Laying the Foundations.

We do, of course, have *some* idea of what we need to do to prepare to run 10 marathons in 10 days. Mostly, it involves a great deal of running ;o)

Some of the preparation has already been done. We're no strangers to back-to-back hard days. When we go ski-ing, we ski our quads into a state of neuromuscular shutdown for six consecutive days and fit in the occasional evening run in the snow. Given the opportunity, we go out running, walking and climbing on the hills day after day. We completed the District Double in 2007 and 2008, and most recently we ran the Langdale Marathon the day after a recce of the Langdale Horseshoe Fell Race route (Leon's doing the race, but as with many off-road challenges I'm just not fast enough over that sort of terrain). We're good at finishing the day exhausted, having a meal, a bath and a sleep, and waking up fully recovered.

We need to build on that in order to be able to run the tenth marathon as strongly as the first, and our training will revolve around back-to-back long runs. Opportunities are necessarily limited by the fact that on at least one weekend in two we have all of our children staying with us, and we have agreed that our training will not be allowed to sabotage "children" weekends. That restriction is probably a good thing, allowing us time to recover between these big glycogen-sapping, mentally and physically exhausting sessions.

Between times we'll aim to run most days, maintain a reasonable mileage, do some sessions separately to allow Leon to do some speedwork. I might do some too, but only if my butt is given a hard kick.

The most important piece of infrastructure hasn't been our training, though. It has been ensuring that we have the support we need to allow us to spend 12 days in Cumbria, away from work and family, focusing on running and recovering. Last year it was logistically impossible. This year everything has come together. The most pleasing aspect is how interested and enthusiastic our children are.

For me, physical training is only a small part of the picture. Some runners run with their heads. My head does everything it can to sabotage my running. I cope particularly badly with boredom. Our next race is the JW Ultra, a 30-mile run mostly along canal paths. Unless I've seriously misjudged the nature of the event, it will be an excellent opportunity to look boredom in the face and tell it to do its worst. Watch this space ...