The Marathon des Sables

The past few weeks have been inevitably taken up by the festive period and the post Brecon/Rotherham rest period which I have duly taken before the final push. So it has been fairly quiet.

One aspect which has been playing on my mind is equipment. Although it’s not an area which I am overly nervous about getting it right is an important aspect of the race.
So having pondered it I have been out and spent a small fortune on bits and pieces to help do my bit for the economy (Mr Brown).
Below is version 1 of my kit list (“X” marks kit which has been purchased so far). Only items marked “?”, and blank have yet to be finalised (This list is certainly not a finished kit list).

I am not taking the lightest of everything but I am not taking unnecessary equipment (solar chargers, iPods etc etc).

Some interesting things have happened this weekend but they are for this weekends postings as quite frankly, it’s way past my bedtime. I haven’t yet decided what I would like as a luxury item (if I want one) but it won’t be shavers or stuff, it will probably be something simple like Green Tea.

Most people like to reflect on the previous year at this point and, although I like to keep one eye firmly on the future I can’t help do it myself briefly.
2008 was, by-and-large, a rubbish year with some exceptional high points.

So enough of that, what now?

After peaking with the RR50 and the Beacon Ultra prior to Christmas it is now all about maintenance, ensuring that I keep the base level of fitness and avoiding the big I … Injury.

It’s a critical time with only 12 weeks to go. I am not a fan of these big mileage training plans with 75+ miles a week etc, and having got some now more than acceptable ultra times in (10:40 at Brecon) and run ultra distance without any real recovery I have no intention of changing now. I rarely top out at 50 running miles a week, generally 1 large, 1 tempo (very important!) and 1 mid-distance. In addition to this I am keeping a good base of fitness from cycling 100+ miles a week.

So, that’s it, the festive period is almost over and work looms on Monday morning and no more can I say “I’m resting after two MASSIVE ultra marathons, oh yeah, I know… I’m great…". Time to kick the booze again (or what little I have managed over the past two weeks!) and get my head down and my feet moving.

I have been using a few bits of new gear so I think it would be prudent to place some of my thoughts on them here:

Under Armour Heat Gear Compression Shorts
Not for the shy, these are silky smooth very tight shorts with an ultra strong waste band and claims about keeping you cool in the heat and preventing sore bits.
I have now used these on two ultras in the cold so I cannot comment on the ability to keep you cool in the heat, I can however say that they stay firmly in place and aren’t a problem even after 50 miles and have kept the rather sore point of chaffeage to a minimum. I can say this comfortably as someone who has has blood running down the insides of his legs and (even worse) from between the buttocks! Neither of the ultras has seen me use any Vaseline or lubrication products so they must be doing a good job!
The compression element isn’t just designed to ensure that you can’t hide *anything* it’s also supposed to suppress Delayed Onset Muscle Syndrome. I didn’t suffer in my legs, but I also didn’t suffer anywhere else so i can’t fully comment.
They are comfy, don’t move, the waistband doesn’t dig in uncomfortably so these get the Ultramarathon Mike thumbs up.

Toe Toe Socks
Despite taking an age to put on I am all for these, anything that gets me through two tough 50 milers only 7 days apart with only two tiny blisters gets my vote. They are very comfortable and the toe compartments even fit my elongated monkey toes in. The only problem is that they are not very long lasting and mine have no heel after just 100 mile. That’s about 7.5p a mile so I can’t complain too much!

Nuun - Various Flavours
So far I have tried “Tri-Berry", “Kona Cola” and “Lemon & Lime". At first try I find they are a bit salty but otherwise palatable and quite refreshing, they are very convenient in in tablet form. Kona Cola has that cheap “Rola Cola” thing going on.

Swiss Army Card
Don’t know - lost it 3.5 seconds after unwrapping it up. Bugger.

Here’s the deal. You sleep (if you want) in a giant hall with the lights on all night and a host of other runners/walkers fartin’ and snorin’ all night (me that is, not them) and get up at 5am to start at either 6am or 7am in the dark, the rain, wind and sleet… sounds like fun?

No? Well it wasn’t bad actually! I managed to get a few hours kip and woke early to the sound of people scratting around and the wind an rain. The others where off and I hooked up with a few people I know and prepped for the race.

After setting off in the dark and rain I felt OK and fell into a nice pace running with Jo Kilkenny who was good company. We fell in and out of pace with Rory Coleman & co (Andy who I already knew and Diggers, Robin and Thrubbers) who makes good company for a long run.
The rain didn’t stop, staying warm meant staying moving, after a problem at CP1 me and Jo got held up and slipped behind the rest of the group, we pushed on to CP2 where Jo’s knee, and probably the endless “tree plastic” and weather helped make the tough but ultimately sensible decision to call it quits. It was a shame as her company was excellent but on the plus side I got her comprehensive set of laminated maps!

I dug deep and slogged on to CP3 managing to catch up with the rest of the chaps a little before. A push I was probably going to regret a little later! With the weather still rubbish we simply slogged on with wet feet and well, wet everything else…

With much of the terrain resembling the trenches of the somme, ankle deep mud and wet and a few groaning bodies the 30 mile checkpoint was a welcome site with a drop bag of warmer and fresh clothes. My chances of completion without this changer were minimal. Gromit dropped with a stuffed knee at this point. Here it was warming to meet a few new guys off the MdS forum who are also training for next years MdS (and Rab Lee who beat me round the Beacon Ultra last week). We ploughed on through the killing fields getting muddier and wetter. The rain had finally stopped but the temperature plummeted.

Darkness came early under the overcast sky but at no point did the water, mud and ploughed fields seem to stop and at this point I think everyone was having their ups and downs. The only answer was to keep moving keep warm and don’t think about it!

After more of the same the final 5K couldn’t come fast enough but once they had arrived I had run out, or not, the last couple of Km left me for dead and the others managed to keep going and sneak in just under 12 hours. I came in at 12hrs02 feeling physically shot, emotionally shot and covered in mud. Brilliant!

Today I don’t feel too bad in general but I expect some DOMs to kick in tomorrow, not too bad that is apart from my ankles which are a bit swollen, don’t like to move or suddenly bear wait (they have improved greatly over the day). I guess I couldn’t expect no fall out at all from two ultras in a week!

Time to rest.