistance against the wind over the three hours or so I was out.

The next morning I went to a local smaller hill called Barf which is next to Bassenthwaite Lake and has some good scree up the first couple of hundred meters which I did (almost) five reps over an hour up to a white painted rock call the Bishop (I was running out of time and didn't want to push my ITB).  I felt very good and strong and fitter than I had expected which was a good boost.  I hand only slight ITB twinges but not bad really considering I was actually running downhill. No problems on the uphill at all, so hopefully I should be good at getting up things – might just be slower than others going down.

Last weekend I drove up to the Lakes on the Saturday morning and parked at Seathwaite and went over Styhead Pass to Wasdale Head, incorporating two or three hundred meters of ascent on scree low down on Great Gable (I could really feel my calfs going up the steep scree).  The cloud was low and it was very gusty so I decided it was best not to go to high and focus on the training.  I came back via Sprinkling Tarn, being tempted to go up Scarfell Pike which felt very close, but I was running out of time again – and best not to tempt fate with the leg at this point!  Again some ITB twinges going downhill but not too bad really. 

I did all of these sessions in my smaller pair of my Brooks Cascadia I’m using for the MdS – so some good exercise for the ankles.

The view was stunning!

On my way back south on Sunday I took in a trip to Formby beach – my last opportunity before the MdS and I wanted to test out my legs in the dunes and test out my gaiters.  I got some (ok a lot!) very funny looks in the car park in my gaiters with my Raidlight bottles and pack – given the location I must have looked very strange.  I would have thought I’d feel self-conscious, but as in the gym with all my layers on, I weirdly quite like the attention, even though everyone thinks I’m potty!

 It was a lot of fun as always and I actually managed to get some running in which was good for my confidence.  I did start to feel my ITB after an hour or so of running up and down dunes but after a couple of minutes walking it loosened out nicely.  I got some good reps done up and down dues despite the wind trying to blind me with sand and I found some nice people to take a couple of photos for me…  My MdS shoes were nice and comfy, if a bit loose, with my toe socks and X-socks metal.  The gaiters kept the sand out well, despite running through some knee deep fine sand on the dunes.  The front of the gaiters did start lifting off the velcro a bit but never got to the point where any sand got in.  I think this was probably my fault for attaching the Velcro from the back first and working forward as my shoes are at the lower end of the size range so stretching the elastic creates some slack – just a question of learning.

I managed to get some poor man who was trying to enjoy the view to take this - I think he thought he should call the men white coats...

In other news I’ve seen the Physio a couple more times and the effect feels positive – I just need to re-build my confidence in my legs; most of this experience is psychological after all.

I’ve started getting into the Hot Yoga properly now, building up the number of sessions I’m doing each week (3 last week, hopefully 4-5 this week and 6 next week…).  I wouldn't really call what I’m doing proper yoga (I’m rubbish at it) but the stretching and heat are good.  The studio I’m going to uses radiant heat panels rather than air conditioning which heat the body rather than the surrounding air, so while the air temperature might not be as hot as say in Bikram yoga, it does get the core body temperature well up!  I've also been combining this with my ‘Michelin man’ sessions at the gym first to de-hydrate a bit and get the core temperature up for a good period before going in.  I certainly start sweating a lot quicker having done the exercise beforehand!  I’m thinking of maybe extending the heat element by wearing a black long sleeve top and maybe leggings but bit by bit!  We’ll see how that goes! 

3 x 25 Miles Back-to-Back

It’s been a relatively quiet period since the Pilgrims Challenge, with me trying to rest my ITB hoping it will sort itself, and getting a nasty cold which wrote off training up in the lakes.  I've started doing some hot yoga, which I had planned to do anyway as party of an attempt to acclimatize to the Saharan temperatures, but which is also really good for stretching things out.

I had planned to do a big three back-to-back session last weekend (aiming for 3 x 25 miles) and started out with 5-6 kg on my back on the Saturday, planning to run up to Hebden Bridge from Salford up the Rochdale Canal (28.5 miles), extending the run I did last year.  I could feel my ITB twinging from the beginning but it didn't seem to get any worse so I kept going. Then at 18 miles-ish I felt it go properly and so that was the running finished for the day.  I kept going, walking as fast as I could manage, up to Walsden (22.5 miles and 4.5 hours on the move), from where I caught the train back down to Manchester – frustrating but at least the scenery was beautiful, particularly the part I hadn't done before over Littleborough Summit to Walsden. Not an entire loss!

At this point I gave up trying to push things any further by running the following two days, which would have just made things worse with the leg, and so I decided to do the sessions in the gym instead.  Not quite the adventure that I had hoped for; on the Sunday I had planned to run up the Ashton Canal up to Diggle where it (called the Huddersfield narrow canal at this point) goes into a tunnel under the Pennines.  Anyway I got 4.5 hours done in the gym on the Sunday and another 4 hours on the Monday, alternating between fast walking up a 10% gradient (at first at least!) on the treadmill, and time on the elliptical cross trainer with the same pack as the first day (30 mins each and then repeat).  This was the best thing I could think of that would be low impact and minimise aggravating my ITB but still get the extended period of exercise in.  I think it worked but it was VERY boring!  I wasn't as sore afterwards as I expected – I don’t know if that was as a result of the reduced impact, or if the intensity was lower – hopefully the former!

