‘IN TRAINING’

TRAINING

Cycling has taken on a distinctly different flavour recently. I’m training for the 185 mile two day sportive challenge round London called ‘The London Revolution’. I’ve never done a sportive type thing before so I have been filled with trepidation and anxiety about the whole thing.

I hope to raise some money for the Children’s Cancer Ward at Southampton Hospital. I have a Just Giving Page. If you click here it will go straight to it- Kiera’s Just Giving Page

It is my friend’s lovely nephew Joe who was the motivation behind supporting the wonderful work this children’s ward do. He has been looked after and treated there and writes very eloquently here- Hi from joe  (please do click on this link)

My training has consisted so far of this;

Repeatedly cycling down to Westerham and back on my own.

Running, running, running.

Swimming, running, more running.

Exercises with weights and without, made up at home with some help from my ‘trainer’ ( my 18 year old son)

Venturing to Toys Hill and cycling up and down both sides.

Going for an initiation cycle rode with ‘The Dulwich Paragon Cycling Club’.

Going for a ‘North Downs Jaunt’ with a friend plus his friends over a few weekends.

The last one of these was an extended cycle to Richmond Park and then down to Box Hill. We did 90 miles in the end. Box Hill is in the latter part of the second day of this Sportive Madness thing. As Sam said (who is doing the two day London Revolution Sportive too)

‘I can’t wait to get my life back!’

The training is tough. The anxiety about it is tough too. It eats in to one’s consciousness and is a little nagging worry at the back of one’s mind. It goes a bit like this;

‘Have I done enough training? Will I be able to hack it? Am I fit enough?  When can I fit in my next training run around my family commitments? Should I be doing other stuff like other types of cardio and strength classes or exercises?’

I’ve suffered with all these worries. It’s good to know, after talking to other cyclists, that my anxieties are not unusual. It’s exhausting just thinking about it….!

We are almost there though. This Two Day Cycling Challenge is in 2 weeks now.

Quote of the day from Rafy while out on our cycle ride;

‘…..And we do this WHY???’

Top of Box Hill first time- Sam pushed us to do it twice!

SPONSORED CYCLE RIDE

I am cycling 185 miles over 2 days on 17-18th May.

This is on an organised cycle trip, The MITIE London Revolution.

There will be approximately 2,000 cyclists. We start in North London, cycle up in to the Chiltern Hills, round to Ascot, staying the night in a pop up tent on Ascot Racecourse. The second day will be tackling the North Downs round to the South of London, and finishing where we started.

It is for the purposes of raising some money for the ‘Piam Brown’ Paediatric Oncology Ward at Southampton Hospital, where my good friend Siobhain has a dear nephew, Joe, who is being treated for leukaemia.

This ward does amazing work to help these kids who are going through a pretty rough time. Joe was on holiday last year when he suddenly became ill, and was diagnosed with childhood leukaemia. He sent me a wonderful page about himself, that I reproduce below, And in an easier readable format here ;.

Hi from joe

As you can see, he is a very cool kid. I would love to be able to raise a really goodly sum of money for the children on this ward. The money goes DIRECTLY to the ward, for them to spend on books for the hospital school, improving the living space for the teenagers there, or taking them on trips out if they are well enough. It is a very difficult road to be on when  your child has cancer. If providing funds to help alleviate the difficult days will help the children and parents, then that is a worthwhile effort.

185 miles cycling in two days is a scary prospect for me, a 47 year old and very apprehensive lady. I do have experience of running half marathons and other races, but this will be my first cycling challenge. I hope you think this is a worthy endeavour, and would like to sponsor me for these kids, especially Joe. Here is the link if you would like to help;

KIERA’S JUST GIVING DONATION PAGE

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL.