It has been a couple of weeks since I launched my Just Giving page for my “Ironman for Charity” campaign and things have been going really well. I’ve had my first couple of very generous sponsors and I will shortly have my Muscular Dystrophy Campaign running vests, so I will really look the part. Read on to find out what has been happening.
Since the launch I have completed my first two challenges and have plenty more to come. The first was the Plymouth Half Marathon, where I really surprised myself by knocking 9 minutes off of my PB to finish in 1 hour and 35 minutes. It was a great event and I will write a full review of it soon. I felt on top of the world while running it and I was amazed at just how comfortable I felt while doing 7 minute miles. Initially I thought that I would run out of steam, but I kept an eye on my heart rate and just ploughed on, even finding a spurt of power for the hill at the end. It was a great morning out and the support from the crowds was a real boost.
My second event was the Wiggle Dragon Ride, and you can find a full review here. I didn’t feel quite so good on this one. I couldn’t get my heart rate up and my pedalling cadence was a lot lower than I expected. On paper it shouldn’t have been much worse than the Etape Caledonia, but it felt a lot more hilly. The weather for the day was overcast, with the odd spot of light rain, but that was just about perfect for cycling. I kept pushing on, enjoying the views and the occasional chuckle with fellow riders, glancing occasionally at my Endurance Life wristband, “Never Give Up,” as I kept the pressure on the pedals during the final two 500m climbs. It was another great day out and I achieved a time of 5 hours and 10 minutes. Something to beat next year, that’s for sure.
Since my last update I also got out for my first proper outdoor sea swim. I chose somewhere that I knew well and swam from Wonwell Beach to Lifeguards Beach (Mothacombe) and back. This is about 1000m and was shallow enough to walk across. The experience was amazing though. It is very hard to conceive just how different it is to swimming in a pool without doing it. There is simply so much sensory input that, at first, it is overwhelming. I will be writing this up in full soon, so keep an eye out for the article. It will be an interesting read.
During this period we have also been moving house and are spending every spare minute decorating the new one. This hasn’t left much spare time for training, although this morning I decided to step things up a bit. I went to the pool for my usual 7am swim, when that was finished I walked home, got on the bike and went for a slightly hilly 11 mile ride, then I went for a very hilly 5.6 mile run. My own Bike Run Swim (not in that order!) sport triathlon, ish. If you want to know just what I did then you can see my training peaks log for the cycle here and the run here.
Finally: It looks like I may be about to start reviewing products for Wiggle and there will also be an article coming soon about my charity efforts in the Mensa Magazine. Fingers crossed that this will all work out. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime why not sponsor me for £1 every time that I complete a challenge? Donate here.
Coming soon:
- 19th June- Real Relay Midnight Run Carrbridge 14 miles (what better time and place to do a midnight run than northern Scotland in June?)
- 22nd June – Real Relay Dunfermline to Hopetoun House (across Forth Bridge
) 10 miles - 24th June – Dartmoor Classic Cycle Sportive. 65 miles
- 8th July – Plymouth Triathlon
