Only 4 weeks and 3 days to go - Are you in it?

Parish Walk 2014 entries have now closed so if you haven't entered you aren't going to take part in one of the best supported days on the Isle of Man.

 

Leaving the NSC together with over 1000 other walkers, the streets are lined with supporters. It's so nice to be cheered on as you walk towards Marown Church. The road to the first Parish is closed to vehicles so it is the ideal opportunity to chat with other walkers along the way. The one question you are sure to be asked is "How far are you going?" I wonder how many people actually reach their goal or possibly even go further than their goal. If you've been training with a goal in mind of less than 85 miles you may be surprised that on the day you can walk further. The excitement, company and adrenaline all help to keep you going when you thought that you wouldn't be able to.

 

Four weeks before last year's Parish Walk I wasn't sure I was going to be on the start line. I was advised not to do it because I could seriously damage my tendon by walking 85 miles but I was determined. My plan was to take it easy and aim to finish within the required 24 hours - but when I got to the start line and the countdown began my competitive side took over and I didn't think too much about my injury for the rest of the day!

 

I had done a lot of serious training because my 2013 plan was to do the Sara Killey, Parish Walk, 100 Mile and the End to End. I had considered finishing the Parish Walk in Peel to save my legs for the 100 Mile walk in August but I kept thinking that if I didn't finish the Parish and I failed to finish the 100 Mile then I wouldn't have achieved either goal. So I decided that I would still aim to complete the Parish Walk and see how I did in the 100 Mile, even though the latter was priority as it isn't often held on the island.

 

The Sara Killey was a huge success for me. I finished as 4th lady in under 6 hours - to plan.

 

The Parish Walk went much better than planned. It was a very warm day and I started to feel dehydrated in Patrick. I slowed down for a while and started to drink much more than I had been and soon started to feel a lot better. It is so important not to dehydrate, it can easily end your walk prematurely. I reached Peel in 6hr 42mins, my aim was 7 hours so I was well ahead of time. From Peel to Andreas seemed to pass relatively quickly as I was constantly walking with various different characters along the way. In Bride I met up with Bernadette from South Africa. She was going through a really bad patch and was possibly also suffering with the boredom of walking alone from Jurby to Andreas. We walked together to Andreas Church where she stopped for a while for something to eat. I carried on alone and remained mostly alone for the rest of the walk. Once again I hit a very thick, solid brick wall in Maughold. A cyclist came past me and asked if I was OK. I was going to ask him to catch up with my support vehicle and get him to come back with food and water as I was feeling a little dizzy, but alas the cyclist said I was looking good and disappeared into the distance! Somehow I managed to get to Maughold Church and then up Ballajora and back onto the main road. This is where I realise that I don't have too much further to go and my body decides that the best way to get to the end is as quickly as possible. By this time Brian (support) is also saying that he's tired and I should speed up - nothing like encouragement!

 

Parish Walk 2013 - finished in 18:24:31 in 28th position and 7th lady - happy with the result.

 

Meet Zachary - the new addition to my family. He's a 12 week old Miniature Schnauzer.

 

Northern 10 Win - Dedicated to Quando

The Northern 10 Walk and Run was held on Sunday 11th May. It was a perfect day for a race with the weather mostly cool and dry with the occasional hot spot, especially coming back into Ramsey on the Jurby Road.

 

My 12 year old Miniature Schnauzer, Quando had been suffering with a congenital heart disease for the past 18 months but on Saturday night he could no longer keep his food and water down. I left home on Sunday morning knowing that I had a very poorly dog. I dropped him off at the vet on Monday morning and unfortunately he wasn't strong enough to fight whatever infection he had picked up. Sadly he passed away on Tuesday evening.

 

I dedicate my win of the Northern 10 Ladies Walk to my best friend Quando. He will live on in my heart forever. We always know that when we get a pet the chances are good that we will outlive them. It certainly doesn't make saying goodbye any easier. I will always miss him. Rest in Peace my little man.

I Really Missed Training

I am now well and truly back.

