Here we Go Again

For some strange reason I find myself once again agreeing to these challenges, 2 years ago it was the 3 peaks challenge in 24 hours, which we achieved in a credible 19 hours flat, however this time its got a little mad. I was planning on doing 1 challenge this year which was Kilimanjaro, I had kept putting it off and off, but then dad died out of the blue from a heart attack, and at that point Rachel and I agreed we would not keep putting things off, and she gave me her blessing.

3 tough challenges for 3 top charities by 3tc software.

Sounds great, what a gimmick brilliant marketing collateral, there's a flaw.

Summit Mont Blanc, Summit Kilimanjaro and Run the New York marathon in under 5 hours, all over a period of 99 days, didn't Barack Obama get 100 days to prove his metal?

Interesting yes, but guess what Marketing aren't doing any of the challenges, no surprise there then.

So how on Earth do you train for this, well first thing is you need to rope other people in, it makes you feel less bad about how hard this is going to be, so the first recruit was Simon Clough my Chief Technology Officer, he's doing all three with me. We also managed to convince Simon's wife April to do the marathon, and I roped in my good friend Russ Kew to climb Kilimanjaro with us, so phsycologically the pain has already been shared.

Training problems that I never really thought of, I need to fit all my training in, whilst continuing to run the business, along with maintaining my family time, with Rachel, Ethan and Kian, this is a difficult feat on its own.

So training, Simon and I worked out we needed endurance for all 3 events, and we felt a combination of long distance walking, biking, and running were probably the best methods of training. I have one slight problem, I have been in some considerable pain with my back since I returned from Australia in September, having consulting the doctors, they referred me to the physio, who gave me a couple of sessions and some stretching excercises that relieved the pain, but nothing concrete diagnosed, so a bit of a dilemma, I don't like Doctors or hospitals or anything like that, I always consulted my father, but he was no longer around following his death in 2009. In the end I decided to go to a chiropractor, scepticle as I was I found the first consultation enlightening, Edward diagnosed my problem Chronic Sacroiliac Joint Sprain on the left side, it was bloody painful thats what it was, apparently this meant that my left leg was shorter than my right slightly which when I ran aggrevated the muslcles as they were unalligned, 10 sessions of treatment duly followed, I was sore as hell after each treatment, but my back felt stronger each time.

That in mind the torture begins, I felt I had kept in reasonable shape since the 3 peaks, however it didn't feel that way on my first 4 mile run, the first 2 miles were extremely painful, and I remember getting back to the house with sweat pouring off me just wanting to die, Rachel looked at me and laughed, followed by "if this is what 4 miles does imagine what 26 will do", my sole of inspiration is always a good confidence booster.

Saturday 29th May

Disaster, football training on a saturday mornings with the Hinckley United U7's that I coach and manage is usually a fun affair, however 45 minutes into the session and my back goes, I leant back to stop a shot from one of the boys and bang, I fell to the ground feeling that I had a 12" knife thrust through the base of my spine, for the rest of the weekend I lay either in bed or on the sofa. Double whammy was that it was bank holiday weekend, so the earliest I could get into the Chiropractors was Wednesday, just when you feel your making progress this happens.















Anyway in the last 3 months I have covered a total fo 211 miles running, 120 miles cycling and around 44 miles walking, does any of it get any easier it doesn't seem to but you keep going in the belief that your body is getting fitter. The attached picture is proof to the contrary, I had just completed a 7.5 mile run on Thursday 8th July.


