Triathlon done, Cycling done. Challenge almost done!!!!

Yesterday was judgement day for the final challenge of my gold challenge.

  The day started with an early start, 0430 so my dog could have a walk.  Myself, Mrs L and my mum then went to the triathlon.  I started my race in the pool with the swimming section.  Previous to this I had never done 400 metres one off without stopping and my aim was 100m front crawl and the rest breast stroke.  So off I started after having my race number written on my arm and hand in permanent marker.   I'm not quite sure why my arm and hand had to have my race number on, and the best idea I could come up with was in case my hand fell off, they would know whose hand it was.  My swim time was longer then I thought, but was a mixture of front crawl and breast stroke and I came in at under 20 minutes.  So I'm happy! 
  Off I went for the bike section.  Now I have been told that there was a hill at the start of this particular triathlon.  I think it was more a mountain!!!!  The hill kept going and going and seamed to go on for ever.  Once at the top though I got into my stride and off I went.  My ride time was good, although I did have a close encounter with a lorry on the home straight.  The first thing through my mind - great I beat the hill now I'm gonna be squashed by a lorry! 
  The run section was hard.  I always knew the bike section would be a strength and the swim my weakness, but hadn't given the run section as much respect as it deserved!  3 miles after a swim and bike was hard to say the least and took me a little over half an hour. 

  My whole race time was 1hr 55 minutes.  This was a whole 35 minutes less then what I would have been happy with!  I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and persevered when I could have given up.  The training for this covered my triathlon section of the Gold Challenge and the bike part was what was needed to finish the cycling section of my challenge. 
That's all 10 challenges done now.  I still however have a video to make with a martial arts instructor that was promised if my sponsors got me to £600.  Now I'm at over £1200 I suppose I better do it!!!!

CLICK FOR PHOTOS

Less then 12 hours to go now.....

The start times are out, the kit bag is packed (for the 8th time!) and the day is planned.  Tomorrow is triathlon day!

Now I know I have put the training in and built up to it, but in 12 hours time I will be lining up to start my final challenge, the Arundel Triathlon, and if all things go to plan in 14 1/2 hours time (or there abouts) it will all be over apart from the filming I promised of me and a black belt if I reached £600. 

Wish me luck..............

I'm not sure if I'm nervous or excited!

This week so far has given me some good news and some not so good news as far as my challenge prep goes.  Firstly the good news, the muscle in my ribs that I pulled has got better, Hurrahh!  This however leads to the bad news, I haven't really trained this week due to the healing process of that pulled muscle!  On top of that I have also lost my favourite sports bottle.  I know its only a bottle and I have about 5 others, but it was my favourite one.  I'm not superstitious but if I was this would have been classed as my lucky water bottle! Not happy.

I've taken this time to make sure I am prepared for the weekend ahead.  With 5 days to go I have packed my kit back twice (just in case I had forgotten to pack something the first time round!)  Sorted the logistics of how Team Lawrence will get to the venue as I have supporters coming, and read the instructions several times to make sure I know where I have to be and when, and checked my kit as I packed it.  Things were going well until Mrs L asked who I was going to get my bike to the race.  Off I went to buy a bike rack for the car and after 30 minutes of fighting with the rack, it finally fits the car!!

Its strange really, I'm nervous but also REALLY excited.  As with the half marathon, I'm not aiming to be fast round the course, just make it round in one piece. 

I'm off to repack my bag now, just in case I forgot something the second time I packed it!

Pre race nervous start a bit early - Like 2 weeks early!!!

Things this week have been a bit busy, with a swim session, bike session and a martial arts session during the week.  This was coupled with a huge push for sponsorship that has seen me raise my total to OVER £1200.  This is all thanks to every one that has sponsored me and to a company for matching my total raised.

In two weeks time I will have completed my triathlon and as such finished my gold challenge.

I was told with the triathlon that it would be normal to have some pre-race nerves - and having suffered with nerves before my half marathon I thought it would follow the same sort of time frame and I would get nervous two days before.  I have just checked the website http://www.rawenergypursuits.co.uk/events/arundel-triathlon/  and the race instructions are now there.  All of a sudden this has all become a little bit real, and I cant help but hope that I have done enough for this.  I have decided that I want to come in between 2 1/2 and 3 hours, but I am aiming for the lower end!  With 400m swim, 12 mile bike ride and 3 mile run I feel this is achievable - just got to control the nerves now for two weeks!!!!!

