18 January 2008: 11 weeks left
The team has been rocked this week by a savage injury crisis.
Very sadly, Steve has had to withdraw from the Challenge after badly tearing a calf muscle.
The rest of the team know how devastated he is to miss out after training so hard and we wish him a speedy recovery.
One man's misfortune is another's opportunity. Rob Elliott (he is still trying to find a photo for his bio) was unlucky to miss out on selection for the original squad but put his disappointment aside to concentrate on training sporadically for the Paris marathon. Having upgraded to the full Challenge he is now keenly studying the team's 3 Stage Race Strategy:
1. Train hard for Paris;
2. Hope the cycling will be OK;
3. Worry about London when you get there.
The various ailments identified in last week's diary have worsened. John D, Will and Pat are all still out of action, Rhys had to abort a training run because of a rather nasty groin injury and John P has paid for his uncharitable remarks about "these youngsters running off to their physiotherapists" by suffering a knee injury while driving to work. Leon is finding every run harder than the last and "is going through hell with [his] glutes".
Nothing has been heard from Conrad since he reacted rather petulantly to his Challenge bio while Angus has been concentrating on procuring 24 hour massage for the team in France (details to follow next week). Seb has understandably been easing gently back into full training and is hoping to do a three miler before the end of the month.
As a result of all this, the Wednesday team run was cancelled on Tuesday, re-scheduled on Thursday for Friday and cancelled again on Friday morning. Instead there has been much talk about the importance of stretching.
Unsurprisingly, Giles has risen above the chaos and despair. Like a thoroughbred racehorse he is accelerating serenely towards Olympian levels of fitness and is now the hot favourite to win both the Best Use of a Swissball and Best Colour Co-ordination of Gym Wear (Male ) categories at the National Gym Awards.
Progress has been better on the administrative side. Rhys has done a wonderful job in finding out the time of trains to Paris, Will has found somewhere he might be able to buy a Paris to London cycling map and Giles and Leon may have booked some hotels but no-one is really sure. Most importantly, after much furious debate over colour co-ordination, the team's running outfit has finally been chosen.
If we can just get fit, things are looking good.
Very sadly, Steve has had to withdraw from the Challenge after badly tearing a calf muscle.
The rest of the team know how devastated he is to miss out after training so hard and we wish him a speedy recovery.
One man's misfortune is another's opportunity. Rob Elliott (he is still trying to find a photo for his bio) was unlucky to miss out on selection for the original squad but put his disappointment aside to concentrate on training sporadically for the Paris marathon. Having upgraded to the full Challenge he is now keenly studying the team's 3 Stage Race Strategy:
1. Train hard for Paris;
2. Hope the cycling will be OK;
3. Worry about London when you get there.
The various ailments identified in last week's diary have worsened. John D, Will and Pat are all still out of action, Rhys had to abort a training run because of a rather nasty groin injury and John P has paid for his uncharitable remarks about "these youngsters running off to their physiotherapists" by suffering a knee injury while driving to work. Leon is finding every run harder than the last and "is going through hell with [his] glutes".
Nothing has been heard from Conrad since he reacted rather petulantly to his Challenge bio while Angus has been concentrating on procuring 24 hour massage for the team in France (details to follow next week). Seb has understandably been easing gently back into full training and is hoping to do a three miler before the end of the month.
As a result of all this, the Wednesday team run was cancelled on Tuesday, re-scheduled on Thursday for Friday and cancelled again on Friday morning. Instead there has been much talk about the importance of stretching.
Unsurprisingly, Giles has risen above the chaos and despair. Like a thoroughbred racehorse he is accelerating serenely towards Olympian levels of fitness and is now the hot favourite to win both the Best Use of a Swissball and Best Colour Co-ordination of Gym Wear (Male ) categories at the National Gym Awards.
Progress has been better on the administrative side. Rhys has done a wonderful job in finding out the time of trains to Paris, Will has found somewhere he might be able to buy a Paris to London cycling map and Giles and Leon may have booked some hotels but no-one is really sure. Most importantly, after much furious debate over colour co-ordination, the team's running outfit has finally been chosen.
If we can just get fit, things are looking good.