The First Attempt

Quite a good week on the training front starting with running my 5 mile loop on Monday evening. Tuesday was back to football training for Colby Vets after the Christmas break. Following a warm up all we did for the next hour and a half was have a kick around, but I could certainly feel it the following morning - just shows how you use completely different muscles from walking and running, but good for the allround fitness.

Had a rest day on Wednesday as we had our first committee meeting for the End to End Walk, which is held in September. A long way off but a lot to organise.  On Thursday I met up with the two Daves and we did a few laps round the NSC. It wasn't too strenuous and we had a good chat with one of the topics being the 28 hour walk held each year in Roubaix, but more about that later. Went out with the two Daves again,  plus Vinny and Michael for the usual Saturday morning walk from the NSC. Given that we all planned to do the 10km in the Winter Walking League the folowing day, we decided not to go too far, except for Michael who did a 2 1/2 hour walk, but couldn't convince any of us to join him!

A cracking turnout for the walk at St John's this morning - there must have been nearly 70 people taking part, which can only be good for the future of the sport. It was a bright morning, but with quite a cold breeze and other than that conditions were perfect. After a quick start I settled into a good rhythm, but when Jock passed me after about 3 or 4km I couldn't stay with him, but just tried to keep him sight. I went through the 5km mark at 25.55 and ended finishing in 52.09, which was a PB and my pace didn't drop off too much in the second half, so I was really pleased with how it went. Had my Garmin GPS watch on as usual and for anyone who is interested, below are my stats from the race.

This afternoon Colby Vets had a match against Peel, so given this morning's exertions I was hoping to be on the bench. Unfortunately, I was in the starting line-up, but the the Isle of Man FA, obviously recognising the physical limitations of the older footballer, allow 4 rolling subs throughout the match. The game took place at our new ground, so before we kicked off we had a few team photos taken, went through our warm up and then realised there was no referree. Appears no one told him we were playing at our new place! It was a tight game with a few feisty tackles and Peel took the lead late on in the second half, only for us to equalise right at the death, for what was probably a fair result. My legs 'went' with about 15 minutes to go, so I decided to substitute myself.

Contining the theme from my last blog, where I started to trace my intial steps into competitive walking, in this one I will cover my first Parish Walk experience. My training was anything but organised, as it started off merely as a method to assist with my weight-loss. At this stage I started going out walking with Kyley every Sunday, dressed in boots and jeans. We would dump the kids at my parents house and just ramble for an hour or two. It was only then I started to realise that walking might be a decent form of exercise, owing to the fact I ached after each walk and usually developed decent blisters, due to the choice of footwear.

I progressed through February and March doing a couple or shorter walks during the week, to complement the 'longer' one at the weekend. However, I realised I would need to step it up a bit if I was going to beat my father-in-law who had got as far as Kirk Michael the previous year, so on Good Friday 2007 I decided to walk the Parish route from the start to Rushen church. I got myself some decent walking gear, including a pair of trainers, in preparation for the walk. I thought I was well prepared, but omitted to bring anything to eat or drink with me, so by the time I reached Malew and was able to stop at a shop, I wasn't in great shape. I pulled myself together to stumble on to Rushen church, When I finished I couldn't understand why my feet were in such a poor state with numerous blisters, despite investing in some quality trainers. What I didn't realise was that I would need to wear them in first, rather than expecting to walk nearly 20 miles in them, on their first outing! After that training walk I had no idea how I was going to make it Peel, never mind past Kirk Michael!

Anyway, learning from some of my earlier mistakes I kept up the training and the big day arrived. The first thing that struck me when I arrived at the NSC the day of the 2007 Parish Walk was the sheer number of people taking part. The second thing was the atmosphere and the sense of anticipation as people nervously chatted to one and other, wondering what lay ahead. It was only then that it hit me as to what an amazing event the Parish Walk really is. This only increased throughout the day, as the sense of community and support from the spectators came to the fore.

