Bikes with Backpacks 2013

Well, this update is long overdue.  Blogging has unfortunately taken a back seat to a flurry of work and travel over the past few weeks.  As has training to an extent, somewhat worryingly.  I was doing well in spite of the hectic schedule but think I built up the mileage on long runs a little too quickly and have spent the past two weeks paying for it in the currency of physio and sports massage, which I shiver even thinking about.  Why it is called ‘massage’, which conjures images of calming, zen-like enjoyment, is unclear.  There must surely be torture methods which are less painful?

Anyway, I’m back!  I’m building up the mileage again and getting closer to my fundraising target, thanks to the most humbling generosity of friends and colleagues.  Less than four months to go though.  And I have the minor inconveniences of Christmas, a New Year holiday and a move to London to contend with in the intervening period!  The nerves are starting to kick in.  Big time.  

This weekend, I was fortunate enough to combine fundraising with a lot of fun at my local gym.  We held an event in aid of my MdS journey and Hope for Children.  A bunch of eager souls turned out in force, devoting their Sunday afternoons to enduring the torture of not one, not two, but three full spin classes, back-to-back.  Voluntarily (!)  A few of us were sporting backpacks throughout, to identify with one of the main challenges of the MdS.  So Boris has actually done his first spin class!

Thanks to the three instructors at the helm, we had plenty of banter to keep us entertained throughout the class, including blonde wigs at one point…... Huge thanks to Struan, Ben and Chris.  And also to Lee for a stellar job refilling water bottles.  A before picture would possibly have been better but here’s an after one instead.

 

 

A huge thanks also to all of those who gave up their Sunday afternoons and donated generously.  We raised £465 which is a fantastic contribution.  However, I was given the opportunity to earn an extra twenty quid by wearing an Arsenal shirt throughout.  But no amount of money could have persuaded me (what self-respecting Man Utd fan could do it, Chris? ;-)) but in forfeiting the challenge I will pay my dues and round the total funds raised up to £500.  A really awesome effort, everyone!


In other news, I took delivery of some more kit this week which I can’t wait to try out.  Check out the cooking equipment – I suspect this will probably get used more often during one week in the desert than the hob in my kitchen has been used, like ever.  I’m looking forward to tasting the gourmet freeze dried mac & cheese.  Just add water - that's my kind of cooking.  Mmm, I’m sure it will be delicious….

I’ve also acquired some smaller essentials - a Recta DT100 compass (should probably learn how to use it at some point), a cool Victorinox Swisscard – a credit card size device which contains a pen knife, scissors and various other 'essential' multi-tools, including a nail file and tweezers (not entirely essential).  The most expensive item in this week's loot is a pair of ‘Climatronic’ boxer shorts by X-Bionic (I will need to find something to wear with them at some point) and I also managed to purloin a pair of hotel slippers following advice I picked up at the MdS expo.  They’re apparently great for wandering about camp at nights, letting air in to your ailing feet.  The final purchase this week was a solar charger which will hopefully keep my phone, iPod and GPS watch in juice.  So all in all it has been an expensive week – ha, Merry Christmas to me!

I am thinking that the next ‘big ticket’ item will need to be my sleeping bag.  I have at least two but both are too chunky for carrying on my back.  The objective is to find something that keeps me warm enough in the chilly desert evenings (the temperature can go below zero after sundown) but which is light and compacts down easily to keep Boris the backpack (and my shoulders) happy.  Some form of sleeping mat is also a necessity according to MdS alumni, to protect the increasingly skeletal frames from the stony ground.  Getting enough sleep will be critical.

 

Which is what I'm off to do now.  The joys of training - bed by 9pm.

Well that’s all for now, folks.  As always – a reminder of the charity.  There is still a way to go to my target so if you haven’t already contributed, please visit my page:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LynnCalder

The MdS Race Expo

Strange to have an ‘expo’ for a race held so far in advance of the event.  Even stranger that the venue should be the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.  Stranger still that it is now up there as one of my favourite days on the planet……ever.  This slot was previously reserved for my 32-hour round trip to Moscow to watch John Terry fall on his derrière and in all fairness watching my team lift the Champions League trophy will probably remain at the top until next year.  Surely if I am lucky enough to cross the finish line intact though, this will become my most special day. 

