18 Weeks to go......

All being well, in exactly 18 weeks from now, I shouldn't be a million miles away from Rushen. Although this will be published a little later, I am writing at 11.40 am so that would be 3 hours 40 into the walk.

So, 18 weeks, or 125 sleeps. It seems a long way off, but believe me, it will be upon us before we know it. On that basis, my advice to anyone who is going to attempt the whole distance, if you haven't already, you really need to start thinking about some sort of training regime.

I spoke to a mate of mine a couple of weeks back asking if I was having another go at the Parish this year as he has had a bet with another of his mates that he will be able to finish it without any training and asked if he could walk with me - good luck with that then, but I would suggest that you may have to get those short arms into your deep pockets fella!

Too many people think that it is only walking and you don't need to do any real sort of preparation. Well, for a start, training helps you develop your feet and make the skin tougher. Walking for the length of time to complete the Parish has a massive effect on muscles and ligaments, so training helps build the stamina required. The most difficult thing I find to train for is the psychological side of things, but being fortunate enough to have completed the distance twice before I have several experiences/analogies/anecdotes etc stored in my locker to draw on when the going gets tough. I will share some of these with you between now and 18 weeks time.

My first and probably best piece of advice is to buddy up. If you are going to attempt to walk the full distance, try and do it in pairs or a small group. Don't worry if you are entering the race on your own, as you should be able to do this on the day as you will get into a rhythm and walk with people of similar ability to yourself and they will be glad of the company as much as you will.

Both of my successes were slightly different in so far as in 2010 I started with my mate Dan, and we walked as far as Maughold together but then separated. In 2011 I walked with another mate Peter (who will now be referred to as Dicko) and apart from a couple of points at the start caused by chatting and from Malew to Rushen due to blister attention, we walked the whole distance side by side and I have to say that I only suffered one serious low point last year. I don't think it's any coincidence that this started just before Rushen and lasted until we were well on our way past Eairy Cushlin.

Walking in numbers can really take your mind off the job in hand, and as I find, when you're chatting away, before you know it you've covered a good distance without even thinking about it. You can also play little games to take your mind off stuff. Anyone with children will know the ABC game, and me and Dicko played naming bands or singers as we trudged through the Maughold darkness - it worked. Most importantly though, you can encourage through tough periods, and be encouraged when you experience them too.

Walking in pairs really helps through the tough times.

So there's this week's titbits, more to come in due course.

A very quick training update. Did a brilliant 16 mile loop in the north of the Island last Sunday morning with a good high quality group only let down by me, which included Richard Wild, Michelle Turner, Judith Quane and Carl Senogles. We went at a good pace for the whole route, and by the time Michelle, Judith and Carl called it a day after 12 miles in 2hours 15mins, I was pretty much done for, but Rich suggested that we needed to round up to 3 hours, so we pushed on and did a further 4 miles in around 45 minutes. By the end I was exhausted, but delighted to have pushed myself so hard. I've tried embedding the info off the Garmin website, but unfortunately I'm not so techie minded, however, if you are interested, I have included a link here to the site. If you do take a look, you'll see that the last 4 miles are quite a bit slower than the first 12, but I'm still chuffed to have maintained over 5mph even when I was worn out.

Monday was usual NSC laps, totalling 5 miles which was at a slower pace than usual due to Sunday's exertions. Wednesday was a good session on Laxey Prom, good interval training for an hour with 2 new attendees, so word is getting out how quality and useful these sessions are - thanks Steve !!!

Finally, I did a 9 mile loop yesterday to clear my head as I had a night out with new work colleagues for a get to know you session, and it was a session. So the wagon has come to a halt once more, but I think I've done pretty well and will certainly be keeping future intake to a minimum as I do feel so much sharper when I stay off it for a good while. Here's another link to that loop if your interested.

This may be my last blog til next weekend now as we are away to Centre Parcs for half term, but I'm taking Archie to see the mighty Reds take on Brighton in the FA Cup tomorrow before we head off up to Cumbria. Hopefully we can get back to winning ways after last weekend's debacle, I think I have to thank Richard Gerrard for not having a dig at me about the result - cheers mate, just watching it was bad enough!!

Anyway that's enough for now, but remember, if you haven't started training yet, now's the time to pull finger!