The Trailwalker event eventually came on the weekend of the 16th and 17th July after months of training walks. This post gives a write-up of the event and allows me to extend another heartfelt thank you to all our generous sponsors who have contributed to the great causes we were fundraising for. At the time of writing we have raised a splendid £2873 (or approx. £3482 with Gift Aid factored in). This is tremendous news as we were originally aiming for £1500.
Ok, so we’re nearly there.
The Blood Sweat & Beers team has just completed the last of its big training sessions for the Oxfam Trailwalker 2011 endurance walk challenge on July 16th and 17th. We are now in ‘taper time’, keeping active, but doing no more big training sessions.
We will be attempting to walk 100 km (or 62.5 miles) in a little over 24 hours in order to raise funds for Oxfam’s poverty relief work and to support ex-Gurkhas. A while back we set our fundraising goal to be £2000, which delightfully has been met through generous donations, but we are still looking to improve on the total and will appreciate any additional sponsorships.
This post is the final pre-event update to show how our training has come along as we prepared for the big weekend.
Earlier this month I posted about my participation in a team of 4 in the Oxfam Trailwalker 2011 endurance walk challenge on July 16th and 17th. My team, Blood Sweat & Beers will be attempting to walk 100 km (or approximately 62 miles) in under 30 hours (hopefully closer to 24) and are raising funds for Oxfam’s poverty relief work and to support ex-Gurkas.
This post is really just an update so you can see how our training is coming along as we work towards this test of stamina and self-belief.
Despite appearing to be ‘just a long walk’ you should be aware that walks of several hours are very demanding on legs, feet, and joints, and when you stretch this over a 24 hour period and 100 kilometres, this is going to be really tough. Each of us is likely to burn approximately 10,000 kCals, which is about what the average man should consume over a 4 day period.
On the walking front we have had a number of team training walks, which varying combinations of team members have taken part in. We are also doing our own training walks when we can fit them in, as we don’t all live in very close proximity.
The first team walk was in late January, with a modest 5 miles (8 km) around some hilly woods near Henley-on-Thames. That took us 1:53 to complete, including occasional stops here and there.
The second team walk was in early February and was just shy of 11 miles (just under 18 km) around the Ashridge Estate. This walk had a number of testing hills in and took 3:47, including the odd stop for a breather. My heart-rate monitor told me I burnt 1,480 kCals on this walk.
I wasn’t able to attend the third team training walk, but the fourth was in early March and covered the first 10% of the Trailwalker course, just south of Petersfield (6.5 miles or 10.5 km). This took just over 2 hours including stops and I burnt around 800 kCals during this time.
We’re working towards our next team walk, but in the mean time we have been putting in a lot of time walking wherever possible. I’ve done a couple of lengthier walks myself in the mean time. The first one was 14.6 (23.5 km) miles, around the hills south of Wendover, and took me 4:37 to complete, of which 4:06 I spent walking, the rest was stopping for a breather, or checking the map, or climbing over stiles. This walk cost me 2,340 kCals.
The most recent training walk, to the east of Princes Risborough, was a little more substantial at 18.3 miles (29.5 km). This took 5:54, of which 5:12 was spent walking, during which I burnt around 3,400 kCals.
>I’ve already plotted out a number of additional routes around my local county area of between 15 and 20 miles and I’ll be walking these over the coming weeks to keep developing my walking strength. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how it’s all going at a later point.
My training walks without the team have a reasonable pace going, but that’s just to exercise myself on what is a considerably shorter walk than the real event in July. The pace I am setting on these walks is certainly not maintainable by me on longer walks.
Whilst doing these training walks the team have been testing out various things that will be necessary on the Trailwalker. For example, finding which walking socks are comfortable over long distances and don’t appear to be likely to cause blisters. Also working out the size of backpack or rucksack to take the necessary supplies.
Supplies on a walk like this are quite numerous. Granted, there are a number of checkpoints on the main walk, providing toilet facilities, water and occasionally some light food, but for all those miles we need to carry many things along. Obvious things include the route maps/instructions, first aid necessities, blister plasters, sun screen, a compass, water bottles, a phone, a pocket camera, a rain jacket. But also, given the number of calories being burnt off, quite a lot of food is needed to be nibbled and grazed on throughout the hours. Several spare pairs of walking socks are also pretty vital, to give your feet a break every few hours. Also, since half the walk will be at night, a head torch is required. Warmer clothes are also needed, though they can be left in the support vehicle during the day and swapped into at one of the checkpoints.
