Stories

The build-up to the race was surprisingly easy – for once I was packed, had done food shopping, bagged food into 6 hour bags and had sourced all missing kit with a couple of days to spare. An easy afternoon flight to Inverness followed, starting to get excited as Ben sent live updates from the route briefing as I sat in the BA lounge drinking champagne. Sometimes I think I’m starting to get the hang of adventure racing!

We’d tried to predict the course over the previous weeks as info started coming out about disciplines and durations, but hadn’t got much of it right! First impressions were that the foot stages would be tough – not that long, but through some of the wildest mountains in the British Isles. We would be traversing Suilven, An Teallach, the Five Sisters of Kintail and the Lithiach ridges – some pretty serious terrain. The bike stages conversely looked relatively easy – long, but nothing too technical. The kayak stages looked ok, but one involved a long series of portages between a set of lochans to reach the coast. We were assured that it wasn’t too tough, and Tom the course planner had made it through this section in an hour or so when he tested the course. Hmmm.

Ben and Lucy met me at the airport – Ben I know well having raced with him for years, but Lucy was new to the team. She was almost as I’d expected, having spoken to her on the phone in the lead-up to the race, but I hadn’t expected her to be about 9 foot tall. She towered over the rest of us, an attribute that was later to come in very useful when drafting behind her on the bike sections!

A day of kit shuffling ensued, not that we needed to do much, but Gary took full advantage of the opportunity to faff about by removing all items of kit that he actually needed and mislaying them. This later led to him wearing a full set of Lucy’s spare clothing on the first bike stage as he had failed to pack his own. Luckily Lucy’s female-specific bike shorts and Gary’s “undercarriage” proved to be a strangely comfortable match, which begs all sorts of unpleasant questions we won’t get in to here!

An early bus to Dunrobin Castle, an hour waiting in the cold wind and getting bitten by midges, and we were finally off! Started off by the Laird and his shotgun, we settled into an easy trot around a 45minute run loop, not wanting to push the pace too much at the start. A swift transition onto the kayaks, and we were away across the Firth of Dornoch heading towards the Glenmorangie Distillery in about 6^th place. The paddle went smoothly enough apart from for Gary, who’d managed to set his backrest up in a position that would have better suited a hunchback. Discomfort aside, we lost a little ground to the Swedes who were very strong paddlers, but after 3 hours or so arrived at transition. This early in the race the general level of urgency was high, and transition was busy with shivering, blue hued teams in varying degrees of undress trying to ready their bikes for a long coast-to-coast ride that would take the rest of the day. Gary’s clothing dilemma aside, everything went smoothly and we rode out of the distillery feeling good. Biking is our strength, and we were looking forward to gaining some ground back on the competition.

5 minutes into an 8 hour bike ride, our buoyant spirits and my rear tyre deflated in unison. A rock had slashed the sidewall, and after 3 stops to try to get the sealant to seal the hole we admitted defeat and had to install a tube. Pumped up hard and with slightly more respect for the Scottish landscape, we pressed on once more.

The ride was a mixture of terrible hike-a-bike sections, fast fire road and the occasional bit of tarmac. We matched pace with a French team who seemed happy for us to sit behind them and draft them, so we let them put all the work in for an hour or so. Lovely. The scenery was spectacular, the weather was ok, so we enjoyed the miles as they passed, once amused by seeing another team having a full scale domestic on a hike a bike section.

All good things must come to an end, and arriving at transition in good spirits, we were told of a course change. Sea conditions meant that the paddle had been altered, and instead of paddling around the headlands of the Summer Isles, we were now to portage our boats over them. For those that haven’t had the pleasure, a Malibu2 sit on top kayak weighs about 30kg. This was not good news. We cooked up some Expedition Foods dehydrated meals as we marked the changes onto our map (bolognese, mac and cheese and carbonara – yum!) and then paddled off into the gloom as the light started to fall, thinking that this would now probably be a 12 hour stage, well fed if not very happy with the changes.

The initial paddle was good, we stopped after an hour and left the kayaks on the bank as we hiked up to summit Suilven, a brutally steep 650m peak. The weather at the bottom was nice, the weather at the top was Scottish! Having endured strong wind, driving torrential rain and low visibility on the ridge, we found the CP and set off back down again. At this point we realised that finding the kayaks on the bank was going to be tricky – it was dark, and our cunning plan of leaving a glowstick visible on the boat had been copied by everyone else. Oops.

Finding our boats at last, another hour of paddling led to the portage of doom. Or the portage of “it’s easy, I got through it in an hour” according to course planner Tom. Only later did he admit he was carrying a rubber dinghy in sunlight, not wrestling a couple of 30kg plastic monsters in the rain and the dark. We’ll gloss over this bit as I have nothing good to say about either Tom or the portage, but it was rocky, steep, wet, slippery and generally miserable.