On the day the walk to Peel was a lot easier than I expected and passed fairly quickly, as I spoke to numerous people and made new friends. Only after Peel, when the number of competitors visibly reduced, did I start to feel pain, but nothing that a few painkillers wouldn't sort out. On the outskirts of Kirk Michael blisters on both my heels had formed and walking was starting to feel uncomfortable - couple more painkillers. I passed Kirk Michael and had beaten my initial target, so was feeling quite pleased with myself, so the next objective was to get to Jurby, which is roughly half way round. Continuing to Jurby wasn't too bad and I then began the walk to Bride. Only in the last couple of years have I actually enjoyed the leg from Jurby to Bride, as I hated it so much in the 2007 walk. My blisters had got even worse and I was also feeling unwell - time for more painkillers! I was getting slower and slower but received a short lived boost by the Welcome to Bride sign. I say short lived, because the sign must be at least 2 miles before you actually get to Bride church.

On reaching Bride I barely had enough energy to carry on and seeing the short, but steep hill out of the village that faced me was hardly a great motivator to continue. Kyley told me it was only 2 or 3 miles to Andreas, so I should at least try and get there. By this time I had resigned myself to there and this decision was compounded by the walk up the path to the church. My badly blistered feet feeling every one of the small stones on the way to check point. I had no hesitation at all in asking the marshall to cut off my dibber. I was relieved to finally stop and pleased to get to Andreas, which I thought at 55 miles was no mean feet.

I gingerly made by way back down the path to the entrance where my wife and mother-in-law Jill were waiting, There was no sign of my father-in-law Paul and they confirmed he was still going strong. I then started to feel ill, like I was going to pass out and I stumbled over and grabbed a tree at the side of the road.  Paul then strolled past, looking really fresh and asked me if I was stopping for a rest (he went on complete to the first of his 2 Parish walk finishes).  At that point I went from feeling like I had achieved something to knowing I had unfinished business. This was made worse a few minutes later when I started to feel a lot better and wondered how I would have got on if I had just rested for a bit and then continued. What I learnt from future Parish walks is that everyone will have a rough patch and that you can push your body and overcome pain a lot more than you initially think. If you feel like quitting, stop and rest. At least then you will definitely know whether you could have carried on or not. Also, don't have too many painkillers unless you want to bring your walk to a premature end!

Below is a picture from my first attempt and as you can see I'm still carrying a little too much weight but a huge improvement on the last blog's photo!

From Blob to Blog

Had to go back to work this week after the last 10 days off over Christmas and New Year and it wasn't a pleasant experience having to get up early again! From a training perspective it has been fairly productive. After my exertions in the Fell Race on New Year's Day it was good to do a few laps around the NSC on Tuesday evening - not too strenuous, but a good workout. I had planned to do the Fireman's run on Thursday, but ended up going down to the NSC again and met Jock and Michael George. Michael had been away on holiday after Christmas and seemed keen to make up for being away, as he really went for it, leaving me in his trail, as we started off doing 200m at pace, increasing 100m per time up to 600m and back down again to 200m.  This will certainly help with the fitness and stamina.

Yesterday was the usual Saturday morning at 8am with Jock, Vinny, Dave W and Marie. We covered about 11 miles, heading out from the NSC, along the promenade, up Summerhill and out to the Liverpool Arms, before coming back through Groudle and back along the prom again. Anyone who was out training yesterday will have appreciated just how windy it was!

Stopping on the prom, Jock and Vinny tried to sell the benefits to Dave and I, of paddling in the sea, apparently giving similar benefits to an ice bath. It was high tide, so they were able to go straight down the concrete steps into the uninviting water. Vinny held on to the rail at the side whilst Jock enthusiastically ran down the steps only to end up sliding on his backside into the sea, grazing his arms and hands in the process, whilst Dave and I looked on providing encouragement and sympathy. To help Jock's recovery and allow him to treat his wounds, we headed off to Mash for sausage and bacon baps. This morning I pushed myself to get out of bed and go for a run on a five mile loop from my house on Bray Hill, out to the Strang and Abbeylands and back home again.  Glad I did in the end as had Sunday lunch at the In-laws and didn't feel guilty about the chocolate biscuits I ate after.

