It's been a while but here I am again.
Today is Thursday; thought I'd try to post this out on a Thursday evening rather than extremely late on a Sunday night at stupid o'clock to see if it gets more readers. Here's where I'm up to: -
- Last two weekends saw my first two x 24-minute non-stop PT sessions for quite a while (and I mean non-stop; even the rest periods had lower level activity in them) and both Sundays saw a 4-mile tyre-drag (which felt great as not only wasn't it too warm but only one dog went crazy at me for pulling the tyre).
Part of the circuit includes me yomping up an down a particular slope 3 or 4 times in a row which may not sound much but when it's every 1.75 miles it gets your legs when you get back down to the bottom. Oh how it gets your legs !!
I've also found myself doing PT session (Saturday), 4-mile tyre-drag (Sunday), gym for cardio (Monday night) and gym for strength (Wednesday mornings) so there's a pattern forming I hope to maintain.
Hopefully though in this packed schedule I will have time to relax and enjoy my new DVD; 'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein', which is a real hark back to my days of youth when I'd watch the Saturday morning matinee on TV which sometimes featured films with Laurel & Hardy, or Jerry Lewis, or Norman Wisdom and some of the old black and white Abbott & Costello films.
I'm not sure precisely what decade that was but I recall it was just before the era of 'Swap Shop' In the mid-late 1970's. Remember that? The stuffed dinosaur 'Posh Paws', Keith Chegwin acting like a demented child after a triple shot of concentrated Red Bull (no change there then), and those bl**dy hideous jumpers Noel Edmonds used to wear that demanded you use sunglasses to watch TV?
So pleased when I discovered Chris Tarrant and Sally James on TISWAS.
Speaking of black and white images of days gone by, my mate Sammi sent me a text last Saturday after several months of radio silence. Presumably she was on her way to some drunken posh party with her mates looking at the photo, probably squiffy already with something she's trying to pass off as champagne. Oh ey ar' Sammi, thas great mayte; a bird from the 'Pool poshing it up : )
Actually you underestimate Sam at your peril; a GREAT commercially-minded Director, a fantastic mother, a bezzie mate to those she cares for and has the capability to make an entire room rock with laughter. She's my notional sister and I'm her 'big bro', offering advice when needed.
She's doomed isn't she. Darn.
- Nipple rash. We now come to the comments about 'rash'. Sunday before last when I did the 4-mile tyre pull, I had the harness a little tighter than usual. OK a LOT tighter than usual (which would probably explain why no blood was getting passed my shoulders and into my arms) and it dawned on me that with every step made the harness scraped on my 'nippular' area. Not in itself a problem because it was only a short drag but it did remind me of the risk of saddle rash we had as we cycled across Cuba.
(Hold on, hold on ... what's a tight harness got to do with the obvious but very different challenge of friction rash when cycling in 85-degree heat on a mountain bike with little suspension ... and is 'nippular' even a word in the Oxford English Dictionary? - Ed)
Sorry about the interruption; as I was about to say the challenge of nipple rash seemed a small but timely point to consider but when I extrapolated the current discomfort by a factor of 20 (given I'll be dragging the sled 20 times further than the 4 miles I was doing) I realised there will be an additional problem over and above frostbite, leg ache and general fatigue.
How will I cope with friction rash in an environment where going for a wee is potentially dangerous to ones appendage let alone having access to areas where cream might be required when you can't leave the area exposed too long for the cream to soak into the skin, not the clothing. At least in Cuba we had time and the weather to allow the cream and affected skin time to gel.
At least while I was thinking about that prospective problem I was enjoying a Sunday night treat ......
The 'flag' offer - Douglas, one of the other Trek guys, has managed to persuade 2 companies to donate £10 000 EACH to an epilepsy charity if he takes a small flag with their logo on it to the North Pole (and photo's them). Great job Douglas; well impressed !
