Week 26

Week 26.

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
24th Jun	Recovery
25th Jun	Recovery
26th Jun	Recovery
27th Jun	Recovery
28th Jun	Recovery
29th Jun	Recovery
30th Jun	Recovery
Week 26	0.00	0.00	00:00:00			0	0	0
Week 25	85.00	136.79	17:49:35			1671	1629	10,643
Week 24	19.20	30.90	03:43:53			584	559	2,085
Week 23	30.70	49.41	05:54:07			1453	1574	3,199
Week 22	24.10	38.79	04:44:25			804	813	2,544
Week 21	28.00	45.06	05:20:25			947	966	3,305
Week 20	50.00	80.47	09:47:18			-	-	-
Week 19	19.50	31.38	03:45:04			528	655	2,220
Week 18	28.44	45.77	05:26:59			858	901	3,306
Week 17	48.10	77.36	09:05:52			1023	1082	5,723
Week 16	32.00	51.50	05:43:26			800	837	3,850
Week 15	18.00	28.97	03:24:26			571	582	2,333
Week 14	0.00	0.00	00:00:00			0	0	0
Week 13	21.72	34.95	04:03:13			229	249	2,505
Week 12	21.21	34.14	03:40:53			578	481	2,499
Week 11	53.27	85.72	09:59:05			1501	1296	6,240
Week 10	41.50	66.79	07:46:54			882	773	4,872
Week 9	21.00	33.80	03:53:34			547	545	2,631
Week 8	27.43	44.14	05:02:31			421	416	3,176
Week 7	35.87	57.73	06:41:54			829	927	4,444
Week 6	24.82	39.94	04:36:11			395	443	2,830
Week 5	27.70	44.58	05:24:26			671	656	3,235
Week 4	31.50	50.69	06:11:56			806	831	3,528
Week 3	36.50	58.74	06:58:54			873	825	4,390
Week 2	29.70	47.82	05:37:20			629	621	3,720
Week 1	30.00	48.28	05:51:27			629	580	3,633
TOTAL	785.26	1263.71	6 days 06:33:48			18,229	18,241	86,911
To go	467.43	752.29

Well that's the half way point of the year ended with my second 0 mile week of the challenge so far.

Unfortunately my shin has stopped me getting out again as quickly as I would have liked, but to be honest the break from training has been nice so I'm not complaining.

On Monday I was still in a lot of discomfort so, after checking with Google, I decided to see the doctor just as a precaution as it didn't seem to be responding to the usual RICE treatment. 

The bruising had gone down but the swelling and pain remained.  Even while just sitting at work or watching TV my shin was constantly throbbing so I was really starting to worry I had done some serious damage to the muscle or had even developed a stress fracture. 

The good news is I hadn't and I was just prescribed some anti inflammatories which got to work right away.  By Tuesday evening I was no longer walking with a slight limp/hobble, and by Wednesday evening it really was on the mend.

It's feeling pretty good now, although I still can't flex my ankle fully in either direction without some pain/pulling in the shin. 

I'm planning on getting back out for my first walk on Saturday but it will be a slow pace, and I will also choose a route that allows me to easily cut it short if the shin starts to give me grief.

Here is my shin about 12 hours after finishing the Parish Walk.

And here it is 7 days later.

Still slightly red and you can see it bulging out to the side, and also the ankle is still slightly swollen.

I have been trying to figure out why they gave me a hard time this year when they never have before, and my conclusion is my trainers. 

The saying goes that trainers should be 'worn in, but not worn out' and I think mine were just on the verge of being worn out.

Here they are afterwards, and you can see that one side (the bad shin side) has worn out considerably more than the other.  When I started the walk both trainers were more or less the same, and they had quite a bit more 'tread' than the one on the right.

By the way, the holes you can see are meant to be there, I haven't worn right through.  I'm not sure why the holes are there, maybe just to aid airflow and keep the feet cool, or reduce the weight of the shoe which is great, but they aren't much help when it rains!

I have had my gait analysed and I'm neutral so I shouldn't really have seen uneven wear to that extent, although because my shin was hurting from 4 miles I was probably slightly adjusting my walking technique without realising, hence the extra wear and also the extra strain that would have been going through the shin.

Unfortunately they were my last pair of Saucony fasttwitch 6.  I have been using these for a couple of years now and have gone through 5 or 6 pairs in that time.  They are a really nice light shoe that very very rarely give me blisters, but they no longer make them.

I have just purchased a pair of the newer fasttwitch 7 model which I'm hoping are just as good, and I have also just purchased a pair of Asics DS Racers which a lot of the other walkers use.  These are another nice and light trainer so fingers crossed they work well for me too.

I am looking forward to getting out again on Saturday, even if it's just a few slow miles, to give a pair of these a trial.

And don't forget, the second part of my challenge is to try and raise £2,016 for Finley's Tracks and all donations are welcome here.  A big thank you to everyone who has already sponsored me online or offline, and to those who have pledged to donate later.