A Himalayan Challenge
For
Whizz-Kidz
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This is the physical bit…..
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Pre-training schedule…..
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Though
not completely unfit at the start of 2006 – I could run up the stairs to my
flat and recover a relatively calm demeanour within about 20 minutes – I felt
that attempting to haul myself up steep slopes for several days in
succession, and at high altitude, might require more preparation time than
the recommended training schedule suggested.
So, into
the bin went the magazines claiming that I was now in the ‘new forties’. Time
for a reality check, I thought.
Thus
began my attempt to get fit enough just to take on the training schedule…
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February Late winter mornings saw me creep out to a nearby lake, under
the cover of chilly semi-darkness, for an attempt at twenty minutes running,
twice a week. Ten minutes out, ten minutes back doesn’t sound long, does it?........
It’s a lifetime, when you wonder where your next breath is coming from! Something had to change if I wanted to be around when March
came in……..so I took to alternating the running with walking briskly. Actually, walking briskly with the odd run would be a more apt
description. Not much progress it would seem, but I viewed this as breaking
in. At least the ducks and swans, whose slumbers I had so carelessly
disturbed, were beginning to recognise the hooded figure that blundered her
way into their lakeside residence twice a week. AND… I made it to…
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March Although more like a lamb than the proverbial lion, at least I
was beginning to get somewhere. By the end of April I would have to start the official
training – three times a week for thirty minutes – so a gradual build-up was
needed. The plan was to introduce a third session mid-March, then to
increase the time to thirty minutes mid-April…… Aaaah – the best-laid plans! The first part went ok – I started an extra weekly run from
March 13th. So far, so good. And I was by now able to run more
than walk. Settling in nicely, you might say. Twenty minutes of this three
times a week would be just fine for a while… Then, one morning, I got lost! Don’t ask….I have no idea. Anyway, the plans went west, I went
in who knows what direction, and twenty minutes became thirty-five – amazing
what you can do when you’re not looking! I didn’t stick with the thirty-five – just made it a nice round thirty, three times a week for the rest of
the month. I was doing it so often by then, I
just followed the footprints…
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April A month to go then, before I am to start the REAL stuff… As I write this, it is Easter Monday, 17th April. A
week of illness has laid me low, but I was back out there yesterday, treading
the well-worn paths, if a little less light of foot! And walking is becoming more of a memory… Well, at least it was until May … when I played host yet again to
some very unwelcome and distinctly unpleasant guests, who insisted on keeping
me housebound for two weeks. Definitely too close for comfort. So, no training! But the lack of
physical exercise did have some pay-off in possibly gearing my brain up
sufficiently to realise that the official training wasn’t scheduled to begin
at the end of April at all. Try mid-May. Not so bad then – only a week or so behind…
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And I nearly forgot: Firstly - the delicious hors d’oeuvres my daughter cooked up
for me – a delightful set of toning exercises, guaranteed to whip any
sporting appetite up into a real frenzy for the main course! Three times a
week also!
And secondly – the route march, in the same month (!), from
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The Real Stuff... |
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Weeks 1 - 6 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for half an hour. To be done three times a week. |
Progress At the time of going to press it’s 29th May. After a lay-off of about two and a half weeks, normal service
was resumed on 24th. Normal in spirit that is – physically I
needed a bit of cranking up. So I dropped the time to 20 mins
for my first time out, upping it to 25, then 30 after that. And – eek! - walking was making a bit of a comeback! Not so good – especially as the weather had taken a distinct
downturn and was not only blowing a gale but also periodically pulling the
plug on me. Added to which I now had to negotiate an assault course of
dejected wildlife. Content no longer it seemed to mess around on the lake all
day, they had abandoned the water and now littered
the verges and paths everywhere in a sorry array of soggy, ruffled feathers. And they don’t stay still... Never mind. Undeterred,
I chalked up all three sessions for the week… And just as well. I need to be fit for 28th June… The Race for Life for Cancer Research |
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Weeks 7 - 9 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for 40 minutes. To be done three times a week. One walking weekend – 3 or more hours each day. |
It’s 2nd July and the end of week 7, during which I
have managed to survive the transition from 30 to 40 minutes per session,
though I hesitate to say ‘no sweat’. The current heatwave
has meant that, at the end of 40 minutes, I am fit only for being wrung out.
