The Marathon des Sables is probably the world's toughest running event. The race covers approx. 145m in six stages over seven days – which is a total of almost six marathons.
The stages include a dune day (a day that is run entirely in sand dunes) and a non-stop 50 mile stage that has to be completed within 40 hours.
Well what can I say about The first Regiment reunion in Grantham........ It was awesome. lots of beer drunk, lots of memories relived, lots of food eaten, lots of laughs had.
Thanks Dean, JB, Baz and anyone else who helped organise this great event
After a short sleep in my Travellodge, we were treated to Breakfast at Geds Cafe.
Best of all I managed to get £107 worth of mile guesses in 25 minutes. Thanks to my brothers in arms, Per Ardua. Roll on next year.
I ran over 26.2 miles for the first time
(See previous post)
I think that makes me an Ultra runner wow!!!!!!!!!!!
Last Wednesday I Pb'd the Gt Yarmouth 5 miler in a time of 34:19
And today in a hot and crowded race ,I pb'd 10k in the Bupa 10,000 run around London. I finished in 1000 place out of 11,000 runners in a time of 43:45.
Fitness Tip#8 Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy Like your runs, dont make them a chore. Vary your routes and the views that you will see. If your not enjoying it, have a break or make your runs fun for a while.
Diary of a Long Distance Runner
Sunday 12th May 2013 - 8.25 mile steady run with Paula
Thursday 16th May - 35 + miles in 6 hours
Monday 20th May - race pace 6 miles, warm
Wednesday 22nd May - Race pace 5 miles, warm and dry
Monday 27th May - Race pace 6 miles, very warm
This Blogs Donation Roll of honour
Sean Allerton - good friend from my past and an outstanding fundraiser
Jonno Johnson - another one of my Brothers in Arms
Steve Paul - a Brother gunner Ive never met (yet)
Jade Woodward - a work Colleague of my girlfriend Paula
Thank You!!!!!!!!!!
5 weeks to my 12 hour endurance run, Keep guessing, the more you guess, the more you could win.
Oh my god, I ran over 35 miles today and was on my feet for 6 hours.
My poor poor feet lol. Actually they felt pretty good as I used Zinc Oxide tape on them even on the balls of each foot.
The fuel for my run consisted of one of these every hour
And these every 2 hours.
When I finished I jumped into a cold bath kindly run by Paula. I sat in there for 10 minutes, had a hot shower, made 2 chicken wraps and went to work............ Only for an hour. Went home and stretched stretched stretched.
I think summer is finally here, well its certainly warmer than of late.My blogging has been lacking in the last couple of weeks. Believe it or not I started this at the start of May, and the first line was all I could manage. Writing isn't something I enjoy and have to make a big effort. I'm only cheating myself .Anyway, here we go. My Training is gradually getting longer, but surprisingly this is not putting me off. However my poor toes are taking a battering. Someone once told me that you know your a runner when you toe nails are black. Well mine are all going black. I've trimmed them, I've tried re-lacing my shoes, so that my feet don't slide around. Could do with some help. If you know of a foot specialist that could give me some advise, please let me know. This week my good friend Claire Whittenbury,wrote me a press release. Here is your preview
Press release May 7th, 2013:
Fitness Instructor pushes himself to the extremes.
Having braved Arctic temperatures in 2011, now Mark Nussey is heating things up to raise funds for MENCAP by racing across the Sahara.
Nussey, 44, lives and works in Lowestoft as a fitness consultant and sports massage therapist. He has already run 3 London Marathons and trekked across Northern Scandinavia for charity, but this is his biggest undertaking yet. In April 2015 he will be competing in the 30th anniversary of the Marathon de Sables, the toughest footrace on earth. According to the official MDS literature The race is a gruelling multi-stage adventure trough a formidable landscape in one of the worlds most inhospitable climates.
He will fly to Morocco 2 days before the event in order to acclimatise, then travel by bus and cattle truck to the start where the temperatures will be in the region of 50 degrees centigrade, a stark contrast to the – 44 experienced in the Arctic. Regardless of the dangers, places in the race are much sought after and Mark is not only committed to training his body and mind to endure the baking heat and huge distance of 156 miles in 5 days but he has also signed up to raise £10,000 for MENCAP, a charity close to his heart. His stepdaughter Ella, who is 20, was born with Downs Syndrome and her mother Paula Lambert has worked for, as well as being supported by MENCAP through Ella’s life and she is in turn supporting Mark in his challenging undertaking.
Once the race starts he’s on his own though, he will have to carry everything he needs to survive on his back, the only support in the desert will be the checkpoint and the end of stage tents. The mental strain on a race like this, with the intense heat and nothing but sand and dust for mile upon mile, cannot be underestimated. It is not unusual for competitors to hallucinate whilst running and many are withdrawn due to dehydration. Having started his career in the RAF and worked in the fitness and motivation business for the last 15 years Mark is well placed to cope with the long distances, the scorching Moroccan sun and desert mountains, even the occasional sand storm should not break his stride - but the most challenging aspect of his target is the fundraising.
£10,000 is a lot of money for one man to raise but he’s already started by setting up a fundraising page on Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Nussey and his programme of events so far includes a 12 hour endurance run on June 29th and a ‘Spinathon’ at The Waterlane Leisure Centre, in Lowestoft on September 28th. He is actively searching for sponsorship from local businesses and his blog will chart his physical and fundraising progress over the next 2 years as well as sharing his fitness and endurance tips:http://markshottotrot.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks Claire For those of you that want a challenge or a new goal. THE SPARTAN RACE SEASON STARTS IN AUGUST.
SPARTAN RACING Theres a distance for everyone, and the good news is Im part of the Spartan street team, so if you enter my discount code SPARTAN53 you will get 10% of entrance fee Aroooooooooo!!!!!!! Go on, you know you want to.........
Spartan Race.com Fitness tip #7 Run Partner Having someone to run with can be a great asset. Having that other person means its not so easy to say I cant be bothered with a run today. They can be good company if you are doing a longer run. They can be a good source of information and experience. Just one bit of Advice. Make sure that they are of a similar standard or are willing to run at or around your standard. This will prevent you from pushing yourself too much or not enough.
Diary of a long distance Runner
Wednesday 1st May 2013 - a slow 3 miler with Paula, it was very hot
Thursday 2nd May 2013 - a steady 11.5 miles, was abit windy, but that kept me cool, legs felt good
Monday 6th May 2013 - a very hot 15.25 miles, 1.5 of which was on the beach, this felt good
Thursday 9th May 2013 - oh my days this was an extremely windy 14.75 miles, but again felt good ( well when i got home anyway)
THIS BLOGS DONATION ROLL OF HONOUR
Andy Orchard - Blast from the Past, Regiment friend
John Berwick - Ex Regiment Gunner - never met (yet)
Claire Whittenbury - Walberswick exerciser and Press release writer
THANK YOU
well training is on hold for the next couple of days......
