Week 37

Week 37.

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
9th Sep	Rest Day
10th Sep	15.00	24.14	02:41:17	10:45	5.6	613	548	1669	3	153
11th Sep	Rest Day
12th Sep	Rest Day
13th Sep	10.00	16.09	01:48:27	10:51	5.5	443	364	1299	-	-
14th Sep	Rest Day
15th Sep	Rest Day
Week 37	25.00	40.23	04:29:44			1,056	912	2968
Week 36	34.10	55.00	06:32:30			0	0	3925
Week 35	24.80	40.00	04:40:34			0	0	3010
Week 34	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 33	34.50	55.52	06:16:57			478	469	4,116
Week 32	38.50	61.96	07:05:30			1,206	1,138	4,238
Week 31	26.10	42.00	04:51:20			900	957	2,593
Week 30	34.00	54.72	06:18:57			1234	1166	3,771
Week 29	46.50	74.83	08:41:00			1756	1625	4,951
Week 28	37.81	60.86	06:59:57			902	809	4,705
Week 27	8.00	12.87	01:30:27			301	302	1,020
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	1094.57	1761.71	8 days 16:00:44			26,062	25,619	122,208
To go	158.12	254.29

This weeks taper wasn't quite what I had in mind.  I'm happy with the mileage, but I was planning on spreading it out over a few evenings and at a slightly slower pace. 

Unfortunately with being away from home for 3 weeks and having just one week before heading off to the US for nearly 2 weeks I've got a lot of things to get done both at home and work so I just had to get the miles in over 2 sessions.

I was planning on a nice steady pace for Saturday but it felt so good to be away from the treadmill and back out in the fresh air that I got a little carried away. 

On the plus side it reminded me how important it is not to start off too fast because the last few miles were a struggle and I could feel the lactic acid really building up in the legs.  Had this been the 100 mile event I would be in big trouble now.

I bumped into James, Ray, Andrew and Dave while out on Saturday morning.  After my long day travelling the day before I didn't fancy the idea of meeting them at 7:30am so I was only about 3 miles into my walk as they were on the last few miles back towards 'The Caff' for a well earned breakfast. 

As we were chatting I mentioned how training is like a game of 'Whac a mole' at the moment.

There is always at least one little niggle that keeps popping up and just when you think it's under control another pops up.

As 'the game' goes on you start getting 2 or 3 popping up at the same time, and at some point you always end up with that stubborn one that just won't go all the way down no matter how many times you hit it.

To be fair it's just my foot at the moment.  It seemed ok while I was on the treadmill but it flared up a little on Saturday but in a slightly different place to where it ached before, and for some unknown reason my other foot has started hurting today, completely unprovoked! 

I'm sure it's just my mind playing tricks on me and I'm sure everything will be fine next Saturday.

It's the Isle of Man End to End walk this weekend, 39.5 miles from the northern most point of the Island all the way to the southern most point.

It's a fantastic walk following the coastline but I won't be taking part this year as it's too close to New York. 

I will be marshalling down at the Port Erin/Port St Mary roundabout though (about 36 miles in), so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone go through before the final tough push to the finish.

Good luck to everyone taking part.

Now I'm off to write a list to make sure I don't forget anything important when I start packing.  The last think I need when I step onto the plane is to realise I have left my trainers at home or, even worse, my Garmin! 

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.

Week 36

Week 36.

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
2nd Sep	12.4	20.00	02:24:02	11:38	5.2	0	0	1400	-	-
3rd Sep	Rest Day
4th Sep	6.20	10.00	01:10:14	11:20	5.3	0	0	740	-	-
5th Sep	9.30	15.00	01:50:00	11:50	5.0	0	0	1020	-	-
6th Sep	6.20	10.00	01:08:14	11:00	5.4	0	0	765	-	-
7th Sep	Rest Day
8th Sep	Rest Day
Week 36	34.10	55.00	06:32:30			0	0	3925
Week 35	24.80	40.00	04:40:34			0	0	3010
Week 34	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 33	34.50	55.52	06:16:57			478	469	4,116
Week 32	38.50	61.96	07:05:30			1,206	1,138	4,238
Week 31	26.10	42.00	04:51:20			900	957	2,593
Week 30	34.00	54.72	06:18:57			1234	1166	3,771
Week 29	46.50	74.83	08:41:00			1756	1625	4,951
Week 28	37.81	60.86	06:59:57			902	809	4,705
Week 27	8.00	12.87	01:30:27			301	302	1,020
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	1069.57	1721.48	8 days 11:31:00			25,006	24,707	119,240
To go	183.12	294.52

My time in Dubai is over (for now) and I have to say I miss the treadmill.

I have probably just been lucky, but my journey home yesterday saw 2 things happen to me for the first time.

I don't recall ever having a flight delay of more than about 45 minutes, but yesterday my Flybe Birmingham to Isle of Man flight was delayed by nearly 3 hours due to technical problems and they had to source another aircraft. 

Despite being tired after already travelling through the night, the only thing that annoyed me was that not once did they apologise for the delay, neither over the airport PA system (when they announced the delay and also offered a refreshment voucher) or when we were on the plane. 

I know it is not the flight crew's fault, but just a small 'on behalf of Flybe we apologise for the delay' would have been nice. 

