So it's 2013! Congratulations for not dying on December the 21st. Well I'm back to school, meaning back to training and unfortunately, back to jogging. Those of you who read my blog on jogging (thank you for doing so by the way) will know I did not enjoy it, however my coach has warned that my fitness will not be good enough if I don't jog.
EVERY day.
Now I don't mind the odd amble, in fact, I think I can stretch to a walk. Heck, my torment in Duke of Edinburgh shows I can walk when I need to. However...Jogging? Everyday? I don't think so. I thought jogging was for those healthy people who don't actually need to lose weight but claim they do anyway. I thought it was for the fitness fanatics who were probably born with trainers on. But no. Apparently it's "a great way to keep your fitness up". Yes, it's also a great way to destroy both morale and my feet at the same time.
I know, I know. I have to do this. So I just have to get on with it. So please, spare a thought, people of the world, when it rains, or hails or snows or sleets in the United Kingdom, spare a thought for this mad swimmer person that writes that blog that people sometimes stumble over. I'll be jogging folks, in the rain, after school.
Every day.
Monday 14 January 2013
Thursday 8 November 2012
Front Crawl, Back Crawl, or just plain End-Up-Crawling
Now then. I suppose it is time to tell my coach I am struggeling, but then again, it's my fault!!
After every swim I am exhausted and to be honest I am not seeing much of an improvement because after every session, I just want to go to bed! I am pretty sure that this is a very bad sign, but then again, I've never really taken much notice to signs, like when Morrison's had a 'Slippery Floor' sign up, I walked past it and slipped, but that might just be because I'm a little clumsy; I have had some support, people saying 'keep going' and one saying 'drown and I'll give you a fiver' (thanks for that by the way-my History teacher is so kind) but even then I am a little down hearted. The challenge gets closer and closer, a little bit like judgement day. No, not like judgement day, that's too dramatic. Like a day when an important exam is coming up but however hard you have revised you just don't feel ready enough.
The next time someone asks how my training is going, I will try and force a smile, but deep down inside I have a sinking feeling that won't go away, as the title suggests I am lagging behind
I apologise for the shortness of this post, but apart form exams and Grease rehearsals, not a lot is going on!
After every swim I am exhausted and to be honest I am not seeing much of an improvement because after every session, I just want to go to bed! I am pretty sure that this is a very bad sign, but then again, I've never really taken much notice to signs, like when Morrison's had a 'Slippery Floor' sign up, I walked past it and slipped, but that might just be because I'm a little clumsy; I have had some support, people saying 'keep going' and one saying 'drown and I'll give you a fiver' (thanks for that by the way-my History teacher is so kind) but even then I am a little down hearted. The challenge gets closer and closer, a little bit like judgement day. No, not like judgement day, that's too dramatic. Like a day when an important exam is coming up but however hard you have revised you just don't feel ready enough.
The next time someone asks how my training is going, I will try and force a smile, but deep down inside I have a sinking feeling that won't go away, as the title suggests I am lagging behind
I apologise for the shortness of this post, but apart form exams and Grease rehearsals, not a lot is going on!
Tuesday 30 October 2012
The Expedition-A Near Death Experience
As many of you will know, (if you read my last post) I cancelled my training last week in preparation for my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. I needn't have bothered. There was no training on Earth that could have prepared me for that weekend.
I was packed and ready and got up early on the Saturday. We got to the squadron head quarters early and then got on the minibus, the 6 of us were a bit tired but we thought ourselves ready. How wrong we were. Of course Saturday wasn't too bad, we only got lost the once, ending up in a sheep field instead of Keevil, and the public footpath (as was not specified on the map) went straight through a field of cows. I thought cows were docile creatures, but when a person in your group insults them by saying their meat is worth 99p in McDonalds, they charged at us. 5 of us panicked and ducked under barbed wire (successfully) to get into a neighbouring field, but 1 of our group stayed slap bang in the middle of it, nose in the map, she just continued to walk. We were all shouting at her to come back, but she was being, what I call, selectively deaf. The cows amazingly just slowed down and congregated around her, then proceeded to follow her around in a fashion more suited to sheep then cows.
It was Sunday that finished me off however. It was longer then Saturdays journey, it was after a very bad nights sleep in a freezing tent, it was over 2 big hills and it was going through even more fields. This was horrendous. Never in the history of the universe has anyone hated hills as much as I did on that Sunday. The first hill was hell, the second hill was worse. At the top of this hill was our finishing point, it was the steepest and biggest hill and I almost died going up that muddy, slippery slope. I got to the top, met the assessor (our flying Officer) and cried.
I barely survived.
