A Time for Gratitude

The sun is shining and the sky is clear. It is a beautiful day.

Over breakfast this morning I sat down to watch a bit of Netflix, “Aftershock Everest and the Nepal Earthquake”. It is a sobering watch and puts the difficulties of the weekend into stark contrast.

As I watched the start of this progamme there was some focus on the base camp at Everest. It reminded me how any endeavour such as the one Karam and I took on requires an enourmous support team. John Donne’s Meditation XVII “No Man is an Island” comes to mind but “No pair of eejits is an island” seems a more apt title.

Setup started on Court 2 around 2 pm and would continue for the next few hours. The tables for the witnesses and referee were setup; the recording equipment was installed; the broadcast table holding the laptop with OBS running for the live stream was plonked behind the ref’s table and the Gezebo was errected against its front wall to provide sanctuary and hide unspeakable events that no one should ever have to witness; more on that later. A member of the club walked into the middle of all this and was heard to remark “I didn’t realise it was so big”.

A total of 104 people were involved making a direct or indirect contribution and no matter how big or small. Some of them were paid but the vast majority gave us the gift of their time and commitment. This post is for those who volunteered with their time.

We have a WhatsApp channel for those who were team managers or sourcing witnesses and referees for the attempt. The task of finding people who could not only meet the very strict guidelines laid down by Guinness World Records but were also willing to give up their time was a task that might just have been more difficult than playing squash for 50 hours. If I were permitted to publish the content on that channel it would read like a novel.

With one week to go we were 15 witness and 5 referees short of the required number to be able to do the attempt. It became a very stressful week for those involved. During the following days a number of people put in an extraordinary effort that resulted in the number whittling down to 3 witnesses and 1 referee required by the time the sun came up on Friday 7th of October. When Karam and I hit the first ball we were 1 witness short and had no idea if the missing slot between 2:30am – 5:30am on Sunday was going to be filled.

You may be thinking to yourself ‘just how hard can it be to find witnesses’. The answer? Damn hard. Unless you are willing to fork out a minimum of £937.50 per hour for an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records you are stuck with the need to find witnesses. The following is required:

Guinness allowed the following in respect of witnesses:

How on earth did we manage to find 34 witnesses? Everyone on the WhatsApp channel worked their butts off to do this and no stone was left unturned, indeed some of them were turned a number of times.

Emma Coughlan took on the role of identifying witnesses for us using her contacts at the Bristol Junior Chamber (BJC) having been a member of the committee. Using all her charm, negotiation skills and possibly other dark arts, that I may not want to encounter, she worked tirelessly on our behalf to obtain witnesses.

Many of our witnesses are or were membes of the BJC. Her effort and dedication was monumental especially when you consider she had absolutely nothing at all to gain from it, no reward other than a desire to see someone else’s daft dream come true. It takes some special skill to convince people, even ones you know, to care enough to give up their time for no reward especially when we are all supposed to be tucked snug in bed. One of them signed up to 2 sessions and was prepared to do a third if we were really stuck.

Emma also supported me as a playing partner during some of the experiments on court prior to Covid. She provided me with so much encouragement during the months of training when things were going well and not well. She was a continual source of support, optimism and unfailing good humour on top of being damn fine training companion during a few trial runs. I will forever be grateful for her contribution to our attempt.

Mike Lok was whirling dervish who couldn’t do enough to help. From very early on, way before Covid, he reached out and asked me how he could help, what could he do.

When it became clear weeks out that witnesses and referees were proving difficult to source he stepped up to support Emma. He dug deep into his contact list to find anyone willing to be a witness. Every name was checked, double checked and then triple checked to ensure that person met the criteria for the role they were filling. He knew that one minor mistake would be enough to prevent a record from not being ratified. We are not sure how many lodgers he has/had but he winkled them out with one of them volunteering to do two sessions as a witness after midnight.

It was Mike, who announced on WhatsApp at 7:38 on Friday, 7 October that the final witness had been signed up. At that point Karam and I were in the dark, 2 hours into the attempt. Reading the transcript one is tempted to stand up, cheer and applaud.

Conall Platts took on the role of the lead team manager when I asked him in Jan 2020 and brought to the table everything I could have hoped for in a lead. He had a clear idea that the weight of management needed to be taken off of Karam and I so that we could focus on training. Faced with the challenge of creating a safe space for us when were off court he came up with the idea of installing a large Gazebo on Court 2. It was briliant suggestion and worked perfectly.

