75 Days to go… Challenge Nutrition

During the challenge we get provided with breakfast before we start, and breakfast after we finish. The rest of the food is up to us to supply. Given that we are going to be walking for approximately 14 hours within the 24 hour challenge, and in a packed mini bus for the other 10 hours finding nutritious, yet easy food is going to be another challenge altogether.

Suggestions so far have included; living off Kendal Mint Cake for the weekend (thanks Oli! Can we send you our dentist bills!?), pre made sarnies, cold pasta salad, and those horribly disgusting (as Carrie found out) sports energy sources. Claire however spotted these while we were shopping in Cotswolds.

The theory is, that you need no electricity, no pot, no camp stove, just what is provided in this packet – you put the silver foil packet, containing the ‘food’ into the nifty orange heating package, and you add the water (provided in a little sachet) to that. Then seal, with the sticky tape, also provided, and wait 15mins while somehow it magically heats up your food…. Hmmmmm… dubious.

Nevertheless Carrie and Claire have stocked up. Claire with just enough for the challenge, with the theory that when she’s desperate she’ll eat anything and Carrie with one extra to test out, with the theory that she’d rather starve than eat something as disgusting as those sports bars she tried!

THE RESULTS:

THE VERDICT:

While the bits of meat in the ‘All Day Breakfast’ variety were definitely unidentifiable (she feed them to Chris!) the meal was in fact hot (well, warmish) and edible, probably more so when you are cold and hungry having just climbed a mountain (or three!)…
Still I think I’ll through a couple of packets of jaffa cakes in my rucksack, and a supply of jelly babies, which my 3 Peaks handbook actually recommends! Honest.

83 Days to go... A 26 mile test hike

The Cheltenham Circular Challenge is an annual event hosted by The Cheltenham Cleve Vale Rotary Club. The circular course consists of four sections that you can choose to do either individually for attempt the Marathon - all four sections back to back, giving you a route just over 26 miles.

A PERFECT EVENT! I thought, for my 3 Peaks Training plan, and a good opportunity to test out some of my new outdoor kit.

Despite a shocking weather forecast, Sunday morning Mark, Helen and I set out bright and (too) early to enjoy a fantastic day in the Gloucester countryside. I was equipped with a new rucksack , new super duper comfortable insoles, new socks and an array of high energy sports foods to test out.

Overall it was a positive day - I am glad to report that I CAN walk 26 miles, which is the approximate distance of the 3 Peaks - now I just need to add some more substantial peaks to the mix. As far as my new kit went, my rucksack and socks passed the test -although I do have a few chaffing issues to sort out between the waist band of the rucksack and the top of my trousers. The insoles and the sports nutrition both failed - the insoles in spectacular style - leaving the sides of my feet with blisters - somewhere I have never had blisters before! I even resorted to switching back to my old insoles 3/4 way through and found them far more comfortable, despite their age. The only positive of this is that my (expensive) new insoles came with a 60 day comfort guarantee - so I can look forward to getting my money back!

87 Days to go... Overcoming Running

Ok, you've probably heard me admit before that I have a strong dislike for running. But given the distinct lack hours in my day for ‘walking training’ I figure if I can overcome this dislike then running regularly will definite benefit my 3 Peaks training regime.

So, I’ve come up with a plan…’Carrie’s Casual Monday Night Runs’.

Come run with me on Monday nights and encourage me to keep running. Every Monday night I’ll find a different route through a different London Park.

So if you are like me need others around to keep you running, or if you enjoy running and you’d like to support me in my 3 Peaks Training, come along. Details each week on our Facebook group or email me for details.

91 Days to go... Treating my Parents to a Lovely Walk in the Countryside

My parents are over from New Zealand at the moment so I’ve just spent a long weekend with them. Since they lived in London when they were in their 20s, I figured they didn’t really need to do all the typical touristy things, so I planned a day trip out to Henley-on-Thames. I used to live and work out there, so was keen to show them around, plus a lovely walk in the countryside would fit in quite well with my training plan… Shame that they took ‘a lovely walk in the countryside’ to mean about 4 miles less than I meant!

It started out well, with a lovely amble up the River Thames, alongside the world famous Henley Royal Regatta course. After crossing Hambledon Lock, we headed into the fields, visiting briefly the quaint village of Hambledon, where all the locals turned out to greet us – or maybe it was the wedding in the old church they were hanging out for! From Hambledon we headed up into the Great Woods above the village, which were supposed to offer lovely views of the river and surrounding valley, but I suspect the author did the walk in winter when there were a few less leaves on the trees, as we only caught glimpses. Out of the woods we wandered along quiet country lanes admiring the country houses of the Oxfordshire elite and even spotted a polo match going on. Despite having walked 10miles Chris and my parents did agree it was a lovely day, and we were reward with both lovely views and weather. They have just all sworn not to let me lead them on ‘a lovely walk in the countryside again’!

95 Days to go... To Train, but not to Train

Those of you that know me well will know (and those that don’t yet will learn…) that I don’t do things by halves - it’s either ALL or NOTHING with me, and getting myself in shape for this this challenge will be no different…

As I no longer belong to a gym (they just don’t inspire me, and I never seem to be able to do more than about a 3 month stint, before I start to get bored and regret the money its costing me NOT to go!) and I also have a fair dislike of running (hence I’ve never signed up for a marathon!) I’ve needed to devise a training plan that I’m going to enjoy sticking to… My philosophy is to engage in as many enjoyable energetic activities as possible, and not to look at them as 'training'. That way I figure I’ll enjoy getting fit and it won’t seem such a task!

So, three weeks in, this is what I’ve been up to…

• 15km of Dragon Boating (with Thames Dragons)
• 14 miles hiking in the Lake District, covering 4 peaks and 3160m in elevation (with Backabush Xplorers)
• 6 hours of Rock Climbing
• 9 miles jogging (even though I hate it, I take the train to a station further away and run home through the park – that way I have motivation to keep running, or else it’ll take me longer to get home)
• A morning of kayaking and afternoon of walking on the South Coast (with MountainTrax)
• 1 days diving in Brighton (with LSD)

That’s on top of the obligatory step climbing daily (London substitution for mountains!) and my 4 mile walk to and from work each day.

And since I’m trying to get my body in tip top shape through all this activeness, I figure there’s it’d be counter productive to feed my body crap, so I have given up caffeine and alcohol while I train.

96 Days to go... Fundraising Update

WOW! Our fundraising has really jumped up this week – mostly thanks to Claire’s work mates. Cheers Guys!

Thanks to all this weeks sponsors…
Kevin C, Fiona, Andy Constable, Jayne Hemingway, Dade Freeman, Jonathan Tuttle, Steve Yianni, Chris Weller, Michelle Spratt, Pete Li, Debs, David McLoughlin, Martin Tiller, Nigel Baker, Maria Vitelli, Stephanie Holm, Jerry England, Tom Mullins and Stephen.

Fundraising Total = £420

103 Days to go... and Sponsorship begins!

Our personal justgiving sites have taken their first donations!!

(see links to the right if you would like to donate too)

Special thanks to our very first sponsors….
Chris H, Sarah Palmer and Andy Tappern

Fundraising Total = £50