Final countdown!

So its now only 2 weeks to go until the start of the Average Joe challenge and it must be said that I'm starting to get a bit nervous.

Yesterday saw me do 28 miles which will be my longest run ahead of the event on 12 January. Training has gone really well despite the weather trying to ruin it all. Last week I did over 64 miles which now makes over 200 miles completed for the morris.

So far I have been injury free but I did get my first blisters yesterday which I believe is my trainers way of saying that I need some new ones, so a new pair is on order but this doesn't give me a great deal of time to break the in so I think plenty of blister plasters are in order.

My last 2 long runs have been pretty good and saw me break the  magic 4 hour marathon make, so what am I aiming for at the country to capital event? Obviously to finish in one piece is the main objective but under 9 hours is not unthinkable providing that the next two go ok.

The first challenge is sponsored by S&P architects who are a great company who have been involved in some awesome projects and developments including the aquatic centre in the Olympic Park.

Their support including with the others so far brings tne sponsorship total to £750 which is a great start, I have a number of fundraising ideas lined up including a comedy nignt as a well as a raffle. If anyone has any other fundraising ideas please let me know.

As we get closer to the start and once the challenge begins I will be updating my blog on a more frequent basis so hopefully I can give people an insignt in to preparing for the events as well as my experience following each challenge.

So for now its a couple of days rest with one long run left before I set off for the Red Lion pub in Wendover to start what will be a challenging year!

When average met perfection

What an incredible year of sport it has been which was captured brilliantly by the BBC in the Sports Personality of the year awards on Sunday.

Now I have been incredibly lucky this year and thanks to the job that I do and that I work for one of the six Olympics host boroughs I have been able to meet some of this countries sporting greats of both past and present.

It all started off back in March when Lord Sebastian Coe visited one of my leisure centres to officially open it.

Lord Coe was fantastic and brilliant with the kids who attended the centre.

It was a great experience for me as I showed him around the facility.

Now he wasn't the only Olympian to visit the borough as we were fortunate to have one of our greatest ever Olympians officially opened another new facility and that was Sir Steve Redgrave.

Again he was fantastic with the children who did a number of demonstrations on the track.

So then came the Olympics and I was extremely lucky to visit pretty much all of the Olympic park and the venues.

This included staying the night in the athletes village and using all the facilities.

It must be said that it did remind me of student halls but it was comfy all the same. 

I did manage to meet Jonathon Edwards whilst I was there as well as seeing Sir Clive Woodward

So the Olympics came and went but not without the Olympic torch passing through the borough. I worked on one section of the route and was fortunate to have the actual flame pass me twice. Although it did mean that I missed Diversity carry the torch in to our Town Show.

So after the games I attended a function which had a number of Olympians attending and although Bradley Wiggins wasn't there a signed Tour de France yellow jersey was.

I even got to wear a gold medal!

So am I a celebrity whore? Well I guess I am but I was not going to miss out on an opportunity like this and I certainly felt privileged to be in the presence of these individuals.

It wasn't just Olympians that I met this year.

In September we played host to the guys from Sky 1 A League of their Own.

The Legend that is James Corden, the recently acclaimed King of Comedy Jack Whitehall and the Liverpool and Spurs legend Jamie Redknapp.

They used the leisure centre to film the synchronise swimming challenge that was show in October.

Again all the guys were really nice and it is true Jamie Redknapp does smell great!

A word from our sponsors

Obviously the main aim of doing the challenges is to raise as much money as I can for the Springboard Opportunity Group and to help raise their profile of all the good work that they do.

One of the ways in which I will be raising money is by getting business to sponsor each of the challenges for £150.

So far I have 4 on board so still a long way to go to get them all sponsored but if all goes well and all 12 get sponsored that’s £1800 in the bank for the charity.

Over the coming weeks and months I will be providing information on each of the companies as a way of thanking them for their support.

The first company I will be featuring is The Training Room PT Academy. They are sponsoring the London Ultra Marathon in February and I want to thank them again for their support of this crazy venture.

So who are The Training Room…….  

Personal Trainer Courses Provider

Become a Certified Personal Trainer in 6 Weeks!

