KERRRCHING!!!!
A good week on the fundraising front!  We raised a fantastic amount from the Rugby Clock Towers Event to add to the already growing total... So once thats been added we will be up to £1422.48!!  But we dont wanna stop there!!! OHHHHH NOOOOOOOO!!!!!  So c'mon people, shed a pound for a good cause and have a guess in my GUESS THE FINISHING TIME competition ;o)
Also HORESTON METALS in Nuneaton have very generously donated £250.00 to cover the cost of a Bike Bag to transport frisky Gerard (Butler haha!) from the UK to Geneva.  BIG THANKYOU GUYS xxx

The video has been edited and "special effected" by our very own Ian "tarantino" Kennedey and ready for public consumption!  A humerous insight into the preparation and training im putting into the Cycle Challenge.....and not forgetting the humiliation!!  Surely thats gotta be worth a £1.00 of anyones money??!!!?? lol!  I would be very grateful for you sharing the video with all your friends!

What a fantastic day we had at the Clocktowers shopping centre at Rugby.  THANKYOU to all the generous people who donated on the day and good luck to all of those who entered the Guess the Finishing TIme Competition!  We have quite a lot of guesses now :D
We had a great day and I think everyone enjoyed meeting Monty Bear.  I managed to cycle 5 hrs non-stop and it was worth the brilliant amount raised towards the charity challnege and ultimately the Nurse Appeal. :D 
The money will be paid into the JUSTGIVING Account by the end of this week so we will have a nice little boost to the total!

Well this week has been quite hilarious as we have decided to do a fundraising video to publicise the Bike Challenge.  My lovely friends Rachel and Ian along with my son spent the day taking pics, being extras and filming increasingly more random clips for the film!
First visit was the gym, moving onto the Village Cycle Centre closely followed by Coventry Myton Hospice.  After this our next port of call was Tesco's and then Steppey Lane for some hill climbing footage!  Finally we took some "domestic scenes" at home to finish off the whole debacle lol! Goodness knows what it will end up like as it is in the hands of Director and Chief Editor Mr. Kennedey! :p
Hopefully all will be complete ready for the first public event at the RUGBY CLOCKTOWERS SHOPPING CENTRE this Saturday - (18th February!)  Please come along if you are in the area and say HI!

Due to a busy week with meetings and the weather still being DIRE the training wasnt as regular as normal..... but what I did do I made COUNT!

Monday
Spinning Class - another Intense spinning session working on Endurance, high cadence and Intervals.  Its hard work but I do enjoy it!  Just dawned on me today that I can wear my SPD's as they have clip in pedals!  This will be a lot better plus I can really concentrate on my pedalling form.  HURRAH!
In the evening I had a sports massage by Nuneaton Sports Injuries which was great!  I am going to try and have one per month - more if I can afford it!  I read a great article on HOW MASSAGE HEALS SORE MUSCLES which was tweeted by COVENTRY RUNNER which tied in very nicely with this!  It is worth spending the money on a massage if you are training hard.

Wednesday
LONG RUN - I had a day off work today as I was taking my daughter to Preston for a Uni Interview so I ran in the morning this week.  And it was COLD!!!!  I could barely feel my face by the time I got home!  But I still managed to do 14 miles at an average pace of 9mins / mile.  I do admit to not feeling as strong as last weeks run and the time reflects it but it would still achieve a sub 2hr Half and I have got to accept that I cannot go at a rate of knots on every single run I do! Especially the long runs otherwise I will end up with an Injury again!  After reading about the benefits of massage and also cold baths after exercise (If its good enough for MEB its good enough for me!) I decided that after long runs I will soak in cold water and then massage my calves to help recovery.  Well you would have died laughing if you saw the performance of me getting in the cold bath!  OH MY GOD!!! It felt painful!  But after hopping back out, once the sensation returned to my legs (LOL!) they did actually feel better!  So I persevered and continued to soak them in the cold water!  Then I massaged the muscles.  Although my legs ached that day I was really suprised and a little bit impressed that the next day my legs felt pretty good actually!  So Im going to continue with this routine.....

