Saturday November 29, 2008

Well hello there, long time no see.

Well I guess that should be long time no hear really cause you can't really see me can you? Then again, you can't really hear me either, oh well, I'll just leave it at hello.

Since our last rendezvous, a lot of stuff has been happening. Michael and I have progressed with our training and taken it to the next level, quite literally actually, you'll soon see what I mean. After the last challenge, the Half Marathon, Michael decided that for the next month or so we will be focusing our efforts on the insurmountable task of hills. Running up them, struggling up them and any other things that test your stamina and fatigue, up them.

Hill training is an essential part of the process when preparing for any type of long distance run. As a whole, it becomes a crucial workout for your leg muscles, breathing practice techniques and general fitness.


Our first attempt lasted for forty minutes, this duration was chosen as a good opportunity to fit in a painful three and a half miles in such a short space of time. Therefore, concentrating on my stamina and willpower, enabling my leg and calve muscles to familiarise themselves with the fatigue and pain that each steep terrain was giving me.

We trained around Alexandra Palace which is known for its fair share of steep hills. If I didn't know that fact before, believe me I sure do now. Our last few training sessions were based just outside the palace venue itself. Michael had devised a one and a half mile circuit that would include the following: a run down a concrete steep hill, winding round to a concrete flat surface, leading into a graveled track which led to a wooded entrance, continuation of the cinder path through the woods, back onto the final very steep concrete hill. This final hill seemed to last for about half a mile or so and also seemed to behave like a gremlin straight from the movie Gremlins. It seemed, no matter how far up you went, the hill just multiplied in distance and kept stretching itself further and further out in front of you. As far as I am aware, I have never had the great honor of feeding it after midnight or allowing it to get wet or for that matter, giving no permission for any bright light to be reflected on its surface, neither had Michael. We had the sun but if that's Mother Nature's way of testing us then, I have to say that frankly it's not very fair.

The circuit took us approximately sixteen minutes to complete. We repeated this hard endurance test three times, all the while my legs though tired and disorientated at first, were slowly adapting to the conditions which they were enduring. The following week saw Michael and I put in for a repeat prescription of the beloved circuit. This time around though it was going to be slightly different as we put ourselves to the test and accomplished our hill mission four times. Four times the pain, four times the tiredness, four times the panicky loss of breath but also four times the strong will which I had discovered I had in abundance.

Unfortunately due to illness ( #OOPS# bronchitis) or as my girlfriend would say (" #OOPS# cold"), we have had to postpone a couple of training sessions.

However, I now feel a little better, not brilliant but ready as I can be to take on my next challenge. My next goal is to complete a circuit of Paris including confronting an extremely steep hill up to the Sacre Coeur and climbing up the public allowed seven hundred, yes that's right seven hundred steps of the majestic Paris landmark which is the Eiffel Tower.

A few of us are traveling to Paris via Eurostar on Sunday 30th November. The experience will be filmed, lived and definitely to one to remember. I'll let you know whether or not we succeeded with our challenge in the next blog.

Wish me luck!

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