But for all the work he did on this project the one thing Conall deserves a very special mention for was going above and beyond the call of duty and taking on a task no one really should have to. Conall, noticing I was struggling big time to put a new pair of shorts on over my shoes and said, “Let me do that for you?”. After a few seconds he said “No one should have to see this”.

I noticed a message on the chat this morning from him that read, “Personally I’d appreciate a small mention only for having been directly & intimately (sic) in project ‘Seamus needs new shorts’. Some images the brain just can’t erase 🙈.” Conall may be seeking professional help right this minute and I am so very, very sorry to have put him through that. Conall deserves more than a small mention. When we were in the doldrums thinking we were not playing at a high enough level or what we were doing did not look like squash he was quick to refute any such suggestion and consistently provided positive feedback during our training and the attempt itself.

Ethel-Jane Cormack could not have been more supportive of her stoopid husband. To see her burst into tears in the Gazebo after hearing the bad news on her way for her next shift was heartbreaking. Ethel-Jane did all the unseen, unheard and unglamous things that no one ever mentions and gives credit for. I could not have done this without her support.

But I could argue at times that her support was left somewhat wanting. You have no idea what it feels like to be sitting on a Wattbike in the middle of a heatwave working your way through a demonic 3 hour session and have your wife come up the stairs and burst into one of those fits of cackling laughter. She got very good at it.

Due to perfectly understandable reasons we lost a couple of excellent people as team managers and Ethel-Jane asked if she could become one about 3 weeks ago. She sent out messages left, right and centre to a couple of schools and among her own network looking for more witnesses. My late mother said of her, “She is a very sweet girl” and she probably turned that on to 11 to persuade people to help and a number of people came forward to be a witness.

When we were short of volunteers who would prepping our food and drinks and anything else Karam and I needed to get through our breaks she offered to do that as well after having done a 7 hour shift as a team manager. Not content with that she took our kit home for a wash. We are blessed to have many good friends and Susan Weaver took the kids for the weekend to free up Ethel-Jane.

Long before Conall had his moment of destiny Ethel-Jane and Gareth Bingham responded to a request to help me get my shoes and socks off and put new ones on. Bear in mind they had been on my feet unchanged for about 17 or so hours. They got to work.

After Ethel-Jane removed the first shoe whilst Gareth did the other one, she started to peel back the sock. Leaving out some words she said, “What have you been doing, these are absolutely rank! Gareth put that sock in that bag with all the other stuff that reeks”. With the new socks on I then said “I think I need help getting my shorts on.” He said to Ethel-Jane, “I think I’ll leave that job for you”. And so Ethel-Jane knelt down in front of me and muttering words that cannot be repeated helped me with the shorts. She and Conall share a rather unique bond.

I owe Ethel-Jane so much for her love, support, understanding and unfailing humour when I needed it most.

Stephen Curran joined us in the August as team manager and quickly came up to speed with the procedures and ways of working. Steve has a wicked sense of humour and this was something that we really needed. His presence also allowed all the team manager’s have a decent break between their shifts and it was a pleasure to have him on board. When he was on duty everytime I looked out into the crowd he gave us a thumbs up or led everyone in a round cheering as we reached the 24 hour mark and then the half-way mark of our goal at 25 hours.

We were honoured to have Roy Gingell, the best referee in the world, do a 4 hour stint for us on Saturday morning. He has refereed an unbelievable number of matches but maybe nothing quite as bizarre as this one. Chris Neye and I have crossed paths a couple of times, once at the Welsh Masters and again a few weeks ago at the World Masters in Wroclaw. It was fun seeing him again and he was the first referee on the rota when we started. I try to be an easy player to mark and he tries to be a good referee for me. At least one of us succeeded. 🤣 Thank you both for your time, expertise and good humour.

Thank you to Martyn Ibson of RestringMe who restrung some of our rackets for free days before the attempt.

Thank you to my daughter, Freya Newmarch and her husband Charlie Crossley-Thorne who volunteered and became the official photographers of our attempt. They take great photos and I can’t wait to see them. They were completely calm during our breaks and unfailing helpful during the silly hours on Saturday. They were full of smiles and encouraging words. Their presence created a calm safe environment. Without any fuss Charlie managed to fix the live stream when it stopped working. My daughter did what she always does which is do the things that make such a difference without having to be asked. She has a knack for assessing the situation and doing what needs to be done.

Gareth Bingham and Owen Rees-Hayward had the unenviable task of being the first volunteers onsite and had to decipher the laminated instruction sheets we had created for the volunteers. They mixed my first set of drinks and organised my clothes and area in the gazebo. Without them doing that life for other volunteers coming in would have been hell. During their shift they were so supportive and full of good humour.

