Solo Atlantic Row 2011

Hi everyone, I have done a video blog as a round-up of the last few weeks...sorry it is quite long but I figured you would prefer to listen to me than just read a load of text (!) anyway have a listen.The blog I mention is on the following link: http://www.wolf-e-boy.com/Blog-on-2011 just a bit about my trip out this weekend.   I do have some short footage of my riding the bow coming back but have all uploaded upside down. useful. i will try get them turned around and will upload. will post some photos up in the meantime Speak soon x      ...

So things are continuing to get increasingly busy which is great. I actually finished my work in London a week ago to go full time on preparing for the row which I am very thankful for! With all that there is to do it really does need to have all my attention. I am starting to get some good hours together in the boat. Whilst it’s only been a couple of weeks having it on the water, I am feeling good and comfortable and am starting to take note of everything that I want to change for the race. There is a fair amount of work to do on the boat but not as much as there could have been. I am hoping to start my sea trails in a few weeks so in the meantime it is just hours on the river getting used to the boat. The last...

Morning all! Another busy week here on all aspects of the row, very happy its now the weekend to be able to get some sleep in! I have another training sponsor on board! Sussex Yacht Club, based in Shoreham, West Sussex have given me a temporary membership and are allowing to use all facilities at the club during my on water training. The boat now has pride of place in the boat yard and it now means that I don't need to worry about towing it everytime I head off training, which is amazing. The Club is in a fantastic location, set where the river Adur meets Shoreham harbour so it is protected from the open channel and gives me the provision to head upstream as well as into the harbour and out to sea. A huge thank you to them and if you find yourself in Shoreham pop on down as it...

Firstly, apologies for it all going quite quiet over the last few weeks. A few things are 'on the cusp' and was waiting for them to be confirmed before I updated, however it is all taking longer than anticiapated! That doesn't mean to say that things aren't happening though. Firstly, I am in the final process of securing a boat to use for the race! This is a really exciting development for the project and makes it all very much a reality now, as I have mentioned before. By having a boat and training and using it shows just how committed to the row I am, helping with potential sponsors. Not that I envisage any problem but I don't want to jinx it so will put up details of the boat once I have completed. But for now, it is a boat that has crossed the Atlantic before and competed...

I took the week or so after the marathon off so I could fully recover. Its now about 10 days later and I am still badly peeling on all the sunburn I got! At least the rest of me is feeling back to normal. I started my training again yesterday although it will be fairly quiet until May when I will be back on a proper programme. The gym have just opened a second location in Marlyebone, underneath the Marlyebone hotel. It's very different from where I am training in Soho- much more what you would expect from a central London gym. Not massive and not aimed at serious endurance training, but a great place to mix things up. One thing it does have though is a couple 15ft ropes to climb up. I am a big supporter of using this kind of thing for training, it really is an all...

With now less than a week to go before the Paris Marathon, my training has pretty much come to a stop. Common training techniques for marathon running suggest a period of about 10 days to cease all training and let the body recover for the real thing. The problem with running any long distance event (over about 20 miles) is that it is not good for the body. This is also why when training to run the 26.2 miles it is suggested that you don't run that length until the actual race, instead build up to it over the previous weeks... Obvioulsy I have been doing a lot more training than getting miles under the belt, but I have been tracking all my running over the last 4 months or so preparing for this weekend (disregarding my training in the hypoxic on the treadmill) . According to my trusty calculations,...

So yesterday was my 22nd Birthday which is a bit worrying as I decided to do this row when I was 20 and still don't feel any closer to being ready! Anyway it also coincided with my last training run for the marathon and was another great morning for a run. I have been in London this weekend (I have done my training runs down in Sussex previously which gives more of challenge with the hills) and my route was along the river from Chelsea Bridge to the other side of the Isle of Dogs and back. All was going really well until about 17 miles when I met 250,000 people marching down embankment protesting against the government cuts...so not my best time unfortunately! It did show me though how important getting into a good rhythm is when you run. Obviously naturally everyone gets into a good rhythm when they go for...

So this weekend was spent taking a break from training for the marathon, which is now in just under 3 weeks time. My brother, Sam, is getting married in a month and so 12 of us ended up heading away to North Wales for his stag weekend. We spent Saturday mountain biking in what was perfect weather, 30 odd km around Snowdonia which was a great day. I couldn't remember the last time I had actually been on a mountain bike (spinning has been my substitute for the last few years) and I did end up having to work pretty hard! Obviously all the running and rowing I am doing has made me fit for those events, but none of that seemed to help once I was on a bike! We then spent Sunday paint balling which again was good fun. So this is really my last proper training week before the race. The...

So with the Paris marathon now just a month away, we are getting down to the business end of it! I am doing one long training run a week which I have been doing on my Saturdays, increasing the distance in small increments each time. Today I completed an 18 mile training run. Couldn't think of anything much better to be doing than running round  a spring-like West Sussex on a Saturday afternoon! Although I have to say I did find it tough, definitely harder than my 15 miler last weekend. My time today was 2:19 so of course I am really happy with that as my target was 2:20, even though it felt a lot harder than the time would suggest. It was a tough course with a fair amount of hills so obviously that will have added to my time, but of course will help with it being a...

What I am going to do is keep this blog up to date with the programmes that I am working on in the gym. With the marathon only a month away, all my training is now in preparation for that. Once it is out the way though, we will be able to tailor the training to specifically to the row. Obviously marathon training isn't a million miles away from what I want to be doing anyway, increasing stamina and endurance, but you do end up sacrificing some upper body strength. But for anyone wanting to lose a few stubborn kg's, it has been ideal training for that, I am now under 90 kg for the first time in a few years!   Anyway here is the training programme I am on right now, will look to change it in the next week or so with this being my fourth week on it:  ...