After this, dragging the boats for 5km along a hilly coastal road felt positively fun (at least we got to use the kayak trolley!), and as day 2 dawned we paddled off once more. The day was filled with paddling against either the wind, the tide, or for bonus points, both, and alternated with dragging and swearing as we portaged the boats over yet another rainy hilly Scottish headland. Eat your heart out, Crossfit!

The 12 hour stage estimate was out of the window. We were long out of food, cold and hungry as we finally approached transition after 18 hours. Some quite seriously thought out plans for the murder of course planner Tom were derailed as he met us on the shore looking distraught, with a huge apology. The weather and tide had blown the organiser’s estimates away, and we were only the 5^th team to arrive. Teams were scattered all along the coastline being unable to make further progress, and a big logistics operation was being deployed in order to collect them all. We’d actually done very well!

Good news - we were just in time to do the canyoning stage. Bad news - I was shivering uncontrollably, Lucy was having a bad 5 minutes (don’t ask!), and we were all cold, hungry and tired. After being fed hot tea by the marshals, we thawed out enough to think that jumping into cold water again seemed like a good idea (albeit Lucy was still far from convinced) and trooped off for 45min of waterfall jumps, rope descents and canyon swimming, actually good fun once we’d warmed up a bit. More hot food to the rescue – the amount of joy imparted by the rapid ingestion of a 1000kcal Expedition Foods Chile con Carne should not ever be underestimated!

Checking out of transition with a good 30 seconds to spare before the cutoff, we were off into the evening of day 2 on a 65km trekking section through Fisherfield, one of the most remote places in Scotland. A 1000m climb to An Teallach warmed up anyone that was still cold, and we summited just as last light faded having taken a great line and overtaken a few teams on the climb.

A slow and winding path along the ridgeline gave us time to think. In 5^th place, we were the last full team course still standing. Everyone else had already dropped some CPs or had run foul of the time cutoff. The front teams were running nearly 12 hours behind schedule, and we seriously doubted that anyone would complete the full course. The weather forecast was atrocious, and we had been racing for 40 hours without pause by that point. Our plan had been to complete the whole trek and then sleep in transition, but that wasn’t looking likely, with what we estimated to be another 14 hours needed for the trek. Working back from the next cutoffs, we quickly realised that we weren’t going to make it. The tough decision was made to cut the trek short and to drop the next 3 CPs in favour of taking a straight line to the next transition. This would give us a good time buffer and enable us to take strategic decisions for the rest of the race instead of chasing cutoffs.

I don’t recall much of the rest of the trek, I stumbled along behind Ben in a bit of a daze, for some reason really resenting him for taking us on such a crappy path and for being short coursed. This of course wasn’t his fault at all, we’d all agreed on what to do! Weird tricks your mind plays on you when you are tired. A couple of 2 minute power naps on the trail saw us through to dawn, then a small nav error meant we took a short detour much to Gary’s annoyance!

A long road section led into transition in Kinlochewe, food (Spag Bol, Mac and Cheese and a random Raspberry Granola which had found its way into the wrong bag!) and a blissful 2 hour sleep. The boys managed to annoy Lucy by leaving her to put the tent up and take it down again on her own (sorry!) but finally we escaped the Torridon Midges, which are the worst things ever invented. Fact.

Itching profusely, we departed on the long bike stage, some 140km. Unfortunately the course organisers had now shortened the course, taking out the Lithiach Ridge trek and a bike CP which now meant we had possibly dropped too many CPs on the trek... We weren’t happy as we thought that teams behind us who had dropped fewer CPs could now probably still make the cutoffs. Cue much muttering in the team and endless discussion of scenarios.

Biking was a joy, involving some amazing singletrack on the Applecross peninsular, but as we approached the infamous Beallach na Baa road climb the heavens opened, and stayed that way for the next 8 hours. It was torrential. Darkness fell, temperatures dropped, and we froze as we were soaked to the skin, so we kept the speed high, it was good fun in a type 2 way! Only a lengthy hike a bike section slowed the pace however, but even this didn’t dampen spirits too much. Back on the road, and a last 10km led to transition at Morlich, still in heavy rain.

Unfortunately this wasn’t located in a big building, so all the kit bags were being stored outside due to lack of space. In the rain. Not a problem for us as we’d dry-bagged everything in the kit bags, but judging from the moaning all around us, not everyone had done the same. I suspect that this will be a major learning point for a few teams – there’s nothing worse than needing a sleep and then finding out that your sleeping bag is soaked through!

