Marathon Des Sables: A Survival Guide

How to prepare for the Marathon des Sables/MdS, the famous 240km multi-stage race across the Sahara Desert

- Damian Hall

The Marathon des Sables (MdS) is a multi-stage 235-250km (the course varies each year) race in the Sahara Desert. Temperatures can reach 60C, runners must carry their food for the week and the terrain is rocky, sandy and generally inhospitable. That said, the course can be hiked within the cut-off times and the completion rate is well over 90 per cent. But it’s still a tough, tough race that causes all sorts of problems and discomfort to runners. No race, for example, trashes feet like MdS does.

Because of an injury, I only had five weeks of training for the 2017 event, so I concentrated hard on all the aspects other than fitness. It paid off as, despite my very limited training, I placed 15th overall.

How to acclimatise to heat

I was fortunate to use the heat chamber facilities at University of Bath; many universities have these now, and usually sessions are affordable. And for weeks I ran with extra layers on. It was horrible at first, but got significantly easier.

“It takes two-three weeks for full heat adaptations to occur,” says USATF-certified online coach and professional ultra-runner Ian Sharman (sharmanultra.com), who has completed MdS. “There is a lot you can do in Britain, such as using a treadmill in a heat chamber, going to saunas, or running dressed up like the Michelin Man, with multiple layers. Cover as much of your skin as possible, with gloves, hat, buff or balaclava. You’re trying to overheat yourself.

“Do this for an hour a day for two-three weeks before the event for best results. It’s horrible at first and you won’t be able to train as hard as normal, because it’s strenuous. So ideally do your fitness training before starting on heat acclimatisation, so you’re not exhausting yourself when you should be tapering.