Week 44 - Challenge complete !

Week 44

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
28th Oct	Rest day
29th Oct	Rest day
30th Oct	6.21	10.00	01:02:01	09:50	6.1	0	0	807	4	170
31st Oct	Rest day
1st Nov	5.00	8.05	00:55:17	11:03	5.4	108	99	616	3	154
2nd Nov	Rest day
3rd Nov	Rest day
Week 44	11.21	18.05	01:57:18			108	99	1423
Week 43	14.21	22.87	02:45:50			228	225	1731
Week 42	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 41	16.50	26.55	03:20:16			479	488	1953
Week 40	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 39	100.00	160.93	21:53:52			-	-	11,554
Week 38	17.00	27.36	03:11:21			602	645	1695
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	1253.49	2017.48	10 days 01:09:21			27,479	27,076	140,564
To go	-0.80	-1.48

Challenge distance complete !

One of the reasons I set myself this challenge was to ensure I carried on walking after the Parish Walk rather than doing very little except a few dog walks and plenty of eating and drinking, and then basically starting all over from scratch in October when the Winter Walking League starts.

Of course this year I had the added incentive of the US Centurion to keep training for after the Parish which certainly helped with my motivation.

It's taken me much longer than I expected to get over the Centurion walk (I still have a few niggles to iron out), so as you can see from my weekly stats my mileage has been pretty low since then. 

Now I know walking 100 miles in 24 hours will take a while to recover from, but I bounced back pretty quickly from the 85 mile Parish Walk so I was hoping I could do it again. 

Last Sunday saw round 1 of the Winter Walking League at the NSC and I was in two minds about entering.  I was really hoping I could complete the 10k in under an hour, but with my lack of miles over the past 5 weeks I knew it would be pretty unlikely.

On the Friday beforehand I was in Douglas with my wife, Maeve, and after a few tipples she announced that she was entering the walking league (she blames it on a trip to the new Hooded Ram pub) so I guess I had no option but to enter too.

As expected the 10k was tough.  My breathing was heavy and my hamstrings weren't happy either, but on the plus side my left foot was absolutely fine!  I passed the 5k mark in exactly 30 minutes but I knew I was slowing down so there was no way I could do another 30 minute 5k.

I eventually finished in 62:01 and actually felt really good, the best I have felt since the 100 miles.

I was a little disappointed not to break the hour, but to miss it by only 2 minutes after considering not entering in the first place was pretty good.  After checking my stats when I got home I also discovered that it was a PB, by about a minute, for round 1 of the league so as far as I was concerned I achieved my original goal of 'keeping fit' after the Parish Walk and not starting the Winter League from scratch.

Maeve entered the 5k and finished in around 35 minutes according to the official results, however her watch recorded 38 so not sure where the extra 3 minutes went.

She was a little worried before the start of the race thinking that she would be disqualified for bent knees as she had never tried race walking before.  I told her there was nothing to worry about as the league is open to all levels of walkers and welcomes all newcomers which is what makes it such a good place to start. 

Obviously if you are clearly running or otherwise gaining an unfair advantage the judges will have words with you, but if you just walk sensibly, try your best and listen to the advice that you do get from the judges you will be fine.

She enjoyed taking part but had sore shins the following day, however I told her that was a good thing as it means you were trying.  I remember when I first started walking it was a few weeks before my shins toughened up enough and stopped hurting as much, although now and again they will give me a bit of grief, just like they did from mile 4 in this years Parish !

This walking lark is addictive so who knows, maybe the two of us will walk the Parish together one year?  That would be pretty cool, even if it was just to Peel.

My only other walk of the week was a steady 5 miler.  With the clocks going back this was my first walk in the dark for a while and I forgot how grim they are as you spend most of your time looking at your feet trying not to trip over pavements or tread in something unpleasant.

Towards the end of the walk I clocked 2016 KM and it was a huge disappointment, but I think I was just cold and fed up.  Now though I am really happy it's over!

Around about March I was well ahead of target and I started to think I had set my target a bit low, but 2016 KM was just an obvious number to choose and was still double the distance I had walked in previous years. 

Just before I went to the US I considered increasing the challenge to 1,500 miles, an extra 250 miles, however I'm really glad I didn't even though I still have 8 weeks to go.