Time for our second sleep of the race, a planned 2hr nap became 2h40 after we collectively slept through three alarms. Oops. Luckily Thursday’s morning light woke us (day 4 already!) and sparked a frantic rush to get packed and out. Feeling refreshed we ran most of the next trekking stage, choosing to take another short course option as the bike stage had taken longer than expected, and we suspected that the Five Sisters ridge would be very slow going indeed. A steady jog saw the distance disappear rapidly until we took a shortcut, wondering why the path didn’t go the obvious straight way. Then we found The River. That’d be why, then. The River was wide, fast flowing, and an exploratory prod with a trekking pole proved that it was deep, too. Balls.

Cut to 4 mostly naked racers taking their first bath of the week. It was cold. Very cold. Lucy out-manned the boys by going first, but then ruined her tough girl image by resurfacing in a torrent of shocked un-ladylike language. Gary was not mummy’s brave little soldier here, and needed encouragement to take the plunge!

Shivering my way up the next hill, I loudly and bitterly complained about the poor life choices that had led to me swimming across a river, which left the whole team in stitches. They don’t normally find me that funny, which is their loss!

Realising we were nearly done, we jogged the last miles to a transition on the bank of Loch Broom and readied our trusty kayaks once more. Striving to make it to the rafting cutoff, we made great time with the wind and current behind us down the loch, negotiating a couple of minor rapids to reach the rafting transition. We made it! And, as it turns out, only just. We were the second last team to make it through due to rapidly dropping water levels on the river.

The rafting was fun, if a little edgy due to the lack of water. We were mildly terrified by our raft guide – no-one is that “wired” naturally! Hyper twitchy, yet looking like he hadn’t slept for days, eyeballs out on stalks, and with the attention span of a goldfish, he looked like he’d come straight from a very hard weekend of chemically-assisted raving. Still, we soon reached the end of the raft section, and so we (and he) survived to rave another day. Back into kayaks for a short paddle to Fort Augustus, where Gary’s dismay that the chip shop was closed was soothed by more Exped Food meals (Chicken Korma this time, and I think I have a new favourite!).

Only one stage to go, a 70km bike along the Great Glen Way into Inverness. Bravely spurning sleep as only being needed by losers and weak people, we set off at midnight on what was surely just a fairly easy ride to the finish. Ha. In theory the trail is waymarked for the whole length, in practice not so much! Navigation wasn’t helped by everyone being a bit(!) weary, and as we pedalled on through the night we passed team after team having to take a little sleep on the side of the track. Weak, like we said.

At about 4am, Ben was struck with the biggest sleepyhead phase I’ve ever seen. We yelled at him, filled him with unhealthy amounts of caffeine and sugar, tried to get him to sing, talk, anything to keep him awake, including explaining that he was now both weak and a loser. Nothing worked, but somehow he kept riding, admitting later that there were extended periods where he was fully asleep while riding his bike. Gary scared us all by smashing his rear wheel to bits on a drainage ditch that he failed to bunnyhop over – he broke 3 spokes and put a huge dent in the rim but somehow the tyre stayed intact and the wheel still turned, if a bit wobbly!

Dawn slowly broke with 10km to go, and we saw Inverness for the first time in a week. We’d been racing for almost exactly 4 days as we descended the hill and rode through deserted streets to the finish line in the city centre. Celebrations started immediately on the line as James Thurlow and Tom Gibbs handed out whisky miniatures courtesy of Glenmorangie. Lucy regained her tough image and set the example by necking it immediately, so obviously we couldn’t be outdone! Big thanks to Lucy for putting her life in our (thoroughly irresponsible and childish) hands – it’s always hard to be the new person in an established team, but the girl did good!

We finished 3^rd overall, our best result in a World Series race to date. The team would like to thank:

• Our title sponsor Endurancelife for their continued support and encouragement
• Our kit supporters Montane and 2XU for providing brilliant outdoor kit that kept us as dry and warm as was possible (I took 4 waterproof jackets on this race and used every single one, that’s how wet it was!)
• Expedition Foods for their kind support in providing the hot meals that we enjoyed throughout the race. (Ben thinks the Mac and Cheese is the best, but he’s wrong. It’s the Chicken Korma. In large 1000calorie size. Obviously!)

That’s all, until the next time… (which was going to be Sri Lanka, but now looks like being Exped Africa Lesotho!) See you then.

Our good friends at RacingThePlanet and Unbound Running have put together some training plans for anyone taking part in a 250km desert ultramarathon which we are posting here. There's a link to download the plan in PDF format at the bottom of this page. Happy training...