There’s a lot to take into account with this kind of endurance event over and above just getting to a position where you are able to handle continuous exertion for 24 hours or so.
Last but by no means least is the business of fundraising. The whole purpose behind this challenge event is to raise funds for Oxfam and the ex-Gurkas. The team is entirely reliant on our generous friends and the donations they can make to encourage us to train all the harder and be confident of making it to the finishing line. We’ve already started to receive donations but we have a long way to go before we reach our fundraising target. We’ll really appreciate any amount you can sponsor us with.
Thank you!
I’m part of a team of 4 people who are currently training for an endurance walk on July 16th and 17th, 2011. Of course, we’ve probably all gone for long walks every now and again but this is something a little different to a regular long walk. This is a walk across England’s South Downs that will continue for 100 kilometres (or 62 miles) and it is going to be done in a one go, without any breaks for sneaky restorative naps.
The team is called Blood, Sweat and Beers and consists of Jim, Elaine, Gordon and myself. The endurance walk is organised by Oxfam and is raising money for Oxfam and for the Gurkha Welfare Trust in an event called Trailwalker UK 2011. There will be 550 teams doing the event and around 80% of the teams are expected to complete the full 100 kilometres.
Rest assured this is a real test of both physical endurance as well as mental fitness. Having heard from people who have previously entered the event, it is gruelling, painful, testing and punishing, but also rewarding and of course a massive personal challenge. It has been described as an ultra-marathon. Team Blood, Sweat and Beers are hoping to complete the challenge in under 25 hours.
As a team we are looking for sponsors to help bolster our motivation and training and to incentivise us to push ourselves to our maximum ability. Funds raised will be used by the Gurkha Welfare Trust to help reduce poverty for ex-Gurkhas and dependents and by Oxfam for their invaluable work in emergency relief in poverty-stricken areas around the world. Anything donated will be appreciated equally by Oxfam and the GWT, as well as by Team Blood Sweat & Beers.
Any donations by UK tax payers are eligible for Gift Aid, which immediately adds an extra 25% to the donation at no extra cost to yourself – it’s reclaimed from HMRC. Please agree to Gift Aid when asked.
The team has already completed a number of training walks, with the distances increasing as time goes by. We have a training plan and things are going well so far, but we need to raise £1500 in sponsorships to help us through the event.
For any donations you can offer, Team Blood Sweat & Beers appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness.
Please visit the team page and make your donation now!.
In the About Me page, I proselytized about running. This is still quite an exciting subject for me as back in school, any attempt to run left me in paroxysms of acutely painful breathlessness. And then a couple of decades or so later it turns out I can run reasonable distances with relative competence.
So in 2009 I started running and managed a 5km event. Then I let it slide for a while. Then in 2010 I started running again, in between mountain biking. I worked my way up to being able to accomplish 10km runs and to prove the point to myself entered a number of events.
The first was the Burnham Beeches 10km run, which I completed in 55:07 , albeit with a quick stop for a breather about half way through after a bit of a steep hill.
Then came the Milton Keynes Mo-Run, which despite another quick stop for a breather, I did in 52:11. A nice improvement.
The final event of the year was the Swindon 10km Run. This time there was no stopping and I finished in 50:16. I’m pleased with that time.
Over the winter I’ve been out a couple of times, but nothing consistent. Then I tried pushing it a bit too far by attempting to do a local 10km loop a bit too soon.
The net result of that was to be limping home well before the target distance. After a week’s rest, an attempt to run about 8km had the same result. A week later and a 5km run had much the same.
Oh dear.
In my body (and, I daresay, in yours too) I have a couple of IT bands (aka iliotibial bands). I know, I know – I thought IT was just a contraction of Information Technology too! However it turns out I have an IT band in each of my two legs.
Moreover, it seems I’ve antagonised the IT band in my left leg and given myself ITBS (IT band syndrome) aka ITBFS (IT band friction syndrome). This is, apparently, a very common problem with people doing too much running. Or perhaps more often too much too soon, as is the case with me. I should've worked my way up from a very small distance, but common sense is often an elusive thing when your own health and fitness come into it.
Anyway, the result of all this is I am now waiting for a foam roller to arrive in the capable hands of my postman. I've now heard from multiple sources that other than avoiding running for a bit, the best thing for ITBS is rolling the band up and down a foam roller using your own body weight to give the equivalent of an expensive sports massage. Foam rolling gives myofascial release and can also massage tight muscles without the large bills associated with sports masseurs.
I’m really hoping it gives good results as I was just getting into the running mind set after the freezing winter conditions…
