6 posts from May 2007

• First of all, here is the link for the song of the week http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np-vhj-gN0A And I guess most of you knew that was coming!

Secondly I am very happy to report back from my hardest week of training I have ever done. No injuries, no blisters and no problems. Monday to today inclusive a grand total of 102.77 miles walked. YES, I did it, I am over the moon. My week went something like this;

• Mon. 21st May, 2 walks, one with a client 1.55 and then my long one of 27.54 miles. Again, times and speeds are not important here I am really trying to stay focused to the distance and just time walking now.
• Tue. 22nd May, 14.20 miles, this walk took in more hills than the walk yesterday.
• Wed. 23rd May, 3 walks. One with a client on the prom - 1.92 miles, one of 5.14 and one last one of 5.80 miles. I had no time for a long walk so had to string 3 walks in for the distance I wanted. Total 12.86.
• Thurs. 24th May, 2h 35 mins on Hills!!! A total of exactly 14 miles. This was a day from hell. I met Al and we did my hill route around Saddlestone. As you know by now we start at the STOP sign at the bottom of the road and do hill repeats on each hill. As there are 5 seperate roads/hills we did each hill 4 times. We were both very tired at the end of it!
• Fri & Saturday no training, rest days.
• Sunday woke up with 70.20 miles under my belt and was determined to get to the magical 100 mile mark. I got up at 04.50h and Al met me at my house for 05.30h. We set off down Saddle Road, made our way to the QB took a left and did the Parish Walk proper to Peel touching all the church gates, 32.57 miles in total (small cooldown after). Our reasons for setting away so early, first I wanted to spend some time with my children so we went earlier, secondly weather reports were quite poor for the afternoon so we decided this start time would suite both of us (you think I am mad? Al was linesman for a cup game in the afternoon after our walk)!

Today I am writing this and I feel great. No aches or pains, nothing. It is like I didn't do the walk yesterday! I cannot believe that I would be writing this following such a hard session. I can only assume that all the months of hard training have finally paid of. I remember the vast majority of the damage I did last year was on the first 25 miles, so for me to have done the Peel walk so well is a massive boost for me now. In January when I originally wrote my training program out I was aware of the amount of walking I had set myself to do. I am glad it is now over and it has been very hard to do, especially on cold and wet winter nights when the draw of a nice brew and the warmth of a fire are beckonning. Now its time to taper my training down and start to plan the final details for the big day. This week will go something like this.

• Monday playing football for Braddan Legends against The Wrinklies!
• Tue. No training.
• Wed. An hours walk on the fun run route, very easy and no pace, just to get the legs going again.
• Thursday, hopefully a speed session for an hour or so with the great Robbie at the NSC.
• Friday a medium paced 2 hour walk. Sat. & Sun. no training.

As you can see I will be lucky to do 25 miles this week so for me it will be a perfect post Peel week. The week after next I intend to add in some cross training at the gym coupled with some cycling. Depending on how all this goes my aim for 3 weeks time are a couple of easy swim sessions and a small walk. Then it will be Carb. loading week!!! Bring on Da Pasta! Again nearer the time I will go a little more in depth about why I am doing things.

So that was my week. As you can imagine I have had a lot of time to think about all sorts of things whilst out walking. My main concerns have been about the many different ways there are to doing structured training programs for events like this one. A fascinating topic with I feel no definning answer. The reason I say this is simple, we are all individual and what may work for one person may not work as well for another. A good example may be myself. My training has all been based on what I consider to be mainly my weaknesses in the race last year. The structure of my program has been from tried and approved training techniques used by coaches world wide. Ie speed sessions, endurance sessions, strength sessions, fartlek and hill repeats of one sort or another. This all put together will hopefully, all being well, give me  the improvement I hope to get in the race this year. That said, a really hot day and my 22 and a half hours from last year may turn out to be a really good time! I am not too worried now. I feel I have done the training and am still having to hope for the right conditions and everything to gel on the day. If I have a really bad race and don't finish this year I will be upset but it wont be from lack of trying. I am going to give it 110%. 

I feel like I have had an insight into the rigourous type of training routines the top men and women in this sport have to go through year round to achieve the remarkable success and times they continue to get. I have to be honest here but I doubt I could put myself through this type of regime again. It has been so hard to do and I have nothing but respect for the top people in this sport. It is a passion and dedication that they seem to live by, for me I feel it is more like a book I can pick up and put down again when I am finished with. I hope it all comes together on the day, and if it doesn't?.....Well, there is always next year!!!   