Welcome

Everyone here at RacingThePlanet wishes you the best in preparing for the race ahead. We want to see you as fit and healthy as you can possibly be at the start line!

The race ahead will be tough. Every competitor will be challenged. Committing to consistent, structured exercise and planning will put you in the best possible position to overcome anything the race has to offer, and to make it through all 250km so we can see you crossing the finish line with pride.

All the best with your training, and we’ll see you at check-in!

On behalf of Unbound Running, welcome! You’re about to travel to some beautiful places, enjoy some great company by the campfire, and have one of the most unique athletic experiences going.

This plan is designed to help prepare you for these specific races. You won’t just be working on strength and endurance, you’ll be getting ready for time off road, with a pack, from early starts into dark nights. Take confidence from knowing that the training ahead will give you the best chance to get the most out of your race.

Good luck, and happy running…

Disclaimer

Each athlete must bear sole responsibility for their own health and fitness, and for the training and dietary regime that they choose to adopt.

While this plan has been designed to help athletes preparing for RacingThePlanet races, they are guides that each athlete takes sole responsibility for interpreting and applying.

Please seek appropriate medical guidance before undertaking this, or any other, physical endeavour. Stop exercising and seek medical attention if at any point you feel unwell, or experience any unusual or sharp pains.

Don’t undertake exercise while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Do not exercise either when taking painkillers or if you feel painkillers are necessary before or after exercise.

Be conscious of calorie, fluid and electrolyte intake during training and racing, and seek guidance if unsure how to remain appropriately hydrated and fuelled during training and races.

Introduction

The following training plan has only one aim: to improve your fitness to complete RacingThePlanet multi-day races. Each day of the plan has a specific activity for the day. The plan does not know you or your background, but assumes that you have been undertaking regular, disciplined exercise for 4-8 hours per week for at least the past 6 months. The plan aims to improve your fitness in the areas that matter to competing in the self-sufficient environment of the RacingThePlanet events:

• Physical fitness: this involves endurance (keeping moving for longer), and stamina (moving more strongly for longer), but also strength (carrying weight) and agility (moving on uneven terrain).
• Mental fitness: this means becoming able to accept and deal with the strain caused by the increased physical stress of exercising with load, while taking decisions that will allow for consistent effort over multiple days.
• Craft: this means choosing and testing gear and nutrition, developing stretching and nutritional routines that will help you continue to operate well in race conditions.

Each month of the plan has an area to focus on for your body, mind, and craft, to help you get the most out of training and to develop relevant race skills. They are not comprehensive, but they’re a good start!

All your sessions are based on time, not distance. Your body responds to stress over time – it has no idea how far you might have gone, only how long it has been working for. As you get fitter, you will go further in the same amount of time on the same terrain. This plan involves working on different terrain, and this or other stresses might mean two similar sessions cover very different distances. This is absolutely as it should be.

A major concern for training a fit athlete is over-training. Your fitness encourages you to test yourself in training, increasing injury risk but delivering minimal fitness gains. This is mitigated by spending the bulk of your training time at an ‘easy, gentle’ level of exertion. This engages your cardiovascular system and starts to build endurance at minimal risk of impact injury. Easy means easy: while you should be focused on the task at hand, it’s important that you could still hold a full conversation at this effort level.

You will then have some faster efforts and some involving hills. These help you to become more efficient in your movement, and will help develop strength that will aid all your exercise. These higher levels of exertion should be those at which you could talk in sentences, but only just.

Longer efforts will will acclimatise you to carrying weight over distance; focus on purposeful, consistent effort for the full session. As running with load is introduced, expect that your pace will change for the same effort and do not exert yourself so hard that you compromise subsequent sessions. You may be fit enough to go further or faster on a given day, but that may not help make you faster or stronger over time. The plan is designed to maximise gains from training, and so avoids sessions that increase injury risk with reduced marginal training benefit. Consistent, uninjured training matters more than any one session: train to compete, don’t compete in training.

Finally: training is the application of deliberate stress so that you heal stronger. Make the most of your hard work by following it with rehydration, refuelling and rest.

Good luck, and happy running…

Training Plan: 24 Weeks: Introducing Structured Exercise

The initial phase of training should allow you to integrate a high volume of regular exercise into your daily routine. Small, frequent sessions allow you to get used to preparing to train, and allow your body to adapt to cycles of stress and recovery. The body gets stronger after the stimulus, so make sure you refuel, rehydrate, and relax after each session.

