This point in my training once a week I am going on a long walk. Today I had to do my 15.5 miles seeing as Monday I had too many work commitments to fit in 1 long walk. While I was walking my mind was doing that nonchalent type of wondering again at a total opposite tangent to where it was supposed to be! In other words I was day dreaming! Next week my long walk will be + 1.5 miles to make a total of 17 miles. At the moment I am doing a lot of this on my own and thought a lot of people may be in the same boat. Every now and again I will put in my blog a day, place, time (appx) and distance where I will be walking. If anyone would like to join me please feel free. If no one fancies the routes or distances thats fine to, each to their own. If you would like to have a go and feel the pace will suit you then please e-mail at mh@manx.net (if I get 200 e-mails then I may have to re-think this through!) This is only an idea to try and break the monotony and boredom that has a tendancy to creep in from time to time, think of it as more a walk and talk!!! So for my first one I will put the time up in a few weeks but I am hoping to start sometime mid morning and do 2 laps from Rushen church, up the Sloc, right at the top into Colby, back to Rushen Church and repeat the lot! I am hoping to cover 23 miles and aim at appx 2 hour 11 mins laps, thus coming finishing in about 4 hours and 20 mins. I am looking to do this on Monday 30 April. So if you can get the time away from work and that sort of distance and time suits then hope to see some down there, if the 2 laps seems too much then you could always try to do the one loop.
If this idea works great, but what people could do is post up their own plans and routes on the www.parishwalk.com forum and if they get any training partners even better. I have a feeling this may not work as I am sure most people are into their own routines etc by now but you never know...
On a seperate note I must again thank my family for putting up with me. I am having troubles now trying to balance a family life, work life and walking life all in the same day. I almost did not make my long walk today and it dawned on me that this is going to get even harder to do as the walks start to increase in distance. so with that I must thank 2 of my clients (you know who you are) who so kindly moved their slots so I could do my walk. I know a lot are reading this thinking lucky he could do that, yes I was, but had they of not moved I would of had to of done the walk in 2 parts, the first at 0500 and then the second tonight at 20.00h. Not ideal but I am sure that at some point this will be my only option if I am to get the walks in. In one respect it is quite a good training ploy to try, considering we start at 0800h and those who will attempt the entire distance should/may be still going 12 hours later, so splitting walks into 2 could be the answer to those of us who find getting the time to do this difficult.
What a week this has been for me, what a week. Total mileage covered was 45 and no injuries. Greatest high light was on Friday when I met Robbie Callister at Rushen Church and we walked together up the Sloc and back down into Colby returning to Rushen Church. We covered a total of 11.23 miles on a fantastic clear spring day. I must say that if any one gets a chance to walk with someone like Robbie then take it. I feel like I have learnt so much. Robbie was so full of info. and encouragement that he instantly made me feel at ease and I really did enjoy the walk. I wont write about pace, speed or times because that would be unfair of me. Robbies' own race preps. and strategies are his own and I will respect that, I must remember that Robbie is one of the 3 or 4 people in with a very good chance of winning the Parish and I am sure he wounldn't want me to give any of his competitors any inside info. As I know Robbie does read these blogs from time to time I must again thank him for allowing me to go on a training session with him, you can probably note I am still buzzing about it!
One thing that Robbie did say that I can pass on was this. Train smart and be prepared. By training smart he means make the most out of your workouts and training. It is far better to have good quality training than lots of "empty" sessions. My training last year is comparable to that statement. I was one of those that just went out walking 5 days a week for an hour or 2, sometimes doing a well trodden loop repeatedly. Yes road mileage is important, but so is the strength and endurance side of things. Mileage must be gradually increased as fitness improves and injuries are not a problem. I hope on a personal level I have addressed my short falls in last years preparations and training and that this year I achieve my objectives. Everyones training is totally individual, there is no Parish Walk training Programme as such, everyone must work on their own strength and weaknesses. Obviously there are quite sport specific training techniques and guidelines to follow for certain things, an example of which would be a marathon. Compare this to the Parish walk and it is like comparing black and white. I must add that I do feel that the Parish walk is one of those events that you learn the lessons from doing it yourself and asking those people who have done it before, I feel the keys to successful Parish walking lies here.
One of my goals in this years training was to start to walk parts of the course. I am so pleased I am now making progress this way also. I am rather anxious that I haven't yet walked Maughold and out, but I hope that is to come in the coming weeks. So here is how this week went for me.
- Monday 14 miles. Average pace 5.3 mph and it took appx 2 hours and 37 mins.
- Tuesday leg and core in the gym nothing else.
- Wednesday an easy pace 12 miler no race walking.
- Thursday Hill repeats with Alan Cowin. We did the roads again in Saddlestone. I had planned to do 12 but we ended up doing 13 hills!!! Stats. were - 8.83 miles. 1 hour and 34 mins. Avg pace 5.6mph. Very pleased with this considering the length of the hills!
Now for those who have noticed my error well spotted. For those who haven't check this out... If you plan to walk with someone as good as Robbie do not do hill repeats the day before you walk up the Sloc with them!!! ;-) Fortunately it didn't come into play but it was playing on my mind the evening before. The only thing I can say is that I do not find the Sloc hard to climb. If you were to do the Parish in reverse and have it to look forward to at the end of the race then thats another story!