Do you have a passion for sports, health and fitness? Then why not combine your love for all things fitness by enrolling on one of our accredited Personal Trainer Courses to get well on your way to becoming a personal trainer. Our Fitness Instructor Courses will allow you to be your own boss and forge a successful career out of doing what you love!

Our Personal Trainer Courses will give you hands-on training from highly qualified and experienced fitness instructor tutors. After you graduate, you will get a head-start in your career as we can guarantee you interviews with some of the country’s top health and fitness companies.

If you are still wondering whether our Personal Trainer Courses are right for you, here are some more reasons why you should choose to enrol:

·         We have 24 great locations in which to train from, accommodating aspiring personal trainers from right across the UK

·         Graduates of our Personal Training Courses are guaranteed interviews with some of the country’s top Gyms and Health Clubs

·         You will be assigned your own individual career advisor who will tailor your training to suit your specific needs

·         You do not need to have any previous experience or qualifications to train with us!

A career as a personal trainer can be extremely satisfying on both personal and lucrative levels. Our graduates start their first job as a professional fitness instructor with an average on target earnings (OTE) of between £20K and £30K. With our wealth of experience and the ongoing career support that we provide, you can be assured of a successful future.

Do you love health and fitness? Become a personal trainer.

If you have longed to become a professional fitness instructor, then why not start your dream career as a personal trainer with the country’s leading and largest provider of Fitness Instructor Courses. We are the chosen personal trainer provider of employees to the UKs leading leisure companies, including big name organisations such as Next Generation/David Lloyd Health Clubs, Esporta Health Clubs, Fitness First, Greens Health Clubs, LA Fitness PT, Steiner and Mark Warner Holidays.

You can choose to study on our Advanced Personal Training Diploma, which offers a fast-track route to becoming a personal trainer, or our part-time personal trainer courses which are specifically designed for those who need to fit their studies around other commitments.

For more information on these guys please visit www.thetrainingroom.com

Moving up a gear!

Well despite the weather I've had a good weekend of training. It started with the parkrun on Saturday morning a 5km (3.1miles) time trial run in the garrison. So after a 2 mile warm up with the comedy guru of Southend Mr Gary Jackets I reach the start line with 81 other people and a dog.
I took a nice and steady approach to it and after the first loop Gary told me I was about 16th. So I gradually upped the pace a little bit and picked the runners off through the next 2 laps. By the time I reached 200m to go I was just outside the top ten so I went into what I thought was a sprint finished but looked and sounded more like a bulldog waddling along. With the line in sight there was only one man and his dog in between us and despite my bulldog efforts I got pipped at the line by them both! After the exhaustion of the parkrun I did a 2 mile cool down back home with the guru. As it turns out I finished 10th in 21mins 10 secs which is a new PB.
Sunday was an early start which was mainly down to Isabelle (my youngest) wanting to get up at 5am. I was out of the house about 7.30 and the first quarter of a mile was ok until I turned a corner and then it hit me! The strongest wind I've encountered since trying to cycle through Glen Coe! There was no let off with the wind for 8 miles it was hard work but the best thing about running into the wind going out is that it's behind you on the way back which it was and pushed me all the way home. So 16 miles completed in 2hrs and 15mins the first of the bigger runs but this is just the start. This month has been good for mileage with just under 150 miles completed and still 5 days to go.
I even managed to get home in time to take James (my eldest) to one of his friends 5th birthday party, fortunately I didn't seize up although I did have you keep hitching up my compression tights that I had on under my jeans!

It wasn't just the training that I upped a gear it was the sponsorship too. Although this is still quite slow at the minute I have the whole year to go so plenty of time, although it would be good to get all the 12 events sponsored and I only have 2 at the moment.
But despite that I received 3 raffle prizes over the weekend. First is a signed Northampton Saints Rugby shirt and a signed rugby ball courtesy of my old friend Mr Paul Pollock and Northampton Saints Rugby Club and second is a LAS victory cycle helmet (rrp £95) from Gary Hughes at www.chickencycles.co.uk
Thank you Paul and Gary for the donations. I will be looking to do the raffle early next year so if anyone has anything or any contact that would like to donate anything for the raffle prize or knows of anyone who would sponsor one of the remaining 10 events please let me know.

