Well.... welcome back! I am slowly trying to catch up with my activities over the past few months. My intention when I started my blog was to keep up to date with all my activities as and when they happened, unfortunately due to the high amount and lack of free time I have fallen slightly behind. Before the end of the year I will make sure I am back on track.
Anyhow, with July over it was time to push on for the next few months, I definitely kept myself busy. August was a good month for me, pretty quiet but I had a lot planned. I had signed up to my first marathon which was scheduled for the beginning of October. Before this mammoth task, I had planned in Tough Mudder and a small matter of a charity boxing match, which was another event I could tick off my list for 2015. My main issue was trying to manage the training right and keep up with the intense training without injury. I didn't really have any main targets for August, I just wanted to embrace the fact I was in a position to push myself physically and mentally, to see how far I could go.
August was a slow start really, the first week of the month I had only covered 13.3 miles, it did take me to 568.5 miles for the year, this was slowly creeping up towards the 1000 mile mark which was always good. My first real event that I could push myself in was my weekly parkrun, I was hooked. In mid July I set a time of 19:17, which I really wanted to beat and push on towards the 19 minute mark. On the morning on the 8th August, up to about 30 seconds before the start, I was eyeing up a first place finish. Last minute though Andrew Benson and Andrew Newton strolled to the start line, with them both hitting sub 19 every week, I knew my chances had gone. It wasn't all bad as I knew a fast pace would be set, I wasn't wrong. They both set off very fast, I kept up for about 400m and then they disappeared. I was running well and felt good despite the faster start. I managed to maintain my position in 3rd and finished with a time of 19:12, 5 seconds off my PB, delighted with this once again. It was only small margins but I was getting quicker, great news.
Once I was done in the valley, it was then onto the football. The host for the day was Steven Willetts, fitness fanatic who had raised a lot money for Everton in The Community both past and present. Everton had been kind enough to invite myself, Ste and Jordan to the opening game of the season vs Watford. Ste already being a season ticket holder had given up his seats on the day to come and sit with the boys. Before the game we was taken pitch side to watch the players train and to have our photo taken with one of those massive cheques you see. It was brilliant, always wanted to hold onto of those massive cheques, now my dream had come true. Ste had raised just short of £2000 for the charity, what a great amount of money in less than 6 months. Jordan had raised over £1000 for the LeJog event, with a total of over £10,000 for the previous 18 months, what a guy! We obviously watched the game afterwards which ended up in a 2-2 draw. The Everton fans were hostile from the beginning, at half time boo's rang around the stadium. After a poor summer in the transfer market and a poor first half, the fans were making themselves known. It all ended well with a Kone equaliser and everyone went home pretty happy. Great pies from Goodison as well, I will hand that to the scousers! It was a great day and thoroughly enjoyed being pitch side and soaking in the atmosphere, plus it was great to be rewarded and shown some gratitude for the hard work all 3 of us had put in over those 10 days.The day after on the Sunday, I thought I would try out my first long run. I didn't have any sort of distance planned out at all, which isn't the best preparation for marathon training. I set off at 10k pace, after about 6 miles I still felt pretty fresh, so I extended this to 13 miles. After a brief stop for a water refill at my mums work place, I thought I would push myself a bit further. With it being one of the hottest days of the year it was a pretty stupid idea, that is me all over though. I went through New Longton and then onto Walmer Bridge. About 15 miles in my legs started giving in on me, my only issue at this point is that I was over 8 miles from home. It seemed a great idea at first, the logic of running out of the way so you have to run back sounded brilliant, not after 16 miles. All my energy had gone and it was so hot, I had to run home, no other option about it. I plodded on, walking in stages. I eventually managed to get home after 23 miles of running, which took me about 3:12 in total. Even though I was shattered, hungry, probably dehydrated, in my head my marathon training was pretty much complete. I had covered the distance I needed to, 12 week plan sorted in one day, so naïve, what a stupid way of thinking.
