Waking up on Monday morning following the previous day’s walk I spent another day staggering about like I’d wet myself. Luckily my blister has disappeared as quickly as it arrived but I do need to think about everything I can do to minimise the risk and increase the manageability of blisters on the day, as they are unfortunately an inescapable inevitability (try saying that fast!).
The hardest part of spinning on Monday was getting to it. I felt that I could well injure myself if I pushed it too far with my legs as tight as they were, but in hindsight it turned out to be the complete opposite! I don’t know if spinning the legs burns off all the lactic acid that may have built up in my legs but the difference it made was amazing, my legs felt back to some sort of normality straight after! Did the Monday weights session and by my kayaking on Tuesday I was worrying that I would get straight into the kayak and cramp up! My whole body felt like a wreck with both arms and legs aching and I couldn’t wait to curl up in bed!
Footy as per usual on Wednesday but I think the weekend had taken it out of me as I played even worse than usual! Missed hockey training on Thursday as I went to a random quiz night in Braaid with the island’s Rotarians! I had randomly turned up at the previous one and our team had won so we had a trophy to defend! That and I thought it would be a good opportunity to drum up some support for the events, as the Rotary clubs are renowned for raising funds for charitable causes. After a bit of networking and some slightly less successful question answering, we came a disappointing second but it was a good laugh and hopefully beneficial to our events!
Standard Friday with gym session and even more standard poker night that night with me losing my money! As the hockey season has finished for our team I was at a bit of a loss on Saturday, but luckily before I bit the bullet and cleaned the flat the second team were short of players so I was able to play in their game. Recovered from 2 goals down to win 4-2 in a mad game, not too much composure (especially on my part) but we got the result! But for some horrendous refereeing (no names mentioned) it could have been 5 and I would have had my name on the scoresheet!
During the week we had enrolled ourselves in the Fireman’s racewalk from Peel to Ramsey along the Parish Walk route through Jurby, Bride & Andreas. Therefore a quiet night was in order to prepare thoroughly for the walk…unfortunately it didn’t materialise as the next round of beer pong was being hosted in Castletown. After a few beers, then a few more, it was going to be a struggle to make the start line for 8:30am the next morning!
Somehow after waking at 8 this morning and a frantic phonecall and drive to Peel we managed to make the start of the race. As this was an official race (with numbers and everything!) rather than just training everyone set off at a pretty decent pace…except us! Still, it was a good session to ensure that we knew the Parish Walk route. Who knows our time may have improved significantly if we didn’t make any shop stops en route! Not sure that’s too advisable in the Parish! After 45km I was feeling fine but the last 5km really took it out of me and it’s the mental hurdle again of being close to the finish and my legs just giving up! Although it wasn’t as hard a route as we’d managed up and over the sloc the previous week and I think we were going slower than the previous week, by the end of the race I was shattered! We walked with a couple of hockey guys, Pasty and Steve and their company was a blessing because you find the roads around Jurby, Andreas and Bride are just endless with only hedges for a view! Also the roads are very flat and it is also another mental hurdle as you don’t even get to go up and down hills, it really drains you heading straight for miles and miles!
Another full week of training did feel good but some of the confidence of the previous week disappeared and the shock factor is back. There’s no doubt the Parish Walk is a massive massive challenge, and I now need to start thinking about Kilimanjaro too as it’s getting closer and closer! Some uphill needed!
Dave.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Manning up! (and the blister to prove it!)
Daunted by the 3 hour drive around the course, this really gave a shock purely on the distance of the walk and the kick I need to spur myself on. As it is less than 2 months until we are off I think it is time to really put in some hard yards!
Therefore I didn’t think twice about spinning on Monday and put as much in as I could for both that and the gym session straight after. Tuesday night was in Peel again for my second kayaking session, something I’ve realised is not an easy skill! It involves a lot of hip work and there are so many things to think about technically it’s really difficult to master! After numerous capsizes (some deliberate, some definitely not!) I was pleased with the session and certainly slept well!
With the week in full swing and going well I managed to get through football and hockey training with no problems, although no squash again due to people away etc. The week finished with the standard gym session at Mount Murray, which was good as I wasn’t feeling as shattered as usual! I think I need to push myself a bit more in the gym as I didn’t really work to exhaustion….I will push it up next week!