 

Just been from Ramsey to Maughold church, up Ballajora and back to Ramsey along the coast road. A total of 9 miles in 1:43. I enjoyed every minute (well maybe not EVERY - I still have a small issue with Ballajora!), but it felt great to be back on the road after 3 weeks break.

 

While I was walking today I was really thinking about how I was getting from A to B. This may sound a little strange but race walking and endurance walking is not all about putting one foot in front of the other. Every part of the body gets involved.

 

The mind - a major part of endurance walking. Determination and planning can get you the extra distance when you think your legs won't. It also helps me to let my mind wander sometimes to take me away from the constant pounding of the road. Try not to dwell on how tired you feel or how much pain you may be in at the time. Think of how good you'll feel when you get to your destination.

 

Head - try not to drop your head, keep looking ahead of you and not at your shoes.

 

Shoulders - keep them relaxed, there should be no reason to have them hunched up and getting achy and sore.

 

Back - keep it as straight as possible, this goes together with the head. Keep looking ahead and keep your back straight.

 

Arms - your arms can help you more than you think. Keeping your arms bent at around 90 degrees at waist height pushing back will keep your legs going. Instead of concentrating on how tired your legs are start concentrating on pushing yourself forward using your arms.

 

Hands - don't make a tight fist as you pump your arms, just keep your fingers slightly bent and nicely relaxed.

 

Legs - yes they do work hard but help them as much as you can with the rest of the body.

 

Feet - make sure you prepare your feet well before you go out walking. They are after all going to get you to the end of the walk!

Apologies for the break in blogging - I'm back now!

Well it's been a very busy three weeks for me and I'm using that as a very valid excuse for not posting any blogs for a while.

I left my job in Douglas on 17th April, went on holiday to Wales for a week on the 18th April returning to the Isle of Man on 25th April and then moved from Douglas to Ramsey at 9am on 26th April. Since then I've been working hard to get my house in order in time for me to start my new job in Ramsey on 6th May. I can now report that I am totally settled in my new house, all that's left is a trip to the local tip - which is a very nice, new tip - and then I'm done.

Unfortunately because I've been so busy with other things for three weeks the last walk I did was the Sara Killey. It's now time to get back on the road and continue with my Parish Walk training. Only 7 weeks to go which means that there is only 5 weeks of serious training left. I write the last sentence with little butterflies flitting around in my stomach.

However, although I haven't been doing any training I did a fair amount of walking in Wales with the dogs. The photos below are taken on the trails around Llanberis.

Then I moved heavy furniture from one place to another in my house at least 4 times until I was happy and I took all the weeds out of the garden and turned over the soil - that used muscles I didn't know I had.

Yesterday and today I ran 5 miles, but tomorrow I will be heading off to Glen Mona via Maughold and then back home. I think it's about 10 miles.

All the usual worries are now starting to surface
- am I fit enough?
- have I done enough training?
- have I planned for the day?
- food?
- drink?
- supplements?

I bought a new pair of shoes on Wednesday, they feel fantastic but I haven't actually walked in them yet. Question is - do I wear them to do the Parish. I suppose I still have 5 weeks to wear them in. For all the shoe experts out there they are Brooks Glycerin 11.

Train hard for the next 5 weeks and then take it relatively easy for the next 2 weeks. Plan and prepare and hopefully all will go as expected.

Sara Killey 2014 - Ticked!

Sunday April 13th 2014 was the Sara Killey Firefighters walk from Peel to Ramsey via Ballaugh, Jurby, Bride and Andreas. A total of 50km (just over 31 miles).

The turnout was good, a lot of the usual faces and a few very welcome new ones.

The weather was almost perfect. There was a strong headwind from Bride onwards, but otherwise it was a sunny and cool day (although I did hear a few complaints about the heat!)

My co-blogger, Richard Wild, led the race out of Peel but soon disappeared out of my sight. For the first 20 miles I managed to hold onto the position of 2nd / 3rd lady, constantly jostling with Jane Foster but coming into Bride Maureen Moffat passed me with relative ease. This was not unexpected! I was tiring and Maureen had much more stamina than I did.

