Going the extra mile for the ICAS Foundation - One week countdown
ICAS Vice President, Alison Cornwell CA, is cycling 1000 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats over nine days to raise £25,000 for the ICAS Foundation. Hear from Alison on her thoughts and training regime in the lead up to the challenge.
One week countdown training update:
I have now hit the one week countdown until I start the challenge.
This week I scaled back my training to one hilly ride of 35km, some walking and a one hour PT session.
Today my bike was collected by Cycle Transfer to be taken to Land’s End, where I will be reunited with it on Friday evening. I have also made my final kit purchases and cycling clothing designer, Stolen Goat, notified me that my ICAS Foundation branded kit will be delivered to my house in the next few days.
We have raised £16.5k (66% of the £25k target) so far. My thanks to each and every person who has made a donation. It is very much appreciated by both myself and the ICAS Foundation. If you have not made a donation so far, PLEASE help me to support this worthy cause.
My latest training ride:
The ICAS Foundation is a registered Scottish charity: No SC034836
Two week countdown training update:
It is now only two weeks until I travel to the Land’s End base camp to start the challenge.
Last week was tough. I was trying to work, train and encourage donations whilst helping my two eldest children get ready to return to University. Bad news came on Friday when my cycling buddy decided to drop out of the challenge due to workload, but I know I will make lots of new cycling friends on the journey.
I book-ended last week’s training with a Sunday morning ride in Edinburgh (see photo below) and a Saturday morning club ride at home in the Chilterns with two midweek gym sessions of 100km each. My total distance for the week was 325km, surpassing my 300km goal.
This week I will reduce my training distance and focus on sleep, nutrition and buying final bits and pieces on my kit list.
Donations currently stand at £11.1k (45% of the target). The fundraising target is £25k so PLEASE contribute to support the incredible work of the Foundation.
Photo taken on 21 August – I’ll be here again at the end of Day 6 of LEJOG on 15 September!:
Three week countdown training update:
Only three weeks until I travel to the Land’s End base camp to start the challenge. Huge thanks to the 80 very generous donors who have donated £9,271 (inclusive of gift aid) to date.
I live in Oxfordshire but in the last week I have been combining training with working remotely in Edinburgh by day and attending festival events in the evenings (I’m a trustee of the charity that runs the Film Festival). Last week I managed to cycle 203km (seven hours), walked 55km (11 hours), attended two rock concerts, one ballet and seven films!
I enjoyed walking and being able to admire Edinburgh’s wonderful architecture close up. I also followed a fairly strict nutrition plan and was pleased to lose 1.2kg (I packed my scales!). I plan to increase my training over the next two weeks, next weeks cycling target is 300km. Watch out for my next update to see how I got on.
With only a couple of weeks to the big challenge please donate what you can. The fundraising target is £25,000 so PLEASE support this very worthy cause. With your help we can make a huge difference.
My road bike – fully serviced including new tyres, chain, brake pads and bar tape:
Four week countdown training update:
It is only four weeks until I travel to the Land’s End base camp to start the challenge. I can feel the tension building and the challenge is now constantly on my mind.
Although I have done a lot of training, I would like to have done more (been working too much).
Last week I cycled a very hilly 180km on the Isle of Skye over four rides, battling torrential rain and clouds of midges while the rest of the UK bathed in sunshine. Although the sun shone briefly at Neist Point one day, it mostly rained! On one occasion I had to take shelter from a sudden hailstorm but had the good fortune of finding a converted bus stop in the middle of nowhere complete with a chair and vase of flowers! I reflected afterwards that 180km represents the distance that I will have to ride every day for nine days during the challenge regardless of weather.
This week I plan to ride a minimum of 250km (10-12 hours) and lose 1kg of weight. I will update you on next week’s ‘three weeks to go’ post.
I am approaching 40% of my £25k fundraising target so PLEASE take action to make a difference and support our fabulous Foundation students.
Neist Point on the Isle of Skye:
The converted bus stop I used for shelter:
My training logs:
