Knowledge is power

Evening all! I'm back on form:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (2 Apr 2013)	31.6	08:48	5318
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	296.1	83:10	52676

I was surprised at how out of condition I got after just a week of illness: I was huffing and puffing for the first few days, and it took me until the weekend to really get back into the swing of things.

Uncharacteristically, I was raring to go by 8am on Sunday morning. I covered 11 miles at an improbably precise 4.00 mile per hour pace: if I can keep that up for 85 miles in June I'll be very happy! I covered another 6.5 miles with Mrs W on Sunday afternoon, making it the most miles in a day of my training so far.

The temperatures are gradually working their way up towards seasonal averages. Based on the long-range forecast, next Sunday looks like a good candidate for my first 20 mile walk of the year: from home to the nearby Karlstejn Castle. If I manage that then I should be able to report 40 miles for the week next Monday.

Equipment

After a bit of research I found a good deal on Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 shoes from a UK company willing to ship overseas: half the price of the only Brooks stockist I found locally. Fingers crossed that they emerge from the Czech postal system relatively quickly and unscathed otherwise it may prove to be a false economy.

Walk Talk

The annual Walk Talk takes place tomorrow (Tuesday 9 April) at the Manx Museum: 17:30 for a 17:45 start. It's a great opportunity to get advice regarding your preparations for the event from people who (unlike me) know what they're talking about, including last year's joint winners (and record holders) Richard Gerrard and Vinny Lynch. I'm hoping that, as in prior years, Murray will post videos to the Parish Walk website: handy for those unable to make it in person.

Up & Running Events

I also received an email newsletter from Up & Running at the weekend which might be of interest.

They're holding some free Parish-related information evenings in conjunction with Robin Perrie of The Foot Health Clinic and Isla Scott of Scott Physiotherapy. The information evenings are planned to take place at 18:00 on 9 April and 7 May at the Foot Health Clinic and on 24 April at Up & Running. Places are limited, so contact upandrunning@manx.net if you'd like to book a place.

Also, Chris from Up & Running will be holding some training evenings focusing on walking technique. The training walks will last about one hour: meeting at the shop at 17:30 for an 18:00 start. The training evenings are planned for 10 April, 22 April, and 1 May. Again, please contact Up & Running if you're interested in joining.

Thanks for reading and have a good week!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Evening all! In the improbable event that you're waiting on tenterhooks for the resolution of my midweek dilemma (whether to resume training or not after a bout of man flu) my stats tell the story:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (27 Mar 2013)	2.2	00:45*	500*
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	264.5	74:21	47358

*Estimated

I felt worse again on Thursday morning, so I stayed at home for another day. On Friday I went into the office by tram, and the 2.2 miles represents my walk home that evening after a few drinks with my colleagues... mainly because public transport is pretty sparse that time of night, and I hate taking taxis.

Today is the first day I've been really keyed up to get out again, but the fates were against us: when we got to our chosen spot (a nature reserve at the edge of the city) a snow flurry had started. The first snow of winter was on 27 October 2012, so we're now into our seventh consecutive month of snow. I'm seriously thinking of moving to Siberia for the milder climate!

I'm now more-or-less back to full health, so no more excuses: I'm determined to be posting 30+ miles this time next week.

Equipment

Inspired by Tony McNally's latest post my attention has turned back to kit. With less than 12 weeks to the big event it's time to get myself a second pair of shoes. Tony makes the excellent point that most trainers are only good for 300-500 miles. Even with low mileage weeks like this one and sometimes using my older trekking shoes during the colder months I must have done close to 200 miles in the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12s I bought just after Christmas. I'm inclined to get another identical pair (or possibly the next iteration GTS 13s), taking the view that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. By alternating the pairs I hope to ensure that both remain in a decent condition until 22 June. My mission this week: to find somewhere to buy them locally, or a supplier willing to ship them to me...

A question to experienced Parish Walkers: are there any non-obvious items that you now find essential?

Thanks for reading and have a good week!

When will it end?

Evening all! Movescount is back online so I'm back in business, although unfortunately I've got a poor week's trading to report:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (18 Mar 2013)	13.1	03:36	2649
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	262.3	73:36	46858

The figures are actually correct for the week to Monday, as I haven't done anything since then. Everything was going fine until Friday, but I was brought down by the dreaded lurgy over the weekend and didn't leave the house between coming back from the supermarket on Saturday lunchtime and taking Mrs W to the airport this evening.

The Czech equivalent of Lemsip has finally started having an effect and I've been feeling much better as today has worn on, so I'll probably go back to work tomorrow. I'm pretty keen to get out walking again immediately, but should I let sense prevail and give myself an extra day or two to get back to full fitness? [A dilemma which I put to all you seasoned walkers!] 

It's still winter here, and seemingly everywhere, and it doesn't show signs of improving much until the second week of April. I've never known anything like it. What I've seen from back home is unbelievable: my dad shared a few pictures and I must admit I did glance at the calendar to check it wasn't April 1 already.

Cronk y Voddy. Photo by Andrea Lace.

Dalby from Facebook Page 'Snow Storms - Isle of Man'

I really feel for the farmers who've lost livestock, but it's great to see how many people have rallied round to help. I saw that Manx folk band Barrule have offered up a track from their debut album (aptly 'The Sheep Under The Snow': the lyrics are eerily poignant) in exchange for a donation to the IOM Agricultural Benevolent Trust. Done!  It's a great track, too: you've got yourselves a new fan, lads! Please, give whatever you can afford: for more information click here.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the Easter break!