As promised in my last blog I said I would write about what motivated me to do the Parish Walk for the first time. The clue is in the title of this blog, as I was very overweight, was eating and drinking the wrong things and not taking enough exercise. The best way to emphasise this point is to publish a photo from my fat days. I was initially reluctant to do this, as I still can't believe how I managed to let myself go so much and it embarrasses me. However, I looked back through our collection to try and find the worst photo I could and I think you'll agree this one is pretty shocking, so brace yourself!!!!!!!

This is a picture of me on my Stag Do in Brussels in 2004. Can't believe Kyley was so brave to marry that! (Neither can I!!- The Editor)

I was pretty much the same size until 5 years ago when I decided enough was enough. I had always been fairly active, either playing football or running, but a few years earlier had torn the ligaments in my ankle and did little exercise for months after that. However, I somehow convinced myself that I wasn't too overweight and plodding around playing 5 a side football once a week was more than sufficient. It was at the end of October 2006 that Kyley's sister Steph had her 21st birthday and seeing the photos afterwards convinced me that enough was enough. A complete lifestyle change was required, but it would have to wait until after Christmas that year.

I can recall on 4th January 2007 finishing off all the sweets, biscuits and fattening foods in the house (couldn't throw them out could I!), before kicking off the lifestyle change on 5th January. It's all very well deciding to change your eating and drinking habits and start doing more exercise, but without a clear objective or target to work towards it is even more difficult. I had been overweight before, lost a few pounds and then put them back on again and thought I would always be a fat lad. Fortunately, my father-in-law Paul Phillips had taken part in the 2006 Parish Walk and suggested I join him in 2006. He had finished at Kirk Michael, which I thought was pretty impressive, but never one to shirk a challenge I said I would give it a go in 2007. I knew a little about the Parish Walk beforehand, but this mainly consisted of Robbie Callister's amazing exploits and Sean Hands's unbelievable record lap in 2006. I also had a recollection of stumbling out of a nightclub on Douglas Prom and seeing these 'idiots' finishing the Parish Walk. Whilst I respected what they were doing, I couldn't believe that someone could actually walk 85 miles, but worse even want to!

Even so, I did agree to enter in 2007, as I thought how hard could walking be! Kyley started going out first with her friends and convinced me to join them a couple of times. I didn't think walking would be a particularly good form of exercise and felt I would need to do something more strenuous. I soon realised that this walking lark was actually quite hard work, especially carrying significant excess pounds, but that it was ideal for increasing the metabolism for losing weight plus a very sociable activity. My diet changed completely from processed and takeaway food, plus regular visits to the pub, to more vegetables and home cooked meals, replacing snacks with fruit and cutting back on alcohol. The first two or three weeks were very difficult, but once you start to form routines and start to see the pounds dropping off, your motivation levels increase. Over the next 6 months I lost 6 stone and have kept the weight off ever since and would never let myself get back to the size I was before, as I can recognise when I slip back into old eating habits. Also, I enjoy exercise more than ever and in the last year I can't remember a time in my life when I have been as fit.

Whether your objective is to get fitter or lose weight, my advice would be to set yourself challenging but achievable targets and when you meet them, set new ones. Also, find people who can support you doing this, which in my case was Kyley. (This bought a tear to my eye, and he really is the best husband, big or small - The Editor)

Tony the Tiger

Happy New Year to all.

2011 closed on happy note with the arrival of a baby boy for my brother David and his wife Angela on the 29th December. They had a plan for who was going to look after their daughter (Elisa) when Angela went into labour, which involved either her mum or my mum and dad stepping in. Unfortunately, Angela's mum was ill and my mum and dad where away on holiday as the due date wasn't until 15th January. It was a bit of surprise when we received a panicked phone call about 2.20am asking if I could get round to their house quickly to look after Elisa, as the baby was on the way. As I drove up their road to David passed me in his car as things were starting to move very quickly. The baby was delivered at 2.37am!

