I thought up this challenge for myself a while back, I also had the goal to try and get as fit as possible to compare being 31 with being 21. The main advantage I have over my 21 year old self is my mental attitude - put bluntly, I'm stubborn.
Previously, I would have said that it's strength and ignorance that get me through, but with age, I am trying to worker smarter and not just harder. That started with nutrition and gear. I took on the trip a back pack, carried 4.5litres of squash, 3 bagels, 2 bananas, a cream egg and some sweets! (I factored on 500ml of fluid per hour)
Weather was also a major factor, when I began, it was minus 1 degrees so I needed to dress appropriately, yet as the day progressed and warmed up, I had to ditch the clothing, the plan was that as I drank through my fluids, it would lighten up my pack and help as I tired, yet as it filled with discarded layers, it remained fairly heavy.
The large part of my route was away from roads and took advantage of the canal paths in the local area. I found the following sites really useful; http://canalplan.eu/cgi-bin/canal.cgi and http://jwultra.org.uk/ which is a similar challenge.
I've got to say, I had a total blast and really enjoyed the day, although I had to dig deep between 17-22miles as that was when I found it most difficult. Now a day later, I've got the ache in my body that tells me that I did something awesome! The Miicoach app on my Blackberry made it so easy to track, luckily, the signal maintained for the whole journey and my battery survived the duration however it was flashing red at the finish!
I finished 30miles within 7 hours, I estimate that the total stoppage time for food and changing clothing was in excess of 1 hour yet the time was not the challenge here, it was to run 30miles on the last day of my 30th and that is what I did! All 18stone1 (+my backpack) of me lasted the distance. The only thing I forgot was the sun cream!!
Looking forward now, I need to continue to work on consistent training per week, (currently around 5hours), carry on building my confidence back on the bike and shed the weight that is giving you other athletes out there an unfair advantage over me!! Knowle 5mile fun run in May and City of Birmingham Olympic Distance Triathlon in July. My wife is also expecting our 1st child in May which should bring its very own 'secret training' into the mix! Hoping to get some outdoor water time at Sandwell Valley Park lake from May onwards.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog! I'm 31, aching somewhat but buzzing!!
Matthew Hunt
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