Triathlon

Another challenge down. The one that started it all off. Official time of 1 hr 18 mins 45 secs. The day didn't start well as I had a poor night's sleep and was up @ 0400. But no excuses, the objective was to compete and I did, because I turned up & I finished. Swim leg was poor, but time shows I was about my target time of 15 mins. But I felt it was poor just had one of those days. After the swim I just wanted to finish the thing! Spent far to long in the tranisition and could easily have knocked 5 mins off my time but hey I did what I did. Bike leg wasn't to bad but the head wind on the way back was a tad rough, but it was the same for everyone. Run was OK until it started to rain, but that stopped after about 5 minutes. All in all I had a good time and achieved what I set out to do, finish a triathlon. So happy days and another challenge done. Next big one? Itex Walk on 5th June (40 mile walk around the coast of Guernsey), looking forward to it :-) Thanks for stopping by

Happy Easter

So Easter is here, the weather is getting warmer, the nights aree getting longer so more time for training :-) Knee is a whole lot better and managed 20 mins running out on the road yesterday morning. Tri is now only 25 days away so training is starting to get quite hard but looking forward to attempting the Tri. Climbing is going great and thinking about starting a seperate blog, after an amazing adventure last weekend.

Not much else to say, thanks for stopping by.

New Challenges

A couple of new challenges have been suggested and added to the list.
1) Catch, prepare & BBQ a 5lb Sea Bass.
2) Climb an E1 before the end of the season.
If you want to see more information on climbing grades goto http://www.ukclimbing.com/databases/crags/comptable.html.

My first outdoor climb was HS, so need to up by 3 grades.

Donations for Cancer Research have reach £215, thanks to everyone who has donated.

Triathlon is 4 weeks tomorrow

Update

I know I haven't updated for a while, but believe me life is going a little crazy at the moment. So where to start, well a couple of weeks ago I had to start looking for a new house as the landlord decided they were coming back from Oz sooner than they had planned. So frantic times as we looked for a new place. Viewed, offered and accepted on a house within 4 days, I think even on the rock that must be some sort of record!

Another great session with Ann over at Bowditch Fit and a nice routine leading up to the Tri, before I take a nice 2 weeks off and do nothing but swim, cycle, kayak, weights, cliff walks and climbing (I hate running).

Tri training is going well, with a slight setback, but onto that in a while. I managed to get the times from last years tri and was pleasantly surprised as my "target" times I had set myself would see me finish a respectful mid pack, just the boost I needed. Then the setback :-(, managed to jar my knee whilst out running and I am currently wearing a knee brace and walking with the aid of a stick. Nothing serious just playing it uber safe. Went to the Doctor, and manged to get a physio appointment at the same time. Basically 48 - 72 hours of "nothing to strenuous" until the inflammation goes down. So for the next 2 days I'm limited to swimming (not a bad thing), but no cycling, climbing, running, kayaking or cliff walking.

However after the setback I had another boost, when someone who, to be 100% honest, is a complete stranger to me, heard about what I was doing and donated £40 to the challenge coffers right out of the blue. THANK YOU

Probably a couple more updates prior to the tri (25/04) but until then, thanks for stopping by.

With sadness and regret

Well after downloading the suggested training plan from the Guernsey Tri club, I've spent a lot of time thinking about where I am, and what I need to do, and I've had to make a very hard and difficult choice, it is therefore with much sadness and regret that I must apologise to everyone who is supporting the 40 / 40 challenge and inform you that I have made the difficult decision to abandon the suggested plan and do it my own way! Oh come on, you honestly didn't think I'd dump this? This is the one which spawned the 40 / 40 and this (and the castle swim) are probably the only one's I'm taking seriously everything else is fun. I am following the plan to a degree but modified in such a way so that I can train for the Triathlon, continue the strength work, carry on climbing and fit in Kayak pool training as well. Shall we just say the next 8 weeks are going to be "tri"-ing (did you see what I did there, did you, did you?).

Quick update

Although the Mud run left me with a stinking cold, the good news is........the total for Cancer Research currently sits at £155. Thanks to everyone who has donated.

I also downloaded the "suggested" training schedule for the Triathlon for the Guernsey Tri Club and putting it bluntly I'm screwed!! Oh well the challenge must go on.

Mud 'n' Fun Run

Well yesterday (13th) was the day of the Mud 'n' Fun run. So off I trotted at 1330 upto the start, not knowing what to expect. When I got there I was amazed, so many people had turned up to run (the highest number I saw was 523), many in fancy dress, there were at least 2 "wedding" parties there, complete with wedding dress and suits. Anyway, whilst waiting for the start it started to snow, but only for a few moments but enough to start thinking why am I doing this? :-)
1400 the hooter was set off and away we went. 1st obstacle nothing special, just a jump down and over a small stream. Looking back it was quite funny as nearly everyone was trying not to get wet! Over the stream across the field then bang.. a nice 2 minute stroll through another stream, not to bad the water was only ankle deep! Across a road, through a few more fields (each getting progressively deeper with mud), then the next thing I can remember is the "reed beds", started off OK the water / mud / cow field run off was about mid calf-on me, until we hit the bend. Bearing in mind I'm 6'4" the water / mud / cow field run off was just below my waist and we had this for about 5 minutes! After that things just got worse! More fields, hill climbs, mud, water it was relentless just has you got warm again after leaving one stream or pond, you hit another. Cargo nets over to Ivy Castle, mud tunnels to crawl through, then the "deep" one. The water over to the wall of Ivy Castle, remember I'm 6'4" tall the water was freezing cold and well over my waist, I did see some people who could hardly stand up in it! Out of the water and scramble up the side of the castle, then onto the "swamp trek" again knee deep water / mud, but having to climb over tree stumps, duck under branches, round bends, the floor was uneven and a couple of deep holes to catch you out.
After the "swamp trek" across open fields again, then I heard the sweetest thing I'd heard for the past hour, "You're heading back now, only anothe mile left" but that last mile included another couple of streams to wade through and then back onto the rugby club fields. Under the cargo net, then a mud crawl. As I was under the fence on the mud crawl I heard someone say "You need to connect the red one to make it live", I laughed thinking there were just messing around, until I saw the batteries and realised it WAS an electric fence!! Once through the mud crawl, across the tyre run, then into the last 2 water hazards, a couple of skips!! But a great place for a "Kodak" moment. All in all I had a great time and did enjoy myself. Would I do it again? Hell yes, bring on 2011!!