Ben Saunders - Polar Explorer, Motivational Speaker

Keepin' it real

Apart from 72 days on the Arctic Ocean this spring, I've spent way too little time this year in the Great Outdoors. The last time I slept in a tent was May 14th. People often ask me what it was like adjusting to being back home; how I found it getting Back To Normal.

Yet the weird thing is that in many ways, I'm sure London has changed me more than the Arctic. I'm quite a competitive person, and London seems to bring out a materially competitive side in me - lusting after more/better stuff. Money, gadgets, clothes, cars, big houses.

So, in a bid to hush this alter ego, I'm bunging my rucksack, sleeping bag, walking boots and mountain bike in the boot of the car and heading up to the Highlands of Scotland for a few days.

Have a great new year, wherever you are.

{ Filed under Random thoughts and reflection on December 30th, 2004 | 4 Comments }

Keyhole

This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time - Keyhole is a programme that enables you to 'zoom in' from space to pretty much anywhere on earth. Most of N. America seems to be covered in high-resolution (in the picture, I'm hovering over midtown Manhattan) and London is covered as well, right down to the number of buses in the road that runs past my home.

As it's not overlooked by anyone, I'd previously thought that the 'roof terrace' of my apartment (the flat roof of the office downstairs that we can access via a fire escape) was perfect for sunbathing in the summer. Now I'm not so sure…

{ Filed under Miscellany on December 21st, 2004 | 6 Comments }

4.8 tons (or Zen and the Art of the Squat)

The American Alpine climber Mark Twight called the squat the 'king of exercises' and if I had to pick one desert island exercise, it'd be top of my list, too. Tony and I were in the gym today for a legs/abs weights session and squatting was first on the menu. In four sets, we lifted 4,815kg each (15×45 kg, 12×95kg, 15×95kg, 15×105kg). That's four MINI Coopers. Cool.

Cyclists call the time trial (an individual best effort against the clock) 'the race of truth'. In many ways, the squat is the exercise of truth - you can't cheat, you can't freewheel, you can't rest half way down. My record squat is 190kg (418lbs, including the bar). This was nearly three years ago, yet I can recall every split second - the bar flexing as I pushed up into it, lifting it off the rack, a tiny shuffle step backwards, lower, lower, thighs parallel with the floor and them BAM - drive drive drive through the heels, breathing out through my teeth, up, up, up, up, UP… shuffle forwards, BANG, bar back on the rack. As an exercise in mental focus, nothing comes close; your mind simply cannot wander when you've 190kg balanced across your shoulders. To me, that squat was more than an exercise: it was a reminder of what we're all capable of when we apply ourselves.

On a less philosophical note, I'll leave you with this:

Down the road, in a gym far away
A young man was heard to say,
"No matter what I do, my legs won't grow!
He tried leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses too.
Trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he'd do!
From the corner of the gym where the big guys train,
Through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain,
Where the big iron rides high, and threaten lives,
Where the noise is made with big forty-fives,
A deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees,
A very big man with legs like trees,
Laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack,
Chalked his hands and monstrous back,
Said, "Boy, stop lying and don't say you've forgotten!
Trouble with you is you ain't been SQUATTIN'!

{ Filed under Inspiration and motivation, Random thoughts and reflection on December 21st, 2004 | 3 Comments }

The Sunday run

'Stadiums are for spectators' said Finnish veteran athlete Juha V????t??inen, 'we runners have nature and that is much better'.

After a recent meeting with our physiology guru Justin Roberts, the training programme for next year's expedition is starting to rev up, and to top the week off, Tony and I ran fifteen miles in Richmond Park this morning (apologies for the wobbly cameraphone photo). When I've been in the UK, the long, steady Sunday morning run has been part of my routine for yonks, but the interesting part about today's session was that we had to run it at a far slower pace than usual (aiming for an average heart rate of 130 bpm). Now, Tony and I are both pretty competitive, and I think I speak for him as well when I say there's very little that's as frustrating by being burnt up by mere joggers…

The expedition plans are still rumbling forward, but we're not yet at the point of launching the project to the media/public. As soon as we are, I'll be able to blog a little more freely about the masses of work that's going into it. The scale of the logistical operations alone dwarf those of my attempted solo/unsupported crossing of the Arctic Ocean this spring. And yes, for those of you following my last expedition, I'll be taking different ski boots…

{ Filed under Training on December 19th, 2004 | 2 Comments }

Quitting the Paint Factory

I was going to write a long, pensive post on Mark Slouka's recent essay for Harper's Magazine - Quitting the Paint Factory (link via Kottke).

But the irony (if you read the essay) is that it's currently one twenty in the morning and I don't actually have time. Curses.

The essay is splendid, anyhow. Go read.

{ Filed under Random thoughts and reflection on December 16th, 2004 | 3 Comments }

Bob Brown

Last night's Christmas party was unforgettable, but for rather different reasons than I'd expected. I didn't get to speak to the Queen - there was a three-deep throng wherever she turned and I felt a bit bashful about elbowing my way in, but the Man of the Match for me was a self-effacing Cornishman called Bob Brown.

This summer, Bob Brown won the 2004 Run Across America, a 3,100 mile ultramarathon, from Huntington Beach to New York. The equivalent of two marathons a day, for 71 days. Five hundred and ten hours, forty seven minutes and twenty four seconds of running.

Wow.

'Do you work with a nutritionist?' I asked, keen to keep the conversation going. Bob laughed. He was sponsored by Ginsters and averaged eight cornish pasties a day during the run. What amazed me most was Bob's modesty - the writing on his website is inspirational stuff, his achievements in the rarified world of ultra-ultra-endurance events are astonishing, and yet he describes his 'proudest moment of 2003' as 'seeing my tag-rugby team at school (Bob is a teacher) winning the county championships.' What a hero.

{ Filed under Inspiration and motivation on December 9th, 2004 | No Comments }

Thought for the day

"If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it."
William Arthur Ward

• School report, age 7.
• Christmas party invitation, age 27.

{ Filed under Inspiration and motivation on December 7th, 2004 | 5 Comments }