A big high FIVE!

So it's five challenges down and the first of the cycling ones complete.

I'm really glad I've got this one out the way, I always knew it was going to be tough as I only had 3 weeks from the end of the running challenges to get ready.

It's fair to say it was tough and by far the hardest of the challenges to date which I put down to lack of training and preparation. 

As the saying goes "fail to prepare, prepare to fail!"

It wasn't my fitness that was a worry and certainly I knew mentally I could get through the 100 miles it was purely the conditioning of the legs and given the amount of hills this was definitely my achilles heal!

But after 7hrs and 46mins I completed the 103 mile course and I one piece, just!

By that I mean that after roughly 65miles my knee was telling me no more hills but unfortunately I had to push through it with every hill which meant going even slower than I normally do up them.

All in all I'm pleased I got through it especially as I had only had 5 hours sleep  and I had to leave just after 5:30 to get to the start.

Despite the hills the route took us through some beautiful countryside and villages and the weather even surprised us by staying dry and then in the afternoon breaking into blue sky's and sunshine.

The support was great at each of the feed stations with the last one being supplied with wonderful home made cakes. Apparently the lady had been spending the last course of weeks preparing them to feed the 1100 riders which included Phil Spencer from Location location location and using my celebrity radar (with a bit of help from my wife) I hunted him down at the end and got my picture with him! 

Celebrity stalker strikes again!

The night before was the joint birthday party of Eva's grandparents Martyn and Viv. It was a great night and they had asked that instead of presents to donate to my challenge in raising funds for Springboard.

It was very humbling with their kind words as they introduced me at the guests at the start of the night.  

The pot now stands at just under £2,500 including gift aid which is amazing as we approach the halfway point.

So now I have 3 weeks to rest and sort my knee out before taking on 134miles of welsh valleys and more bloody hills!

Time to be a Knight and do it right........to the Castle(ride)

It's the end of what seems to have been a very long week but that means one thing....it's challenge number 5 time the Castle100!

I have found this week incredibly tough and for the first time since I started this whole challenge my motivation to train has taken a bit of a hit. I am putting it down to the persistent miserable weather finally start to grind me down.

This next challenge is the first of the cycle events and training in gala force winds has pushed me both mentally and physically. I have managed to get in over 200 miles since the beginning of the month but the last 3 days I have gone back to running instead of being on the bike.

Despite this, what hasn't changed is my passion to complete the challenge and raise as much money for Springboard Opportunity Group!

During the week I have signed up to the London Duathlon which is Challenge 9. I did this event last year which is a 10k run - 40k bike - 5k run event where I completed it in 2hrs 53mins so I will be aiming to improve on the time this year.

This now means that 11 of the 12 challenges have been confirmed all that remains is the December challenge so any ideas or suggestions please let me know?

My preparation for Sunday will involve me throwing some shapes at the joint birthday party of Eva's grandparents and two of my biggest challenge supporters, Martyn and Viv on Saturday evening. 

Unfortunately for my other half despite me driving we have a very early start on Sunday morning so she may need to curb her alcohol intake otherwise it's going to be a very long day entertaining 2 kids with a hangover!

The photo I've attached is the official photo from the Shakespeare Marathon and the last marathon of the 6 in 6 days. 

I still can't believe that I did that and it was a real bump down to earth when I ran this week as it was a real struggle.

But onwards and upwards...its time for me to put on my armour (cycle helmet) and mount my stallion (specialized allez bike) and head to the castle of Tonbridge and battle the honour of my lady Eva! 

Huzzah!!!!

Who will be the king of the castle?

Well this time next week I will be underway on challenge 5, the Castle 100.

This is a 103 mile cycle ride in and around Tonbridge and the Kent area which starts and finishes at the Castle. I'm not expecting this to be an easy or leisurely ride as there are a number of hills in particular a bit of a beastie about 12 miles in!

