The GET ME OUT OF HERE weekend....

Ogmore by Sea is on the Heritage Coast in South Wales and is where we spent 36 hours being put through our paces by Jock and the rest of the race organisers.  Once we got to a half flooded car park on the banks of the river, right next to Ogmore castle, we were given 30 minutes to get our tents up and then it was time to leave for a walk to "the dunes". The tents we were using are the actual bits of kit we are taking to the Pole.  Jo, in charge of the tent, has taken it home with her for careful storage! Everything seems very real!

The opening challenge was shuttle runs up and down a huge sand dune.  We were all wearing our pulk pulling harnesses and had been clipped on to a rope in teams of four.  Therefore you were only as fast as the slowest.  The run up was a lung busting cardio workout as the sand was pretty soft and it was half a step down to each one up.  The way down was more a case of trying to stay upright and go as fast as possible. We did five shuttles each which got the legs aching - but as we mixed up the groups they were all done at different speeds.

The afternoon involved a 4 hour walk navigating to various way points that we had been given - all good practice with the GPS.  The weather was fantastic for this time of the year, so it did not really feel like a "get me out of here" weekend.  I was very pleased with my fitness and found the whole day to be more fun than strenuous.  Still,  we will be pulling pulks in very cold conditions for 12 + hours per day whilst fuelled by dehydrated ration packs - so any physical training will be helping my end goal.

That night we ate in the local pub - The Pelican.  Food was great and very much needed, and of course there were a few obligitory beers to be consumed,  I realise that this was not exactly roughing it, but the team building and bonding elements are very important as well.  After a wet and windy night in the tents,  we woke to find ice all over the tent.  The temperature had dropped a lot, to the extent that passers by on the following day who had seen where we were camping, all thought we were nuts!

The next day we were back in our teams so Jo, Lucy and I were handed a set of coordinates that we had to get to in a set order.  This time however,  we were pulling our pulks that had kindly been leaden with big bags of sand!  We had a thoroughly good day and got used to the posture differences involved in pulling a heavy weight (you automatically try to lean forward which puts extra stress on the lower back.... something I am working on in the gym!).  We had some gear breakages that we managed to mend easlily enough, and we even managed to meet up with another team to have a packed lunch next to the beach!

All in all it was a great weekend, and now I have my harness,  I will be getting some used tyres and hitting the gallops in Richmond Park!  A couple more blogs to follow shortly.  Until then!

The Team

Its time to introduce the team - and the team name.  Jo, Lucy and I make up the POLAR SLUGS! Slugs because we strike an alarming similarity when all in our sleeping bags!  Also,  its to lull the competition into a false sense of security as after all, slugs are not know for their speed over the ground!  You may also have noticed that I have started to grow my beard!  It is fiercely Ginger at the moment - and strangely having one has given me the appetite to flail my arms around on public transport whilst grunting loudly!

We have divided responsibilities amongst ourselves.  One person is responsible for a task with someone else to support if needed.  I am in charge of many things, the most important being the food and the cooking duties (which also includes gathering and melting the snow/ice for water).  We are eating dehydrated food (casseroles, chille, soups etc) which will not try my culinary skills too much, but I am proposing to take some enhancements to reduce the monotony. Ideas so for are Tabasco sauce, veggie bouillon, packs of jelly, herbs, garlic granules...  If you have any ideas please leave a comment! 

Jo is in charge of shooting, the gun and the ammunition and Lucy is in charge of medical areas - which is very handy that she is a doctor. 

We have a Facebook page - please like or follow or what ever you do - and leave messages of support!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Polar-Slugs-Polar-Race-2011/170809679625751?v=wall

We have recently spent our first night together in the tent which was great.  It was cold but we were all fine in our remarkably warm RAB sleeping bags.  Another update will follow on that later but it was our first taste of waking up to a tent with ice on the outside.

Good lord - they have given him a gun!

We recently descended upon a shooting club near Salisbury to learn the art of shooting spinning disks made of Clay.  These "pigeons" were shot so that we could familiarise ourselves with shooting a shot gun.  It all seemed very well in the warm (comparably) southern counties where we new we had a lovely lunch waiting for in a couple of hours. Focus your minds forward a few months (only 4 now) and it will be minus 20 with a wind that makes the temperature seem illegal, and the only time we will get a gun out is if we really have to. The only thing that will make this a necessity is about 3 m long and 500kg in weight, with a top speed similar to my beloved Vespa (that recently got stolen..).  So,  not seeming so very well when put like that.

