29 and out !

Firstly, I hope everybody enjoyed their festive period, and I now we are in 2015, its another step towards the reality, that this year, I am taking part in the Manx Telecom Parish Walk. For me, new year, is just another day, but anything that can be used to to help set new goals and lift your enthusiasm has got to good! Unfortunately, in terms of events and training, things didnt go exactly to plan, the sore and stiff hamstrings noted in my last blog, turned out to be a bit more serious than what I first thought, especially my right hamstring and running proved too painful, which meant I had to pull out of my SCS team, so my run of taking part in what was the Millennium Relay and more recently the SCS relay since 1985 came to an end, however, I did help Alan Franklin at the start and finish area, with the dibbing in and out, so I was involved, and everyone was in really good spirits, so although I was disappointed not to be running, I once again enjoyed the day, and Andy Fox and his team did a brilliant job, as I said in a previous blog, its a great event, and well worth considering putting a team in this year ( you have 11 months to organise it ! ), it would be good to see 20 plus teams involved again. Although, my sore hamstring stopped me running and until the last few days, fast walking, I could cycle and use the x training machine at the NSC and lots and lots of hamstring stretches ! So my only competitive outing during the festive period was the Hamper Cycling race in Jurby, originally scheduled for Sunday 28th December, the event was postponed due to ice, and took place yesterday. Changing the date of the race meant that local cycling stars Peter Kennaugh, Ben Swift and Mark Christian couldnt take part, due to other committments, but it was still a great event, and proved to be a excellent work out, the race was won by Team Polypip Pro Tom Mazzone, I managed to hang onto the bunch, and just came in with the same time as Tom. Moving the Hamper race to yesterday mean't it clashed with the fourth round of the Winter Walking League just down the road in Andreas, I had my trainers in the car, just in case it was icy again! Now my next short term target is the final league event at the NSC on the 1st February. Normally, at this time of year, I would be looking forward to the the IOM and National XC Champs, and then the cycling season, which norammly starts in March, this year, with the Parish, things are going to look a bit different. If I can keep my hamstrings in one piece, my next short term and medium aims are as I said, the last Winter Walking League, hopefully the 20km walk around the the NSC in March and Sara Killey 50km walk in April, and in between those events, steadily increasing my walking training in terms of distance, and hopefully speed, so lots to look forward to, but as always its about training SMART and being sensible, not always something I'm good at! Well thats it for now, I'll try and be a bit more frequent with my blogs in the coming weeks, cheers.