New Challenges, New Training Plan

This week marked the start of a new training plan for me. I’ve kept myself ticking over since January, easing myself back into the mileage after taking steps to rectify the iron and vitamin deficiencies I was diagnosed with, but despite taking part in quite a number of races I can’t say I’d really trained for any of them.

This is all about to change. I’ve got some big and exciting challenges on the horizon and to not prepare for them would be sheer folly. If you visit the site rather than reading posts via RSS you can probably already guess which events these challenges are, from the “My Next Events” listing over on the right hand side but for avoidance of doubt they are:

1. Equinox24 – a 24 hour team endurance event (one place still available on my team if anyone's interested)
2. Gatliff Ultramarathon – a 50km event in Kent
3. Tough Guy – pure hell from the sounds of things
4. Brighton Marathon

With the exception of Brighton marathon, these are all new events and challenges for me. I have taken part in Tough Mudder but Tough Guy looks even more hideous and testing. Which begs the question… why??

If you follow this blog you may remember that my aunt passed away in the Spring after a relatively short battle against cancer. She gave me so much encouragement for the London Marathon in particular that I felt compelled to include a marathon in my challenge list, in tribute. During the final weeks of her life she was able to stay in the comfort of her own home thanks to the wonderful Devon-based charity, Hospiscare, which gives high-quality care and dedicated support to people who are terminally ill, free of charge. Not only did they support her directly with regular visits and provision of little things like shaped cushions to make her more comfortable but also offered support to my cousin who took time out from his job to care for his mum.

I saw what a difference Hospiscare made and that is why I’m choosing to raise money for them via these challenges so that they can continue to provide their services to those who need them 24/7. They need around £4.5 million a year to do this spend 88p out of every £1 donated on patient care. I’m hoping to raise at least £1,000 which could go towards some of the services below.

•              £499 funds a 24 hour stay in the Hospice which can help control a complex condition.

•              £40 will pay for a complimentary therapy session to help patients feel relaxed or a soothing assisted bath.

•              £100 enables a patient to visit to one of their day hospices to share experiences and receive expert care and advice.

•              £50 will fund a supportive care visit at home

•              £12 supplies the daily oxygen that their patients need

•              £5 buys medical supplies like dressing and syringes

My current training plan encompasses the first two events on the list. I will be drawing up my training plan for Tough Guy a little further down the line. I’m hoping to practice what I studied in terms of training and nutrition but despite having done some reading around, this is still uncharted territory and any pointers are welcome. I intend to blog about my training progress for these events in much the same way I did for five events I tackled in 2013. I found it really helpful and motivating to be accountable and see the progress I was making. I hope, also, that it will make interesting reading for you as I go back to trying to fit training around the day job and studies.

This week's training was as follows:
Monday: 5 miles at lunch
Tuesday: 4 miles including hill running
Wednesday: 4 miles with Amy after work
Thursday: Kettlebells pre-work
Friday: REST DAY!

This weekend I'll be taking part in Gloanna on Saturday (5km run followed by yoga) with my mum and attempting a long run of 16 miles on Sunday planned before refuelling with a picnic at Kew Gardens to the sounds of Chas & Dave and Bill Bailey :)

If you would to support me and Hospiscare by making a donation you can do so here or via the widget at the top of the blog. If you would like to support me with words of encouragement you can do so in the comment box below :)