I always think that New Years Eve is a bit overrated and therefore don't have particularly high expectations for a good night out. In fact the last few years we have stayed in and either done nothing or had my other brother and his wife round. This year Kyley and I decided to go to the Cat With No Tail with Ronnie and Karen Kelly and Ronnie's sister Janette and her husband Kevin. On the way to the Cat we stopped off at Jock and Teri Waddington's for a quick drink and caught up with a few fellow walkers. Jock, the two Dave's (Mackey and Walker) and I had been out training earlier in the day and we had been talking about the St John's Fell Race on New Years Day. The two Dave's had already said they were doing the run and Dave M was trying to talk me in to it. At this stage I was very non-committal as the memories of how hard the Boxing Day run was, were still fresh in my mind and this continued round at Jock's.

We headed up to the Cat With No Tail and Ronnie said that he was definitely going to do the race. A few drinks later not only had I agreed to take part, but also said I would do it in a tiger suit and had arranged to go around to Jeanette's house with Ronnie the following day to get our faces painted and whiskers added! A great night followed with lots of dancing on tables and I vaguely remember crawling in sometime after 4am, The following morning I woke up to a text from Dave M asking if 'Tony the Tiger wanted a lift to St Johns'. The realisation of what I had committed to the previous night then hit home. I can honestly say I have never felt any less like running then I did at that moment. The car journey out to St John's and then Dave M greeting me with "christ you look rough" didn't improve things for what would be my first fell race.

We all lined up on the field by St John's football club and after being advised to take it carefully on the downhill section due to the wet conditions, the starter set us off. The pace was immediately quite quick and I took a decision to take it easy to start with. Being fairly near the back of the field to start with and the fact that a lot of the immediate ascent was too steep to run up anyway, I was able to pick off a few people ahead of me just walking. After what felt like an age I reached the summit and decided to take a few risks on the descent. Watching some of the experienced fell runners descend at speed was very impressive and definitely an art. I managed to pick off a few more people on the way back down the hill and avoided slipping whilst crossing the river. The run definitely got rid of the hangover, but not a cure I would recommend! I've just read the write up on the Manx Fell Runners website and there were a record 148 people who took part. Congratulations to all, as beforehand I didn't appreciate how hard it would be.

Below is an action shot of me and Ronnie in our Tiger suits crossing the river at the start.

Finally, welcome to the third blogger Ed Walter. I spoke to Ed at a dinner at the Hilton Hotel a couple of months ago and it was immediately evident that he is very passionate about the Parish Walk, so his blog should be an interesting read.

Unfortunately, in this blog, I still haven't got round to writing about what motivated me to do the Parish Walk for the first time. I will cover this in my next one and actually write something about walking, instead of waffling on about my Christmas excesses and forays into running.

Parish the Thought

Happy Christmas to everyone and I hope Santa brought you what you wished for. Sorry for the amount of time that has elapsed since my last blog and a number of people have told me to get my arse into gear and post a new one.

Went out for a training walk with Dave M, Jock and Vinny last Thursday. Instead of doing laps around the NSC we decided to do a loop up to Kewaigue, down to the quay in Douglas and back along Peel Road. Not very far, but what started out as a gentle stroll soon turned into something a bit quicker and more competitive when Vinny cranked up the pace at the front and then Jock stepped it up a bit more. At the end it felt like a decent session so I didn't feel too guilty about having a few beers at the pub quiz at the Cat With No Tail. Kyley and I went up there with Ronnie and Karen Kelly and as well as being a good laugh we were also tempted by the first prize of £900 for the bingo. Unfortunately, we didn't win but by the end of the night Ronnie had agreed to do both the Peel Dip and the St John's Fell Race on New Years Day. I never committed to anything, but will happily offer words of encouragement as a spectator!

Spent Christmas Day lunch at my Mum and Dads, along with my brothers and their families and then we moved on to Kyley's family for the evening, with me driving on Christmas Day for the first time in years, as I had the SCS Relay on Boxing Day to look forward to. The lack of alcohol during the day was compensated by the amount of food I ate!

