My training

We've been told that the trek is suitable for reasonably fit walkers who are able to walk an average of 4-5 hours a day. But there is of course the altitude to deal with as well!

To be honest my walking experience isn't vast. I sometimes do walks with the local Rotary club, as my husband Glyn is a member, but they are usually fairly leisurely, not too far - probably up to 7 miles at most - and finishing up with a nice pub meal. Having said that, I did do a half-marathon walk around a freezing New York in November 2007 with my step-daughter, Angela, to raise money for The Children's Society. I actually found this very hard-going and there was barely an upward slope to tackle!

Although I'm no experienced walker I think I'm fairly fit as I run regularly and have taken part in many 10K races. I've done the Great North Run half-marathon 4 times but because of injuries I've only managed to run the whole way once, which was last year. And no doubt it was the ibuprofen, muscle liniment, and sports therapy massages that got me through because I twisted my knee in the week before the race! I'm running in this year's event on 18th September (for Traidcraft) so I'm keeping everything crossed that my training will help me get fitter and more resilient this year.  Obviously not just for the run but for my Everest trek as well.

Despite my injury problems I really love running because of the feeling of fitness, the pleasure of achieving the mileage and time goals that I set myself and enjoying being outside in the beautiful environment where I live. Also, I'm quite a greedy person and running means I can eat more without getting toooo fat!


To help me avoid injuries as much as possible I've been doing Pilates and Yoga at the Yorkshire Centre for Well-Being - http://www.yorkshirewellbeing.co.uk/ - for a number of years, I do Aquafit at my local swimming pool - the Hydro, and I've recently joined a CrossFit gym - http://crossfithg3.com/. CrossFit is a completely new thing for me and is taking me right out of my comfort zone. It focusses on strength, endurance and high intensity work which will improve my ability to cope with the altitude on the trek. It's also very varied and strengthens and conditions the whole body so it will hopefully stop the constant recurrence of injuries that I've experienced with running. I think it's going to really help me up my game and get me ready physically and mentally for the challenges ahead.

The team of trekkers is being supported by Flora Gordon-Lennox, a personal trainer, who will give us advice about how to get fit for walking long hours at altitude. So I should find out if I'm doing all the rights things or if I need to change my regime at all.