The 40th edition of The Marathon Des Sable by ultra-runner, Tom Charlick
270km – 7 Days – 6 Stages – 1,500 Competitors
How hard was it?
Ultra-running suffers from a bit of delusion on the concept of difficulty, it is like I am somewhat numb to it. I think I put that down to how I approach these events in terms of my preparation, the expectation that things can and will go wrong – you quite literally have to think on your feet to solve problems that could ultimately be race ending, and most importantly – I want to enjoy every moment of whatever it is I am doing, even if it sucks.
It’s important for me to share some of this to add a bit of context to what I am going to say. To bring it back and actually answer the question – this is obviously a very physically and mentally demanding event, with a huge number of variables to contend with.
People laugh when I say the running was the easy bit, I know I’m somewhat joking but I do mean that. I feel the real confidence came from deconstructing the event in to its core pieces, practicing each aspect of this, and still being open to all of my planning being tipped on its head. I read every book I could get my hands on, race reports dating back 10 years, podcasts, anything with MDS in the title – I’ve probably looked at it.
I wanted to get a glimpse in to this world, and work with Rich to map out the different challenges so I could practice these in isolation. A personal favourite was eating freeze dried expedition meals on a trading floor in London to taste them all ahead of the race. That definitely raised some eyebrows.
Sleep and Recovery
After every stage, I was religious about this routine.
After finishing (took turns with another guy being first back in the tent) in true MDS tradition, it was our honour to clean the tent rug from sand and stones for the rest of the guys. The rugs weighed a tonne, and after running for hours and it now being peak sunshine during the day, this was a workout in itself.
I’d fill one of my freeze dried meals with water, add 2x knorr stock cubes to get salt back in to me, and leave this in the sun for 20 minutes to rehydrate while I lay with my legs up on my backpack to try and drain some fluid away and just generally relax, then get my food in ASAP.
Next, I had the pleasure of going to the medical tent to drain my 9 blisters with syringes (I had become emotionally attached to them by the end of the week), and inject them with iodine to prevent infection. As someone who hates needles, this was a form of self inflicted torture. I’d then go back in the evening to re-drain them and tape them up ready to go for the next day. I deliberately did this in two separate trips, to let them breathe during the day and so I had two opportunities to clean my feet and hands (I had become obsessed with this).
If they got infected the medical staff could pull me from the course. At the end of the 100km day, I had to get a doctor to treat my feet because I was so cooked that you could have hit me over the head with a cricket bat and I wouldn’t haven’t realised. I actually fell asleep on the treatment bed as he was doing all of this and he woke me up when I was good to go and hobble (sleepwalk) back to my tent.
After the med tent, went to get my 5L water ration for the rest of the day. Remaining sunlight hours consisted of laying horizontal with feet elevated, occasionally getting up to stretch the legs and cheer the rest of the guys back in to the tent.
I’d then get all my kit sorted for the next day, Phoenix bars broken up and prepped in to zip lock bags and put in my waist belt pockets, breakfast laid out for the following morning and everything else cleared away so I could just be on autopilot.
I observed a lot of people faffing around, or delaying eating so they could go to the med tent (often for hours) which I think is really sub-optimal, your body is completely catabolic at the stage and will start to break down muscle for energy due to the calorie deficit if you are not careful.
How well did you do?
Going in to this event, I had no real idea what to expect, or how my body would react to the heat, the full pack weight and the lack of sleep, but I knew I had made the most out of my training (which was a bit compressed, on the back of completing Wildstrubel 110 in September, and coming out of that injured which I had to manage for a couple of months).
I completed the Pilgrims Challenge in February, which was a brilliant prep race and many other MDS hopefuls were also there practicing with their kit, and getting some good volume in the legs. It totals 110km and ~2,500m D+ split in 2x equal stages on the Saturday and Sunday. I managed to place 12th overall in this, and my times on each day were only ~10 seconds apart. I have no idea how I managed to be so consistent but I felt really strong and was holding back, treating it as a training run. Quietly confident, but was not counting my chickens yet.
For the MdS itself, I managed to place in the top 15% overall, just outside the top 200 of ~1,500 in total. This was quite a surprise to me – I was never doing the event “just to complete” but at the same time, I wasn’t pushing for a particular position either, I knew I was in good form, but I was just doing my own thing, and trying to get stronger each day, and finish each stage feeling fresh and fired up ready to go for the next. No matter where I would start the day (often further back with my tent mates), I’d still end up finishing with the same faces towards the end of each day – I guess the order of everything just naturally works itself out.
What worked from the training?
– Back to back long trail runs – The bread and butter of pretty much any ultra event. This forms the core base fitness and leg strength that you can then bolt event specific workouts on top of.
– Short hill reps (30-60s) – I cannot lie, I was somewhat sceptical when Rich was focussing on these so much (some weeks doing 2x sessions). I can categorically say this was probably the most beneficial part of the plan – the dunes that we are running up and down were constantly undulating, and I felt so strong being able to keep momentum going because of this. Running, or I should say, shuffling is easier than pure walking, as you lose all momentum and sink downwards, I was able to keep this going to glide along because of these reps.
– Single leg and core work in the gym – Core strength was super important, keeping yourself stable especially with the pack and water weight and not letting your running form degrade was key to remaining uninjured and mobile.
– Tune up races (Pilgirms challenge) – explained above
– Training camp in Canary Islands – Warm weather and terrain specific training
– Hilly days focussing on ascending and descending
– Undulating days
– Pure sand days
– Practice all feeling and hydration
What did you learn from it?
The biggest thing I take away from this, is to not set artificial boundaries on yourself based on what you currently know. Train for the events you want to do, not what you think you can do. There were people of all ages and shapes and sizes – this is a mental game rather than physical. Yes, there is a high base level of fitness and strength needed, but its what is going on in your head is what separates people from succeeding. All of this extends far beyond running and in to my personal life as well – why would I ever sell myself short or think I can’t do something? That doesn’t come from a place of arrogance, but a place of confidence knowing that my absolute worst case scenario is that I learn something.
Anything else that would be helpful for people to know?
Life is too short. Just do the thing.