Am I nervous? Yes. Am I excited? Yes. I've been planning this Kilimanjaro/one challenge every month in my head for a while now and it's taken me months and months to commit to it. Once I signed up for the Three Peaks Challenge I decided that that would be my starting point. Now it's only two weeks until that first challenge and I'm starting to feel the pressure.
Although I know I am fitter than when I first started out because I can run for longer, lift heavier weights and walk up the stairs without getting out of breath (well some of them anyway!), in all honesty I don't feel as prepared as I would like to be. But then again, will I ever be? Who knows!
So in two weeks' time I will be setting out on the Three Peaks Challenge, climbing the highest mountains in the UK in 24 hours and I'm getting nervous. I'm not nervous that I won't be able to do it as I know that the team spirit and the thought of the children in Ghana will keep me going, I'm nervous that I'm going to find it really really tough and that that feeling will knock my confidence in being able to do the other challenges. I'm not the kind of person to give up but those that know me, know that I'm my own biggest critic and if I struggle with the first challenge I will seriously doubt my ability to complete the others.
What this means is that or the next two weeks I am going to be really focused on my training and put 110% into my physical training and also try and get the diet as strict as possible, at least until Three Peaks is over. Whilst I know that this first challenge is never going to be easy, I'm going to do all I can to train for it.
The scariest part of all of this is that once the first challenge is over, I know I will only have a few weeks to train for the next one and after the second, I'll have a few weeks to train for the third and before I know it I'll be half way up Kili!!
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Training - Part One
From Monday through to Wednesday this week walking was proving very difficult. Standing up from a sitting position was agony all week (which was interesting as I have been working at a client's office for most of this week! Great impression Danielle)
The reason behind the pain? I've drawn up an excellent new workout routine.....and by excellent I clearly mean stupid! Plus, rather than easing myself into the new routine, I've gone all out exercise obsessed freak.
This all started last Saturday when, feeling slightly fed up at home (Sean was at work) I decided I would pass some time at the gym. A 5km cycle, 10km run and 2.5km row later I decided I could, and would, step up my workout routine every day.
Sunday was stair training. For those of you who know Manchester, you will know that the city centre is flat. For those of you know the Three Peaks Challenge (and those of you don't as it's all in the title), you will know that hill training is required. Clearly the challenge and my location aren't compatible tin terms of the training required so I had to think outside of the box. Luckily I live on the 16th floor of a 23 floor building so there's plenty of stairs to tackle. With the help of Sean, who stood on our floor shouting at me (and, when I got tired, chased me) I managed to run up and down 6 flights of stairs 8 times in 20 minutes. Although tiring, the stairs were fine.......until Monday morning when it felt as though someone had removed about 2 inches of muscle from my calves and sewn them back together again.
Insanely tight calf muscles aside, I decided to push through and continue on my new routine for the rest of the week. Each day of the week consists of two gym sessions - a weights session before work and a CV session after work. This was working out well until Saturday when I decided I would try the 5km cycle, 10km run and 2.5km row again. Needless to say after a week of double gym sessions and long hours at work I didn't have the energy to complete everything.
So, after a very successful week of training, the weekend failure has left me feeling slightly deflated. On the plus side, I'm another half a stone lighter! With the Three Peaks Challenge only 3 weeks away, I'm hoping to follow the new routine until at least then before I give up completely and create a new routine but I'll let you know how it goes.
P.S. Don't forget to sponsor me on my Charitygiving site and give me some more motivation to run up those stairs
The reason behind the pain? I've drawn up an excellent new workout routine.....and by excellent I clearly mean stupid! Plus, rather than easing myself into the new routine, I've gone all out exercise obsessed freak.
This all started last Saturday when, feeling slightly fed up at home (Sean was at work) I decided I would pass some time at the gym. A 5km cycle, 10km run and 2.5km row later I decided I could, and would, step up my workout routine every day.
Sunday was stair training. For those of you who know Manchester, you will know that the city centre is flat. For those of you know the Three Peaks Challenge (and those of you don't as it's all in the title), you will know that hill training is required. Clearly the challenge and my location aren't compatible tin terms of the training required so I had to think outside of the box. Luckily I live on the 16th floor of a 23 floor building so there's plenty of stairs to tackle. With the help of Sean, who stood on our floor shouting at me (and, when I got tired, chased me) I managed to run up and down 6 flights of stairs 8 times in 20 minutes. Although tiring, the stairs were fine.......until Monday morning when it felt as though someone had removed about 2 inches of muscle from my calves and sewn them back together again.
Insanely tight calf muscles aside, I decided to push through and continue on my new routine for the rest of the week. Each day of the week consists of two gym sessions - a weights session before work and a CV session after work. This was working out well until Saturday when I decided I would try the 5km cycle, 10km run and 2.5km row again. Needless to say after a week of double gym sessions and long hours at work I didn't have the energy to complete everything.
So, after a very successful week of training, the weekend failure has left me feeling slightly deflated. On the plus side, I'm another half a stone lighter! With the Three Peaks Challenge only 3 weeks away, I'm hoping to follow the new routine until at least then before I give up completely and create a new routine but I'll let you know how it goes.
P.S. Don't forget to sponsor me on my Charitygiving site and give me some more motivation to run up those stairs
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Payday
Yesterday was payday. That meant three things: 1. Drinks after work, 2. Sponsoring the amazing guys on their Arctic2Africa trip and 3. Signing up for some events over the next 15 months.
Feeling slightly worse for wear, I've spent this morning trawling the internet looking for inspiration. I've started off by picking a few running events as this is what I'm most comfortable with.
A good friend who I met in Ghana, Cat, had mentioned signing up to the Hadleigh Castle 10k run and what better way to start off my 15 months of challenges than with a friend! So that's July (Three Peaks Challenge), August (Hadleigh Castle 10k) and October (Great Birmingham Run) sorted.
Thinking ahead to January next year and the inevitable lack of money, I've decided to detox as one of the challenges I am setting myself. For the whole of January I will be giving up alcohol and caffeine - so while not as physical as the other challenges, still not an easy task as I'm sure most of you will agree.
I'm still looking for more challenges so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. For now, I guess I'd better get back into the gym and cut down on the food and drink!
Please don't forget that all of this work is to raise money for The Raising Hope Foundation and you can sponsor me at any point between now and next October when we climb Kilimanjaro by using this link.
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