Yume No Chikara

It's that time again when I've once more looked at my bookshelf and spotted my HRM book .... which has made me think. Brass Monkey is January 2007 ... should I try a HR program again?? Have looked at the schedule that Rick gave me 2yrs ago and looked at the book. Rick's zones are lower HR than the Book ("Heart Rate Monitor Training for the Complete Idiot). The main reason I hated Rick's schedule was that I was crawling and walking so much. This means that 70% would be 159 instead of the 144 I was trying to stay below before which I think is much more achievable. Now I have started a RW thread to ask some questions and advice ... I know Bear uses a HRM too. Do I Heart Rate Train? Don't I Heart Rate Train? Run 4 times a week with or without HRM? Just do my normal stuff? Run daily in a Heart Rate Training manner? Brass Monkey is my goal for the next 6 months and if FLM does happen then this could be a good base. I want to lose weight and get fitter and faster! W

So to make up for this lack of training I am going to give blood tonight! This at least means I have an excuse to eat biscuits and not train!! Have been training my brain mind! Interactive SoDuko for a start and also a magazine called BBC Mind Games . This weather (and lack of air con at work) are making me feel dull and lifeless so maybe these will perk me up a bit! I have entered FLM this week so that must count as training! Need to remember that I have written a cheque for £26 when it comes to the end of October/November!! Naturally I bequeathed - well I would look nice in FLM gear!!

Yesterday it was 29 outside and 33 in the office! Energy zapping and brain fuddling stuffy horrid heat. Not great. We have several fans on in the office so it's very noisey and we're trying to keep the lights off to reduce extra heat! Yuck Yuck Yuck! The heat is draining and I'm not sleeping at night so exercise has been a big fat zilch. Not what I wanted! I have however entered FLM07 and sent off for the BM 2007 application whilst looking forward to some cooler training weather. In the mean time it's a case of be British and just get on with it! The garden is brown ... right down to the massive bee hive in the shrubs! We're having it "dealt with" on Friday as it's at Gnome height and with him and other kids and footballs about we can't leave it there. Hoping he will be coming home from his holiday with grandparents this weekend so will need to get up early Saturday to do a run thing! Also think I will not be finishing the nessie challenge. I'

I am pleased to anounce that I am now a certified Software Tester!! Oh Yes!!

... yeah right! OK so plan today was to go for a walk that was slightly longer than previously done this week and to throw in a bit of running every now and then. The idea was to maintain endurance, keep legs moving (TW was only 1 week ago after all!) and start to think of running. Plan was to leave house, walk 1/2m then potter for 5mins then walk for a while etc. Reality was leave house, start running, run for 15mins extending run past trail, walk a couple then run ... overall I would say about 60-70% was running! Whoops! The first 15mins felt great! Then legs remember TW and head said "you can keep going, you did last weekend!" so I did. After 1hr I did have a longer walk of say 10mins before I started to trot again and then the trotting got harder and harder. Head changed from "you did it last week" to "Hmm 62m was a long way and only last week!". I would walk and say "oh this is getting hard" as I started to run again. I told myself I could w

OK so my original plan of lots of swimming this week hasn't work out but I walked over 6m in total Wednesday (4m in one session and 2 short walks) and have just come back from 6.3m walk today. Both today's walk and Wednesday's long one were at about 18mm pace (or sub 20 TW pace!). My right big toe has been causing problems since TW as I got a blister under the nail which made it very sore. Blister now burst but it's still tender. Dr Dino did a long distance verbal diagnoses of slight infection but my immune system was fighting it! I've mainly been bare foot or in flip flops since TW just to stop my toe getting squashed! Feet are now at least back to normal size which is a start!! Whilst walking my legs have coped well, my feet have only been a little tender in areas of deceased blisters and only by the end of each walk. This is something I am very pleased about! Today whilst walking I was also thinking a lot, which is unusual as normally long runs or walks involve m

yes that's it, the dragon is dead and I have NO REASON TO GO BACK! I think I may have found my mojo in the Dragon's grave mind. Today I did two short walks to the village (walking the long way home too) and a 4m walk tonight so about 6m walking in total. I'm already planning a 12m walk/run fing early Saturday too (when hubby is at work). Swim tomorrow maybe a walk? I just suddenly want to do things!! On TW I learnt several things ... Pixie CAN do hills (just hates them!), I learnt what HUNGER feels like and "I don't want food" as well as how to eat slowly and properly chew my food. These are lessons I hope to remember ... I've seen the TW pics and my arse is HUMUNGOUS! Need to get rid of that! The shorts rubbing on hot sweaty legs also told me to shift some ballast! As is the sudden desire to trash my half PB and marafun PB! Problem is I'm now thinking ... do I really want to do a tri now? What do I want most? The "I've done a tri!" feeli

