This weekend sees the pinnacle of my Marathon des Sables training when I'll be "competing" in the Grantham Ultra: 29.3 miles on the Saturday, an overnight stop, then running Saturday's route in reverse to complete another 29.3 miles on the Sunday.
Assuming I complete both days this final build-up period will have included the following:
w/e 12 Feb: off week to recover for upcoming cycle;
w/e 19 Feb: 20 miler (8.5kg rucksack)/20 miler (6.6kg rucksack) back-to-back;
w/e 26 Feb: full 26.2 mile marathon with 6.5kg rucksack;
w/e 4 Mar: 23 miles (11.8kg rucksack), day off, 20 miles;
w/e 11 Mar: 29.3 miler/29.3 miler back-to-back.
Which also means I have just 2 hard days to come and my training preparation, which began in earnest in January 2011, is pretty much finished. I'd aim for another 20 miler or so next week and then my 3 week taper period will begin.
So with just 4 weeks to go before I travel to the Sahara I can officially declare that THE EXCITEMENT HAS ARRIVED!