The second thing that happened was my first aborted landing.  The wind had really picked up during the afternoon and the plane was being buffeted about during our final approach into Ronaldsway.

We had followed the coast down from Douglas to Ronaldsway, and if you have ever looked out of the window during this approach all you can see below is the sea as you get lower and lower and then in the last few seconds you see the airfield and then you are down on the runway.

We had literally just crossed from 'sea to land' underneath so can't have been much more than 50 feet off the ground when I heard a rapid beeping from behind the cabin door (I was sat in row 1) and immediately the engines powered up again and we were climbing. 

There was just complete silence on the plane until about 5 minutes later the captain announced it was a little windy and we were just holding for about 15 minutes and he would try again.  The silence pretty much continued until we successfully landed on the second attempt.

The strong winds and torrential rain that greeted me as I stepped off the plane wasn't the 'cooler' type of weather I had been looking forward to coming home to.  I was planning on heading out for a walk on Saturday morning but given the current weather that's when I realised I missed the treadmill.

I blogged about the 20k last week where I also mentioned I had noticed a set of scales, so on Sunday I remembered to weigh myself before and after the 10k just to see how much water I was losing in the hot gym. 

My starting weight was 80.80KG and afterwards it was 79.2KG, a loss of 1.6KG, or 3.5 pounds, in 1 hour and 10 minutes.  If only losing weight was that easy, and fast!

I hadn't planned on walking further than 10k again on the treadmill, however on Monday my iPod was out of charge (I hadn't switched it off properly the night before) so I plugged my earphones into the treadmill which had built in TV and internet.

I flicked to the movie channels and Speed (Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock) had just started (the other movies were in either Arabic or Indian) so thought I would try and watch while I walked, which was quite enjoyable and certainly made the time pass much more quickly so I decided to push on to 15k.

The worst part was that Speed is an action movie so there are lots of fast action scenes with cars, buses etc swerving around and there were a few times I had to steady myself on the treadmill handrails as I was drifting from side to side on the belt.

Exactly 2 weeks from now we will be 4.5 hours into the US Centurion walk in Owego. 

Tapering has begun.....  and so has the panic. 

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.

Week 35

Week 35.

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
26th Aug	3.10	5.00	00:36:20	11:43	5.1	0	0	370	-	-
27th Aug	6.20	10.00	01:09:17	11:10	5.3	0	0	750	-	-
28th Aug	3.10	5.00	00:36:02	11:37	5.2	0	0	380	-	-
29th Aug	6.20	10.00	01:10:10	11:19	5.3	0	0	740	-	-
30th Aug	Rest Day
31st Aug	6.20	10.00	01:08:45	11:05	5.4	0	0	770	-	-
1st Sep	Rest Day
Week 35	24.80	40.00	04:40:34			0	0	3010
Week 34	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 33	34.50	55.52	06:16:57			478	469	4,116
Week 32	38.50	61.96	07:05:30			1,206	1,138	4,238
Week 31	26.10	42.00	04:51:20			900	957	2,593
Week 30	34.00	54.72	06:18:57			1234	1166	3,771
Week 29	46.50	74.83	08:41:00			1756	1625	4,951
Week 28	37.81	60.86	06:59:57			902	809	4,705
Week 27	8.00	12.87	01:30:27			301	302	1,020
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	1035.47	1666.48	8 days 04:58:30			25,006	24,707	115,315
To go	217.22	349.52

Well that wasn't so bad after all, but I'm glad I only have 1 more week on the treadmill.

It's the Manx Harriers 20k walk this weekend and, since I won't be there, this morning I decided to see if I could manage the distance on the treadmill.

I started off at a steady pace, around 12:20 per mile, as I had no interest in trying to set a quick time and was more interested in spending around 2.5 hours on my feet.  I also knew if I started off too quick there was no chance I would finish as I would overheat too early.

The odd thing I found with walking on the treadmill is the quicker you walk the easier it gets, ignoring the heat issue, as I was really struggling to 'power walk' at 12:20 pace. 

At the 5k mark I increased the speed to around 8.5kph, approx 11:30 pace, and it felt a lot easier as I was able to relax into a comortable rythem and take more of advantage of the treadmill doing some of the work for me, something which does't work quite so well at slower speeds as it feels you are fighting against the belt.

The next 90 minutes was more of a mental battle than physical, so excellent prep for the centurion walk in 3 weeks time.  As the KM's ticked by I started to get hotter and hotter and started to wonder if the air conditioning had stopped working.

I also thought the treadmill was faulty too because whenever I looked at the distance it never moved!

At 18k, knowing the finish wasn't far off, I increased the speed to 9.5kph, around 10:10 pace and just hoped I wouldn't overheat in the last 10-15 minutes. 

At 19.5k I increased the speed to 10kph, 9:40 pace, and just tried to hang on for the final sprint, eventually clocking 20k in 02:24:09, an average pace of 11:38 per mile.   

After a few minutes cooling down I stepped off the treadmill but had trouble walking in a straight line, but I played it cool and pretended I wasn't walking towards the exit anyway and just carried on walking sideways towards the water supply and refilled my bottle.  I don't think any of the other gym folk noticed....

That's when I realised there was a set of scales next to the water machine.  I was a bit annoyed I didn't notice them sooner because I would like to have known how much water I had lost during that session, and I certainly have no plans of doing another treadmill 20k anytime soon!

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.