I will be taking part in the Marathon Of The Sands in 2011 for charity, it is also a personal challenge. (156 miles).
During the race you carry all personal belongings.
I have already been training for the past few months for 3 hours a day, averaging around 15 – 20 miles per day.
I would like to know whether I should increase this? The Marathon is 6 days long and is approx the same as running one normal length Marathon per day.
Is there any way I can train to cope with the intense heat of the Sahara?
When training should I carry a backpack filled with 2 litre bottles of water to prepare myself for the Marathon as I will be carrying all my water I need? (I get more water at different stages during the event – carrying 3-4 litres of water at a time, clothes, survival kit, tent, flares etc.).
Any help with setting myself a personalised training regime will be very helpful!
Additional information:
In case this is any help -
I am 12 St (Approx 76 KG).
My height is 6′3.
My Body Mass Index is 20.8
11% body fat.
Thank you in advance!
I’ll add a few tips here that you might not have thought of.
Start spending now. Lightweight kit is expensive and you will want the lightest kit. To go out and buy all this in one go is a lot so spread the costs. Do you need a sleeping bag – check out the night time temperatures (it can freeze at night in some places with 40 degree heat in the day) – light down bags are a bit pricey but give you a good sleep. Make a kit list and start getting the lightest and smallest kit you can – smaller and it will fit in a smaller pack and that will be lighter. Get a water bladder – water pouch for the bag. Ideas: Sleeping bag, spare long sleeved T shirts (don’t need 1 for each day to be honest, just a clean one to go home in!), long running tights, pair of socks for each day, spare laces, first aid requirements, washing kit, head torch and compass, water for the day, sun block, hat, sun glasses, Tent? or goretex Bivvi bag?…. How much will this all weigh – for 1 week I would say you could get away with 10 to 15kg (1 litre of water weighs 1kg)
Training – the long desert marathons rip your feet to shreds with the sand, you can do all you want but it does get through and into your feet. Plastic bags round the feet and they sweat like made and the bags still get torn – and the sand gets in – so some hardening of the feet is needed – run on sand dunes if you can (dry sand and hills are the best way to get sand in your trainers), and walk bare foot on tarmac as well to harden things
I think these will be the hardest thing to cope with – carrying light kit and the sand, oh and the heat.
Training runs arn’t about speed but to keep going at an economical pace, plod along for 6 marathons and you will survive, race the first 2 in 3 hours each and the third day your body will say it doesn’t want to. If you are running 20 miles regularly then try a few 26 to 30 mile runs to get your body used to the longer run.
Training schedule – short runs a couple of times a week (relative of course) and a long run when you can fit one in, 2 days rest a week, with the rest of the week try technical training (so if you were a sprinter I would have said short sprints, for you perhaps cross country running, beach or dune running). Every 3 or 4 weeks do an easy week. Fit it all around the rest of your life