So Friday I have already covered. Am looking forward as normal to the weekend with NO training, allowing my body to recover and spending some time with my family. Next weeks training will be similar again but Mondays walk will have the addition of 1.5 miles so I will be starting the week with a 15.5 miler... bring it on!
Another week banked and feeling better all the time. This week was, as I wrote I would do last week, the added bonus was the great weather we had that made the walking even more enjoyable. Here is how I went;
- Monday walked from my house to the Cooil roundabout and the back roads to Foxdale. In total exactly 12.50 miles covered. I saw some comments on the Manx athletics forum about some car drivers posing a danger to runners, walkers, cyclists and horses etc... well it was the first time I have ventured away from main roads and footpaths and wow did I know it. I was walking at all times against the flow of traffic, I was looked at in ways suggesting that I was an alien and shouldn't even be on planet earth let alone "their" bit of road. It was terrible and dangerous, granted not the ideal thing to do walk along country lanes but, I have as much right to walk as they do to travel in a car. The most apparent danger is when I approached right handers and was met by a would be Formula 1 driver apexing the corner as fast as he is able, I spent the vast time of the walk with my left arm out in an attempt to give a warning that I was on the other side of the bend. I have another suggestion to this problem. How about a name and shame board. We remember the car type, make or model, its colour and a brief description of the driver, even better the reg number, hell whatever we can remember. When we get home we open the thread on the forum with the name and shame details and just post what we can. The moderator is the only person able to remove anyone and unless he gets a letter of apology from aforementioned road nut, they will stay there forever! This way we get to be able to recognize and maybe take avoiding dives into the roadside ditches before we are launched un-voluntarilly by "road-nut" I here the big negative from here..."you can't do that, that's in breach of their civil liberties and data protection", yes I know but it would be fun though!
- Wow, sorry I was in danger of ranting then. Anyway, tuesday went very well. Legs and core with weights in the gym. No more niggles so very happy.
- Wednesday went out with Dave M! We actually set out to do about 2 hours but ended up doing a really good 14 mile stint. I have to be honest here and point out something worrying. This is a warning to anyone who walks behind or around Dave M., this was the second longer walk we did and this has now happened twice (Dave may read this and be terrified at this point!) DAVE has a habit of slashing himself open on bramble bushes!!! First he almost severed his finger off on the old castletown rd., then at whoever knows where on wednesdays walk decides to have a go at his leg! So, lesson here make sure you have at least 2 plasters, one for yourselves and one for Dave. I predict he will be bleeding from some point on his person on the day!
- Thursdays session was great fun also. I walked with Alan C from his house in onchan. We did one of Alans 8.5 mile routes around Doolish, taking in Port Jack, Prom., Gas Work steps, Kewague, QB, Bray Hill and back into Onchan. With the mileage I had done this week it took appx. 2 miles before my legs had warmed up and we were flying. The 6 mile mark after doing the Gaswork steps and Kewague Hill were done in exactly 58 mins. We finished in 1 hour 23mins with an average pace of 6.1 mph. We both felt great and felt good enough to go faster and carry on... we didn't though!
- Today (Friday) I have just got in from my first run in a long time. I found it hard going at first but soon warmed into it. I did an easy mile warm up and then managed a 43 min 10k doing the Fun Run course. I cooled down and clocked exactly 7 miles. It is funny but my running has got slower but I was still pleased to put in a 10k time like that with no running training and so many miles under my belt this week.
So that was that. 42 miles in total, 35 walking, the majority of it race walking and 7 miles running. I have to admit I am tired now and am looking forward to 2 days of doing family things with no training. I am quietly pleased with how this week has gone. I have done more miles than I had intended but I only did them because I felt that I could. I am sure that next week may not be so good in view of the fact all the weather reports are saying snow and cold returning which I am not looking forward to, for a daft minute this week I thought Spring was well and truly here!
Next weeks training will be the same more or less as this weeks but I may increase the miles a touch. Again, I will only progress as long as an injury doesn't occur so fingers crossed.
For those who are following my blog I wrote a while back that I was going to be playing football at St. Marys, the home to Southampton football club. Here is the scoop. I won an auction on a web site www.footballaid.com . This is a company that raises money for charities by allowing fans to bid for 90 or 45 min. slots in a charity football match. Most of the Premiership, Championship and Scottish Leagues clubs put on at least one game. I have won the number 4 shirt for a full 90 minute game. I have had a look and there are a few clubs yet to auction of the final shirts, I think bidding stops this Tuesday, whatever. If anyone is interested I notice the Man. Utd. no. 11 for 45 mins is at £1000 ! I can't wait. Hopefully I will get a DVD done on the day and will try my best to put some footage here.
Enough of that for now. I have not put a post here for a week as had family over and been busy so will try and do the blog some justice this week. Training this past week went great. I totalled appx 36 miles. This was made up from;
- 11.07 Miles walk on the Heritage Trail, Will not be doing this for a while, I knew I was in trouble when I walked past 2 ducks in the water in the ditch at the side of the path! It was flooded and very muddy most of the way. On the Tuesday I did my leg training in the gym and finished with core strength and fitball work.
