Unfortunately the knee was still very swollen & painful at the beginning of the week. I doubt I would have been able to take part in the usual spinning session but was called up last minute to help coach the Juniors of Castletown Hockey Club.
Usually I just coach the seniors (13+) on a Thursday but every now help out our excellent Junior co-ordinators & coaches – it makes me realise that I definitely couldn’t be a teacher & that I have a lot of respect for the people who take those sessions week in, week out!
The rest of the week was a bit of a write off as squash was cancelled on Wednesday, the weather was atrocious on the Thursday so only 4 people turned up to hockey training & so there was just the usual usual Friday & re-arranged Tuesday gym sessions. It was probably a good thing in reflection as my knee is still sore now & less rest would probably have prolonged the healing process!
Thankfully the knee was feeling strong enough to let me play the hockey match on Saturday & get stuck in with a walk on Sunday. This time heading up Snaefell (the only mountain on the Isle of Man). After a few directional faux pas we ended up on the mountain road & decided to dump our car at one of the many small car parks / lay bys & head up the nearest & biggest looking hill that Dave thought was Snaefell. As the whole area was covered in mist & they all looked the same it was definitely a bit of a random guess & I must admit that I had my doubts when we were half way up the slope that we were walking in the wrong place!
We continued on however, & after reaching the top of each mound decided to keep going on in the mist until we might be able to glean where we were or what direction the actual mountain was. Much to my amazement as it turned out we’d actually stumbled into the correct place & had traversed the steeper side of the mountain (it's just how we roll). Lets hope that we don’t get as confused trying to find Kilimanjaro!
I also got to test out my new hiking boots that I’ll be taking with me on my Kili trip. They were extremely comfortable, in fact more so than my usual road walking trainers & think I’ve made a good buy there & definitely need to sort out some decent road walking shoes.
Mark
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Is my knee supposed to be this big?
My feet were pretty sore after the walk to Peel, especially my right foot, specifically under the arch. I think that I reaaaallly need a decent pair of walking trainers. It’s been OK to get away with my worn out sports trainers on the previous walks as we haven’t gone particularly long distances but if my feet are feeling this bad after a 25 mile walk I hate to think what they’ll be like after the Parish!
I took it relatively tenderly on the Monday spinning session & picked it up over the rest of the week. Unfortunately I got smacked square in the knee by someone having a shot in our 5 – 2 win against Saracens in the hockey at the weekend. It is extremely sore and has swelled up considerably and as it was hit directly on the boney part in the middle the bruise has spread both above & below it.
Unfortunately as I can barely walk I had to call off Sundays walk, I’m annoyed about this as not only does it mean my training’s suffering but I’ve had to let down Dave at the last minute. Hockey is a rough sport & has a potential for a lot of injuries that can affect my training program, but for the time being I am going to stick with it as I enjoy it too much to stop, perhaps nearer the end date I’ll stop to ensure that I’m OK for the big walks!
However i'm sure you'll be glad to hear that I didn't let my knee stop me from drinking, it being Dave & my friends Birthday celebrations on the Saturday night. It was honoured in great style with a beer pong competition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_pong).
I'd never played before but absolutely loved it, it's a great competitive game involving beer & throwing ping pong balls in cups of beer - what more could you ask for? Myself & Chunk were partners in the game & I think it's fair to say destroyed the opposition! I look forward to playing it again in the future.
It was a disappointing & sore week in terms of training, I just hope my knee recovers quickly!
Mark
I took it relatively tenderly on the Monday spinning session & picked it up over the rest of the week. Unfortunately I got smacked square in the knee by someone having a shot in our 5 – 2 win against Saracens in the hockey at the weekend. It is extremely sore and has swelled up considerably and as it was hit directly on the boney part in the middle the bruise has spread both above & below it.
