eat sleep run repeat

My excitement  at getting a place on the Marathon Des Sables 2015 has now simmered down to a low bubble of nervousness. I have had a mixed year of injuries and since completing Celtman 2013 I haven't really been able to hold down any decent, consistent training. Ive had lower back pain, foot problems and most recently a very odd bleed in my right calf caused by surfing. So 4 weeks of no running or cycling has been my start to training for the hardest race of my life so far...great.

I have no completed my first 2 10k training runs and have decided my body is ready to start the long and hopefully more scientific than usual training needed to carry me over the 150 odd miles of sunshine and sand (making it sound nice).

My plan is to follow a 4 week training cycle:

This week (60k):
Mon - 10k
Tue - 10k & circuit training
Wed - 10k
Thur - 10k & circuit training
Fri - 10k
Sat - 10k
Sun - nothing

Next week (70k):
Mon - 15k & circuit training
Tue - 10k
Wed - 10k & circuit training
Thu - 15k
Fri - 10k
Sat - 10k
Sun - nothing

3rd week (75k)
Mon - 15k
Tue - 10k & spinning session
Wed - 15k
Thu - 10k & spinning session
Fri - 10k
Sat - 15k
Sun - nothing

4th week (46k)
Mon - 10k
Tue - 8k
Wed - 10k & circuit training
Thu - 8k
Friday - rest
Sat - 10k
Sun - rest

5th week(65k)
Mon - 15k
Tue - 10k & circuit training
Wed - 10k
Thur - 10k & circuit training
Fri - rest
Sat - 20k
Sun - nothing


My plan is to run the first 4 weeks very gently and just make sure I dont pick up any injuries. If my legs are too sore ill just drop that days session. Form and recovery is my main goal. Once I build up to 80+ km a week ill let that settle and then add my pack into the equation and slowly load it up.
My plan is flexible as it cant take into account family needs and holidays so ill just adjust as I go. Ive been doing this for long enough to know if my training is on target. My pace goals after a couple of months will be to run between 4:30 and 4:45 min kms. That gives me room to slow down.

Im going to blog my journey as a record for myself this year and to keep me motivated. Ill add pics as I go and see how my weight adjusts to the training (Im starting at 85kg). As I go along ill also do some cycling but Im not yet sure how ill slot that it. The whole thing is a work in progress but my aim is to be very run fit by Christmas and then just hold that until the race. I want to build a very solid base fitness and just not worry about speed.

Over and out for now.