With a busy events season now drawing to a close and October striking, we are drawing a deep breath, and setting our sites to focus hard on marathon training for the next month.
Our last week has been spent in Ireland and between family commitments and catching up with friends, we’ve managed a couple of runs in the Mourne mountains, Co.Down and Connemara, Co.Galway. Nice to change things up a bit and with distances progressing nicely it is looking more likely that the distance is achievable. Another factor, largely out of our control that will undoubtedly affect our performance on the day but hopefully not forbid our participation is altitude.
The main difference between running the Everest Marathon and a marathon in the hills of the UK is the effect of altitude. The higher you go, the air is less concentrated and so there is less oxygen. With less oxygen available, your lungs and heart have to work harder, and without proper acclimatisation serious illness, or worse, can result. The effect of altitude starts to become noticeable for most people from around 2500 metres (approximately 7000 feet plus). With the Everest Marathon starting at 5000 metres (over 16000 feet) it is going to be very hard work even though we should be well acclimatised!
Back for a quick update. Training continues to go well – battered out 16miles in the Chilterns today, so hopefully on track. Starting to consider giving up booze (poor will power on that one so far), giving up coffee (even worse will power), sorting out nutrition (eating as much as possible) and getting plenty of sleep (that’ll be the day working in the events world!), all in the name of training.
Just a bit of info on our fundraising! This wasn’t really our main priority in setting ourselves the goal of running the Everest marathon – more the lust to travel and have an achievable goal ahead to train for. Neither Patrick nor I really enjoy sticking our necks out and asking for cash, but Bufo ventures (the Everest Marathon organisers) recommended setting up a Virgin money giving page and we thought we would give it a go! The result has been astonishing and we have been both overwhelmed by people’s generosity and support of our endeavours and three very worthwhile causes.
It’s been about one month since our previous blog and, despite being away working on various cycling events overseas, training has been going well! We have completed training runs locally in the Chiltern hills and slightly further afield, enjoying the UK’s many varied mountain areas e.g Brecon Beacons training run (see image). I thought I would take the opportunity to tell you a little more about the Jiri to Namche Bazaar trek and the Everest Marathon route itself.
In early Nov Patrick and I will set off ahead of the main Everest Marathon pack (possibly the only time that we will be ahead of them!) and get a rickety bus from Kathmandu to Changma and trek fromJiri to Namche Bazaar. In Namche we will meet the rest of the gang who will have flown Kathmandu to Lukla. The Jiri to Namche trek will take 8 days and should be excellent training as it traverses the valley systems of the lower Khumbu and therefore provides lots of ups and downs! View the route.
By the time we reach Namche we will be at 3440m and will have an acclimatisation day before setting off on the trek to Everest Base Camp via Gokyo Lakes. View the route.
Finally, on 2nd Dec 2011 we will attempt the 26 mile run from Gorak Shep back to Namche Bazaar and hopefully the Everest Marathon shall be complete! View the route.
From there it is a flight from Luklaback to Kathmandu for fine dining and a knees up before flying home, well…..that’s the plan anyway.
Jen Sinclair – ATD guide is training for the Everest marathon Dec 2011
Welcome to my first blog about the Everest Marathon! Why am I doing it? I’m sure half way through I’ll be asking myself the same question! The event has been on my radar since I spent three months in Nepal and Tibet back in 2006, I decided this year was the year. I’m running the event with my boyfriend Patrick; we’re both keen fitness enthusiasts but wanted a goal in training. To aim for this unique and challenging endurance event whilst also incorporating a trek in this stunning part of the world, fitted the bill perfectly.
I have just returned from leading a Nepal Multi Challenge for the Princes Trust . The Trust is a fantastic youth charity that helps change young lives. It was great to see a participant on the challenge that had directly benefitted from their enterprise programme, and their story really helped to frame the positive benefits of the fundraising achieved by all the participants.
Compared to the other adventure challenges we deliver, this has got to be one of the toughest physical and mental tests going. Right from the start participants have to cope with brutal ascents, relentless heat and difficult terrain. I was blessed and impressed with a group that took it all on the chin and threw themselves into it with abandon, even despite severe flight delays that meant very little sleep was had before the challenge began.
Cycling out from Pokhara we found ourselves right in the middle of a Holi festival and spent the day being pelted with paint from mischievous children which added a nice cultural element to the journey.
I love the final day of this challenge – a really tough 95km bike ride (see profile above). Freewheeling the last 10km down into Pokhara is a great way to finish and gives time to really put into perspective what has been achieved over the week.
If you want to test your physical and mental limits, and improve team work and leadership skills, you really can’t get a better challenge than this.
I have now managed to clock up a total of 140km. The last 50km really put the shoe to the test on the dusty high trails of the Annapurna region in Nepal, from Birethanti through Gorepani, Tatopani and on to Beni. The trails were steep ascents and descents on rocky, uneven steps, hot and dusty 4×4 tracks and local mountain trails. This is definitely the type of terrain that the shoe excels in. They felt remarkably stable, and had excellent grip. They were cool in the heat, and the sole is looking surprisingly new without any detectable wear and tear. The shoe let in a lot of dirt, but nothing big enough to cause rubbing or blisters. So far I am impressed and thinking of the next place to put them through their paces.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE PT-1000 ROAD AND TRAIL RUNNING SHOE
So far I have covered 90km with equal mix of road and trail running. This also includes the extremely wet and muddy South Devon Costal Marathon in February. First impressions are very good. It appears to be a very robust shoe, perfect for racking up the mileage in training. I love the idea that these shoes are built to last as I always get very attached to good running shoes and often mourn my loss when they disintegrate after a couple of months splashing through the soggy trails of Devon and Somerset
For a robust hard wearing shoe, they are comparatively light and the first thing I noticed is how comfortable and stable they are to run in. Personally I would say that they are better suited to the roads, rather than the winter trails I use. Dry and hard trails would be no problem, but they tread doesn’t cope well with wet, slippy and muddy hills, but you can’t expect a shoe to do everything, and they are a very good all rounder. They are definitely my new choice for racking up the training miles, before putting on a more specialist shoe for grip in muddy trail races. So far so good, and looking forward to putting them thoroughly to the test over the coming year. Next stop this month is the hot dusty trails of Nepal to see how they cope with an adventure race. I imagine that they will do much better in this environment.
Charity treks and challenges from Across the Divide are undoubtedly beneficial for charities – they raise much needed funds and engage individual fundraisers with the charity itself…. but what do the individuals who take part get out of it?
In this short clip six wonderful individuals tell us about the unexpected benefits of taking part in one of our life-changing challenges.