However, on Saturday 19^th October I met one of my absolute idols (off the top of my head, this list also includes Sir Alex, Thom Yorke and Chrissie Wellington): James Cracknell, the 2-time Olympic Rowing Gold Medallist, 6x World Championship title holder and endurance athlete extraordinaire.  He came 12th in the Marathon des Sables in 2010, the highest place any Brit had achieved in the 25-year history of the race.  I’ve followed his career and his crazy challenges avidly over the years, reading his books and watching the documentaries which unfortunately culminated in a horrifying accident while cycling in the US during his Race Across America quest in 2010.  Still, he looked incredibly well recovered on Saturday and provided us with a rousing and funny account of his training and his journey through the desert (I’m no longer quite so envious of his wife after hearing his story of practicing, sometimes unsuccessfully, using a pee bottle in bed).  I was very disappointed with my own performance on the day though.  I don’t really buy into our celebrity culture but as noted there is a handful of people that I really would genuinely love to meet.  Being presented with the opportunity to tick one off on Saturday did not ultimately fill me with glee, as it should have, but with a stack of nerves.  Instead of the witty repartee I had imagined, I found myself mumbling and stumbling quite embarrassingly.  At least I managed to wangle an autograph but I was too tongue-tied to actually ask him what it said (it turns out we have handwriting in common, i.e. hieroglyphics).  It has since been translated for me as “good luck, get stuck in” (thanks for that, Rob). 

 

 

James wasn’t the only hugely inspirational person who gave of their time to inspire and prepare those MdS participants who came from all over the UK to learn as much as possible about the task ahead.  As well as the many informative tutorials throughout the day from previous runners and experts, there were two other remarkable keynote speakers.  Felicity Aston, a British adventurer and climate scientist, ran the MdS in 2009.  Last year, Felicity became the first woman to ski alone across Antarctica, a journey which took 59 days over a distance of 1,084 miles.  I found her incredibly inspiring, particularly her willingness to be open about her fears when completing such mind-boggling solo expeditions.  And finally, Kenton Cool – 11 time Everest summiteer who this year completed the Everest ‘Triple Crown’ in seven days, encompassing Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse (the 1^st, 4^th and 19^th highest mountains in the world respectively), a feat previously considered impossible owing to the length of time required in the death zone (altitude > 7,500m).  And yes, it is his real name.  How apt.  Yet he insisted on being in awe of us, since he has a pathological phobia of sand!

So apart from meeting these exceptional lunatics, what did I learn?

a)     I learned that there is a lot to learn

b)     There is a huge amount of conflicting advice

c)      Freeze dried expedition food is not so tasty….

d)     ….instead, a clinical nutritionist (!) recommends a race diet of supernoodles (500 kcals for 120g of weight), nutella, jelly babies and beef jerky

e)     A woman of my weight will require ca. 4,500 kcals per day to remain energy neutral – we will be carrying 2,000 kcals per day #crashdiet

f)      I probably needed to start treating my feet with surgical spirit to ‘tan’ them about 2 months ago

g)     Road shoes are ok so perhaps no need to try anything drastically different for footwear

h)     Heat can be mimicked by wearing waterproofs and a hat on the treadmill – should get me a few funny looks in the gym…

i)       …but the fitter you are, the better you will cope with heat.  It's all in the training after all

j)       I was told that I had not yet become obsessed enough with extra weight, given that I have neither cut all of the extra bits off Boris the backpack, nor cut my hair!

k)     And finally, I learned that I am so glad my days at university are long behind me – these back-to-back lectures and tutorials were tough going.

People keep asking me why I have entered this ‘Marathon de Craziness’ as my friend Laura has dubbed it and this has got me thinking.  There is a section of the MdS website which sells the race as follows:

-          You will experience something unique, something you will never forget

-          You will make lifelong friends
-          You will push your mind and body to the limit
-          You will find things out about yourself
-          And in all likelihood you’ll get kissed (twice!) by a Frenchman
 
If I’d read the bit about the Frenchman, I might have thought twice ;-) but in all seriousness this is a pretty good summary of the reasons.  It was said on a couple of separate occasions by the speakers at the expo that you and your body are capable of so much more than you know.  Pushing yourself to your absolute limits and (hopefully) prevailing is an incredibly powerful thing – comfort zones are built to be smashed!

