London Training....October and November

It may seem strange doing training in London for an Arctic / North Pole Expedition, but lo and behold London delivered exactly what I needed...Nothing abnormal for London...rainy, cold-ish, grey gloomy, and short days at this time of the year!

My training was spread between getting up at 5am, and heading out into the dark, wet night for a 18-21 km run every 2nd day, and then weight work in a gym during the afternoon, and lastly just living within my philosophy or walking or cycling everywhere I went around London.

The running was great, as it toughened me up mentally as I dealt with the rain, cold, and often wind, in the dark, continually saying to myself: "Fairbank this is great weather versus what you will be dealing with in march, so: Just enjoy every minute of it!" The trouble is I didn't dress for the sodden gear, strong wind, factor, and a few times I thought..: "This is really good arctic training because you haven't dressed warmly and you are f....g cold! Then back for a lovely sit down breakfast, and reality says I am nowhere near the Arctic!

The weight training: Well after many of my earlier years in them, I hate gyms. Since 2004 when I left the big bad world, of Cities and all that goes with them, I vowed never to make exercise ' A thing I have to do in a special environment', but rather it would be an integral part of my life and way of transport... Anyway, I saw the value in strengthening up for the tough expedition ahead, so signed up at a nearby Gym. With the expedition as my motivation I some how got to enjoy the intensity of the gym workouts and complimented with my protein supplement, I was further motivated by the noticeable impact on my body! As I side, I find it quite extraordinary that our world has got to the point where people now list "Gym" as a positive and desirable, interest of theirs, in presenting themselves in matchmaking or other personal marketing media! (That's my cynical side showing up...you had better get used to it!)

Then the Walking and cycling around London thing: Well that is always interesting, it buzzes, and I love it, other than in the rain... Somehow, it makes me feel free that I have ditched the fancy car, and I have the time to walk and cycle...it's not an affordability issue, it's my choice, and my gym. In walking you can 'think' and 'see', meet interesting people, and then there is also the competition...fellow pedestrians, and the buses, gotta beat them! The bike has even more value, as one survives within the continuous challenges of London traffic...it certainly gets the adrenalin going sometimes, and then picking up the newspaper, and reading the '1 a month' cyclist death stats, I realise there is more risk here than going to the Arctic! Aah well, most days I covered 4-6 hours on bicycle or foot, so all in all, while in London, I had pretty diverse and full on Arctic training days!