Sheepishly shuffling back to Blogger

No relevance to the rest of the post - a wall in
Germany that makes music in the rain.  I
want to visit here please!

Hi. Clearly, my first sentence has to be an apology for quite how long it has been since my last blog post. Hopefully, some of you have been following my Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or JustGiving pages, all of which have been updated with much more frequency than this poor, abandoned little blog. But for anyone who hasn't had a update since (ouch) Feb 28th, I am sorry.

I am not sorry about how much work I have been doing because training is going well, both group training and individual. So in this post I will give a fairly brief overview of how things are going and what we've been up to.








Group Training 
Remember my colleague who agreed to be our PT to prepare us for Tough Mudder? Mr

Tough Mudder training - fitness check up

Remember this guy?

This is the fearsome Martin, fitness instructor, P.E. champ, all round good egg, previously of the 26th Regiment Royal Artillery, and was first introduced to you back in December when he put us through our paces in a combined Bleep Test and exercise / torture session. Since then he has been tracking our fitness (remember Kenny complaining about our fitness plan?) and has reappeared like a scary energiser bunny to whisk us back to the gym to check our progress. 

*For 'gym' read 'school hall'; we're doing this on a budget, people!

Of course, having spent two months learning how to do press-ups, working on our sit-ups and counting every step we take, we're clearly in tip-top peak physical condition, right?

Shoddy and Kariss get lunging.

After all, we work in a school and everyone knows that running around after small children is hard work. It's certainly my excuse for eating so many biscuits. So immediately after

Zombies, Run - the review

If you remember way back in January, I set out to try a couple of apps to see if they would help improve my fitness, motivation and inability to put down the cake. Finally I have time to let you know how that went. First, Zombies, Run:

I downloaded the Zombies, Run 5K edition for the bargain price of 69p (now £1.49, sorry!); 

quite a big step for me as I have never bothered to pay for an app before as I find that there are a great many good free ones so I am not affected by not having whichever paid apps are trending this week. However, something about Zombies, Run spoke to me and, throwing caution to the wind, spent my 69p on it. 

Having played it for a few weeks, 5K really does seem to be a training app in the best

Kenny's gone crazy!

So... Kenny Park wants to lay in the snow!

Do you remember way back when we started this gig I said that we'd do stupid things to raise our profile and to get people to donate? Well, we're still game for anything you can throw at us (maybe literally but let's wait until it get's warmer, yeah?) but you haven't been coming up with many ideas lately. After the success of our sea swim in December - check out the video - we need something to do in January. Because the fitness regime and continuous press-ups aren't nearly enough.

Like this only laying down.
And in swimwear.
And not at all fun. Uh oh.

So, as the latest part of our (torture) training, Kenny reckons we need some more practice at being very very cold. He has suggested that we get into swimming costumes and lie in the snow. I personally think he has gone totally crazy but I'm willing to support him in both this test and the possible trip to the hospital afterwards; for hypothermia or for craziness, whichever comes first. 

The only problem is... we need an incentive. Kenny says he'll do it for £30 but the more you give, the more people will join the freezing fun. And by 'fun' I clearly mean 'screaming, shivering, cursing and hopping around in near-hypothermic pain'.

Luckily for me and our fundraising attempts we've had a bit of a thaw down here in sunny Worthing: temperatures reached a tropical 3 degrees today so we'll have to wait for the next snowfall before we can go snowdrift-swimming.

You better jump on this bandwagon quickly (or suggest different activities here) because we're fast running out of January and snow is predicted later this week.

Keep an eye on the total here: http://www.justgiving.com/Kenny-Park 

Only 139 days left

Ice and Zombies

I have a confession. As the snow has come, my ability to get off the sofa has gone. As I speak, I am snuggled in the living room in multiple pairs of pyjamas, leg-warmers, dressing-gown and blankets: yes, even though it is 4pm on a sunday. 

