I should just manage to get this one posted before doing an interview with BBC Radio Orkney….

Alan tells me that it has been a gorgeous day in Athens – sunny, warm with a bit of a  breeze. His first comment on the race itself was that

“William is doing tremendously well”

Tim and Alan were discussing what the highlight of the day so far has been. Tim decided that

“The whole day has been a highlight as all has gone so well”

Alan’s highlight with regard to William was

William going past the 400km and 250 mile marks.

but Alan’s personal highlight for the race was “getting 4 unbroken hours of sleep last night.”

Alan tells me he has photos of William passing 250 miles (and lots of other pictures) and he is currently trying to get the telephone/broadband lines at the race sorted out so he can send them (best of luck with that one….) but failing that he’s persuaded the friendly Italian film crew to send them to me in low-resolution the first chance they get (so fingers crossed).

Alan tells me that the two leading Germans are running well and working off each others performances while keeping a careful eye on William. Naturally Wolfgang Schwerk may manage to hold on to the lead throughout the race, but personally I’d be very interested to see if he can hold things together if, as and when William passes him later in the race.

William has made a few modifications to our pre-race time schedule to allow for better running during the hottest parts f the day. So far this is working well with William taking longer breaks but running at a faster speed, and doing some extra walking during the heat of the day. We’d discussed a lot of this in advance but it always comes down to deciding exactly what to do on the day, under actual conditions – as the saying goes, “No plan ever survives the first battle” and the same goes for ultra-running. Despite all this William is just about bang on our pre-set targets for this point of the race.

Alan ended by saying that the training we’ve been doing to get William ready for the race has clearly paid off as

“William is in fantastic shape”

more as and when,

Shaun

Shaun Brassfield-Thorpe – William Sichel’s training advisor – ULTRAfitnessTraining.com