Water consumption has trebled and there’s no such thing as an early morning
run any longer. Post-dawn would be nearer the truth. Hard to drag myself out of
bed, but it’s that or meltdown… So it was with some relief on my part that my work colleagues and
I chose to walk the Race for Life on June 28th, as
I’d already ‘done a run’ that morning. Then, (and for this we shall be eternally
indebted to Chris) we had to walk about 1 mile just to find the starting
point. But it was an event to remember, as several thousand women
completed the route around the country park in …for Cancer Research Next up will be 2 days walking in the Peak District… In fact on 6th and 7th July. This was a
good opportunity to test out my boots on real ground as opposed to up and
down the stairs or round Tesco’s on the weekly
shopping trip. Add a bit of weight, in the shape of a backpack, and the
chance to walk uphill, and images of the I have to say it went well. The weather was a bit steamy the
first day and it did rain too, but the second day was cooler and just right
for walking. Any climbing was relatively moderate, but I never did believe in
overkill. And I returned acheless, blisterless and relatively intact. |
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Weeks 10 - 12 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for 50 minutes. To be done three times a week. Plus one session of an hour for each of the 3 weekends. |
It’s now 29th July. The tri-weekly run has
increased to 50 mins a shot and is not as hard as I
had feared. In fact the time isn’t a problem at all. It’s remembering the
route. There are now so many add-ons, as the length of time has
increased, that concentration needs to be at a peak in order not to get lost
again. The fact that I am running around a modern housing estate I have so
far omitted to reveal, but perhaps I could rest my case right there. Fifty
minutes is quite enough for now. And, as the heatwave continues, so
my run moves to the wee small hours… Tomorrow holds the prospect of one hour! The training weekend, originally planned for some weeks hence,
was brought forward to 21st to 23rd July
. This was an opportunity to meet some of my trek team, once
again to break in my boots, and career around on some steep slopes wearing a heavyish backpack each day. I have to admit to some dread beforehand. The weather had been
incredibly hot during the run-up and the promise, or in my case threat, of
climbing But it was a weekend not to be missed. I shared it with a
group of lovely people, some of whom would be trekking the My thanks to all those who were there. It was a weekend for the memory and a signpost to the |
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Weeks 13 - 15 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for one hour. To be done three times a week. Plus one session of an hour and 10 minutes for 2 of the
weekends. One weekend away in the hills, walking for 6 hours on Saturday
and 3 hours on Sunday. |
August 17th As week 13 arrived, the thought of coping with a whole hour three
times a week (plus, of course, the 1 hour 10 mins
at the weekends), strangely enough, wasn’t too bad. Having already managed to
endure an hour (albeit gasping my last and somewhat drenched by the time the
60th minute chimed in) for each of the previous 2 weekends, I thought
I was well away. Gung ho even…….I really should have known better. Life sometimes has that wonderful way of grabbing you from behind
by the braces and bringing you to a juddering halt. Just so you know you’re
not really in charge. Enter life, stage left……..and a problem with my back. As a result, I couldn’t run any longer. However, not to be
outdone, I took up cycling instead. Now I can do the circuit three times,
instead of once, though this does seem to cause bewilderment and perplexity
on the part of other residents (most of whom are out walking their dogs) as I
pass them one way, then another, and even back again……..several times a week!