Polar Bears are endangered and although we will not be surprised to see one, they really do not pose a threat to human in the majority of cases.  They are typically curious and are at the top of the food chain where we are going so what have they got to fear?  The issue is that we carry food, and a polar bear can apparently smell a seal more than 32 km (20 mi.) away (Domico, 1988). Although how they measured that I have no idea.  We take the guns for obvious safety reasons but if they are used, it is normally to create a loud bang (special cartridges) that would persuade Mr Bear that we are not a seal - and our food makes loud noises!

At the shooting range we had a great time unloading cartridges against clays coming at a variety of velocities and angles and all thought we were becoming pretty good (I had the Olympics 2012 in my sights - excuse the pun). The guns were wonderful looking engraved pieces of highly polished wood and metal - certainly the object of someones care and attention.  This was going to be a new hobby that we were taking to the pole! We then got given a few shots with the gun we are taking.  With the introduction of "its been built by the Americans for a purpose - there is nothing to go wrong, the design has been about for a very long time but it works so we use them." we got given a long, heavy, pump action shot gun.  The piece was certainly without any artistic engraving and was missing the fine lines of the classic Gentleman's shooting choice, but this was the Articulated Lorry of the shooting world. 

Firing three cartridges in quick succession with a gap only long enough for the "pump" provided the sense that I was Rambo, Arnie and the Godfather all in one - albeit in Wiltshire wearing thermal underwear.  It is an amazing bit of kit that we need to learn to respect and know how to use or it could be nasty!  We did of course spend a lot of time on safety, maintenance and the like - and then got to the important part - the lunch which was a quite remarkable spread of fantastic Yorkshire fayre.  Many thanks to the team and the Shooting club: http://www.wylye-shooting.co.uk/.

After the feast I was ready for a lie down and a snooze but we were sent off in our teams for a bit of GPS and orienteering practice.  Team you may ask?  You will have to wait until my next blog (and as the snow has set in that will probably be tomorrow!).   As a teaser,  Jo, Lucy and I have been put together in the team as we all entered individually.  We are already a good team and I have a good feeling that we are the right fit to get us to the North Pole, and get us there competitively.  More to come.

The Orienteering was supposed to take us over 2 hours and involved a lot of traipsing around the country side overcoming various obstacles that had been cleverly put in our way.  With a little pre planning and taking the time to work our an intelligent route,  we got back as the first team and withing 9m minutes - the only prize was that we were the first back into the warmth for a cup of tea - what a great prize! I should add that it was not a race, nor was it competitive - words I have ignored all of my life.

I will blog again soon - I have been sleeping in the garden as it has been dropping below zero and there is a lot of snow;  I have TWO charities that I am now supporting,  and I have had most of my clothing logo'd up and its all coming together well.

One last post - If anyone knows of companies who would like to sponsor this crazy endeavour then PLEASE get them on the blog! 

The Original Mountain Marathon

At the weekend I completed the OMM which is a 36 hour endurance orienteering race that this year was on Dartmoor. My team mate Seb and I met at the less than auspicious Travel Lodge at the Exeter M5 services on Friday night and tucked into the largest piles of stodge that the on site Harry Ramsdens had to offer. The Fat Duck it wasn't, but it did the trick e.g. prevented either of us from sleeping as we could feel our arteries groaning with the pressure!

The OMM has been running for 15 + years. There are about 2000 entrants competing in various categories from Elite to the Short Score. We had entered the Long Score which is 7 hours on day one, a specified overnight camping ground and 6 hours on day 2. At the start you get given a map of Dartmoor, with the overnight camp half way up - and several check points dotted all over the national park that have points allocated to them, the harder they are to reach, the higher the points. You carry a minimum amount of compulsory kit (tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear food etc) and try to go as light as possible (except Seb brought a travel pillow!). The forecast was for rain and high winds. Perfect.

So we started with an hour long bus ride from Okehampton army camp (the finish) to the south of Dartmoor. Our start time was a little after 8.00. 2 x laminated A1 size maps were provided and we were off! We ran on the flat and down hill, and reached many high scoring points and as the weather was good, it was all very enjoyable if very hard work. We got to the overnight camp in good time and had just enough time to put the tent up before the heavens opened. And they really did. What we had not prepared for was the lack of things to do in the evening. Keeping as much mud out of the tent, and keep as dry as possible we boiled our water, had our soup, re hydrated our freeze dried chille and then.... well that was it really. It was hosing it down outside and dark so we were both in our sleeping bags and try to sleep by 7.30!

All night the rain continued and the wind was considerable. Inside the little 2 man tent it was dry and comfortable enough - and quite exciting with a storm raging outside! DAY 2 - Quite a lot different. Tent was wet and therefore heavy, it was raining and looking at the map it was 25km without picking up any "points". It was going to be a long day.

