Training for 7 Marathons in 7 Days

Following the amount of questions received on my 7x Marathons in 7 Days Marathon Challenge I thought it easier to post my running workout schedule as a blog.

Training for a marathon can be very time consuming and with it comes the many risks of time out for cold or illness recovery along with injuries. So, training for 7 consecutive marathons takes plenty of planning, preparation and a huge amount of calorie analysis, additional hydration and a good few pairs of trainers.

My training began way back in July, a month after the summit of Mont Blanc, weighing in at 220lbs I wanted to shed around 30lbs to give me the best chance of being able to run more efficiently and more importantly more enjoyably.

My problem to begin with was I hadn’t run since my last London Marathon way back in 2004 so a 10 year rest was about to be awoken with some serious running. I began by looking at all of the local races, short runs, long races and a few half marathons. Signing up for a race suddenly made it all real, I was going to need to start some serious training or I would be finishing last at each running event and worse still not enjoy the training experience.

I was able to run a few times in the week with a team member, getting some short distances at a steady pace in the evenings. During this time I began to plan on trainers, support in the trainer, socks and hydration. My weekend run would consist of a longer 6-7 or 8 miles usually as a wall group on a Sunday.

Into my third month of training I began to incorporate some squats every other day, 2x 20 reps for each session and usually twice a day. The weight began to slowly come off, pound by pound. I recall a warm Sunday later October Sunday run and was delighted to have lost 5lbs, later that evening I weighed again and was almost back to my previous morning weight, how our bodies recover.

I soon realised that rest was an important part of my working week schedule, resting my body and muscles despite feeling and wanting to run. I stuck to my rest day and it certainly made a difference.

I had 3 pairs of trainers, my favourites by far were the trusted Asics, I’m not sponsored by Asics or any trainer brand but the Asics trainer fitted my feet perfectly, with any good quality running sock my feet felt great after every running session.

To assist my trainers I was seeking extra support in the base of my feet and managed to obtain sponsorship from a Sole Support company called Currex Soles, a small sole disc that is placed into any trainer that takes the strain and spreads the load on each step of your run.

16 weeks out from the set date for the 7 marathons my training schedule was adjusted to accommodate the extra distance and time but still keeping a rest day each week and 2 rest days during the higher mileage weeks that alternated. Each Sunday was now our long run day, averaging 15-20 miles so every Monday became a religious rest day.

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 9-10 miles
Wednesday: Alternated 9-10 miles & 18-20 miles
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: Core Workout & Squats
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: 15-20 miles

I was very fortunate to find a wonderful sports supplement supplier that would assist me in my recovery and Pre-training. Bodyshox sports supplements helped me in all aspects of running, getting me through each session, hydrating me prior to my long runs and essentially during each training session. I was so impressed with the product I became an ambassador for the company.

My wonderful supportive wife and our friends collectively bought me a Reebok treadmill to assist with the Winter training. It helped so much as the UK weather was one of the wettest Winter periods in decades with severe flooding in Somerset and damaging strong winds. I recall running in my office most nights watching the floods across Somerset and extreme weather making road running more dangerous than usual with drivers windscreens restricted through heavy rain. There is something special when running in the wind and rain as it hardens you up.

My overall goal was to prevent injury, a twisted ankle or calf, thigh strain would put me on the sofa for a good 3-4 weeks or worse still, longer. I managed to get through Christmas and January without any mishaps, injury free. February arrived and another local race was set with a 10 mile cross country run, known as the Tough 10 in Weston-super-Mare. Due to a severe low pressure weather system and severe weather warning the race was cancelled in fear of injuries and debris across the running course. A few of us got together though and ran most of the course, the wind had abated and rain partially held off but it was freezing cold. During the race I suddenly felt weak, tired and flu like symptoms, I couldn’t wait to get home and into bed, I had caught the dreaded lurgey that became a 5 day bed confined flu. My next training run a week later was one I would never forget, as I almost passed out in the shower after a brief 9 mile Sunday run with the team. My body hadn’t recovered properly but I was pushing it too soon. I was grateful for keeping cold and injury free as many say a high percentage of Ultrarunners and 7×7 runners never make it to day 1 due to excessive workout injuries or burnout prior to the Marathon challenge.

Late March and we hadn’t hardly had a ground frost across the South West UK with one of the mildest Winters on record, sadly the wettest I add but it hadn’t stopped me from clocking up some serious miles.

Suddenly the marathon challenge date was down to just a couple of months, I received a pleasant phone call from a fellow 7 marathons in 7 days runner who had ran her 7 marathons on all 7 continents, Marie-Louise Stenild was one of the first women to ever achieve such a feat, most people recall Sir Ranulph Fiennes achieving the amazing challenge and not long after his heart bypass with his running shadow and support Mike Stroud. Marie-Louise shared her insight to her training schedule and we found both were similar to one another but Marie-Louise’s was higher mileage, I panicked as with just 8 weeks to go could me and the team incorporate the extra miles into our already busy weekly training schedule…….we had to, to make sure we gave ourselves the best chance of success. Our long Sunday run suddenly became a little longer along with the Wednesday run for myself.