If I had, I would have just been out walking 'junk' miles for the sake of it and no doubt burning myself out by the end of the year, just when I would normally start to pick it up again in January for Parish Walk 2017.

Now that I have finished the challenge I can focus on technique and speed work through the winter rather than worrying about miles.  I can relax now, and be satisfied with a 2-3 mile hill/interval session whereas up until now each time I went out it was all about the distance.

I'm also looking forward to mixing in some running, something I haven't done at all this year as it's all been about logging walking miles.  There have been many walking sessions this year where my hamstrings have tightened up or some other niggle has cropped up and I know breaking into a jog will ease it up slightly but I have stayed true to my challenge and just carried on walking.

So, what of 2017?  Well, as usual the Parish Walk is on the list but the main one I am tempted by for next year is the South African centurion.  Hopefully it will go ahead again in October, and hopefully it will be around Robben Island so I'll just need to see how it fits in with some other holiday plans I have for next year.

Don't worry, I haven't finished with this blog just yet, although I don't think I will be posting updates every week from now on. 

Thanks to everyone for reading and I hope you found it interesting.  I have just checked my blog stats and there have been just under 4,000 visits since it started, with views from the US, Australia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, all over Europe and of course the Isle of Man.

I checked the box so it wouldn't track my own visits so it's not just me hitting the refresh button!  

Finally I would just like to thank everyone who has sponsored me this year.  There are still a few donations in the pipeline from people who are waiting until I complete the challenge which should take me over £1,000. 

It's not quite the £2,016 target I set myself but it's still a fantastic amount so again a big thank you from both myself and the charity. 

It's not too late either, the just giving page will always be open to accept donations, and you can access it here. 

Week 43

Week 43

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
21st Oct	Man flu
22nd Oct	Man flu
23rd Oct	Man flu
24th Oct	Man flu
25th Oct	6.21	10.00	01:12:57	11:45	5.1	40	42	715	2	143
26th Oct	Rest day
27th Oct	8.00	12.87	01:32:53	11:37	5.2	188	183	1016	3	152
Week 43	14.21	22.87	02:45:50			228	225	1731
Week 42	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 41	16.50	26.55	03:20:16			479	488	1953
Week 40	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 39	100.00	160.93	21:53:52			-	-	11,554
Week 38	17.00	27.36	03:11:21			602	645	1695
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	1242.28	1999.43	9 days 23:12:03			27,371	26,977	139,141
To go	10.41	16.57

Pretty uneventful last week so not much to report.  Picked up a touch of man flu and only managed 2 short and slow sessions which was fine by me as I'm still slowly recovering from the 100.

Only 10.41 miles to go in my challenge!  Yippee! 

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.

Weeks 40 - 42

Weeks 40-42

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
Week 40	Recovery
Week 41
7th Oct	Rest day!
8th Oct	5.00	8.05	01:04:01	12:48	4.7	165	186	548	1	132
9th Oct	Rest day
10th Oct	5.50	8.85	01:02:12	11:19	5.3	101	96	672	3	151
11th Oct	Rest day
12th Oct	6.00	9.66	01:14:03	12:21	4.9	213	206	733	2	143
13th Oct	Rest day
Week 42	Holiday
Week 42	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 41	16.50	26.55	03:20:16			479	488	1953
Week 40	0.00	0.00	--:--:--			0	0	0
Week 39	100.00	160.93	21:53:52			-	-	11,554
Week 38	17.00	27.36	03:11:21			602	645	1695
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	1228.07	1976.56	9 days 20:26:13			27,143	26,752	137,410
To go	24.62	39.44

Just combining the last 3 weeks into this one post to get back up to date!

There is no doubt that a 100 mile walk takes a while to recover from, and my recovery from this has been one of the longest.

After the Parish walk I suffered terribly with shin splints but I was back out training again 2 weeks later, however I have only managed 3 very short and slow sessions in the 3 weeks since the 100 miles.

The day after the 100 miles we left Owego and I drove 300 miles down to Washington DC where we were going to spend a few days before returning home. 

Other than a little bit of muscle soreness in my legs and an exceptionally large blister across most of the front of my left foot I felt pretty good.  Luckily 99% of American cars are automatic so I didn't need to use my left foot which made the drive down much easier.

