I had intended to publish this entry on Sunday however a sick child got in the way of that!
My plan is to publish a short piece every two weeks or so and give a brief insight in each into what I am up to currently and then focus on a topic that might be of interest. This time I have come up with some tips at the start of the training cycle that have helped me over the last few years.
I am keen on making sure that the blogs are interesting and are not just boring summaries that people do not want to read. With that in mind, if there is anything that anyone would like to know then drop me a message in the comments or on Facebook and I can give my tuppence worth on the subject.
I have also been asked not to "sugar coat" things and just present a warts (and blisters) and all account of what went well and what perhaps did not go so well.
Madeleine will review all of the entries before I publish them, just to make sure that I don't share too much or go into too much detail.
So let's start with a somewhat obvious fact - THE PARISH IS HARD!
Do not underestimate the Parish Walk. To do so will only lead to disappointment as this event has a habit of biting you on your arse. It takes hard work, planning and preparation to be able to finish. There are people who go out there and just have a go and manage it, but they are few and far between and usually they are the ones seem to be struggling on the Tuesday evening at the presentation.
I asked Jock Waddington for the statistic of the number of individuals who have completed the Parish to date - not number of finishers as many people have completed the walk multiple times. There have only been 1,395 people finish the event since it was first conceived. To put that into perspective, more than 4,000 people have summited Mount Everest. I know that it is not comparing like for like but it makes you feel part of a rather exclusive club.
When I first started out looking to get round the course my training would simply be to do a long walk each weekend and maybe a couple of short walks during the week. I did not think about anything else really. Just get the miles in was the plan. I did not appreciate how important the quality of training, the variety of training, kit and nutrition (both during training, carb loading and then on the day) would be to helping for the event.
I have found that the more you speak to people that have done this in the past, the more hints and tips you pick up to try and perhaps put to one side. What works for one person does not work for all.
Some of the things that I have learned now, after making some hideous mistakes
1. My feet do not like Asics trainers - that way lies blisters and toe nails being ripped off as they are too narrow. I have found that Brooks Glycerin trainers work for me and they are like a pair of comfy slippers from the very first wear. I actually have 5 new brand new pairs, still in their boxes, in our hallway as I have spotted them on offer in various places over the last 6 months and I know that I will use them in the coming months
2. My feet do not like 1000 mile socks - that resulted in masses of blisters and painful missing skin
3. Do not give blood 3 days before the start of the walk - I mentioned this in the last post. It really was an awful feeling and looking back it was so unbelievably stupid not to realise how dangerous it could have been!
4. Chafed nipples, bum crack and gentleman's regions are not pleasant - I do everything that I can to try and combat this. There is no worse feeling that getting soap in the broken skin when you have your first shower and knocking the scabs off the next day is not much better either.
The actual event is full of massive highs - like the community spirit and enthusiasm of the Manx people and, of course, the finishing
And very low lows!
This is about 90 minutes after finishing the walk this year - an ice bath at 2:30am! It really does work to help recovery and I would recommend it to everyone, however it is pure hell at the time.
Check out the wonderful sun burn on the neck.
The conditions were brutal this year and no one had been able to train in the heat as the weather in the run up had been so bad. Dehydration is a massive issue in all weathers so you have to make sure that you are drinking constantly, even in the cooler times.
During the walk you will have dark patches. You will be tired. You may feel or actually be physically sick. I have actually fallen asleep whilst walking before and had to be filled full of coffee to perk me up again.
This is where the psychological strength kicks in. No matter how bad you feel you have to just tell yourself that the second, third, fourth winds will come - and they do. You will get through the bad patch but you have to keep going. It may not feel like it while you are puking in a ditch in Jurby, but who said that the Parish Walk was going to be glamorous.
My support team are under instruction never to use the "S" word (stop) under any circumstances. No matter how much I want to stop at some points I will keep going through sheer bloody minded stubbornness. Having someone else suggest it on the other hand and it gets in my head and starts to become a good idea. They can only use that word if it looks like I am causing damage to myself - which has never been the case.
In 2018 I started the Parish after a bad nights sleep. I had a very sore hip and it had kept me awake. I had trained all year and so nothing was going to stop me from having a go. I was in pain from the very first step and then just at the top of the Sloc I felt something in my thigh. It was as if something had pinged and it was so sore! I decided to keep going and not mention it to Madeleine or the rest of my support team. This was my battle and I had a date with a finisher's trophy at the Villa Marina.
I kept going and got it into my head that it wasn't that sore. That worked - for a while.
It was as I went over the hump back bridge between Jurby and the Lhen that something gave way and my knee buckled. My team saw that I was hobbling and got me to slow up for a few miles, which helped.
Anyway, long story short. I finished in agony and found that when things settled that I was struggling to put weight on my left foot. When I went for my post walk massage on the Monday, Sarah Linehan (sports therapist) informed me that I had completely detached my sartorius muscle in my thigh. It simply wasn't there any more!
After 6 weeks of rest and gradual reintroduction of targeted exercise I would never know that this had happened. Apparently your quads will take over and build up to compensate.
