Big thanks, big walks, and big yawns.

Yesterday I went out on an 18 mile training walk. Not the longest I've done, but the longest in a while, s I thought I'd give you a bit of a blow by blow account of my day.

But first I want to say a massive thank you to my lovely best friend Linzi who made the day so much easier for me. You see Linzi decided to get a new mp3 player and, in exchange for the promise of an awesome evening out in the future, she decided to send me her old one.

He hasn't got a name yet (this one's a he - I can tell) so if anyone has got a good one, let me know.

Anyway, back to the training. Here's how everything happened.

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6.50am The alarm goes off. David has a scrabble tournament and I've decided to get up at the same time and set out early.

8.00am I'm back at the flat after walking with David to the newsagents and bringing back half the Sunday paper. I sit down at the laptop and start moving music files from my external hard drive onto the laptop then onto the lovely new iPod.

08.43am I log onto Twitter and make a comment about getting ready to leave the house for the walk.

11.15am I finally leave the house and walk over the road to the bus stop.

11.24am I get on a bus and pull out the Observer magazine to help the journey go faster.

11.48am I arrive at Grove Park station, travel sick from reading the paper, and start walking towards the start point for Walk Three of the Capital Ring. It takes 10 minutes. I start the first leg towards Crystal Palace with an obvious spring in my step.



1.19pm I can see the Crystal Palace transmitter! I get a bit over excited.

1.38pm I sit down at a bench overlooking Dinosaur Lake in Crystal Palace. I have a snack. It's a Delicatoboll. Suddenly I'm very happy that we went to IKEA on Saturday.

2.19pm I walk past a very posh house. There's an empty Ab Circle Pro box waiting to be picked up with the recycling.

3.09pm Amazing campervan. No badge on the front. Instead it is replaced by a Greene King IPA pump badge.

3.41pm I bring out the big guns and start eating honey to push me through the last few miles. No, seriously.

4.33pm I arrive at Wimbledon Park. The 18 miles are over. I've done it in good time and I'm grinning. I have to wait for a tube.

6.05pm I arrive at Lewisham station. My legs are starting to ache and I decide to get a bus back down the road. I pull out the Observer magazine for the journey.

6.09pm I arrive home, travel sick from reading the paper and aching all over. I start running a bath and make myself some squash.

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Reading that back I realise how uneventful this sort of walking is. I could have included all the times I started thinking about this twinge or that, or all the times I considered opening the honey earlier and then deciding not to, but it's barely interesting as it is. It makes you focus inward, notice every little ache in your body and random thought in your head. It basically makes you a bit boring. Sorry about that.

Motivation.

This week's training has been a bit of a struggle - a busy and somewhat difficult week at work left the motivation a little low. This is not the first week that this has happened but this week I learned how to cope with it and, eventually, get over it.

On Saturday I had a 12 miler scheduled. I had my route worked out, and was all set to go, but my mind was not on the task and I wasn't exactly looking forward to 3 hours alone with just me and my thoughts. So I did something that I probably shouldn't be doing. I binned the walk.

Instead, I indulged in a little bit of stretching and pilates and then went out for a quick 4 miler.

By Sunday I was feeling a lot better. My lovely husband, David, lent me his iPod and I completed the 12 miles. In fact, it turned out to be a beautiful walk as I travelled from Lewisham to Crystal Palace, then back home via Dulwich and Crofton Park. The hills were rather steep in places, but I bounded over them quite happily.

Yesterday I was rather stiff and, perhaps foolishly, attempted my usual Monday 4 mile. Not having a day's rest was A Bad Idea and I cut the walk in half. Feeling bad about this, I jumped on a train at London Bridge and sped home.

Then, as I was unlocking my front door, my phone rang. It was a woman from the hospital that looked after me when I tore my PCL a couple of years back. Apparently they want to show my leg off to some students as I have 'a really interesting knee'. Puzzlingly, she wasn't able to tell me what was quite so exciting about it, but my knee is basking in its new-found celebrity today.

Mission Control? This is Katy speaking.

To help me visualise the task ahead, I've started turning my kitchen into Ward Walks London: Mission Control.



As you can see, that's one big map. I've started adding what I think are the most important points of the walk to remember...the toilets... Soon I'll be adding things like hourly targets and volunteers. More on that later.

In actual walking news, I'm back up on my feet and out on the road. Yesterday was a perfectly beautiful day and which helped the 9 miles fly past. Could do with some more weather like that to help the training.

Back out on the road.

After a few too many turkey sandwiches and tasty beers I was starting to feel the urge to get my trainers back on and get back out there. So that's exactly what I did yesterday.

I wandered out to Woolwich and decided to start from where I'll be starting my grand walk in just a few short months...


See more photos from the walk here

Not a terribly auspicious looking start as the Woolwich foot tunnel is closed until March 2011. Which means that I'm unlikely to be able to complete the circuit (except by ferry) until I'm walking for real. In a way, I rather like it that way.

So I set out and walked sections one and two, from Woolwich to Grove Park. With a bit of a detour when I got off track, that was about 12.5 miles. Maybe a bit more. I ache a bit this morning - I haven't been out for a proper training walk for a couple of months now. But I've got the hunger again, and that's what's important.

I'm looking forward to my next walk already. Although it may have to wait until tomorrow, when my hips might have recovered a bit.

So, anyway, Happy New Year everybody! The first half is going to be supremely busy, with training and planning, but I'm so excited. Hurrah for 2011!

That traditional panic.

It has reached that point in the year when all those things you need to do just won't seem to fit into the time you've got to do them. For me, training consistently is one of them.

But I'm still doing the walk next year. I'm just going to take a couple of weeks off from this blog so I can sort out all the other bits of my life without feeling guilty about not writing here.

Back soon,
Kate x

Here comes that guilt again.

I'm still not training and I'm feeling more guilty by the day. I've even started avoiding writing in here because it makes me feel worse.

A string of events have hampered my training. First it was the toe. Then it was a horrendous cold (which I'm still struggling to get over). Now horrendous wisdom teeth and a headache. And being busy. Don't forget being busy.

Writing it down seems like listing a string of excuses and, who knows, maybe I am.

In a bid to kick myself back into activity, I went to the gym on Monday morning. I have a happy relationship with my gym but I hadn't been there since before this challenge started and the walking took over. It felt good to be doing something different even though I know it can't be a replacement for long-distance walking.

This weekend I'm aiming to drop myself back into proper walking with an easy 8-miler. Then from Monday it's back on to the proper training. Perhaps a little lighter than I was doing while I find my feet, but definitely back on.

Wish me luck.

A different kind of training shoe...

After a month-long break from dance, I finally fitted my slightly misshapen foot into my flamenco shoe last night. And I danced. I danced without wincing or whining, and I danced with enthusiasm. It was great.

I'm definitely get back out with the proper training later this week. Although it's cold out, and it's far nicer to sit snuggled up on the sofa inside, I'm really looking forward to getting out there again. I've started to miss it - perhaps that forced break was a good thing?