Team Sharkey All Shapes – Training for Monster in Full Swing, by Danny Gifford
Sharkey all Shapes (S.A.S) are all employees of Sharkey’s a construction company in Musselburgh. We all like to think that we’re fit in our own ways, but the team name had to come from somewhere!
From a team of 13 we have 1 marathoner, 4 half marathoners and a plethora of dog walkers and keen bikers. I hope this doesn’t make us sound too fit as I can assure you that we are all inexperienced in challenges like Monster Bike & Hike!
A team of 10 of us took part in Pedal for Scotland 50 mile challenge in 2011 and caught the bug. We are now set for Monster in May and Pedal for Scotland 100 mile challenge in September. It all seemed like a good idea at the time.
What has taken us all aback is the unflinching support we have had from our friends, colleagues and Maggie’s, from selling our race night in 48 hours to the generosity of our local businesses who have donated prizes for our fundraising raffles.
Being the one that’s organizing the training on behalf of the team all I would say is do your best to get as many of your team members involved as early as possible. We have had a few guys that missed the first 5 sessions and are now buzzing after attending 1 and can’t wait to get out again.
So far we have managed the following in one off long walks, racking up over 63 miles already:
- Week 1 – 8 miles
- Week 2 – 13 miles
- Week 3 – 14.5 miles
- Week 4 – 13 miles
- Week 5 – 14.5 miles
A few top tips from our experience:
- Do training no matter the weather. It can be fun plodding on in the rain
- Break-in your boots
- Carry spare trainers on your first long walk (just in case)
- Take blister plasters
- Try to get out early to get some training with your head torches. With the summer coming its going to be harder to get up early enough
- After being caught in the Pentlands in wind and driving rain, invest in a pair of waterproof over trousers and practice putting them on!
- If you’re hitting the 15 mile mark in your training, take along a flask with hot tea/coffee. It makes a huge difference
The (S.A.S) team looks forward to meeting everyone at the pasta party. BRING IT ON!