What I am trying to get across is that the Parish is a massive physical test but I really believe that it is a massive mind battle and psychological challenge as well. You will never finish the walk if your head is not in the right place. You can defeat yourself very easily with negative thoughts.
Over the last month or so I have been battling some of my own psychological demons around food and training. I am just starting to feel happy and ready to get back into the full swing of training and another season of walking.
Last year's season was massively hard with two big events. Physically I was fine in a short time afterwards but I did not appreciate how much the year would take out of me mentally. I was drained and exhausted and with no immediate goal or target I started to flounder.
I have had to really examine some elements of my personality that I do not like but that is done now and we are back to full training mode and focus!
I am currently doing a few shorter walks during the week and then a couple of medium distance walks (10 to 15 miles) at the weekend. I try to do some parkruns when I can and then also some strength training in the gym.
I also do a hill reps session with Steve Partington every Saturday at 4.15pm at Dhoon Glen car park. This is a great way to get fit and also it helps with conquering Ballakillowey, the Sloc and Ballajora on the day. I was surprised how quickly my fitness improved when I started these sessions. The sessions are free, friendly and give you a sense of achievement before your Saturday night starts. It's 8 reps of 1 minute up hill and 2 minutes to get back to the start - so 8 minutes of effort and you are done in 24 minutes.
Variety is the key for me as it keeps things interesting.
So, my tips for the upcoming training phase and then the event.
A. Use a book to record your thoughts and experiences - not a diary as such but what is working and what is not working. I now have a list of food and drinks that act as a menu for the walks. You will never remember everything otherwise and it reminds you what didn't work previously
B. Take out as many variables as possible - you cannot control everything on the day but if you have tried to eliminate all of the uncertainty that you can then it will help (see the following tips below)
C. Train in all weathers and at all times of day - get used to how your feet feel in the wet as the Isle of Man weather is never predictable. Madeleine is fed up of hearing me saying "skin is waterproof" and "you won't melt" as I head out in sometimes monsoon-like conditions. Also train in the dark with a head torch as it can be a strange feeling walking with just a small tunnel of light ahead of you
D. Test the course - walk as many sections of the Parish course during the year as possible in training. I always make sure that I have one Sunday session down south to test Ballakillowey and the Sloc
E. Enter the Firefighters Memorial Walk - this is a perfect long distance training walk of just under 32 miles around Easter. It takes in the boring northern section of the Parish route and is perfectly timed to test all of your kit and have time to recover for the main event in June
F. Test your kit - I usually take a new pair of trainers and socks on a couple of short walks (5 or 10 miles) and then do the Firefighters Walk. It everything goes well, the socks and trainers then get put in a box and do not see the light of day until the morning of the Parish
G. Surgical spirit on your feet - I bathed my feet with surgical spirit each night (just wiped on with cotton wool balls) for the 6 months leading into the 2014 Parish. I found that this gave me lovely hard Hobbit feet and I have kept that hard skin ever since
H. Anti-chafing cream - I use Assos chamois cream, which is a cream for cyclists. I find that it is really effective at preventing rubs. I found that vaseline would ruin clothes and would never wash out properly. The Assos cream is not an issue in this respect and never damages my walking kit. It also has the added benefit of a menthol tingle - which can also be rather disconcerting after a few hours when you move in a different way, a fresh bit of cream hits the skin and it suddenly feels like you have wet yourself!
I. Taping feet - I tape my feet with zinc oxide tape the evening before a big walk. I then sleep with some loose socks over the top and put the race socks on the following morning. I do not vaseline my feet or socks. I have found that this works amazingly well and I haven't had blisters really for the last two Parishes and the 100 miles - I will post a picture of what I do at some point in the near future
J. I never touch my feet - Once I have started walking I do not touch my feet - no change of trained, no change of socks - just keep going
K. Test your food - Do not rock up to the start of the Parish with a car full of food that you think might work. You need to test the food in training to see how your body reacts. I cannot take energy gels and drinks and they make me sick so I have found other ways of boosting energy - like flat coke.
The main message is that most of the job is preparation. Try to anticipate as much as possible and then the unexpected things will not be such a big issue.
It will hurt. It will be unpleasant at times. You may hate it at the time.
Also be prepared to leave most of your dignity at the start line. I got to know my training partner (female) a little better in 2014 when we both needed a wee and ended going in a field close to each other outside of Andreas. Needs must when you are trying to avoid walking any further than you have to!
All of this will disappear and be forgotten when you come round Port Jack and see the war memorial in the distance. The feeling of achievement and elation when you finish such a big challenge is immense!
Sorry if I have rambled on as I meant to keep this quite short. I hope that someone out there finds this interesting and useful, even if it highlights what not to do.
My next post will be more around my nutrition and how I have shed the weight for walking. I thought that this would be the perfect subject just after Christmas and coming into New Year when everyone starts to look towards June and is beginning to get out training.
Finally, the 6 P's in the title of this post, for those that do not know
Proper Preparation Prevents P!ss Poor Performance - this is so very true.
Merry Christmas and happy walking to everyone!