The next 5 days I was just recovering from my longest run to date, as I hadn't eaten properly or rehydrated I was feeling it. I was physically and mentally tired, for the first time in the year I couldn't be bothered running. I did my mile a day, only covering 5 miles in those 5 days put my average well down. 226 days of running, I had covered 599.9 miles, which averaged at 2.67 miles a day. As I had holidays planned and knew I would have the festive period coming up, I needed to up my game if I wanted to reach my 1000 mile target. Once again, Saturday morning had arrived and I was back in the valley chasing another PB at Cuerden. I was pushed hard this week but came away with another PB of 19:03, so close the sub 19 target I had in mind. Over my previous 5 races I had PB'd 5 times, with results of 3rd, 1st, 1st, 3rd and the most recent of 2nd. Cuerden isn't classed as a race but it is a great way of monitoring your own progress. I was determined to get below the 19 minute mark in 2015, only time would tell if I could achieve this or not.
Approaching the end of August it was now time for a well deserved break, turning 27 on the 23rd August, I had booked a few days away in Amsterdam to celebrate in style. For the 2nd time this year I was going on holiday, half of my suitcase consisting of running equipment, luckily enough lycra is only light weight. Having been Amsterdam a few times before, I knew for a fact that running would be hard work, mainly due to all of the cyclists I would have to avoid on the way, honest. Having already run in England, Gambia, Wales and Scotland in 2015, Holland would be the 5th country I would be running in on my challenge. Always nice to mix it up a bit. Having an early flight, I arrived in Amsterdam at about 8am, check in at the hotel was mid-afternoon. There was only one option, get into a bar, get into my lycra and go for a run. It was short and sweet, a quick 7 minute mile in the sunshine and it was time to hit up Amsterdam for a quiet birthday weekend. In the 4 days I was there, I only covered 4.3 miles. It was my birthday weekend and I was having a break. I have to admit that the celebrations made the running hard work, especially on the lungs. It was another country ticked off the list and another few miles in the bag, was now back to reality and to try and get focused again. So come the end of August I run for 243 consecutively, covering 623.5 miles over the 8 months, averaging 2.56 miles a day. It was good, but the total wasn't going up as fast as I would have liked.
So September had finally arrived and it was a big month ahead. I was still on with boxing training which was tiring but great work. Twice a week, consisting of circuit training, sparring and every exercise you could think of. As the weeks went on the training got harder, I was getting fitter and was getting used to the exercises, it didn't get easier. Once you got used to one thing, they would mix it up. In the long run it was only going to be good for my running. Most of the sessions started off with 10 minutes of the dreaded stairs. Five floors, up and down until you was blowing fro every angle. This was only the start, it was then followed by 2 minutes on the bags, throwing combinations. The 1 minute rest in between the rounds consisted of 10 press-ups, sit ups and squats. By the time you had done these it was time to start the next round. This went of for 4-5 rounds usually, proper work out to say the least. Once that was done, it would then be time to swap over and do some sparring. Same amount of time for the rounds, with the same exercises in between. This was a killer, throwing punches at the end was hard work, great training with great intensity!! Loved it. We would then probably finish with some more circuits such as sit ups, planking etc. I will talk more about the boxing soon and fight night. If you want a perfect press up technique, check out the guy in the red ;-).My next official event was the Red Rose Road Runners Interclub, which was 4.2 miles through Worden park. It was the first interclub race I had been to and all the big boys turned up to show me how to run properly. I made a vital mistake at the beginning of the race by not getting to the front, with it being a narrow start I couldn't get the positioning I had liked. After about the first mile it opened up a lot but by this time I was way behind the front runners. I still pushed hard though as a settled into a good pace, I finished in 36th place out of a couple hundred with the time of 26:00. It worked out over 6:00 /mi which wasn't the fastest I had ever run but I really enjoyed it. A few days later it was then onto the parkrun in the valley once again. I'll admit I wasn't the freshest this week and wasn't putting in enough training to deserve a good run. I still completed the course in 19:49 which I was happy to be running sub 20 constantly, finishing 3rd wasn't too bad either.
