No Turning Back

August 25th 2014 - 54 Days to go 

It's all getting very real now. From that first conversation in the pub over a couple of pints, through all the doubts my life now is focused on only one thing, getting to the top of the mountain. I eat sleep and breathe Kilimanjaro, is it enough? Only time will tell

My weeks consist of going to the gym and then at weekends walking, walking a bit more and a bit of cycling. There has been some really foul weather while I have been out and about and the most notable thing to report is that the outdoor gear I have been steadily investing in has so far been money well spent. I have lapped up every last morsel of advice from anyone who has done something like this before, and from the guys and girls in Cotswold Outdoor in Liverpool, so I am confident any weak link on Kili will not be the kit. Of course that only leaves me. It is one thing testing your gear out in Wales but what will it be like at 15000 feet?

In terms of my walking there is not much to update, it is after all putting one foot in front of the other but each step is a little bit higher than the last. It is fair to say that I do still feel the strain in the old legs when I am ascending but this weekend I was noticing how quickly I can get going again after taking a breather. When I started out those breathers were 15-20 minutes or longer, now it is 2 or 3 minutes. The biggest problem I have is that I feel the impact in my knees when descending but after a nights rest I am good to go. On Sunday a mate wanted to have a go up Snowdon but on the Llanberis path, which is the most straight forward. He had done the path before so he knew it was straightforward but having had a health scare not so long ago he wanted to test how his fitness had recovered. I was able to use it as a test to how my fitness had improved compared to someone else and an earlier walk of mine on the same path. For two old farts we were pleased to get all the way up and down in just a little over 4 hours of walking with only a 10-15 minute stop to have a snack at the top. He felt a bit stiff in the legs by the time we got back but i think that I could have done it again. (Well I think I could so I am going to have to try now I have made that claim)

I have pretty much bought all the gear I need now. However, having steadfastly avoided camping all my life in favour of a few (okay a lot) of life's little luxuries when I am away the trip to the lakes in 3 weeks is going to be a first. So I thought I better have a bit of practice of unfurling my sleeping bag and mat and repacking them. If I thought trying to cover 5 peaks in 10 hours, or climbing Kili was going to be a challenge it is nothing, not even close, compared to the challenge of getting my sleeping bag back in its cover. That was a full body workout in itself. The mat was okay, the sleeping bag liner a doddle. 

Zipping up the sleeping bag from the inside, pulling the cords tight to pull in the bag around me without getting knotted up in the liner was a nightmare. I now know what Harry Houdini felt like trying to get out of a straight jacket. Then trying to to roll up the sleeping bag to get all the air out and flat enough to get back in it's bag...! All I can say is that it was a good job nobody could see me as they would have thought I was trying to have sex with it like a scene from one of those awful teen comedies. I have a few weeks yet to perfect my technique as otherwise it won't be fitness, or altitude sickness that stops me from doing this. The rest of the group could well have managed to get all the way up and down while I am still grappling with packing myself up at the first camp.

First contact has been made with 5 of the group undertaking this challenge. I don't know anything about anybody yet other than names. It appears though that we are all doing this on our own, that is to say not with anybody we already know. In some respects that puts us all in the same boat in terms of having to get to know each other and support each other on this challenge. I am positive that will be a good thing and a bit of an advantage to us. Hopefully there will be a range of experience too. I am looking forward to learn more about our group as we get nearer the big day.

My remaining concern now is getting my injections sorted, my local surgery keep promising me an appointment but I have to keep ringing to nag them. As all my previous injections are well past the expiry date I may have to have a few all in one go. I did that before and I felt awful for a few days so I had been hoping to stagger them. That option has really gone now.

Fingers crossed I will have that all sorted before I go to the lakes in three weeks. I want to be fit and well to get through that day as fresh as possible.

"Lookin' for the right track, always on the wrong track
But are you catchin' all these tracks that I'm layin' down for you?"

Please help keep me motivated by visiting Marks Just Giving Page 

or TEXT code MPTC50 £amount to 70070 e.g. MPTC £5

You can also follow me on Facebook

For more information about the Princes Trust visit the website at www.princes-trust.org.uk

Mark

T -75 Days

August 4th 2014 - 75 Days to go 

4 weeks have now passed since my last blog, whats been happening? Has he given up? Where are are his weight and fitness updates? These are all questions nobody is asking.

Well on the weight front I am eating so much to keep my energy up that my weight has stabilised. I am now more concerned with getting miles and height into my legs. On the whole it hovers at around 35-37 pounds lost since I started. 

