MDS training camp

I've just returned from a 4 day training camp in the amazing hills in Morocco. It was lead by Laurence Klein, 3 time MDS female champion, and Damien Vierdet, who finished 4th in MDS 2 tears ago. Along with 9 other athletes we were put through our paces covering 75km and climbing over 3,300 metres with base camp at 1,400 metres. We were in the foothills behind the Atlans mountain range which was a spetacular back drop with the snow capped hills. The territory was more suited to a mountain goat and the terrain was either hard packed trail with stones and rocks or dried mud with stones or rocks. We also ran on dried river beds and no matter what surface, every step was a potential ankle breaker. On the 2nd day it rained making the mud tracks / roads slippy and unfortunately for one athletes he slipped and empaled himself on a catcus plant which left him sore and requiring over 20 needles removed! Ouch. The one surface we didn't run on was sand but it was more important we learned how to handle this terrain as there is a lot of it on MDS. We has 2 night runs with head torches. Up until then I though the odd pothole was dangerous in the UK but this required 100% concentration due to the conditions underfoot. We absorbed the top tips we were given and on 2 occassions cooked our food out in the open - only edible if desperate! The objectives were to test myself and also my equipment. The outcome is I have another 2.5 weeks of really hard training before starting to taper and I'll be changing my food plan based on what I learned. It was a well organised trip and I have made new friends despite the language barrier - they all had a reasonable grasp of English fortunately and one of the UK guys (David - thank you) was fluent in French. The staff and the accommodation could not have been more helpful. The food was out of this world - probably similar to what we will eat in the desert except that will be food from a different planet! As for the leaders Laurence and Damien, what a privilege to run and learn from world class athletes. Thank you Laurence and see you in the desert in 6 weeks. Damien I hope we meet again and you still carry the tune of "Flower of Scotland" in your head. Maybe someday someone will sing it to you properly.