Vicki Weitz in training

Every day of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival will see performer Vicki Weitz run a marathon along the Royal Mile and the Human Performance Unit based at the University of Essex has been helping her prepare.

Vicki, who studied Drama and Literature at Essex, had no running experience when she started training in August last year for her Art Council supported challenge of completing 26 marathons in the 26 days of the world famous festival.

Human Performance Unit Manager Dave Parry said: “We’re doing a case study on her – so have been tracking her fitness in preparation, and during the event we’re monitoring her pace, heart rate, nutrition and hydration plus a range of cognitive measures relating to mood, emotion, perception of effort, and fatigue.”

As part of her preparations Vicki even completed a marathon up and down Boundary Road hill.

The Human Performance Unit is based in the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science at the Department of Biological Sciences and works with elite through to recreational athletes.  Sportsmen and women the Human Performance Unit team has worked with include Olympic divers, full time skiers, a Paralympic swimming gold medallist, professional squash players, elite boxers, professional football teams and numerous endurance athletes.

For more information go to: www.vickiweitz.co.uk/