Dune training

So with less than 6 weeks to go now I feel like I am almost ready (as ready as I'll ever be). I went to the beach today.... actually really enjoyed it and very glad I went. I did about 14 and a half miles on the shingle and sand which was okay. Quite tough to walk on in parts because one minute my feet felt pretty solid and in the next step they sank completely. A great place to train though so I'll definitely be going back. Once I'd finished that part of the day I went into the dunes. Now this I really enjoyed! I didn't have gaiters attached but was wearing ToeToe socks with Sealskinz over the top and my trainers. No sand on the feet which was a bonus! Not quite sure how it must have looked to the people enjoying the dunes with their kids, buckets and spades at the ready, with slightly deranged looking woman sliding down one side and attempting to run up the opposite side. But good fun and it's given me an insight as to how hard it is to walk up a steep slope in the sand!

I will hopefully go back a couple of times between now and the end of March. Definitely beneficial. Once the gaiters are attached I need to roadtest them anyway.

Less than 8 weeks to go....

It really is...!!! Reality starting to hit hard!!! I have all my kit now and am starting to test food options. It's really hard to know what I'll feel like eating when I've been trudging all day in the blistering heat. Something that appeals now, really might make me want to run in the opposite direction out there. Today I tried fish and potato in parsley sauce... an Expedition meal. It was actually quite nice but an effort to finish the whole meal. They are quite big! I'll try another one tomorrow and once i have about 5 that I like, I'll stick with it. Noodles are an option too because they're easy to eat and prepare.

I did one leg of the Town to Tring/Tring to Town on Saturday with Perks and Steph. Perks was officially entered (Steph and I were not!). I think this is probably a good one to do to replicate the boredom you might feel in the desert. I didn't find it boring because the company was good, but canal towpath does start to look pretty similar when you're walking 40 miles of it. I had a few hip issues from about 12 miles which wasn't good, but mind over matter, just keep plodding on. Once it got dark it was bloody cold. We were the last (but we're getting pretty used to that!!!), and we were making good walking time (averaging about 4 miles an hour for pretty much the whole thing). We walked with another lady (Tricia) who is on the waitlist for 2010. It was her first ultra and she did incredibly well..... she started to suffer with the cold towards the end but we kept going and made it back in around 10 hours 40 minutes.

I wouldn't do this one again, but it was all good experience. Oddly enough, I ached more from doing this than anything else I've done in the past....

The Brecon Beacons are calling in a couple of weeks which I'm looking forward to. Now I just need the snow outside to disappear so I can get back on my feet...