Another excuse for running slower than usual is myself and Pete had booked in for the Wigan 10k for Sunday 6th September. I had run a few 10ks in the past and it was one of the distances I knew I could massively improve on. Having run an 18 minute 5k, my PB time for 10k was 38:53, I knew I could do better than this. The event on the day was really good, turning up early they had bands on and a lot of other entertainment. The fact the Wigan 10k was teaming up with the charity for Joining Jack made it even better and for such a great cause. If you haven't heard of the charity before then take a look at what it's all about. http://joiningjack.org/ Well lets get onto the race, with there being around 2000 people on the day, I found it hard to get a warm up done due to the lack of room. So I just decided to get the best position and get to the front of the pack, using my first mile as a warm up. I was really up for the race on the day, even though I was feeling a little tired. My aim for the race was just to beat my previous PB, which I was confident of doing. I set off at a good pace, covering the first mile in 5:51, probably a bit too fast of a start but it give me ground to slow down. I felt good and pushed on as usual, my next 2 miles I covered in 6:05 and then 6:12. Crossing the 5k mark I knew I was up on my previous best, just had to maintain the pace. I did start to slow soon after, my next three miles were 6:22, 6:25 and 6:14. With less than 400 meters to go I was definitely on for a PB, with a strong sprint finish I gained about 5 places and finished with a time of 38:29. Delighted to get a new PB, I am never satisfied with myself and there was slight disappointment that I couldn't get closer to the 38 minute mark. In time that will come, for now I had reached my target and comfortably beat my previous time, finishing 43rd out of 2000, I could not complain. Pete also reached a new PB for the day with a time of 44:22, smashed his previous PB. For an event I would recommend the Wigan 10k to anyone, great organisation throughout and the atmosphere was the same. The band situated at the DW stadium took your mind off the running, even if it was only for a short amount of time. Over the next week I took things pretty easy as I was gearing myself up for Tough Mudder on the Sunday, still continued with my mile a day. If you don't know already then Tough
Mudder is a team-oriented 10-12 mile (18-20 km) obstacle course designed to test physical
before submerging again. This wasn't any better, I managed to scramble out at the end but my body was in shock. I was literally uncontrollably shivering and my breathing was short and sharp, gasping for air pretty much. Only way to sort this out was to get running and get warm, it was horrific! Only took a few moments to get the blood pumping again before we was onto the next challenge. On the day there was a load of obstacles that tested your physical and mental strength. The final obstacle finished the day off in style though, titled 'Electroshock Therapy', pretty much explains itself. 10,000 volts running through the wires was enough to put me on the floor. I only made contact with one at the end, it put me face down into the floor within a second. There was no real pain, just one hell of a shock.