As with running I'm not exactly built for endurance cycling and hills are my nemesis! The fact that Sir Wiggins is probably the size of one of my legs it really isn't a pretty sight of me in my Lycra.

Cycling is massive at the minute, thanks to the success of the team sky and the GB team, with thousands of people starting to get in to it and taking part in the many of the well organised sportives that are out there.

Living in Essex I see cyclists of all abilities out there doing it which is great to see and it is a great thing to do as a whole family, although given my track record of family outings on the bike I'm sure the Knight family won't be going out together in the immediate future.

It's now been 2 weeks since I completed the last challenge of 6 marathons in 6 days and although it was an amazing achievement it is but a distant memory now. 

Two days after finishing the last marathon I was out on the bike for the first time, since then I've clocked up over 170 miles with the longest ride being 50 miles in both strong winds and heavy rain but I still manage to complete it in 3 hours which was an average of approximately 17 miles per hour.

So have I done enough in preparation for next week? Although people have been saying it will be easy with the amount of training I have been doing, I'm not so sure.

This will definitely be good preparation for the next challenge when I head off to Wales to take on the valleys! 

But that's a month away and I need to get through this one first!

More during the week.....

Time to put the running shoes away...

Well it's now 2 days after I completed challenge 4 and what was the toughest challenge so far, 6 marathons in 6 days.

Although it was tough it was a great experience albeit a tad lonely at times.

I think what surprised me the most was how my feet and legs held up over the 6 days, they certainly lasted better than the tread on my trainers which were only about 6 weeks old and are now pretty worn! I think a new pair are in order before the next running challenge in September.

The final marathon was great and fuelled by adrenaline of it being the last one I felt great.

It was nice to hear me get a mention by the race organiser before we started over the PA system which gave me a little buzz. It was also nice to start the race with my sister, who despite having not trained much due to a bad back, completed the half marathon in 2hrs 40mins.

We started the race together but split up after about 4 miles. The crowds and marshals were brilliant throughout the race and having water stops at around every 3 miles helped, it also meant that I didn't have to carry anything which given the previous 5 days was a blessing!

I completed the first half in around 2hrs 16mins and I was concerned that having ran under 5 hours the previous day that I may suffer from burnout. But in fact the opposite happened and I gradually got quicker, not by much but quicker.

As I clocked the miles downs I was starting to think about the big Sunday roast at The One Elm afterwards.

Finally, I went passed the 25 mile marker and the end was in sight. As I crossed the river Avon for the last time I knew I had enough to kick on a bit more without the risk of cramping up.

As I entered the grassed park I knew it was the finishing area, it was hear that I heard someone shouting, not for me but for someone behind me and I could tell that they had upped their pace. So being the stubborn and competitive individual that I am I did the same determined that they would pip me on the line, after all I saw how gutted the guy was when I did it to him in the London Ultra in February.

Well he didn't pass me on the line but at the same time my supporters almost missed me coming in as they weren't expecting me to come through so soon.

I finally crossed the line in 4hrs 24mins my quickest marathon of the six which was pretty good going.

At the end it was great to see my family and friends including the surprise of George (fellow Lands end - John O Groats companion) who had drove from Devon that morning to be there!

The kids looked pleased to see me and were wearing t-shirts with Run Daddy Run on them which was very sweet.

So that was it the running was complete and there was only one thing left to do and that was eat and enjoy a refreshing pint which I did.

