I've been completing the 4 day marches now for 5 years. Its a pretty brutal event, mainly completed on tarmac roads through local towns and villages. Its necessary to walk for around 11 hours (including rest stops) to complete the required 50k a day. Getting up at 0300 and putting cream where the sun doesn't shin always make me ask why? I can explain quite simply why, its because of the people. The friends you walk with, the support team that helps, the crowds that cheer non stop and always a great feeling of pride.
I imagine some of these feelings will be replicated at the MdS, I know the lows brought on by dehydration, lack of sugar, pain and monotony are sure to, but hopefully so too will be the feelings of camaraderie and friendship.
Nijmegen is a walking event not a running one, the surface is tarmac not sand and there are lots of supporters rather than emptiness. However I tried to learn from Nijmegen this year. I spent time with the team medic learning about blister treatment, i tried various methods to avoid chafing which worked to greater or lesser degrees and most importantly I wore my MdS pack.
The MdS pack - I carried around 9kg of weight which included my water (this got topped up every couple of hours at rest stops). The pack was carried for a total of around 45 hours and it DID NOT RUB AT ALL. I must stress however I wasn't running. The pack felt very comfortable when packed and held its shape well. I have realised however that once I start running for the day I don't want to be taking the pack off and getting stuff from inside and messing with the balance. There isn't a massive amount of room within the pack so I'm going to have no room for luxuries.
The winners this week were the pack, body glide anti chafe stick and some newly designed anti chafe strips that went over my nipples on monday and came off on friday. My feet are pretty tough now, but I had some rubbing on my little toe where I get a corn and my big toe too. No blisters though :-) I'm going to give toe toe socks a go soon as many people say they work really well, although I have to say that i'm very happy with my thorlos ankle socks and x-bionic compressions socks.
Nijmegen was hot this year, 30 degrees (last year it rained). Its not quite the sahara but it got me thinking lots about hydration, food, salts and protein shakes. Most importantly the weight of each item and its nutritional content. Amsterdam Marathon looms in the distance so its time to start running again. Weekends will involve long back to back runs from now on and at least one with a weighted pack. I'll report back more as time goes by.
The 4 day marches and the celebrations beforehand make it an amazing event I always look forward to. I recommend very highly but I would advise rome road walking training in order to fully prepare. Here are a few little pics from a friends feet last year at Nijmegen, he didn't do enough training !!!
