The twelfth of my 40 donations goes to The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust was named after Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who was murdered in 1993 at the age of 18 in an unprovoked racist attack in southeast London.
The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust was founded on the premise that inequality must be tackled in all its forms. This includes inequality of access, and of opportunity, wherever it occurs. It is committed to “transforming the life chances of young people and improving the world in which they live”.
You can read more about Stephen’s story on this link:
In 2018, BBC One broadcast a three-part documentary series titled Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation, exploring the story of the Stephen Lawrence case and the impact it has had on British society in the 25 years since Stephen was murdered. The series won two Grierson Awards (Best Documentary Series and Best Historical Documentary) for its opening episode, ‘The Loss of Joy’.
A range of short clips from the series are available to watch on the below link:
In advance of any 40s 4 40 related content, it’s important to recognise the origin of this phrase and why it has become a slogan associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
I’m using it here to maintain awareness of the worldwide protest against police brutality in the United States and against the lack of police accountability due to qualified immunity.
The phrase originates from the last words of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was killed in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by New York City Police. A number of other African-Americans, such as Javier Ambler, Manuel Ellis, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd have said the same phrase prior to dying during law-enforcement encounters.
I make a choice to hold my breath – it shouldn’t be a privilege, it’s a fundamental human right. I hope these terrible events bring about the social change we need. My next charity donation will reflect that.
Breath holding or static apnea was not one of the original 40s 4 40 challenges but I was prepared to be doing a lot of it in preparation for free diving 40 metres both deep (in the Constant Weight category) and 40 metres length (in the Dynamic No Fins category).
Breath-hold training is definitely best done on dry land unless you are with a trusted and experienced buddie or buddies.
The down side of dry training is that the mammalian dive reflex does not occur but hopefully this means that when I do finally get in the water that my performance will be even better.
When I got my AIDA 2 qualification I managed a breath hold of 3 minutes 20 seconds so naturally, I challenged myself to 3 minutes and 40 seconds.
Well, I achieved 3:40 and then, probably in some part thanks to lock down, I managed a full 4 minutes, twice.
Screenshot from the stopwatch on my mobile
I actually thought 4 minutes might not ever be possible, certainly as a dry static apnea so I’m pleased with the result; this just goes to show what can be achieved if you commit and put your mind to it.
I train either lying on the sofa or first thing in the morning when I wake up. It is essential to have a low heart rate and relax into it to achieve good results.
I made a choice to do this, I can’t imagine the terror of being forced to do so against my will – “no justice, no peace”.
Previously known as ‘Time Square’ and ‘The Mad Ferret’, The Ferret occupies a unique niche in Preston’s grassroots live music scene supporting emerging musician and artists.
This venue was my local when I lived in Preston and I’ve frequented the bar since college.
I was disappointed to read that since coronavirus hit, the venue has been struggling. It goes to show how far reaching the impact of this pandemic really is.
The Ferret adds so much to the city’s arts and culture scene, its loss would be a tragedy to the Community that love it.
You can read all about their campaign via the following link:
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:
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.
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!
My earlier post 40+ days of isolation / lock down introduces the challenge and contains links to the detail so I thought it prudent to explain my own approach to completing it.
With social-distancing in mind, I’m lucky to have access to a number of staircases that I can climb. The benefit being that I have some variation in both location / scenery and temperature (it’s getting seriously hot where I am now).
People have asked me how I can do it? Isn’t it boring and one-dimensional?
Well for me, and bearing in mind I’m only 20% through the 30 days programme, not whatsoever!
I trekked to Everest Base Camp in November 2017 and as I follow this virtual route in April 2020, I can picture the places, the people, and the incredible surroundings in my minds eye – it’s a wonderfully nostalgic experience.
When I post a picture on Instagram or Facebook of me climbing the stairs that day, I will then follow up with a picture that I took on my trek in 2017. This will continue until I reach Everest Base Camp, thereafter I personally reach previously uncharted territory!
A map of trails leading to peaks and places of interest from Lukla
I will vary the stairs to try and retain my sanity, I will take pictures and vary my clothing in some way to keep me honest!
I’ve measured each step on the various locations I have available to me and have calculated the total height of each flight of stairs by multiplying the number of steps by the average height of the step rise.
The stairwells I use vary between number of steps and rise of steps but in total are between 2.9 and 3.0 meters per ascent. Then I take the total altitude required to climb in each day and divide it by the height of the flight and that tells me how many repetitions I have to complete, for example:
20 steps @ 15cm average rise = 300cm / 3m
For a total daily climb of 300m, I would therefore have to climb that particular flight of stairs 100 times.
I’ve really enjoyed it so far – I speed up or slow down based on aiming to keep my heart rate around 150-160 Beats Per Minute. The most difficult thing has been keeping count!
