All In
Sitting at my desk today, writing this fourth blog instalment, I can see the whiteboard on the far wall glaring back at me, with big words in blue “TIME TO ML50:”
“26 DAYS"
WHAT! 26 DAYS! IS THAT ALL?
Whether we liked it or not, that really is all we have from now until the starting line at Dalemain.
The good news? Despite all the injuries and setbacks that had been thrown our way over the previous six months, we had finally managed to start and stick to a programme. A self-designed, 6-week, all-in course to get us ready for the big day.
To set the scene, allow me to take you back to Apr 25th 2026...
All-In
Date on the calendar: 25th April 2026 - exactly 2 months (in terms of dates anyway) until the Lakeland 50 begins. A mere eight and a half weeks.
That was the number staring us in the face.
Not eight months. Not a perfectly planned year of training. Eight weeks to turn two osteopaths who had spent the last year buried in a new business, living off questionable food choices and convincing ourselves that “we’ll start again next week” was a perfectly acceptable training strategy… into people capable of dragging themselves 50 miles through the Lake District.
Simple.
Well, not quite.
After the shock of realising just how little time we had left, the first instinct was to do what I imagine many people would do.
Panic.
Run every day. Walk every hill we could find. Spend every spare second trying to make up for the months we had lost.
But there was one very obvious problem with that plan.
We’d already tried ignoring what our bodies were telling us once before. It’s the whole reason the first four months of training disappeared in the first place.
So this time, we needed to be smarter.
Before we wrote a single training session, we sat down and asked ourselves one simple question:
Where are we now?
Not where we wanted to be. Not where we thought we should be. But where we actually were. And that’s the bit a lot of people struggle with: being honest.
Not brutally tearing yourself apart and writing a list of everything you’re terrible at. Just taking ten minutes with a pen and paper and asking:
What am I actually good at? And what is currently holding me back?
I think this is probably where a lot of people go wrong when they decide to start exercising again. Whether it’s running a 50-mile race, returning to the gym, losing a bit of weight or simply trying to walk without getting out of breath, we often look at the finish line before we’ve worked out where the start line actually is.
It’s a little like putting your postcode into a sat-nav but forgetting to tell it where you’re starting from.
You’re going to struggle to get anywhere.
So, we created our own little self-assessment. Nothing too complicated. No expensive tests. No fancy equipment. Just something anyone could do, whenever they wanted to do it.
We started with two simple headings: STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES. Under each, we wrote our five biggest strengths and weaknesses. What we were left with, staring back up at us, was the basis for what was to come next.
The funny thing is, once you've made that list, the temptation is to immediately work on your strengths. Those things you don’t really mind or even enjoy. The things you're already good at.
Why? Because they're easy.
But real progress comes from addressing the things you've been avoiding.
The beauty of putting pen to paper means you have something physical to help you on your way. And these strengths and weaknesses don't have to all be physical conditioning attributes - the majority of my weaknesses list consisted mainly of my diet and lifestyle (alongside my right hip of course, shining brightly at the top, waving at me).
For us, it was just an honest look at the areas we knew would matter most.
From there, the next load of questions started to pour themselves into our brains:
Could we comfortably spend hours on our feet?
Did our strength have the foundations to support the amount of walking and running we were about to throw at ourselves?
How was our mobility?
How was our recovery?
How were we sleeping?
And perhaps the most difficult question of all…
Were we actually fuelling ourselves properly? (That one hurt almost as much as the Lakeland 50 probably will.)
Once we had our answers, the programme almost wrote itself.
We didn’t need to become elite runners overnight. That ship had already sailed, probably around the same time we decided a Friday night takeaway was a suitable substitute for meal preparation.
What we needed to do was fix the weak links:
More time on our feet.
More strength work.
More recovery.
Better nutrition.
More consistency.
Because the truth is, the body is incredibly adaptable when you give it the right opportunity. But it also needs time, patience and the right amount of challenge.
Too much too soon, and you risk ending up back at square one.
Trust me, I’ve already tested that theory.
So, the six-week all-in block was born.
Every week had a purpose.
Long walks to prepare our legs for endless hours on the fells.
Runs to build confidence and cardiovascular fitness.
Strength sessions to make sure the muscles could cope with the demands we were placing on them.
Recovery sessions to allow everything to actually adapt.
And yes, an attempt at making choices that didn’t involve a delivery driver knowing our address by heart.
The funny thing is, most people reading this aren’t training for a 50-mile race. In fact, most people probably think we’re completely mad for doing it. And to be honest, that’s probably a fair assessment.
But the process is exactly the same.
Your “Lakeland 50” might be getting back into the gym after years away.
It might be being able to walk the dog without your knees hurting.
It might be feeling confident enough to join a fitness class.
It might simply be having the energy to keep up with your children or grandchildren.
The goal changes, but the process doesn’t.
Be honest about where you are. Find your weak links and build from there. Don’t compare your
chapter one to somebody else’s chapter twenty. Everyone is at a completely different stage,
don't get disheartened by what you see elsewhere. They'll always be someone further along than you, but stick to your path and you'll reach that goal.
And that is exactly what we’re trying to do.
The six-week course was never about becoming perfect athletes. It was about giving ourselves the best possible chance of standing on that start line and being able to say:
“We did everything we could.”
Whether that’s enough to get us over the finish line…
Well, I guess we’re about to find out.
Your Finding Balance Challenge
Take ten minutes this week.
Grab a pen and a piece of paper.
Write two words at the top: STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES
Be honest.
Not harsh, but honest.
Find one thing you can improve this week and go for it. Because your own Lakeland 50 starts with the first step
For a ready-made print off with steps to follow to help determine the route to achieving your goals – please follow the link below:
Click the link below for your own start-up sheet.
Follow the Journey
Whether it’s training for an ultra-marathon, returning to the gym after years away or simply trying to feel like yourself again, finding balance with your health is something we’re all working on.
We’ll continue sharing the highs, lows and inevitable disasters of our Lakeland 50 journey over the coming weeks.
And if you’re someone who’s been putting off getting back into exercise, struggling with an injury or simply not sure where to start, drop us a message or pop into the clinic for a chat.
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