Woke up feeling decidedly dodgy on Boxing Day and was worried that I was starting to come down with the sickness bug that had been doing the rounds. I was quite concerned that I wouldn't be able to run and if I did that I would let the team (Parish the Thought) down. I got a bit of comfort when I got to Ballanette and spoke to two of my team mates, Vinny and Dave, who were also a bit ropey and I put it down to general excess over Christmas. The weather on the day was mild, no rain and the wind was really starting to strengthen, but better than last year!

As I arrived the first member of our team, Matt Haddock, was just about to finish and had done an excellent first leg and had maintained our position in the field. He didn't even seem too tired at the end! Dave was off next and despite looking angry and saying he had done a s**t run when he crossed the line, he had actually improved on last year and closed the gap on the three teams ahead of us. Vinny, the old man of the team, ran the third leg and put in a really impressive effort passing all the competitors in front of him and handed over the dibber to me for the final leg, with a sizeable lead. No pressure then! The pressure was cranked up a bit more when less than half a mile into the first lap I passed Steve Partington, who was marshalling and he shouted words of encouragement, along with "you've got this in the bag".

I have to say I hated every minute of the first couple of miles, as I went off too quickly, expended too much energy early on and struggled to get into a rhythm. By the time I hit the long climb for the first time I was really struggling, gasping for breath and thinking about how I would explain to my team mates my decision to retire. I expected the hill to be fairly sheltered, but running up the steepest part with the wind howling in my face wasn't much fun. After a short recovery I started feeling a little better and felt more comfortable as I started my second lap of the course and Dave told me I had a 3 minute lead. A reasonable gap, but nowhere near sufficient if it was one of the top runners chasing me. Unfortunately, as I had gone off too quickly to start with I couldn't maintain my pace and walked the whole way up the steep hill the second time around, looking behind to see where the nearest person was. When I was less than a mile from the finish I looked back again and couldn't see anyone, so barring disaster I knew we would win. The feeling when I crossed the line was one of relief more than anything - that it was all over. I certainly felt the extra pounds I had put on over Christmas, as I dragged myself round.

On reflection I'm really glad I took part, rather than spending the morning lying in bed or something equally lazy. It was a great event and a big thank you to the organisers, the marshals, all the competitors and the sponsor SCS. One final thanks to my team mates who set up the win and to celebrate we all went for a couple of pints in the afternoon to watch the football. I left early, as I had my family coming round in the evening, but it looked like the guys were settling in for the duration.

It was New Years Day 5 years ago when I decided I needed to change my lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise. So my next blog will probably be News Years Day or shortly after, when I will write about what motivated me to do the Parish Walk for the first time.

Busy week but not much training!

A very busy week with a lot on at work and things arranged in the evenings, which meant that training was limited this week. I haven't been out walking at all, but did manage to get out for a quick run mid-week.

We had an unwanted visitor in our garage this week. My daughter Hannah had been tidying her bedroom a few months ago and had moved an old toy box into the garage. Kyley had been in the garage to get some wood for the fire and noticed that the toy box lid was slightly ajar. She opened it and noticed that a couple of the cuddly toys had been shredded and it was immediately evident we had acquired a rodent friend! I was quickly dispatched to investigate further and after putting on some gloves I started to sift through the toy box to see if I could 'save' any of the toys. Kyley specifically asked me to make sure I retrieve one of Hannah's favourite toys, a dog pillow, so she could wash it and hopefully it would be good as new.

I found the cuddly dog, picked it up and noticed tearing on the side of it and some of the stuffing had been pulled out. I proceeded slowly and noticed there was a 'bulge' in the toy. You can imagine the response when I realised it was a dead R.A.T.! One toy I did manage to salvage was an old doll that was given to Hannah by my Nana. Unfortunately, Hannah didn't like the doll very much, as she said it gave her 'the creeps'. Being the understanding parents, I thought it would be funny to leave the doll at the top of the stairs, so it would greet Hannah as she went off to bed, and Kyley filmed her reaction. I would post the link, but Hannah would probably kill me.

