Just a quick note to say a massive thankyou to everyone that supported the Tour de Sucre. (I would have loved to have replied to all your texts but was finding it hard avoid HGV’s on the A5 when on the phone.)

We left at 0830 on Friday morning, (after I had explained to the small group of school children that had turned up to see us leave exactly what and why we were doing what we were doing).and headed up to North Wales.

Finding our way out of London was a little trickier than I gad envisaged but we made it eventually on to the A5.

And the A5 was to be our friend for the next 200 odd miles!

It is useful to know that I had never cycled more than 85 miles in a day and that I had never done more than 14 hours physical exercise in a day (this was a long day on a farm in hay season!) so this was very much a journey into the unknown for me.

I will be honest and say that at about 130 miles I thought I might have bitten off a bit more than I could chew. Whilst Tom was feeling pretty strong, he regularly does a 112 mile cycle as part of his ironman training, I was beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion, feeling very weak and sick. It was also incredibly hard mentally (we did pretty much 19 hours on a bike) and this gives you plenty of time to think!

We would cycle 10 miles (this later went down to 7 miles) and then meet up for 3-5 mins with the support vehicle. (My brother, Si Limpus, and Hamish Reid being the amazing support team) They would make us soup, rice cakes and humous, quinoa etc. (no chocolate (refined sugar) on this trip!) and offer comedy to raise sprits. (Hamish even got me to laugh after 150 miles I will never know)

However the main challenge towards the end was sheer fatigue and mental exhaustion. I realized at this point the power of the spirit over the body. When we came into the last fifty miles I suddenly found more energy, something I really didn’t think was there, and the same would happen whenever the right song would come in to my ipod) It was a fascinating insight into depth of physical and mental reserves.

You also learn exactly what motivates you. I can honestly say that my main motivation was to be an lead by example all the people I support through there own battles to better health and fitness. I knew that the pain I was experiencing and the mental torment was just a more acute version of what all my clients go through in order to achieve their goals. Doing this means I can do my job even better since I am going through what we all do everyday in our everyday lives. I was also aware that the pain I was experiencing was merely temporary where as the pain that many children suffer from with Liver damage can be permanent or even fatal.

We arrived in Nant Perris at 3:45 am on the Saturday morning. The last hour was cycled in pouring rain but we had made it.

We ate for about 30 mins in the car before getting 4 hours sleep in the van.

We registered for the marathon and then had a fry up, without baked beans – (which have sugar in them.)

My fitness test for the marathon was to see if I could jog – I had no idea that morning if I could walk after the cycle. Fortunately I could, so spirits were high.

As I started the marathon I felt as though I had succeeded in just getting to the start line so the first five miles really did feel like a party.

As the miles built up the fatigue came again 26.2 miles really doesn’t feel that far when you have already done a fairly large warm up. .

The other bonus was that the hills I had run three weeks previously on the Longmynd Hike, were perfect preparation for the Snowdonia marathon, so it wasn’t such a shock.

We finished the marathon in 4hrs 25 mins. Hamish and Tom setting a great pace to drag me round in one piece!

If anyone wants to still sponsor us it would be great to reach £1000 for the liver transplant ward at Kings. (see link below)

www.tourdesucre.co.uk   - (go to the donate page)

The tour has been a massive success, inspiring others to push themselves, raising money for the liver transplant ward at King’s College Hospital and raising awareness about the dangers of excessive refined sugar and what is possibly from an athletic point of view without it. I also mamanged to NOT kill myself in the process which is a bonus. 

A special thanks goes out to

All those people that sponsored us, you will get something individually, 

Anna John – For organizing our little send off in her road!

All the people that emailed and texted in to show there support on the day – it really does make a big difference.

Evans Cycles who gave us a discount off our cycling equiptment

And the Snowdonia marathon for putting us in their programme.

Massive thanks also to Stu for designing the T-Shirts

And Hamish and Simon for being an amazing support team.

Hope you all had a great weekend,

John

PS – I did have a knee problem after about 60 miles but this seemed to disappear or I simply had more pain everywhere else that dulled it out.

PPS – Photos will be on their way soon.

Dem Hills 

Morning Sports Fans!

Last weekend was indeed the weekend of the Longmynd Hike, our final preparation event before the tour.

Now the Longmynd Hike is a 50 mile hike through some of the steepest hills in Britain open to anyone over 16 years of age. Whilst traditionally this has been an event for locals eager to complete the hike in less than the 24 hour time limit, it has recently become a popular race amongst the Britains Top fell runners and Ultra marathan runners who will complete the race in around 8 – 10 hours.

