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I will never get a job as a blogger, simply because I never turn up!
I have just come back from a week working in New York. You cannot walk further than 30 feet without passing a fast food restaurant and my itinerary was such that I had three options. 1. Go without (I did). 2. Go junk food (I did, once) 3. Go corporate and wine and dine my clients (I did - lots). Exercises? I did none. The portion control is remarkable - 20oz Steaks and chowders you can swim in. To be honest, I loved the restaurant part but now back in the UK I am on a strict diet!
Talking food, we will be eating upwards of 6000 calories per day on the way to the pole and I have started to get my body used to that intake by eating a large calorific but healthy meal every few weeks. A family sized pack of fresh pasta, 3 skinless chicken breast, a cup of homemade pesto, some pine nuts and lots of onion and garlic - takes an hour to eat! The first time I ate this I unsurprisingly felt unwell - not just full but headaches and nausea as well. After a couple of attempts and I now just feel uncomfortable! Of course, you have to eat this early in the day, not eat again and also keep on the move otherwise I would fuse with the sofa!
My damaged ankle quickly turned into an acute Achilles issue so I was banned from long runs by my good physios. Instead I have taken to swimming, rowing and weights. I have also added yomping with a full rucksack as I still cant find the time to walk! The half marathons and 10ks plus the training runs reduced my weight down towards 13st 5lb. Now a typical session will be 500m of front crawl (shoulders, core and tummy), 5k of rowing (shoulders back and everything!) then 1 hour of weights and stretching, I am getting bigger and heavier! The US has not helped and I am back up to almost 14st again.
By the way - its less than 6 MONTHS TO GO!!!
Last weekend I went to the new Forest for a practice run with some pals of mine. We are all doing the Original Mountain Marathon at the end of October. This is a 48 hour orienteering run over Dartmoor. You cover about 35 miles and have to carry everything you need - tent, clothes, sleeping bag, cooker, food, safety equipment etc. Almost a lightweight version of the gear taken to the Pole. We had set up 6 way points in the New Forest and took all the gear that we need on the OMM. Although we had agreed to mainly walk with a bit of downhill jogging, we ended up running almost all of it. We started at 9.00am and ran 10 of the 13 miles we had planned and ended up finishing in time for a pub lunch! A picture is above, that's me in the middle!
The guys I did it with have there own adventure in May next year. They are attempting to scale 5 unclimbed peaks in the Arctic so they have there own training that they are doing. When they get their website sorted I will post it here.
Sponsorship has slowed up but I have my sights on a few that are still interested. Will update soon.
Lastly, the charity I will raise money for will soon be selected and I will be arranging various events. I am also starting the press release circuit soon... Its all getting busier!
I pick up the gear soon, including the pulk harness. This will mean that I will be starting the dreaded tyre pulling around Richmond Park - just as the mornings get darker, colder and wetter!