On Wednesday afternoon I had spent the afternoon at the hospital with Hannah, who was there for an operation on her big toes, which was making it impossible to do her Pointe work for ballet. She opted for the local anesthetic, instead of the general and was very brave.

I work for Royal London 360 and Friday was my work Christmas do at Mount Murray. It was a really good night and a celebration of the excellent year the company has had, especially considering what has been happening in economies around the world and financial markets. There was a band playing called 'The Waltons' who were very good and played a range of music, so seemed to go down well. When the party came to the official end at 1am, I resisted the temptation to join some of my colleagues in the hotel's residents' bar and decided that going home was a good idea.

Yesterday morning there wasn't the usual Saturday 8am walk, so I had a lie in. Instead I had arranged to meet Dave Mackey, Vinny Lynch and Jock Waddington at Ballanette for a run around the course for Boxing Day's SCS Relay event. Dave and Vinny are more experienced cross-country runners than Jock and I, as whilst they turned up in trail/fell running footwear we were innocently sporting our normal trainers. It wasn't long before Jock and I were sliding around on the downhill sections trying to keep up with the other two, whilst trying to avoid injuring ourselves.

The idea of the run was to do a recce prior to the event and Dave was our 'guide' having run the course before. We spent the first half hour jumping over walls and running into dead-ends, with Dave shouting "it's definitely this way" and "I'm sure I remember this part of the course from last year". We eventually picked up the route near to where it follows the edge of the coast, prior to a long, steep uphill section! If I had known beforehand that I would have to run up it twice I would definitely have had second thoughts about taking part!

It was a good way to brush away the cobwebs after the previous night's indulgence, but the worst part was getting battered by the hailstones, as we ran across the exposed Lonan headland. Don't want to sound like a wimp, but getting constantly pelted in the face wasn't pleasant, so hope the weather is better on the day. It looks a good course and I'm actually quite looking forward it now. However, first thing I did when I got home was to get on the Internet and order some suitable trainers for the event. Just have to hope they arrive okay before Xmas and I get an opportunity to at least wear them a couple of times before Boxing Day.

Had a football match in the Veterans League this afternoon for Colby, against Ramsey Youth Centre at the Bowl on the new astroturf pitch. I've played on it a couple of times before and it doesn't 'play' like a typical astroturf pitch i.e. fast and a lot of bounce., but once you've got used to it, it is a good surface to play on and you can wear normal boots with studs. From a 'quality of football' perspective we had our best match of the season - we were solid at the back, passed the ball round well and rarely lost possession. However, we just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net and gave away an easy goal to lose 1 nil. Very frustrating, but will give us a bit of confidence going into our next two matches against Peel and probably the strongest side in the League, St Marys.

Hope to get a couple of decent training sessions in this week and over the next couple of weeks I will start blogging about how I became interested in the Parish Walk and my history in the event.

Let the festivities begin!

Not a great week for training, as it has been compromised by two factors. Firstly, the weather and secondly eating and drinking!

The week started well, as I went to football training on Tuesday and there were no problems with my knee, but I took it fairly easy. The only problem was keeping the ball in play at times, as the wind was seriously strong and there is no shelter at all for the astroturf pitches at Castle Rushen High School.

The following evening Man United were knocked out of the Champions League at the Group Stage, which was shocking! Whilst they played ok on the night and had a lot of possession, they just didn't do enough over all 6 games, in what should have been an easy group. The only thing that made me feel a little better was seeing City get knocked out as well. Now we both have Thursday nights in the Europa League to look forward to!

Thursday night I was hoping to get out for a walk, but the strong winds put a stop to that. I did send a text to Vinny to ask him if he was training that night and after getting a response of "no chance", sent a message back to ask him what the problem was, as a little wind never hurt anyone. I also agreed to take part in the SCS Relay Race on Boxing Day, in a team with Dave Mackey, Vinny and Matt Haddock. I have not done a trail run since cross-country when I was at school, so it should be interesting.