Normal service will be resumed...

Current message when trying to upload data from watch

Sorry folks: looks like I'll have to write my blog tomorrow. It wouldn't be the same without stats! :)

The winter of our discontent?

Evening all! You know the drill by now... stats first:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (11 Mar 2013)	27.6	07:24	4228
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	249.3	70:00	44209

We've been plunged back into winter. It was freezing all last week, there was a little more snow this evening, and more is forecast for tomorrow. Fortunately there hasn't been much snow (no need to send in the tanks), but it has kept my walks relatively short.

Mrs W has been out of commission with a chest infection since Friday, so I stayed close to home over the weekend. On Saturday part of my route took me through two very large cemeteries (here). We've walked through the larger of the two before, but never the smaller one opposite. I was interested to find within it the Prague War Cemetery, built by the post-war Czechoslovak government according to plans provided by the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission).

Memorial stone at the entrance to Prague War Cemetery

Graves in the Prague War Cemetery

Central Cross in Prague War Cemetery

I also found a Soviet War Cemetery adjacent. As you might expect it's a little more austere than the Commonwealth cemetery, and there are a staggering number of graves.

Central Memorial in the Soviet War Cemetery

Wider view of Soviet War Cemetery

It's even more sobering when you consider that the graves here represent only a small proportion of those who died liberating Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation: it's estimated that up to 144,000 Soviet troops lost their lives.

The cold weather is set to continue for yet another week, but I intend to keep on keeping on.

Thanks for reading and have a good week!

The 2013 Prague End to End IKEA Parish Walk

Evening all! Another reasonable showing this week:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (4 Mar 2013)	35.6	09:40	5689
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	221.7	62:36	39981

Mrs W and I successfully completed a walk from one end of Prague's longest underground line to the other (hence 'End to End'). Why 'IKEA Parish Walk'? Well, there's one IKEA at either side of the city very close to each end of the underground, although I grudgingly gave in to my better half and didn't take us half a mile out of our way to touch the doors of each 'church' (or to sample their horsemeat-tainted products... although I suppose a bit of horse is better than the zero meat beef pies found in Iceland).

On our 'End to End' we covered 16.3 miles in 4h24m. Here's a route map:

Yellow line is our route, light blue line is the city boundary

Evidently the training is paying off: my legs were a bit stiff the next day, but otherwise no ill effects. Mrs W, with rather less miles under her belt, had a few blisters by the end. Still, it gave us both some confidence that, even if the Parish Walk were tomorrow, we should at least be able to make it to the first natural stopping point at Rushen (19 miles)... but (to mangle Chris Tarrant's catchphrase) we don't want to settle for that!

The weather in the last week has been great: relatively warm with plenty of clear blue skies. It certainly wasn't difficult to get out each day. After seeing snowdrops in the park I thought Spring was definitely on the way.

Spring is here... or is it? Snowdrops in Vitkov Park on Saturday.

Unfortunately I jinxed it: there was a dusting of snow overnight last night, and now we're set for at least another week of sub-zero temperatures. Oh well... after more-or-less two months of face-numbing coldness I don't think another week of it will kill me!

Thanks for reading and have a good week!

Back in black

Evening all! After last week's washout I've got some better figures to report this week:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (25 Feb 2013)	30.2	08:11	5103
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	186.1	52:56	34292

I put in 5.2 miles on the way home from work this evening to pass the psychologically important 30 mile marker for the week. Unfortunately I made it hard for myself by leaving my trainers at home this morning: five miles doesn't sound that far, but in my office shoes it felt like a marathon! If I'd had more sense I would have walked directly home, changed to my trainers and gone back out. Still, beating my previous best was worth it!

I had hoped to go further over the weekend. The weather is much milder in the city now and the snow has all but vanished, so we thought a walk in the countryside might go down well. We headed out to Konopiště: the home of Archie Duke before he shot an ostrich when he got hungry, precipitating the First World War. [I always think of Blackadder when we go there!] It's a beautiful spot for a walk, but the temperatures had stayed a bit lower, so there was still a lot of snow on the ground and much of the lake was frozen over.

Konopiště château, with frozen lake in the foreground

Some of the paved paths around the estate had been cleared, but the unpaved paths through the woodland and around the lake were icy, so it was rather tough going. We completed one circuit relatively comfortably (albeit slowly), but decided against a second lap.

Stepping up a gear

January and February have come and gone, so it's time to check progress against my plan again. I'm now over a third of the way between day zero and race day. Aside from last week, I think I've stuck fairly closely to the plan: building up regular mileage, and putting in a couple of longer walks during the month.

I'm cautiously optimistic that I can stick to my original target for March of at least one longer walk a week, and that I can start steadily building the distance of those longer walks. One idea for next weekend is to cross the city from one end of the longest metro line to the other: about 15 miles. So far, I've found that keeping variety in the longer routes has helped keep me interested and motivated.

My aim for the shorter walks during March is to inject a bit more pace. It wasn't considered in my original plan but, per the comments on a recent post, I'm also going to start building other exercises and sports into my schedule.

Thanks for reading and have a good week!

P.S. From the Parish Walk Facebook page I see that congratulations are in order to regular contributor Michael George for his win in the Ascot Hotel 20km Walk on Saturday. What a pace!