The longer version

Rowing the Atlantic - December/January 2021/22

At the beginning of December 2021 we will set off from Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Our vessel is a 38ft rowing boat called Roxy and we'll row unsupported roughly 3,000 nautical miles, following the trade winds to Antigua. Our crew of 12 should make the crossing in 35-40 days, depending on the weather. We'll each row 12 hours per day, broken into around-the-clock 3 hour shifts, a schedule that will burn up to 9,000 calories per day. Fierce Atlantic storms are likely to whip up 25ft+ waves, and on other days searing temperatures and little shade will make the conditions for rowing equally as challenging. We will take all our supplies with us. An onboard desalination machine will provide drinking water from seawater, and food will be calorie-dense dehydrated meals taken with us (unless I catch some fish between rowing shifts!). Less people have rowed the Atlantic Ocean than have climbed Everest, and it is regularly referred to as one of the world's toughest endurance events. I'm expecting this expedition to test me in every way possible, particularly since I have no practical experience of rowing, let alone ocean rowing...

Ideal physical condition for the Atlantic Row: Extreme mental resilience, strong core/upper body, used to sunburn, salt sores, sleep deprivation and a sore bum...and about 10kg heavier than I am currently...

Marathon Des Sables - March 2022

I have also entered the formidable Marathon Des Sables. Dubbed "the toughest footrace on earth", the MDS is a grueling multi-stage race in one of the worlds most inhospitable environments, the Sahara Desert. Around 1,000 runners will race for 250km, over 6 days. We can expect endless sand dunes, rocky jebels (mountains) and white-hot salt plains, all in searing 50 degree heat. Participants must carry all the food and kit needed for the week on their backs, with only water provided by the race organisers at regular checkpoints and an open-sided Bedouin tent each evening. I've never run a competitive marathon before, I tend to get a bit fed up by the end of the Bristol half! The only marathon I have run was the boozy Marathon Du Medoc in Bordeaux, which involves a stop for drinking wine at every mile...

Ideal physical condition for MDS:  as lightweight as possible, acclimatised to 50 degree heat and dehydrated food, churning out 100+ miles per week without too much trouble...

It's safe to say I have some training to do...

My training schedule

I'm currently aiming for roughly 2-3 hours exercise per day, split across strength and endurance training, all fit around the busy work day! The training is slightly awkward, as I have to bulk up for the row but then be as light as possible for the run. For now I'm focusing on core and upper body strength, using weight training and calisthenics. For the endurance I'm mixing rowing (bizarrely I enjoy it the least at the moment, it's so dull!), running, swimming and cycling. I'm trying to combine higher tempo sessions with much slower and longer distance training. I am also eating everything in sight, in an attempt to get my weight up. 

Ocean rowers are expected to lose up to 2 stone on an Atlantic crossing. You burn up to 9,000 calories per day, and you simply cannot eat enough to compensate, despite the high calorie diet of expedition food and snacks (lots of snacks). This should put me in good shape for the MDS! What won't have helped is 40 days of not using my legs. I'll have to start walking the day I arrive in Antigua (lots of hills), and get back to running as soon as by body will allow. I'll then have a little over 2 months to condition my legs back to handling 100+ mile weeks, whilst slowly building up to a backpack weight of about 10kgs. The British winter is clearly not the ideal climate to prepare for 6 consecutive marathons in the scorching desert, so I'm trying to come up with some kind of gym sauna acclimatisation plan, or I'll just run with lots of warm clothing on...

I hope you found this interesting. Please feel free to reach out if you wanted to chat about any of it, or join me for some long runs!