Another mini update stats fans

74 lengths added to my batch totallying 400 altogether. Meaning just 72 left until I have completed my team milage!!!!
I have 616 left to complete the full 22 miles and plan to do this in 21 sessions over the next month. I'm determined to complete it all so am stepping up my game!
And for those of you following this really closely I have started to vary my stroke. I am now doing a mixture of breast stroke (no jokes thanks) which is my strongest and front crawl which is my weakest. Sometimes I throw in a couple of back stroke or work with floats to alleviate the monotony.
I can also report that there is no motivational value in Wonderwall by Oasis. Good song it may be but when it starts playing as I hit my 68th length of the day it doesn't really do the job of giving me the energy to push through the last few lengths....

Anyway, back at the pool over the weekend so will hopefully be able to report the completion of my 8 miles!

Short and sweet

Did another 36 lengths.
My total now 286 lengths / 4.5 miles.
186 length / 1.5 miles left to swim on team total.
Getting quite bored of swimming up and down now. More sponsorship money might help :)

Half way point

Or at least this is the half way point in terms of time allowed!
I think we have completed around 600 lengths between us (well, between some of us lol) so this is just about half way in terms of distance (a little under 12 miles).
I'm hoping to edge closer to my personal allocation for the team in the next couple of weeks and think Lauren will be just ahead of me! Sarah is on holiday but has pledged to do her bit while away in order to relieve the hardship of sunbathing by an infinity pool on the Thai coast.
The amount we have raised seems to have stalled around the half-way mark as well. So if you haven't already been generous please do so! You can sponsor us online through the widget over on the right (minimum £2 which is only one drink less in the Bless this week) or see one of us to submit your spare coppers via our paper forms.
Remember all the money we raise is going to Aspire, the leading spinal injury rehabilitation charity.

We're also starting to think about our 2009 programme of events (programme sounds so professional!) so if you have any suggestions for challenges you would like to see us struggle to complete get posting here or on Facebook!

Back to the pool

It's me. Again.

Made it back to the pool today after a hiatus due to illness and then a debilitating motivation problem. I've whooped my own ass over it though and eased myself in with a cool 20 lengths this afternoon. 

I have five more sessions pencilled in this week so should bring my total to somewhere around the 260/300 length (or 6 mile) mark depending on how my interest / wheezy chest holds out.

That does mean that I will only be around 160 lengths away from completing my 8 miles for the team - aiming to do this by the end of week 8 (it's the start of week 4 today) and then will see how much more I can top up with as a challenge to myself!

Amphibian!

It's the end of week one of the Channel swim challenge and I've now completed 120 lengths, which is somewhere around the 2 mile mark. That puts me on target to complete the full 22 miles in 12 weeks. And means I only have 6 miles left to complete my share of the team's distance!!!

I'm hoping I'll be able to break it down into shorter sessions over the next few weeks as 80 today was challenging mentally as well as physically. Somewhere around the 68 mark I really started to have to push myself to carry on and by 75 I had a proper thousand yard stare going. I think 40 is a nice number for one session - and this is now taking 33 minutes so I've knocked another 2 mins off my average time. 

Other things to report...not much really. My ever-decreasing boobage means tumble turns now need some thrilling heroics to ensure I don't reveal my bangers to the rest of the pool users but I take it all as part and parcel of the challenge. And losing pounds while raising pounds is the motto of the team. Or it might be if we started having a motto. Anyway, I think, for me, it's going good! Bring on the rest of the distance!!!  

First laps on the clock

This is Saira checking in at the end of day one. 

Unlike the other RFGRers I won't be taking my challenge further than Derby so I thought I may as well get started and I've put 40 lengths on the clock for the team so we are underway! 

While doing this I have managed to confuse myself about whether we are doing 22 miles between us or 22 miles each. I must check this at the soonest as option one means I have completed my share for this week and option two means I still have 78 lengths to complete in week one alone. 