Pretty happy after a decent full working week of training, we had our final hockey match of the season against the team who haven’t even dropped a point all season and won every game. However with our full team out and everybody putting in sterling performances we managed to recover from a goal down at half time to draw 2-2. Dale was back in the goals with 2 great strikes and it was the most enjoyable game I’ve played, we even could’ve nicked it at the end and 2-2 felt a bit like a defeat at the final whistle, but in hindsight a draw was probably a fair result! Celebrated with a chilled out barbecue in Ballasalla and some pitch black cricket!
For the past few times we’ve done the sloc, Bratt has often mentioned that it is not too bad but wondered how hard it would be after a 20 mile walk aka on Parish Walk day. I always nodded along, with little knowledge of the fact that he actually planned to do the sloc after we’d already done 20 miles! Therefore we set off about 10:45am from Douglas and headed to Marown Church on the exact Parish Walk route. Despite a few miscalculations and going a bit off track (and therefore adding a mile or two to the distance) we made our way to the bottom of the sloc and somehow successfully to the top! It was about a 31 mile walk after going back down to Ronague and a big jump from our previous longest walk.
It was successful in the fact that mentally I am prepared that I can do the sloc after walking the 20 miles, and although I picked up a blister the size of Gibraltar en route, I wasn’t feeling too bad and the blister I feel was manageable. My legs are pretty stiff now after the walk but there wasn’t anything that suggested I wanted to stop. I think it's mainly in the mind because the last couple of miles my legs get tired but I think it is because they know the finish is close...I just have to convince them that we are going to make it to the finish and so they won’t go wobbly until after 83 miles!
With a really decent week of training and a long walk under my belt, I haven’t felt more confident of climbing the mountain and giving the Parish Walk my best. After all, once you’ve done 30 miles there really is only another 55 to go....
Dave.
Therefore I didn’t think twice about spinning on Monday and put as much in as I could for both that and the gym session straight after. Tuesday night was in Peel again for my second kayaking session, something I’ve realised is not an easy skill! It involves a lot of hip work and there are so many things to think about technically it’s really difficult to master! After numerous capsizes (some deliberate, some definitely not!) I was pleased with the session and certainly slept well!
With the week in full swing and going well I managed to get through football and hockey training with no problems, although no squash again due to people away etc. The week finished with the standard gym session at Mount Murray, which was good as I wasn’t feeling as shattered as usual! I think I need to push myself a bit more in the gym as I didn’t really work to exhaustion….I will push it up next week!
Pretty happy after a decent full working week of training, we had our final hockey match of the season against the team who haven’t even dropped a point all season and won every game. However with our full team out and everybody putting in sterling performances we managed to recover from a goal down at half time to draw 2-2. Dale was back in the goals with 2 great strikes and it was the most enjoyable game I’ve played, we even could’ve nicked it at the end and 2-2 felt a bit like a defeat at the final whistle, but in hindsight a draw was probably a fair result! Celebrated with a chilled out barbecue in Ballasalla and some pitch black cricket!
For the past few times we’ve done the sloc, Bratt has often mentioned that it is not too bad but wondered how hard it would be after a 20 mile walk aka on Parish Walk day. I always nodded along, with little knowledge of the fact that he actually planned to do the sloc after we’d already done 20 miles! Therefore we set off about 10:45am from Douglas and headed to Marown Church on the exact Parish Walk route. Despite a few miscalculations and going a bit off track (and therefore adding a mile or two to the distance) we made our way to the bottom of the sloc and somehow successfully to the top! It was about a 31 mile walk after going back down to Ronague and a big jump from our previous longest walk.
It was successful in the fact that mentally I am prepared that I can do the sloc after walking the 20 miles, and although I picked up a blister the size of Gibraltar en route, I wasn’t feeling too bad and the blister I feel was manageable. My legs are pretty stiff now after the walk but there wasn’t anything that suggested I wanted to stop. I think it's mainly in the mind because the last couple of miles my legs get tired but I think it is because they know the finish is close...I just have to convince them that we are going to make it to the finish and so they won’t go wobbly until after 83 miles!
With a really decent week of training and a long walk under my belt, I haven’t felt more confident of climbing the mountain and giving the Parish Walk my best. After all, once you’ve done 30 miles there really is only another 55 to go....
