flood update

Were back in play... day 1 binned but should be ok for the rest of the way... still raining a little but the sun is here now. temps expected to be low however... but it could be a mud bath out there. staying in hotel tonight and tomorrow with checks taking place tomorrow and then shipped to start monday morning.

rain stops play.... seriously

day 1 - its raining very hard... so much so that day 1 has been cancelled. gutted.

we arrived at camp after 7 hours in a bus? and constant rain... we were placed in the tents for 2 hours digging trenches to stop the floods from coming into the tents... in the end we had to be evacuated out of the camp entirely as the whole place started to turn into a river... we got lucky... 7 Brits got stuck and spent a night under water...

its still raining and were all in a hotel... waiting to see whats going to happen. many competitors couldnt get through the roads turned into rivers.

its harsh. after 2 years of training... the Sahara is seeing freak floods... another briefing tonight to see if the race will be re routed. Gutted...

Slight ECG panic...

Not that I havent got it done, more like it's meant to be an original i.e. a piece of paper that comes out the machine. However I can't get an original as mine was done electronically! Still it's got me worried, so I called the agents, and they have partially put my mind to rest.

As the ECG was electronic, it gets sent through to the doctors by email, and then printed off. All should be fine, and if the worst comes to the worst, you can actually get one done in the desert when you get there. I'm sure it will be fine and I'm just worrying about nothing. All packed now, ready to go... want to leave now... fed up of waiting around!

Frick'in freezing!

It's cold over here, and it's official - I'm a soft Aussie! Anyway... today was a better day and I'm now sorted on the packing front. I've just about got everything in the Aarn. It's a tight squeeze but it's there, with the sleeping matt on the outside initially. I'm really cutting it fine, but I think I've got rid of any surplus that I dont need and the pack stands at 9.3kgs - which is not bad.

I culled back on some of the food again today. It's amazing what you can do when you revise things, and I even managed to lose weight, but gain in calories. Managed to get hold of the pepperami I wanted and lose a few bags of crisps as a result. The trick with this as well is that even on the short day, day 7, you have to carry 2,000 calories. However what you do is use this to supplement days 5 and 6, so whilst they look light on paper, you have the excess from day seven as well.

The other good news is that I did a very light 10kms completely pain free and devoid of any shin splint pain. This is a real encouragement for me as in private, I'm crapping myself about the shin splint pain. It's completely debilitating, and even though in theory I'm meant to be worse in the cold, they stood firm. As did my gaitors, which was the point of today's run. The glue has cracked a little on some of the bending points on the trainer, but it's held pretty firm. I'll be going over the edges with duck tape tonight as well, so that there are three barriers for it, glue, tape and stitching. Will try and put some pictures up later. off to meet a guy who's in my tent for this.

Been a little while...

So back in the UK now at my parents and manically getting the last bits and pieces sorted. God it takes ages to do the kit and bag. Basically spent 8 hours today packing up and weighing everything. Then I just tried to get it all in the bag and I have too much! The food is the bulky thing, and I either need to re-pack it, or start culling some of it. I probably have too much, but thought it better to be safe rather than sorry. Plus the little things keep adding up and the bag is currently around 9.5kgs... too much. I wanted it at nothing more than 9kgs, including the 1.5 litres of water.

The issue at the moment is getting everything in though, so need to re-look at that. I've also managed to do my own gaitors as well. No-one here in the UK would touch them either, lazy sods. So I've glued and stitched them myself. Not too hard actually, plus I'll put a line of duck tape around, so I'm pretty confident they'll stick.

More stuff to do tomorrow, plus I want to do a couple of hours of stretching as well, and hopefully a little run with all my gear too.

Time to put up and shut up...

So the time is almost here. This time next week I'll be in Morocco, languishing in the laps of some 5 star luxury before we get bused out to the desert and begin our trek. I've done quite a bit of thinking in the last 24 hours about my leg situation, and reminded myself of why i got into this in the first place - Chris Moon.