I could swear even the dogs think I’ve lost my house, if not the plot. But,
what the heck! The speed gives me a good adrenaline burst. What more could I
want? Swimming maybe?….. However, three weeks down the line I’m still careering around on
two wheels on dry land. But something’s working. Three laps now disappear in
under an hour, with a few minutes spent whirling round in a vortex to make up
the extra. And for a complete change of scene, Dovedale
in the Peak District turned out to be the perfect place to do some hill
walking. The two days I was supposed to spend on this were reduced to one,
mostly through lack of time, so I added in another bout of cycling for good
measure. Not quite the same I have to say. |
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Weeks 16 - 18 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for one hour. To be done three times a week. Plus one session of an hour and 10 minutes for 2 of the
weekends. Whizz-Kidz training weekend – walking for up to 8 hours on Saturday and 3
hours on Sunday. |
September 13th And still no swimming…. But the cycling clears my head in a way that the running never
did. So the body gets fit, whilst the mind empties itself……….of the major
stuff at least. And then I notice the little things, the ones you normally
miss when your brain’s doing financial somersaults to produce the next £500,
or engaged in military manoeuvres to organise the week’s activities… Instead, the eye catches the oddities….a red rubber band, a
green plastic tie, together, abandoned in the gutter. Stupid, isn’t it? You
see them each time you pass, and then you start wondering. Why are they
there? Where did they come from? And where to now? Then the rubber band disappears……….and you find it much
further down the road. Why? Or is it even the same one? And for about four
weeks, the green plastic tie hasn’t moved, despite gale force winds. I encountered a snail and a slug the other day quite close
together on a footpath. Each time I passed the same spot I could monitor
their progress. In the hour that I cycled, the snail managed to cross the
first path, turn on to another one and cross to the other side of that. The
slug hadn’t moved. True to his name I suppose. So, the stirrings of insight?…..A
touch of insanity? Certainly excellent therapy. That is until traffic turns up out of nowhere…… just as you
need to cross over the roads…….precision timing, a collision potential of
100% and sparking brakes. Nothing before, nothing
after. That chap Murphy never
ceases to amaze me. ****** As the training weekend actually took place some weeks ago, I thought
I would merely substitute another session of 1 hour 10 mins… Well, the intention was there. In fact, the session got
ditched because I spent the whole of one weekend fundraising. Merely
attempting to get the bike downstairs, let alone riding it after that would
have been a step (well several actually) too far, but no complaints. I
crashed through my fundraising target, so it had to be worth it. And if missing one
training session meant the difference between being fit enough or not, then I
may as well throw in the towel now. But…….. I still have the corner of it in my teeth. |
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Weeks 19 - 21 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for one hour. To be done three times a week. Plus one session of an hour and 10 minutes for 2 of the
weekends. Another weekend away in the hills, walking for 6 hours on
Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday. |
October 9th It was with some degree of excitement that I entered this
penultimate block of three weeks. There was a time when I couldn’t have
imagined getting this far……and now the end was just about in sight. But I had to keep calm, not get above myself, certainly not let
up (always a great temptation so close to the finish) and keep the wheels
turning. Then the mornings suddenly started getting much darker, gloomier
and ever more threatening. Black clouds, driven wildly across the sky by
furious winds, became my constant companion in a race that saw me lose on many
occasions as they unleashed their heavy loads on me. But there were times when I won, got back home dry and thoroughly
worked out from the added struggle of riding into such hefty winds. Someone, somewhere, had upped the ante! And it’s quite an experience riding around a housing estate just
as the rest of the population is setting foot on the day…….. The water of a thousand showers, washing machines and toilet
flushes rushes on its way through subterranean pipework,
periodically emitting, through various drains and inspection chambers, such
tantalising aromas as ‘Rainforest Flowers’, Lavender, Ylang
Ylang and Patchouli, Daz,
Persil, Spring Fresh fabric conditioner…..and, of course, the wonderful
fragrance of raw sewage. BUT, not for long….. Within seconds, the nostrils are relieved as I fly past a cloud
of Gucci’s ‘Pour Homme’….or was it ‘Eternity’ by
Calvin Klein?....and the bike does an automatic 180 degree about turn….. What I shall miss when all this is over! |
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Weeks 22 & 23 A choice of walking briskly, running, swimming, cycling, cross
training or using a step-machine in the gym – for 40 minutes. To be done three times a week. Plus one session of 50 minutes both weekends. |
October 22nd Well, now I feel like a cheat. Only 40 mins per session…how was this
going to keep me fit? I couldn’t possibly have any backsliding so late in the
game. I mean, I wasn’t training for a gentle stroll in the But I went by the book…actually ended up missing one session
and having another curtailed because of the weather…and tried not to overdo
it, which I guess was the aim. All in all, a very lazy fortnight. Not the way I would have seen it back in July. |
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Week 24 Time to put my feet up, go shopping and chill out. Absolutely
no training necessary. Just need to sleep and load the camera with film!
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October 25th Three days to go and I’m wondering what to do with myself. Is
this what life was like BT? Was there even a time when I didn’t run…or didn’t
cycle? It is really hard not to do anything…but, hey, I suppose I’ll
struggle on. So…..I’M all ready, the KIT’S laid
out. Sure there was something else… Ah, yes……the camera. Better figure out how it works. Back
to home page |
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