I am an instructor with the Sea Cadets at Worthing Unit and have seen how much the cadets get out of the activities they do. I have also seen how much these activities and all the surrounding admin costs. The sea cadets are a charity, and I felt this was a fantastic way of raising money for Worthing in particular and also to encourage some of the cadets to try something different. If I can do it, so can they!

The gold challenge is based on the sports in the Olympics. Some of these sports I can do with the sea cadets, and I have purposely chosen several of these to illustrate the variety of activities that can be done, whilst also doing something that I think will be fun.

My challenge is to do the following activities.

1. Swim - Learn to swim - again. For those that have seen my swimming style, it has recently been described by Mrs Lawrence as "directional panic in water". DONE

2. Canoe - Learn to canoe. I have canoed in the past, but again this was a long time ago and all the new stuff I have learnt has forced this skill out! DONE

3. Boxing – Learn to box. I needed another sport and someone I work with can train this! DONE

4. Weightlifting – For those that know me, they will know how therapeutic gym time can be for me. This is a great opportunity for me to focus some of my energy on something different in the gym. DONE

5. Triathlon. This is a personal goal, to do a half triathlon. I have never done one and this is the one element that I plan to do in 2012. This will link my swimming and gym work together. DONE

6. Athletics - sprints. I was given the oppertunity to race at the 100m olympic stadium. DONE

7. Wrestling - in the process of doing the Judo section I managed to also cover the wrestling challenge, so it seamed approapraite to include it - DONE

8. Cycling. Take part in a cycle ride or three. I'm training for a triathlon. This incorporates a cycle leg, so why not do a cycle challenge too? DONE

9. 1/2 Marathon. This is similar in theory behind the cycle ride. If I'm doing a triathlon I might as well develop it further and do a half marathon. I'm not expecting to be fast round the course, just finish and not die on the way round would be a bonus. DONE

10. Judo - Try judo. To be perfectly honest, I needed another sport, as its in multitudes of 5, and this was suggested by some one at work. DONE



The challenge is to do them by the end of 2012, but I am aiming to have most of them done by the end of 2011.


Please feel free to add comments of support to this blog, and please sponsor me at - http://www.justgiving.com/alan-lawrence-SCC

Saturday 21 January 2012

I have found a new swimming style!

Firstly, apologise to those of you that do follow this (I know there is a few of you) for not updating my blog since the beginning of January.  I've fallen foul of the cold, dark mornings and the warmth of the duvet, so very little training has happened!

I have however, had another PT session, started circuit training again, continued the swimming and started running outside, so its not all bad! 

This morning was my next swimming session so at half past 9 I was at the swimming pool ready to go.  The progress made so far with the swimming has been fantastic, however this morning I proved that I still have a fair way to go before June when the triathlon is.  This mornings session started really well, with lengths of front crawl happening.  It was then that it was decided to teach me a "new drill".  This was called catch up and essentially I was told to swim normal front crawl, but only have one arm moving at a time, e.g the right arm does a complete stroke, touches the left hand stretched out in front of me, then the left arm does a stroke whilst the right arm stays straight out in front.  This sounds easy, and I should imagine that if you have co-ordination then it is in fact easy.  I have NO co-ordination, so this was highly amusing.  All I had to do was one 25 metre length like this.  I started and then halfway through managed to move my right arm, lean to my left and try to breath on my left side.  I don't know how I managed it, but I managed to twist my body round and find my self kicking whilst lying on my side, before then rotating through the water like a cork screw and ending up on my back looking at the end of the pool I had just left!!!!!  I am naming this the twister stroke!
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Tuesday 3 January 2012

New year resolution time.

So, the festive season has been, making it time to plan the new year and new years resolutions.  Apart from the personal resolutions (lose weight, make more time for family and friends etc)  I've also set some targets linked in with my gold challenge.

1/ To be able to swim 400 metres continuously front crawl (by 1st march 2012).
2/ I've got the judo, triathlon (3rd June) and cycling planned.  I need to plan my rowing and sailing parts as I want to finish this whole challenge with my triathlon. 

Today I had another swimming lesson.  This went okay, with the distance I'm going front crawl extending each time.  I did however nearly wipe out another swimmer when all I had to do was swim in a straight line.  Apparently, my straight line is more like a zig zag across the half of the pool we were using.  I've still got a long way to go before I' like a torpedo underwater, but at least I don't look like I'm drowning now when I try front crawl!
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