Exercise on the other hand continues apace. After seeing off the horrendous blisters I took a few tentative steps back into the gym. Regular readers will recall how cheesed off I was at Britain's Next Top Model putting me to shame while at the same time managing to text while on the treadmill. I thought that was bad but a new phenomenon has raised it's head in the gym. Now it's well known that women are much better at multitasking then men, I mean I can't even think and walk at the same time let alone do anything else. So there I was minding my own business pushing myself a bit harder than usual on the cross-trainer, trying to make up for a few missed days. In the mirror I see a women walk in, dressed for work rather than a workout, walk to the cross trainer next to me and put her bag down. She took off her work clothes right there to reveal her workout gear underneath. Apart from the fact that she had done the full Supergirl reveal it was a blinding hot day and she had been wearing 2 sets of clothes. She dipped into her bag and pulled out her iPad before getting on to the cross-trainer and started off serenely on her way. After about five minutes, without stopping, I glanced across in the mirror and there she was with her iPad in one hand and and her iPhone in the other. As far as I could see she hadn't stopped so apart from the fact that she apparently pulled the iPhone out from who knows where I am thinking WTF? Are these women sent in deliberately to make me look weak? Is there someone out there plotting some debilitating fitness joke on me? If that wasn't bad enough I was back the next day and there she was again doing the same thing. I did the only thing any super fit guy would do in those circumstances and sidled off to the other side of the gym to do something else until she'd gone. After all you have to try and retain some dignity.

I now plan my weekends around the weather forecast trying to best guess where and when I can get in a long walk or a bike ride. I have temporarily condensed my working hours into 4 days so I can get a good full 2 days exercise in at the weekends. Sadly, I have committed to to go back to 5 days once this is done and I already know I am preferring the current arrangement. So off I go on a bike ride in the rain deciding to cycle to Wigan Pier and back, It was mostly along the canal towpath and therefore mostly flat but it was 65 miles there and back so worth the effort. Don't let anyone tell you to is an easy ride on a bike. Once you get past Lydiate there is plenty of canal but not a great deal of path. In the wind and rain I ended up a bit muddy. Well actually I was so filthy when I got home I went into the back garden stripped off and hosed myself down, in the rain. I was so caked in mud it looked like I was wearing leggings, my bright yellow hi-vis jacket had no vis left. I put the jacket through the wash five times, including 3 with stain removal and you can still see the mud stains. My teeth had mud stuck to them. Despite all this I really enjoyed the ride. 

Fortunately we have had some really great weather which means that on the many bike rides and walks I am building up quite a tan for the first time in years. Unfortunately it is a perfect example of a tennis players tan. I have a perfect white t-shirt and very brown knees and excellent sock marks just above the ankle. I know I am making myself sound irresistible but you will just have to contain yourselves.

I had some disappointing news when my booking for the national 3 Peaks Challenge had to be cancelled as not enough people had booked. Undeterred, instead of trying to do the 3 peaks in two days I am now going to do 5 in one day in the Lake District. Booked paid for, just have to do it now.

I also had another mishap with my bike when the rear wheel collapsed, so for a second time in a matter of weeks I had to send it in for some TLC. I felt a part of me was missing when I didn't have it and have been contemplating buying a spare. The only reason I haven't is I wouldn't be able to resist buying one that was too expensive. There are are reasons why I am always strapped for ready cash.

Kilimanjaro is now very real. I have paid the full cost of the trip, I have sent off my application for my entry visa to Tanzania, Storm Jacket, sleeping bag, sleeping mat and thermal liner all purchased. I have a huge stock of Jelly Beans too as I was told they are a good quick energy boost. The temptation of having half a tonne of Jelly Beans in the house is proving almost impossible to resist, good job I am out training most of the time. I now know that there will be 8 intrepid trekkers, I have the names and contact details of 5 of them and the charities they are doing it for but as yet I have not been in tough with them so don;t know anything else. I know there is three men and three women and one of them is also from Liverpool. 

The clock is ticking and it's moving very fast. 

I have reached a point now where I have started to feel concerned about my motivation come November when Kili is done and dusted. No matter what happens on the trip, whether I make it to the top or not, I don't want to undo all the good work I have put in. But I know me, it will be winter, I will be back working 5 days a week, the excuses are already building up so I need to have something beyond to focus on, I just don't know what. 

"So tell me what is your favourite new excuse?
Think you're shipwrecked in suburbia
But is there concrete in your shoes?
No!

Clearly I'm uncomfortable in this mold they call routine
Don't forget all dreams are portable
and on instincts you should lean

So if this city really makes you feel the way you swear it does
Show just a little more faith in the legs your standing on
Can't take for granted
The privilege you've been handed
You're hearts still beating, hearts still beating
Just keep it going. Never stop."

Please help keep me motivated by visiting Marks Just Giving Page 

or TEXT code MPTC50 £amount to 70070 e.g. MPTC £5

You can also follow me on Facebook

For more information about the Princes Trust visit the website at www.princes-trust.org.uk

Mark