As promised , I am now producing a weekly blog on the progress of Charlie.
Charlie had his first two races over Easter weekend. As a result of this we decided it would be best if he just used the pool for his pre-race training.
On to the race itself. The first race in a series of fourteen, two at each venue with the first at Oulton park and culminating at Spa in Belgium.
Charlie qualified in fifth place. This was a good result as testing has been minimal up to this point and he had only tested in the wet. Out of fifteen starters, Charlie finished in a fantastic second place. Up on the podium for the first race is a great result and we were justifiably proud.
This meant starting second on the grid for Mondays race. This was another close fought battle with Charlie having to settle for a just off the podium forth place finish.
So, overall, a great start to the season especially when you consider the last time Charlie raced was five years ago.
OK, on the the training. Wednesday was the day we chose to meet at Bedford Autodome for a run around the track. Due to an error on Charlie's part, he still had an hour of work to do when I arrived. He apologised but it was actually to my benefit.
Charlie works at the circuit frequently during the week helping out at the various corporate days organised by Palmer sport. This can be anything from driving and instructing the participants to logging various forms of data. Within 10 minutes of arriving, I found myself sat in a Palmer Jaguar JP1 (see forth picture) next to a very lively fellow named Mark. Three laps later I arrived back in the pits exhilarated.
The cars run close to 300 BHP with a fantastic power to weight ratio. 0-60 in a tad over 3 seconds is certainly something worth experiencing but it was the cornering speed which made me appreciate just how tiring and intense the full race experience could be.
Fun over, fare paying customers now off the circuit, it was time for the run.
4.3 miles was the planned route taking in a combination of the various circuits.
I chose to use my bike as I am still rehabilitating from a calf injury.
Charlie completed the run in 39 minutes and forty six seconds which was an average of9.19 minute miles. This is a considerable improvement on his first run whereby Charlie completed a 4 mile run in 44 minutes averaging an 11 minute mile. Well done Charlie.
Next session, we were back at the Pembo centre in Rushden. Charlie chose to train very early (9am)and seemed to suffer as a consequence. We trained very hard on the weights and initially it was all going well. Improvements were made on the press ups with 3 sets done (supersetted with lunges)totalling 25,20 and finally 15 reps.
As we then progressed through the session it became obvious that Charlie was suffering and the nausea finally got the better of him resulting in a quick visit to the toilet to revisit his breakfast.
Session terminated midway, we've agreed to an extra rowing session either at my house or his Saturday evening (gym is shut)We are both determined that no sessions will be missed and will make amendments whenever we need to.
Early morning sessions may now become mid-morning sessions to see if that alleviates the problem.
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