I was packed and ready and got up early on the Saturday. We got to the squadron head quarters early and then got on the minibus, the 6 of us were a bit tired but we thought ourselves ready. How wrong we were. Of course Saturday wasn't too bad, we only got lost the once, ending up in a sheep field instead of Keevil, and the public footpath (as was not specified on the map) went straight through a field of cows. I thought cows were docile creatures, but when a person in your group insults them by saying their meat is worth 99p in McDonalds, they charged at us. 5 of us panicked and ducked under barbed wire (successfully) to get into a neighbouring field, but 1 of our group stayed slap bang in the middle of it, nose in the map, she just continued to walk. We were all shouting at her to come back, but she was being, what I call, selectively deaf. The cows amazingly just slowed down and congregated around her, then proceeded to follow her around in a fashion more suited to sheep then cows.
It was Sunday that finished me off however. It was longer then Saturdays journey, it was after a very bad nights sleep in a freezing tent, it was over 2 big hills and it was going through even more fields. This was horrendous. Never in the history of the universe has anyone hated hills as much as I did on that Sunday. The first hill was hell, the second hill was worse. At the top of this hill was our finishing point, it was the steepest and biggest hill and I almost died going up that muddy, slippery slope. I got to the top, met the assessor (our flying Officer) and cried.
I barely survived.
Saturday 20 October 2012
Expeditions+Me=DISASTER
I have had to cancel training this coming week as I will be doing a small amount of training for my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition on the 27th-28th. And oh my word am I going to suffer. As I said in my last post, I am an Air Cadet and with this organisation I will be undergoing my DofE with 4 other unlucky cadets who are stuck with me, probably the biggest moaner in the history of the universe, as proved by this blog.
I was not with the cadets when some of them did their practise, so some of them are doing their Qualifier, I am doing my practise. Now in their practise, they got lost. And I am talking lost with a capital 'L'. They had their bearings right, their fitness was (apparently) perfect but their observational skills appeared to have been lacking. They had to walk right past two massive radio masts. After 2 hours of extra walking, none had realised the masts were not present in their view. Another hour past and suddenly a light bulb moment caused them to stop and turn back "Radio masts!" and back off they went down the way they had just walked.
I am fairly observational (hopefully) and unlike them, I am glued to my watch (which all of them in their practise forgot to bring) however, my map reading skills are dire and with my feet being used to being flippers rather then feet, I doubt my walking skills are much better. Hence the change in plans, this week I shall not be Swimming for Comic Relief I shall be walking as the Comic Relief of the other Cadets. Hooray.
I was not with the cadets when some of them did their practise, so some of them are doing their Qualifier, I am doing my practise. Now in their practise, they got lost. And I am talking lost with a capital 'L'. They had their bearings right, their fitness was (apparently) perfect but their observational skills appeared to have been lacking. They had to walk right past two massive radio masts. After 2 hours of extra walking, none had realised the masts were not present in their view. Another hour past and suddenly a light bulb moment caused them to stop and turn back "Radio masts!" and back off they went down the way they had just walked.
I am fairly observational (hopefully) and unlike them, I am glued to my watch (which all of them in their practise forgot to bring) however, my map reading skills are dire and with my feet being used to being flippers rather then feet, I doubt my walking skills are much better. Hence the change in plans, this week I shall not be Swimming for Comic Relief I shall be walking as the Comic Relief of the other Cadets. Hooray.
Sunday 7 October 2012
Swimming...but for Air Cadets?!
Once again, I cannot apologise enough to you wonderful people who are bored enough to search the web and find my tiny, quite irritating little blog and find I have not updated it for almost 2 weeks.
In case you have forgotten or are unaware, my challenge is taking over much of my life, and it seems, even in an organisation that was set up for flying, I must swim in it too. I swam for my Air Cadet squadron and won my backstroke race (but it was a close run thing) and then on Saturday I competed for Dorset and Wiltshire. Although I enjoyed meeting other cadets (ok, well some of them) I cannot help but feel disappointed. In my backstroke race I came 4th out of 6th, meaning I am definitely not eligible to swim for the South West, and then in the relay I fear I let my team down with my front crawl, I did quite well, but halfway through a length, something snapped in my leg. It was my knee in fact, and I think I pushed it a little too far, as when I got out of the pool, I had to limp a little to get back to the changing rooms. I would say I am glad that my knee is working perfectly well again, but I feel down that it didn't do well when I needed it too.
So, I am sorry Dorset and Wiltshire because my stupid knee cost our very capable relay team of a place in the regional competition, and although my fellow swimmers were kind, the injury has shaken me quite a bit.
Although this was a set back, think of how miserable I will be if my knee does the same in my actual challenge.
I will have disappointed everyone as I am sure I did in that relay.