Hadrian Stiff, John Welton and Steve Thompson from Elitesquash all provide invaluable support from technical, emotional and offering help with trial runs. All the work they have done with us over the years led us to the point where it was possible for two 60+ gents to even contemplate this attempt let alone go for the 37 hours we did.

In additon to those already named, thank you to the following people who were a witness, referee, volunteer or squash partner during the attempt or early trial runs:

Russ Landay, Dan St Quintin, Kelly Whittaker, Lottie Mallin-Martin, Barney Sykes, Tomasz Starzuyk, Lewis Rose, Laura Clarke, Rachel Orrett, Amy Moody, Kate Woosnam, Tom Moore, Emily Vaughan-Williams, Liv Hibbert, Kate Ryan, Amie Cowell, Rebecca Chellapah, Ollie Paice, Norma Head, Matt Costello, Elsa Littlewood, Ed Davies, Phil Tregidgo, Steve Hole, Kevin Taylor, Sergio Garcia, David Forshaw, Chris Ward, Sabrina Massaroni, Alys Hurn, Lisa Meehan, Annie Jones, Ben Crowther, Martin Ramsay, Azim Zubir, Richard Bickers, Liam O’Byrne, Sama Fakhry, Engy Kamal, Giles Sharley, Peter Slater Jones, Tristin Barron, Harry Duckworth, Mark Regan, Phil Rea, Elf Harris, James Page, Patrick Truss, Jose Hervas, Jeff Heward, Pau Jiminez Sanchez, Will Duffett and Warren Arnsmeyer.

Home for the next 15 hours

My Chimp Sure Was in Party Mode!

The 8 hour trial run is done, dusted and negotiated successfully. We put to bed a couple of demons but my word was my Chimp enjoying itself.

Every little niggle or sharp pain was met with a screech and comments like:

“So this pain is here after 2 hours and it is only gonna get worse, no way man, no way you can go 8 hours let alone 38. You ain’t gonna make the 4 hour mark”

“Careful that sharp pain is really serious, it’s not gonna go away”

“Wow that’s a new pain – never had that there before – I’d give up if I were you”

“You haven’t peed yet, yer dehydrated already!”

“That’s a cramp starting – game over dude”

Yeh! my Chimp really does talk like that, or

“You are too ****ing old to do be doing this ****, what planet are you from?”

“Look at Karam, he is still moving to the T and cutting every one of your shots off – no way you can stick that for 38 hours”

“Look at Karam, he is stretching again – no way you want to put him through that for 38 hours. Don’t make him go through this.”

I thought that last one was a devious change of strategy. Or whilst we were listening to Peter Gabriel’s Secret World Live when “Don’t Give Up” came on

“Well if you need to listen to that your *****d. Stop now, walk off court – go on you know you want to”

Screech, screech, screech, screech all the time.

And so the reality

Yes there were pains in the legs, just behind the inside of knees and the ITBs were sore as was the back. The right wrist got a little sore as did the right shoulder in a particular position The pain inside the knees went away. The ITBs stayed as they were. But honestly whilst it was uncomfortable it felt more mental than physical. Knowing the knees had packed it in in the previous doubles attempt my mind was trying to protect myself.

We found ourselves going through various patterns of play – long stretches of us serving and the receiver putting it away for a winner. Other patterns where we played alley games which kept us both moving putting it away when either of us felt like it. The former leads to a lot of standing around and little movement which does not help the body stay awake. The latter definitely is better. Personally in hour 8 I was still able to do small lunges to play shots.

The day after felt pretty good actually, a bit of a headache, the weak area in my back and ITBs were sore and stiff but my legs felt pretty good. I felt a lot better than I thought I would. Despite what my Chimp was warning about there was absolutely no cramp not during, after or asleep.

Whilst I was glad it ended I know I could have gone on longer.

I wear a Fitbit and whilst I take the stats with a pinch of salt these are them in anycase:

Steps	32,891 from day total of 37, 961
Distance	24.35 Km from day total 25.65
Calories Burnt	5471 from day total of 7,311
Floors Climbed	83 from day total of 86
Avg HR	124
Peak HR	158 (near end of hour 2)
Mins Fat Burn	58
Mins Cardio	434
Mins Peak	87
Total time for effort (including breaks)	09:40:06

We think the Fitbit detected lunges as climbing stairs so based on that 83 flights of stairs at 13 steps per flight works out to 1,079 lunges.