  Mrs L is in the process of arranging a post race meal with some Friends and family, but has threatened to cancel that unless I shut up about how nervous I am getting.  Kind of like parents threaten to cancel Christmas and birthdays if there children play up - or was that just my mum and dad that done that!!

A boost for sponsorship and a HUGE swimming mile stone

I now have less then a month until my triathlon.  The bike section is taking care of itself so I thought I would concentrate on my swimming and trying to raise the last £80 or so to reach my £600 sponsorship.

So, firstly I decided to try and create an incentive for people to sponsor me.  Having just gained a red belt in a martial art I thought it would be a novel idea to spar with the lead instructor at the club should I get to my £600 target AND VIDEO IT!!!!  All of a sudden people started to sponsor me as soon as I had emailed/facebooked this idea.  I don't know whether to be happy that I am being sponsored or slightly worried that even people I don't know are sponsoring me in an effort to see me get a bit of a shoeing!!!!

Today I also had another swimming lesson.  I have my triathlon swimming "tactical" plan drawn, essentially its going to be some front crawl and some breast stroke, but if I can do it all front crawl then that will be such a high.  Today for me gave me a taste of that high.  I was swimming along, nice and calm when the instructor made an observation about my swimming style and how tense it looked, just as a triathlete over took me.  I can only describe his swimming style as what I would imagine Flipper to look like if it had been electrocuted.  Now on my next length I relaxed and every thing just seamed to fall into place, and I left the other guy standing (or should that be floating!)  I'm not for one moment suggesting that I am the worlds best swimmer or that I can beat any triathlete, but this guy has done a triathlon or three and open water swims and I was faster then him!!!! 

So a red belt in a martial art doesn't make me a ninja, but it is a step closer!

I've made a slight change to my sports this week.  Over the past month or so I've started to do a martial art, which included elements of Judo that covered my Judo challenge.  On reviewing it, it also covered the wrestling element as well, so I swapped sailing for wrestling.

Today was grading day for someone else at the club who was going for their brown belt.  Never one to turn down the opportunity to do some training I went along to Spar with them.  What I didn't realise was that I was also being graded and now I am a Red belt!  Now although I am hugely chuffed with this I have learnt another one of my life lessons - namely it is possible for your elbows to ache!  After wrestling, grappling, stick work and boxing my elbows ache, but its a good ache! 

So, now whats left I hear you ask.  All I have now is my triathlon (3 weeks away!) and my cycling.  My plan is to have the cycling done within the next 3 weeks and to finish with the triathlon.  Photos will be following soon, and a full update on today when I can type a bit better without it feeling like my elbows will fall off!!!!!

A swimming mile stone, a punch in the face and ,lifes lessons

I had another break through today with my swimming - I have managed 400m front crawl.  Now, lets put this into perspective, this time last year I could do 3 metres front crawl and really didn't like the water!  I know it took me 28 minutes to do the 400m today, but I now know I can do it, I just need to now build on my endurance and have less breaks between lengths! 

After the swimming I decided to go and train with a local group that do a Martial arts session on a Thursday (its the same instructor as done my boxing challenge)  I thought this would help prep me for the judo section and also work on my CV.  Now the best way of describing the Martial Arts that this group cover is mixed Martial arts.  We done boxing and a variety of other disciplines that I really don't remember the name of and incorporated some Thai Boxing.  Now, this boxing/Thai boxing gave me one of those life lessons you can only learn the hard way.  We were sparring and I was with an instructor, remember now that I am the least experienced of the group, when I managed to punch him.  I was so happy with my self that I then forgot to put my guard back up BANG, a light punch in the face!  I couldn't quite work out why I had been hit, and in the next round again I finally got a punch on the instructor, working out what had happened last time I thought I would close the gap between us immediately to stop the punch from being swung.  THWACK - I ran into his glove and had again forgotten to put my guard up.  At this point I still couldn't work out why I had been hit, so I decided that the most effective way of making sure I didn't get hit was to keep throwing punches, working on the theory that if they were blocking punches then they couldn't throw them at me.  1 minute of continuous punching is a long time, and all that happened was that I got tired about 30 seconds in and then got punched in the face again as I had forgotten my guard!  Life's lesson = don't take up boxing and remember my guard!  This was re enforced when we were Shadow boxing and I fell over!  

