Long runs are overrated, right?

Camille Herron doesn't do long runs in training and she's pretty good at ultra running - can it work for me too?

The pier at Paignton, which I've run by a lot recently.

And so just like that - and a bit quicker than my disorganised mind (and schedule) was expecting - I’m into my two-week taper. In just under two weeks, I’ll be setting off on a crazy voyage into the unknown. Can I run for six days straight? Can I run 100km a day, and run over 600km (400 miles) in total? Will my body and mind be able to hold it together, and not break down?

I have no idea. I recently spoke to William Sichel, who has run the 3,100-mile race twice (though only managed to complete the distance once), and he said that when he was training for it, he would book himself into a youth hostel next to a small park for a long weekend, and then run laps around the park for 18 hours a day for three days.

And there I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for managing over 60 miles a week for the last three weeks (topping out at 71 miles last week). But compared to Sichel, I’m barely scratching the surface with my training. He would go into a six-day race like mine very sure of what his body could do. It wouldn’t seem like such a huge undertaking.

But that’s not to say I’ve messed this up. It’s quite possible that I decided to do, say, two 30-mile runs back to back. That’s something I might have done. But what if I’d done that and then injured myself? Or left myself so exhausted that I couldn’t train properly for the next week?