Fixing my feet

marathon des sables, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

Ben and I spent a useful hour this afternoon with John from Fulham Podiatry on the recommendation of our coach, Faye. We were very impressed with his expertise and came away with plenty of useful advice. I think he was less impressed with the state of our feet! Ben's are pretty minging as he's spent 2% of his life squidged into ski boots getting alternately hot/sweaty and cold/frostbitten. And I broke my foot in the Marathon des Sables (lovely picture above), so was eager to get it checked out as it's not quite fixed.
John put us on a running machine to analyse a gait. I was irritated to be told that Ben had a much better running style. Ben was irritated to hear that, with some coaching, I'll be able to run much (even?!) faster...

Hill Reps in Richmond Park

"Oh God, what am I doing?"
A silent grumble for illumination as I climb wearily onto my bike in the cold darkness of 6am. I find it so hard to motivate myself to train. It's not something I've ever done before, nor something I particularly enjoy. I find it hard to justify the time it requires. It hurts. It's boring. I'd rather be in bed... So run the excuses of weakness as I pedal down the road. It is particularly difficult to dedicate so much blood, sweat and time to training when we do not even have a sponsor yet, following the withdrawal of Ernst&Young.
Thankfully dawn broke eventually and I cheered up.
After 5 hours of cycling, running, and hill reps, during which Ben and I covered 55km and burned over 3500kcal, I decided to dedicate the rest of my day to hobbling and eating. But there was no time for that; I spent the afternoon working on a photoshoot of Colin Firth (honestly), and in the evening went to a lecture by Saffia Farr about Kyrgyzstan. Now, as soon as I finish this, I'm off to bed! The 6am alarm for weights in the gym will come along oh too soon...
Here's a few pics of our morning. I particularly enjoy the one of me being ahead of Ben - a rare photo indeed! (I think he'd just stopped to tie his shoelaces)

Morning running

marathon des sables, originally uploaded by www.alastairhumphreys.com.

"Man's greatest journey is the long step between the warm bed and the cold floor."

The alarm crushed my dreams at 5.20 this morning.
It was dark, my bed was warm. I did not care about Antarctica, or getting fit. I wanted to sleep.
But I made it out of bed, and out onto the black London streets. Cycling through the dark to Richmond Park my spirits rose and I enjoyed the smugness of having made it out of bed before almost everyone else.
The full moon was majestic. In the park I heard deer, saw the moon through the mist and the trees, and it felt good to be up. I met Ben and we started running. The sun rose, the miles passed, and home for breakfast. It was a great start to the day. The real value of mornings like this is that they cement in my mind the awareness that I am serious about SOUTH, and that I am willing to set the alarm at 5.20 if that is what is needed for success. The only problem is that Ben and I now have to head to the gym to be beasted by Faye. Wish me luck...

Most of what I know about writing...

Most of what I know about writing -says Haruki Murakami- I've learned through running every day. These are practical, physical lessons. How much can I push myself? How much rest is appropriate - and how much is too much? How far can I take something and still keep it decent and consistent? When does it become narrow-minded and inflexible? How much should I be aware of the world outside, and how much should I focus on my inner world? To what extent should I be confident in my abilities, and when should I start doubting myself? I know that if I hadn't become a long-distance runner when I became a novelist, my work would have been vastly different. How different? Hard to say. But something would have been vastly different.