Darren
After a huge challenge like the Namibia Ultra Desert Marathon, you wonder if it’s possible to build yourself up again and get back to running over 50 miles per week. This week I found out that it is – as long as you have something to aim for. The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, a 166km mountain race, is the perfect target we need to motivate us after Namibia. I kicked off the mission with 100km this week, then added a lung-busting 20-km run over the North Downs to the mix on Sunday. The picture above shows me with and Alex Bamford, a fellow Namibia Ultra runner, taking in the great views the North Downs has to offer. Beats road running hands down.

Nick
In just three months we will be taking part in arguably the toughest foot race in the world – The Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc. And yet my training seems to be focused on a triathlon I'm doing in four weeks’ time. Last weekend I did lots of sea swimming on the south coast. I also ran on some very challenging shingle – much trickier than anything Mont Blanc will throw at us. The mountain race is always in the back of my mind. My runs are definitely on the hilly side, to the extent that I have started doing hills reps to an almost obsessive level, and my bike rides are in my hardest gear to get my legs used to pushing up a mountain.

Steve
The seven-mile race I mentioned in my last blog was painful, but I was amazed to find that it woke my body up from its post-Namibia slump. Now I’m back to pretty hard training, mixing up hundreds of hill reps with a couple of marathons. I’ve also done most of my training barefoot this week. It’s something I always revert to when I’m not in great shape – stripping everything right back to slow barefoot running always does the trick for me when I have niggling injuries. But I’ve never considered training exclusively like this before, or thought about doing it on anything harder than sand! This week my sessions took in big rocks, shingle and concrete. I don’t think it’ll be something I’ll be trying on the slopes of Mont Blanc in the middle of the night. But it will certainly toughen up my feet.

Thanks to Berghaus for supporting Team Men's Fitness.