My tips for long distance Ultrarunners or anyone training for long distance running such as 7 consecutive marathons is to harden the skin on your feet 6 weeks prior to your race. The best way to do this is through soaking the base of your feet in Whichhazel. I’m not too sure what this product is called in the U.S but here in the UK it’s quite easy to purchase a bottle over the pharmacy counter. Soak your feet for around 15-20 minutes every other day for a few weeks, you’ll soon see and feel the skin on your feet and small toe harden, this will prevent blisters. As all runners know, blisters can end a race within minutes, prevent you from training harder or immobilise the fittest of runners die to poor preparation.

April had arrived, the Reebok treadmill had been replaced twice due to belt issues and base plate splitting, I was worried my weight had caused the problem. I was delighted when I jumped on the scales to find I had lost 2 and a half stone. 36 lbs and was the lightest I had been for almost a decade, my running was so much easier, breathing and cardio felt superb. Every workout was recorded with running apps such as MapMyRun, Nike+, Argus and Strava for trail runs. It’s so rewarding when you look back through your workouts and see the progress made, not by seconds but minutes faster per mile.

I received global support for the challenge with messages from Dean Karnazes in the USA, Irish UltraMarathon runner Richard Donovan, the amazing Danish Marathon runner Annette Fredskov who ran 366 marathons in 365 days sent a message of support and wishing me luck, Annette’s MS Multiple Sclerosis had healed completely since running after being diagnosed of the disease in 2010. I will never forget a message from ultra runner Adam Holland, who has since become a great friend who offered to run with us and to make sure everyone would get round the 200+ miles over the 7 days.

The last weeks of March and 1st week of April were very tough as the weekly mileage was around 70 miles for each week, I will never forget being so hungry at meal times but so tired to stay awake. At one point the weight was coming off too quick and I had concerns of being under weight for the challenge but Bodyshox soon settled my concern with a build up to the challenge supplement plan that worked a treat, it gave me more energy and repaired my damaged muscles much quicker after each training workout.

Hydrating the day before a long run and a few hours prior to the run itself prevented any cramping and limited aching muscles. Sports gels Hi5 were to become a lifeline of energy every hour for training but were to be taken every 15 minutes during the 7 marathons challenge. If I was to miss one, I would soon begin to feel it.

The Taper Period – probably one of the greatest days of the 7x7x7 training as when it arrived some 3 weeks before the Challenge I knew it was time to preserve energy and to let muscles repair properly, best of all, less training and more relaxing, it had finally arrived. I suddenly felt guilty of not running but knew I had to abide by my training schedule rules, sometimes a rest is as good as a training workout. 2 weeks before the 7x7x7 I began to stick to a planned diet of vegetables, chicken, rice and only have 1 meat meal each week. Pasta, noodles and jacket potatoes became my weekly menu. Due to my high calorie burn up I was able to take on extra calories and papers myself for the Golden Hour.

The Golden Hour – Each long distance run would take it out of me, literally feeling lit headed and fatigued later that day, I needed to do some research on calorie intake, protein and more importantly good carbs. I found myself reading Michael Moseley’s book about the 5-2 diet, where for 2 days you would only consume 500 calories while the remaining 5 days you could eat normally. I found some valuable resources of information and this led me to find out that scientifically if you were to consume over 1,000 calories within an hour of a workout, your muscles and body would start to repair itself much quicker than if you didn’t. This was to become a massive factor into how I would feel the following day after running 26.2 miles.

The week before the challenge I found myself quite stressed, still amending the routes of the marathons to alleviate as many hills as possible, Somerset is hillier than most imagine, also trying to sort out our support team and drivers, defibrillator, cyclist, support equipment for each of the team, water, high energy drinks, over 200 gels, first aid kit, a qualified medic who was amazing and the medals I had designed for each of the running team still hadn’t arrived. My preparation didn’t feel great but on the morning of the 1st marathon challenge I felt ready, the surprise medals for all, in my mind I knew I could not have trained any harder than I had done, the research and training schedule was perfect, my feet felt like they were running in a pair of slippers, I was ready, I just hoped everyone else was. My final weight loss was 44lbs, 3 stone 2lbs and I felt great.

Our support team were simply staggering with family and friends getting each of us through the pain, sweat and tears for some, as we completed what some said was impossible, running across Somerset and completing the 7x7x7, many still ask what is the last 7……..that’s the important one I reply, the 7 Charities.

The Miracle wasn’t we would run 7 Marathons in 7 Days, but that we were prepared to take on the Challenge to begin with.