So the 6 marathons looked like this:
Day/Marathon 1 (27miles) - 4hrs 30mins
Day/Marathon 2 (26.2miles) - 5hrs 16mins
Day/Marathon 3 (27miles) - 5hrs 6mins
Day/Marathon 4 (26.2miles) - 5hrs 5mins
Day/Marathon 5 (26.2miles) - 4hrs 45mins
Day/Marathon 6 (26.2miles) - 4hrs 24mins

The toughest day by far was the second day but overall I'm extremely proud of what I have done and although I ran most days on my own I could of done it without the support of family and friends including:
* Veryan (the wife) for putting up with me!
* Roy and Su (brother) for picking me up and dropping me off several of the days and feeding me
* Debbie for letting me stay at The Gate House B&B and feeding me a fab breakfast
* Chink (bessie mate) for the massage and Chinese
* Andrew Kendall for cycling with me on Saturday
* Emma for picking me up on day 2 to take me to the start
* Janet (sister) for making sure I had everything I needed for the last day
* Kieron for the post marathons massage

I'm sure I may have missed people, the support I received throughout the week via messages on Facebook and Twitter was amazing too and really kept me motivated so thank you!

Now it's time to put the running shoes away and bring out the bike as in 3 weeks time it's Challenge number 5 the Castle 100mile bike ride!

The sponsorship currently sits just under £2k including gift aid so again thank you and it really doesn't matter how big or small the donation is!

Challenge 4 complete!

At this precise moment I'm very tired but very pleased that I have completed 6 marathons in 6 days.

Today was great and I felt pretty good. I completed the final marathon in 4hrs 24mins which I'm really pleased with!

That's it for now but I'll update more tomorrow.

Day 5 complete - Hello Stratford!

Sorry for the late post about day 5 but after finishing I've spent some time with the family as its been several days since I last saw them.

Today was surprisingly good considering it was the 5th marathon and I completed it in 4hrs 45mins, that's right 4hrs 45mins.

Now I put this down to a number of reasons:
1) I ate a lot the night before (see photo below)
2) I had a massage
3) I had a great full English breakfast
4) I had the company of a friend throughout the day
5) the weather was cooler
6) I was going to see my family

Whatever the reason I felt alright and the miles seemed to pass without too much thought.

I woke in the morning after a great night sleep at the Gate House in Middleton Cheney and thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Debbie (thats Debbie in the photo) I polished of a full English, 2 slices of toast and jam and a pot of tea.

This set me up nicely and with Andrew arriving just after 9, I had enough time to do my last minute preparations (Vaseline up) and was ready to hit the road.

The route was straight forward which I was quite please about as Andrew had told me he got lost cycling the 3 miles from Banbury to Middleton Cheney!

We passed through some beautiful little villages as we talked and reminisced about our lands end to John O groats experience some 2 years ago which was where we met.

Along with some photos Andrew filmed some of the run so look out for that in future blogs or on you tube!

It was such a great feeling as we arrived in Stratford and although I am proud of what I have achieved I also know that the job isn't done yet!

And so we reach the climax of the challenge tomorrow as I take on the Shakespeare Marathon, the final 26.2 miles!

Day 4 - I can almost see Stratford

Well that's the forth day completed and my last one on my own.

It's been a lonely 4 days and I've come to the conclusion I've got a rubbish taste in music!

But I'm here and all being well I will reach Stratford upon Avon by tomorrow afternoon.

I made a strategic change to the start point this morning which meant that I didn't have to run more than I needed to and I reached Middleton Cheney (26.2 miles) in 5hrs 5mins.

The weather was certainly a lot kinder to me today, it was cooler and I even manage to dodge the rain although I did get caught in one hailstone shower!

Thanks again to my brother for putting up with me, last night I was pretty knackered and was in bed by 7.

I'm now at the great B&B that is the Gate house in Middleton Cheney and I've just selected my breakfast for the morning, a cheeky fry up! Why not I have burnt over 18,000 calories in four days.

I looking forward to getting a massage letter and I'm so pleased that my legs have held up so well so far they deserve a rub down!

Surprisingly too my feet are not in too bad a state. Only today I have what I think is my first blister.

So on to tomorrow, I'm joined by Andrew a LEJOG buddy from 2 years ago who will be cycling along side me and dragging me in to Stratford where I will get to see my lovely wife and kids who I've not seen since Wednesday.

I cant believe I'm nearly there with only 2 days to go!!!!!