In case you have forgotten or are unaware, my challenge is taking over much of my life, and it seems, even in an organisation that was set up for flying, I must swim in it too. I swam for my Air Cadet squadron and won my backstroke race (but it was a close run thing) and then on Saturday I competed for Dorset and Wiltshire. Although I enjoyed meeting other cadets (ok, well some of them) I cannot help but feel disappointed. In my backstroke race I came 4th out of 6th, meaning I am definitely not eligible to swim for the South West, and then in the relay I fear I let my team down with my front crawl, I did quite well, but halfway through a length, something snapped in my leg. It was my knee in fact, and I think I pushed it a little too far, as when I got out of the pool, I had to limp a little to get back to the changing rooms. I would say I am glad that my knee is working perfectly well again, but I feel down that it didn't do well when I needed it too.
So, I am sorry Dorset and Wiltshire because my stupid knee cost our very capable relay team of a place in the regional competition, and although my fellow swimmers were kind, the injury has shaken me quite a bit.
Although this was a set back, think of how miserable I will be if my knee does the same in my actual challenge.
I will have disappointed everyone as I am sure I did in that relay.
Monday 17 September 2012
Inexcusably late...Sorry!
It's astonishing that even now people I see at school everyday are still not aware of my challenge, their reactions are even more amusing, "wow, that's amazing, I couldn't do that" well, actually, yes you could. But it's whether you would. Would you?
The training is non stop, the water appears to be like I have ended up in the Arctic each swim and the jogging, well, you only have to look at my earlier posts to know how I feel about jogging. I get a few words of support, and a few words such as "drown and I'll give you a fiver!" and I get lots of people doubting me, but actually I like doing it.
It makes up for all those times that I have walked past charity collectors and have spent the money I could have given, on myself. I was the person that looked at charities like Children in Need or Oxfam and just said "hasn't got anything to do with me" I am sorry.
I am sorry this is late, I am sorry I ignored charities before and I am sorry that I can't do more for charities. Because now I love doing this, and the question is, would you?
The training is non stop, the water appears to be like I have ended up in the Arctic each swim and the jogging, well, you only have to look at my earlier posts to know how I feel about jogging. I get a few words of support, and a few words such as "drown and I'll give you a fiver!" and I get lots of people doubting me, but actually I like doing it.
It makes up for all those times that I have walked past charity collectors and have spent the money I could have given, on myself. I was the person that looked at charities like Children in Need or Oxfam and just said "hasn't got anything to do with me" I am sorry.
I am sorry this is late, I am sorry I ignored charities before and I am sorry that I can't do more for charities. Because now I love doing this, and the question is, would you?
Tuesday 4 September 2012
Back to Routine
Well, I'm back to school tomorrow, and that means I will have to juggle exams, Grease rehearsals and my training all at once. I'm not looking forward to having to do this balancing act, but it is something I cannot afford not to do.
Thinking about the challenge has lead to more then a few sleepless nights. Next week I will be doing the assemblies (if all goes to plan) and that is just the tip of the iceberg. My training may be doubled when I get back, maybe even tripled. I'm not sure yet as my coach is going to be giving me a time table for my training, hopefully it'll be easier to understand then the revision for maths has been; but I can't expect miracles.
It's dawning on me now, just how big this challenge is. I mean, I always knew it was a mountain, but nobody told me it was a whole mountain range. A few people have had suggestions about making it easier 'why don't you have sharks chasing you?' Well, seeing as I already have my coach doing that, and all the people who know about the challenge doing that, I think sharks would be a break, if I'm honest.
I love the support I have been getting, however, the expectations of these people are unbelievable. At the moment they strongly believe I can do this more then I believe. They believe in me, and that is really difficult sometimes, because I am terrified of letting them down. I am terrified of letting Comic Relief down. I am terrified because this is so hard! But I must soldier on with a smile on my face, because if I let myself be negative for too long, I may turn into a wailing wreck, drowning in my tears of negativity, and seeing I an drowning in a pool any way, that would certainly be counterproductive.
Thinking about the challenge has lead to more then a few sleepless nights. Next week I will be doing the assemblies (if all goes to plan) and that is just the tip of the iceberg. My training may be doubled when I get back, maybe even tripled. I'm not sure yet as my coach is going to be giving me a time table for my training, hopefully it'll be easier to understand then the revision for maths has been; but I can't expect miracles.
It's dawning on me now, just how big this challenge is. I mean, I always knew it was a mountain, but nobody told me it was a whole mountain range. A few people have had suggestions about making it easier 'why don't you have sharks chasing you?' Well, seeing as I already have my coach doing that, and all the people who know about the challenge doing that, I think sharks would be a break, if I'm honest.
I love the support I have been getting, however, the expectations of these people are unbelievable. At the moment they strongly believe I can do this more then I believe. They believe in me, and that is really difficult sometimes, because I am terrified of letting them down. I am terrified of letting Comic Relief down. I am terrified because this is so hard! But I must soldier on with a smile on my face, because if I let myself be negative for too long, I may turn into a wailing wreck, drowning in my tears of negativity, and seeing I an drowning in a pool any way, that would certainly be counterproductive.
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