Tom had done the event the year before and saw it as ideal (Mental) preparation for the tour.

Now I emphasise “mental” side of things because I would be making a few leaps in belief as the race went on. Having never run anything more than a half marathon the 50 miles ahead of me could have seemed quite daunting.

Tom had also played down the Fell running Ultra marathon side of things, so I was expecting more of a hike/scouts trip event.

As we approached the start I mentioned to Tom that there seemed to be a running event on at the same venue. “What’s an ultra marathon, Tom?” I asked inquisitively. ”Oh that’s anything longer than a marathon distance, mate. The Longmynd is one of those”

Right there I realised what I had let myself in for….

I wouldn’t be needing the hip flask on this Hike! 

Anyway, we started well, running the flats and speed walking the (near vertical) hills, putting some distance between ourselves and the pack and were on the tails of the leaders up until 5 hours in. 

This is where I learnt all there is to know about walls….

They mention walls with reference to the stages of exercise where your body has run out of the easily accessible reserves of energy and has to dig a little deeper.

At 20 miles I felt strong, but at 21 miles I had met my first wall. The trouble was, unlike a marathon where you normally have a mere five miles to push through, I still had 29 miles to look forward to!

My wall was actually more of a multi layered breeze block high security establishment, lasting around 2 hours. From 20 to 30 miles I was in physical pain but also suffering from low blood sugar, (slight miscalculation on the nutrional side of things).

The trouble is when your blood sugar drops the mental battle can be as bad as the physical one.

Fortunately, at about 30 miles I came through my wall, only to find another one at 35, but the lesson had been learnt. You can get through these things and find more energy!

As Tom always says, “if you think you have nothing left you are probably only at 70% capacity. There is always more!”

The body has amazing reserves and you just need to be patient in order to find them.

As they say in the Hadith’s (the ancient proverb’s of the qu’ran) ”Mactub” “This to shall pass” And so it does.

Although, my next wall was as much to do with physical pain as mental exhaustion, I had learnt the lessons I needed to learn.

You always have more.

So there it is, my first marathon turned out to be a double, and I survived!

I am using a stick to walk today, but as someone very knowledgeable on the subject once told me. “Pain is Temporary, Pride is Permenant” 

Last saturday we got on the bikes and did our first training weekend for the tour!

Tom had planned a 80-100 mile cycle route around Shropshire and Wales before we hit the hills for some running!

Once I had got to grips with the cycle clips, I did get stuck initially and had to fall into a bank!, we were off. I had swapped the “Eagle” for “Black Lance” (Tom’s spare bike) and was loving the change!

After a leisurely 80 odd miles we finally dismounted and, after a quick snack, we were off on our run!

Now, running a marathon is hard enough, but we will be doing the snowdonia marathon. A marathon where the first 8 miles is all up hill!

Fortunately, Tom loves hills and is pretty much surrounded by them! After our mid-afternoon snack I was introduced to two of the steepest hills in shropshire! The “Elevator” and the “Lawley”.

A few weeks ago I climbed “Pen Y Fan”, the highest mountain in South Wales. Now, I climbed this with an old army friend and we were both feeling the pace as we climbed it. The “Elevator” makes Pen Y Fan look like a pancake! This thing is exhausting just walking up it, and we were running up the whole thing!

Whilst Tom is generally regarded as one of the better fell runners in Britain, I was a rookie at this level, and with bleeding lungs and legs of lead I completed each climb within shouting distance of Tom.

The emotions you experience as you kick in to keep going our phenomenally intense. As Tom says, “There really is no where to hide on the hills”. They will assess your levels of fitness faster than any other challenge out there.

Having completed the climb we returned to a “Joanne Special” Supper, tired but more focused than ever on the demands of the tour. 

Last weekend I set off on another training event, the “Brighton Triathlon”. My “wheels” were in the form of the trusty eagle, my 27 year old racer, and I was praying for calm weather to placate the sea I would be swimming in!

A triathlon, for anyone who doesn’t know, entails a 1500m swim followed by a 40km bike ride and finished off with a 10 km run. Whilst I was confident of completing these disciplines independantly I had never put them all together!

Oh well, character building stuff was about to ensue!

