14 weeks to go

So, we're another week closer to the big day, and training is going extremely well. Monday to today, I have managed to cover around 31 miles over 4 sessions. All have been different types of session, and sitting here while I type, I feel blooming good. Add to that that I am now just over a stone and a half lighter than I was at the turn of the year, and things are looking good.

On New Years Day, I weighed in at a hefty 16st 11lbs (I am putting 7lbs down to Xmas excess), but I am now 15st 3lbs, and moving in the right direction. I have set myself a goal to aim to get to 14st 7lbs by the Sara Killey and dropping to 14st by the big day. I've struggled with my weight all my adult life, a combination of sitting behind a desk all day, with little or no exercise didn't help. Add this to a pretty useless right knee for best part of 5 years meaning I couldn't really run or participate in high intensity sport, and you soon come to realise how I managed to balloon up to just shy of 19 stone. At 6' 4" I can carry my weight well, but you do run out of places to hide the flab associated with such girth. So if I can get to 14st, I will be over the moon, plus it will give me the best chance of getting my time down.

So this week's training has consisted of best part of 7 miles at quite a relaxed pace on Monday, a quickish 2 miles on Wednesday, a lightning fast (for me anyway) 5k at the NSC on Thursday in the Dursley Stott race, and wrapped the week up with a high tempo 19 miles from Bride to Peel today. The Wednesday gang had all agreed to race on Thursday, and as Steve couldn't make a full session due to other commitments, myself Simon and Alex simply did a few laps of Laxey Prom but didn't want to do too much with the following day's race beckoning.

With the race due to start at 6.30pm, I got to the NSC just before 6, got changed and started to do a proper stretch and warm up routine. The handicap race started pretty much dead on 6.30 and Caroline set off first. Shortly after, I was chasing down the guys ahead of me in my quest to try and break 30 minutes for the 6 and a bit laps.

I did the first 3 laps in just under 15 minutes and was well on the way to getting a 29 something. I had been passed by Richard Gerrard, Dave Walker and Vinny Lynch during this point, and I did my best to try and stay close to them for as long as possible, but Jeez can those guys shift, they went past me as if I was standing still. At the half way point, I started having a real tussle with Stewart Jones who usually beats me in the races we've done together, but I was determined not to let him get ahead. We battled for the last 3 laps, and literally it was nip and tuck all the way, but Stewie seemed to get an extra burst of energy and managed to get ahead. I pushed as hard as I could down the back straight behind the grandstand but he stayed strong, and I crossed the line 3 seconds behind him. It was a fab race, and although I didn't quite break the 30 minutes, I was happy with 3rd place and 30:19.

My hamstrings were a bit tight this morning so I'm thankful that I did such a rigorous warm up on Thursday because goodness knows what they'd have been like if i hadn't. The plan was to walk from Bride to Peel and we aimed to start at 7am. I left mine at 6.30, and picked Alex and Michelle Turner up on route to Richard's house. It was a really bright morning, but was quite cool, but after much deliberation, I decided to ditch my jacket in the car, and just go in vest and t-shirt. After about 20 minutes this proved to be the right decision, because as soon as the sun shone, it was really warm. We started at a good pace, and followed the End to End route. The weather was amazing, there was hardly a breath of wind, and we were making really good progress. Michelle only planned to go as far as Ballaugh as she had taken part in the Glen Mona fell race yesterday, however we managed to convince her to do the full route to Peel. After a short stop for provisions and a good stretch in Kirk Michael we set off again. Passing Glen Wyllin was a little chilly as the sun disappeared temporarily, but that was short lived and before long the warmth returned. We managed to maintain good pace, but about 2 miles from Peel, the distance and pace began to take it's toll on me and I dropped back from the group, Richard and Michelle were going like a train, Alex was somewhere in between. I did manage to keep my pace just above the 5mph and arrived in Peel in 3hrs 36mins which for 19 miles works out as an average of 5.3mph which I was well chuffed with and far quicker than I have trained over this sort of distance in the past. According to the magic watch I burnt off just over 3100 calories as well, but unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to tuck into a Bacon & Egg Bap just as Rich did, but maybe that's a good thing with my weight target in mind.

I have to say, I am really enjoying training at the minute, I am getting out with so many different people of varying abilities so it's nice to push really hard one session, and then be able to take it relatively easy the next.

14 weeks today, we will all be counting our blisters and aches and pains, but if you haven't started training yet, you'll have more to add up than most. You have literally 3 months worth of decent training left as the last 2 weeks should really be used for tapering.