Johnson Controls Trailwalker 2007 Challenge

I weighed myself today and the results aren't good. I've put on 1/4 of a pound, tipping the scales at 14 stone 1.25 pounds. I followed the beer diet too. Loads of beer on Saturday, and a pizza, and a big bag of crisps, and doughnuts with custard in....but I still can't manage to lose any weight.

My attempt at cycling every morning has failed too. I tried once, but nearly fainted because I hadn't had anything to eat.

Oh well, when I'm walking for those long 30 hours I'll reget being such a greedy tw*t.

We have also sorted our final training walk routes. Myself, Marc and Matt will be walking 32 miles around Cannock chase this Saturday in preperation for the big one. If we do this I'll feel very confident come the 14th of July. Unfortunately, Mike won't be walking with us but he'll be in our hearts.

Note: *=i

Yet another sad bloke doing a blog, If you are a fit female reading the blogs on this site the size zero comment refers to my body fat not my mince n tatties.

Nothing wrong with the beer diet, as long as it's done with 12k runs chased by a rabid dog and 3 visits to the gym. Daz had in fact polished off fish, chips n mushy green stuff prior to the picture being taken so one visit to the powder room should sort it.

Mikey M

For those of you who are following the beer diet, please remember that good quality beer will get the best results. The picture below shows exactly why Stu isn't getting the results he should be, as this was found in his fridge.!!

If you would like to sponsor us, you may. Please click the link below to go to our group home page, from here you can choose who to sponsor and find out more information about this great cause.

CLICK ME!

At the time of posting we had raised just under £2000 for Oxfam, with Stu being bottom of the fundraising league table on just £150. So, if you do make a contribution please put it under Stuart's name(you don't have to if you don't want to, nobody else does). Thanks!

The fine specimen of a man you see below is Daz. He's one of our support team, and as you can see if we run out of food after only 5 miles there's enough meat on him to keep us going for the rest of the 55 miles!! But seriously I too need to loose a "few pounds" before the event. I'm not sure of my exact current weight because my "speak your weight" scales just keep saying "one at a time please" every time I get on. I'm guessing it must be quite a lot though because my beeper keeps going off every time I walk backwards!!! So I too will be weighing myself on a Monday, and I will be taking some scales to work to check Stu just in case he "forgets" his weight on the way to work and puts down a lower number on here by "accident" Is it me or is this whole thing getting queerer by the day?

Is this what you're aiming for???

Just a quick bit of advice for Stu, you could ask Mike if you can borrow his size zero diet book. Or you could follow the beer diet like me

At first I was quite happy to let our resident I.T. expert handle the blog, but I can see it is becoming a bit of a release for his anger , so I thought it was time to say my bit. At this stage in my training I am concentrating on midweek shorter distance walks/runs as this is what the official training guide recommends . Some members of the "Team" obviously know more than the experts at oxfam and have decided to follow the "no long walks at weekends and nothing all week" programe.
After spending last weekend with my family doing all of the things I have promised my kids we would do for the last few weekends when I went walking instead, I am ready to get a long walk in this Saturday. I will be making this walk as "event like" as possible, walking 6.5 miles between two locations for as many times as possible (aiming for 6) . This will enable me to simulate the checkpoint element of the walk, and also make it easier to walk in the heat as I will be able to re-stock my water and food every couple of hours. Having updated you on my progress and training plan, I would like to take this oportunity to remind the rest of my team that we should be working with each other, not against each other. and it would be nice if we could all show up for the last group training walk on the 30th June, that includes the support crew as the route will comprise of 5 sections , so support crew can make it as long or short a route as they can manage.
On the subject of the support crew, I would like to congratulate Jim on his overseas training, Paul on his cross country training (golf) and Daz on his new boots, you just need to walk in them a few times now mate.
I don't expect to be contributing any more posts to this blog, as it is all a bit ginger beer for my liking, so will leave it to Stu to keep you updated with my progress.

Well, 24 training days left and I'm starting to get worried.

One of my main aims before the Trailwalker event was to lose some weight, hoping this would ease the pain I've been experiencing with my ankles after each training walk (15 mile +). I'm currently tipping the scales at 14 stone 2 pounds. This needs to be addressed now so I'm going on the size 0 diet and going on my exercise bike every morning.

