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Looking back I wonder why I wanted to walk an ultra marathon (as for running I decided to literally learn to walk first rather than run). After all, what did I get out of it besides blisters, a few tears and legs that if they could, would have beaten the hell out of me and left me for dead because I certainly did torture them.

Well, why should you care? Why indeed. If the thought of walking the 46 mile long march has pricked your ears then read on. If the thought of walking 46 miles in under 20 hours brings you out in a cold sweat or causes expletives to burst from you that would terrify the old lady in the corner. Read on anyway.

The walk I did is basically a huge circle beginning from RAF Wyton. The terrain is typical of East Anglia. It’s extremely flat. So those who enjoy walking in mountains will find this walk very boring. There's a challenge in that I think! Still, if you get the right company on the walk, the lack of interesting terrain isn't a problem.

The key to this is somewhat obvious. Be prepared! Still, there are idiots out there who cannot get this right. I’m one of them. My training consisted of running 3 miles a few times a week at a heart rate of around 161. This did not in anyway prepare me for the extreme fatigue my legs were under by the end. To tell you the truth, I got lucky! Learn from my mistake!
You need to build leg strength for this because leg strength is key. My lungs didn't have a problem at all on the walk. My legs just got stiffer and heavier as the miles clocked up and my feet, well, hello blisters! You can do it by simply walking long distances and building up your strength until you are able to cover the 46 miles in one go or you can add supplementary exercises on top of this like squats, one legged squats and general leg exercises. If you find that supplementary exercises make you more fatigued and hinder recovery then don't bother with them. Just focus on building your walking distance.

You will of course carry water with you on training walks. On the pathfinder, there are checkpoints where you can refill, negating the need to carry loads of water! It goes without saying to stay hydrated, as this affects your performance directly. If you want to do an organised walk check the walk you want to do to see if they operate a check point system. They should do for safety reasons.