Unfortunately as I can barely walk I had to call off Sundays walk, I’m annoyed about this as not only does it mean my training’s suffering but I’ve had to let down Dave at the last minute. Hockey is a rough sport & has a potential for a lot of injuries that can affect my training program, but for the time being I am going to stick with it as I enjoy it too much to stop, perhaps nearer the end date I’ll stop to ensure that I’m OK for the big walks!
However i'm sure you'll be glad to hear that I didn't let my knee stop me from drinking, it being Dave & my friends Birthday celebrations on the Saturday night. It was honoured in great style with a beer pong competition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_pong).
I'd never played before but absolutely loved it, it's a great competitive game involving beer & throwing ping pong balls in cups of beer - what more could you ask for? Myself & Chunk were partners in the game & I think it's fair to say destroyed the opposition! I look forward to playing it again in the future.
It was a disappointing & sore week in terms of training, I just hope my knee recovers quickly!
Mark
Monday, March 8, 2010
A Busy Week!
This week was both strange & extremely busy. I started a new job on Wednesday. & needless to say I was very nervous & anxious, but am very pleased to report that it seems like a great move & my boss & colleagues seem cool, I look forward to getting to know people better & getting stuck in!
On the training front I decided I’d better put in some serious effort after feeling so guilty from the previous weeks poor show & lack of drive for the Sunday walk. My new job is 9 ‘til 5:30, so it made it quite tight to get to all the training & college sessions that start at 6, but it’s just made me realize I need to be a little better prepared.
The week seemed to go extremely quickly & soon enough it was time for the weekend & strangely enough I had a poker night arranged for both Friday & Saturday night (I hadn't played in months).
The Friday poker session was arranged as a house warming for Dave’s new flat which he’d recently bought on the terrace & also as a chance for me to win some easy money (haha). We played two games & I came first in the first game, scooping about £50 profit & second in the second game, winning about £25 profit. Not bad for a good night out (or in) with a load of mates!
Saturday was the usual hockey & then another poker night / house warming even at PK & Chunk’s who both play in the same team as me (Celts) for Castletown Hockey Club. Unfortunately this was not quite as successful for me as I ducked out in the bubble position of 4th, losing £15 - oh well, you can't win 'em all.
I’d learnt a lesson from the previous week though & hadn’t drunk any alcohol on the Saturday night to ensure I was reasonably fresh to tackle our hardest walk to date on the Sunday – PEEL!
We rocked up at the base of our old friend, "the sloc", aware that we had a very tough walk ahead of us. The plan was to walk up the sloc, turning left at the round table & following that road to Peel, have something to eat & then walk back the same way returning to the car, we thought this would be approximately 22 miles, considerably further than any walk we’d done to date.
We started well, setting off at a good pace, fully aware of what the Sloc demands. It got tougher after we turned off at the round table crossroads as this was unchartered territory for both of us (both being dirty southerners). I’d driven along the road a fair few times & was aware that it was extremely windy & included a fair few steep hills, both up & down. Unfortunately i'd realised that any hill would need to be traversed both up & down as we were going to be returning the same way & retracing our tracks, keeping mental notes of tough sections for future reference.
It always seems to me that it takes much longer to get somewhere than to return, and this was certainly the case on this walk. Every turn in the road we were hoping we would see the “Welcome to Peel” sign, I even dared to state to Dave on one occasion that I thought we were nearly there (I was very wrong).
We eventually got there & decided to have a drink (a pint of cider) & a meal (burger & chips) at the Creek as we were starving & thought it might help the walk back, this didn't really seem to be the case as all I did was keep burping & tasting the burger i'd eaten (I bet you don't read these useful & intricate details on many parish walk blogs!).
We made great time back from Peel, everything seemed to be much easier as we knew what was ahead & where the tough bits would be. What was the real shocker was the walk back over the Sloc...
Having picked up the pace & being in relatively good spirits although obviously tired & sore, we were happy to arrive at the round table cross roads, aware that there was only the sloc to go & that instead of struggling up it we’d be majestically striding down it.
