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

Monday, 19 September 2011

41 days to go and I still havent run 1/2 the distance I need to!

As the title has hinted, I have just realised that I now have only 41 days until the half marathon.  Had I managed to follow my training plan then this would not be daunting at all, however I lost track of my training and have been concentrating on my swimming.  Now not doing the half marathon is not an option, but I may have to adjust my aim from finishing within 3 hours to just finishing in one piece. This does however leave me with three pre-race options:
1. Continue with the level of training I am doing and just accept that I will get round in my own time and use it as a bench mark for next year.
2. Up my training NOW, forget about weights and swimming and just concentrate on running, risking a recurrence of the dreaded shin splints.
3. Stop running all together, negate the chance of an injury before the race and increase the chance of an injury during the race.

No brainer really, its got to be the first option.  Just got to remember its not a race for me.

For those of you in or around Sussex if you fancy a morning out and laughing at/supporting me then feel free to email me and I'll pass you details of where Team Lawrence Gold Challenge (Mrs L and my parents) will be meeting that morning. 

I'll keep you all updated on how things are going!!!


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