Jamesq

To up the game a little in our training for the Adventure Race at the end of the month John suggested we stretch ourselves and take on Surby to Sloc. I was mega apprehensive about this as the run out of Ballafesson up through Surby is long and steep, certainly the hardest thing I’ve faced so far in my training by quite a long way. The route is also nearly twice as far as I’ve done up until this point so was always going to be a challenge.

Nick joined us on the bike as well which was good for support and motivation to keep running. He also nipped home ahead of us and put the pasta on so an extremely valuable team member on the day.

The weather was perfect and the views from up on top of Surby Hill were awesome. Makes you really appreciate the Isle of Man when 30 minutes after leaving work you can be in the middle of nowhere overlooking stunning coastline with not a sound beyond an over exercise heart and panting breath. Not only that but it was strange to think that only 15 miles away the world’s greatest motorbike race was taking part.

I think we were both really pleased with the run. We had to walk in a couple of sections where it was really pushing us but hopefully next time we do this we’ll get round without this. Having said that this really was only in a couple of sections and I had anticipated me having to walk much more so was absolutely made up. Still a way to go before the race but a great confidence boost that at least I should make it to the finish line now:)

Picked up a couple of small blisters on the downhill section that have shown themselves a bit more today but nothing too bad. Weekend off and then back on it next week.

Some of John’s pics from the training so far:

Managed to get out for a run tonight to try and increase (start again) the training for this months adventure challenge. Was a tough run with some good hills in and managed to add a km on to the distances I was doing a couple of weeks ago. Need to do a lot more than this though, pace was very slow and legs were pretty shattered by the end. Beautiful run out through to the Chasms and down through Cregneash. Took the Glen down through to Glendown Farm too which I haven’t done for years.

Just got back from our weekend away in Manchester and thought I’d better get out for a run. The only exercise I have done since the inception of my 21 Day plan was walking round the shops in the Trafford Centre and a dip in the leisure pool at our Hotel so wasn’t holding up much hopes of improvement. Managed to knock just over 1 minute off the time I did last week and more importantly got up that hill behind Promenade T-Shirts without stopping:)

Here’s the map of the run and a link to the run profile.

Well I’ve been talking about it long enough and finally I got myself sorted and put my running feet where my mouth is.

It was actually a post from David Hicks at Howies that gave me the final inspiration to get up early and go out for a run or a cycle. I hate mornings, I don’t do getting up very well and I haven’t done much exercise in a long while so have been pulling out a million and one excuses not do this so far this year.

But it was great. I’m more unfit than I thought, it hurt more than I thought and I didn’t go as far as I thought but I feel awesome. I feel I’ve started something. My 21 day action plan starts here. No idea what that entails but I heard recently that if you keep something up for 21 days it becomes a habit. I guess if this is the last exercise post you read for 21 days I haven’t succeeded! Continue reading

Got up this morning and fancied getting out for a bit of fresh air before starting the days jobs. Don was still in bed so had a cuppa and watched a bit of snowboarding on the box before digging out the trainers. A quick blast of Fabreeze and I was ready. I thought about heading out in the car and going for a run in the hills but decided that if I wanted to go for runs more regularly it had to be easy and from the doorstep. Left the house and ran down to Douglas promenade. It was a great morning to get my first run in, not a breath of wind, overcast and mild with views out over the sea to the single ray of sunshine breaking through on the horizon. I took my iPod Touch for the journey which was a bit bulky and bounced around the whole trip. Just sold my Nano on eBay, typical to find a use for it now! Don might not notice if her iPod Shuffle goes missing in the week…

Hit Douglas beach with the other dog walkers and the odd jogger and followed it over to the old Summerland building. I really hope something is developed here soon. It would be a great spot to put a sports facility to offer kids an alternative to the traditional sports at the NSC. Skateboarding, climbing, BMX, Indoor skiing??, Ice skating. Lets hope a bit of forward thinking goes into whatever is developed there. Anyway there was an older dude out running and I couldn’t catch up so I ran along the other side of the road for a bit so I didn’t feel quite so unfit.

I took a detour on the way back around the back of Promenade T Shirts and up past the entrance to the old funicular railway that ran up to the Falcon Cliff hotel. Although not really steep, by this stage of my run heart-rate was pretty heavy so didn’t get much pace going up the hill. Came out just below Shoprite on Victoria Road and cut back to Broadway and home. Didn’t time it but I reckon it was probably around 30-40mins.

Hopefully start to get out a bit more often now. Makes you appreciate what we’ve got here on the Island. To be in the capital and to be able to go on such a beautiful run. This was only a short run but if I get my fitness back then there’s Douglas Head and the Marine Drive Coast road round to Port Soderick. The bike’s almost ready to come out too so will get a couple of longer routes in then.