Lessons and Observations

Some lessons learnt and other observations in no particular order:

Our S & C coach Beth came and watched for a bit and made some observations: Our movement has improved; we are both right leg dominant; we must do our specific stretches during breaks (a lot to fit in)
Do not put new grips on all rackets for the start of the attempt – this causes extra friction which may lead to blisters
3 pairs of shoes (1 dried, 1 drying and 1 being worn) won’t be enough in the summer. I sweat too much.
Can the shoes be changed every hour instead of every two hours
The Heel Slipping technique for tieing laces is not a good strategy for getting the shoes on and off quickly.
My favoured drink of 2 parts coconut water and 1 part orange juice is ok in short efforts but not an endurance effort as my standard drink. Causes too much wind and intestinal discomfort.
Bananas seem ok
Didn’t fancy the goat’s milk yogurt with strawberries and blueberries
Didn’t fancy the mix of pistachios, sunflower seeds and raisins
Flapjack mini bites seem ok.
Spaghetti and pesto with parmesan was great pick me up at lunch.
Chocoloate milk needs to be full fat and cold
In fact all drinks need to be cold.
Despite taking in about 5L of liquid I didn’t visit the loo for a pee until 6 hours in and had a mild headache after hour 2 for the rest of the day
I need to do a lot more work off court to reduce stress on lower back and ITB – whatever the root cause of that is
Lose more weight, lose more weight
Longer rallies better than two shot ones
Need more strategies in dealing with the Chimp
The wrist will get sore so need to do more exercises to make it stronger and more flexible
Absolutely need to change all my clothes every break, get towled down fast and talcum powder on in nether regions and torso
Will need clothes washing and drying or a lot more dry clothes available. I sweat a lot and hate being in damp clothes
Must keep chatting with Karam – too many long periods of silence
Lob serves make life easy for the server but not for the receiver, putting it into play as though you were teaching a novice would be better.
All the basic faults in movement are very evident during such a long run – there is no point in getting frustrated by repeatedly doing it ‘wrong’ – it will be what it is.
Whilst the squash itself may not be of a consistently high standard we are not being meausred on the quality of our squash – mind there were some sublime pancakes from volley nicks from Karam.
We both were getting really frustrated at the same time and I think it fed of each other, need a strategy to recognise and deal with it
Take every possible opportunity for a little stretch – ie when partner goes to pick up a ball.
During breaks someone needs to go on court and keep the ball warm
People watching is a massive energy boost. Is it worth exploring having a fun social squash event running at the same time on the other two courts, ie a fancy dress doubles tournie overnight
My usual headbands are fine for league matches but after an hour of wearing them they are irritatingly tight. Need to find an alternative.
Need to get base HR down about 20 beats. Being alert on court tends to raise my HR by 10 -20 beats per min. This would allow for more movement and a lower rate and being able to be more alert.
Most pain feels more like mind trying to protect me rather than anything significant.
It is boring
Do a few more 4 – 6 our trial runs after more training to work on first phase where it is possible to bank some time for later use

What next?

Schedule 16 hour trial run
Review training program and adjust accordingly
Start some mental training
Start incorporating some very long walks into training programme
Work with Richard to develop more left leg work on forehand.
Lose weight

1 Year, 12 Months, 52 Weeks To Go

1 year from yesterday we start the attempt.

Karam and I are ‘celebrating’ this milestone with a little 8 hour trial run down at the Workout Harbourside today to get a feel for what it will be like around the same time of year. Thankfully it is 10 degrees cooler than last weekend, then again perhaps it should have been in that heat. Also the courts will be upstairs next year as refurbishment has begun on the club with the 4 courts moving from downstairs to upstairs.

Can’t wait. So many lessons learnt from our previous trial runs in the Doubles last year.

A new Finding Balance Podcast has been published

On 9th Feb this year we were interviewed by Tom Ford (Finding Balance Podcast). We wanted someone experienced in interviewing to get into our heads so that we could document what led us to undertake this journey.

It was a load of fun to be interviewed by Tom who asked some interesting questions and made us feel very relaxed.

Whilst not the initial plan, Tom now published this as part of his Finding Balance Podcasts. The episode is called ‘Seamus + Karam Singh – A Different Approach To Goals‘ Please have a listen.

Thank you once again to Tom for agreeing to interview us.

Will I ever understand how the mind works?

It was the BadAss Div 5 Final last night. I was 2-0 up in my match then mind got cloudy and we are into a fith. It was not a terribly noisy place but neither was it calm and quiet, felt on edge for no real reason. Then in 5th I am 6-11 down and in trouble. Out of nowhere the mind settled and a state of grace was achieved – not through any instruction or conscious intent – it just happened. And from that when I needed it most that zone we keep looking for when it is just the ball, space and me materialised and then ‘magic’.