For all my whinging and frankly softness over the last couple of months, this is a guy who did the bloody thing with one damn working leg. I have two of the bastards and and need to remember that. It's a walk in the park compared to the stuff Chris went through, and thinking about all that made me realise that ultimately, this trip is about enjoying what I'm about to do. I need to remember this, remember to enjoy it!

So the kit list is now done, the well wishes have been said, and off to the UK I fly in 36 hours. It's been a hell of a journey, an amazing one. Incidentally I went to the podiatrist this afternoon. She said I didn't get a stress fracture, I probably actually fractured my leg - shit the bed! Well it's done now and recovered (I think)... and I just can't wait to get out into the desert and begin this race. It will be amazing and a trip of a lifetime, despite the pain it will cause. But it will be immensely rewarding once complete.

I'll be sending updates to this blog via a friend of mine whilst away... however I'm sure there will be a post or two before I leave. I hope it's been enjoyable for those you have read it. Running blogs are strange things to keep. In short, they shouldn't be interesting because they record the runs you do. I try to keep mine interesting with thoughts and opinions - I always fancied myself as a writer, maybe this is a way to do that. Still, I hope it inspires in some way...

More of the same...

Same track, same drill... more shin splints. AGHHHHHHHH

It always happens around the 20min mark, or about 4kms in. This time I pushed on for another 4kms, doing 8 in total, but it got pretty unbearable by the end. I have to sit down for 20 minutes and then after that it all but disappears... strange. The very fact that I could do 8kms after the mornings debacle baffles me.

I must admit I was at one of my lowest points last night. Whereas in the past I would have time on my hands... now I dont. I have 10 days until the race starts and time is something I don't have anymore. I'm just hoping that the hot weather will help me. I seem to be 'OK' in hot weather, and in all honesty, I'm kind of wishing this away. still I have Voltarin on my side too and that can get rid of anything :)

On another front, I can't seem to get my gators stitched anywhere. No-one will stitch them, so I either wait til I get back to the UK and find someone, or I just glue them myself.

Ugly...

That's what this morning was. The shin splints have been giving me grief for the last few days and it all came to a bit of a head this morning. I find it very hard to do the early morning runs, particularly as it's now getting colder. It takes my legs so much longer to warm up. As a result, I managed just 4 measly kilometres around the track before I pulled the plug in agony.

This is not good. I can only hope that the hot sun in the Sahara will tame the shins. It normally does. I never get any issues in the summer, it's only in the winter where it really hurts. I really have to be up and about for a good 2-3 hours before I start running in the winter to get the legs and shins moving, otherwise its carnage. I'm trying to stay upbeat about it all, but it's hard when I've suffered from so many niggles and shit luck over the last few months.

Still onwards and upwards... I'm going to try again tonight around the track and get some decent distance in... I need to be doing 15kms a day now until I leave - time to take the voltarin down to the track me thinks :)

Building up...

Saturday was a tough day. It was hot, humid and sticky as the great rugby commentator Bill McLaren once said. Hot as in around 29 degrees, humid as in up around 80% and sticky, and in me!

As a result, the 13kms I did felt like 30kms as my legs wadded through the thick air. It was really tough going, but get through it I did. It was one of those runs where you think, Jesus, if this was hard, what's it going to be like out in the desert? I know what its going to be like, damn hard. But it will just have to be heads down I'm afraid and deal with it.

This morning was up at 5am for an intended 15km, but at 8kms I got really bad stomach pains, due to needing to go to the toilet severely. There's a public toilet right by the track, which was conveniently locked, so I pushed on for another 3kms before enough was enough and I risked soiling the white shorts I was wearing. So off I legged at 11kms when the risk became too much. The good thing was that I was moving gently at 6min kms... and it felt very comfortable... well it should really. And after the 13kms on Saturday, it was pleasing that I didn't feel like shite. Onwards and upwards, some more of the same for the rest of this week please!