Anyway I think I am going to have to restrict my exercise to the Yoga and this gym work over the next few weeks to let my ITB heal; and spend lots of time on the foam roller!

In other news, I now have my shoes back from the Shoe Healer with the Velcro on and my Gaiters fit nicely – just need to test them out now.  Otherwise I have procured all of the main things (I think!) I need, except for the camera and sunglasses. Need to whittle everything down now to get the weight down now….

Pilgrims Challenge 2014

This weekend was on of my key training events running up to the MdS - the Pilgrims Challenge, a 66 mile 2 day event in Surrey. This would have been a key distance and back-to-back training event but.... My ITB went just after the second check point running down hill. For a little while I wasn't 100% sure it wasn't just general fatigue in my leg so I kept going (I can deal with fatigue!) but after another couple of miles in the valley it became obvious that it was something more significant. I decided to carry on to the next checkpoint which was up a nice steep hill, this was actually a relief because it didn't hurt going uphill. The next 5 miles or so along the top were less fun and I needed up hopping down muddy paths but we got there in the end. Max, one of my tent buddies to-be who I had been running with up til the problems started very kindly stayed with me for 4/5 miles of fast walking and hopping down muddy slopes - despite me telling him to, he refused to leave me on my own. I felt very bad to have to abandon him at the checkpoint, and a huge fraud to have to get a lift to the overnight point - even more so as I got out and walked in next to people who were finishing - not a good feeling! So my first DNF...

...I even finished the Seville Marathon (my first) in a respectable time with my arrhythmia playing up and a heart rate upwards of 240/250 bpm so dropping out isn't something that comes easily. I had to remind myself that this wasn't my target event (if it had been I'm sure I could have finished, just in lots of pain!), and that I had more to loose than to gain by carrying on, potentially preventing me running the MdS if I damaged myself badly enough. So hopefully the right decision to stop where I did and not try starting on the second day. Sophie who I met at the end of the C2C, and had been running near for much of the day actually, told me she would knock me out if she saw me at the start line for the second day - I think she was joking... but it is good to have the support of more experienced runners, knowing when to stop.

Anyway, now the negative bit is out the way, back to the beginning for the positives from the weekend - and there were lots of them. The terrain was difficult - lots of mud which was very tiring and good training for sand. I felt my legs tiring a lot earlier than I expected (probably partially due to a fairly intense training schedule recently) but it was good to have some time running on tired legs knowing that we nowhere near then end - there will be LOTS of that in the desert!

There were also loads of other people doing the MdS and it was great to meet so many of them. Great like-minded people, really up for the challenge. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better in Morocco, particularly my tent mates to-be. There was loads of conversation about food, weight and kit in general, and the over night camp in the school gave a great opportunity to look at all sorts of different night kit. I also got loads of tips, specific and more general. Danny Kendall's Q&A on the Saturday night was really good - not sure I'm going to be going quite so extreme lightweight (or anywhere like as fast...) as him though!

My favorite part of the weekend however was when the final walkers made it to the finish and came into the canteen. We were in the middle of a talk but everything stopped and they got a round of applause and some hugs. This sport is so inclusive and I think it is great. Even the elites are so friendly and shot encouragement on their way past - so different from a road marathon which is so serious! While we were waiting for our bags back at the start on the Sunday I me a couple of older ladies (at least one of whom was a grandma!) who were just amazing. The had all done the MdS or equivalents and one had done 14 multi-day endurance stage races, including one on every continent (including Antarctica), and the North Pole. How many other events would you meet such amazing and inspiring people?

Overall it was a really friendly and well organised event - definitely one to go back and finish in future. It also struck me how far I have come now that only having completed 26 odd miles was disappointing - a year ago I would have been very happy with that (particularly given it was off-road), and other than the ITB problems, I could have easily carried on and finished in a very reasonable time.  Not all bad then!

More Sand...

I headed out to the beach again last weekend for some more dune fun - 13 miles up and down over and over with the heaviest pack I have trained with yet - 6 - 7 kg. I met a friend out there to train with again and we ended up egging each other on so that every time we found a good dune, we ended running up it again, and again, and again. Good training but very tiring!

It is a lot of fun in a masochistic sort of way, particularly going down the other side. The views were stunning across the bay over to The Wirral and Liverpool, with the wand whipping across the ground with the wind  - wish I had hand my camera with me. 

My legs were absolutely dead by the end, particularly after having run a mile - probably the slowest mile that anyone has ever run - into a 40 mile per hour wind on soft sand.

The next day got 16 very slow miles in with a slightly heavier pack with the middle 7 miles in the gym getting nice and sweaty on the treadmill (without the pack - haven't quite got to running with the heat and the weight yet, we'll get there though!). The weather was horrendous - not exactly representative of Saharan weather- but I managed to avoid the worst of it. By the final four miles home it really felt like I'd run an ultra with the build up of fatigue from the day before! Good practice for running on tired legs!