My only possible excuse is that I was going to go for a run but, you know, it's slippery out there, what with all that snow and ice. Nobody mention yesterday's thaw, please. So since Friday (snow-day, day-off, yippee!) I haven't completed my Martin-training - not that I can do 40 press-ups on the trot anyway - and I haven't got anyway near 12,000 steps. Quite possibly hovering near 1,200. A day. Pitiful! I did, however, play Heavy Rain till 3am last night - a dark, film-noir-esque detective story with a lot of fighting in it.


So how to get out of this rut? I'm going to try a couple of apps over the next week to see if they motivate me to move. The first, MyFitnessPal, I've used before and found to be quite successful at reminding me what I'm eating (and what I shouldn't be eating!) and helping me to keep within a calorie limit.

The second, Zombies, Run, promises to be a story-led running app, which will motivate me to get out there and keep moving. A previous app (Zombie Run, it's a bit confusing), pitted you against a GPS map full of zombies you had to avoid to win. I found it very entertaining but the fact that I had to run while continuously checking the map on my phone disrupted my pace although the zombies wanting to eat my brains meant I had to take different routes to get home which was fun. The other problem with this app was the fact that it was better suited to running from one point to the other rather than round the block or neighbourhood which is what I (and I assume, many of you) do. Anyway, I hope that Zombies, Run will combat these niggling issues by having instructions given through the headphones and no strict necessity to check your phone every couple of minutes.

They're after you. No they really are.

So that's the plan! Watching what I eat with MyFitnessPal and if you see me running down the road like a crazy it's because some Zombies are chasing me!

I'll let you know how I get on, let me know if you have any good fitness apps or training tips here or by email and don't forget that there are many ways to follow us: Facebook, Twitter  and, of course, JustGiving! 

Only 140 days left! Thats only 20 weeks!!

Kenny explains it all

"Plank" position
image source unknown

Back in December our friend Martin devised a new fitness plan for us following on from the bleep test. (My phone autocorrected this to "sleep test" which I think we would have all been a lot happier with). Sarah, Elli and I (because we work with Martin) have been given targets in press ups, sit ups, walking and plank position. Every day we need to do 15 press ups, 20 sit ups, at least 8000 steps and one minute of the yoga plank position. Easy, right?

This progresses to 12000 steps, 20 press ups, 25 sit ups and 2 minutes plank in the second week, and by the third week we (super-humans that we are) will be doing 25 press ups, 30 sit ups, 12,000 steps and three minutes of the plank!

Finally! The infamous sea swim...

As promised - only 15 days after the fact - here is a video of our brave attempt to swim in the sea. Well sit in the sea. And, in my case, crawling desperately!

Swim in the Sea - Shock to the System!

I think you can guess that here at TeamCCPS we have been more concerned with preparing for Christmas than preparing for Tough Mudder. However, as I'm sure you recall, the lovely Liam was the first person to sponsor us 50 whole pounds and so won the chance to choose the time and date on which we would swim in the sea. 

This seemed like a brilliant plan in October but this morning the world had other plans and sent us a light sprinkling of frost - several of the team had trouble standing upright on the icy paths and I had to de-ice my car outside AND in before I could get to Worthing pier.

Spam and Custard - My favourite training tools

Some days I find it hard just to motivate myself to get off the sofa. Yesterday was one of those days but I managed to goad myself into doing some exercises with a little help from Kariss (she took the laptop away), a mug of custard and a twix. I know that doesn't sound like a good basis for increasing my fitness but last night I managed to do 55 press-ups! Given that my previous personal best was two sets of 10 followed by a long time lying on the floor groaning while being unable to do anything useful with my arms, I was very pleased with the result.

But how did I manage it?

With a little help from Twitter and a surprisingly useful piece of spam.

Here come the boys...

• Men. Some might say the hairier gender are prone to over-confidence and rushing in to situations without thinking. I don't know anyone like that, do you?

• 

  17:44

  Leon H

  Cheers mate just convinced Paul to join in didn't take much just waved a chocolate bar in front of him

• 

  18:04

  Paul H

  I am just going to rock up and get on with it with no training like the great south run, but let remember the people who said they would do the great south run and who didn't turn up for it Chris (let's hope you go through with it this time) and my mum said I am normal.
• 

  18:06

  Chris

  We love u Paul
• 

  18:07

  Leon H

  So absolutely no training Paul not even with all those marines you work with?
• 

  18:07

  Elli

  You're gonna hurt after!!
• 

  18:07

  Shoddy

  Good luck with that Paul!!
• 

  18:08

  Paul H

  That's just everyday work mate not training

  
  

  The bigger the ego, the harder they fall. See you in the mud, Paul!