After checking into the hotel we headed out for some food and a couple of drinks just a short (10 minute) walk from the hotel.  We were both still tired from losing a nights sleep on Saturday so it wasn't a late night and we were back at the hotel by around 10pm.

I went to the loo around 1am, but about 2 minutes after getting back into bed I needed to go again, and then again a few minutes later, and so on.  Each time I went it got more and more painful and straight away I knew what it was as I had something similar about 10 years ago.... a kidney infection.

If you have ever had one before you will know it's no laughing matter.  You end up being scared of going because it hurts so much  #razorblades.

This carried on for about 4 hours when I did eventually nod off for a few hours, but as soon as I woke up (around 7am now) it started all over again.

I knew I needed antibiotics ASAP but with them being prescription only that meant a visit to hospital so we jumped in a cab and off we went.  Luckily the constant 'need to go' had eased off otherwise I probably wouldn't have managed the 15 minute taxi ride.

The hospital staff were great and after running some tests and taking a few samples they confirmed I had a 'rip roaring kidney infection', to use the doctors exact words, most likely caused by dehydration from the 100 mile walk.  He was pretty impressed with the centurion challenge though!

He recommended I take a first course of antibiotics via an IV as it would get to work quicker and they could provide a higher dose than tablet, so I gladly accepted. 

I was at the hospital for about 3 hours in total, so not the best start to the Washington part of our holiday.  After a quick sandwich from the hospital Starbucks I went back to the hotel and slept for most of the afternoon while Maeve went out for a bit of sightseeing.

I was feeling a little better when she got back and she did manage to drag me out for dinner. 

Here I am looking less than impressed with my cranberry juice and water, and what made it worse was that we were in a good bar with dozens of craft beers that I couldn't have!

The following morning things were much better.  The razorblades had eased considerably so the next few days were spent doing the usual touristy things.  Washington DC is a fantastic city, packed with excellent museums, buildings and memorials to almost everything.  I'll definitely be going back to explore in more detail.

We flew back from Dulles airport to Dublin on Friday night, a flight time of just 6 hours which is brilliant, and Saturday was just spent dozing around on the sofa at home.

When I got up on Sunday morning I had a huge stabbing pain in my left calf muscle.  It wasn't cramp, and it didn't feel like a muscle strain, or anything I have felt before in the 6 or so years of long distance walking.  It didn't hurt while I walked, but as soon as I stopped it burned. 

Lifting my left leg so my knee was at 90 degrees, thigh parallel to the ground gave instant relief, but as soon as I put my foot on the floor it started again, even if 99% of my weight was shifted onto my right leg.

It was exactly the same on Monday, although my calf had now swollen and was about 2cm bigger than my right calf. 

The doctor in Washington had asked me to make an appointment with my own GP when I got home just to check the kidney infection had all cleared up and there was no underlying cause so I gave them a call, thinking if my leg still hurts I could talk about that too, and the earliest appointment was Friday. 

I'm sure everyone does it, but I made the mistake of Googling my symptoms so was now convinced I had developed DVT.  I ticked many, but not all, of the boxes so for the next few days I just continued to wear my recovery compression socks and hoped I didn't develop a pulmonary embolism which is where a blood clot breaks off from somewhere in the body (my leg) and blocks the pulmonary artery.

One of the symptoms of a PE is shortness of breath, which I was convinced I had too!  Just climbing the stairs at work left me out of breath whereas usually they didn't, so I convinced myself I was imagining it.

My leg was still swollen and giving me the stabbing/burning pain when I saw the GP on Friday but he didn't think it was anything to worry about and was just the after effects of 100 miles.  He did a few tests (leg measurement, checking for pitting, blood pressure etc) and concluded there was probably a 1% chance it was DVT so just see how it goes and make another appointment if it doesn't improve.

My kidney infection had all cleared up too, however he did send me for some routine blood tests just to make sure.

Now that I had the 'all clear' from the GP I decided to go out for my first walk since the 100 miles. 

My plan was just to do a really slow zone 1 HR session, heading out through Onchan along the coast road, through Groudle and up to the Liverpool arms before turning left back into Onchan, a distance of 7 miles. 

I like that route because there are plenty of places to cut it short if it's not going to plan, or even extend if it's going well. 