Training Focus

Body: take the easy runs easy, and be conservative when introducing loaded effort

Mind: don't cheat - get off tarmac when you should; your joints need to get used to uneven ground

Craft: find your race pack and shoes now - use them for weighted runs; change if they cause abrasions

Training Plan: 20 Weeks: Introducing Load

Running with load increases psychological stress more than physical stress – but it does increase both. Take loaded runs very conservatively: they remain easy training runs not full effort sessions. Find an effort level that allows for consistency, and keep a strong, tall upper body while moving.

Training Focus

Body: respect the increase in pack weight; aim for constant, purposeful effort

Mind: expect, recognise, and adapt to the mental strain of full body fatigue from pack sessions

Craft: trial the quantity and frequency of food and electrolytes intake on your long hikes

Training Plan: 16 Weeks: Disciplined Recovery

As the volume and intensity of training increases, so does the importance of recovery: where you can, avoid leaving stressful activities for your rest day. Prioritise sleep, reduce alcohol, and do not artificially restrict calorie intake. Use the Week 14 back-to-back to consider how you will deal with the peculiar fatigue created by multi-day efforts and prepare for subsequent training.

Training Focus

Body: keep your rest days as stress-free as possible, and ideally off your feet

Mind: start getting used to early morning exercise: ideally start your long hikes at c. 7am

Craft: research and test a head torch (even if it's on a lit sidewalk to begin with)

Training Plan: 12 Weeks: Stress Familiarisation

This plan has introduced long days with a pack, and now raises the proportion of time spent running with one. Form remains crucial, and training efforts should allow you to recover properly. If you feel unable to maintain the quality of your training, ensure you have sufficient sleep, hydration, and calorie intake and consider taking an additional rest day if needed.

Training Focus

Body: research and use a 5-10 minute stretching routine after all your longer runs and hikes

Mind: cultivate the self-discipline needed to control long run efforts from first to last

Craft: break out all of your race gear, buy what you don't have and reduce weight wherever you can

Training Plan: 8 Weeks: Training Peak

Long, loaded hikes ending in extended easy runs are designed to mimic the stress of a long race day. Take the opportunity to ensure your calorie plan is sufficient, and make sure the loaded runs retain good form with high cadence. Objectively consider whether your days will be faster running the entire day or with a run/hike plan; take confidence in your decision, and implement it with discipline.

Training Focus

Body: consider a sports massage every 1-2 weeks, focus on hamstrings, quads and lower back

Mind: objectively determine the optimal run/hike balance for your race: prioritise consistency

Craft: consider and set a post-run routine for camp: eg rehydrate, refuel, stretch, change clothes

Training Plan: 4 Weeks: Psychological Preparation and Taper

Use the long hikes to think about the race ahead – early starts, making breakfast, packing kit, and heading out. Retain your stretching routine, and consider how you will make sure you refuel and rehydrate after each day to recover for the day to come. Look forward to having a fantastic race, moving purposefully every day through some of the most beautiful places on the planet. Enjoy!

Training Focus

Body: enjoy the taper – keep eating and drinking healthily to minimise stress on the body

Mind: look back at your training: take confidence in your new fitness and readiness for the race ahead

Craft: minimise travel stress: pack early, double check gear, stay hydrated and healthy while travelling

To download a copy of this training plan, please click here. 

Our good friends at RacingThePlanet and Unbound Running have put together some training plans for anyone taking part in a 250km desert ultramarathon which we are posting here. There's a link to download the plan in PDF format at the bottom of this page. Happy training...

Welcome

Everyone here at RacingThePlanet wishes you the best in preparing for the race ahead. We want to see you as fit and healthy as you can possibly be at the start line!

The race ahead will be tough. Every competitor will be challenged. Committing to consistent, structured exercise and planning will put you in the best possible position to overcome anything the race has to offer, and to make it through all 250km so we can see you crossing the finish line with pride.

All the best with your training, and we’ll see you at check-in!

On behalf of Unbound Running, welcome! You’re about to travel to some beautiful places, enjoy some great company by the campfire, and have one of the most unique athletic experiences going.

This plan is designed to help prepare you for these specific races. You won’t just be working on strength and endurance, you’ll be getting ready for time off road, with a pack, from early starts into dark nights. Take confidence from knowing that the training ahead will give you the best chance to get the most out of your race.

Good luck, and happy running…

Disclaimer

Each athlete must bear sole responsibility for their own health and fitness, and for the training and dietary regime that they choose to adopt.

While this plan has been designed to help athletes preparing for RacingThePlanet races, they are guides that each athlete takes sole responsibility for interpreting and applying.

Please seek appropriate medical guidance before undertaking this, or any other, physical endeavour. Stop exercising and seek medical attention if at any point you feel unwell, or experience any unusual or sharp pains.

Don’t undertake exercise while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Do not exercise either when taking painkillers or if you feel painkillers are necessary before or after exercise.

