How I've progressed with my training over the past 20 years

I thought today I’d write a post about my training over the past couple of years.

I started off running my first marathon back in the year 2000. Crossing the finish line that day gave me such self belief that 16 years later I went back and that marathon became my 100th. As a bonus I also won the marathon that day as well. I really started getting more seriously into mountain ultrarunning in 2015. The experiences of being in the mountains for multiple days compared to running on the road for a couple of hours was unparalleled. My first running goal was to run a sub three hour marathon. Which I achieved with some running program from runners world. As I got more into ultra and the mountains there were no training programs around so I had to experiment. I think what puts me in a good position for my Appalachian Trail record attempt are the following experiences. First of all I’ve done triple marathons over three days along the coast lines of the UK. Then I’ve done marathon des sables in the desert of Morocco. I spent 15 days running with Karel Sabbe on the Appalachian trail during his successful attempt. In 2019 I had my own failed attempt on the Appalachian Trail. 2020 I broke Damian Hall‘s record on the south west coast path and set a new record of 10 days and some change. And then over the past eight months or so I’ve been putting in specific training towards the Appalachian Trail. Hardly any of my runs our flat they all include elevation. During the full course of the Appalachian Trail there is an elevation gain and loss equivalent to 16 x Mount Everest‘s from sea to summit and back down again. I posted the photo with my watch because I’m really enjoying running 10 miles a day at the moment with elevation.