Working out how to train

Training in a way is unique to each individual, there are the basics that you can follow, but you have to firstly understand yourself, your body and secondly design your program to slide into the event, especially when doing something a long as what I am attempting, you need to peak on the run and basically build as the event unfold.

This journey is going to be so different from any of my other journeys. Firstly it’s the longest; secondly I will be beginning up at 4000m in altitude, its winter and the Himalayas are no little hill. The altitude means lack of oxygen as well as cold the starting temp I estimate at  -15 degrees.

I began my preparation with slow bulking up in weight, during the Madagascar event I lost 22kg in weight, mainly due to sickness. I feel India will be similar. I have got to 94kg now and will loose about 8kg in training over the next 4 months. That should give a good reserve.

I remember the madness of the Madagascar training, three disciplines some times a session of each in a day, running, kiting and then a paddle out to sea. I will still do split sessions for India, but they will be upper body, then Grucox followed by a trail run. I feel its essential to be able to train when you simulate the stress that you will be going through each day, that ability to get up after a hard session and do it again. That’s what build the mental strength, you know that you can do it, as you have practiced it in training.

My training will be slower strength work on table Mountain in order to get strong for the first 40 days in the Himalayas where due to altitude won’t be able to run much. As I head down towards Jammu and the area flattens out so I will gradually begin to run. The altitude hiking will be brilliant to lift my fitness levels.

(Start) Srinagar –Jammu –Simla –Delhi -Jaipur- Mount Abu or Udaipur-Ahmedabad –Surat –Mumbai –Pune –Mahabaleshwar –Panaji –Bangalore -Kochi -Kanniyakumari (end).

My training will probably only build to a running level of about 20km per day before I leave, but a lot of this up and down steep paths on Table Mountain. I always find that when I reach my physical goal that I set in my training, then the mental strength slowly starts to build as I know that I am physically ready and believe that I can do it.