By the time I got down to Port Jack chip shop it wasn't going well.  My calf muscle felt fine but my left foot was giving me a lot of grief (same as after the Parish and through the 100).   As I started the 'climb' past the old White City and out towards Groudle my breathing increased and my heart rate was way too high for the pace I was doing.  

There was just no energy in my legs either, so I cut the walk short by taking a left at the entrance to Groudle village and back into Onchan for a distance of 5 miles in 1 hour 4 minutes.  When I finished I felt like I had just finished the 100 miles again!

The shortness of breath brought me back around to the google symptom checker and I was now convinced I had a PE!

By Monday my calf wasn't quite so angry, but still swollen, so after work I thought I'd get back out and try another recovery walk, this time from Onchan out to Cronk ny Mona, down Scollag road and then back along Ballanard road to St Ninians, and a left back to Onchan past the TT Grandstand, 5.5 miles in total.

The pace was much quicker than Saturday but that was helped by the long descent of Scollag road and the fact my left foot didn't hurt.  Despite the pace and the downhill my breathing and heart rate were still way too high, and after about 3 miles my right foot decided to play up instead!

It was definitely a better session than Saturday but still way off where I should be.  On Thursday I repeated the same Groudle loop as Saturday but just added an extra bit at the end to bring it up to 6 miles.  Both feet were reasonably okay this time, but my breathing and HR were once again way too high for the pace.

Week 42 started with a long weekend (4 days) in London where I did lots of 'tourist' walking and felt absolutely fine.  I was hoping to get out training when I got back but unfortunately I picked up a cold at some point so week 42 was another 0 mile week, and so far week 43 is 0 miles and I don't think I will be out this weekend.

The good news is I only have 39.44 km to go to hit my 2016 KM target, and 9 weeks to do it so if I'm completely honest I'm just enjoying a break from the routine of walking at the moment, although the downside is I can't stop eating everything I see. 

As they say, "Feed a cold, starve a fever!" so who am I to argue with that? 

The Winter Walking league starts next Sunday, 30th October, so I'm really looking at that as the trigger to get back into a proper training routine. 

Based on these last 4 weeks of too much eating and not enough walking I'm pretty sure I will be way off the 60 minute mark next Sunday, but that's okay as it gives me something to improve on for round 2.

The Syd Quirk half marathon is a few weeks away too but I haven't entered that yet as I'm really not sure if I'm ready for 13.1 miles.  I'll make a decision on that after next weeks 10k.

Just as I finish the post the inaugural South African Centurion walk will have been going for just over an hour.  There were a few times through the year when I was tempted to enter in the hope I could suitably recover from the US centurion, but I'm really glad now that I didn't.

A huge good luck to everyone taking part.  I'm sure there will be many (hopefully all) of the Manxies completing the distance, many of which will become triple Centurions (UK, Continental and S.A.) which is absolutely fantastic. 

I need to decide which country my 3rd attempt will be in now.........

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 38/39 - US Centurion !

Week 38 & 39

Date	Miles	KM	Time	Avg Pace (Min /Mile)	Avg MPH	Elev Gain (Mtr)	Elev Loss (Mtr)	Calories	HR Zone	Avg HR
23rd Sep	Rest Day
24th - 25th Sep	100.00	160.93	21:53:52	13:07	4.6	0	0	11,554	-	-
26th Sep	Travel to Washington DC
27th Sep	Holiday
28th Sep	Holiday
29th Sep	Holiday
Week 39	100.00	160.93	21:53:52			-	-	11,554
Week 38	17.00	27.36	03:11:21			602	645	1695
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	1211.57	1950.00	9 days 17:05:57			26,664	26,264	135,457
To go	41.12	66.00

Apologies for the delayed blog.  I haven't really had a lot of time to myself since getting back from the US as I had a couple of very busy weeks at work and then I was away in London again for a long weekend. 

A few computer issues didn't help either.  I did write a post for week 38 but was going to wait until I had written weeks 39 and 40 and then publish all 3 at once, but I just realised after writing this post that my draft of week 38 had vanished! 

Not sure what happened there, maybe Google Blogger only allows 1 "draft" post at a time, but it could have warned me when I started this one!  At least I didn't start week 40 and lose this one too!

