Lands End to John O'Groats

LEJOG as it is often referred to, involves traversing the length of mainland Great Britain from Lands End, the southern most point in Cornwall, to John O'Groats, the northern most point in Scotland.  The challenge can and is often done in reverse, travelling from north to south and is then known as JOGLE.  It is a journey of at least 833.3 miles at its shortest, according to multi-map, and takes an estimated driving time of 16hrs and 36mins to complete using the quickest possible route.  It has been completed using various modes of transport, from bicycles to skateboards, including public transport but by far the most challenging way to complete the journey has to be on foot.  Although walking it is tough, attempting to run it with an average running speed of 6.5mph is a different story but Robert Hall-McNair did exactly that...

Can you help me, I am planning on running 900 miles in 17.5 days?

In the summer of 2008 we were contacted by Robert Hall-McNair who was in the final stages of his preparation to run the 900-mile route (LEJOG) and had planned to compete the distance in just over 17 days.  On meeting Robert we established quite quickly that he was no ordinary 'fun runner', after all how many of us mere mortals can claim a marathon time of 2hrs 40mins?  Robert explained his predicament, that he had been in training for the last 12months and was running on average 140-150 miles per week but unfortunately and almost at the last minute the person who had offered to help provide guidance on his nutrition plans had to pull out.  Robert therefore needed a plan to survive and complete his ambition of running LEJOG.  We immediately offered to sponsor Robert, it was at this point he revealed we only had 3 weeks to get everything sorted, tried, tested and finalised before he was due to start!  No problem we thought - we always like a challenge!

Some of the issues with preparing a nutritional strategy

We had to calculate Robert's daily estimated energy demands and then design a menu plan to provide the 7500 calories required per day to fuel this 'fun run'.  As part of the nutritional strategy we had to consider the physical demands of the run and how to include an eating and drinking strategy whilst 'on the run', a refuelling plan to follow at the official breaks and a monitoring programme to recognise changes in energy demands and manage hydration levels on a day-to-day basis.  We also had to formulate the nutritional strategy taking into consideration that Robert was a vegetarian and wanted the most 'wholesome' approach possible with a limited input from 'chemically laden food items'.   As such we provided a nutritionally balanced and energy dense menu plan and feeding strategy that provided adequate energy and the optimum nutrients for health, recovery and performance, whilst also maintaining his body mass and composition throughout his challenge.

What an achievement!

As a result of the nutritional strategy we planned and ensured was implemented for Robert he managed to complete the 900-mile run in just over 17 days and achieved an average running speed of 6.5mph.  His body mass changed very little during the challenge which is a remarkable achievement in itself as often runners experience a drop in their body mass of approximately 4 or 5kg as a result of the increased energy expenditure and reduced energy intake.  A comment that demonstrated how well Robert coped with this challenge was when his family said 'they cannot believe how well he looks, as normally after a single marathon he looks terrible'.  Robert also commented that he knew that the nutrition side of things made all the difference to his achievement and even said at the end of his journey in John O'Groats 'I could run another 50-miles tomorrow!'