Fundraising update…..
It’s been nearly 3 months since I started my AFA (www.afa.org.uk) fundraising campaign and the last few weeks have seen me sowing a significant number of fund raising seeds and making approaches to the people and Companies that I think can help me reach my £10k target. There have been some very pleasing developments as a result of these contacts and I am very happy with progress to date.
I have to admit to being somewhat frustrated at the lack of response at times, although of course I fully appreciate it’s not easy in the current financial climate and fundraising for a charity is even more difficult as we approach Xmas.
I also understand how tight money is for everyone, businesses as well as individuals.
So my challenge for 2012 is to come up with different fundraising efforts that mean I can give something back. Rather than simply accept a donation I would like to give something back in return by maybe doing an event or assisting in other ways. I will be focusing on this a little more next year. I have a few ideas currently ‘on the back burner’, but I will divulge a little more detail once things get finalised. Watch this space though for further details. Look out for a Sportive ride planned for early 2012 – sure to be an extra special ride!
Training Update……………
On the training front last week has been a little easier in terms of volume. It was a recovery week as we prepare to transition into another phase. Over the last week Chris has had me doing lots of tests on each discipline to see where I am at. The volume goes down in terms of hours, but the tests are done at quite a high intensity as if I was racing, so these take quite a lot out of me. Because of my condition I need quite a bit of time to recover after a race, so doing the tests at near race pace is quite tough for me and recovery is not quick. I need to make sure I look after myself by ensuring I rest and recover well, eat properly and stay well hydrated. I find that if become overly tired, or get dehydrated this brings on my AF, so I need to be very careful about that. Chris was feeling nice though and gave me 2 DAYS off last week and one of them was even on a weekend - that is just unheard of. Whilst that was great, the payback will be coming!
I am currently being convinced that Xmas day is a training day and that a run will most likely be scheduled……EEEK! I have never trained on Xmas day, but I am told (by not just Chris) that training on Xmas day has to be done and is good for the soul. I’m up for trying it this year and I’ll let you know if I agree. It will be done early though otherwise I won’t get it done once that first glass of fizz goes down! I’m very dedicated to what I do and my sport, but even I enjoy myself on Xmas day!
I digress - back to the tests……
The results of the tests we do are very important as they will tell Chris & I how the last phase of training has gone. We will know this by comparing the tests done against the ones we did last time, which was 4-6 weeks ago. Over the last week I have done a swim time trial test, a bike time trial test and also a run test. The tests were very positive and I have made some good improvements in all 3 disciplines. I was especially happy with my swim & run tests. I am new to swimming (about 2 years) and only learnt to do the crawl about 2 years ago by teaching myself. So until Chris started coaching me I have never had any swim coaching at all, so it is all new to me. It’s similar with the running. Whilst I have done lots of running in my previous sport football, this is totally different. Up until last year I had never run a 10k in my life! So the results I achieved over this last week are all very encouraging signs for me at this time of year.
Chris always tells me that adaptation to training takes the body about 12 weeks, and once again he is right as it is about 12 weeks into training at this point. In this last week it just feels like everything is clicking into place and I have my Tri Mojo back!
However, by improving and getting better results on the test does have a downside, the training gets harder!!!!! LOL…..I love it really
That’s the 2nd point of the tests - Chris can now plan the training based around the results for the phase we are about to move into and what speeds and intensities I need to be training.
All that said, it’s been a good week on all fronts and it feels like things are really starting to come together.
Martin
