Welcome to the latest of a regular new OM series, 'Midweek Missions' by Tim Moss. Tim's personal mission is to inspire you to inject a little unexpected outdoors adventure into your life.
And this week's Midweek Mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take on some...
Office Training
No mission this week folks. You're in training.
You're planning a cycle tour through the Pyrenees and you need to get your quads in shape. You've not been up a hill for ages and you've got a big one set for Scotland next week. Your mind has been set on that Grit Stone route for too long but you've lost the strength in your fingers.
This week we train but not in a gym. Not on an exercise bike or treadmill. Not with a run around the park or a circuit session in the back garden. You're doing those things anyway, right? The plan this week is to let a little bit of the outdoors seep into your daily routine.
Climbers don't carry your shopping bag in a closed first, open your hand a little and dangle that 6-pint milk carton from your finger tips. Now raise those fingers up and down as you walk. Tiring eh? Do the same thing with your briefcase at the bus stop or walking from the car park. Start opening doors with one finger too and clinging onto handrails with tips not fists. It all helps.
Cyclists, ride to work. Not on that fancy commuter bike you pick up with your little finger, the other one. The one that's splattered in mud and has tyres the width of your thighs which you only ever use on the trail. "Well, there's a reason for that..." - yawn! No excuses. This is just for a day or two. Sure it's slow and heavy, overkill for tarmac and utterly out of place in an office but this is training (and it's supposed to be fun). If you're not a trail lover then get the expedition bike out, load up the panniers with a sleeping bag, tent and several other heavy items you won't possibly need and wobble your way to work and back.
Hill walkers, ramblers, Alpinists, whatever you want to call yourselves, walk to work. Already do? Take the long way round. And take a rucksack. Already do that too? Take the bigger one. And put some bags of sugar in the bottom. Take the stairs instead of the lift and take them when you don't really need to too. Loo's on the same floor? Well, you're getting up, why not nip up a flight of stairs and back while you're there (30-seconds less time at your desk, right?).
Or if you're stuck working home alone and just want to keep active, why not try the
They're just ideas. You know your sport better than me and you've certainly got a better idea of what's in your daily rituals. But training needn't be stale and the excitement of the hills needn't stay there.
About the author:
Tim Moss runs adventure website The Next Challenge. He has climbed in Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Bolivia, and spent two years organising Arctic expeditions for the British Schools Exploring Society.
After travelling around the world using eighty different methods of transport and swimming across the Solent to visit a friend on the Isle of Wight, he set about pursuing a more adventurous lifestyle full-time from his urban base.
He is currently running the length of every Tube line in London and planning a South Pole expedition to tie in with the London 2012 Olympics.Read his regular blog and follow his adventures at www.thenextchallenge.org
Pic - David Tett
