How Hard Can it Be?: London 2012 #ourgreatestteam & August training update

Thursday 23 August 2012

London 2012 #ourgreatestteam & August training update

Wow! What a month! After all the anxiety as to how the hosting of the London 2012 Olympics might go, and all the nay sayers casting doom and gloom... What an event! THE greatest show on Earth!

We were very fortunate to get down for the weekend of 'Super Saturday', catching the rowing at Eaton Dorney on the Friday and seeing Katherine Granger and Anna Watkins win gold in the rowing which was magnificent... The noise and the atmosphere unforgettable!

We were also fortunate to catch the Ladies Triathlon on the Saturday morning... A stunning performance by the much maligned but outstanding performance of Lucy Hall who lead throughout the swm and bike acting as 'domestique' for Kathrine Jenkins who just missed out on a medal with a stunning fourth place position. Next up for us was Katherine Driscoll on the Gymnastics trampoline. Jaw dropping skills! and then after an evening watching Jess Ennis and Mo Farah win Gold via the big screens in the awesome atmosphere of the BT London Live event at Hyde Park we finished up in London with the Ladies Marathon... What a weekend! Proud to be British!!!

The Olympic BBC TV coverage, events, Games Makers, organisation and general feel in London were amazing and we were so pleased to be a part of this once in a lifetime experience!!!

All this lead to a lull in the training during the early part of August but it picked up during a family break in Abersoch for a week to enable me to get plenty of miles in on the bike, now equipped with my new Planet X Carbon clincher wheels! :o)

My RNLI coast to coast cycle ride fundraising presently stands at £1,058 which is amazing given that corporate dress down days, raffles, cake bakes, etc. are still to come! Thanks all for all your support particularly Perfection Beauty Brands, Studio (EGL), Davies Sports (Findel Education), Kitbag and Involve (a Blue Ducks thing!) for each pledging a £100 to include their logo's on my sponsored cycle shirt... Very much appreciated all!

August training update (prior to the Big Bike Ride) was as follows...

~ 09/08/12 - 1500m swim at Uswim Boundary Water Park in
34mins 37secs

~ 12/08/12 - Pwlhelli, Cricieth and Abersock 37 mile bike ride loop

averaging 16.8mph in 2hours 18mins

~ 13/08/12 - Pwllheli Triathlon Bike course, 13.5 miles in 45mins

53secs averaging 17.6mph

~ 14/08/12 - Pwllheli Triathlon Bike course, 13.5 miles in 48mins 19secs averaging 16.3mph

~ 15/08/12 - Gale force winds blowing in Abersoch so 35mins weight training and 25mins 'spin class'
at the Warren Gym

~ 16/08/12 - Bike ride from Pwllheli to Abersoch (to pick the car up after a great night out with the
Fox's!) in 34mins averaging 14mph

- 35 mins weight training and 25mins 'spin class' at the Warren Gym
~ 17/08/12 - 35 mins weight training, 25 mins 'spin class' and a 1 mile treadmill run at the Warren Gym.
~ 20/08/12 - 22mile bike ride from Sandbach to the top of Mow Cop, returning in the dark in 1hour 47mins
~ 24/08/12 - 5mile cycle to Crewe train station to kick off our Way of the roses cycle ride!

The RNLI have also done a press release about my ride here which will hopefully promote a few more donations? ~ http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/Fundraiser-from-Cheshire-set-to-cycle-170-miles-for-RNLI.aspx

So far it has been used here ~ http://www.llyn.info/news/ and here ~ http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/local-crewe-news/2012/08/22/sandbach-cyclist-plans-fundraising-ride-for-lifeboat-crew-that-saved-his-life-96135-31669140/

Thanks again for the continued support all!

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Why am I doing this?!

I got drawn in to running in 2007 to raise funds for charity and discovered it's a great way to keep in shape! I expanded the fundraising to open water swimming in 2010 and loved that too which lead to taking up cycling and Triathlon's in 2011!

I've kept a training blog for the past three years and found it a huge motivator to get out and do something to report on so here I am again! I'll be keeping a record here of all my training and event ups and downs as well as a few deviations on my hobbies. I'm planning a few events this year for my own benefit and a couple of major events to raise funds again for two charities that mean a lot to me:

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution ~ http://www.rnli.org/

In September 2007 I had an accident whilst sailing my Laser Pico dinghy out at sea off Abersoch, North Wales. The Abersoch crew came to my aid and I'll be eternally grateful ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk6edftmHtg

I spend a lot of time out at sea with family and friends and it made me realise just how dependent we are on this life saving volunteer emergency service funded entirely by charity.

I ran the Great North Run Half Marathon to raise funds for the Abersoch RNLI station in 2008 & 2009. In 2010 I taught myself front crawl and swam a mile in open water at The Great Salford Swim and in 2011 rolled it all up taking on the Tatton Triathlon Olympic Distance.

This year I'm going to extend the cycling by riding Coast to Coast from Morcambe to Bridlington along the 'Way of the Roses' route ~ http://www.wayoftheroses.co.uk/. It's a 170mile ride over 3 days from 24th to the 26th August...

How hard can it be ;-)

The Isaiah Trust ~ http://www.isaiahtrust.org/

A registered charity started in 2001 by two good friends with big hearts, Nicky and Tim. The charity helps kids in Kenya orphaned by aids and surviving on their own on the streets in some of the most apalling conditions imaginable. The lives that these kids endured prior to the charity beggars’ belief and as a parent myself brings tears to my eyes... But the Trust has and continues to do some amazing things for these kids... Providing outreach and rehabilitation centres to give safe havens and remedial education, setting up orphanages and foster parent programmes. Helping children get back in to the state educaion system and providing 'resource centres' for older child who have missed too much schooling to teach them a skill or trade to earn a living. The Trust is now working hard setting up farms to establish sustainable food programs as well as teaching children farming skills. The trust has helped change the lives of so many kids but there are so many more yet to help...

After a four years of running the Great Manchester 10km Run, to raise awareness and funds for the trust last year I ran the Edinburgh Marathon which was awesome! This year I've signed up for the Liverpool Triathlon Olympic Disatance event (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) where I'll be looking to get under that elusive 3 hour target! Watch this space!...