OMG. LESSONS LEARNED ON THE 10in10 TRAINING WEEKEND

January 11-13th 2019, the official Brathay 10in10 Training Weekend - an opportunity to meet the Brathay team & support staff, fellow 10in10 runners and take my first trip around Lake Windermere! Excited? Nervous? Overwhelmed? Inspired? Drained? All feelings I experienced across the course of the weekend as I listened to the stories from the other runners, enjoyed the hospitality of the fabulous Brathay staff and made my way, for the first time, along the undulating roads around the lake. It was important to me to get to know the race route a little better though I'm still unsure whether it will be more of a foe than a friend come May. More important though was to learn more about the work of the Brathay Trust for which all this madness is being undertaken, and to learn from the experiences of other mad men and women that have survived this brutal challenge - some of them on more than one occasion and still come back for more!

As much to help me as anyone else, I've listed below my key take-home points from the weekend:

• Enjoy the Brathay bubble, you'll certainly need all the support to get you through the 10 days and beyond!

• Follow in the footsteps of others - one step at a time. There will be hard days, there will (hopefully) be days when you feel great, but many others have shown that this can be done, given adequate levels of preparation, commitment and suffering ...

• Eating appropriately will be as much of a challenge as the running will - approx. 6000kcals per day. Though compliments to the chef, the food is top class!

• Be prepared for all eventualities - what will I do if ... favourite shoes get ripped? can't find water bottle? develop blisters? finding it particularly tough???

• Little and often - consistently working on key exercises throughout the day will generate massive rewards come race day(s)

• The Lake looks a superb place to cool down and relax after each race ...