SUNDAY
Finally!  I got to ride out with the WHITESTONE WHEELERS!! My first ever club run and i have to say I felt ridiculously excited riding out with a group of "proper" cyclists.  Was a bit nervous to start, the guys looked good with their snazzy kit, carbon bikes and tri-bars!!  But I managed to keep up over a 50 mile route at an average of 15.45 mph and felt really quite pleased!  I will definately be going again! :D  I wonder......does this mean....I am a cyclist?  Maybe the clown on a bike days are behind me.... but then again! :p

The HALF MARATHON competition prizes are all confirmed now so when you make a donation and predict my finishing time the closest guess will win.......First Prize - closest time to the Official Chip time
The Rugby Lions have kindly donated 2 tickets to our Lunch With A Lion events , this consists of a 3 course sit down meal at our home games, with a guest speaker. Previous lunches we have enjoyed the company of Dean Richards, Tim Stimpson, John Bentley and many more, and our balcony makes for fantastic viewing of the game we consider the day as highly enjoyable experience.Runners up ie next closest guesses.....

Second Prize - Coventry Runner have kindly donated a voucher for a pair of NIKE Running shoes

Third Prize - Nuneaton Sports Injuries have kindly donated a FREE MASSAGE or INJURY CONSULTATION 
I cannot thank the companies enough who have donated these fantastic prizes ..... THANKYOU!!!So get GUESSING FOLKS!!  For all the details please see our competition page "GUESS THE FINISHING TIME"

This week has been a fantastic fundraising week!  A local company www.showerdoorrollers.co.uk has made a massive donation which covers the "cost" element of the challenge along with a significant donation to the Myton Hospices.  So now every penny that is donated will go directly to Myton :)
Along with that I have had several individual donations and we are getting a few entries into the "Guess the finishing time" competition!

GREAT WEEK!!!

Still pressing on with the training and gradually increasing the mileage in preparation for the Half and Full Marathon.
Mon:
Spinning Session on the bike, this is great for working on pedaling form, high cadence and interval session to really build up endurance.
Then I went into the gym and did a "legs" session including squats, lunges, leg press, hamstring curls, calf raises which were all high reps and short recoveries to maximise muscle endurance.

Tues:
Intervals on the treadmill - 4 x 1 mile repeats with 5 min recovery.  FIrst few intervals I managed at 7:15-7:30 mins per mile...but gradually got slower!!  I was pleased though with maintaining the pace over the mile :)  Intervals are hard work but already I can feel them paying off :)

Weds:
Spinning again!  

Thurs:
Took the bus again to work so I could run home!  I have to say had I not HAD to run to get home I think i would have talked myself out of it!  The weather was cold and I didnt feel very energetic!  BUt IM glad I did run as once going I felt flipping great and did a bit "extra" , just over 13.5 miles in 2hrs 57secs!  an average pace of 9:50 mile / min and I was very pleased!!

Sat:
A six mile tempo run at 8:23min/mile

Sunday was horrendous snow and therefore the club ride with my new cycling club was cancelled.  GUTTED!!  So instead I went to a local country park with my friend Ian and took video and pics of me running and biking in the snow for my new ingenious idea of a promotional video lol!!

Stepping up the training a bit this week in frequency and feeling
pretty good about it too!
Monday
15 mins of 1 min intervals / 1 min recovery on the bike and then the rower followed by an upper body strength workout including Chest Press, Lat Pull downs, Shoulder Press, Pecs, Rear Delts, Bicep curls and tricep extensions.

Tuesday
6 x 1km Intervals at 4.5-5min/km (7.5-8min/mile) pace with a 5 min recovery period between each one.  Worked really hard and on the middle couple of intervals really found my rhythm and felt bloody brilliant!!  One day Ill run like this over distance ;o)

 Wednesday:
 Spinning Class – a high energy interval session on a spinning bike gradually increasing the resistacne throughout the workout.  Great thighburner!

 Thursday:
Today I caught the bus to work so I could RUN HOME!! I did 9.5 miles in 1:24mins so an average of 8:50min/mile and considering it was a “comfortable” run I was quite pleased with the timing.

 Friday:
Cycled to work and back – direct route both ways felt quite good on the way there at 35mins but a bit slower on the way home, although the weather was a bit pants by then lol!

Saturday:
Longish cycle ride while distributing posters!!  Did just shy of 40 miles and by the nature of the ride it was a bit stop and start but I enjoyed the ride out! I also took a pit stop at COVENTRY RUNNER where I got myself a new pair of trainers plus they very kindly donated a voucher for a pair of trainers for the “Guess the finishing time” competition.

 Sunday:
 REST!
 
I am uploading all my training onto FETCHEVERYONE as it neatly combines my schedule and training altogether which is good for a quick overview.  Although when I upload a few days training it posts the lot to facebook / twitter and makes it look like Im a training  FREAK!