In summary my week 38 (pre 100 mile) post was that I covered 17 miles over 2 sessions, a similar distance to the week before the Parish Walk. 

We headed out to New York via Dublin (slightly quicker flight time and US Immigration pre clearance being a bonus) on Wednesday 21st, flying into Newark airport and hiring a car for the 200 mile drive to Owego, arriving there around 8pm.  We chose Newark as it makes the drive much easier and quicker.  If we had flown into JFK we would have had to spend a few hours getting through the city first.

On Thursday we took the opportunity to drive to Niagara Falls which is 'only' 200 miles from Owego, so a 400 mile road trip altogether.  A bit of a difference from the drive to see a waterfall at one of our many Glen's but well worth it.  The falls were impressive, however I was less impressed with the hotels and casinos that had been built up on the Canadian side of the river as they were just an eyesore really.

After picking up my timing chip and race number on Friday we headed over to Marvin park to check out the venue for the walk.  It must have been around 2pm when we got there and it was hot!  It had been pretty hot all week but the temperature at the park just seemed to jump several degrees and easily felt +25 degrees (Celsius).

I did a very slow stroll around the 1k loop with Maeve and was really starting to worry about the temperature because at the end of the lap I just wanted to get back into the car and turn the AC on. 

The temperature was forecast to drop for the weekend and I just had to hope it would, and sure enough when Saturday morning arrived it did feel a little cooler, but still hot and not a lot of cloud cover from the direct sun.

The US Centurion race I entered on 18th November 2015 and had been training towards for the past 38 weeks was finally here!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, with these long races I always have a Plan A, B and C and this was no different.

Plan A was sub 20 hours, which is 12:00 minute miles, or 5mph average.  I based this on my 50 mile race result in Holland in May where my average was 11:44 per mile, or 5.1 average, for a time of 09:47:18. 

Since Holland I had also achieved a good PB in the Parish Walk, averaging 12:34 over 85 miles so I figured I should be able to average 12:00 on a flat course.

Plan B was a 100 mile PB which I think is around 23h:11m from when I qualified as a UK Centurion in 2013.  I don't have the exact time to hand as I didn't stop at 100 miles and just walked for the full 24 hours.  I only managed an extra 3 miles in that last 49 minutes, but that was still enough to be UK 24 Hour National Champion, a title I technically still hold as there was no UK 24 hour event in 2014, 2015 or 2016!

Plan C was just to finish within 24 hours.

In this years Parish Walk I started at a slower pace than previous years in the hope I could maintain it for longer and avoid the big pace drop off after Peel.  It was a little frustrating as I knew I could walk quicker but it certainly paid off in the long run, so my plan for the 100 was to do exactly the same thing. 

Plan A needed an average of 12:00 so my target was no quicker than 11:45 pace, same as my 50 mile average, and just try and hold it for as long as possible before the inevitable drop off.

Everyone raring to go :

My first mile was a little quicker (11:32) but I just put that down to adrenaline, and the next few miles were 11:41, 11:35 and 11:40, a tad quicker than plan, so I eased back a bit for 11:47, 11:54, 11:48, 11:55, 12:06, and mile 10 was exactly target pace of 11:45.

It was just before 2pm now and the heat was well and truly rising again, with no cloud cover from the sun on one half of the lap and decent cover and a nice breeze down the other half.  The temperature was a little cooler than yesterday but it was still getting uncomfortably hot so I thought it would be best just to ease the pace back a touch for the next few hours, and the next 12 miles were all around 12:00 pace.

The Isle of Man support team, Sarah Bassett and Maeve Jones, hard at work.   

 
It was still really hot around 5pm and I was just starting to feel the affects of 5 hours walking in the heat, with a little light headedness and feeling a bit queezy so I just backed the pace off a little more and focussed on trying to get some food and drink down me on each 1k lap.

My pace now was around 12:15 which felt comfortable and I had no interest in trying to pick the pace up as it got cooler.  There was still up to 17 hours walking ahead of me and I just knew this wasn't the right time to chase Plan A, so this had now become Plan A1, sub 21 hours.

Too much talking ! - with John Kilmartin. 