This is a tale of 4 fantastic walking friends, 3 amazing supporting friends, a million text messages and one sad old pathetic sleeping dragon! It all started in 2003 when someone found the TW challenge and I like others got caught up in the excitement! We were enthusistic but not at all prepared for what TW really was like, add the worst weather and "The Lunatic Fridge!" dropped out at CP7. Cold, wet and drained of every ounce of energy. 2004 came, I said NO WAY and sulked. I texted the guys who did it as I remembered how fantastic it was to have text messages during the event. My teeth were gritted as I hated doing it because I was still so annoyed at not finishing in 2003 and having nothing, not even 1 small blister to show for my failed efforts, but I knew it was good for the team so did it. 2005 came and the same. This was starting to grate. I was annoyed and time wasn't lessening the effects! Then somehow I found myself talking to friends and on 30th December 2005 I

As bear said this afternoon .... believe in the magic of your dreams and they WILL happen! There is no mistaking that 100Km is a damn long way! By any measurement it will take a lot of time and energy to cover 100km. Today I slayed the 2003TrailWalker Dragon! Before this weekend the goal was to finish first and formost and ideally around 28 hrs. By 6.30 and the final checkpoint the goal had changed to sub 26 hours. By 8 o'clock that was no longer a goal, it was a fact! 25 hrs and 57mins after starting team 89 finished as one team of four people in one go! The story is a long one and will wait for another day ... v-rap is going to do the formal report for us! For me I had a very emotional walk. A lot more so than I ever considered. Yes it was personal and yes I would finish (hence I had my heel stabbed) but I never expected to run pasted the old cp7 hanger in tears muttering "you won't get me this year you bastard!" before I stopped to remind myself to breath! I never

Panic!!!!! Ok so calm down! It's only a gentle stroll with mates! Ok so it may be a long gentle stroll, it may be warm and there may be a clock ticking but hey! In addition I have a clothing panic so shopping is required. I don't do clothes shopping! I am as far from being a girlie girl as you can get really! Mind you being a top heavy short arse does make clothes shopping harder!! So last day to organise myself as tomorrow will be up, to work and then that's it! No time to checking kit or packing/unpacking! Just time for a trip to M&S cookie department mind!!

Well I slept OK last night but I was tired (started to doze whilst watching Big Cat Diary which was annoying as I like that!). I think that the tiredness is related to tapering and lack of exercise due to heel stabbing (and heat!). I am now starting to think things like "oh a nice run down the canal would be nice!" but mind replies "Don't wear out legs this close to TW!" so I'm just walking round town at lunch instead! Heel is now behaving, hardly notice anything so I am guessing the jab has settled down and is doing it's stuff Already thinking ahead! At v-rap's next week due to course so maybe a gentle walk (feed the duck's with the kids?) but nothing serious! Then Thursday and Friday I am off work so off to the pool to get some Nessie Challenge lengths in as I've not been swimming this month! :-( Next weekend will depend on what happens Friday (if you know what I mean!!). Maybe shopping in Nottingham on Saturday. Otherwise I plan to cycle

Yes that's all it is now!! Three sleeps and two of those hubby is at work so they will be restless! Then it's D-Day! Time for thousands of mad people to converge on the Queen Elizabeth Country Park! For tents to be put up, mad chatter to fill the air, panic and hormones to rise and BBQ Ghurka style to be munched! Kit to be checked. Paperwork to be completed. Last minute team talks. Then silence. An occasional mutter from a nervous walker. A few short hours of sleep. Then the rustle of people waking. Nerves heightening even more! Ghurka breakfast being cooked and eaten. Coffee and tea being brewed. Kit being checked and double checked. Then finally .. a whistle, some bag pipes and a cheer as the first walkers/runners set off on the start of the 100Km path that makes the Oxfam TrailWalker! Roll on the weekend!