If ever I forget the number of repetitions I’ve done, I round down to the last number I can remember.
I found it easier to do sets for example, 10, 20, 20 and then break for a drink and celebrate having completed 50 ascents before starting again. Somehow this make it more manageable and less daunting.
Everest 2020 here we come – all the way from home! #everestfromhome
The fifth of my 40 donations goes to Age UK. Age UK provide companionship, advice and support to older people and their loved ones. Unfortunately, it seems older people are more likely to be adversely affected by Corona.
A combination of two things – a weaker immune system in the first place and a body less able to cope.
We know our immune system gets weaker with age.
“The quality of the antibodies you produce when you’re 70 is a lot worse than when you’re 20,” says Prof Hunter.
And there are some suggestions older men may be more prone to high levels of inflammation which can become deadly.
A lifetime of wear-and-tear takes its toll on the body’s organs and that leaves you less able to survive an infection.
“If you’re 95 and your kidney function is already at 60% of what it used to be and then you hit it with something else, then [your kidneys] may no longer be functioning at the level required for life,” says Dr MacDermott.
The fourth of my 40 donations goes to the British Heart Foundation via my friend Gareth Dixon who has done an amazing job of smashing his fundraising target
Check out Gareth’s page In Search of Stoke for more information and cool stuff
HOPELineUK offer support, practical advice and information to young people considering suicide and can also offer help and advice if you’re concerned about someone you know.
CALM, the campaign against living miserably aims to prevent male suicide in the UK and offers anonymous, confidential listening, information and signposting.
I previously referred to the 40s 4 40 challenges as ‘stretch targets’ and to appreciate why, I have attempted to record my current performance in this post. This will help me to understand how big a task I’ve got ahead of me. I’ve listed some of the challenges below with various reference points; my plan to completion will be the subject of a future post…
40 Press ups / push ups in a minute: the easiest thing to do is watch the video; I reckon I’ve already nailed it and with a bit of work I’ll have this one sorted by the end of 2020…
In early 2022 Thounaojam Niranjoy Singh from Manipur broke the Guinness Book of World Records for most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute. Niranjoy, who is a two-time Guinness World Record holder, broke the old record of 105 push-ups by achieving 109 push-ups in one minute during a Guinness Book of World Records attempt organised by Aztecs Sports Manipur at Aztecs fight studio in Imphal.
The previous record holder in most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute is Graham Maly from the United Kingdom who set the record in 2009. These incredible records really put my achievement into perspective!
Run 10k in 40 minutes: My Personal Best (PB) for 10 kilometres is 45 minutes 11 seconds and currently I feel comfortable running at 5 minutes per kilometre so really I’m probably running 50 minute 10ks. I therefore need to improve by between 12% and 20%. Not insignificant.
Ironman 70.3 in 4 hours and 40 minutes: My PB is 5 hours 7 minutes, split as follows:
Bahrain
To achieve a 4:40 means I need to take just under half an hour off my best ever time and I’ll be looking to the run to achieve most of that…
Marathon in under 4 hours and 40 minutes: No baseline as despite all the running I have done in my life, I have not yet run a marathon – hence the challenge! My PB for a half is 1:43.
Free dive to 40 meters: I am AIDA Level 2 qualified (20m depth in constant weight class) but I once touched 22.4 meters, according to my dive watch. 40m is practically double my current depth and so quite a challenge. As a sub-category of this, I will attempt a 3 minutes 40 seconds breath-hold (my current personal best is 3 minutes 20 seconds). This is a mere 10% improvement and ideally I’d like to get over 4 minutes.
40,000 feet of climbing: The highest I’ve ever climbed is the summit of Aconcagua at 22,837 feet (6,962 meters) in January 2020 and until now, I’ve only ever climbed one high-altitude mountain per calendar year.
The most I’ve ever climbed in a calendar year before now is 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) when I did Kilimanjaro in 2018. In a rolling year I’ve climbed a total of 56,370 feet (EBC & Kala Patthar in 2017 plus Kilimanjaro and Elbrus in 2018).
I need to climb more than twice as high in one calendar year than I’ve ever done before but actually less than I have done before in a rolling year to reach a cumulative 40,000 feet (or more).
Climb my 4th of the World’s 7 highest summits: I have climbed 3 of the World’s highest summits (Elbrus, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua) so the next will be my 4th. This goes hand-in-hand with climbing 40,000+ feet.
Cycle 40km in an hour: I completed a 25 mile time trial in October 2019 and was I’m 8 minutes over 1 hour so I need to improve by 12%.
Drink a ’40’: I’ve seen them on American films but I’m yet to see one in the flesh and of course, drink it!
Giving £40 to 40 charities: I think is better described as a privilege than a challenge….
