Week 1 Progress

I can't believe that's the first week of 2016 gone already!

A few people have asked if my challenge was meant to be 2,016 miles rather than 2,016 kilometres (1,250 miles). 

"It's not that big of a challenge for you surely?  You are always out walking and running so must cover that distance every year anyway?"

They are fair comments I suppose, so after analysing my Garmin history here are the numbers:

Year     Miles Walked      Miles Run       Total
2012            763                      68                   831
2013            670                    195                   865
2014            740                    227                   967
2015            504                    436                   940

In 2015 I was lucky enough to get a place in the London Marathon through Manx Harriers, so for the first 4 months of the year most of my training was running rather than walking.  

As mentioned at the start of my blog the challenge will only include training/racing miles walked, not casual dog walks, walks to/from work or any running, so as you can see that's over double my distance of 2015, and just over 500 miles more than 2014.

Yes, I could have set myself a 2,016 mile challenge but then I would just be out there putting in mile after mile for the sake of it.  Not only would that increase my risk of burnout or injury but I would most likely start to resent walking and become very de-motivated.  Exactly the opposite of why I started the challenge, and this blog, in the first place !

I also want to make sure I do quality training rather than just quantity.

My 2 primary targets this year are the 85 mile Parish Walk and 100 mile Centurion in New York.  

I have attempted both of these distances (in the same year) twice before.  In 2013 I completed the Parish Walk with a PB of 18:36:28, and then 8 weeks later successfully completed the 100 mile walk at the NSC in just over 23 hours. 

I can't recall my exact time (about 23:11) because I carried on for the full 24 hours to walk 103 miles , 246 yards to become 2013 National 24 Hour Champion!  In fact, I don't think there was a 24 hour challenge during the 2014 Centurion race at Southend, and there wasn't one in the Isle of Man in 2015 so technically I am still 24 hour champ ;-)

In 2015 I completed the Parish in a slower time of 19:20:56, and then retired from the 100 mile walk in Castletown after 54 miles.

There are many reasons why my 2015 events didn't work out as planned, and looking at my stats the lower walking mileage of 504 could be one of them.

Interestingly, in 2014 where my walking and total mileage were the highest I ended up retiring from the Parish Walk at Maughold, so more miles certainly doesn't mean a better chance of finishing.

So, for now my challenge remains to walk 2,016 kilometres, or 1,250 miles.  Hopefully my numbers now show that this is still a pretty significant increase from previous years for me, but hopefully not so big that I over train and fail to achieve one or, even worse, both of my goals.

Okay, so on to progress so far.  Lots of stats here for those that are interested:

Date + Route	Challenge Miles	Challenge KM	"Other" Miles	Time	Average Pace (Min/Mile)	Average Speed (MPH)	Elevation Gain (Metres)	Elevation Loss (Metres)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
1st Jan	Unplanned rest day on account of drinking far too much on new years eve.
2nd Jan Baldwin	11.00	17.70	0.00	02:11:28	11:57	5.0	319	290	1,304	2	149
3rd Jan	Rest day
4th Jan Onchan/ Douglas	5.50	8.85	0.00	01:01:20	11:09	5.4	137	126	720	3	158
5th Jan Onchan/ Douglas	7.50	12.07	0.00	01:31:59	12:16	4.9	169	160	868	1	138
6th Jan	Rest day
7th Jan NSC	6.00	9.66	0.00	01:06:40	11:06	5.4	4	4	741	2	149
Week 1	30.00	48.28	0.00	05:51:27			629	580	3,633
TOTAL	30.00	48.28	0.00	05:51:27			629	580	3,633
Remaining	1,220	1,968

So a good start to the challenge so far, more than I would normally do in the first week of January so hopefully that's a good thing!

If you are wondering how I gained more elevation than I lost, it's because I don't start/stop my Garmin in exactly the same place.  I thought it would be useful to show these elevation numbers to illustrate how the average pace/speed changes in order to maintain constant heart rate. 

I did 2 sessions in Zone 2 (Endurance) and managed an average HR of 149 for both, but the ups and downs around Baldwin resulted in a much slower pace than the flat NSC.

That's all for now.