19 Jan 2021

I can do 40 times better than this..!

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I’ve been neglecting this blog. There are many excuses but only one solution – to reintroduce balance back into my life. The last half of 2020 was difficult for everyone and in my case, the increasing work demands with associated laptop ultra-marathons became all-consuming. Like a lot of people, I wasn’t able to take a break all year but finally been able to spend some time with my Family over the Christmas and New Year holiday period allowed me to decompress and reassess.

My fingers and back have become extremely sore for a while now (I will write about this in a future blog now I know a little more about it) and it has prevented me from wanting to spend more hours on a laptop once I have logged off from working. The neglect of this blog is frankly an electronic symptom of how my personal life has become overshadowed by and secondary to work.

I’d like to apologise to anyone who feels they have been on the wrong side of Craig’s see-saw.

I have been keeping up with the challenges as best as possible and my achievements and experiences will for the subject of imminent 40s440 blogs as I catch back up.

I’ve been trying to follow something of a process with social media. For example, I might post a single 1×1 picture update on Instagram and this would be followed by a similar but often more detailed post with widescreen pictures on Facebook. However, following up on both of these with a much more detailed blog is where I have allowed neglect to creep in. It has helped me to appreciate the effort that some bloggers must put in.

Ordinarily, I’d berate myself and sign off with ‘must try harder’ or suchlike but at age 40, I have managed to find some of my limits and should resect them.

I didn’t set any New Year’s resolutions for 2020, instead I began the 40s440 challenges. This year I resolve to complete the challenges and address imbalance.

18 Sep 2020

Swim over 40 metres on one breath

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One of the 40s 4 40 challenges I set myself was to swim 40 metres underwater. I would do this with no fins; this is defined as Dynamic No Fins (DNF) by the International Association for Development of Apnea (AIDA).

I have been able to swim 25 metres under under water since I was a child. Nonetheless, turning around and doing more remained unfathomable to me.

I found myself taking a tape measure to the pool to measure how far 40 metres was and putting a submersible marker down so that i knew when i had reached 40 metres. I soon got tired of this hassle and so decided that I would simply aim to swim 50 metres or 2 lengths of a 25 metre pool.

Here is one of my earlier attempts:

I managed to do this and subsequently replicated it to ensure it wasn’t a fluke!

I became concerned that I was completing over 40 metres by pushing off the wall twice. For example, in a 25 metre pool you can push off the side at the start and again around half-way through; in a 50 metre pool, you can only push off once.

There happens to be a large pool near where I live and so it naturally became an aspiration of mine to see if I could swim the full pool length underwater.

My friend Mike measured the length with a golf range-finder and it is actually 55 metres!

I’ve done quite a bit of scuba and free diving in the recent past and have learnt a lot. Of the greatest importance is to relax, followed by having strong but smooth actions and a hydrodynamic position that allows you to glide. These things enable you not to build up too much resistance in the water and to limit carbon dioxide build up and thus, the desire to breathe.

To that end, I must thank my talented friends who gave up their own time to help me achieve this safely, Mirka, Amr, Shohreh, Mike and Zak who helped me to learn a real appreciation of apnea and some of the techniques required to make this possible.

Pictures or it didn’t happen:

11 Jul 2020

Eleventh of 40 donations

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The eleventh of my 40 donations went to support Mr Pepito Lopez’s family via my Residents Association’s Just Giving page.

Pepito Lopez was Accommodation Supervisor on my compound. A lovely, kind, considerate, caring, hardworking man who always thought of others and had time for everyone, a consummate professional serving all members of our community. Nothing was too much trouble, always happy and happy to help and do anything that was asked of him an incredible role model to all the staff, loved and respected by all.

Unfortunately, Mr Lopez became a victim of COVID-19.

Pepito leaves his beloved family, his wife Maricor who he always said was the love of his life, 3 sons Gregg, Neil Ian and Ronn David, 2 grandchildren, one being Timothy who sadly he didn’t get to meet. May he rest in peace and be remembered in the hearts of his loved ones and friends forever.

I’m really proud of my community for raising as much as we did and sincererly hope it helps his family in this time of uncertainty and need.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pepito-lopez?utm_term=4vR5B6NaQ

17 Apr 2020

Ninth of 40 donations

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The ninth of my 40 donations goes to the NHS Charities Together via the inspirational Captain Tom Moore.

Captain Tom Moore originally aimed to raise just £1,000 for NHS Charities Together by completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.

Capt Tom began raising funds to thank NHS staff who helped him with treatment for cancer and a broken hip.

With the aid of a walking frame, he completed 100 laps of the 25-metre (82ft) loop in his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 10-lap chunks well before his birthday on 30 April.

What a guy!

Tom’s 100th Birthday Walk For The NHS’ page is here. 

The NHS Charities Together fundraising page can be found here.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs?fbclid=IwAR1XO2tnCnfTcsCW6gt5IYinQJgTjXqIRntIEj-FpnnGbPNZybF2yElzN34

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52321262

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/NHScharities-COVID19URGENTAPPEAL

Sad update 03/02/2021:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rt5h

17 Apr 2020

How hard can a 40-minute plank be?

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Turns out, it’s really hard…!

Keeping myself to myself as you do when social distancing, enjoying Yoga and considering how I’m going to to do to challenge myself despite current frustrations.

I reckoned to myself that ‘I have good core strength and reasonable endurance, how hard can it be to hold a plank for 40 minutes?’

I managed 4 minutes – a mere 10% of my bullish target.

Not as easy as it looks….!

So I fired up the internet and couldn’t believe my eyes:

Unbelievably the Longest plank EVER – Guinness World Records is an incredible time of 8 hours 15 minutes and 15 seconds. By some 62 year old dude!!!

