Week 5 (Day 35) - 4th February 2015 - Introducing the LEJOG team

Week 5 - 4th January 2015

Well the January blues are long gone and February is upon us, 35 runs down with 330 to go and still feeling fresh. This week I have pushed myself much more than previous weeks, I wanted to test my fitness levels and to see what I was physically and mentally capable of. I have run a total of 30.9 miles this week which brings my total up to 139.5 miles for the year. I have also cycled 64.1 miles this week which is a total of 254.9 miles for the year. On Saturday I set another PB of 20:38 at Cuerden Valley Parkrun, beating my last PB by 5 seconds from the previous week (the seconds all count). By the end of the year I want to get a sub 20 minute time, with Cuerden Valley Parkrun being 'Lancashiretough', it will be a hard task but I will hopefully get there. Sunday, I went and did a half marathon off my own back, covering 13.9 miles in total. My time for this was 1:33:59 - I had set a goal of 1:35:00 to reach this year, so as I have already achieved this my new target will be 1:30:00. My previous PB over this distance was 1:42:34, so I have smashed this record and I was delighted with the time. Even though I should be getting tired and slower, I seem to be doing the opposite. I have found myself being more awake on most days and my times/running distances are improving every week. On Monday I went for a venture on the bike, travelling through Hoghton, Pleasington, Samlesbury then back to Walton Le Dale. Was a comfortable 28 miles ascending 1500ft in total with some great views along the way. As I am running every day, it was straight off the bike and into my running gear. I only did 1.5miles as my feet were frozen from the ride, but I got through it, nice and easy warm down.

To mix things up I have also signed up to 'Tough Mudder in September and 'Cheshire Cat' in March. Tough Mudder is a 12-14 mile run with obstacles every mile or so, obstacles include the mud mile, swimming in and under ice water and electric shocks. This will be a great challenge and will test my fitness in a whole new way. Peter Battersby and Alex Dodd will also be joining me on the day, I know they are both working hard on their fitness at the moment. Alex, keep it up as you will need the strength to help me pull Pete over the walls. Jordan Dashti? You getting involved? Stevo Casino, how about you as well? The Cheshire Cat is a 105 mile bike ride through and around Crewe. Climbing a total od 5500ft on the route, this will surely be another big test for me. On top of this, I will then have to do at least a mile run that day, so planning will be key to make sure I can keep my word. Think the plan will be to either wait until midnight then do my run then, or wait until after the bike ride.

The Team - The Wheel Deal

A few weeks ago myself, Jordan Dashti and Steven Willetts had a dream about riding from Lands End to John O'Groats for charity. As we have all recently got into cycling I thought it was just the hype of a new hobby - it wasn't. This Sunday we had arranged a team meeting at Starbucks to go through all the plans and to have a realistic discussion about it all. We had the a full map of Britain, Laptop and IPhones on the go at the same time to get the vital information we needed. After a large coffee and much debate, we had finalised the route which totals around 1000 miles, travelling through three countries and ascending a total of 17,000 meters. Mount Everest is just short of 9000 meters high, so this puts into scale the mammoth task we will be embarking on.

Just a few days later having all worked hard, we have planned the official route, booked all the hotels and sorted transport out to Lands End and back from John O'Groats. The journey will be over ten days, averaging about 100 miles a day throughout. We will have no support and we will carry all our supplies with is on our bikes and backs. This in my eyes adds a different level of difficulty to the challenge, this could well be the hardest physical and mental challenge we will ever be apart of. Nether the less, we cannot wait for it and all three of us are doing it for very worthy causes. In the lead up to and after this event we will try to promote the three charities as much as possible, this is the main reason we are doing this in the first place. It will be a great sense of personal achievement completing this task, but if we can change peoples lives and quality of living on the way then that will be the real achievement for us all.

Profiles

Name - Karl Hodgson
Age - 26
D.O.B. - 23.08.1988
Sports - Football, Rugby, Squash, Golf, Cycling and Running.
Random Fact - Met Ryan Giggs, Carlos Tevez, Gerard Pique, Nani and Anderson at The Christie. Couldn't find my camera on the day - Took an underwater camera that I found instead. Note to self, it's called and under water camera for a reason - No pictures came out, gutted.
Club - Manchester United
Chosen Charity - The Christie - http://www.christie.nhs.uk/the-christie-charity.aspx
Previous Charity work - Running the Manchester 10k and Great North Run for The Christie.


Name - Jordan Dashti
Age - 27
D.O.B - 02.09.1987
Sports - Football, Football, Football, Badminton, Cycling and Running.
Random Fact - Scored the greatest goal ever at Old Trafford. At least 45 yards out, I was the only person to witness it. Caught him doing a few kicks up as he then proceeded to touch the ball to his right hand side and open his body up. From nowhere he's eyed up the net and put his laces through it, ball curling from right to left it clipped the under side of the bar and hit the side netting - Unreal scenes.
Club - Manchester United.
Chosen Charity - The Space Centre - http://www.thespacecentre.org/
Previous Charity work - Raised over £10,000 last year for the space centre, cycling across certain parts of the UK. Also taken part in running events and completed the Liverpool Marathon.


Name - Steven Willetts
Age - 26
D.O.B - 13.03.1988
Sports - Football, Rugby?? Squash, Cycling and Running.
Random Fact - At the age of 10, maybe 11, Steven was on the programme 'Robot Wars'. He was on the show twice with Predator 1 and Predator 2. Unfortunately they came up against Hypnodisc in the first round who went on to win on numerous occasions - Still quite an achievement though. Meeting his favourite Corrie star Craig Charles along the way.
Club - Everton
Chosen Charity - Everton in the Community - http://community.evertonfc.com/
Previous Charity work - Taken part in number of distance runs including the Liverpool marathon in which he raised money for The Christie - Good lad.

Lands’ End to John O’Groats – 12th June – 20th June 2015


Day 1 – Land’s End to Launceston – Friday 12th June 2015
Day one of our epic journey will see us travelling from Lands End to Launceston. We will be flirting with the beautiful Cornish coastline and seeing some epic views on our way.

Distance – 94.4 Miles – (Not including the 10 miles from the hotel to the Lands End starting point.

Time – 7 Hour 24 Minutes

Elevation Gained – 7,432ft.  
Day 2 – Launceston to Glastonbury – Saturday 13th June 2015

Day two of the journey see’s us travelling from Launceston among the fields of Barley... I mean Somerset, finishing just outside of Glastonbury Sounds like another nice ride.

Distance – 85.5 Miles

Time – 6 Hour 42 minutes

Elevation Gained – 6,024ft  

Day 3 – Chilton Polden – Hereford – Sunday 14th June 2015

Day Three we will be travelling to Hereford from Chilton Polden (just outside Glanstonbury). We will cross into Wales on this leg ticking off the 2nd country out of three.

Distance – 89.2 Miles.

Time – 7 Hour 10 seconds

Elevation Gained – 6,140ft.   
Day 4 – Hereford – Liverpool (Rob Garths) – Monday 15th June 2015

Day Four – This is the day we start moving towards home territory. We will start in Hereford and work our way through Shrewsbury and on towards Liverpool. Longest leg of the trip but the flattest so far. Rob Garth has given us a room for the night as well, much appreciated Roberto.

Distance – 118.5 Miles.

Time – 9 Hour 18 Minutes

Elevation Gained – 5335ft.  
Day 5 – Goodison Park – The Christie – The Space Centre – Tuesday 16th June 2015


Day Five – This will be the Le Charity Leg. Travelling from Goodison Park to meet the stars. We will then venture to Manchester to the Christie; I will take you on a personal tour of the place. After this, we will head back to Preston to the Space Centre, we shall be welcomed home and home will be welcomed. – Only half of the journey though, the homecoming should be an emotional one. Beards and long hair await.

Distance – 78.4 Miles – Without the Journey home.

Time – 6 Hour 9 Minutes.

Elevation Gained- 3292ft.


Day 6 – Preston – Carlisle – Wednesday 17th June 2015

Day six... SHAP day. 2nd toughest day in my eye – climbing over 1200ft in 15 miles. Apart from this though the route is pretty flat and downhill from the 59th mile. Should be easy going after this. Heading to Carlisle we will have a great day and views through the Lake District.

Distance – 91.5 miles

Time – 7 hours 11 minutes

Elevation Gained – 4779ft  Day 7 – Carlisle – Glasgow – Thursday 18th June 2015

Day Seven – We will venture from Carlisle up to Glasgow – The route is a little shorter than planned but ste’s fellow evertonian friend has welcomed us in with open arms, what a guy!! One of the flatter routes we have but will still be a big challenge.

Distance – 87.3 Miles

Time – 6 hour 51 Minutes.

Elevation Gained – 4280ft.  


Day 8 – Glasgow – Fort William – Friday 19th June 2015

Day Eight – This will be a long day, but riding through Loch Lomond and up to Ben Nevis will make this one a special one. We will finish at Fort William which will have great views on the lochs and Ben Nevis as well, great place to stop. We are now on the same Latitude as British Colombia – If you went west... Canada would be your next stop.

Distance – 115.8 Miles

Time – 9 Hours

Elevation Gained – 5899ft  
Day 9 – Fort William – Lairg – Saturday 20th June 2015

Day nine, we will be on our penultimate leg. Heading from Fort William to Lairg, there will be 2 major climbs – Only over a couple of miles but these will be testers to say the least. Apart from these is it pretty flat, but up and downs throughout. Bring it on! JOG isn’t far away.

Distance – 107.3 Miles

Time – 8 Hour 20 Minutes

Elevation Gained – 6618ft.  

Day 10 – Final Day – Lairg to John O’Groats – Sunday 21st June 2015

Day ten, last leg, unreal scenes ahead of the final ride. We will work through the Scottish highlands, first 15 miles are uphill. After this it will be pretty much all downhill, massive relief. JOG JOG JOG.

Distance – 94.4 Miles

Time – 7 Hour 20 Minutes

Elevation Gained – 5323ft.  


With the final route planned and most things sorted, it will now be up to us three to carry on training and to get as fit as possible come June 12th 2015. If you have got this far you are still interested, which is good! If you want to come an join us on any leg of this event, please get in touch. We want to promote this as much as possible and would welcome any support. If we could get as many cyclists setting off from Preston to Carlisle on day 6, this would be epic.

As always - Feel free to sponsor me if you like :)

https://www.justgiving.com/end2endKH/

If you wish to comment or ask questions about anything, please go ahead - If it makes a difference to one person that's good enough for me.

You can also contact me a follow my journey with the details below.
Facebook - Karl Michael Hodgson
Twitter - @teddyhodgson
Instagram - teddyhodgson
Strava - Karl Hodgson

Thanks - Karl