Now I don't move in those circles but figured maybe companies would be interested in donating £50 to have their logo on a multi-logo flag I'd take. The price? £50. The benefit? Immeasurable AND one company will win the flag when I get back, courtesy of a raffle.
Well the initial interest was encouraging (27 companies all asked for more info) and a few have already paid their donation on-line. I think I need to keep this going as the target would be to raise £5000 this way but I must be sure I can carry the flag given all the other weight in my pulk (that's a sled to you non-Polar adventurers).
If you know of any companies interested please either get them to contact me via e-mail which I'll put in code to avoid SPAMbots picking it up hopefully (it's northpoletrek and that's at ymail dot com), or via Twitter which is @northpoletrek or they can search for the hashtag #ontheflag.
Already had a begging e-mail into my 'npt' email address so I hope the above attempt to conceal it works.
And finally - I've suffered a couple of setbacks with fundraising events in the last 2 weeks and probably found myself in an ever-decreasing circle of trying to fit more things in to an ever-decreasing time as I fight to get anywhere near back on track.
Lots of kind words of support from people and a few notes from charity friends who say they too are struggling with fundraising in these economically challenging times, so I found the cartoon below a beautiful way to summarise my current dilemma; two possible targets, one bullet, which 'opportunity' do you fire at to get the best return and who says either of them will give you a return?
And with that I'm signing off tonight as I have my last couple of evenings of freedom before the big slog starts on Sunday afternoon. If you've got any spare time in daylight hours (or at least between 11am and 4pm) next week then feel free to pop along to Rothwell Park (also known as Springhead Park) and keep me company.
Don't come along (as my work colleagues have suggested) to throw stones and laugh, but also don't come eating cream cakes and crisps either. Think I'd prefer the stones to be honest.
Of course I've got another PT session on Saturday to get through so let's hope I don't pull anything on Saturday !!!!
Today is Thursday; thought I'd try to post this out on a Thursday evening rather than extremely late on a Sunday night at stupid o'clock to see if it gets more readers. Here's where I'm up to: -
- Last two weekends saw my first two x 24-minute non-stop PT sessions for quite a while (and I mean non-stop; even the rest periods had lower level activity in them) and both Sundays saw a 4-mile tyre-drag (which felt great as not only wasn't it too warm but only one dog went crazy at me for pulling the tyre).
I have a 2-mile circuit now and although I can see it will get r-e-a-l-l-y b-o-r-i-n-g next week when
I try to drag a tyre for 9 miles a day, 8 days in a row!!!!
then at least I know the distance I will have done.
Part of the circuit includes me yomping up an down a particular slope 3 or 4 times in a row which may not sound much but when it's every 1.75 miles it gets your legs when you get back down to the bottom. Oh how it gets your legs !!
 |
| The slope of doom (ok so maybe that's a LITTLE melodramatic) and there's an even bigger one I do every two miles |
Hopefully though in this packed schedule I will have time to relax and enjoy my new DVD; 'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein', which is a real hark back to my days of youth when I'd watch the Saturday morning matinee on TV which sometimes featured films with Laurel & Hardy, or Jerry Lewis, or Norman Wisdom and some of the old black and white Abbott & Costello films.
I'm not sure precisely what decade that was but I recall it was just before the era of 'Swap Shop' In the mid-late 1970's. Remember that? The stuffed dinosaur 'Posh Paws', Keith Chegwin acting like a demented child after a triple shot of concentrated Red Bull (no change there then), and those bl**dy hideous jumpers Noel Edmonds used to wear that demanded you use sunglasses to watch TV?
So pleased when I discovered Chris Tarrant and Sally James on TISWAS.
Speaking of black and white images of days gone by, my mate Sammi sent me a text last Saturday after several months of radio silence. Presumably she was on her way to some drunken posh party with her mates looking at the photo, probably squiffy already with something she's trying to pass off as champagne. Oh ey ar' Sammi, thas great mayte; a bird from the 'Pool poshing it up : )
Actually you underestimate Sam at your peril; a GREAT commercially-minded Director, a fantastic mother, a bezzie mate to those she cares for and has the capability to make an entire room rock with laughter. She's my notional sister and I'm her 'big bro', offering advice when needed.
