How Hard Can it Be?: March 2012

Saturday, 31 March 2012

March Training Update

My birthday present arrived this month in the shape of my new Garmin forerunner 910xt GPS training watch with heart rate monitor (http://sites.garmin.com/forerunner910xt/?lang=en&country=GB#). Promises to be a great unit but had more than my fair share of trouble with it. Initial trouble getting the heart rate monitor to pair with the wrist device. Evan Cycles replaced it for another without quibble but that unit wouldn't pair with the computer to log an analyse the data. Garmin support when I got hold of them were very good and all now happily resolved! It's not yet made me any faster yet though and it must have cost a fortune!? Perhaps I need more stuff? :-)

As well as the training I did some collecting for the RNLI in Sandbach on the 17th March with South Cheshire branch of the RNLI. A rewarding morning meeting some very generous folk!

This month's training has been going well with some particularly nice cycle rides up Mow Cop in Cheshire and on Anglesey. Preparing for my first Triathlon of the season on the 1st April in the shape of their pool Sprint Triathlon. My training summary for the month is as follows...
3/03/12 ~ 4.3mile run around Pwllheli marina in 40mins 53secs.
4/03/12 ~ 13.5mile bike ride around the Pwllheli Traithlon bike route on my mountain bike.
               1hour 9 mins averaging 11.5mph
5/03/12 ~ 6 mile run across Winsford in Cheshire in 55 mins
6/03/12 ~ 1,600m pool swim training with Crewe Tigers Tri club
8/03/12 ~ 400m pool swim in 9mins 43Secs
10/03/12 ~ 37 mile bike ride around Cheshire taking in Malkins Bank, Haslington, Crewe, Church
                Minshull, Winsford, Middlewich, Holmes Chappel and Sandbach. 2 hours 34mins
                averaging 14.5mph
13/03/12 ~ 12.2 mile bike ride from Sandbach to Crewe and back averaging 15.6mph in 47mins
14/03/12 ~ 6 mile figure of eight run around Winsford in 54mins 37secs
15/03/12 ~ 2.4 mile run around Sandbach in 20mins 39secs
18/03/12 ~ 40mins weight training at the Living Well Gym in Northampton
20/03/12 ~ 1,000m Pool training with Crewe Tigers Tri club
21/03/12 ~ 7 mile run run looping Winsford in 1 hour 5 mins... Getting some good hill training in in
               Winsford!

   <- 24/03/12 ~ An 18mile cycle ride from Sandbach to the summit of Mow
                         Cop on the Cheshire / Staffordshire border and back taking in
                        the infamous 'Killer mile' climb from 108m above sea level to
                        310m :-)

25/03/12 ~ A lovely 30mile cycle ride over undulating coastal roads from
                         Holyhead in
                         Anglesey, around Holyhead
                        Mountain, Treaddur Bay, Valley to
                        Church Bay and back in 2 hours 5
                        minutes ->
      27/03/12 ~ 900m swim training with Crewe
                                                              Tigers
28/03/12 ~ 5.5 mile run across Winsford in 49.5 mins
31/03/13 ~ A dry run of the Pwllheli Triathlon bike stage, 14.6miles

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!...