Saturday 10th July

I arrange a trip to snowden for Russ and I, we are joined by our good friend Pete, why take Russ well to date Russ has only done a couple of spinning classes a week, his main form of excercise is walking between public houses, which he does rather well. I convince Russ that he needs to experience climbing a mountain before he gets to Kilimanjaro, were expecting good weather as we have enjoyed the sun for the last 4 weeks, how wrong could we be, I am however undetered as I have everything Simon's and my visits to Cotswold Outdoors has ensured we have the best kit money can buy, so a great time to test them, especially the Scarpa Manta's which were a last minute switch from the Vega's. We wake at 5.30am but its pissing it down, so we decide that we will have a couple more hours enjoy breakfast and it will have baited, 7.30am its still pissing it down, but breakfast was good feel ready to go, full waterproofs etc, I meet Russ and Pete in reception, Russ is wearing combat shorts and a waterproof, Pete is pretty much in the same get up, hard to guess which one of us looked most ridiculous, them in shorts me in full mountain weatherproofs. Its about 8.30am by the time we get to the base of snowden, its now raining horizontally and blowing a 30 mph breeze, the first mile was like walking up a stream as the water poured off the mountain, however I was warm, the Mantas were feeling good and I was dry, I looked at Pete and Russ, they were soacked to the bone, we took shelter in the half way cafe, Russ asked for a poncho but they had sold out. Visibility had now reduced to around 10 - 15 feet and the wind had raised to 40mph, I kept telling Russ this was good training for Kilimanjaro, as its unlikely we would experience these conditions, by the time we had reached the top, I had decided that visibility was to bad to head back down the Pyg Track, and anyway it was unfare on Russ and Pete to take them down and then bring them back up again, we had time for a few Jelly Babies a bag of crisps before we headed back down the wind had risen again to around 50mph, you know its bad on snowden when the train doesn't run even to half way. All in all though a good weekend, we agreed that we would schedule in the yorkshire 3 peaks following my return from Mont Blanc. It felt good to be back on a mountain.


Thursday 15th July

I needed to go back to Cotswold Outdoors to sort a few kit issues out, whilst on Snowden my gloves fell apart, and the boots were giving me shin splints, we took Russ along with us also so he could get some advice on boots for Kilimanjaro. Gloves replaced, boots fixed with Neoprene inserts, rucksack replaced, sorted? No not quite, Down Jacket, Underwear, food replacement gels etc etc, once again relieved of a significant amount of cash.


Friday 18th July

My body has shut down, literally, I can't get out of bed, I am full of cold and I ache all over, so cancelled my meeting in Derby and lay in bed watching the golf, again another blow for my training. We're supposed to be going on holiday to Cornwall tomorrow, hope I feel better in the morning.


Saturday 19th July

We get up early and I manage to make the gruelling 5 hour trip to Cornwall, we arrive at 11am, all the boys want to do is go to the beach, I just want to go back to bed, but we cannot get into the cottage until 4pm. We finally find a beach and the boys are happy. Holidays are not good for training but I have been well disciplined to this stage so have my running gear as well as my swimming gear. The cottage has a pool, just in case the British weather is lets say British as usual, the boys will want to swim every day anyway so that will make it easier.


Monday 21st July

The weather is good everyone is having a good time, I have just been out on the sea kayaks for and hour and then decided to build a sandcastle for the boys and bang, their goes my back again, I really can't quite believe it, I am begining to think things are conspiring against me, less than 1 week to go and this ontop of my exhaustion from last week does not bode well.


This puts pay to any running for the next few days, so its swimming for me, and front crawl only as breast stroke is bad for my back, that brings another probplem as I cannot swim front crawl, however determination and the need to stay fit and I manage 70 lengths a day of the 10m pool.


Thursday 25th July

The back felt better so I felt I needed to run, could only manage 3.5 miles and it hurt alot.


Sunday 27th july

Again back feeling easier so I again go out, this time I manage 4.5 miles and it hurt but not as much as Thursday, but considering I was upto 12 miles a few weeks ago, its amazing how quickly fitness seems to go, or is that just phsycological?


Monday 28th July

Emergency Chirpractor appointment, god that hurt, but Edward confident things will be ok for Saturday, have scheduled in 1 more session on Friday morning.

So dilemma, how much training do I do this week?, have just looked at Simon's blog, god he's organised, my stuff mostly is still in the bags that I bought it in, apart from the waterproofs that were used on Snowden, I best try and pack the rucksack tonight.

The other thing I have noticed is that our training methods have been completely different, I hope we both have it right, slightly worried I have not encountered any cows during my traing to date, but I will let you know if I do.

Only 5 days to departure, its come round so fast, and I really hope I am ready.

Having another dilemma over do I buy a new camera, will our compact digital get suffcient enough quality photo's and do I buy another Ipod, so as not to upset the family who listen to ours all the time?