She's doomed isn't she. Darn.
- Nipple rash. We now come to the comments about 'rash'. Sunday before last when I did the 4-mile tyre pull, I had the harness a little tighter than usual. OK a LOT tighter than usual (which would probably explain why no blood was getting passed my shoulders and into my arms) and it dawned on me that with every step made the harness scraped on my 'nippular' area. Not in itself a problem because it was only a short drag but it did remind me of the risk of saddle rash we had as we cycled across Cuba.
(Hold on, hold on ... what's a tight harness got to do with the obvious but very different challenge of friction rash when cycling in 85-degree heat on a mountain bike with little suspension ... and is 'nippular' even a word in the Oxford English Dictionary? - Ed)
Sorry about the interruption; as I was about to say the challenge of nipple rash seemed a small but timely point to consider but when I extrapolated the current discomfort by a factor of 20 (given I'll be dragging the sled 20 times further than the 4 miles I was doing) I realised there will be an additional problem over and above frostbite, leg ache and general fatigue.
How will I cope with friction rash in an environment where going for a wee is potentially dangerous to ones appendage let alone having access to areas where cream might be required when you can't leave the area exposed too long for the cream to soak into the skin, not the clothing. At least in Cuba we had time and the weather to allow the cream and affected skin time to gel.
At least while I was thinking about that prospective problem I was enjoying a Sunday night treat ......
 |
| Best gingerbread in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD !!! (and you can buy it on-line too) |
The 'flag' offer - Douglas, one of the other Trek guys, has managed to persuade 2 companies to donate £10 000 EACH to an epilepsy charity if he takes a small flag with their logo on it to the North Pole (and photo's them). Great job Douglas; well impressed !
Now I don't move in those circles but figured maybe companies would be interested in donating £50 to have their logo on a multi-logo flag I'd take. The price? £50. The benefit? Immeasurable AND one company will win the flag when I get back, courtesy of a raffle.
Well the initial interest was encouraging (27 companies all asked for more info) and a few have already paid their donation on-line. I think I need to keep this going as the target would be to raise £5000 this way but I must be sure I can carry the flag given all the other weight in my pulk (that's a sled to you non-Polar adventurers).
If you know of any companies interested please either get them to contact me via e-mail which I'll put in code to avoid SPAMbots picking it up hopefully (it's northpoletrek and that's at ymail dot com), or via Twitter which is @northpoletrek or they can search for the hashtag #ontheflag.
Already had a begging e-mail into my 'npt' email address so I hope the above attempt to conceal it works.
And finally - I've suffered a couple of setbacks with fundraising events in the last 2 weeks and probably found myself in an ever-decreasing circle of trying to fit more things in to an ever-decreasing time as I fight to get anywhere near back on track.
Lots of kind words of support from people and a few notes from charity friends who say they too are struggling with fundraising in these economically challenging times, so I found the cartoon below a beautiful way to summarise my current dilemma; two possible targets, one bullet, which 'opportunity' do you fire at to get the best return and who says either of them will give you a return?
And with that I'm signing off tonight as I have my last couple of evenings of freedom before the big slog starts on Sunday afternoon. If you've got any spare time in daylight hours (or at least between 11am and 4pm) next week then feel free to pop along to Rothwell Park (also known as Springhead Park) and keep me company.
Don't come along (as my work colleagues have suggested) to throw stones and laugh, but also don't come eating cream cakes and crisps either. Think I'd prefer the stones to be honest.
Of course I've got another PT session on Saturday to get through so let's hope I don't pull anything on Saturday !!!!
I have posted on facebook to see if I can get you some £50 for the logo support....
ReplyDeleteBy the way MWC - is Nichole Herbert! I am on my gmail account through one of my part time jobs! just so I could post the comment....
ReplyDelete