Be conscious of calorie, fluid and electrolyte intake during training and racing, and seek guidance if unsure how to remain appropriately hydrated and fuelled during training and races.

Introduction

The following training plan has only one aim: to improve your fitness to complete RacingThePlanet multi-day races. While the plan does not know your specific background, it assumes that you are in good health and have been undertaking regular exercise for 3-5 hours per week over at least the last 4 months. The plan works to improve your fitness in the three specific areas that are crucial in the self-sufficient environment of the RacingThePlanet races:

• Physical fitness: this involves endurance (keeping moving for longer), and stamina (moving more strongly for longer), but also strength (carrying weight) and agility (moving on uneven terrain).
• Mental fitness: this means becoming able to accept and deal with the strain caused by physical stress, and to have developed processes that will allow you to work through adversity and take intelligent decisions that will give you the greatest chance of continuing to move forward.
• Craft: this means choosing and testing gear, developing stretching and nutritional routines that will help you continue to operate well in the race without having to waste time and energy considering what to do in camp or on the course.

Each month of the plan has an area to focus on for your body, mind, and craft, to help you get the most out of training and to develop relevant race skills. They are not comprehensive, but they’re a good start!

All your sessions are based on time, not distance. Your body responds to stress over time – it has no idea how far you might have gone, only how long it has been working for. As you get fitter, you will go further in the same amount of time on the same terrain. This plan involves working on different terrain, and this or other stresses might mean two similar sessions cover very different distances. This is absolutely as it should be.

In a typical week, you will be asked to spend time working at an ‘easy, gentle’ level of exertion; this engages your cardiovascular system and starts to build endurance at minimal risk of impact injury. Easy means easy: even when running with a pack it’s important that you could still hold a full conversation at this effort level. Sessions that are involve faster efforts or hills will help you to become more efficient in your movement, and will help develop strength that will aid all your exercise. These higher levels of exertion should be those at which you could talk in sentences, but only just. If you can barely get a word out, you’re pushing too hard – save that for sprint finishes in the race!

Your long efforts will acclimatise you to carrying weight over distance. Purposeful, consistent effort for the full session is what matters to maximising gains from these key sessions. Towards the end of the plan you will need to determine the balance between hiking and running that you can sustain day after day. Consider your training sessions in this light: working at a hard but sustainable level – not working so hard that you have nothing left the day after.

The plan has hard sessions, but is designed to avoid those with a disproportionate injury risk to the fitness gained. Consistent, uninjured training matters more than any one session: train to compete, don’t compete in training.

Finally: training is the application of deliberate stress so that you heal stronger. Make the most of your hard work by following it with rehydration, refuelling and rest.

Good luck, and happy running…

Training Plan: 24 Weeks: Introducing Structured Exercise

The initial phase of training should allow you to integrate regular exercise into your daily routine. Small, frequent sessions allow you to get used to preparing to train, and allow your body to adapt to cycles of stress and recovery. The body gets stronger after the stimulus, so make sure you refuel, rehydrate, and relax after each session.

Training Focus

Body: make sure that the runs are gentle – as slow as you need – but keep the pace consistent

Mind: don't cheat - get off tarmac when you should; your joints need to get used to uneven ground

Craft: find your race pack and shoes now - use them for weighted runs; change if they cause abrasions

Training Plan: 20 Weeks: Hiking (Not Walking)

Hike with purpose, moving swiftly and using your arms. Do not run (yet – it will come). Adapt to the load and work at a strong pace that is sustainable for the entire session. If you plan to race with walking poles, research them and start using them now. Add useful weight to your rucksack, taking food, water, waterproofs, and spare clothes before using bags of rice if you need to top up.

Training Focus

Body: respect the increase in pack weight; aim for constant, purposeful effort

Mind: recognise the mental strain of full body fatigue from pack sessions; practise thinking through it

Craft: start trialling any food or electrolytes on your long hikes; both the quantity and the frequency

Training Plan: 16 Weeks: Increased Stress

As the volume and intensity of training increases, so does the importance of recovery: try to avoid leaving stressful activities for your rest day. Prioritise sleep, eat well and without artificial restriction, and consider reducing alcohol intake. Adapt to the mental stress of running with load: anticipate the slower pace that may result and concentrate on consistent, disciplined effort.

Training Focus

Body: pack runs are high stress - keep the physical effort sustainable

Mind: plan for 2-a-day easy runs - prepare kit and routes the day before - do not sacrifice sleep!

