It's been three months since I last posted. Work, family and personal pressures meant I had little to share since October. Training went out of the window as had to focus my time and attention on dealing with a fair chunk of urgent stuff. The benefits were there from taking a complete step away from the 'long road', though. I got to focus on my family and supporting them (especially my 12 year old boy who is becoming a very good competitive swimmer). I also got to heal up the long-standing Achilles issue and deal with my hip. Both are considerably better than they were.
But this period of 'rest' (though it was far from restful) is now well and truly over...
This time away gave me a chance to miss the wider outdoor world. This culminated with a trip to Iceland as a 50th present for my wife in -15C temperatures, and blizzards. And gave me a chance to remember some of the important reasons why I fell in love with trails... basically there are some truly epic places to see on my own two feet in this world!
Iceland did not disappoint.
It was at the top of the mountain above (flying my drone) watching the Sun rise, and looking at the recently erupted Fagradalsfjall Volcano in Grindavik, Iceland that I knew my time on the side-lines was over. I'd let day to day stress, and running around like a maniac trying to fix grenade damage in my world, take over every minute of my time.
Not acceptable any longer.
I'd put weight back on I'd worked hard to lose. I'd lost a huge amount of aerobic fitness. And I'd forgotten that being outdoors was a happy place for me.
I knew I'd come back to re-igniting my spirit for doing barmy challenges that others might think I have no business attempting. But it was this moment (in the Iceland pic) where I knew it had to be so.
The 2025 Challenge
Almost as soon as I got home, The Universe did it's thing, of course. I was presented with an opportunity to run an ultra over two days in Iceland this coming July.
It was my buddy - G (long suffering Trail-Homie of mine - Graham) who found it and waved it under my nose. Despite my original statement that I would take time out until Jan and then likely only be 'up for a cheeky 50', he knows me far too well. How could I say no.
A two day back to back marathon distance challenge in the Thingvellir and Hengill area of Iceland (Golden Circle) in July, while camping under the stars. What's not to love about this!?
I figure it's not so brutal given it's 84km over two days (though far from easy given how the terrain looks), and no pressure to run it all, meaning we can have a nice 'yomp' over the two days and get some cool pics and footage, without aggressive cut off pressures each day. My kind of adventure! And in readiness to tackle 84K of Icelandic savagery in the Land of Ice and Fire, Graham's also talked me in to do a 50km in the lake district in June. So much for a quiet year!
On to Prep
By now, you'll know I like to be well prepared. The beauty right now is I have time to build slowly and steadily. I can afford to mix walking and jogging with some strength work and also ensure I build in plenty of days to recover. The format is going to be simplified for me as I'm getting older now and want to ensure I build the house on strong foundations so that I can enjoy most of this challenge without every step after 20km being a suck-fest!
One EASY long run-walk-run per week (adding 10% per week)
One lactic threshold interval run per week
One aerobic easy run per week (likely treadmill)
Two strength & mobility sessions (30 mins max)
I'll make a judgement call as I go along regarding volume and how to increase the miles steadily and slowly based on how my legs feel week to week. Strength work will be important and that's a shift I previously neglected when building to previous challenges.
The point being that it's not a race and I want to be in a condition to enjoy as much oft his adventure as possible. I can knock out an 8km non stop jog right now with no major issues, so I still have a little base fitness and conditioning in the tank, rather than being a complete ground zero start-up.
I've no doubt I can complete this challenge from where I am. My aim is to love every step of doing it rather than loving day 1 and suffering day 2. I know that is entirely realistic with 7 months of training and sensible recovery.
I'll post regularly how it's all going, as I find these blog check-ins helpful for my own accountability as well as for any readers out there.
....I'll also be looking forward to a soak and a beer in the thermal rivers and lagoons after it all :-)
Thanks for reading!
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