A quick-ish 10kms

4 months ago a 47min 30sec 10km wouldn't be regarded as quick. I was knocking those out for fun. However being my longest run in 2.5 months... it was fairly quick. What was good though is that it was negative splits and I got quicker and quicker.

Again I didn't intend to... I just get carried away. The shins hurt though, which isn't good. But I guess its the muscles getting used to working again. I'm going to try for a longer run tomorrow... hopefully 2 hours, but much slower.

Quick... slow...

I dont know why, but I decided to do an interval session last night. The track is a good place to do that, and off the back of 8kms the other evening, last night needed to be short and sharp. So the order of the evening was one lap quick, one lap slow to recover. The reality is that I ended up doing the 4kms in 18mins:40secs... way too quick, but that's good. No ill effects from the leg whatsoever, so things look promising. although I really want to get up to a nice long slow distance soon... maybe this weekend is the chance.

Solid 8km

After worrying about a little twinge in the back of the left leg... today it felt much better and I'm pretty sure it was just acheyness from coming back to running. So the plan tonight was to do 40mins, and I ended up doing 41:30secs as that brought me round nicely to 8kms. Again a little quicker than I wanted, but the reality is that I started out quite conservatively, but ended up getting quicker as I felt very strong throughout.

It's encouraging, but I still wonder about whether to not I have the endurance still. I plan to do all my running now on the grass track before I leave. It will be dull as hell, but hey, I have to do it. I really want to try and get a 30km run in before I leave. That will depend on what the physio says on Thursday, but I feel in order to be confident about tackling the distance effectively I want to get one under the belt.

Anyway... will do another session tomorrow night, but just 30mins.

Some back to backs and sauna work

So on Friday, it was time to up the ante a little and do a whopping 25 minute run! Well 26 actually to make it a whole lap... 13 to be precise. Again too quick, but I'm not trying to run quick, just what feels comfortable. I then did the same again on Saturday morning, no less than 12 hours later. Leg feels fine, bar some aching muscles. Well I think they're aching muscles. The bad left leg is aching more than the right, but I guess I havent run for 7 weeks, so it will take a few weeks for the muscles to re-adjust somewhat. Although that doesnt stop me feeling paranoid that the leg isnt 100% yet. It probably isnt, but time isnt on my side at present. Still if it still aches tomorrow then I'll stay on the side of caution and just monitor. No point screwing everything up again!

I feel frustrated because I wont be in top physical peak condition for this, which is what I wanted to be. I probably tried to do too much really - but hey ho, have to get on with it don't you.

Anyway, went to the sauna tonight as well as I'm beginning two weeks of sauna sessions to try and get the core body temperature up a little. There have been some studies that suggest that doing this will help. Whether it's true or not I dont know, but again, I want to be in the best possible position for this. So it was 45 mins in there... Jesus was that tough... but tough it out I did. Anyhow... a planned run tomorrow, but we'll see how the leg feels. If there's any doubt I'll rest. Physio again on Thursday so we can see how we go.

Some thoughts...

Whilst this blog is about running, I do try at times to not make it a complete training bore! I do sometimes, like to pen some thoughts about my feelings towards things, albeit running, but it's nice to do sometimes. I often feel like a frustrated writer. I enjoy it, and do it as part of my job, but would and should try and do more really. I did actually start writing a book some years ago about my travels in 2000. I got about 20,000 words in and lost the lot when my PC crashed.

Anyway, so only 2 weeks now until I leave these shores I now call home and head back to the Motherland that is the UK. If I look back at where I wanted to be, it actually difficult to say where it is I actually wanted to be. I feel like I've achieved far more than I actually set out to do. Whilst I didnt realise it at the time, I am a relative running novice, and I think this comes from the circles you mix in. Over here in Australia, I'm middle of the pack, maybe even more towards the back of the pack. I don't like that, and when I've done the MDS (yes I am going to do this come hell or high water) I have a plan to really try and get myself towards the pointy end of the field.