Moving back onto the running, I have to say September was a pretty disappointing month for myself. I don't really know what it was down to but I didn't cover anywhere near the miles I wanted to. With my boxing match at the end of the month I think a lot of my focus went into the training for this, which definitely didn't help my running. I was getting fitter on the circuit training side of things, my running seemed to go a little down hill though. After TM I only covered 19.3 miles in 11 days, an average of 1.6 miles a day wasn't acceptable really. However on Saturday 26th September I achieved another PB at Cuerden Valley parkrun, beating my previous time of 19:03 by 3 seconds, 19:00 was the final time. I genuinely thought I had gone sub 19 on the course for the first time, it wasn't to be. I was delighted again with a PB and first place finish as I wasn't run well at the time, still a little disappointed that I couldn't push myself that one second faster, in time that will come. With the correct training, diet and frame of mind I real want to smash that 19:00 mark, only I could put the effort in to achieve this.Moving on from the running, it was now onto the boxing. From the beginning of August I went through 8 weeks of training and pushing myself to the limit to get as fit as possible for the fight ahead. I had been training with around 20 local lads from Preston, it did start at around 40 but a lot dropped due to personal circumstances and the fact they didn't want to
get punched in the head repeatedly. This was part of the challenge for myself, never being in a fight before, I felt I could hold my own in the ring and I would never give up. If someone was going to beat me they would have to knock me out, or for the referee to stop it of course. Training with the same lads each week was brilliant, especially as you got to know people more and more throughout the weeks. The hard part was knowing you would have to fight one of those people and when it came to the ring it was you verses them. We had the weigh in earlier in the week at Glovers bar in which we found out who we was fighting and had a friendly face-off. It was a good way of doing it as it then only left you 4 days to prepare yourself for who you was going to fight on that weekend. I was chosen against a guy called William, out of the 20 or so lads in the gym, I hadn't even considered I would be fighting him. I don't know the exact weights but we must have been pretty similar to get paired up, he definitely had the height and reach advantage on me, well from what I could see. That was it, it was on, I had my opponent and it was time to focus for the Sunday night.Sunday came round very quick, as ever before the boxing a went and did my mile run, took it nice and easy to save the legs of course. Of course it was very clever of me running hard the previous morning at parkrun, where I really should have been taking it easy, I didn't like taking it easy though. All the fighters had to arrive for about 2pm on the day, potentially a good few hours before you would be fighting with the first fight being at 4.30pm. Not knowing when I would be fighting until I got there, I made sure to pack a lot of food to keep
me going. On arrival all the lads were buzzing as we walked around Lava Ignite which was the venue for the night. Having the ring there and the seats set up for the audience made it sink in what was actually going to go down. It was predicted that 500 people would be watching and that to myself was a big number of people and definitely got me a little nervous even way before the fight. It was then time to go and have a medical which every fighter needed to pass before they could fight. Being nervous my blood pressure and heart rate was a little higher than normal but no need for concern.
After the organisers had explained all the rules for the night they then told us our fight numbers. Out of 19 fights, I think, I was scheduled for number 11. First fight being at 4:30pm, it meant I had a good few hours to kill before I was on. This wasn't a bad thing as I had a lot of time to prepare, eat the meals I had prepared and to sit down and enjoy some of the previous fights. The first fights got under way and it definitely got the nerves going, the night started with some female boxing which I have to say was a good tactical fight that ended in a draw. After this it got serious, some of the big hitters came to the ring and punches started to fly. With the UWCB safety came into it, so head guards were worn for every fight. Still, some of the punches that were connecting looked horrifically good, it was what we was there to do and I enjoyed watching it. Time was soon passing as I sat with my family and friends for the first few fights.
Before I knew it 5/6 fights had finished and my fight was getting closer. I headed up to the changing rooms after one of the fights to just check my phone and really just to waste ore time. As I remember I wished the next boxer good luck, not knowing at the time it was my opponent. I wasn't thinking and didn't even have it in my head that I would be fighting any minute. A minute later, still with me being in the changing rooms, my music came on and my name was announced. Honestly the next couple of minutes I don't really remember, the fact I had at least another hour to my fight, I hadn't even started to prepare mentally or physically. It was on, my music was playing and I had to get down to the ring. No warm up or anything, I was panicking, rushing to actually find some head gear and gloves to fight with. After a minute or so I had my gear sorted, or so I thought. I got down to the ring and had forgotten the most important part to take part in the event, my gum shield. So now being in the ring with 100's of people looking at me, already being late, the cigarettes and alcohol song by oasis already being on the second verse, I had to leave the ring to go back up the stairs to get my gum shield. Looking through my bag frantically, I was shaking, my head was all over the place. I mean 8 weeks of training and preparing myself and now I was panicking and having to rush about for my fight, definitely not the best preparation.
