'Hardcore' Training Really Kicks Off

So this entry is a catch up of the events since the last blog on Tuesday.  We have much to discuss so lets begin...

Gem and her Camelbak

Gem and Gubbs' camelbaks arrived in the week.  If you've been following our Twitter feed or Facebook page, you will have already seen the picture.

Gem decided to try it out while around the house, while Gubbs decided to wait until the planned weekend walk for his first time.

Here's a picture of Gem with hers in the house to the right. 

The Camelbaks are a little strange to use at first if you've not tried using one before but it is great to drink while on a walk without the need to get a water bottle from your backpack.  We'd definitely recommend one to those who are doing Trailwalker or any kind of hike and are wondering if it is worthwhile.

As for other equipment purchases, Jo and Julie went shopping on Saturday to purchase some new boots for Jo and new walking poles for Julie.  Lucky for Jo too as she's now inherited Julie's old walking poles!

Jo's new boots

On Sunday Jo decided she wanted to break in the Meindl boots with a short walk around the paths near home with husband (and team support crew member) Stewart and also Gubbs.

We were supposed to get a picture with Jo wearing the boots on this walk but I'm afraid we forgot.

As for actual training this week, Julie stole the show with an 8 mile walk on Friday followed by another 12 miles on Saturday. The rest of us need to step it up a gear as she is really putting us to shame!

In a bid to not be left too far behind, Jo, Gem and Gubbs joined the gym this week to get those fitness levels up and do a bit of cross training to ready our bodies ready for the rigorous challenge of Trailwalker.

Saturday morning saw Jo and Gem participate in a three hour Yoga session.  For those who've not been to a Yoga class before, it is tougher than you imagine! Although it's not walking, the stretches and positions learnt will go a long way in the training sessions and in the event itself to help our muscles from freezing up.

Gubbs' Saturday morning walk

Gubbs meanwhile was on another Saturday morning walk with team friend Brendan.

They managed to get another 8 miles in the bag while walking through the countryside around Eastleigh, including a section past the Itchen River.

It was a beautiful morning for a walk even if a little chilly.

Finally we'd like to thank everyone who has sponsored us so far.  We have passed the 10% mark thanks to Stephen, Tracy & Peter, Mark, Debbie and Lilian.

If you'd like to sponsor us you can do so by going to our Virgin Money Giving fundraising page.

Thanks for reading,

Jo, Julie, Gem & Gubbs

We are all over the social media!

Last weekend was a strangely busy weekend of Trailwalker preparation.  It may be six months away but we decided to start getting kitted out for the trek.  A trip to Go Outdoors Southampton provided us with a large number of items on the list provided by the Trailwalker website guides.

They included, head torches (for the overnight stretch), whistle (for the herding sheep exercise), walking poles (for when we can't walk any more), first aid kit (also for when we can't walk any more), maps and compass (because we will get lost) and more socks because from what we hear you can't have enough socks.

Team members Gem and Gubbs also went on a 8 mile training walk around the countryside surrounding Eastleigh with team friend Brendan which put the 100k into some perspective. New shoes are definitely required.

Finally we decided to push all frontiers of social media by setting up a Facebook Page.  You can check it out and 'Like' it here (luckily for us there is no 'Dislike' button.): www.facebook.com/hardcorefour2012

One training walk down, many, many more to go.

So last night saw our first training walk (well for Jo, Gem & Gubbs). It was just a 4 mile stroll around Chandler's Ford at night, but we see it as a first milestone for this Trailwalker challenge!

There was much talk of plans to be made and equipment to be brought.  Perhaps our next walk will be somewhere a little more rural and with a little more distance.  We still have 175 days to go so still have time to build it up.

In other news Gubbs has just entered the Eastleigh 10k Road Race.  He hasn't done any real distance running for some time, but the hope is that it gives a little extra motivation, rather than physical destruction.   Who knows maybe the other members of the team may enter the race too...

So it begins...

Hello and welcome to our Trailwalker 2012 blog.

The challenge has been set - 100 kilometres to walk over the South Downs within 30 hours, non-stop, as a team.  The reason?  For the experience and also to raise a bit of money for Oxfam and the Gurka Welfare Trust.  We have a collective target of raising £1,500 and you can help us by sponsoring us using the link on the right of the blog.

So far we have set up our sponsorship page, our Twitter account and now this Blog! ...Everything but the training...but that will soon change!

Over the coming weeks and months we plan to use this space to to update our followers, friends and family about our training progress. We'll try to keep it interesting!

Jo, Julie, Gem & Gubbs