Well what a busy weekend! Yesterday we squashed the shopping into the morning (and the library) so we had everything done before we headed off to Tamworth and the ice-skating with V-Rap, Leon and loads of little people! Two hours passed by quickly on the ice! Gnome sulked (a lot) and "couldn't skate" until he thought no-one was looking! Then he could! Leon's eldest fell over the most but was also charging around like a mad thing! Not too dissimilar to his dad! Tinks was dancing in the middle with whomever she could grab! Other than that there was a few bruises and a couple of plasters and an egg on Gnome's head! Today Gnome is complaining ... he has found his abs! Biceps! and his Triceps! See all that hanging on and "not skating" is harder work than skating!! A few months ago I when over at the Cavern V-Rap made a joke about people forgetting things so they had to come back ..... Gnome left his glasses so today we had to go back to get them! After Wales

All sorts of things are frustrating me just now! That phone call hasn't come ... I've chased but nothing yet. Hopefully Monday now! TW is so close yet miles away! This time next week we (v-rap and I!) will be on our way down south! I've done as much training as I can and now I want to just do it! Taper madness I think they call it! Heel is not bad, but in my head because I am thinking about it and worrying and thinking about TW every now and then it's a case of ... "oh is it hurting?" After over a week of no exercising (due to recovering from Wales walk, then jab, then feet up, then "be nice to feet") I'm starting to want to do something ! Now the heat has dropped the desire to do something is back too! Today whilst shopping I suddenly ran down a stretch of road, no one was about so it was almost a secret run! I was smiling and giggling because it was raining too! Just as suddenly I stopped with a "stupid pixie, in appropriate foot wear - n

The clock is ticking! Just look up there above this post and you can see it! Not long now! Down to single figures! TW fever is reaching a fever pitch! When I need reminding why I am doing it I read Meerkat's reports for 2004 and 2005 !! The team now includes V-Rap and this will be her 4th TW! Do we really need a map?? Meerkat really highlights the emotions well. I got all excited and nervous and anxious and everything just reading them! I could see the checkpoints in my minds eye! I could feel the atmosphere! I so want to get on and do this! I WANT my medal!!! (and curry!) We WILL slay that dragon! In the meantime I am wibbling about my heel (sure that's in my head!) and "stuff"!! Forming long lists of "stuff to take" and "stuff to wear" and today my mailbox has been stuffed to the rafters with TW chatter! Who is driving whom from where? Who has tents? Who wants what to eat? ....... Saturday I am off ice-skating with Gnome, V-Rap and the raptors a

Nothing to report! No exercise, no weight loss, no new kit ... in fact no nothing! The weather has drained me; can't sleep properly yet really tired! Or maybe that's because I am also not exercising? Since the stabbing I have stopped constant drug taking (last full day was Saturday) and Sunday I was fine, walked 3m with little to report. The last 2 days at work I have noticed it. Yesterday I put it down to foot wear (summer sandals with heel) and by lunch I was sore. Today it got sore later in the day but I was wearing my frees. Is this being on my feet more, walking about the office and not having my feet raised in the "feet up watch TV"pose? Or boredom at work making things more noticeable? Not sure! V-Rap says it could still be settling in (up to 10days) and if it has not settled by the end of the week have it re-stabbed Monday! Gulp! TrailWalker is close! Fetch says 10 days! OMG!! So close! The organisation mails are flying. The panic as to what to wear/take/eat

Since heel stabbing on Thursday I had been following Dr V-Rap's advice, rest and lots of drugs! Yesterday I eased back on the drugs and today .... drug free! I also did a 3m Gnome walk, despite the weather! Admittedly that's all I have done since last weekend but hey I don't want to over do it for the TW!! V-Rap is now our 4th team member making this her 4th TW in a row! Sucker!!! Heel has had moments when I am aware it has been stabbed but not really painful so very pleased! Dr (both mine and V-Rap!) did say it takes up to 10 days to settle. In the mean time I will continue to exist in my own sauna - is it hot or what!!??!! Please cool down for the TW! Please!

90 Years today the battle of the Somme started. This one event of the Great War cost thousands of lives on both sides. 139 days and the Allies advanced just 6 miles. It saddens me to think that The Great War and the Second World War are slowly slipping into distant memories and that the youth of today are not told of what happened. So few are now alive from these wars. Any survivors of the Great War are over 100 years of age. They will soon be all gone. The survivors of the Second World War get fewer by the year. Soon there will be no one to tell the tales, just books and film. I find it very very sad to think that all those lives were lost and soon the memories of these people will be all but forgotten. God Bless their Souls. and Thank You.