Anyhow, there was nothing I could do about it and I headed down to the ring to a pretty subdued atmosphere, I had kept the crowd waiting longer than expected. Into my corner I went, a few wise words from the corner and it was fight time. No idea what my corner said to me, in one ear and out of the other. The referee then called us up, explained the rules again, touched gloves with my opponent and the bell rang. Three rounds of 2 minutes scheduled for the fight. Gloves up, my opponent touched gloves again, which caught me off guard. With my hands down I received a barrage of punches to the head, a good two or three connected and I was rattled. Luckily I remembered to keep my guard up so absorbed a lot of the punches with my gloves. Being hit got me started though, as I came back with a good flurry of punches which definitely got the fight going. I don't really remember the first round at all, it was very even in my eyes. I did however get caught with some big right hands with shook me, I tried not to show it though. It was pretty even I thought for the first couple of minutes, I wasn't boxing as planned though. I had been dragged into a fight from the start and pretty much forgot everything I practised, which was so disappointing. The bell rang at the end of the first. I had it even, admittedly I got caught far more often that I had planned. I wasn't using any footwork, very flat footed and was open to receiving punches. I felt ok as I went to my corner, legs felt pretty tired and I was breathing heavily, I knew I was fitter than him so I just had to stay in the fight for fitness to prevail. The corner spoke well to me, asking me when I was going to start boxing. A part from that I don't remember what else they said. When I was sat down I didn't feel like any adrenaline had kicked in, the panicked start didn't set me off well at all.The second round was here, into the centre of the ring to touch gloves and it was on again. We both set off very well, landing some very good punches and boxed a little better. However I was getting sloppy, I was able to take the punches he was landing but I was taking too many. We had practiced for weeks on defence and keeping your guard up. This was slipping down as I got tired, halfway through the round I was caught with a big straight right hand on the button, maybe followed by a second. I saw stars and my natural reaction was to take a knee, otherwise that could have been game over. Facing towards my family and friends, I took a quick breather and was back up on my feet. The fight was started again but it was short lived, the next 30 seconds I thought was even again with both of us exchanging blows. I had gathered my head and was getting back into it. Soon after I was caught with a good few punches and the referee jumped in to stop the fight. I couldn't believe it, wasn't expecting the stoppage at all. If anything I was feeling the best I had since the stoppage. I couldn't argue, the referee's decision was final. I was gutted. I genuinely felt that if I got into the 3rd round I would be able to get the better of him and win the fight. It was my own fault, not protecting myself ultimately cost me the fight as I received far too many punches.
With September coming to a close, I was approaching the final 1/4 of the year which left me with 95 days of running. My story up to this point can be seen in the link below, my friend at uni put together a video of my events so far, if you haven't seen this please take a look as he has done a great job. I will be back with another blog update soon which covers my first marathon and other events so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvDbLhEqRjo
Summary - Running
January - 31 runs - 116.8miles.
February - 28 runs - 85.3 miles.
March - 31 runs - 71.5 miles.
April - 30 runs - 59.4 miles.
May - 32 runs - 90.2 miles.
June - 30 runs - 32.5 miles - (LeJog month)
July - 34 runs - 99.5 miles.
August - 31 runs - 68.3 miles.
September - 30 runs - 67.7 miles.
Total - 691.2 miles.
Summary - Cycling
January - 211.9 miles.
February - 378.3 miles.
March - 240.5 miles.
April - 360.1 miles.
May - 446.8 miles.
June - 1075.8 miles.
July - 180.8 miles.
August - 141.9 miles.
September - 104.8 miles.
Total - 3603.5
Thanks to everyone that has donated and please share - I am after raising as much awareness as possible for my challenges so far and for the rest of the year.
https://www.justgiving.com/end2endKH/
You can also contact me or follow my journey with the details below.
Facebook - Karl Michael Hodgson
Twitter - @teddyhodgson
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Strava - Karl Hodgson
