Stepping-up the resting-up

I was never happy with the 'serious' tag attached to this blog. To start the Parish aiming for a fast time/podium finish, you need to have been highly motivated and to have trained hard for months. I'm not and so I haven't. Murray was having trouble finding someone to fill the 'serious walker' slot in his line-up of bloggers and it's not too hard to work out why. Anyone harbouring genuine high hopes for a fast lap on the big day is probably keen to keep their preparation secrets to themselves. My knowledge of the training of the stars extends to the fact that Robbie C. spends a few weeks in the spring hiking alone in Northern Spain and that Sean Hands can usually be found circulating the Baldwin Valleys. And that's it.

We are all different and while Mr X may walk 100 miles a week, Miss Z will do just 30 but they finish the Parish together. Others have finished well up without any training at all. Either way - it's too late to make any real difference now. So relax and keep positive. With less than three weeks to go you can't do much to improve your chances, but there's plenty of time left to spoil them. So banish any thoughts of epic final training sessions, relax and stay positive.

My blog-posting has reflected my level of training recently I'm afraid. Poor at best. Taking my own advice to stop chasing last minute mileage, I seem to have embarked on a lengthy period of resting-up. For example, today's planned hour's walk never happened. I was all ready to go and sat down on the bed to put my socks on. Woke up an hour and a half later. TT Week earlier starts are catching up on me. What training I have done has gone OK, but a persistent problem with a 'soft corn' (prognosis from those respected practitioners, Dr World, Wide & Webb) on my little toe is curbing (kerbing...) my confidence. Saturday will see a blip in my rest diary because it's the Glen Mona Fell Race. After that, it's another week at work before the resting-up steps up (or down?) a gear with a week off leading up to the Parish. Maybe that's why I'm looking forward to it...