Training for 250km in Greece: How I'm Preparing for 3 Summits Ultra

My training has been pretty similar to other blocks I've done before, but it's got a solid structure that works around my life. Monday is either rest or a light gym session. Then Tuesday hits hard with hill reps - about an hour and a half of work, with 30 to 35 minutes spent really pushing at threshold effort. Wednesday and Thursday are easier runs done during my lunch hour, roughly 50 minutes each, which means I can bank the extra time and recover before the weekend volume starts.

Friday is my speed session, and at the moment we're really focusing on that top end work. Not the typical 30 or 60 metre sprint efforts, but fast efforts that bring up my cadence and speed for endurance running. The thing about speed work is that it comes with soreness, so I go into the weekend feeling sore, tired, and fatigued - but then I have to do big volume with limited intensity. The weekend is where the real work happens: back-to-back long days of six to ten hours, structured more like a four and ten or a five and eight.

I want to be clear that even though the structure stays consistent week to week, what I'm actually doing changes constantly. Tuesday hill reps might be five or six different routes with different stimuli - some longer, some shorter and faster, some where I'm thinking about the descent, and some where I'm tackling the whole of a climb. The consistency of structure just helps me organise my life better and keeps me disciplined without becoming robotic.

At the start of my training block, both the time and intensity are lower. I'm just getting time on my feet, still ticking over, and still doing some hard sessions, but with lots of gaps in between. The hard sessions aren't focused on the actual challenge that's coming up - they're more general fitness builders.

Peak week is completely different. I've got a lot of everything: big volume, intensity, and lots to focus on. Right now, every session is specifically designed to prepare me for what I'm about to face. The weekend long runs have specific focuses too - sometimes it's about tackling hills hard, sometimes it's about pushing the descents, sometimes it's about using my poles efficiently. There's a lot going on, but it all serves the race.

I've never trail run in Greece before, though I have been to the coastal towns. I know what the mountains look like from photos - they're quite similar to mountains I've seen in France and Italy. Right now, I'm getting my head around the course using the app: looking at the map, the elevation profile, and the distance between checkpoints. I haven't seen much video footage, but I've done enough analysis to know that there's a significant section in the middle of the race that's going to be really hard - big gaps between checkpoints, about 20 kilometres with a lot of elevation gain, which means a long period of time out there.

One checkpoint in particular is going to be insane. We looked at the profile and worked backwards from what I know about my fitness - over 25 kilometres with roughly 4,000 feet of elevation. In my training on the Isle of Man, I'm trying to get the equivalent ascent and descent to distance, but it's harder because I don't have the same big descents or sustained downhills. So we've been deliberately picking routes with longer descents and technical sections to better prepare my body for what Greece will throw at me.

This weekend's sessions are a perfect example. Saturday is about hills, elevation, and using my poles effectively. Sunday is about keeping on running for as long as I can - doing laps of my backyard, staying in the race mentally when fatigue sets in. That's the real skill I need to work on, and we've got strategies for that.

Everyone goes through bad patches in ultras. I'm no different. When I'm out in the middle of nowhere in a part of the world I'm unfamiliar with, I need to know what will keep me going. My core motivation is simple: I wanted to be there, and I'm getting it done. But beyond that, I'm inspired by what's happening in the ultra running world for women right now, and by people I know who've suffered recently through no choice of their own. I'm in a privileged position where my suffering will be by choice. That's powerful intrinsic motivation.

I like to count when I'm running. It keeps my mind occupied, pushes me into a rhythm, and eventually you switch everything off - the discomfort, the doubt, the fatigue. That's something I'll be using heavily in Greece. Sunday's laps in the backyard are specifically about rehearsing this: staying focused, keeping the rhythm, finding ways to distract myself when I'm tired.

Sleep will be part of the race strategy too. I reckon I'll be out for at least two days, so I'm planning on having at least one nap at a checkpoint, depending on what time I get there. I haven't sorted bivvy plans - I'm not planning to bivy out. And I haven't looked deeply into the wildlife situation yet, though snakes and insects are obviously a consideration in Greece. Water is another practical question - I haven't fully researched whether mountain water is drinkable, unlike in Italy and the Alps where there are endless fountains. I've got a Solomon filter bottle that offers 99.9 per cent filtration, which should help if I can find streams to fill from.