Dave.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Do more!
After a near disastrous trip back from Blackpool on the Monday but finally getting on the right boat rather than the 2am one, I felt like I was one of the only members of CHC who was actually in work the day after returning! As a tour virgin, I hadn’t realised the importance of booking the day(s!) immediately following the tour off work. A bleary eyed Tuesday therefore was the start of the week, and as we were feeling bad about the prior week setback we hit the gym after work and then I went to Peel swimming pool to start a 4 week kayaking course. On my day off I figured I wasn’t doing enough sport!
Footy as always religiously followed on Wednesday, but as everyone was still in recovery mode from tour the squash went by the wayside! Hockey training on Thursday mainly consisted of reminiscing about Blackpool and taking the mickey out of the people who didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory on tour! Ended the working week at the gym again but Bratt has picked up a back injury and didn’t make it which tends to make it a tougher session due to my self motivation. A 4 day week of work immediately following 4 days of pretty heavy going left me shattered and I was struggling to make it through the session. Attempted to walk back to the flat to keep my legs going but went back to Bratt’s to get my stick bag and collapsed in front of a movie!
Still, a hockey match on Saturday and with our star striker Dale away again I was hankering for a run up front! We grabbed a 4-1 win but I had a bit of a shocker in attack! Managed to bag a couple of goals but I think my chance conversion rate must have been about 6%, missed bucketloads. I’m only glad Lar Watterson didn’t attend as I’m sure there would have been another fare in the taxi for me!
Finished the week with more sport...beer pong at the flat. The pong league is threatening to take over the hockey and I don’t think it will be too long before we are Castletown Beer Pong Club rather than Castletown Hockey Club! Still I wasn’t complaining as James “Chunk” Ormond and I carried our Blackpool form to the island and won the championship (and associated t-shirts) 3 times! Hilarious night!
With Bratty still feeling his back injury and after the night before, we didn’t walk on Sunday but instead I went to play footy up at Nobles Park, which was ace as always. Wanting to do something towards the events, Mark’s girlfriend Hayley very kindly drove us round the Parish Walk in order to familiarise ourselves with where we have to go! It was completely daunting to think just the drive round the course lasted 3 hours!!!! And we have to walk this?! Time to man up, be better and do more!
Dave.
Footy as always religiously followed on Wednesday, but as everyone was still in recovery mode from tour the squash went by the wayside! Hockey training on Thursday mainly consisted of reminiscing about Blackpool and taking the mickey out of the people who didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory on tour! Ended the working week at the gym again but Bratt has picked up a back injury and didn’t make it which tends to make it a tougher session due to my self motivation. A 4 day week of work immediately following 4 days of pretty heavy going left me shattered and I was struggling to make it through the session. Attempted to walk back to the flat to keep my legs going but went back to Bratt’s to get my stick bag and collapsed in front of a movie!
Still, a hockey match on Saturday and with our star striker Dale away again I was hankering for a run up front! We grabbed a 4-1 win but I had a bit of a shocker in attack! Managed to bag a couple of goals but I think my chance conversion rate must have been about 6%, missed bucketloads. I’m only glad Lar Watterson didn’t attend as I’m sure there would have been another fare in the taxi for me!
Finished the week with more sport...beer pong at the flat. The pong league is threatening to take over the hockey and I don’t think it will be too long before we are Castletown Beer Pong Club rather than Castletown Hockey Club! Still I wasn’t complaining as James “Chunk” Ormond and I carried our Blackpool form to the island and won the championship (and associated t-shirts) 3 times! Hilarious night!
With Bratty still feeling his back injury and after the night before, we didn’t walk on Sunday but instead I went to play footy up at Nobles Park, which was ace as always. Wanting to do something towards the events, Mark’s girlfriend Hayley very kindly drove us round the Parish Walk in order to familiarise ourselves with where we have to go! It was completely daunting to think just the drive round the course lasted 3 hours!!!! And we have to walk this?! Time to man up, be better and do more!
Dave.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Setback!
OK first I have to say that in January I knew there was gonna be one major setback that I would have to factor in to the training schedule….Blackpool! It’s basically an annual four day hockey tour that takes place over the Easter weekend and isn’t renowned for its intensive training regime!!