So what does this week entail? More of the same really running and begging for sponsorship.

The big 100!

Well the training is going pretty well at the minute. Its the first time I've really started to track all the running that I've done and to my surprise last night when I logged my run I found that I had completed the big 100 miles for the month and only 20 days had gone!
So with an average of 5 miles a day being completed I know I need to kick on more which can be tough going especially when the weather is so cold and wet.
This weekend I'm aiming to bang out a 16 miler which will be my biggest run since may this year.
The great thing at the minute is that I'm still motivated to train and I know I'm going to have some dark days but so far so good which is a good job really as its only 8 weeks until the first event!!!

Back in training!

So after the first weekend off in several weeks I was back out and running tonight. A total of 8 miles done today which takes me to just under 100 miles for the month! The weekend off was a welcomed break but now I really need to start picking up the training.

Along with the training I need to start picking up on the fundraising. I've potentially got a comedy night lined up but I need to confirm the date. Fortunately I know the guru of comedy for Southend so I'm hoping for a great line up! More to follow.

6th Challenge confirmed

With the entries only opening yesterday for the Wiggle Dragon Ride I had to be quick to get an automatic place which fortunately I did.

For information on the ride go to - http://www.wiggledragonride.com/index.php

I had made contact with the race organisers several months ago to find out about when the entries would open and last night I received an email from Jeff Jones to say that he'd seen I'd got a place which I thought was really nice of him.

So now the first six challenges are in place and entered only 6 more to go with the entries opening in the new year.

Good news about the ankle niggle is that it has pretty much cleared up although it hasn't hindered my training. My weekly mileage is now starting to increase with over 40 miles covered last week.

I've now started the push on the sponsorship and have my first 2 companies on board as I am trying to get each challenged sponsored for £150.

So thanks to Toggshop and The Training Room who have confirmed their support for my challenge and more importantly Springboard Opportunity Group.

I'd also like to say a big thank you to my wife Veryan, for her continued support looking after the kids while I'm constantly out training, so thank you and as I've said I will take you away in December to make up for it although I probably won't be able to walk by that point!

I also want to say well done to Veryan and my sister who both completed the Leicester half marathon a couple of weeks back in under 2 and a half hours, awesome effort. My sister has now got the running bug and has signed up to do the Shakespeare Marathon in April so I will have some company and support as I try to complete my sixth marathon in six days, welcome aboard sis!

Finally happy birthday to my little girl Isabelle who turned 1 on Wednesday, the last 12 months have flown by and it won't be long before we all go out for a family run!

Training update October 2012

So the nights are drawing and the weather is pretty miserable!
But there's no getting out of it I need to train as the weeks are tumbling down.

Tonight (22/10/12) sees me doing a small recovery run but with the head-torch as its been misty all day.
I do love running this time of year but it can be a bit depressing when the weathers like this.

Training so far is going ok with the mileage gradually increasing. I've got a slight ankle niggle which is a pain(literally) but I'm confident with a bit of ice and strapping it won't be a major issue. (Fingers crossed)

Sponsorship page goes live!

So with only 15 weeks until the first of the 12 challenges I have set up my sponsorship page - link below.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/averagejoe

I've also drawn up my training plan which I've based on the one I used for the London to Brighton event I did in May so all being well I should be in good shape for the first event on 12 January 2013.

The Average Joe 2013 challenge is born

Earlier in the year I decided to try and push myself further than I have before and do a challenge tougher than those I have done previously.

I thought why not do a challenge every month for the whole year.

So today on Sunday 16 September the Average Joe 12 challenges in 12 months has started to take shape!

the first 5 events have been confirmed and entered these are -

January - County to Capital ultra marathon
February - London Ultra
March - New Forest Ultra Marathon
April - 6 marathons in 6 days finishing with the Stratford upon Avon marathon
May - Castle 100mile sportive bike ride.

The remaining will be confirmed later in the year due to entries not being open.

I'm not doing this for self gratification I am doing this to raise money for the Springboard opportunity group an organisation that is close to the heart of some very good friends.

More on this in future blogs.