What a year! I can't believe it is nearly March already, where have the past two months gone?
So update on the MDS. My training is going well and I'm feeling strong now on my runs. I'm not quite at the level I was last time i went out there but I have much more endurance experience and stamina in me now which plays a big part in events like this.
To help acclimatise for the heat in the desert a local gym in Maidenhead (La Roche) has very kindly allowed me to use their sauna a few times a week. So early in the morning before work I go and sit for 25 minutes and sweat, its quite attractive. I'm trying to build up to 45 minutes over the next week or so and do some squats, press-ups etc. while I'm in there to get the heart going.
My weekend runs are between 15-21 miles and i've built my pack up to 8.5kg now and need to get this to 11kg which will be approximately the weight i take out for the start of the race.
Nearly all the food, equipment, clothing and bits have been accumulated now and I need to spend an evening sorting it all and making sure I have all the essentials cos if you don't have these things ( a Venom Pump is included in this list) you get time penalties. You also need to take a minimum of 200kcal per day but I am aiming for around 3000kcals. Here's an example of a daily food allowance:
- Dried breakfast - porridge and fruit - 560kcals
- Energy bar - 130Kcal
- Peperami (my treats) x 2 - 280kcal
- Energy drink x 3 - 350kcal
- Recovery drink x 2 - 300kcal
- Freeze dried dinner (Chilli, spagbol etc) 800kcal
- Freeze dried dessert - 800kcal
All this lot weighs about 600-650g so each day you loose this weight out your pack which is great.
I can't wait to get out there. My race number is 855 and you can follow me on this site http://www.darbaroud.com/ and you can even send me messages by finding the 'write to competitors' bit and send me a message. It would be great to hear from you all.
I'll be adding more posts over the coming week as there is lots of exciting stuff happening which will be revealed soon.
Cheers, Johnny
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Friday 5 February 2010
Its count down time!
Hi Everyone,
What a start to the year its been. After all the excitement then frustration with the snow I left the cold behind and went on my hols to Oz. My wifes from Perth so it we went back for a couple of weeks to enjoy the sun, sea and see the rele's as they say over there.
The weather was amazing with the top temperature hitting 42.7 deg!! Absolute quality. This was perfect for me as I needed to get some hot weather training in as it is only 8 weeks until I fly out to Morocco to start the 25th edition of the world famous Marathon Des Sables.
This year as it is a special 25th anniversary the organisers have decided to add a few miles on and round the KM's upto 250 which equates to 155 miles. The addition only really means an extra 5 miles over the 7 days but its an extra 5 miles over 300ft sand dunes, rocks whilst carrying your 10kg backpack and running in upto 55deg heat. And I can not wait to get out there.
I've got a feeling that this years run is going to be harder than when I did it in 2007. Although I have more experience now at doing ultra's, and my body is probably better equiped to deal with it, I went into the run in 2007 thinking it was going to be toughest thing ever and actually really enjoyed all of it. The hardest part was the last 15 miles of the long day which was 46 miles in total (that took us 12 hours to complete).
What I love though is the challenge. Unless I get really injured my body will cope as it is the most amazing bit of kit you own and can be pushed to silly limits and recover. I kind of hope that at some time during the run it gets mentally tough, like really hard. That's when you test yourself.
And I've bought enough quality trance recently to keep me smiling while i'm out there. Imagine being in the middle of the desert with a few people around you including a good mate. Nothing to think about apart from running from A-B and you stick on some cracking tunes. What a rush.
Have a good weekend.
Johnny
What a start to the year its been. After all the excitement then frustration with the snow I left the cold behind and went on my hols to Oz. My wifes from Perth so it we went back for a couple of weeks to enjoy the sun, sea and see the rele's as they say over there.
The weather was amazing with the top temperature hitting 42.7 deg!! Absolute quality. This was perfect for me as I needed to get some hot weather training in as it is only 8 weeks until I fly out to Morocco to start the 25th edition of the world famous Marathon Des Sables.
This year as it is a special 25th anniversary the organisers have decided to add a few miles on and round the KM's upto 250 which equates to 155 miles. The addition only really means an extra 5 miles over the 7 days but its an extra 5 miles over 300ft sand dunes, rocks whilst carrying your 10kg backpack and running in upto 55deg heat. And I can not wait to get out there.
I've got a feeling that this years run is going to be harder than when I did it in 2007. Although I have more experience now at doing ultra's, and my body is probably better equiped to deal with it, I went into the run in 2007 thinking it was going to be toughest thing ever and actually really enjoyed all of it. The hardest part was the last 15 miles of the long day which was 46 miles in total (that took us 12 hours to complete).
What I love though is the challenge. Unless I get really injured my body will cope as it is the most amazing bit of kit you own and can be pushed to silly limits and recover. I kind of hope that at some time during the run it gets mentally tough, like really hard. That's when you test yourself.
And I've bought enough quality trance recently to keep me smiling while i'm out there. Imagine being in the middle of the desert with a few people around you including a good mate. Nothing to think about apart from running from A-B and you stick on some cracking tunes. What a rush.
Have a good weekend.
Johnny
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