Mind Games...

Another pleasing week with a grand total of 54 miles under the belt. My week went like this;

• Monday 21.5 miles my house to Peel and back. Out on a very muddy and slippery Heritage Trail and back via the main roads in a continual downpour all afternoon! A weird walk this one, whatever could go wrong did. Laces undone, stones in both shoes, dropping glucose tablets, radio and energy bar. Good old Garmin also gave up the ghost it appears it doesn't like cloudy skies very much. I could cope with all of this quite easily but my main concern was as I stood on my doorstep dying to get in and spend a penny, it was at that moment I realised my fingers had swollen and were numb with the cold and I couldn't hold a key to put it in the keyhole - I wasn't going anywhere fast! I hope for sun on the next long walk!
• Tuesday was a little better. I went to the gym and did an all over workout. I finished my session with a workout on a Power Plate. Basically it is a big plate that vibrates and you work with or without weights whilst standing on it. I have trained many of my clients on this piece of equipment but it was the first time I have used it in one of my own workouts. It can be used for all sorts of things including rehab, treating disorders like MS, claims from the makers also state that it can help with other things like Osteoporosis, I have not read enough case studies on this claim to say if it does or not. My session was to work core and legs to help increase with my strength, boy did it ever. I shall be using this again.
• Wednesday was the first time since embarking on this training regime that I have had to split a walk into 2 due to time constraints. Walk one was an old route of mine over some undulating terrain, 1 hour and 6 miles. Walk 2 saw me walking with my old walking partner Janet Allen in the evening. We walked 10.53 miles and it was Janets first walk since last years End To End so she did great. Janet is walking to Peel this year and wont be persuaded to go any further because she is backing up her husband Gary in his attempt to do the course... we will see young lady! ;-)
• Thursday was back to Saddlestone for my weekly hill drills. Alan couldn't walk with me this week so I managed to keep with the grind of doing it on my own and clocked up 16 hill repeats for 12 miles in 1h 55 mins. I got home and collapsed in the front room. Weird but I was pleased with that one!
• Friday I looked at my mileage and it read 49.9. I was .9 up on last week and was tired so I felt I could miss this session, did I? NO..... is the answer to that one! What I did though was go on my first walk at the pace that I have set myself to do on the day. I did 4 miles (and no time disclosed because then you will guess what pace I am trying to do). I all but managed it and boy did it feel slow compared to how I am going now in general training sessions! This is where I now have to be very careful. I am still of the opinion that I could make a very real attempt at dare I say it, racing the Parish this year. I feel a totally different person in terms of experience and training than at the same point last year. I have completed the Parish and have some local races now under my belt. Do I dare try???............................................. No, no, and no! I will be honest again and point out the main reason I will not. Pain. The word pain has taken on a new meaning for me. Pain in my books is a coded word for Parish. It is why I have taken this so seriously this year and why I am determined to stick with my original plan. I truly hope that if I can survive past Ramsey without passing out and manage the climb out of Maughold without tripping on any sheep or into a dtich, then I would consider going faster and if my hips still work maybe race walking to the end. This all said and done if it is sunny then plan B, plan B is more about survival and 24 hours then comes into play!

As you can guess even at this stage my mind is all over the place with regards my best approach. I will hopefully stick with the above plan. If I can get in under 20 hours then objective achieved. If this happens then I may give the Parish a miss next year and concentrate on the End To End and the WWLeague to work on racewalking etc and come back in 2 years time for maybe a sub 18 hour attempt. Who knows how things will turn out?

Finally, my training next week will be progressions from this week. Upping the mileage and trying to stay injury free are my main aims now. I feel slightly un easy knowing that in the next 8 weeks I have set myself my longest walks to date, 6 of them in the 20 mile plus bracket with 5 of them being marathon distance and some! It is now on this note that I go and take a well earned rest on a sun lounger that is screaming my name in the back garden, or is that the kids ;-)..........