To participate in the Marathon des Sables, planning your training well is essential.
On the one hand, there is physical preparation: the more accustomed our bodies are to running, the less they will suffer when covering 260 kilometres in seven days. On the other, we need to prepare for the conditions we will encounter in the desert. The terrain covered by the stages varies from hamada a erg and very stony areas. From what I have read, everyone agrees that feet suffer badly. Even running only a couple of days a erg, sand dunes: fine sand always finds its way through your socks. The resulting friction causes some spectacular blisters.
- Photo: Daniel F. Guijarro
In recent editions, many participants have worn gaiters, which I suppose helps. Someone told me that people train on beaches near Barcelona wearing rucksacks and caps with neck flaps. I also read a blog about runners from Zaragoza who, without a beach, trained in freshly ploughed fields…
Any option is valid if it helps adapt your feet to varied terrain. The tougher our feet, the less we will suffer.
- Pere Mongay, training
In Ouarzazate, April temperatures can reach 40° or 45°. Few participants will have trained in such a hostile climate. Sometimes, when I go running, I wear more layers than necessary to start getting used to the heat, or at least imagine what awaits. On one blog, I read that it feels like running with a hairdryer blowing in your face…
After every good run, I take a long shower and savour something I will not have during the race. Seven days of running and sweating without a shower! I suppose seven wet wipes, one a day, will get me through. The instructions are simple, but the order matters: take a wipe from the packet and clean from top to bottom, reaching every nook and cranny. Never reverse direction; that could be disastrous. I remember the first day of desert trips, when sand gets everywhere, irritating everyone physically and mentally. After three days, we are all desert Tuareg. As you speak, you feel tiny grains crunching, somewhere between chewing gum and eating little pieces of crisps. The quantities swallowed are so small there is no need to worry about stomach pumping or anything similar.