Where's A Magic Wand When You Need One?

 So this was it.

Alpine adventure 2023 and more specifically, our ascent of Mont Blanc, was about to end and we hadn't even reached the Tete Rousse Refuge. FUCK!

Ahead of me, Aaron, Samantha and Craig were forging ahead, but behind and below me by about one hundred meters, our fourth team member was really, really struggling. 

And there was I, stuck in the middle.

I could easily catch up with the lead three, but there was no way I was going to leave one of the guys struggling on their own behind me. I turned around and started to descend. Once I reached her, I gave her the option of turning back with me and heading to the train station. However, she was having none of that, and insisted she wanted to carry on.

She should have listened to me as I already knew the outcome of this climb, but I went along with her wishes, and we continued upwards until we caught up with Sam, Craig and a very stern looking Aaron. He had the last say on whether or not we carried on and the simple truth was that we had run out of time and would soon run out of daylight for the descent. It was a night sleeping in the boot room at Tete Rousse, or back down the mountain and a few sorrow-drowning beers.

The beers won.

Four of Alpine Adventure 2023 Team
Not once did all six members show for training!
#redflag

I would never have said this then, but I will openly admit it now. Whilst I really felt for the other three guys, I could have kissed our fourth team member for her lack of fitness. As you'll know if you've read, 'So....What's It All About', my heart was not in this trip at all. My thoughts and emotions were firmly set on getting home and I was happy to just be getting off that mountain and down safely so that I could get back to Wales to support my wife Dione, who was going through cancer surgery and treatment.

That being said and despite the frosty atmosphere on that descent, myself and Aaron started planning Alpine Adventure 2024 there and then. Some lofty ideas were presented and dismissed but one or two major, scary, but doable climbs were raised and have stuck. 

More on Alpine Adventure 2024 to come......

Before we arrived in France, I was already in what I call my, 'Fundraising Mode', as it was the only way I felt useful during a crisis that I had no control over. That crisis being the shear fear and devastation of thinking that my wife could possibly die. Dione's diagnosis had already become my main inspiration and motivation for planning some big physical challenges in 2024 in order to help the people who would, along with our wonderful NHS, ultimately help save her life, Macmillan Cancer Support. 

However, as yet I hadn't decided what those physical challenges would actually be. I've done many gym challenges and sponsored hikes in the past. But this was the only way I could help my wife survive, I didn't have a magic wand to just wave the cancer away and I just could not envisage a life without her. 

So this years fundraising efforts had to be bigger... much BIGGER!

A couple of factors would influence my choice of challenges for 2024 and one major factor would drive me to push myself harder than I ever have:

• The super-human feats of fitness and endurance that the UTMB ultra-runners displayed whilst we were in Chamonix absolutely blew me away. This would greatly influence my choice of training modality.
• The necessity at fifty-seven years old, for being fitter than I've ever been in my life, in order to make our ambitious plans for Alpine Adventure 2024 a reality. 
• Dione's unwavering positivity and bloody mindedness in the face of receiving the worst possible news. If that didn't inspire me - Nothing ever would.

However, as I've previously documented, I really struggle with running. Even the shortest distances felt awkward and painful. At times I felt like a toddler taking it's first stumbling steps, my legs not feeling under my control. 

Added to that, I'm quite heavily built, my knees are pretty much held together with the aid of screws and carbon fibre and there is little or no meniscus left in either knee. This means I get a lot of 'bone on bone action' which can catch me unawares at the most inconvenient of times, causing excruciating pain and me to end up in a sorry-looking heap. 

Finally, I've been told that the head of the femur on my right leg is crumbling away and the future holds the prospect of a double knee replacement for me.

So there it was staring me in the face.

My stubborn and competitive mentality, took one long look at all those potentially impossible barriers and told them to fuck right off!  Ultra trail-running was the perfect choice for my 2024 training and fundraising... WHY?

Because it would be a REAL  fucking challenge!

I was going to do the activity least suited to my body-type, over the longest distances possible.

PERFECT!

The priority on returning home from France was firstly to give Dione the biggest hug. I'd never missed her so much in all our time together. Then, it was getting the surgeries and treatment done and dusted. 

I've said this before, I'm saying it now and I will probably say it again a million times. Dione's positivity and 'let's get it done and get on with our lives' attitude, is something I will forever be in awe of. She was absolutely the strong one throughout this whole episode in our lives. She has inspired me more than any other person ever has and made us a much stronger couple. 

I may be biased, but to me, she simply is 'The Bollocks!' (That's a huge compliment by the way)

Dione's Mastectomy happened on 26th September, followed by the lymph nodes, which had also come back positive, being removed on the 10th November. The operations were a success and to all intents and purposes, the cancer was gone. First huge sigh of relief and many tears

We then had the amazing news that Dione had got on to the Optima Trial, (too much to explain right now) which meant that chemotherapy would not be necessary. Second huge sigh of relief and many more tears.

Radiotherapy however, absolutely would be necessary, but that wouldn't start until after Christmas. That gave us time to reset, reflect, relax and actually enjoy our first Christmas in our new home.

That was also my green light to start my training in earnest.  

The first thing I did was give myself a major goal to aim at.... I entered the B2C X. That's the Brecon to Cardiff Extreme event, which was to be held on the 6th February 2024. Yup! Just nine weeks or so away. That would turn out to be a bite that was way above my chewing capabilities. It would also turn out to be an inspired decision.

I then needed something a little more manageable to aim for in the interim. The Celtic Capers Christmas Half Marathon had a happy and festive ring to it, so again I got my entry in. That was on the the 16th of December, giving me a whopping five weeks prep. 

If You're Going In.... Go Balls Deep I Say!

For the past six to eight years I've religiously maintained a regular knee strength and stability routine using unilateral (single leg) exercises to avoid compensation, proprioception and balance training (I specialise in coaching these), which also improve core strength and stability, along with Bike Erg and Rower Erg training - ZERO RUNNING

Fundraising 2023
100km Bike Erg

For the coming nine months training and events leading up to Alpine Adventure 2024 in July, I decided to:

1. Increase the leg strength training and incorporate some bilateral techniques. Basically squats and deadlifts.
2. Work on knee ROM (range of movement) which was really poor as a result of all my surgery. So basically Yoga and Knees Over Toes to force my knees to bend further than they had since I was eighteen years old.
3. Drop the ergs. I was doing ultra-running so I guess I'd .... RUN
4. Drop all upper body weight training. I hoped it would promote some weight loss - It hasn't!

My upper body training is now purely bodyweight. I have a pull-up and dip station in the garden plus I do a lot of bouldering and climbing. 

My Favourite Sport
EVER!

So quick Re-cap.

1. I decided on ultra-trail running as my challenge events for 2024 along with climbing some major Alpine peaks.
2. I was a terrible runner. It was painful and my knees are way past their use-by date.
3. I stopped doing cardio that was safe because I now had to seriously get into running.
4. Upper body weights are a thing of the past. I hate weight training so this was no great loss.
5. I entered some majorly difficult trail events giving myself little or no time to prepare for them.

Finally - I had the greatest reason and inspiration to succeed - My wife's unbending belief that she would beat cancer.... which I'm fucking ecstatically delighted to say...SHE DID!

So here goes... November 2023 I started running.

Now... Where's that magic wand?