Monday, November 30, 2009
Early interest
Crikey! (In my most Manx accent). 1 hour 47 has ealapsed since entries openened and there has been 5 entries. I have had that many whiskys in that time ........Not good
Sunday, November 29, 2009
So far, so good!
Distance: 15.5 miles. Units of alcohol: 0
So far it’s been a good start to training. I went out on Friday and did an 8 mile walk around Douglas. Yesterday I went for a jog and covered about 7.5 miles although at a relatively slow pace. Unfortunately, at the moment most of my training is taking place after dark so I am restricted as to where I can go and there is little in the way of scenery. I have also been well behaved and consumed absolutely no beers since my last posting but I can’t see that lasting.
People tell me that to finish the Parish, much of it is in the mind. I am sure that this is correct, however I can’t help but think a bit of fitness wouldn’t go amiss. When I trained for the Parish last year, my training purely consisted of walking, walking and more walking. No particular regime, just going out and walking various distances from time to time. I had a chat with a friend after the Parish and she suggested trying cross training to increase my basic fitness. So I have started mixing in some running and cycling to try and improve my overall fitness, hence the jogging yesterday. I think I will also need to come up with a plan of action to increase my stamina between now and June!
So far so good, but I’m off to North Wales later today for the next three days. I will be catching up with a few friends whilst I’m there and I think the chances of getting out and performing any exercise will be at best limited. I foresee a reversal in fortune for the distance covered against alcohol consumed tally!
So far it’s been a good start to training. I went out on Friday and did an 8 mile walk around Douglas. Yesterday I went for a jog and covered about 7.5 miles although at a relatively slow pace. Unfortunately, at the moment most of my training is taking place after dark so I am restricted as to where I can go and there is little in the way of scenery. I have also been well behaved and consumed absolutely no beers since my last posting but I can’t see that lasting.
People tell me that to finish the Parish, much of it is in the mind. I am sure that this is correct, however I can’t help but think a bit of fitness wouldn’t go amiss. When I trained for the Parish last year, my training purely consisted of walking, walking and more walking. No particular regime, just going out and walking various distances from time to time. I had a chat with a friend after the Parish and she suggested trying cross training to increase my basic fitness. So I have started mixing in some running and cycling to try and improve my overall fitness, hence the jogging yesterday. I think I will also need to come up with a plan of action to increase my stamina between now and June!
So far so good, but I’m off to North Wales later today for the next three days. I will be catching up with a few friends whilst I’m there and I think the chances of getting out and performing any exercise will be at best limited. I foresee a reversal in fortune for the distance covered against alcohol consumed tally!
Friday, November 27, 2009
The countdown begins
Ok. Here goes, the countdown is on to the 2010 Parish Walk. I hope you enjoy following my blog over the next few months. Hopefully I will be able to share little tips and suggestions and probably more realistically what not to do.
I must admit, I can be a bit lazy when it comes to exercise so writing this blog will give me a bit of extra incentive to get out and exercise in preparation. To give you a little bit of background, I will give you a brief history of my walking to date. I have previously lived on the Isle of Man for a couple of short spells and then moved back in September 2007. I had never heard of the Parish Walk until I saw a sign advertising the 2008 Parish Walk down at Quarterbridge (The first of many references to pubs and alcohol I’m sure) and my initial thoughts were anyone entering that must be mad.
On the day of the 2008 Parish Walk, I ventured out late morning into the wet windy miserable day (in the car with the heating on of course) to watch the Parish Walk. This confirmed my initial suspicions – they were all mad! However, I watched Sean Hands ascending the Sloc in the horizontal rain, probably getting in his way with the car, and thought to myself this would be a bit of a challenge….I might have to have a go at this. If I was serious, I would have to make an effort to get my physique into one more accustomed to participating in sport rather than watching it on TV.
Only 2 days later, off I went for my first practice walk – didn’t see any other people out walking, thought to myself that they must be slacking. The training seemed to go well and I got a few miles under my belt. It was at that point I thought I will enter the End to End in September 2008 – that will be good training for the Parish Walk. Unfortunately, training didn’t quite go to plan! Six months later I went for the second training walk.
By this time it was December 2008 and I was going to have trouble transforming myself from couch potato into an elite international athlete but hey, it surely couldn’t be that difficult. So this time last year the training started in earnest.
Over the next six months, I did a fair bit of walking over various distances including the 30 mile fireman’s walk in readiness for my first attempt at the Parish. 20th June came and went, and I managed to cover 45 miles to Jurby before quitting for various reasons which I will expand on over the coming weeks.
For a few days after, I was in two minds whether to continue walking or not. The strain of becoming an international elite athlete was starting to show. However, I decided that I would go for the finish in 2010 and make a proper effort.
So that brings us up to date, ready for the training for PW 2010. Im sure there will be highs and lows and where else can you read about blisters, deep heat, chafing, vaseline.....(please don't google that list)
I must admit, I can be a bit lazy when it comes to exercise so writing this blog will give me a bit of extra incentive to get out and exercise in preparation. To give you a little bit of background, I will give you a brief history of my walking to date. I have previously lived on the Isle of Man for a couple of short spells and then moved back in September 2007. I had never heard of the Parish Walk until I saw a sign advertising the 2008 Parish Walk down at Quarterbridge (The first of many references to pubs and alcohol I’m sure) and my initial thoughts were anyone entering that must be mad.
On the day of the 2008 Parish Walk, I ventured out late morning into the wet windy miserable day (in the car with the heating on of course) to watch the Parish Walk. This confirmed my initial suspicions – they were all mad! However, I watched Sean Hands ascending the Sloc in the horizontal rain, probably getting in his way with the car, and thought to myself this would be a bit of a challenge….I might have to have a go at this. If I was serious, I would have to make an effort to get my physique into one more accustomed to participating in sport rather than watching it on TV.
Only 2 days later, off I went for my first practice walk – didn’t see any other people out walking, thought to myself that they must be slacking. The training seemed to go well and I got a few miles under my belt. It was at that point I thought I will enter the End to End in September 2008 – that will be good training for the Parish Walk. Unfortunately, training didn’t quite go to plan! Six months later I went for the second training walk.
By this time it was December 2008 and I was going to have trouble transforming myself from couch potato into an elite international athlete but hey, it surely couldn’t be that difficult. So this time last year the training started in earnest.
Over the next six months, I did a fair bit of walking over various distances including the 30 mile fireman’s walk in readiness for my first attempt at the Parish. 20th June came and went, and I managed to cover 45 miles to Jurby before quitting for various reasons which I will expand on over the coming weeks.
For a few days after, I was in two minds whether to continue walking or not. The strain of becoming an international elite athlete was starting to show. However, I decided that I would go for the finish in 2010 and make a proper effort.
So that brings us up to date, ready for the training for PW 2010. Im sure there will be highs and lows and where else can you read about blisters, deep heat, chafing, vaseline.....(please don't google that list)
I think that my first top tip for training is to start training for the Parish now and follow a regular training schedule. In particular, best to avoid six month lapses in training. Please feel free to join up and add your comments and suggestions too.
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