I kept my position of 3rd lady for a few more miles but knew that Karen Lawrie and Sammy Bowden were hot on my heels. They overtook me in Andreas - also not really unexpected. I really need to work on my fitness!

With 5 miles to go Jane once again caught up with me but this time we walked together in relative silence, just concentrating on keeping up the speed for a sub-6 hour finish. 

We finished in tied 5th position in a time of 5:56:17.

A special thanks to Brian for supporting me once again. Without the constant supply of water, supplements, food and encouragement I would never have finished in the time I did.

Also thanks to Jane Foster for keeping me focused throughout the race, but especially the final 5 miles. I very seldom walk with anyone else but our speed was so similar for the full 50km that it just made sense to spur each other on.

Congratulations to all who took part in the Sara Killey and thanks to all who supported the race.
Congratulations to Richard and Karen, our 2014 winners.

A Little Bit of a Rest

During the last week I have done very few miles at a very gentle pace. The reasoning behind this is to try to rest my injured foot and to give my body some rest before the Sara Killey. Normally I would only rest the week before but this year my body has been given almost a full two weeks.

So this Sunday is the Sara Killey race from Peel fire station to Ramsey fire station - 50km in total. I'm hoping for a similar time to last year which was 5:56. For some reason I don't feel as fit as I was last year, but this could just be because I'm getting harder on myself and expect more each year. Only time will tell.

2013 was a busy walking year for me. As well as doing all the shorter race walks I also did the Sara Killey in April, the Parish Walk in June, the 100 Mile walk in August and the End to End in September. 

SARA KILLEY 2013

It was a chilly start, there was still a bit of snow around on parts of the course, but after a couple of miles I was nicely warmed up and enjoying the walk. 

The Sara is a perfect training walk for the Parish as it follows the Parish route and is fairly flat.

For the majority of the distance I was 3rd lady but I could hear the crowd behind me talking all the way. This constant chatter kept me motivated in keeping ahead. However just as I left Andreas Karen Lawrie came alongside me. She chatted to me for a couple of minutes and then effortlessly left me behind! I tried to keep up with her but there was no way my legs would go that speed so I settled for a respectable 4th place behind Sue Biggart, Maureen Moffat (joint 1st) and Karen (3rd). 

I'm really looking forward to Sunday's race, although I can feel the nerves starting to kick in whenever I think about it. Nerves are apparently good - they turn into adrenaline on the day!

Good luck to all those taking part and loads of thanks to all those supporting on the roads and in the cars.

A Trying Two Weeks

Well if you've been following my blogs you will probably have noticed that I have been posting every week like clockwork but I missed posting last week.

 

These last two weeks have been busy, difficult, trying but eventually eventful!

 

I have a new job and a new house. I have resigned from my old job and handed in notice on my current house.

 

Doing two of the most stressful things a person can do is not always good for training but I have managed to get out for a couple of longish (15 mile) walks and a few short, fast 5 mile walks. I have also been on the treadmill a couple of times and done 3 days of Insanity workouts. So I have managed to keep the fitness up as well as the stress levels!

 

Once I move I believe my stress will all be gone as this is the view from the front window of my new house. Ramsey here I come!!

 

More good news is that we now have an extra hour of daylight. No more "I don't feel like going out in the dark" excuses.

 

With only two weeks to go before the Sara Killey I am feeling that my enthusiasm to train is waning a little and I need something to kick-start me again. Sometimes I almost feel like I'm forcing myself out the front door, but every time I go out I thoroughly enjoy the training!

 

Injury is also rearing it's ugly head again. All winter the tendons in my right foot have been fine, but as the weather is warming up my tendons are aching more and more.

 

Yesterday evening I did a relatively slow 10.5 mile walk but today my foot is swollen and the tendons are very pronounced. This seems to be a repeat of last year's injury, but this year I'm more aware of it and will get it treated as soon as possible.

 

It's less than 12 weeks to the Parish Walk so this is not the time to "lose the mojo" and not the time to get injured.

 

My tip of the day: Keep up the training and try to stay injury free. With only 10 weeks serious training left make the most of the time.