Just done a threshold session with Steve in Woodside Gardens here in Lymington in glorious evening sunshine. 4 by 6 minute running at 90% max with 1 minute rest in between doesn’t sound a lot and the first 2 sessions went well but then the leg muscles went loopy (lactic acid) and it got very hard! All essential stuff, though!

Hi South Polers,

Another hectic couple of weeks with so much happening

The Best of British Foundation – a registered charity – has now been formed, with the South Pole expedition providing the impetus to have a high impact start to what will be a long-term focus to realise benefit for education, social cohesion, business development and youth opportunity. This has now become much, much bigger in both concept and application. This is about truly realising the benefits of such an expedition on a scale hitherto unknown.

On Friday we are back at St Mary’s College, Twickenham, for our next physical and mental assessment. Not only will we be subjected to physical exhaustion and profiling we are also using expert psychological help to work on self and team awareness and development. 80-90% of success is mental. You could be the fittest person in the world and still fail miserably at racing to the South Pole. It is what you can do with your mind and body that will make the difference, and we are preparing both to be the best we can be.

Mim Shaw has joined our ranks now. Not for ice work but to enable us to get to the ice. She is a hugely experienced fund-raiser and marketeer who has taken on the role of Chief Fund Raiser for the Expedition and the Foundation. Good to have you onboard Mim!

Speak soon and blog soon

Yours aye

Manley

Well I did it! 55 children between ages of 6 and 8, and they were enthralled by what I had to say.

They had been studying Shackleton and ice this term and could describe quite eloquently that “Antarctica is made of mountains, but the Arctic is just floating ice” – one of the kids even described the Norwegian flag accurately! The best question was how “how do I go to the toilet” so showed them the special zip, which they found very funny.

Overall it was a very uplifting and emotional experience to see these young minds so engaged in history and what we’re doing. Two of them asked if they could join us, so I said why don’t you do your own when older “aw, what a great idea!” was the response.

Another hectic week earning a crust! But, and it is a big but for me personally, I added another 10kilos to the squats barbell!

As for the Year 2 presentation I mentioned last week this has ballooned now into Year 2 AND Year 3 – some 55 children. Better make it a good one on 3 March.

Rupert

Morning all from a chilly Meribel. -20c outside which makes for a greta day of training on the snow. Much of the last week has been taken up with looking over some equipment options, in particular how best to make our stoves extremely fuel efficient (I love this stuff). This will mean that we will have to drag much less fuel (i.e weight) on the ice. In addition, I have been making my final travel preperations for Lake Baikal in Siberia. I am heading there on Friday to help with a logistics and risk assessment for a team wanting to do a long distance single stage ski race (600km). I will also be doing a set of photographs for the team for use in there promotional material.

Training has ramped up again. Twenty three hours in the bank this week. My focus is to ensure that every session is focused on quality and not quantity. A key aspect for me at present is to build a strong endurance base without over-training and feeling exhausted all the time. This is a fine balancing act to master.

More after my Siberia exploits

Best wishes to all

Rob

Another week slips by and we don’t seem to have marched forward a great deal. It is frustrating, but, when you look at the work behind the scenes, an enormous amount of change is happening. The business structure we will need to take this forward is almost complete, as is the recruiting of key people. We have an army of ambassadors and volunteers from all sectors of industry working their own networks and making the calls to the critical people. It is typical of expeditions that the period of divergence with much happening all over the place but nothing seeming to land, seems to drag and last forever, but then it suddenly starts to come together, as I am sure it will do for us!!

Steve, Rupert and I went for a great bike ride through the New Forest first thing Saturday morning. Steve has not been able to join in much of the fitness regime, but as a man who cycles 20 miles a day I knew he would have not problems with his cardio fitness – as was the case! Rupert suffered a puncture and Steve and I mended it – a trait we will have to keep an eye on when out on the ice!

Big Trev has updated the website and been running up and down Chesil Beach on a daily basis and Little Rob is running and skiing the alps.

Busy, busy, busy!!