Each Tuesday, I will weigh myself and post my progress here.....

The next group event simulation is planned for Saturday 30th June where myself, Marc and Matt will be (attempting) to walk 30 mile around Cannock Chase. This is our last peak, before we taper off two weeks before the big one. As I've said before, everybody is sort of doing their own thing up until this point.

Marc went for a walk Saturday gone, and lasted just over 1 hour before he gave up due to servere weather conditions.

Matt simulated nothing last weekend, but insists that he will be 'knocking out around 24 miles' this coming Saturday.

Mike is walking to the pub and back on a regular basis, but he has mentioned that his knees are playing up! (tell the subs to warm up!).

I'm not doing anything.

As the dreaded day looms ever closer, things have started to become a bit more organised. Last Thursday we had a Trailwalker meeting discussing some key points. It was a very powerful meeting, with some heated debate. The minutes of the meeting are shown below highlighting the professionalism with which we are tackling the task at hand.

Start Time: 15:25
Date: 14/6/07
Those present: Matt Webber, Paul Harrison, Stuart Nicholson, Mike Middleton, Marc Lloyd, Darren Day

ML: Who is organising the tent? What about an equipment list?
PH: PH will provide stove, gas, pots and pans.
ML: Everybody must bring their own folding chair, and Isotonic drinks.
PH: Suggested the use of Euroboxes. This was ultimately rejected.
MW: “can sort my own socks, all I want is someone to knock up a sandwich.”
ML: Food?
SN: “Peanut butter sandwiches will do me – also some banana too to be extra special.”
ML: Allergic to peanuts, one sniff could be the end.
ML: Requested Quorn & pasta, with the pasta not too soft.
MW: Makes a reference to SN’s hair length “Are you growing your hair?”
SN: No, getting it cut on 15/6/07 approx 14:30.
Team: Discuss departure time: after work Friday 13/7/07 (Oh noooo!)
PH: Minibus sorted? Pack it up during ‘work’ Friday.
DD: Diesel payment?
MW: “ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”
SN: blah, blah, blah etc.

Skipping over some of the detail, I have rounded up the most powerful points and listed them below for your pleasure:-

• Each walker is to draw up a menu of food they will desire during the walk.
• We need to approach our boss for sponsorship moneys, and to provide drinks, cool boxes etc at the company’s expense.
• Departure time is 12:15, 13/7/07.
• SN to bring camcorder to record pain and suffering.
• Tents to be sourced.
• Route to be planned in advance.
• Each walker to bring a bucket (to soak their feet in at each checkpoint).
• Gazeboes to be sourced, to provide cover for broken walkers.
• MW can sort his own socks, all he wants is someone to knock up a sandwich.
• Lots of £1 personal fans could be strapped to each walker’s legs, giving the gift of flight. It was thought that this could ease the strain on the walker’s feet.
• SN would be getting his hair cut, eventually.
• ML is allergic to nuts.
• Potential finish time could be 14:00 15/7/07.

Well, I've spent ages creating this blog upon the request of my fellow walkers...but they just can't be bothered to contribute. Therefore, it's all up to me.

Myself and Matt planned to go on a 25 mile training walk this Saturday, but it looks as though the wet weather has dampened his spirits. Only yesterday he was giving it the big 'en....yeah man! 25 miles! Saturday! Alright! However, 24 hours later its a different story. I don't want to walk in the rain he said, I'll get wet he said. Well, last week we (Myself, Matt & Marc)walked 15 miles in 30 degree heat. That was really bad. Give me rain any day! Marc had to go to hospital when his hayfever kicked in. His face swelled up and looked like a burst sausage. He's a proper man, hard as nails.

It looks as though everyone in the 'team' are going to be 'doing their own training routines'.

Well, according to the Wonder Pets the only thing that will work is team work. Maybe I should join their team.......

Welcome to the Johnsons Trailwalker blog.

Trailwalker is one of Oxfam's largest chairty events. It involves teams of 4 walking 100km within 30 hours. That is quite a long way....62 miles in all.

In this blog, we will record all of our experiences concerning the Trailwalker event.