Countdown

It's all getting a bit close now.  I was interviewed by the local paper, 'The Lancashire Evening Post' last week.  While I wanted to publicise the event so that I could hopefully influence a few more people to donate, it also adds to the pressure.  Underneath it all is a fear of failure - what if it all goes disastrously wrong?  Anyway, I'm well past the point of commitment, so it's now down to me to give it my best shot.  Just over two weeks to go, and final preparations are underway.  I've got my diet plan from Helen Walker, my bikes are being serviced and I've tested all the the equipment I intend to use.  I'm still learning though.  A 15 mile Nordic walk in very wet conditions on Saturday showed me that my blister protection needs a bit more work!  (A simple wrinkle in my sock, coupled with soaking wet shoes caused a blister on my heel, which I didn't attend to quickly enough).  I've done a couple of small events recently, (The Coniston 3.8km swim and a 52 mile sportive on closed roads in Manchester).  I've felt fine on these, with a feeling that there is more in the tank, but I'm still daunted by the distances that I'm going to have to cover each day for two weeks.  The only way to find out is to do it, I guess!

The Kite Runner

If you want to know why the work of Right To Play is so important, (and you like a good story!) get a hold of a copy of the film/book 'The Kite Runner'.  A very moving tale, which graphically shows what happens to children as a consequence of war, and how play is closely linked to culture, friendship and loyalty.  Find out more about Right to Play at http://www.righttoplay.com/uk/about-us/Pages/mission.aspx


Help me raise £20000  for Right to Play!  http://www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock

Looking for feedback

Has anyone tried either of the following products, especially for recovery purposes?

Cherry Active - a cherry flavoured cordial that is supposed to aid recovery

Nocte - an SIS product, again supposed to aid recovery, especially for stopping that leg twitching thing you get after endurance events due to the imbalance in minerals

Please post up any experiences you have of using either of these.  Thanks

Redemption (of sorts)

So, in an attempt to get things back on track I set myself the target of doing double Ironman distance for the swim and bike disciplines over the weekend.  And not to shabby an effort, given the abysmal training effort in April.  My reasons for doing this were really just to test my commitment and also to have a bit of a test run at doing long back-to-back sessions.  The swim went OK, felt hard towards the end but it's helped me get some clarity on how to approach the main event, especially nutrition and rest periods.  The next day I did a hilly 91 mile ride with 3 friends.  The first two hours were really hard, just couldn't get my legs moving, but after that I seemed to get going.  On the Sunday, I awoke feeling a bit heavy-legged, but went out with a larger group from Tri Preston on a 104 mile flat ride.  I was quite surprised at how good this felt, as I was worried that I might bonk at some point then not be able to move!  Monday, finished off the balance of 224 miles with a short lap circuit that I might use for the Deca.  Then a very short walk, just to see how it felt to do the third discipline after three long sets (followed up with a 10K walk the day after).  So, the plus points are I feel a re-motivated, there does seem to be some endurance/stamina in my body despite the poor efforts in April, and the nutrition strategies provided by Helen Walker seem to be working well.  Minuses?  Well, I need to do over 5 times the distance in about half the time!  Mummy!

A duffer's guide

As I pick myself up from my malaise brought about by a poor month of training, I've coincidentally just finished reading 'French Revolutions' by Tim Moore.  It's a very funny account of one man's attempt to cycle the Tour de France route, with only minimal training and very basic knowledge of cycling.  He sort of achieves his aim too, (with the odd detour), so it just shows what you can achieve with mental strength, if your goal is clear enough and your desire is strong.  Maybe there is hope for me yet....

The pressure is on

Well, a dismal April in terms of training.  Not able to follow my plan and not doing much to compensate.  Again, I could put forward a variety of reasons (or excuses) but who would I be fooling?  The fact is that I haven't done anywhere near the amount of training I intended to do.  I've let some the self-imposed pressure get to me and as I go more and more public with my challenge, I've let the enormity of it overwhelm me.  Instead of focusing on the things I can do, I've been spending more time worrying about what I'm not doing and it's been getting me down.  So with just over 8 weeks to go, I'm redoubling my efforts and starting to re-organise when and how I do my training.  (Some of the longer sessions are proving hard to fit around work).  I also want to put in a few 'test' sessions in May, to acts as convincers that I can do this thing.  On the plus side I've been really amazed at how many people have been willing to help me, by offering there services or donating to my Just Giving page http://www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock.  


I'll post up more soon, but I need to get some training in and return to a more positive state of mind!  Right now I feel like apologising to all those people who have put their faith in me.

Big thanks

Since going public with my quest to raise £20k for Right to Play, money and sponsors have already started to commit to the big adventure.  Thanks to all the following:


Mike Barber and colleagues at NRL  http://www.nrl.co.uk/
Paul Concannon at Elysian Training  http://www.elysiantraining.com/welcome.html
Carolyn Blunt at Real Results Training  http://www.real-results.co.uk/
Liz Couchman at Alex Merlin  http://alexmerlin.co.uk/
Anthony Clarke at Design Force  http://www.designforce.co.uk/

Thanks for your support and your generosity.  It keeps me motivated to train!


If you would like to make a donation you can do so at http://www.justgiving.com/Miles-Peacock