But the most important takeaway from the expo was to enjoy the race, even in those darkest of moments.  I am incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to run in such an awe-inspiring environment and it is an experience that I will be unlikely to repeat.  The inevitable moments of pain and desperation will be eclipsed completely by the feelings of utter joy at crossing the finish line - a bit like childbirth (or so I am told).  Perhaps that was the abstract logic behind the location of the expo…..

 

Please visit my fundraising site for the charity, Hope for Children.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LynnCalder

My first run with Boris….

…..as he is now affectionately known. Thanks for all the suggested names for my new MdS backpack. The winner was Boris the Backpack (thanks Struan). I decided that since he was going to be my most constant companion for the next 6 months of training and in the desert, he deserved to be christened. I fully expect, in my most non-lucid moments, to be indulging in conversation with him in the Sahara, à la Wilson from Castaway. And yes, I have considered drawing a face on him but I think any defacement at this stage would be disrespectful. I plan to have my friends write some inspirational messages on him before I go though, which he can ‘read out to me’as I run (have I already started to lose it?)

 

So, my first long run with Boris yesterday. I hope we can remain friends. I feel sure that we will have our ups and downs after experiencing the straps biting into my shoulders and the not-yet-anywhere-near-race-weight bruising my lower back.  But it is early days for us both and in fact this weekend marks exactly six months to go until I travel to the desert. Interestingly, the MdS will also mark almost exactly one year since Coach Ken’s 2013 training camp in Majorca. Will it be as intense, I wonder?

As well as some training anecdotes, I plan to detail my kit list purchases on the blog for your reading ‘pleasure’. There seems to be no end of equipment required for this journey and the challenge is getting to know what is essential vs. nice to have (remembering that you have to carry it on your back) vs. pure luxury. I have already decided that my main ‘luxury’ item will need to be a manual toothbrush of industrial capability to navigate the somewhat inopportune timing of having had fixed braces fitted to my teeth!

My second purchase, after Boris, was these rather snazzy Injinji socks which are perhaps specially designed for me, in order to keep my slightly deformed toes out of the way of each other.

Surprisingly difficult to put on!

And the next investment will be in footwear. The advice is to buy shoes which are 1.5-2 sizes too big to account for swelling in the heat but I think I will need to do a normal-sized test run before I the tackle clown feet.   Salomon XA Pro 3Ds, Innov8s and Hoka One Ones are all in the mix – an important decision to be made asap!

Well that’s all for this blog, folks. I am still slightly in awe of the concept of writing a blog so any feedback / suggestions / requests to shut up are most(ly) welcome.

But it wouldn’t be complete without reminding everyone of why I’m doing this. Although the race seems a long way away, I have committed to fundraising milestones for my charity, Hope for Children, to allow for them to pay some of the organisational fees associated with the race and also to get money into the hands of their various projects to improve the lives of hugely under-privileged children. I have been completely humbled by people’s generosity so far but for those who have not yet visited my fundraising page, please do:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LynnCalder

And so it begins, my quest to reach the finish line of the 29th Marathon des Sables in April 2014.  The fundraising has commenced and suddenly what has been something of an abstract concept since I secured the place with Hope for Children back in May seems very real!

Firstly, I cannot believe that with the touch of a 'publish' button and the typing of a few words I have just become a 'blogger' - a technophobe to the very end, this is not something I ever thought I would add to my life's cv.  But I would like to keep all of those people who are kind enough to sponsor me up to speed with the trials and tribulations of my journey to the Sahara.  Please bookmark, keep checking back for updates and I will upload some photos as I go too.

The race-specific training starts at the end of the triathlon season this coming weekend and I have just over 6 months to learn how to run with a heavy back-pack, to keep on going with very tired legs, to learn how to strap my feet up to avoid blisters and get to grips with the kit I will need to buy to assist me on my adventure.  Oh, and to find a sauna big enough to fit a treadmill..... the heat is probably going to be my biggest foe and the impending winter in Aberdeen is not going to prepare me in any way.

So a big thanks to Carol who has rescued me with the idea of a wee training holiday in Abu Dhabi for New Year - surely I'll manage to fit in some desert running there?

Let us not forget the reason for the trip - every child has a right to a safe, secure home and - just as importantly - a future and the chance to realise his or her potential.  Hope for Children has been kind enough to award me a much-sought after place in the race and I would love to repay them with blood, sweat and tears (and victory by reaching that finish line).  But also with as much money as we can raise for the cause!  You will find my fundraising page at the following address:

My fundraising page is: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LynnCalder