To get North to Okehampton we had to cross 3 streams. Because of the deluge, these streams were now torrents. They were all about waste deep and bloody cold! The method to cross these are sideways, crab like holding on to each other and only moving if the other has firm footing! We made it in one piece!

We finished later than our allot ed time at about 2.30pm. After checking in, collecting our results and have the hot soup we got back to the car and changed into dry clothes for the first time in 2 days. It took until Bristol to fully warm up!

All in all it was great, hard work but worthwhile. The main lesson learn was to take lighter gear as some of the competitors had bags half the size of mine. The other runners were supremely athletic and talented. It takes something to run over the moors in the rain and mud non stop for 6 hours whilst map reading. Next year!

I should also mention that its a dangerous game! Quite a few people dropped out including friends Nick and Bruce B-H who had to retire after Nick ripped his calf muscle whilst daintily leaping over streams!

Next blog to follow soon - I have chosen McMillan as my charity for the race, more on that later. Now I better do some work.

Tough guy and the Cabbage Patch 10

A long time ago I took part in the Tough Guy Nettle warrior. It is a crazy 10 mile obstacle course including crawling through mud, swimming, jumping off stuff and general putting yourself through a lot of discomfort. As I did this on my own (and there was no way I was taking a camera!) I have no photos to share as proof - so I waited for the DVD footage to arrive and sadly I did not feature once! However, from the attached you will get the drift.





The worst obstacle by far was the Vietcong tunnels. Very aptly named 50 ft long underground pits that had lengths of wood, scaffold poles and waiting for it.... electrically charged wires hanging from the roof. It was nuts! To get out of these you had to crawl up through sewerage pipes for about 20 feet - and that took all your skin off knees and elbows. All in all I had a great time - and recommend it to all.

A couple of weeks ago I took part in the Cabbage Patch 10 which is a famous road race along the Thames near Twickenham. As this is close to home my wife and girls came to watch and I therefore looked at the route on the Internet to find a good vantage point. To my horror the 10 in Cabbage 10 refers to miles and not Kilometres! Bugger. We also had friends coming round for lunch that day so the pressure was on! The run was great - I finished in 1hr 20m which was good as I took it easy to take care of my bad Achilles. Everything was fine at the end so I think I am on the mend.

As seems to be the case with my blogging - there will be another one in a couple of days as we now have had our teams confirmed for the Polar Race. I will introduce the team members in the next blog! Until then....

Injuries, new excercises and more weight!

All

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!

Cold weather training - sort of

The family MacAlister have come back from a trip to Canada where we had a HUGE RV (recreational vehicle for those who don't know). Starting out in Vancouver we headed for the island for a few days, then up through British Columbia to the National parks of Wells Gray, Jasper and Banff before hot footing it back to UK from Calgary.

If there are any Canadians reading this - I take my hat off to you. Your country is amazing! There is so much diversity. Campbell River on Vancouver Island, for example; in one day it is possible to Salmon fish, watch wales, spot bears, play golf and also get in some skiing! We saw bears, Osprey, Elk, Deer (but we have them on our doorstep at home), Bald Headed Eagles, lots of ground squirrels and Marmots and possible a wolverine. The only thing I could not adjust to was the food. Everything seemed to come with fries and meat and maple syrup! I have put some timber on.....

Re the training. My injured ankle turned out to be a severe sprain so I am off running. Instead I am cycling as much as possible, running in the pool with a float belt on and walking everywhere I can. I am still keeping up the weights and now have a physio to assist me with my rehabilitation. The running in the pool (at Pools on the Park, Richmond) has been amusing. The other morning a school session was due to start when I was just finishing my very slow 20 x 15 metre runs. One child asked his teacher whether "the man in the pool is drowning" to which he received the reply "no, don't stare - everyone needs to learn to swim at some time in life - even when they are old!". Cheers!

As there have been very few events booked for the summer I am going to have to invent some. I will keep you posted on what hair brained ideas I have. One of which is to get my wife to drop me off 50 miles away up the Thames (which runs near our house), with a compass, map and some water and to expect me home at some point that day!

The photo was taken at the foot of a glacier in the Columbia Icefields. At the beginning of the holiday I had decided that shorts would be sensible attire for some conditioning, and at the foot of the pathway up to this glacier I got many strange looks from the other ramblers who were dressed head to foot in waterproofs, walking boots, ski poles and backpacks! The looks got even more stern when with my sandals on, I headed off at some pace to the summit!

Great place Canada - I recommend it.

I have some good news concerning sponsorship - but will wait until it is finalised until a name is announced. I have now raised over 70% of my target so am feeling much more relaxed!