Late again...

One half decent training session and suddenly things are looking up. You take the next day off to recover and then head out for a steady hour's walking the day after that. Half an hour up the road... 'bang', you're exhausted and despite a mainly downhill return trip it takes 40 minutes to get home. This was me last Thursday and it underlines that full fitness is quite a way off. In fact it's not in sight yet...

I was unable to get to the Winter Walking League at Andreas on Sunday, but there were some great walks in all the age groups. Good to see my fellow blogger Dave M. pick up a win on his debut. Speed is always useful - even if we are aiming to walk 85 mles - so why not join Dave and everyone else for a 10km blast at the final round of the League at the NSC on 18th February?

Another hard effort for training yesterday (Monday). I planned a two-lap session (approx. 45 mins per lap) finishing in time to pick the boys up from school. Those who know me won't be too surprised to learn that I was a bit late starting, by which time I only had 80 minutes left to train. Rather than ammend my plan, I opted to run a downhill section of each lap. This left me with a 36 min. walking effort (mainly uphill) and a 4 minutes (downhill) run per lap. Today's tip - have a flexible approach to any planned sessions - things won't always work out as you intend.

Sensitive area friction

After weeks of gales and rain, it was a memorably beautiful, frosty morning today. So, run on the hills (following my heart) or walk on the road (my head)? My dodgy ankle combined with more sense than I used to have saw me spending 90 minutes walking six laps of a favourite out-and-back lap which starts a couple of hundred yards from home. When I say favourite, what I really mean is consistently effective. The classic novice oversight of forgetting to apply a bit of Vaseline added to the overall discomfort.

If a near stranger tells you to 'minimise friction to your sensitive areas', then (hopefully) they are a regular walker and you will do well to listen. Wherever your clothing or your body rubs repeatedly against another bit of your body then 'abrasions', can occur. I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves, but the obvious hotspots are under the arms, between your legs, between your bum cheeks, and nipples. This is a male perspective on the issue - I'll endeavour to find out if ladies suffer elsewhere and let you know.

Walkers of all ages and abilities benefitted from UK Event Coach Andi Drake's advice during his visit last weekend. Andi used a 2km time trial on the track on Saturday to work out training speeds for Sunday's longer session. Talking to a number of people afterwards, quite a few admitted that they had been training too slowly up to now. Andi's message was to 'train smart' - think about what you are doing and ask yourself whether it is the most effective use of your time. Speaking of which... goodnight.

Mower mileage

The alert amongst you will have spotted that Friday, Sunday and Monday aren't three consecutive days (as stated in the last post). Sorry - I forgot Saturday. Mind you... if I could count a couple of damp strolls along the touchline at Marown and the walk across the field for a half-time cup of tea, maybe I could claim four days on the trot..? (The Mighty Greens made hard work of a 2 nil win).


I had a rest day on Tuesday, but it was such a sunny afternoon that instead of catching up on some sleep, I decided to dust off the Flymo and cut the grass. I overslept badly (two hours!) this morning, but the garden looks better.

When I eventually got home from work, I did an hour's run/jog today. Felt slow but that's OK because it was. Adrian Cowin has been on the radio all afternoon saying we're in for storms tomorrow following 20mm of rain overnight. Great!

Clutching at fitness straws...

Well, starting to write this has spurred me into action. I've been out twice in three days. 45 minutes on Friday and 65 minutes today. In fact, if I count a ten minute run (I'm lying - it was a jog) around the fields yesterday, then I've done three days in a row. I also did 2km on a rowing machine. Bear with me - I won't carry on mentioning every bit of exercise I do between now and June - I'm just desperately clutching at fitness straws at the moment.
Of course, I should have done the Peel to Douglas really. There is no harder training than a race. Having decided not to race, I was a pleased to develop a bit of a cold over the weekend - taking away any possibility of a change of mind. I love racing and it's always hard to watch. However, even I know I need to do a bit of work before racing.
Some fine walking throughout the field and loads of walkers stating that they were doing it as part of their Parish build-up. Top marks for the dayglo kit most people wore. The traffic at Union Mills was frightening - some people would drive into the shop if they could.
Loads of junior walkers down at their Monday evening training tonight. Andi Drake, the GB National Coach for Race Walking, is on the Island this coming weekend. If you fancy some top class advice, then get down to the NSC this Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
I think I'll have a rest-day tomorrow - don't want to risk an overuse injury.

I feel a bit of a fraud...

I am a bit alarmed to see that Murray has labelled me the 'serious athlete'. The Parish was my last walking race and due to slight injury and great laziness, I'm arguably as unfit as I've been in the last 20 years. However, with the New Year has come a renewed focus. 'I'll get out training next week' changed to 'I'll go training tomorrow' and this week I've actually been out twice. So with about five months to go... I'm off.
I did last year's Parish on the remnants of my Commonwealth 50km fitness. It was clear before Rushen that it wasn't enough and I struggled from there on. I plan to be better prepared this time but I'm going to have a flexible approach with key walking sessions combined with running and cycling. That's why I feel a bit less 'serious' than Murray might think.
Anyway, there's months and months to talk about that. The first thing to do is to get fit.