Therefore I needed to do something in the week in order to make up for the carnage that would follow. On Monday I attended a “walk talk” with Roger Black, Olympic silver medallist and ambassador of Scottish Widows, the Parish Walk sponsor. It was really interesting to hear an insight from such a high profile athlete (along with a Parish Walk panel) who gave some great advice, especially concerning training partners. His number one tip was that if you find a training partner it forces you to turn up to training sessions etc. If you’re on your own it’s very easy to slack off because you know you’re just letting yourself down and this rang true as self-motivation has always been a major hurdle of mine!
After the talk and a quiet word with Roger and an extremely cheesy picture I headed to the gym for a spinning and weights session as per normal. The only other sport I managed until we headed off on the Thursday was my Wednesday night footy session (unless you count watching the champions league on Tuesday night!)
So onto Blackpool….and with a hockey team full of athletes such as CHC is renowned for, it came as no surprise to me that straight off the boat and after meeting up with the rest of the team a sporting event was soon underway. Jaegerbomb pong went down well and it really is a privilege to watch such dedicated athletes in action. As it was my first tour and we had 3 games the next day I decided to prepare well (?!) and get an early night so I disappeared to bed at 9:30pm…..strangely very shortly after the pong had finished…..not a good tour start!
There is far too much to write about over the next 3 days, although since the tour motto changed from “goes on tour, stays on tour” to “goes on tour, goes on facebook” there is unfortunately photographic evidence of most of the weekend. Not too many of actual hockey though……but then I don’t remember playing much! We all did however learn on tour to “do more”, “be better” and “man up”, 3 phrases that are going to define the rest of my training and will be ringing in my ears 6,000 metres up in Tanzania and on the long long roads of the Parish Walk.
Finally, I do just have to give a nod to James “Pasty boy” Russell for some impressively awful dice action, counting himself down during a game of 21, terrifying female opponents and team-mates alike and being a general menace (no nicknames mentioned); Sam Spooner must get a shout for providing the most epic failure by booking 4 of us on the boat that had left 13 hours before; and of course the real legend of the entire tour….step forward Mr Elton Ron. We definitely won’t let the sun go down on him…..
Dave.
Therefore I needed to do something in the week in order to make up for the carnage that would follow. On Monday I attended a “walk talk” with Roger Black, Olympic silver medallist and ambassador of Scottish Widows, the Parish Walk sponsor. It was really interesting to hear an insight from such a high profile athlete (along with a Parish Walk panel) who gave some great advice, especially concerning training partners. His number one tip was that if you find a training partner it forces you to turn up to training sessions etc. If you’re on your own it’s very easy to slack off because you know you’re just letting yourself down and this rang true as self-motivation has always been a major hurdle of mine!
After the talk and a quiet word with Roger and an extremely cheesy picture I headed to the gym for a spinning and weights session as per normal. The only other sport I managed until we headed off on the Thursday was my Wednesday night footy session (unless you count watching the champions league on Tuesday night!)
So onto Blackpool….and with a hockey team full of athletes such as CHC is renowned for, it came as no surprise to me that straight off the boat and after meeting up with the rest of the team a sporting event was soon underway. Jaegerbomb pong went down well and it really is a privilege to watch such dedicated athletes in action. As it was my first tour and we had 3 games the next day I decided to prepare well (?!) and get an early night so I disappeared to bed at 9:30pm…..strangely very shortly after the pong had finished…..not a good tour start!
There is far too much to write about over the next 3 days, although since the tour motto changed from “goes on tour, stays on tour” to “goes on tour, goes on facebook” there is unfortunately photographic evidence of most of the weekend. Not too many of actual hockey though……but then I don’t remember playing much! We all did however learn on tour to “do more”, “be better” and “man up”, 3 phrases that are going to define the rest of my training and will be ringing in my ears 6,000 metres up in Tanzania and on the long long roads of the Parish Walk.
Finally, I do just have to give a nod to James “Pasty boy” Russell for some impressively awful dice action, counting himself down during a game of 21, terrifying female opponents and team-mates alike and being a general menace (no nicknames mentioned); Sam Spooner must get a shout for providing the most epic failure by booking 4 of us on the boat that had left 13 hours before; and of course the real legend of the entire tour….step forward Mr Elton Ron. We definitely won’t let the sun go down on him…..
Dave.
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