Stepping the training up another notch

One of the trainers at my gym convinced me to take his spin class (Tour De Covent Garden) last night. Its meant to be one of the hardest in the area (im gonna say London as a whole, haha), and after 45minutes out of the seat I can tell you its pretty intense.

This morning I took the bike out for 15 miles to meet my friend Kevin, who's over from Malibu to mix a new Iron Maiden album. He was the original motivation behind my charity cycles. Looks like next week we're gonna head out to my parents place in the Cotswolds and see if we can push some big miles. Either that or do the 120-mile London to Canterbury ride that was stage 1 of Tour De France.



So after the spinning last night, I went straight into another class (Kangoo Kick), you know, why not... Another challenging workout with these strange Kangoo Jumps boots. Wow, now thats a weird experience... haha. Quite embarrassing in a room full of girls who are literally kicking my ass while we're bouncing around on these strange boots to an old-skool rave kinda movement (now that brought back childhood memories!) and doing a mixture of kicks, punches and head spinning. (Head spinning due to my incredible balance on these things ;) hehe).

So, I decided to follow that with yet another class, haha... Yea, I know. 3 back to back classes at 45 minutes each was a great way to mix up my usual routine. The gym is certainly growing on me and everyone likes to drop words of encouragement or training tips while winding down in the sauna, for 30minutes :)


Im looking into all the different kinds of protein shakes, following one of my sauna therapy sessions. If anyone has experience with them, would love to hear some advice. My brother used to be big on the MaxiMuscle ones, but that made him a little crazy and he would forget his entire workout :/ haha, so I think i'll avoid that. Although he was taking creatine for a while too, and ive got the feeling it was that that did it...

Maybe next week ill have the khutspe to try out one of the more intense (MORE intense?) sessions with swords... Or, maybe not. MUAY THAI is enough for now I think :)

Peace Ya'll.

Let's just see what the pro's are riding,...

Think there's a slight difference here, if nothing else its in the cost, haha...

Giant TCR Advanced Zero
£3,999.00
www.giant-bicycles.com


Finishing kit is the Easton EC70 composite stem, bars and seatpost. Easton is arguably a leader in developing carbon components, and was one of the first companies to employ nanotechnology. Their Enhanced Resin System technology uses carbon nanotubes impregnated into the resin mix. The end result is an improved strength-to-weight ratio. Dang.

Today i've been getting really excited for the Israel ride...

I've been hugely concerned at the amount of miles involved and the training really has been pretty brutal, but I spoke with Dr. Plaut in New York today at the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center and just received an email outlining some more details of the ride, and now im just getting excited at seeing so much more of the beautiful landscapes in Israel.

This weekend i'll be training with my brother in Manchester. He has a pretty harsh run through the Northern fields set up for me, so we'll see how that goes and it'll give us some more time to discuss yet more fundraisers that we've been planning!

My good friends Laura Hulme has been putting some designs together for my t-shirts and other random bits that I want to give away with the larger donations, ill post some of her artwork when she's happy with it! Its looking great though, Im loving it so far:)

Thats all for today, ill leave you with something to think about from R. Simmons at Aish:

Big goals, small goals. If you want to make a difference, it's possible.

That's why the Torah juxtaposes the command to "love your neighbor," next to the prohibition "not to stand idly by while another is in need." (Leviticus 19:16-18)

Don't cruise through life as if it's some obstacle course: watch out, here's a human being, manipulate him, push him, score a point, one-upmanship. That's not the way. You have to share the burden.

The Talmud asks, "Why was Adam created alone? So that every person should say, 'the entire world was created just for me.'"

This is a recognition that everything -- including the needs of every other human being -- was created for you. We are all caretakers of this world, responsible to deal with the problems. Everything on earth, problems as well as beauty, offers an opportunity for you to connect and to grow. Every person you encounter is there because you need it at that time. If someone needs help, it's part of your challenge, a message for you.

Look around at absolutely everything and ask, "What is this saying to me? Why was this sent as part of my path to perfection?"

Feel the victims of society. Feel the victims of crime. Feel the victims of terrorism. Feel the victims of old age. Feel the victims of discrimination. Feel the suffering of people you will never meet -- about the plight of strangers halfway around the world.

How do you become real with the suffering of others? To understand the problems encountered by a blind person, for example, try blindfolding yourself for a day. Or go to the hospital and visit patients who have lost limbs. Share the burden.

Facebook

Sponsorship is dragging along, but ive been sending out links to all I know and adding all those random applications on Facebook to step it up!!! haha. Seems to be working a little though, I have two groups on there and two apps.

You can add the application at: http://apps.facebook.com/justgiving

You'll need to have a Facebook account and to log-in to get this working.

Check out the groups here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2566785425

And: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2380347041

3-days, 362 miles.

Alright, so ive committed myself fully now to the Israel ride for Breast Cancer research, which is a month before Peru. Im really hopping that everything goes smoothly as the Peru ride alone is tough enough. Im pretty concerned, but im training hard for both. I think ill post a sample of my week's routine on here, at least so I can keep to it a little tighter, but it basically consists of about 3 hours in the gym per day and 10miles morning cycle. With around 60 - 70 miles on the bike on Sunday's.

Just to clarify, I do work as well, haha. I have a full time job running a design studio in Covent Garden, so to keep my energy levels high I seem to be eating all the time too. If anyone has any good recipes out there to get my energy levels even higher, I would love to try them out!!!

Ok, back to work, or is it training? Here's the link for the new sponsorship site for the Israel ride - www.firstgiving.com/Cuss-In-Israel

Back from Israel, back into training...

Ok, I can't believe it was the end of May that I made my last post, but in my defence Ive been in Israel for 3weeks on a volunteer programme with tsahal (the IDF). The two weeks getting back into work and training have just been hectic, though im now into a heavy regiment every morning and evening, which I know you're so excited about...