The week has brought a few surprises on the gold challenge front.
It started with a swimming lesson in which we started to work on technical aspects of my swimming like "cutting" the water instead of slamming my arm into it! It ended with attempts at tumble turns. Essentially, all I had to do was roll into a ball, do a forward roll type move in the water and end up facing the way that I had just come from. How I ended up sitting on the bottom of the pool I'm not sure!!!
Yesterday I had a PT session to work on my CV to try and shift the last Christmas leftover weight and start the foundation blocks for the tri in June.
I wasn't however expecting what happened next. I came back from the gym to an email from the Sea Cadet Fund Raising team (a lady called Harriet) offering me two tickets to the Gold Challenge Olympic Stadium Event in April. So myself and Mrs L are off to the Olympic stadium............
All appears forgiven in the Lawrence household for me believing Mrs L when she said she "didn't want any thing" for valentines day.
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.
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