All OK for MDS

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