Training for The Three Peaks – Month One

As you may have seen in one of my previous posts, myself and a small group of friends and family are going to attempt to climb the Three Peaks at the end of July to raise money and awareness for Men’s Mental Health. This challenge involves climbing Mount Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis within 24 hours (including travel time), which means training is imperative! And as somebody who has let her fitness slip in the last few years and who is now in her 40’s, training really has to be regular and focused. The great thing about me is that I thrive from a challenge and this may well be the kick up the butt I need to get back into shape. What will also help me is documenting my progress so I thought I would not only share updates on our Just Giving Page but also here on my blog. We are one month into our training, and this is how it’s going…

Current Exercise

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I love a bit of home yoga – Adriene is the yoga queen! And we have a dog that I walk (shared out with my husband), but that’s kinda it, unless you count running around after kids, running up and down the stairs countless times a day for something and gardening – which I’m sure is all doing me some good. Years ago, I did used to be far more active and I would always try to make time for exercise classes, but what with my work increasing, the kids’ activities increasing, and housework seemingly never ending, I had to put my needs last (as many of us Mums end up doing). This has left me spending many hours sitting at a laptop during the day which has led to my fitness depleting and weight increasing. I think the Three Peaks may have come at the right time!

Training for The Three Peaks

Expectations

The Three Peaks website states that a good exercise routine should ideally look something like this:

Day	Exercise
Monday	1-hour brisk walking, or 30-minutes jogging + light stretching
Tuesday	Bodyweight exercises (squats, lunges, split-squats, press-ups, jumps, calf raises, etc)
Wednesday	Rest day
Thursday	30-45 minutes of cycling, swimming, or dancing + light stretching
Friday	Repeat Tuesday’s bodyweight exercises or try new ones
Saturday	2-hour+ walk or hike, or other longer cardio exercise
Sunday	Rest day

Credit Three Peaks Training Page

Which seems to be a really good mix of activities and completely achievable. They also state that plenty of hill practice should be carried out in the lead-up, with pace setting put in place. Rest and eating well is extremely important too – I’m not sure I can completely say goodbye to my chocolate though!

We have around 4 1/2 months training time which should be enough time to make a difference to my overall fitness levels.

One Month In – How’s It Going?

I am absolutely loving training for the Three Peaks Challenge. I have so far tackled Beacon Hill in Newbury – that is steep! St. Catherine’s Hill in Winchester which has the options of hill walks or taking the steps (they are probably harder work).

I have done Butser Hill twice now (located opposite Queen Elizabeth Country Park). The first hike was with my sister, and we probably managed around 6 miles by taking a route up and over, down Little Butser, around some fields and back up again. The second hike at Butser was with kids, which you can probably imagine was a little trickier, but we did stumble across a valley called Grandfather’s Bottom, which was an ideal training ground.

Me and my sister (with kids in tow again) then climbed up the ZigZag in Selborne and across part of the common. And we have also taken a 3 hour hike across Ashford Hangers in Petersfield, that had us going across countryside, down tracks, down an extremely steep hill which we of course had to go back up again after our trek (that one really got me).

I have ramped up my dog walks by making sure I set aside enough time to go to a good location where I can walk further than normal and get my heart rate up. I live in Basingstoke and I have found both Basingstoke Common plus the Lime Pits, and Crabtree Plantation to be great spots for an afternoon walk.

I have also been doing some different workouts on YouTube and continuing with my yoga.

Health and Fitness

It’s still very early days, but I am already feeling the benefits from increasing my exercise. I have far more energy, my hips aren’t as stiff or as achey, my head feels clearer, and I look forward to getting out for a walk or hike. Let’s hope this continues!

If you’d like to find out more about why we are doing this challenge, you can read our story on our Just Giving Page.