Making the Days Count

The last time I wrote a countdown blog, it was in February and there were “200 Days to Go…”. In what seems like a blink, it is now only a week until myself and the rest of the core team set off on the biggest challenge of our lives. Seven days. One week! SEVEN DAYS… ONE WEEK! Holy-freaking-moly. Since February, I’ve been taking inspiration from one of the all time greats, Muhammed Ali:

“Don’t Count the Days. Make The Days Count”

So, rather than obsess about how little time I have to prepare (with a challenge this big, even 200 days never felt like enough time), this month I’ve tried to make sure that each day I’ve done something to bring me closer to being ‘ready’ to go.

The reality is, however unprepared I feel, training is essentially complete. Fitness-wise, I’m as ready as I can be, and being fresh next week will have more impact on my ability to cover the course than any extra half-ounce of training gain could. I’ll spin out gently on the bike this evening, and again over the weekend, to remind my body what it’s like to pedal after a couple of weeks out of the saddle. Of course, I’m nervous about what’s going to happen on day 6,7…15 on the bike. I’ve been able to replicate riding 5 medium length days in a row, but beyond that it’s an endurance journey into the unknown — and whilst I’ve been major injury-free, a few niggles have crept in I’ll need to manage as we go.

Making the days count is a philosophy that’s run through my year: partly out of necessity as I’ve balanced preparation with work, and partly because it’s one of the very reasons I’ve signed myself up for the challenge in the first place. I’ve long believed in trying to live every single day to the full and take opportunities that come my way.

In recent weeks more than ever, making the days count has involved squeezing the most out of every single day, and tackling those elements of preparation that have thus far eluded me, but are utterly essential before we go. Take open water swimming: while I’ve kept up preparation in the pool, between a wedding and a weekly team training slot that is impossible for me to make from work, at the start of this month I was still yet to venture into the open water in my wetsuit (btw, thanks Speedo — it’s fab) — resulting in me becoming somewhat phobic of that element of the trip as I fall further behind the group preparation. So making the days count this month has seen me put my nerves at ease by squeezing in an open water swim with my incredibly talented and patient brother at Docklands in the two-hour window between work finishing and dinner with friends on a Friday evening. If ever there was proof of my commitment to the cause, turning up at dinner with wet hair is it!

Making the days count had been going fairly well until yesterday. Yesterday threw up a few curveballs. I always knew that the final preparation for Strive would be challenging, not least because it falls in a compressed 9-day period after getting back from a long planned trip to support friends in Rio. There’s a lot of final prep to squeeze into those days, and I’m yet to discover the secret sauce to stretch time. Now, if you only had two weekend days to pack, and packing also involves sourcing a very bulky bike box, you’d probably want to be able to get a vehicle somewhere near your front door to be able to get said bike box into the house. Of course, Striving is NEVER that simple! Yesterday’s realisation that said front door falls within Sunday’s car exclusion zone for the Notting Hill carnival was a curveball that just made weekend logistics even more challenging. Making the days count this weekend now involves now having just one day on Saturday to nail every single remaining errand with Challenge Anneka-like military precision on timing. I’m primed and ready to channel my inner Anneka to make it happen — I’ve got no choice but to!

Armed with this knowledge, last night my plan to make the evening count was a little packing, a little ordering of yet-to-be-sourced kit list items, and some sleep (my favourite form of preparation). I definitely did not plan to spend the evening helping* my upstairs neighbour, who we’ll affectionately call Creepy McCreepface**, call an emergency plumber. And I did definitely not want to do this on account of the human waste that I returned to find dripping heavily through my bathroom ceiling. Creepy McC, you have taken me to new levels of discomfort in my own home. And inspired me to have an even more productive morning catching up this morning than I would otherwise have done. So, errr… thanks?

*Demanding.

**Yes, I’m taking a punt that Creepy McC doesn’t follow my blogs. Given his lack of internet and telephone, I’m probably safe

Of course, whilst dodging flying human waste in my bathroom was unpleasant, it still doesn’t even remotely compare to the most devastating curveball of them all: Wednesday morning’s tragic Earthquake in Central Italy. Our thoughts are with all of those who lost their lives or were injured, and their families. For now, it doesn’t affect our plans: our route does not pass close to the affected zone- but it brings into sharp focus the potential risks we face. Etna is of course an active volcano and this tectonic activity raises the likelihood that it won’t be safe to attempt our summit. Mother Nature has history of interfering with our plans to Strive: in 2014, our aim to row the channel was thwarted by Hurricane Bertha rendering it impassable; and snow on the Matterhorn led to only 3 of the core team reaching the summit.

I’ve also been stepping up my efforts to make the days count for Big Change in recent weeks. The one reason that truly justifies the miles and miles we’ll be pushing our bodies through is the incredible cause we’re fundraising for. After raising a humbling £17k in 2014, I’m trying to stretch myself even further and raise £20k this year; as a team we’re hoping to raise £1.5m to double our efforts from 2014 in recognition of our double-distance challenge. Fundraising is just as much part of the challenge as the physical effort — it requires organisation and persistence, and just like the challenge, it’s easier when broken down into smaller goals. Rather than think about it as an impossible goal, I’m focussing on how much I need to raise each day between now and the end of the challenge to get there — and instantly, it seems more achievable. I’m also fortunate that this year, thanks to the support of my employer — Google — all of my fundraising will be matched. I feel incredibly proud to work for an organisation that is so supportive of charitable causes — not to mention grateful for being allowed to take my holiday in one batch to allow me to even take part in the challenge at all. Yes, fundraising is time consuming — but it’s easy to give that time up for such a worthy cause. Big Change supports incredible projects like Voice 21 . If you’d like to help support me reach that goal, you can do so here at tiny.cc/strive — every donation, no matter how big or small, will make a huge difference to the lives of young people in the UK.

In some ways, things get easier 7 days from now. Real life will take a back seat for a month, allowing us to focus only on the challenge at hand. For the most part of this year, combining preparation with normal life has simply been part of the challenge. In a week’s time, making the days count involves being a true team member, supporting each other, making memories and making the most of being surrounded by each other to inspire change.

Over the course of the challenge, I’ll be aiming to blog every few days to share stories from the journey. But for now, it’s back to the packing: thanks to our incredible sponsors: Speedo, Champion Systems, Bergans and Nike, there’s a lot to pack! Wish me luck….