Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Now We've Got a Gunn
Adrian Gunn that is! Adrian is an MSc candidate who has taken Steph and I on as clients for one of his modules. For the princely sum of bugger all we get bespoke training programmes based on our VO2 max and lactate thresholds, nutrition advice and best of all use of the heat chamber for acclimation sessions in the week before the event. Brilliant!!
This morning I revisited the site of some discomfort. Avid blog readers will recall my account of the Anglesey Trail Marathon back in May and how much I suffered on that. Anyhoo, I chose to run part of that route again this morning prior to picking up daughter Georgie from Benllech. The trail was far muddier than in May, which made it challenging but the late October sunshine made it more pleasurable.
Strong winds are forecast for tomorrow so the 3-4 hour session is going to be a toughie but working on the train hard, race easy concept, should be a worthwhile run.
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| Sunrise Over Benllech Bay |
Strong winds are forecast for tomorrow so the 3-4 hour session is going to be a toughie but working on the train hard, race easy concept, should be a worthwhile run.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Son of a Beach
Prior to all the sporting contests that had me glued to TV and internet for the best part of Saturday, I made the effort to get over to Newborough and get some time in on the beach, dunes and forest trails. How glad I was that I did as it really is the perfect training location. I'd made the decision to get out as early as possible so it was dark for most of the time which wasn't really helpful and, because it was the first time I'd been, I spent a lot of time stopping for map checks. I'll definitely be back there next week but will aim to get there around daybreak this time. Could go during the day but then I'd miss out on the bonus of belting sunrises.
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| Llanddwyn Beach at Dawn |
The photo here is a bit hard to see unless you get the light right but you have my assurance that it was a great sunrise and gave the beach a slightly eerie look.
Managed to get back in time to do a spot of shopping for breakfast, get home, have a shower and be settled down for Wales v France. Have to admit to being a bit gutted for them to go out like that but rules is rules as they say.
The Daily Post thing is a bit weird at the minute. They've done the interview and we've posed for crap photos but nothing has appeared in the paper yet. They're probably trying to eke every last 50p out of us that they can!! The photographer said that they might put it in to co-incide with Steph running Chicago marathon, which he did last Sunday but nothing then or since.
More good news on the acclimation front. Jonathan from Bangor Uni has been in touch again to let us know he has a student who is keen to work with us right through to the event including a week's worth of sessions in the chamber the week before the start. RESULT!!
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Time to Get Serious
Yesterday was a landmark date in MdS preparations - exactly 6 months till we fly out to Morocco. With that in mind a structured training programme is now underway. Previously it had been fitting in a training run whenever I had a spot of spare time plus the odd marathon here and there. Now I must make time so it's a lot of early rises with training having to take place before work and weekend mornings so that I can still devote enough time to family life.
Although the race itself will be 150 miles in a week, I don't intend to go anywhere near that in training. 10 hours a week has been allocated for running and an hour for upper body weights. Only the long Sunday session will be with a pack. With early mornings over the next 6 months lacking in daylight and abundant in un-Sahara like weather, some running will be on the treadmill in the work's gym. I've provisionally been given permission to put heaters in there as well to get some form of acclimation training done.
Kit and menu wise I am now settled on what will be going so that is one less thing to take up time. A bit of fine tuning in the packing process is all that remains there.
The Marrakech trip at the beginning of March has now been booked so we are looking forward to 2 good, long training days there in the sort of environment we can expect one month later. The heat still won't be up in the 30s and 40s but we'll get a good idea of some of the kind of running surfaces we can expect to encounter in the event.
An article is due in The Daily Post in the next couple of days. We met up with their photographer yesterday who put us in all manner of embarrassing poses so it's with some trepidation that I look forward to seeing the article. If there's a web link I'll stick that on here in due course.
Fundraising is going well for the charity. I've almost made it to £700, which is 14% of the target. Corporate support on the other hand is still at £0. I'm very disappointed in the lack of interest in what is a global event. I'll have a good, hard look at the marketing techniques I've used and work out how I can do better and hopefully nail something before Christmas. Otherwise I'm going to have to get a paper round.
So now it's train, train, train and count down the days to the start. I'm looking forward to the training even if it is going to be cold and dark a lot of the time. It's unlikely that anyone will see me at that time in the morning but if you do, give us a wave!
Although the race itself will be 150 miles in a week, I don't intend to go anywhere near that in training. 10 hours a week has been allocated for running and an hour for upper body weights. Only the long Sunday session will be with a pack. With early mornings over the next 6 months lacking in daylight and abundant in un-Sahara like weather, some running will be on the treadmill in the work's gym. I've provisionally been given permission to put heaters in there as well to get some form of acclimation training done.
Kit and menu wise I am now settled on what will be going so that is one less thing to take up time. A bit of fine tuning in the packing process is all that remains there.
The Marrakech trip at the beginning of March has now been booked so we are looking forward to 2 good, long training days there in the sort of environment we can expect one month later. The heat still won't be up in the 30s and 40s but we'll get a good idea of some of the kind of running surfaces we can expect to encounter in the event.
An article is due in The Daily Post in the next couple of days. We met up with their photographer yesterday who put us in all manner of embarrassing poses so it's with some trepidation that I look forward to seeing the article. If there's a web link I'll stick that on here in due course.
Fundraising is going well for the charity. I've almost made it to £700, which is 14% of the target. Corporate support on the other hand is still at £0. I'm very disappointed in the lack of interest in what is a global event. I'll have a good, hard look at the marketing techniques I've used and work out how I can do better and hopefully nail something before Christmas. Otherwise I'm going to have to get a paper round.
So now it's train, train, train and count down the days to the start. I'm looking forward to the training even if it is going to be cold and dark a lot of the time. It's unlikely that anyone will see me at that time in the morning but if you do, give us a wave!
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