- 11.36 Miles on the Wednesday. I walked with Dave M. and we walked to Castletown where my wife picked us up and we returned home. I did really enjoy this walk as it was a nice change to walk out of Douglas.
- 7.66 Miles walking with Al C. doing my fav. hill repeats at Saddlestone. This session was fun. We did all the 5 hills in Saddlestone twice each and our 11th ascent was the first hill for the third time! Tough session but great feeling of accomplishment once finnished.
- 6 Miles run over Douglas Head to end the week.
My plan now is a simple one. My training will more or less stay the same. On the mondays I will look to add appx. 1.5 miles each week from now until 3 weeks out from the Parish. This culminates with my last long walk and that will be on Sunday 27th May when Al C. and I will walk the Parish proper to Peel.
Tuesdays will be set aside for leg and core work in the gym with maybe an odd cycle or spin session thrown in.
Wednesdays will be 2 to 3 hours general walking. Working on technique and odd hills.
Thursdays will be mostly hill repeats and hill work, tough sessions but really enjoyable.
Fridays will be a running day. Will go between an hour and 2 hours nice and steady.
Saturdays and Sundays are going to be my off days, I may even do an hours walk on one of those days but I am not planning to, I will see how training and injuries go and let these be the deciding factors. The addition of 1.5 miles on my Monday walks is an attempt of upping my weekly mileage total. I will from time to time do whenever possible the Monday evening NSC sessions and odd cycles here and there, I may even do a race but I will not post the fact that I'm going to do it here as each time I do something happens and stops me from racing! So fingers crossed for another week and to getting more miles under the belt, happy walking!
Training this week went great. I managed to keep to last weeks schedule all but 2 sessions. Monday nights N.S.C. and fridays cycle. All the rest went ahead and I feel great. I missed Monday nights session because I was carrying a sore knee and back into this week and after my first 2 hour walk thought it prudent to play safe and let them rest. The reason for fridays cycle to be left alone was simple, I was aching all over and didn't feel the need to do it, as simple as that. I am pleased, very pleased. My knee and back was very sore over the weekend so I was very apprehensive about my training program this week, so you can imagine my relief as everything went as planned.
Well, I say as planned but one thing has changed. I wrote 2 "blogs" ago that I would do my longer walks at the pace and speed I intend to do the Parish walk at, that went ok until my first 2 hour walk at that pace. Here is a clue to what happened, a random extract from my thoughts at any point along that walk -zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz,
zzzzzzz, tchhhh, glug glug glug!
Ok, so now it hit me head on, one of the stark reminders as to why I said I would never do this again, the sheer boredom of all the walking on the longer stints. I can only say to this point thank heavens for Dave M and Alan C who braved another session with me. It is with sincere thanks to them both that they let me walk with them especially as Alan C isn't even walking the Parish this year (I have a feeling he is as maniacle as me, retraction- thay both are!). With all of this I came to realise one very important thing. My walking pace has changed. All of my walking since the Parish last year has been improving in terms of speed and technique. My first walk this week of 2 hours at Parish pace was not me being conservative, sensible and clever etc. it was me taking a giant step backwards. The reason I say this is that I am looking to improve all the time, anything that holds me at a level i.e. nice and steady is not actually improving me. As a personal trainer I know this already, as someone who experienced great pain I am throwing caution to the wind and playing safe, as I wrote before I am still very nervous of what is looming! I have to point out a basic fundamental here... there is no success without failure (unless you are really lucky!), so, train as hard as you physically can and "race" smart. For me there is no middle ground now. This is a serious distance, it is not to be treated as a race, unless you finished in the top 10 last year. Be sensible with your own expectations and "listen" to your bodies. If you have an injury, sort it, first rule of thumb the "magic" bag of peas, crushed ice or gel pack, think cold! There is a word that I will pass on if you don't know it already in the treatment of injuries. RICER. It means...
- Rest
- Ice
- Compression
- Elevation
- Referral (i.e. to hospital, Docs or physio.)
To finish. I am now looking forward to next week. Legs starting to feel really strong and I am now planning my training program to take me up to the Parish walk. I have to include 2 holidays of a week each and an appearance wearing the number 4 shirt for the mighty reds (OK, Southampton F.C.) in a charity football match at Saint Mary's ground... more to follow!
Next weeks training is going to be a progression on what I have done this week. The main point now is that weekly on my one long walk i do each week, I will add on appx. one and a half miles per week, until appx. 3 or 4 weeks out from the Parish walk itself. My last "long" walk being the walk to Peel as would be on the day! I can't wait.....
For some strange reason the countdown I am using seems to be different to the one on parishwalk.com, so I am assuming one of them is wrong, so, for fear of mine being right the remainder of time is.....
- 16 Weekends
- 113 Days
- 2,700 hours (1,800 hours awake)
- 162,013 Minutes, or
- 9,720, 790 seconds as of appx 19.47h on the 2.3.07
The version of countdown I am using is freeware CountDown 99 Version 1.7 found at http://www.contactplus.com