I do understand and sympathise why people find it frustrating watching me play.

That key to unlocking a state of grace is so ellusive – I’ve no idea how to find it consistently. I, and I suppose all of us, spend a lot of time training the physical attributes – mobility, fitness, swing, follow through, light feet, soft hands, good deceleration onto shot, specific shots etc but it is all dependent on what is going on in the head or more accurately allowing the mind to do what it does best when left to its own devices – create.

More mindfulness, yoga, meditation.

Mental frailties.

Karam

Last weekend during the final Irish Masters circuit tournament of the season, the Irish Masters Open, I had a poor outing mentally which was very frustrating. I thought I had a plan for the match but ended up being all over the place swinging back and forth between trying to be relaxed and trying to getting some purposeful energy into my game.

I certainly have concerns about the physical aspects of the WR attempt but those would appear to be easier things to address. I’m far more worried about how my mind works and what will happen under the duress of the longer training sessions and the event itself.

I have started to investigate mindfulness training. I’m not sure training is the best word as that sounds like something specific you do when working towards an event. What I actually need to look at is how I make this part of my every day life so that I can keep my mind settled and learn coping strategies for when the inevitable occurs.

I came across https://samharris.org/ through some podcasts that I listen to. Sam has created the Waking Up app, which, along with Headspace and Calm are some of the tools I am using to investigate this area.

I do see some irony in using hyper-connected tools like the iPhone and apps to address mindfulness but I expect to eventually learn some basic techniques to manage without the use of technology.

Prior to the tournament I had already decided to take two to three weeks off court before starting back with training for the summer season of tournaments. The first few days off were good but it didn’t take me long before I was back on court playing some friendly matches. On one hand that just seems stupid but on the other hand I have improved my capability to listen to my body and it was raring to go. I really enjoyed the run out so it was probably the right thing to do – certainly from a mental point of view it felt right.

For reference, the main podcast where I first heard about Sam Harris was on the Peter Attia Drive. https://peterattiamd.com/samharris/.

How my nervous system reacts

by Seamus

Interesting set of matches on the weekend – 4 against players who were much much better than me and the worry was not to be utterly humiliated. A marked physical effect from that was evident – heavy/twitchy breathing very early on, a lot of effort and not a lot of co-ordination. I was aware that I was twitchy – again from the fear of embarassment – I was aware of it all going on – just had not the wit to switch of the Chimp.

Three matches against people who were not as highly ranked. Less stress.

Last match – utterly exahusted after having already played 4 times during the day and up against a much stronger player but this time no heavy/twitchy breathing and moving efficiently (or as efficiently as I am currently capable of). I had a clear sense of not caring just enjoying – and I know that is an obvious cause and effect statement there – it’s not rocket science in theoretical terms. It’s just interesting that it takes so much exahustion for the brain to shut up and let the body do what it does best – move. A life long journey to be able to get into that state faster. Meditation, breathing, slowing down and getting enough sleep – which reminds me. 🙂

Great weekend

by Seamus

Played 3 matches on Sat and 5 today (Sunday). Won the ones I should have and lost the ones I shoud have.

Happy with how it went especially after being off court for a month. Plase some good squash, played some bad squash but played squash.

Sore and tired, pretty much a rest day tomorrow but will start the new regime tomorrow. Starting with simple 20 min walking plus stretches. Will do that for a couple of weeks whilst the last of the Shingles gets out of the system. No squash for a couple of weeks. League team is close to winning the division and so I would love to be able to play the final match a week on Wed.

Sleep…..

Back on court

by Seamus

I posted yesterday about the hiatus on training and that it would start again on Monday, didn’t mention though I was playing the the Avon County Closed Championships in the main draw and O55s.

Won my first match in the main, lost the second (as expected) but had fun. Lost my first match in the O55s (again as expected). Played Tim Miller. The last time we played each other must have been in 1990/91 in the semi-finals of the club handicap. I had a slightly generous handicap against him and managed to win in 5. He was way too good for me then and more so today, but again had fun.

Funny thing happened during my first match. The Shingles has affected the right side of my torso from the diaphram all the way round the bottom of the rib cage through to the opposite side on the back. Had not hit a ball in a month so was a little sloppy with my movement and lost contol of my momentum and sammed that part of the body into the side wall. Why that side and not the good left side.

In bed early as have a lot of matchs tomorrow. Hopefully there is no bad reaction overnight.