Last weeks walking went as planned  and with no real problems. For a change I am not going to list times and distances this week, the only important thing was the total mileage covered was 60 walking. My news from last week was that I was in Southampton and I played at Southampton football club on the Thursday in a charity football match.

What an incredible experience. A guided tour of the club on arrival, meet our ex professionals (in our case Jason Dodd and Gordon Watson) who would be playing alongside us, quick sports massage from the physios (you now know what I am like as regards sports massage) then onto the pitch for a warm up and then the game. I realise that most reading this may not be interested in the details of the game so I will skip through this part. The relevant bit is that I played as hard as I could and had a great running session. I must of played ok because a player from each side was chosen as man of the match, I was lucky enough to have got the "away" sides vote and was presented with the match ball all signed etc. All was great until Friday morning.

Friday morning went to move and to cut a long story short, I couldn't move!!! Back, calves and hamstrings all seized. Without any second thought I was on the phone straight away.Managed to get a sports massage in with a very nice girl called Jenny Lawson who works out of the Tennis Club at the Hampshire Rose Bowl (Cricket Club). Boy what a good job she did. Saturday a little sore but Sunday a marked improvement. I can recommend her to anyone in need of a sports massage in that part of the world. In fact I am now confident that I can go into my last "hard" week of Parish training whereas last Friday and Saturday I had serious doubts. Again, I knew I would be a little stiff the next day but had no idea that a change in training at this late stage would have such a big physical impact. It was something I had organised a while back so had sort of taken it into consideration where my training was concerned.

So this is it, with only 33 days to go I am entering my final week of hard walking before I start to taper it down next week. From today (being Monday 21st May) to Sunday inclusive I hope to complete 100 miles with 32 of those coming from walking the Parish proper to Peel on Sunday. I am nervous about the mileage and just hope that things like blisters etc are not a problem. At this stage if I get any kind of negative from my training I will stop doing whatever I am at the time and just call it a day for that session. Again, I feel I am too near to the event to take any chances and with the amount of mileage under my belt at the moment I feel so much better prepared than at the same point in time last year. So fingers crossed and time to hit the roads again.

As I only got back from the UK yesterday I have not had time to look for any walking related songs so I hope to have some in for the next entry.

• Another week wrapped up and it's still full steam ahead. Before I write any more I would like to thank every one for all the emails with song suggestions. The first out of the hat tonight comes from Jude & Ean and in fairness I am surprised my fellow blogger being such an ardent reds fan himself, did not suggest this one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC2Yqp5KRNg&mode=related&search I think the fans sing it better!Last one this week, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ECyTGZjOJc , again these are only a bit of fun so if you have any more suggestions please email them through.

Only 6 weekends to go. Pressure seems to be slowly building all the time but the fact that my training is still on course and I have managed to still be injury free is pleasing. My week went like this;

• Monday 7th May. 24.5 miles From Lezayre Church following the Parish route all the way back into Douglas, finnishing at my house. I made a point of walking upto Lonan Church and St.Peters but missed out the Prom. I did this one in 4 hours and 53 mins averaging a nice and steady 5.0 mph. I was over the moon! After finding Maughold so hard last year I can actually say I enjoyed it. It is funny but it sort of reminds me when I think back to my childhood and remember the biggest hill around our old house, it was massive, in fact comparable to any mountain! Unfortunately when I went back to visit the old neighbourhood that mountain had "shrunk" into a moderate slope and didn't seem so fierce. I can now understand when Steve Partington et all mention how much they like this part of the course. Don't get me wrong I realise I have scaled it with fresh legs and come race day things will be a whole lot different, but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders in terms of unnecessary worry. I just hope that at this point in the race, if I make it this far, my legs still have some sort of sensory perception left in them! I found the hardest part of this route was the climb through Ballajora (hope that is correct spelling), again not so bad on fresh legs but I will be mindful that it is still there. I would like to add just one more point here. I came home and my wife asked me how the walk had gone? I said fine but strangely had no recollection of doing any of it before! I remember Lezayre Church, a camera crew on a hill somewhere and the rock cliffs on the road side somewhere further on. Aside from this my memory is quite clear from Lonan to the finish line, from Lezayre to here mostly a complete blank, I know it was dark but at the same time that was a very hard part of the walk for me last year, I have to wonder if this has happened to many other walkers? I may take pictures this year to remind me!