I also realised at this point that I hadn't been to the loo yet (in 7 hours) which was a sure sign that I wasn't drinking enough.  This caught up with me a few days later while we were in Washington DC and I developed a kidney infection, most likely caused through dehydration.

I was taking a drink of something on almost every 1k lap (every 7-8 minutes), and I was also carrying my own drinks bottle which was refilled a number of times during the afternoon but it obviously wasn't enough with the heat.

As it got cooler, which it did pretty quickly once darkness fell, I put on some extra layers of clothes, had my first loo stop and just settled into a comfortable pace for the long night ahead, and what a night it was!

Prior to the race I hadn't really given much thought to 'the night shift' other than sunrise would be around 7am, so when darkness fell around 7pm the realisation hit me that there was 12 hours of darkness ahead.

In the Parish walk (and the recent 100 mile events held on the island) darkness sets in around 10pm, with sunrise around 5am so 'only' 7 hours of darkness to walk through.

My pace now had dropped to around 12:30 and my main target was to stay under 13:00 pace until at least the half way point, which I managed until mile 54 (13:04). 

It was now just after 11pm, and in addition to another 8 hours of darkness ahead the temperature had been continually dropping, falling to around 3 degrees Celsius, a huge drop of nearly 20 degrees from 5 hours earlier.

Despite wearing 2 hats (my 'Up and Running' tube/buff and a cap), coat and gloves I was still feeling the cold and the worst part was knowing the sun wasn't going to break through for another 8 hours. 

I really wasn't expecting such a drop in temperature, I don't think anyone was, so I hadn't brought my extra 'sub zero' base layer that I use whenever training through the winter.

Unfortunately the cold weather resulted in the 2 other British entrants, James Bassett (Isle of Man) and Sailash Shah (Birmingham) retiring from the race.

My pace averaged around 13:20 from mile 54 to 75 until my Garmin battery died just before 4am at 75 miles (which was a 13:34 mile).

By this time I had numerous blisters on each foot, chafing in a few uncomfortable areas, a painful left foot (which hadn't quite recovered from the Parish) but not once did I ever consider quitting.  Sunrise, and heat, was only 3 hours away !

After switching to my spare Garmin my pace had dropped further to around 14:00 minute miles as I also found myself stopping for the loo a lot more (every few miles) and also slowing down while I drank hot coffee and soup. 

My brain was all over the place now and I couldn't really compute the pace I needed to finish but I knew sub 16:00 minute miles would be enough. 

Finally around 6:30am the sky started to lighten but we were met with freezing fog rather than some warming rays from the sun!  It wasn't until around 8am that the fog lifted and the temperatures finally started to rise.

Still managing a smile despite the freezing fog.  Not far to go now!

My second, much older, Garmin died after 20 miles but I really didn't care anymore.  I had about 3.5 hours left to cover 5 miles so I was just counting down the laps rather than worrying about pace. 

With around 8 laps (8km) left and the sun starting to warm things up my brain started working again and I calculated that while I had missed plan A1 (sub 21), I was on target for sub 22 so I just kept focussed on the clock as I crossed the line on each lap.

Finally after 160 laps and the longest and coldest night I have ever walked through I started my final lap, collecting the Manx flag from Maeve on the way and finally crossing the line in 21:53:52, finishing in 3rd place overall and recording a personal best in the 100 miles by 1 hour 18 minutes.

2 minutes later...

7 new US Centurions

From left to right:

Eddy Goeman, Belgium 19:16:50 US Centurion #81
Me!, Isle of Man 21:53:52 US Centurion #83

Christer Svensson, Sweden 20:14:50 US Centurion #82

Sandra de Graaff, Netherlands 23:45:12 US Centurion #86

Erin Talcott, USA 23:31:05 US Centurion #85
Luc Soetewey, Belgium 23:06:23 US Centurion #84
Albertus van Ginkel, Netherlands 23:48:17 US Centurion #87

A huge congratulations to everyone who took part in the event, and a big thank you to the organisers,  Dave and Erin, and all of the volunteer helpers and supporters.

A special thank you to my wife, Maeve, who provided me support and motivation throughout the race despite the freezing conditions through the night.

I am pleased to say that Dave and Erin will be hosting the event again in 2017 (September 23/24) and if anyone is considering a US Centurion event I would most definitely recommend this one.

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 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.