Jaffa Cake rescue

Two races in seven days! If I'd done any training as well it would have been a good week. Actually, I did one session in the week - a 50 minute, six lap run around the very muddy fields behind our house. I felt the same (very bad) on the last lap as I did on the first, so I saw it as progress. I decided to run at Bradda.

It took me a long time to get over the 10km walk I did last weekend. I felt pretty rough on Tuesday (it's always the day after the day after isn't it?) and didn't do the field run until Thursday. Now it's Tuesday again and I'm feeling worse than last week. The Bradda race went pretty well. Despite a steady start, I predictably struggled over the final few miles. Three emergency Jaffa Cakes at the top of Fleshwick (on the way back!) meant I was able to maintain a jog to the finish. I did feel a bit guilty stuffing them in with two miles to go - what if I stumbled over the cliff, landing on a ledge out of sight with a broken leg and I'd eaten my emergency rations? The prospect of the pot of tea and a cream scone waiting at the Bradda Glen cafe also helped. The cafe was closed and I had to make do with water and the other nine Jaffa Cakes I hadn't packed as emergency food.

I love fell running. It is as hard as you make it. You run until you have to walk then you walk until you can run again. Lloyd Taggart broke the course record and, like all athletes at the top of their game, made it look easy. I heard that he ran up Fleshwick. Wow.

No racing like a train...

There's no training like a race (loosely speaking), so I had a go at the final round of the Winter League. I'd been thinking about it for a week or so, and after a good session on Tuesday thought 'why not'?

Well... mainly because I'm not fit enough to get drawn into a 'ding dong' 5km with Peter Kaneen, that's why! He walked a clever race, and after a close first half, was able to gradually pull away to a comfortable margin of victory. Peter's time may well be a UK vetsO45 record, so he wasn't hanging around, and I suppose I was pleased enough with my time. It's hard to reassess your expectations when they are all downwards!

Some good walking on show. Despite his various aches and pains, blogger David M. repeated his handicap win from the previous round. Is that two starts and two wins? Another big Pb from Michael George, who, despite missing his first sub-50 minute 10km by mere seconds, can be happy that he gave it his all. Those of us around the start/finish can vouch for that. A grown man, on all fours, coughing his Sunday breakfast into the grass verge, is perhaps not the best way to attract casual passers by into racewalking, but was a reflection of 100% effort. Congratulations to Kath Colquitt, Enid Watson, Sinead Kaneen, Catreena Moore and Richard Bell for their overall league titles.

35 minutes. Time enough...

Tuesday was good. I went further and faster than previously, walking eight laps of my 'usual' local loop - all faster than last week. I really had to work at it though - far too hard for the level of achievement. I started a bit too hard, and it stayed that way. Trying to shave a second or two off the lap times was a real struggle and all eight were within ten seconds (not a lot over 13 mins). My hypochondria crept in for the final three laps in the form of a sore knee, but it had cleared up by the following morning. Another miracle!

Thursday was a running day. Well, a running hour. I'd have had a bit longer, but I managed to slide my (wide) van into a ditch on the (narrow) Curraghs Road in Ballaugh, and by the time Mr Kneale (what a gent) had pulled me out, I was a bit late. I parked in Glen Auldyn and ran (then jogged, then walked) up to the Mountain Box. Despite a galeforce headwind (which at one point blew my woolly hat inside out - on my head!) it was a great route. I turned right down the 'greenlane' track to join the Mill. Way at the boardwalk section after Sky Hill and then I headed right again onto a path that led back down to Glen Auldyn.

Today (Friday) I had even less time. 35 minutes isn't enough time to do anything really is it? Well, I did what I often do when I'm on a time budget... hill reps. Started at the Dhoon car park and using the road that goes up to Ballaragh, managed to fit in nine reps - 2 mins to walk up and a 90 sec jog back recovery.

Kidding Myself

Sorry I haven't written anything for a week. Unfortunately it isn't because I've spent all my time training - just that I'm slack. It's been an OK week. I'm hoping to compete in walks and runs in the coming months and so, I'm sort of mixing my training. I kid myself that this is to ensure a level of cross-discipline competence, but I know deep down that I'm just enjoying myself and will probably be way off the boil in both.
Sunday was a bit of a tester - a hill run of just over two hours. Bright and breezy to start with, cold and unsettled by the end. That was me - the weather was fine. We are so lucky to live with the hills on our doorstep. I did a variation on the Creg-ny-Baa route and didn't meet a soul - just a solitary set of footprints along a snowdrift near the Brandywell Road (which I found out today were made by my brother earlier that morning...).

Potatoes on North Barrule

The 'Serious Walker' tag is looking increasingly tenuous. For lots of reasons, I haven't done any walking since Sunday! A couple of runs is all I've managed - and one of them was a 40 minute jog in the dark. Never mind - what's done (or not) is done (or isn't).

Tuesday was another beautifully frosty (rioeeagh), sunny morning, and while delivering milk to the good people of Ramsey, North Barrule was a constant, alluring backdrop. The drive back over the mountain was interupted at the Black Hut and half an hour or so later I was looking down on the Northern Plain from the summit of our second highest peak. The run/walk along the ridge from Clagh Ouyr to North Barrule is stunning on a clear day and even a phonecall telling me I'd forgotten to deliver Mrs Kelly's potatoes couldn't spoil it (she got them the next day). The new boardwalk over the permanently boggy bit may not add much to the scenery, but it adds to the comfort. If I hadn't gone up to my knees in a frost-covered ditch less than ten seconds into the run, I'd have had dry feet throughout. It's not proper fell-running if your feet are dry though is it?

Injured for a day

Managed a two hour session on Sunday afternoon. It's not fast but it is further than I have walked since the Parish and it's great not to have any niggles. Another fifteen or so hours on to that and I'll be just about there!

On Monday morning, I was jogging across a garden in Jurby, when I felt a twinge behind my knee. Aggh... disaster! "That's it - I'll be out for months". It was really sore when I pinched the tendon. "I can forget the Parish." Everytime I pinched it got worse. "I'd may as well write off the rest of the year!"

Athletes are hypocohondriacs. No doubt about it. The more effort and time we put into our preparation and fitness, the more we have to lose. Old hand or beginner, we're all the same - realism always plays second fiddle to pessimism. The slightest niggle becomes career-threatening and a sniff is undeniably the onset of flu.

The knee's fine next day - miraculously cured by a day's rest and plenty of ice. To an athlete the most important item in the freezer is ice. Ours is a white, mis-shapen bag of vintage Birds Eye peas. It's so old that the printing has worn off the bag and has been defrosted so many times that to eat the contents would be very dangerous.

One day on, one day off

What a lovely day today (Friday). England won a cricket match, and here the birds were singing and the sun was out. I wasn't. It's been a hard week...

Wednesday I went running with my brother Lee. He's on a bit of a get-fit campaign and, as usual, is starting at the deep end. I joined him for a circuit of East Baldwin taking in Abbeylands, The 33rd, Windy Corner, Brandywell, Beinn-Y-Phott, Carraghyn and St. Lukes. Mist, wind and rain - we had a great time.

Thursday saw me walking again and a repeat of the six-lap session I did last week on Baldhoon Road. The weather was a bit warmer and so was the pace. A more positive start meant more consistent lap times, but I was chuffed to speed up on each one. I have always used sessions like this to provide a no-nonsense gague of 'where you're at', and I'll return to the same session regularly. They are hard, but you can't kid yourself. It's either good, or not.

So, things are moving along, and while the 'one day on, one day off' routine isn't exactly full-time training, it's a big improvement on the 'one day on, five off' I was doing a few weeks ago.