As far as my original training plan went I have pretty much managed to accomplish all that I had set out to do from the start. My only part of the Parish walk not done is the Peel to Lezayre section. From memory I enjoyed the walk from Peel to Ballaugh but there after I can only remember long straight roads to Lezayre, so, for now I will just wait until race day to tackle those again.

• Tuesday 8th May.Now a funny thing happened walking today. A new 10k P.B.! I set of from Carrefour Gym and made my way to the anchor at the swing bridge in Douglas. My route was an easy pace "stretch the legs" out after Monday, walk along the Old Castletown Road, onto Marine Drive, back down onto the Quay and back to the anchor, 6.18 miles in total. As I started walking I felt no ill effects whatsoever from the Lezayre walk, in fact my legs felt very strong so I switched into race walking mode and set off. I know it is hilly so can't be taken as a true P.B. but I did walk the 10k in 55.30 and finnished the entire route 56.57. Back to the gym and finnish with a back and core workout. No leg work today!
• Wednesday 9th May. An easy tempo 16.07 miles. No specific route I just walked where I pleased at no real great pace. This one fact made a change for me. I have never just gone out walking, I have always planned my walks carefully being mindful of the time, so to do this and get back more or less on time was enjoyable.
• Thursday 10th Jan. Hill sessions in Saddlestone! This week 17 of them!!! I truly am close to madness through boredom doing this now, even so still effective and hard work. I started this week on my own as Alan Cowin was one of the officials in the Cowell Cup final (football). Started at the stop sign at the entrance and did 3 repeats on each hill from the far side upto Saddlestone Hill itself, this and the first hill I did 4 repeats on. Al joined me after the match with 6 hills to do. I looked down at my watch and had to show Al. I had done 10 miles in 1,35.35. I know again it was hilly so it doesn't count as any type of P.B. but I did think if only I had this pace on a flat route! This walk covered in total 12.10 miles and I did this in 1,56.47 with an average of 6.2 mph.
• Friday 11th May. To this point I had covered all the walking mileage I had wanted to cover this week so I did an easy run of 4.65 miles with a client and I did a cycle later on by myself. I didn't even record the time or distance, I just wanted to enjoy an easy session.

Total mileage last week walking is 58, running an additional 4.65 and add to that the cycling of which I have no idea of the distance. I feel good still physically but I am now counting down the days and just wish it was a little sooner. For me the next 2 weeks are the hardest in terms of walking distances but I am really looking forward to the tapering off stage of my program. I have a Sports Massage planned for tommorow evening and am really looking forward to that. As far as everything else goes it is all still on track. My self imposed alcohol ban is now 4 weeks in and is not really as hard as I thought it may be, I do now admit that if I do make it to the finish again, I will be crossing the line with a nice cold can of Stella! If I am in a bad way again, this may not happen!

So as far as next week goes it is pretty much the same as this week but with the addition of a few more miles. My main goal and priority now has to be to try and stay injury free. Any sign of any type of injury or problem developing, I will have no hesitation whatsoever to stop wherever I am and get a lift from a friend or catch a cab home. To be this close now with so much training done and ruin my chances of getting to the start line in one piece is a gamble too big to take. So for now it's fingers crossed and press on into next week.

Some are a little more obscure than the obvious, I will not be posting Walk Like An Egyptian, for some reason I think it may bring bad luck or tempt something else more un savoury! Check these out,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwDijA6NZ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR1Ln-ctn5E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2RAPHOTGvc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-D4bPPepY

My own personal choice song for the Parish Walk 2007 that has kept me going through most of my training is this next one by Green Day, great song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxfpMGLMZ7Y if you can suggest anything else then post away, I will try to post at least one more each blog entry from now on in. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMsKPeWAsw

Not sure if this will work, not sure if I am even allowed to do this, any objections please let me know and I will remove. Otherwise I will try to put on odd songs that are themed towards walking or such. Any suggestions let me know and I will put them up.

Another week down and another week closer. So far so good as far as training goes, physically everything is starting to gel really well although I still feel all over the place as far as my thoughts go with regards to the actual race itself. Last weeks training totalled 55 miles walking, 10 miles cycling and 4 miles running for a grand total of 69 miles. The run and cycle was an unplanned and unexpected bonus so they were both done with enthusiasm!