Craft: research and test a head torch (even if it's on a lit sidewalk to begin with)

Training Plan: 12 Weeks: Race Format Familiarisation

Begin to recognise and adapt to early morning exercise, and what will almost certainly be some time moving after dark. Use training sessions to get used to moving by torchlight and to waking up, eating, hydrating, dressing and exercising. Find and adopt a post-exercise routine, allowing you to refuel, rehydrate, stretch and begin to rest within 30 minutes of getting into camp.

Training Focus

Body: research and use a 5-10 minute stretching routine after your hikes

Mind: start getting used to early morning exercise: ideally start your long hikes at c. 7am

Craft: consider and set a post-run routine for camp: eg rehydrate, refuel, stretch, change clothes

Training Plan: 8 Weeks: Training Peak

Use your long hikes to determine, as objectively as possible, the run/hike split that is best for you. It must be a sustainable effort that, while tiring, leaves you able to operate well the day after: the last minute on the trail is as important as the first; and all the days will count equally. Be confident in your choice, and disciplined in putting it into practise.

Training Focus

Body: consider a sports massage every 1-2 weeks, focus on hamstrings, quads and lower back

Mind: decide on optimal run/walk balance that leaves you feeling strong throughout your long hikes

Craft: lay out all your race kit, research and purchase anything you need; cut weight where possible

Training Plan: 4 Weeks: Psychological Preparation and Taper

Use the long hikes to think about the race ahead – early starts, making breakfast, packing kit, and heading out. Retain your stretching routine, and consider how you will make sure you refuel and rehydrate after each day to recover for the day to come. Look forward to having a fantastic race, moving purposefully every day through some of the most beautiful places on the planet. Enjoy!

Training Focus

Body: enjoy the taper – keep eating and drinking healthily to minimise stress on the body

Mind: look back at your training: take confidence in your new fitness and readiness for the race ahead

Craft: minimise travel stress: pack early, double check gear, stay hydrated and healthy while travelling

To download a copy of this training plan, please click here. 

Welcome

Everyone here at RacingThePlanet wishes you the best in preparing for the race ahead. We want to see you as fit and healthy as you can possibly be at the start line!

The race ahead will be tough. Every competitor will be challenged. Committing to consistent, structured exercise and planning will put you in the best possible position to overcome anything the race has to offer, and to make it through all 250km so we can see you crossing the finish line with pride.

All the best with your training, and we’ll see you at check-in!

On behalf of Unbound Running, welcome! You’re about to travel to some beautiful places, enjoy some great company by the campfire, and have one of the most unique athletic experiences going.

This plan is designed to help prepare you for these specific races. You won’t just be working on strength and endurance, you’ll be getting ready for time off road, with a pack, from early starts into dark nights. Take confidence from knowing that the training ahead will give you the best chance to get the most out of your race.

Good luck, and happy running…

Disclaimer

Each athlete must bear sole responsibility for their own health and fitness, and for the training and dietary regime that they choose to adopt.

While this plan has been designed to help athletes preparing for RacingThePlanet races, they are guides that each athlete takes sole responsibility for interpreting and applying.

Please seek appropriate medical guidance before undertaking this, or any other, physical endeavour. Stop exercising and seek medical attention if at any point you feel unwell, or experience any unusual or sharp pains.

Don’t undertake exercise while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Do not exercise either when taking painkillers or if you feel painkillers are necessary before or after exercise.

Be conscious of calorie, fluid and electrolyte intake during training and racing, and seek guidance if unsure how to remain appropriately hydrated and fuelled during training and races.

Introduction

The following training plan has only one aim: to improve your fitness to complete RacingThePlanet multi-day races. Each day of the plan has a specific activity for the day. The plan does not know you or your background, so it simply assumes that you are in good general health but taking no regular exercise. There are three areas in which your fitness will improve, and they are all important in such a self-sufficient environment:

• Physical fitness: this involves endurance (keeping moving for longer), and stamina (moving more strongly for longer), but also strength (carrying weight) and agility (moving on uneven terrain).
• Mental fitness: this means becoming able to accept and deal with the strain caused by physical stress, and to have developed processes that will allow you to work through adversity and take intelligent decisions that will give you the greatest chance of continuing to move forward.
• Craft: this means choosing and testing gear and nutrition, developing stretching and nutritional routines that will help you continue to operate well in the race without having to waste time and energy considering what to do in camp or on the course.

Each month of the plan has an area to focus on for your body, mind, and craft, to help you get the most out of training and to develop relevant race skills. They are not comprehensive, but they’re a good start!

All your sessions are based on time, not distance. Your body responds to stress over time – it has no idea how far you might have gone, only how long it has been working for. As you get fitter, you will go further in the same amount of time on the same terrain. This plan involves working on different terrain, and this or other stresses might mean two similar sessions cover very different distances. This is absolutely as it should be.