What is it? Well, firstly I need to decide what it is I'm good at and what I enjoy. There's so many different forms of races over here, and I somewhat naively thought that a good marathon time would translate into a good time over 100km and 100miles. It so doesn't. So what do I want to do - well I'm a fairly decent marathon runner, so should I focus on that? Yes that's fun, but I really enjoy the longer distances too - particularly the 100km stuff on flats. I'm no hill man. I thought I was, but I'm shite at those and need to work on them.

I should get the MDS out the way first - and I'm getting very very excited about it now. excited because I'm back running again, albeit very small steps, but I'm running and I'm running in the way I want to, and thankfully not having to change my running style. There was a period when i was injured when we didn't really know what was wrong, and I was staring at the possibility of having to undo 18 months worth of work and changing styles. Thankfully the people advising me then were wrong and we got to the root of the problem and I'm running (what seems to be) freely.

As for the MDS... well the distance doesn't bother me at all. In fact compared to what I have done, that's not the worry. It's keeping the feet in shape and dealing with the heat. Heat and Feet as they say. I've got my bag down to a cool 8.4kgs now, including water. This is great and I'm very happy with this. I really didn't want it to push over 9kgs... 8.5kgs at a push.

Given the injuries day one and two will be taking it easy time as the pack will be heaviest then and I need to get into the groove. I'm hoping that day's 3 and 4 will see the big push. They say to finish top 100 you need to average 8km/ph. I'm not saying that I have the credentials to do this... but hey, I'm going to give it a shot :)

Another 15 mins... wasn;t that Andy Warhol?

Enough of the silly titles... tonight was session number three. I can tell I haven't run much and my calves are telling me too. They were a little tight this evening, but I put that down to the 4min 30sec kms the other night.

Tonight was sensible head... although I still ended up doing 5min 15sec kms. I wasn't timing them at all... I still had my watch on, but only to time the 15 mins. I just ran at what i thought was sensible and comfortable, and that ended up being at that pace.

To be honest I'm encouraged at the moment. OK, so it's only 3 x 15 mins sessions. But I've not felt a twinge or any issues whatsoever so far. The true test will come when I start to up the workload somewhat next week to 25-30 mins and some back to backs. I can't wait and it's just a joy to be out running again.

On another note, I read up on one of the ultra legends here in Australia, Cliff Young. I never really knew much about the bloke, but having read this article, it's truly inspiring.

Silly boy

After a cross-training session on Sunday in the gym for 45 mins, last night was day two of the come back.

I decided to head down to the grass track near the Bay in Rozelle, which is a bit of a bad idea as in my head, it then becomes a race to see how far I can run in 15 mins. I said to myself to keep it slow... and slow I did for the first 1km or 2 1/2 laps... knocking off in about 5 mins 20 secs. However as I relaxed more, I got faster and faster until I knew I was trying to do as much as possible. This is pretty stupid given that I haven't run much in 7 weeks and I need to stop myself. Anyway, for the record I knocked the last 1 km off in 4mins 35secs.

It was strange as I did 3,100m in the 15 mins which is just under 5min kms... I was a little concerned as I was breathing pretty heavy at the end of it and I thought to myself that my fitness had been lost quite a bit. But then I realised that I did the last km in that time and it dawned on me. Still everything is OK, the leg was fine again, and no ill effects or anything like that. Another rest day today, or maybe a chill session in the pool. I need to start getting into the sauna as well for 30 mins each night to start raising the core body temperature too. As well as get my ECG and medical sorted. It's close now... 3 weeks until I leave these fair shores. I'm feeling good about the MDS now... if I can keep my body in check, I'll do everything within my power to smash the thing to bits. Steady for the first two days, then ramp it up day 3 and 4, smash day 5... run on adrenaline on day 6...