As I prepared my bike before the race I was impressed with the quality of bike’s around me. I was expecting a few more dud/crappy bikes, but unfortunately these were reserved for the shorter distances! NO ONE in my catagory had a bike like mine! In fact very few people had a bike worth less than £1000! I felt quite honoured! The eagle was getting alot of attention! (all the wrong kind…) In fact the referree had to examine it quite carefully to see if it was race worthy! (I had to tape up a fewbits to make it safe)

As the start time approached the flat sea off the coast of Brighton duely turned into a thumping mass! The wind picked up and I was wondering whether they would call off the swimming part! The buoy that we were swimming to was also drifting further away!

Anyway, the hooter went off and I dived into the ocean baywatch style! I was amazed how much buoyancy my wetsuit gave me and actually quite enjoyed the swim! The waves would come crashing over your head but at times they would also help you so it became quite an adventure! As I swam the final leg of the swim I was filled with pride at having got round yet slightly confused at what I was to in for next!

As I approached the beach I could see a crowd waiting to cheer us in and was immidiately lifted. The pebbles on the beach meant it was tough to run but I gave it my best shot, largely because the crowd were watching! Alas, this was a foolish move because in attempting to run on those darn pebbles I smashed my foot on a rock and managed to break my toe! Fortunately I didn’t feel it at the time but it was a nice momento the day after!

The wind on the beach made the cycle damn hard, and at times the eagle was overtaken by women three times my size on mountain bikes, surely they were doing a different race??? As I finished the cycle, which was actually the toughest bit, (not a good omen for the Tour de Sucre!) I knew I just had 10 km to run…..

Thankfully this was fairly sraight forward and I completed my first trithlon in a fraction over 3 hours. The time was a lot slower than I expected but the experience had achieved what it was meant to do….further strengthen my character for the Tour!

This weekend I am off to shropshire for a Beever Training weekend! 10hours on the bike and 3 hours running.

Toe still hurts!

This morning I lie in my bed trying to work out the consequences of some of my previous decisions.

Two days ago I saw an article in the paper about a 1000m tidal swim in the River Thames. Having nothing planned for that weekend I made haste for the phone and promptly “signed up”.

Now I lie in my bed on the morning of the race and have the following questions running through my mind. How cold will it be? Will I be able to see anything? How much diesel/toxic chemicals will I be swallowing during the race?

Half of me is excited whilst the other half is a little scared. I will reveal all in about 7 hours!

Just a quick note to say a massive thankyou to everyone who has already pledged sponsorship to us.  The money you have pledged really is going to make a huge difference to the lives of the many children and families that benefit from the King’s College Pediatric Ward. When I visited the ward a few weeks ago I was amazed by the amount of families that are still actively involved in fundraising months after their children have left the ward.

This refurbishment is something that really needs to happen, and is going to happen thanks to the support of everyone that has donated.

Deer In the Park 

I nearly crashed into these fellas on Saturday!

Having attempted to take some photo’s last friday, Matt, the photographer from the Hounslow Chronicle return today to take some photo’s with some of the sugar food I had carefully selected from Morrisons the day before.

Having taken the photo’s I was left with the conundrum as to what to do with all this sugary food! Now I would love to say that with my iron will enabled me to leave it in the cupboards before disposing of it. However this food is designed to be delicious and no matter what any nutritionist tells you, in the short term it is!

So off i set to attempot to finsh off this relative, compared to my normal diet of home cooked produce, junk food in the name of research. I will admit for the first few minutes it was pure bliss! Sugar AHHHH!

However after a few minutes I started to feel REALLY thirsty and then I noticed my head was getting a bit cloudy, 30 minutes i was knackered  and I realised that a whole day of this kind of food, not necessarily coke and chips but just processed food, really does take your edge away. I felt noticably less energised and lethargic.

So there is my research. In the short term what we save in cooking time we definately lose in vitality and clairity. If our children our eating this stuff when they are growing who knows how knackered they are going to be when they get to there early thirties!

This isn’t theory this is hard evidence. Processed food and sugar really does blunten your edge and increase lethargy. The trouble is so few people know what that edge feels like anymore!

Slight set back today during the photo shoot for the Hounslow Chronicle (stardom here I come). I was asked to do a few action shots for the pictures and forgot that my calf was still pretty sore from the weekend. Unfortunately the weight I placed on it set it off again, so it looks like my bike ride to Bath this weekend could be off!

CURSES!

I will concentrate on swimming this weekend but can’t help but feel a little annoyed. Training was going so well last week but alas the body has a funny way of telling you things.

Bizaarly both injuries, I had a pulled muscle in my neck as well, happened during the night! I went to bed feeling fine and woke up with an injury.

My brother who, was staying with me last week, has mentioned that I do sometimes sleep walk into the living room where he is staying. I am wondering whether I might be sleep training???

Bloody hell!