Ben and I spent the weekend on the coast just west of Cardiff. MdS veterans Rory and Jen of UltraRace put on a weekend to inform and advise the runners of the 2011 race. Ben and I eagerly sucked it all up and then spent Sunday morning completing 20 laps of a 1k circuit up and down Europe's largest sand dune finishing equal second. Neither of us have really started training in earnest, but this has been a good wakeup call. Lots to do, training plans, kit research and testing, food and calorie plans, fundraising … the list goes on.

Had a great session at Kingston University with Dr Chris Easton who tortured me on a treadmill to calculate my maximum HR and VO2 Max.

Some interesting results and definitely good data to assist with training.

Weekends usually consist of long run training and I complete short runs and strength work during the week. This weekend was no exception with 12 miles on Saturday and 17 on Sunday. In general things have been going quite well, or at least should I say I am training more than I have ever done before for this kind of challenge.

Saw the physician today at Wimbledon Clinics, a specialist centre for sports injuries. He seems to think I have generated a condition called Illiotibial Band Friction Syndrome (ITBFS). The ITB is the muscle that runs from your butt to your knee. He thinks the distances I have covered in training, coupled with my running gait (bow legs!), causes the muscle to rub on the lateral femoral epicondyle which is the boney protrusion on the outside of your knee.

Back to Wimbledon clinics for an MRI. Sat on a chair with my leg stuck in a long hole within a strange electronic machine called an extremity scanner. The strange noises of the machine were tempered by classical music being pumped into the room. First peace and quiet I've had in ages and I proceeded to fall asleep for 30mins! The photo is misleading, the nurse was nowhere to be seen.

Whilst most of the country were suffering hangovers, Ben and I met up on Boxhill in Surrey to compete in the UK's hardest 10k. It's a favourite of mine, having done it for the last four years. And it's a race with a twist - fancy dress is 'de rigour'. Ben and I planned to don what has become the Golden Joggers team kit - the morph suit, but a last minute hitch meant I had to don a token Fr Christmas hat - not so impressive. It takes the runners up Boxhill four times from different directions , so is good training for dunes within the MdS.

"A man with bow legs like yours who runs these kind of distances are prone to shin splints and ITB issues". Wasn't expecting him to be quite so frank! Anyway, the pain seems to have subsided, so we agreed probably don't need to do anything at the moment.

MRI shows a healthy knee in terms of cartilage and the rest of the main infrastructure (my own medical term). The physician confirms I have ITBFS suggesting I vary the terrain I run on, continue stretching religiously, and come back if it flares up again. Good that it we have identified the problem and it seems to have gone away, bad that its there and could return.

Haven't managed to run much in the last week. Felt guilty last night, so ran the 22 miles into work today. Cobham - Esher - Kingston - Wandsworth - Fulham - Chelsea - Millbank - Strand, not particularly picturesque and looked a right plonker with my front loading drinking bottles, but managed the distance carrying 9kg in 02:58:00 so pretty happy with that.

My new Garmin GPS arrived in the week. Took it for a spin around Boxhill. It tells me everything, heart rate, distance speed etc. Geeky stuff gives me stats that I have no idea what to do with. A massive case of 'all the gear'.

Completed 2 knacker cracker courses, which is just under a half marathon with a massive 1km of ascent and descent with 7kgs of kit in 2hrs - bring it on!

Met Ben on Saturday evening after he had completed 45miles from Northampton to Tring along the Grand Union Canal - he'd cruised it and held back knowing he was going back to do the same in the other direction on the Sunday - 90 miles across 2 days - nutter. I on the other hand had opted for the one day and I have to admit feeling a fraud as I realised that a large number of the runners on the start line on Sunday had completed the previous day.

Tired and stiff. Never has anyone looked quite so stupid descending 22 steps. Lets hope the lifts work at work!

Proudly announcing my first endorsement deal! I will be wearing WileyX advanced eyewear during the race to help protect my eyes from the intense sunlight and keep out the sand should a storm kick up. Check them out.

The knee injury has put a major halt to all my mileage training. I have therefore had to concentrate on low-impact training that will not stress the knee. Unfortunately this has meant my cardio fitness has taken a dive and I hope that the knee will hold out past the first couple of days.

In an endeavour to tick a huge 'physical and mental' box, I recently completed the Ultra 45/90. A 2 day event, 45 miles each way, running from Northampton to Tring along the Grand Union Canal, and then back again. If you're a canal boat enthusiast then this is the event for you. Completing day one was a good result in itself, though knowing that you had to do it all again was a lot to get the head around. During Day One, I sporadically received motivating calls from Bruce offering words of encouragement... why was he not running you ask?... because he was at the Fireman Sam show.

My prize though is a trip for 2 to run the Amsterdam marathon in October! Great. Another bloody marathon, and a trip to the diamond capital (amongst other things!) of Europe! Jen is amazingly supportive and tolerant of this whole debacle, though factoring in a 2 carat diamond on top of everything else wasn't something I'd thought of. This is costing me a fortune! Whose stupid idea was it!?!

Thankfully my last big training run is complete. Another back to back run, and another bloody canal - 29.3 miles from Cotgrave (somewhere near Nottingham), to Grantham, and then back again the following day. This was my first real workout carrying kit, so got a good feel of what to expect...........yep, I run a lot slower carrying 7.5kg on my bag, and I ache in more places.

As the official "Weakest Link" in the Tonsley Golden Joggers I have left it late to start proper training, a shortcoming I blame entirely on the birth of my son Thomas.

First decent training run at the Dubai Marathon on 21 Jan. 4hrs 27 with the 11kg I am planning to start the MDS with - not spectacular but hopefully a pace that could be kept up on the flatter stretches in the desert. I am also a long way behind Bruce and Cuttle in the buying stash stakes.

- Rum Punches are best served as a lunchtime beverage when their refreshing qualities can be best appreciated in the heat of the day without requiring an immediate afternoon snooze on completion. They are a wasted cocktail as a sundowner when a cold beer is by far the better option.

Rob heard M&Ms might be a good source of fuel for the race and asked me to test them out in the heat to see if they would withstand the rigours of the desert...

< Click on the images to watch the video reports.

Under pressure from Rob and Ben to put more work in I went for a run today in order to find some sand to train on. I found some immediately on the side of the road - it kept getting in my shoes though which was incredibly annoying, so I came home.

I continued my preparation however by carrying out some visualisation training whilst relaxing on my favourite chair, which I thought would be just as useful as I'm told mental preparation is half the battle in the MDS. I'm mentally telling myself that there won't be much sand in the Sahara. Let's hope it works.

First time trial on the raidlight stash, up and down Jebel Hafeet.

Happy with back and front pack in the heat. Front bottles with tubes did my head in though. Bog standard bottles for me I think.