Humen provide anonymous and non-clinical safe spaces for men to talk, listen and connect on a regular basis across the UK. The HUMEN Space is preventative, practical and plain speaking. No lingo or prescriptive advice. Free one hour sessions where men get together to talk honestly in a confidential space without risk of judgment or ridicule. The right to talk should never be a privilege. Every Monday 6:30 PM (GMT) for any man across the UK.
Their operations have had to adapt since COVID restrictions but this has facilitated their local meetings going online and thereby becoming international.
They meet every Monday at 6:30 PM – you can register via the following link:
It was at base camp that I really gave consideration to the viability of 40s 4 40 and what sort of activities might be included – I decided better to explore my limits than be subject to a series of restrictive resolutions…
For the purposes of this retrospective blog, I am going to post my favourite of the many pictures and videos I took in an order that tells a pictorial story of my journey.
Hopefully the captions will allow the pictures to speak for themselves but if anyone has any questions, just ask!
Proper Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance / A Man With Too Much StuffHappening!My first brush with AconcaguaIncredible to fly below the mountain you’re travelling to climb…Permit Office, MendosaGear rental, MendosaAll my baggage was delayed – MendosaReunited at last!Camp 1 – Penitentes Entrance to the park after securing permitMy permit and the bags I was issued – one for rubbish, the other for human waste (so it doesn’t remain on the mountain)
Confluencia, 3,380 metres (11,090 ft): A camp site a few hours into the national park.
New Year’s Eve 2020
Plaza de Mulas, 4,370 metres (14,340 ft): Base camp – climbers are screened by a medical team to check if they are fit enough to continue the climb.Camp Canadá, 5,050 metres (16,570 ft): A large ledge overlooking Plaza de Mulas.Nido de Cóndores, 5,570 metres (18,270 ft): A large plateau with beautiful views.
Landscapes
Summit Attempt Night Weather Report (80kmph winds and -34c!)
Summit elevation of 6,961 metres (22,838 ft).
My permit with official stamps to prove I summited and returned both bags (full)
Celebration!First bath in weeks proved transformative!
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….