This didn’t seem to be the case however as it seemed to be never ending! Again, I think a big part of walking is your mental attitude & I’d set it up in my head that the Sloc would be easy when we were walking down it as opposed to up it, failing to consider that no matter which way we were traversing it, it’s still a very long distance!
We got back to the car in the complete black, night having set in around us, glad to have completed our toughest task to date.
It was great to complete it, but has made me realise that we will need to do a lot more training as it turned out the walk was 25 miles (compared to the 86 odd we will have to do on the actual day!).
Mark
On the training front I decided I’d better put in some serious effort after feeling so guilty from the previous weeks poor show & lack of drive for the Sunday walk. My new job is 9 ‘til 5:30, so it made it quite tight to get to all the training & college sessions that start at 6, but it’s just made me realize I need to be a little better prepared.
The week seemed to go extremely quickly & soon enough it was time for the weekend & strangely enough I had a poker night arranged for both Friday & Saturday night (I hadn't played in months).
The Friday poker session was arranged as a house warming for Dave’s new flat which he’d recently bought on the terrace & also as a chance for me to win some easy money (haha). We played two games & I came first in the first game, scooping about £50 profit & second in the second game, winning about £25 profit. Not bad for a good night out (or in) with a load of mates!
Saturday was the usual hockey & then another poker night / house warming even at PK & Chunk’s who both play in the same team as me (Celts) for Castletown Hockey Club. Unfortunately this was not quite as successful for me as I ducked out in the bubble position of 4th, losing £15 - oh well, you can't win 'em all.
I’d learnt a lesson from the previous week though & hadn’t drunk any alcohol on the Saturday night to ensure I was reasonably fresh to tackle our hardest walk to date on the Sunday – PEEL!
We rocked up at the base of our old friend, "the sloc", aware that we had a very tough walk ahead of us. The plan was to walk up the sloc, turning left at the round table & following that road to Peel, have something to eat & then walk back the same way returning to the car, we thought this would be approximately 22 miles, considerably further than any walk we’d done to date.
We started well, setting off at a good pace, fully aware of what the Sloc demands. It got tougher after we turned off at the round table crossroads as this was unchartered territory for both of us (both being dirty southerners). I’d driven along the road a fair few times & was aware that it was extremely windy & included a fair few steep hills, both up & down. Unfortunately i'd realised that any hill would need to be traversed both up & down as we were going to be returning the same way & retracing our tracks, keeping mental notes of tough sections for future reference.
It always seems to me that it takes much longer to get somewhere than to return, and this was certainly the case on this walk. Every turn in the road we were hoping we would see the “Welcome to Peel” sign, I even dared to state to Dave on one occasion that I thought we were nearly there (I was very wrong).
We eventually got there & decided to have a drink (a pint of cider) & a meal (burger & chips) at the Creek as we were starving & thought it might help the walk back, this didn't really seem to be the case as all I did was keep burping & tasting the burger i'd eaten (I bet you don't read these useful & intricate details on many parish walk blogs!).We made great time back from Peel, everything seemed to be much easier as we knew what was ahead & where the tough bits would be. What was the real shocker was the walk back over the Sloc...
Having picked up the pace & being in relatively good spirits although obviously tired & sore, we were happy to arrive at the round table cross roads, aware that there was only the sloc to go & that instead of struggling up it we’d be majestically striding down it.
This didn’t seem to be the case however as it seemed to be never ending! Again, I think a big part of walking is your mental attitude & I’d set it up in my head that the Sloc would be easy when we were walking down it as opposed to up it, failing to consider that no matter which way we were traversing it, it’s still a very long distance!
We got back to the car in the complete black, night having set in around us, glad to have completed our toughest task to date.
It was great to complete it, but has made me realise that we will need to do a lot more training as it turned out the walk was 25 miles (compared to the 86 odd we will have to do on the actual day!).
Mark
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