An hour after telling Mrs L what had happened, she has finally stopped pointing at me and laughing!

My legs now hurt from effectively 2 1/4 hours of training today!

Count down to the triathlon - 54 Days to go!

  With Easter over and the eggs eaten I thought today would be a good time to start the serious training for the triathlon.  I have been doing some training before but kind of lost focus on it.  Off myself and Mrs L went to the local pool. 

  I haven't been swimming for one reason or another for about a week now, and did it show!  I know that the swim section isn't going to be my strong area, but I couldn't manage 400m front crawl today, and there is only 54 days left!! This seams a lot of time, but when you start incorporating rest days into that period and dates that I'm away, its not that long at all.    Guess that's where I will be for most mornings then! 

  On a separate note, the photos from the Gold Challenge 100m races are online now, I've ordered mine and as soon as I have them they will appear on here. 

Olympic d-day!

Sunday saw myself and Mrs L visit the Olympic Stadium in London as part of the gold challenge day and I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to be one of the first people to race on the 100m track.  This was a money can't buy opportunity and led to a really great day.  I think I came 4th out of 9, I'm just waiting for the official timings to confirm it.   And the best bit?  The guy in the rhino outfit didn't beat me!!!!

This was challenge 6 of 10 and is going to replace the rowing section, but if I get a chance then the rowing will make a guest appearance. 

Start of challenge 6, and planning for challenge 7!

With the weather improving and the traithlon a short time away (2 and a half months!!) I decided a few days ago that it was time to step up my training so out came the bike. Now I thought I would maximise my time with my triathlon training and also cover my cycling section whilst training.  For the first outing (but not on my new bike!) I covered 6 miles in 20 minutes.  I've got to aim for 12 miles after a swim, but I dont think thats a bad start and has also placed me 6 miles into the 50 miles I have to cover for the cycling section.

 With only 3 days until my 100 metre "olympic" sprint debut I'm planning on a few chill days now in prep.  Maybe a few swimms but not much else.

Pre - Judo session

I'm on leave this week so thought I would take my mind off things and start to focus again on my outstanding gold challenges, with my triathlon training starting in earnest next Wednesday.  So I thought I would go and try a martial arts session, before the Judo task starts soon.  This session was taken by the same instructor that done the boxing with me, and last nights session there were 6 of us of varying abilities.

We started the evening with some shadow boxing, and then moved on to some  boxing with kicks before moving onto ground moves and then onto knife defence with a little 1:1 work with what I can only call play fighting (though I am sure there is a proper name for it) in the middle. This was really enjoyable and was one of the hardest PT sessions I have done in a long time.  I did however learn several lessons last night, and not just the technical skills, but the kind of lessons you can't be taught:
1/ Trying to train with a younger person that was apparently made out of plasticine as he was so bendy and wiry there was no way of getting hold of him is impossible.
2/ Doesn't matter how strong you are, when one of the instructors catches you in the head with his foot (it wasn't a kick, he was trying to move from a position and I got my head in the way trying to stop him) it hurts and dazes you a bit!


Even though I ache today (with a gym session booked for this afternoon!) it was good fun. 

Running at the Olympic Stadium!!

  Had some good news today that really surprised me.  In a nut shell I have been chosen, with one other adult, to represent Sea Cadets in some Charity 100 metre races at the Olympic Stadium on the 1st April.  There will be Representatives from all the charities and we race each other.  This is a great honour as it means that not just am I representing sea cadets but I'm also going to be one of the first to race on the Olympic 100m Track..  Now, that is in my opinion quite cool, but has got me thinking.

  I'm going to be running in front of LOADS of people, and racing potentially people dressed up for there charities.  Now this has given me some food for thought, and I am starting to get more then a bit worried about the possibility of getting beaten by a dude dressed as a rhino.  I don't think I would live that down so I might have to do some cheeky 100m runs before hand!

  Mrs L is coming along so there will be photos in due course.  30 days to go!

Advancments in swimming and a huge olympic surprise.

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 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!

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!