• Monday was my well advertised Sloc walk. Alan dipped into work in the morning and got stuck there, Dave and Mathew both had niggles and wisely opted to rest up. Dipsy here ventured around on his lonesome. Left Rushen church, up the Sloc, right at the Round Table into Colby, back to Rushen Church and repeat the entire route. I planned 23 miles and as this was just shy I made sure of the distance by nipping into Port Erin to make a total of 23.03 miles. Monday was hard going. Armed with a total sun block already on I started in cloudless skies with the sun pounding down on me whilst fighting every step of the way into a gusting headwind all the way to the Round Table. My time was 4h and 58 with an average pace of 4.6 mph which I was pleased with considering the climb and winds. I also found myself cursing the fact I laughed at Steve Partington and his exploits dodging sheep in the firemans walk, I had a herd of cows to negotiate through, of which I took a picture on my mobile and sent it to my wife! I must admit I feel glad all my hill work to date has been of quality because my legs did ache for a few hours after. PS. will find another sun block because I got wind burn, I can recommend any after sun with aloe vera works well!
• Tuesday was a weights day in the gym. No walking.
• Wednesday I combined 2 routes over a distance of 15.5 miles again hard going dew to the hot sun. The main problem I am having is that carrying 2 to 3 litres in a Kamelback is still carrying excess weight and sometimes the straps do have a habit of rubbing. Nonetheless will be glad when walking in the Parish because will not be wearing this.
• Thursday saw Alan and myself pounding the streets of Douglas. We combined speed and hills. Start point was the NSC to, Crellins Hill, Broadway, The Arches and Blackberry Lane and back. Hard work and didn't stop this one until 1030pm. Again legs achey tired but not too bad.
• Friday was a walk into work. Run with a client and walk home again. Once arrived home a big sigh of relief, time off for good behaviour and no more walking over the weekend.
• The cycles I got in were 5 miles on Monday and 5 miles on Wednesday. No speeds involved it was just nice to spin the legs and go easy doing some light training for a change.

As you can see no real problems at all here. The mileage is still progressing nicely, no real injury worries and physically feeling great. Now the problem. I am considering one or 2 race day options here. Plan 1. Start of nice and slow, keep with a pace and stay at it to the end. Resulting in hopefully bettering my time from last year and avoiding the majority of the pain I so vividly remember. Plan 2. Dare I say it...race it!!! Now I am split into 2 here. I quite clearly remember one of the main reasons for saying never again before, mainly due to the training workloads that were involved with this. This year has been no different, in fact this year to date has been twice as bad because the training has been planned and followed to the letter with very few exceptions. I have not really missed a planned training session at all and it is now at a point where I can quite happily say I am cheesed of with the mammoth effort that is involved with the walking sessions. I can now appreciate the effort it takes to prepare for any sport discipline or sporting event. The only reason I feel like I could race it, walk it fast as opposed to slow, is the fact I know I have put the hard work in with the training sessions and have given myself every chance of having a go at a good time. I do feel so much stronger than this point last year and I now know what it is like to complete the course. If I do the Parish again I am sure of one thing, I will not be putting in the time that I am now with regards to the hours walking I am currently doing. No way. It has taken over my life and I must admit I didn't see it coming but it has and I can't do anything about it. With regards to what I will do I feel my decision has to be made nearer to, or, on the day itself. I have to see how the rest of the training goes, whether or not an injury comes into play, how I feel on the day and most importantly if it is going to be a hot day or not. In a weird way writing out my thoughts sort of helps with the decision making so from now on in- minimal moaning and let my feet do the talking!

As far as next week goes I am really looking forward to Monday. Alan is picking me up in the morning and we are driving to Lezayre and walking back to my house for my 24.5 mile session. As you are aware I, unlike many others, do not like this stretch of the course, especially the run out of Maughold so I will hopefully be putting a few demons to rest that are associated with this particular part of the course. Again, I must say that I am looking forward to this as part of my training plan was to walk more of the course. This part is the last important part for me so I am keeping fingers crossed that it all goes well. As far as the rest of the week goes it will be similar again to last week with the addition of another spin session on my Trixter bike and building on my mileage from last week. I am hoping to get to walk appx. 56.5 miles with some weight work in the gym, another outdoor cycle and maybe another easy run. It sounds a lot but this is now done with 2 days rest in a week and it seems like I have the right balance with the workloads and the rest periods, so for the moment I will plough on. Am still apprehensive but it is now tinged more with a certain element of excitement and dare I say it,  with only 48 days to go I can't wait.