Speak soon
Manley

When I joined the team I always knew that mixing training with work and family would be difficult, and the last two weeks have proved themselves particularly so. Presently I’m working away from home during the week on a challenging piece of client work that is leaving little free time for physical training – this imbalance is unlikely to change much before the end of March so the alarm clock is now going off at 5:30am! Consequently, weekends are spent catching up with the family and sleeping lots, but at least it’s 48 hours of quality time.

I’m rather excited also, because I’ve been asked to speak to a Year 2 group at a friend’s school. The children have been learning about ice this term and I’m going to talk to them about Antarctica. Giving back to the community in this way is one of our team’s core values and I hope to be doing more of this in the coming months and more so after the expedition.

Rupert

Well bi-weekly actually! Apologies but I missed out last weeks. Sometimes it is hard to stop and think what  is happening and take the time to reflect and write it down, but it is important that I do.

Little Rob H is deep in snow in Norway and the Alps learning more and more about the logistics of life on the ice. An experienced Polar man already, he is quickly becoming a fountain of all knowledge.

Rupert is working hard with Logica and burning the midnight oil developing our commercial proposition along with a new recruit, Andy Horn. Andy is bringing a commercial and business acumen and effort that we sorely missed. Our commercial proposition is growing strongly and becoming a powerful tool to ensuring the commercial element of the expedition delivers true value. Marry that with the connection to the Lymington Foundation under the direction of Marc Pidsley and it is indeed exciting times!

All the team are working hard on their fitness with another assessment in March getting closer.

Our focus for now, of course, is in ensuring the business architecture is the best it can be and we can then offer true and lasting value to all our supporters.

Hurrah

Manley

Working with Corinne Abraham a sports scientist from St Mary’s University (more importantly my partner), I finalised my training plan for the next three months during this week.  Following a heavy training and racing year in 2009 I took some time off from serious training during January 2010. I am now feeling totally energised (this could be the thin mountain air!) and am now following a four week rotational training plan. Week one is classed as an easy week and involves a 21 hour mix of strength, core, and cardivascular workouts (high and low intensity). Each week of the  training month I will add 10% volume until week four (recovery week) when the volume will drop by ~40%.  My ultimate training goal is to peak at certain points throughout the year, culminating in being  in the best possible  physical shape for the record attempt in December.

Our partnership with the Department of Clothing Design and Technology at Manchester University (Dr Steve Hayes) continues to grow.  Steve and his team are working closely with us to help design/alter the clothing systems we will use in Antartica. Over the next week or so we will finalise a  projected environment profile for the route.  We will also be considering the changing physiological charecteristics (weight loss and fatigue) of the wearer as they progress along the route.  We are also looking at the feasability of minimising the layering system where possible in order to reduce inter layer friction/binding and the impact of condensation build up; this is especially important when there is cessation of activity on the ice.  We will in due course assess the cut of our garments and ensure they are aiding and not hindering our movement during sled hauling or dragging a team mate out of a crevasse.

Time for me to go training. More updates next week, including pictures of me and not Corinne training (though she is much better looking).

Best to all

Rob

Two very successful weeks in Norway are complete. Based 30km north of Dombas, I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to be an instructor for teams preparing to race 600km to the Magnetic North Pole in late April.

With temperatures down to -22 Celsius, we skied through the day and camped out in order to learn and hone the essential skills required to survive and race in extreme cold temperatures.  Many of these skills are transferable to our own record attempt down South. The skills we practised included, camp craft (including dealing with cold weather injuries), navigation, clothing systems, skiing and pulk hauling. In addition I was able to indulge another great passion in my life; photography. I have attached a couple of pictures from a photo shoot that  I undertook with a local dogsled team.

As well as instructing I used my time to assess equipment options, training ideas for the team and take wide ranging advice from experienced polar travellers in particular Conrad Dickinson, Gary Bullen and Tony Martin.

I am now in the process of preparing a skills training package for the team before heading off to get cold in Siberia in two weeks time with extreme world races http://www.extremeworldraces.com/