In a typical week, you will be asked to spend time working at an ‘easy, gentle’ level of exertion. This engages your cardiovascular system and starts to build endurance at minimal risk of impact injury. Easy means easy: while you should be focused on the task at hand, it’s important that you could still hold a full conversation at this effort level.

You will then have some faster efforts and some involving hills. These help you to become more efficient in your movement, and will help develop strength that will aid all your exercise. These higher levels of exertion should be those at which you could talk in sentences, but only just. If you can barely get a word out, you’re pushing too hard – save that for sprint finishes in the race!

Your long efforts will acclimatise you to carrying weight over distance. Purposeful, consistent effort for the full session is what matters to maximising gains from these key sessions. The plan avoids sessions that increase injury risk with reduced marginal training benefit – there are no day long hikes or back to back long runs. Consistent, uninjured training matters more than any one session: train to compete, don’t compete in training.

Finally: training is the application of deliberate stress so that you heal stronger. Make the most of your hard work by following it with rehydration, refuelling and rest.

Good luck, and happy running…

Training Plan: 24 Weeks: Introducing Structured Exercise

The initial phase of training should allow you to integrate regular exercise into your daily routine. Small, frequent sessions allow you to get used to preparing to train, and allow your body to adapt to cycles of stress and recovery. The body gets stronger after the stimulus, so make sure you refuel, rehydrate, and relax after each session.

Training Focus

Body: make sure that the runs are gentle – as slow as you need – but keep the pace consistent

Mind: if you’re a smoker, now is the time to stop

Craft: research and purchase your race rucksack, use it in training, and make sure it works for you

Training Plan: 20 Weeks: Hiking (Not Walking)

Hike with purpose, moving swiftly and using your arms. If you plan to race with walking poles, research them and start using them now. Add useful weight to your rucksack, taking food, water, waterproofs, and spare clothes before using bags of rice if you need to top up the weight. T

raining Focus

Body: try to increase cadence when running – more small steps reduces impact damage

Mind: make the effort to get off tarmac, even if you’re slower – you need to adjust to uneven footing

Craft: research, purchase and use your race shoes for hiking – and change them if they cause blisters

Training Plan: 16 Weeks: Disciplined Recovery

As the volume and intensity of training increases, so does the importance of recovery: where you can, try to avoid leaving chores or stressful activities for your rest day. Prioritise sleep, and consider reducing alcohol intake in the evening. Non load bearing exercise will help flush out muscles and retain a range of movement without generating impact stress.

Training Focus

Body: keep your rest days as stress-free as possible, and ideally off your feet

Mind: plan your non load bearing sessions in advance; book a class or a pool session before the day

Craft: start trialling the type and frequency of electrolyte and snack intake during your hikes

Training Plan: 12 Weeks: Stress Familiarisation

The desert races involve challenges unlike other races. At this point it’s important to recognise adapt to early morning exercise, and what will almost certainly be some time moving after dark. Use training sessions to get used to moving by torchlight and to waking up, eating, hydrating, dressing and exercising.

Training Focus

Body: research and use a 5-10 minute stretching routine after all your longer runs and hikes

Mind: start getting used to early morning exercise: ideally start hiking at around 7am

Craft: research, purchase, and test a head torch, even if only on a lit sidewalk to begin with

Training Plan: 8 Weeks: Training Peak

With improved fitness, including an increased aerobic capacity and familiarity with hills and uneven terrain, comes increased work with a weighted pack. Hiking powerfully with a pack is less aerobically challenging than many running sessions; take this time to adapt to the heightened perception of effort that comes from exercise that places simultaneous demands on the whole body.

Training Focus

Body: consider a sports massage every 1-2 weeks, focus on hamstrings, quads and lower back

Mind: recognise your ability to keep moving purposefully with a weighted pack even when tired

Craft: lay out all your race kit, research and purchase anything you need; cut weight where possible

Training Plan: 4 Weeks: Psychological Preparation and Taper

Use the long hikes to think about the race ahead – early starts, making breakfast, packing kit, and heading out. Retain your stretching routine, and consider how you will make sure you refuel and rehydrate after each day to recover for the day to come. Look forward to having a fantastic race, moving purposefully every day through some of the most beautiful places on the planet. Enjoy!

Training Focus

Body: enjoy the taper – keep eating and drinking healthily to minimise stress on the body

Mind: look back at your training: take confidence in your new fitness and readiness for the race ahead

Craft: minimise travel stress: pack early, double check gear, stay hydrated and healthy while travelling

To download a copy of this training plan, please click here. 

Thorsten and Lauren were recently in Norway and reviewed Expedition Foods meals.