Desert Cup was going along nicely – I’d managed the Cape Wrath ultra without collapsing in a pool of my own bile. I’d jogged a couple of twenties with Oscar, The World’s Fittest Dog, and I can safely say I looked better than he did by the end, as we

is oversubscribed by a factor of five. There remains only the technical question of how one trains for these hyper-mega-ultra events. After all, to prepare for a marathon, you need to put in a handful of 20-mile training runs. So should I bash off three or four 100

-country 3%Triathlon 2%Trail races 2%Fell 1%Adventure 1%Ultra 1%I take part in races... Never 21%1-11 times a year 68%12-24 times a year 9%25-52 times a year 2%More than once a week 0%I also do these sports... Gym 16%Swimming 18%Walking (hill walking

Naylor fell pump was stuffed with the front page of a newspaper announcing the death of George the Fifth. For sentimental reasons, I’ve hung on to my favourite set of Playtex ‘Anapurna’ golf and general loafers, as worn by Bernard Cribbins in Carry On Up

other hurt, if you're staggering a long way in a drunken state. If I were six days from the FLM, I'd be coccooned in cotton wool and bubble wrap. – cloudburstGo ahead – but fill up afterwards on water and sleepA week before my first ultra in January I

and Stanley Matthews football shorts. My compatriots here at the Hotel Bunda, Davos, giggle nervously and do that ‘scary’ thing with their eyes and fingers. But as a newly registered entrant in the Zen UltraMarathon of Life, I don’t see what all the fuss

, is one – will any forum marathon or ultra runners join the discussion and say the same?

hole in the toe nail. There's instant relief as the fluid under the toenail is released. Sometimes I've needed even more drastic measures: after running the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon (34.8 miles) and the Comrades Marathon (54 miles) this year, I had

Hard Training Q&AsTRAINING GENERAL• Do I need to take an "easy week" when my average mileage isn’t that high? • Should you try and break through ‘the wall’ in training? • Is it just the cold weather, or am I getting fitter? • How do I overcome

you should try Salclear Sport. In our testing programme I used prototypes of the products on specs and sunglasses whilst mountainbiking and running in all sorts of weather, and they proved perfect. I ran an ultra mountain race recently with the defog