Anyway, technicalities of the challenge aside day one went a little like this: forgot swimming hat (bad times); increased swim speed so 40 lengths now coming in at 35 minutes (good times). I can also report that Monday night is most definitely boys night in the spa. Jeez, do those regulation hotties like to steam...

So, swimming my 40 for the team gave me the sense of achievement and self-worth sadly elusive the rest of the day (if I'm gonna, I'll blog elsewhere about that). 

But where is the sponsorship??? Come on people...

THE CHALLENGE HAS BEGUN!

Today is kickoff for our channel swim, that's 22 miles of sweat, tears and water inhalation to come over the next 12 weeks.....

Wisely i've actually done no swimming to train for this event, odd you may say and you'd be right, i've just been lazy. But i have been getting into quite a sweat at the gym thrice weekly in the bid to increase my cardio and stamina. However, the exciting part for me is that I've decided to combine this crazy feat with my holiday to Marrakech next week. I'll be attempting to swim my 8 miles in the luxury of the 4 star pool. Only problem i envisage is there being a bar at the end of every lap. Wish me luck i shall need it, oh and yes i'll be sure to get Sarah Bibb my holiday companion to record my splutterings from poolside where she'll be working on a mean tan!

Remember we're doing this crazy challenge for Aspire, the UK’s leading spinal injury charity. Please help them by sponsoring us whatever you can, see us in person or give online at ....
http://www.justgiving.com/teamrfgr
http://www.aspire.org.uk/channelswim/default.html

Training resumes

After a short summer break to enable us to go to Leeds (Sarahs) / Reading (Lauren) and then recover (festival plague gets worse each year) training is about to resume.
There is just under two weeks now until the Aspire challenge begins and we've made some headway towards our modest £60 fundraising target. Any donations you wish to make would be gratefully received - widget to do so online over on the left.
I am pleased with my own progress so far - currently swimming around 30 lengths in 30 minutes and hope to maintain this speed and just extend the quantity now.
Anyway - just a quick update for you as an excuse to post this picture of Lauren combining the joy of wearing a swimming hat with the thrill of Reading festival. Good work!

Train Fat Girl, Train!

Not a particularly thrilling update but here goes anyhoo...
Our Aspire Challenge swim hats have arrived along with our sponsorship forms and the start of the challenge is 5 weeks away!
I have been in a pool once so far in my stringent training regime - completing 4 (oh yeah - 4!) lengths before retiring to the spa.
Probably the most exciting news is that we now have a Facebook group where you can support our efforts in this and other challenges. If you're friends with any of us on there you'll probably already have an invite - if not check us out! Join the Team RFGR Facebook group.
Not only can you support us through this group - but we will support you with any ongoing effects of having seen us sweaty and whining.

And don't forget you can show your support by sponsoring our swim - handy widget to online donations!

Swim Challenge for Aspire

We've signed up for our next challenge!
Between 15 September and 7 December we will be swimming a total of 22 miles to raise money for Aspire.
Aspire's projects and services have a very simple goal - to provide the practical support needed for people with spinal cord injury, from injury to independence.
If you'd like to sponsor us please use the link to our fundraising page - http://www.justgiving.com/teamrfgr.
It's not the only thing we've got going on so look out for more opportunities to part with your cash for worthy causes coming soon from Team RFGR!

Race for Life 2008

Hoorah for us!
We've completed our first event. We took part in the 5k Race for Life event at Nottingham Holme Pierrepont on Sunday 27 July 2008 along with around 3700 other women!
It was the hottest day of the year (so far) and we hadn't trained as hard as we should have (and at least two members had drunk too much the night before) but we completed the course in a very sweaty 1 hour and 5 minutes.
Between us we raised around £700 for Cancer Research UK and a further £140 for the Myfanwy Townsend Melanoma Research Fund.
The sense of achievement in completing our first event was only matched by the ice cold showers later that day!

Another big well done to us, the other runners, all who sponsored us, Oscar, Sam and Sheba who supported us in person on the day, honourary team member and photographer Tricia and everyone who wished us luck!!!