It transpires that George is a hardcore former US Marine and DEA Supervisory Special Agent and is no stranger to record-breaking, but he shows it’s possible to push the boundaries at any age with perseverance and a strong mindset.

You can read more about the record here.

A study on 168 college students found that your average college-aged female has a plank time of about 1 minute, 30 seconds, while an average college-aged male has a plank time of about 1 minute, 46 seconds.

So then I found John Sifferman’s Totally Unofficial Plank Time Standards:

  • Newbie: 30+ seconds
  • Beginner: 1+ minute
  • Intermediate: 3+ minutes
  • Advanced: 5+ minutes
  • Expert: 10+ minutes
  • Master: 20+ minutes
  • Wicked Sick: 30+ minutes
  • Superhuman: 40+ minutes
  • Olympian: 50+ minutes
  • Plank Immortal: 1 hour or longer

My current performance puts me in the intermediate category which is not bad. I’m going to aim to get comfortable with 5 minutes (that must be possible) then 10 minutes and see if I can eventually achieve 40 minutes!

10 Apr 2020

Eighth of 40 donations

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The eighth of my 40 donations goes to the UK Sepsis Trust.

The UK Sepsis Trust‘s goal is to end preventable deaths from sepsis and improve outcomes for sepsis survivors. They believe that earlier diagnosis and treatment across the UK would save several thousand lives a year.

The UK Sepsis Trust was founded in 2012 by NHS consultant, Dr Ron Daniels BEM. Renowned for his systems and translational expertise, Ron had spent the previous 7 years developing and disseminating the Sepsis 6 pathway across the NHS and globally.

My Father passed away 7 years ago today and whilst it is clear he was not well as he was undergoing treatment for cancer, I firmly believe he would not have died when and how he did, had the hospital ensured he was administered antibiotics within one hour of experiencing rigors.

Unfortunately, antibiotics were not administered for a number of hours and by that time, the damage was done and his body went into septic shock and he didn’t recover. I commend the critical care staff who looked after him for those painful last few days and am grateful that now practice has changed to ensure antibiotics are administered concurrently with chemotherapy drugs to mitigate the risk my Dad fell foul of.

We love and miss you, Dad, Daddy, John x
5 Apr 2020

Sixth of 40 donations

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The sixth of my 40 donations goes to Plan International who will ensure girls, young women, children and vulnerable groups are protected and supported as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds.

Plan International‘s crisis response focuses on on communicating public health information, installing hand-washing facilities and distributing hygiene kits whilst ensuring that the needs and rights of girls and young women are addressed.

14 Mar 2020

I’m donating 40 x £40 and more…

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I’ve been busy as of late. I started a new job, have been away on business and have been in an intense planning phase for the 40s 4 40 challenge I set myself. The above has left little time to train for long distances but I’ve done numerous 10 kilometer runs with some speed work and cross-training by hiking and cycling. Currently, still keeping my feet out of the local pool to be socially responsible….

With the onset of the corona virus pandemic I appreciate my current plans may be impacted but for now, I’m aiming to complete the 40s 4 40 challenge as follows, starting with the main events:

Run over 40 kilometers: I entered the Manchester Marathon on the 5th April 2020

Climb over 40,000 feet and climb the 4th of the world’s ‘7 summits’: To achieve this I will summit Aconcagua and Puncak Jaya. I summited Aconcagua in January of 2020 so that accounts for 22,837 feet of the cumulative 40,000 feet I have to climb, I will achieve the rest when I climb Puncak Jaya (16,024 feet) for or around my Birthday in November. Puncak Jaya will be my 4th of the 7 summits. To achieve the final thousand feet or so I will include the climb of my favourite hill, Great Hill (1,252 feet). By my calculation, this would give me a cumulative total climb of 40,113 feet (not including training ascents).

Some friends are climbing Denali in July and I really want to to climb with them but based on the time it takes, my already depleted leave balance, having started a new job and with Ironman Kazakhstan in August, I’ve concluded that a Denali attempt in July is probably too demanding of myself and is likely to have a negative impact on my other commitments.

Ironman 70.3 in 4 hours 40 minutes: I have entered Ironman Kazakhstan

Free dive to 40 meters: I will use the travel restrictions to my advantage and should events get cancelled will spend more time earlier in the year off the Red Sea coast with Zakaria

On a month-by-month basis the current schedule looks like this:

January – Aconcagua

February – Train and first attempt at 40 press ups in one minute

March – Train and static apnea practice

April – Manchester Marathon

May – Free dive

June – Train

July – Train

August – Ironman 70.3 Kazakhstan

September – TBA

October – Cycle 40 kilometers in one hour at the Riyadh Wheelers’ Bonita time trial

November – Puncak Jaya

December – Schedule margin, rest and inshallah celebration…..

That of course leaves the less rigid challenges that do not need as much organisation and can either be attempted flexibly around the others or require constant attention throughout:

Donate £40 to 40 charities: Time now, this requires at least one donation per week so I will attempt to post a blog once per week and follow each post with a donation.

Drink a ’40’: Unless someone brings a 40 to me this could mean me travelling to the USA for the first time!

Run 10 kilometers in 40 minutes: This is going to take a lot of work because based on my current performance and ability I don’t think I even know how to run this fast…. so, I will spend a few months doing speed work and then commit to a race later in the year.

Do 40 press ups in one minute: I gave this a go in February and although a handful of the press ups were of questionable technique, by practicing throughout the year, I think I will be able to perfect the technique.

Sleep 40 winks more often: if I get round to it….