What a slacker!!

I can't believe that it has been sooooo long since my last post - over 2 months in fact!  A lot has happened since the last post.  I have been down to Nice, France, and back and completed Ironman France in a decent time of 11hrs 46mins.  I have also pushed the boat out in fundraising efforts and have gone past the magic £1,000 mark.  A really big thank you to all those friends, family and local community members for your generous support.

Now I am preparing for the big one at the weekend.  My recovery since IM France has been good and I feel in great shape.  I am also feeling on top of my game since enjoying the feats of the those guys on the Tour de France and witnessing a great comeback by my personal hero, Lance Armstrong.  I know I can achieve my goal of completing this Double Iron UK triathlon and just want to get on with it now!

The next BIG idea!

Fresh from the success of our fundraising efforts in Andover High Street, I had the wizard idea to do something similar very soon.  Not content with sitting on a bike going nowhere for 5 hours last time, I have decided to go for the full Double Iron UK distance of 224 miles.  Again, travelling nowhere fast!

The plan is to set up the charity stand and bike outside of the Tesco superstore here in Andover on Thursday 21st May.  I will start pedalling at 9 o'clock in the morning and finish sometime around 11 o'clock at night.  My plan is to take on the distance in 4 hour chunks with a 5 - 10 minute break in between for rest stops.  This is a realistic plan as I will be doing likewise on the actual day.

Hopefully, the generosity of the Andover community will be present once again and this time we hope to raise around £700 in one day.  Thats approximately £1 per minute!

What a great day!

This morning, Paula (Transform Charity Co-ord) and I set up a charity pitch at the Andover Gardeners Market on the High Street.  The plan was to raise awareness of my fundraising efforts and kick start the goal of reaching the target of raising £1,000 for Testway Transform.

At 10am I set about beginning a training ride on a static bike trainer to grab peoples attention and provide me with an opportunity to get some training in.  The intention was to do about 3 hours of pedalling, but in the end it went on for 5 hours covering a distance of 85 miles!  All the while the generous people of Andover kept filling our buckets with loose change and the odd paper note.  The sun was shining all day so plenty of people were out and about soaking up the beautiful weather.

As a result of our efforts we managed to raise £275.25 over the 5 hours.  A terrific effort and one which has definitely got the fundraising off to a flying start.

Charity pitch in Andover - Sunday 10th May

Just to let you know that I will be in Andover High Street on Sunday 10th May to publicise my fundraising efforts for Testway Transform.  I will be on a static bike trainer pedalling for hours without going anywhere!

It would be nice to see you there to lend your support...

My biggest swim ever!

The other evening I set the goal of swimming for 1.5 hours in the local Andover Leisure Centre pool.  Basically I said to myself that I would be the first in the pool and keep on swimming until kicking out time.  Well I am happy to report that I did just that and kept of swimming for the full 90 minute session.  The aquatic equivalent of Forrest Gump!

The whole session was not as boring or hard as I thought it might be.  In fact the hardest part of it was the last 15 minutes of the session.  Not because I was getting tired, but because this was the first time that I checked my progress by the clock.  I had forgotten to wear a watch for the swim so thought no problem, I'll just check my timing on the pool clock. I then thought to myself, why don't I ignore the clock and just concentrate on each stroke or my thoughts at the time.  This I did for the next 75 minutes.

Now, here's a strange thing, the moment I checked in with the clock at 75 minutes my swim felt very hard and tiring.  Nothing had changed apart from my awareness of time.  So a valuable lesson was learned - ignore time and stay in the NOW.  The NOW is the only thing that we have control over and can do anything about.  I am now convinced that goals, be they athletic, personal or business only seem big or scary when viewed through the filter of time.  

For example, say you want a mid-life career change and decide you want to become a Doctor.  I would bet that the greatest barrier to stop someone is not the cost, intellectual demands or the method of training.  I would suggest that the biggest obstacle is time and the time it will take to train.  You see most of us fall in love with the end result - the money, the trappings or the status.  But so many of us are put off attaining those things by the process and time involved in getting them; not ignoring the effort involved either.  But if you did want to become that Doctor in 6-8 years time, then NOW is the time to start out on that journey.  You're going to get to 6-8 years time anyway, so why waste the opportunity!  The same can be said for an Ironman or Double Ironman - focus on what you can do now in working towards that goal.

I just need to remember this when the going gets tough and all I want is to finish.  I'll let you know what I learn when that NOW comes!

Training is getting BIGGER..!

After a very pleasant Bank Holiday weekend spent resting and enjoying family life, it was time to get back in the saddle, quite literally and push my training on towards the immediate goal of Ironman France in late June.  Taking three days rest was perhaps the hardest thing to do, as ironic as that sounds.  Quite often, with the scale of training required for an Ironman, let alone a Double Ironman, an athlete can get so involved and dependent on their training that they take it too far and over-train.  Taking time off is the hardest, yet most sensible thing you can do to ensure you stay healthy and the best shape.

So fresh from my weekend I went out for a 3 hour bike ride which turned into 4 hours because I was feeling so good.  It would have been 5 hours had I had any drink or food left with me!

In so far as the rest of my training goals left to achieve before France, I have decided that I want to do at least two 5 hour rides and one 6 hour ride; swim at least a couple of 2 hour swims and complete a 3 and 4 hour run before I start to wide it down for France and the Double Iron UK in August o:)

My charity page link

I have now set up a fundraising page which you can donate online if you wish.  I am hoping to raise at least £1,000 for a local Andover charity called Testway Transform.  There is a link to the charity over to the right of this blog page.

To help me raise this money and reach my target of £1,000 please click here