Friday night was Kyley's work Xmas Party, which partners were invited to and I'm not ashamed to say I took advantage of the food and drink on offer. The food was really good, but I ate too much and this hindered my drinking for a while, but I managed to get things back on track later in the evening. Ever the good support driver, Kyley regularly got more drinks in for the table and has already started trying to knock off fellow competitors, by supplying Ronnie Kelly (twice Parish Walk finisher) with copious amounts of Guinness. I did manage to get a bit of training in on the evening, as I dusted my dancing pants down and pulled off a few moves.

I was too busy on Saturday morning to have time to feel hung-over, so left that to Kyley. Had to go into work after lunch, so when I got home all I wanted to do was sit in front of the TV and do nothing. However, we had a friends' party to go to in Port St Mary, so no rest for the wicked. We had planned to get the bus down to avoid having to take the car and pick it up the following day, but we managed to miss it, so Kyley decided to drive. Had a really good time at the party and caught up with friends we hadn't seen for a while. The only problem was there was a lovely lady called Eileen who was serving drinks and as soon as you finished one, another ended up miraculously in your hand. We all decided that 'everyone needs an Eileen for Christmas!'

Fortunately, we didn't leave the party too late, as I was doing the 10k in the Winter Walking League at Ronaldsway today. It seemed such a good idea the night before, but at 8.30 this morning it was a very difficult decision to get out of bed. Anyway, I'm glad I did, as the conditions were perfect and I finished in a time of 53.08, which was 7 seconds off my PB. It was obviously the preparation! There were a number of excellent performances and PBs today, but the stand out performance was from 16 year old Alex Eaton who finished in just under 49 minutes, after a good battle with Michael George.

I'm now going to have that evening in front of the TV, starting with our favourite Xmas movie; Elf, accompanied by a late cooked breakfast!

Road to Recovery

I went out for training walks on both Thursday and yesterday. My knee felt fine, both during and after, so hopefully the injury is now behind me. We met up for the usual Saturday morning walk at 8am and was in the company of 3 former Parish Walk bloggers (Michael George, Dave Walker and Jonathan Wild), so picked up a few tips. Marie Jackson and Vinny Lynch were also out, so there was a good group of us and weather stayed dry.

It was Vinny who first told me about the Saturday morning sessions and invited me along. Prior to this my preparation for the Parish Walk involved heading out and getting as many miles in as possible, whereas Vinny was insistent that only by training with walkers that are faster than you, will you get any better. The first few times I went out with the group I really struggled, but slowly I started improving and keeping up! I soon learnt that performance on the day is about the quality of the miles you do, rather than the quantity. In the build up to the 2010 Parish Walk my peak mileage in a week was probably 70 miles, whereas this year was probably no more than 40 and the improvement was evident. Also, if you are doing too many miles your body doesn't get time to recover properly between long walks.

The Saturday walks are mainly interval training, which are bursts of high-intensity work interspersed with periods of low-intensity work. So after warming up, we will do say half a mile quickly and then take it easy, quick again, and so on. Personally, I think this type of training is quite difficult to do if you are on your own, so going out in a group works for me. Also, Vinny puts a lot into his training, so he is constantly at the front setting the pace if he thinks it has slacked off!

After the walk I had an exciting start to my afternoon, as I had to do some ironing. However, the rest of the family was out, so I watched the Newcastle v Chelsea match in peace. It would have been a different result if David Luiz had been sent off, as he should have been, instead of just a yellow card. At the risk of alienating some of the blog readers, I am a Manchester United fan and before the shouts of glory-hunter come, I started supporting them when City finished higher up the old First Division!

Went to the pub to watch the 5.30pm KO, which was Man United v Aston Villa with Vinny and Michael Bonney (also a 4 time Parish Walk finisher) and undid the good work in the morning with a few pints of Guinness. Not a great match, but we won and that's the main thing. After the match I had a few games of darts and pool with Michael - I knew beforehand through the walking that he was competitive, but didn't realise just how much! It's fair to say I got hammered at darts, but we were even on the pool.