The English sea. So picturesque. So romantic. So very cold!

"Good luck suckers" 

Friends. You gotta love them!

If you check out the links on the top right of this page you will find our JustGiving site and a few ways you can help us train, as one of our friends has discovered. The lovely Liam (photo, right) used to work with us at CCPS and is very jealous that he can't join us in our Tough Mudder adventure. 

Unfortunately, the way he chose to deal with his jealousy was to take us up on our £50 incentive: Liam now has the power to say exactly when we will take a swim in the icy southern sea.

But when has he chosen? Midday on a nice sunny sunday? Fat chance, it's:

1st December at 7:15am!

The video will of course be up here shortly after and we will be sending good wishes Liam's way I'm sure!

Want to get involved? Want us to try pull-ups, crawl-outs or Turkish get-ups? Or just think we deserve a Boxing day swim? Follow us here and get involved here. 

Don't forget to send your orders to teamccps@gmail.com

Only 214 days to go.

Ready Recruits

They've put down their pints, banished the crisps from the shopping list and promised to try and find a pair of trainers. Meet more of Team CCPS, the team willing to do ANYTHING for their cause.

____________________________________________________________________________

How do you think they'll cope with the toughest event ever?

Only 215 days to go. Follow their agonising progress here.

6am Hurts Like a Cold Shower

Day 2

I am not good in the mornings. This is a massive understatement: my family call me "doormouse" and my girlfriend is adamant that it takes me half an hour to develop functional speech. But this morning I need to build up some cardio credits; how hard can it be?
Pretty damn difficult! Lying in bed defiantly ignoring the alarm, I actually convinced myself I'd been for a run already- part dream, part delusion! But alas, I was persuaded to get up and so, a mile later (half a mile after my eyes started focussing properly), with frozen fingers and wobbly legs I took the following photos to prove to you that I had done it. Judge me kindly, it was 6am.
Elli

Early risers don't exist.

Meet The Trainees

To show just how unsuitable and unfit we are here are recent(ish) photos of us doing normal(ish) activities, i.e. drinking and dancing and having a good time. You are much more likely to find us in a pub or eating pizza, not to mention smoking, than doing any form of exercise. Here are our vital statistics:




The Kariss Kahlua Cohort
Age 23
Height 5'6"
Weight 10st
Number of Push-ups: 9
Number of Sit-ups: 30
Number of Pull-ups: 2
Can run: 1.5 miles
Can eat: 15" Texas BBQ pizza
Can drink: 3 cans of Relentless

Elli "The Doormouse" Cloake
Height 5'2"
Weight 9st
Number of Push-ups: 5
Number of Sit-ups: 20
Number of Pull-ups: 1 (maybe)
Can run: 3 miles
Can eat: A whole box of cereal
Can drink: red wine by the bottle

We will also have regular blogs and videos of our friends from CCPS training, helping us train or laughing at our dismal attempts to get into shape.

Days left: 216                        Strength Training Completed: 30 mins                       Miles Run: 0

Tough Mudder 2013

One of the best things about working with CCPS is the people you meet; both the children and the adults. However, the traits that make working at CCPS so fun - being highly excitable and up for anything - makes for a great play scheme but a poor ability to say no. What I'm trying to explain is exactly how we have agreed to take part in the toughest race we could find - Tough Mudder.
It describes itself as:

"Hardcore 12 mile-long obstacle courses designed by the Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses and half a million inspiring participants, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world."

Pictures- property of Tough Mudder
http://toughmudder.co.uk/

 So a definitely unfit, uncoordinated group of 20-somethings are about to test themselves to the limit. Check out the Tough Mudder website and see if you could withstand the distance, the falls, the mud, the fire and the electricity (literally) that we will be putting ourselves through in just 216 days time.

Follow our attempts to train for the ultimate test here!