Alicia's thoughts on Walk the Wight

At 6:45am on Sunday 15^th May, I boarded the red funnel ferry in Southampton and headed to the Isle of Wight. The team had decided the take part in Walk the Wight, a 26.5 mile walk across the Isle of Wight, which seemed like the perfect training opportunity, except for the fact that John had failed to tell us about the mountains on the Island! Unfortunately Sophia and Jos had to be replaced by two other members of Blake Lapthorn, Ruth Johnson and Simon Burge, due to prior commitments. Our chauffeur, John Hepworth, was waiting to meet us at Cowes where we proceeded on to our starting point at Bembridge.

We set out at 7:55 from Bembridge with the sun shining and a light breeze. Within ¼ mile into the walk we faced our first everest, Culver Down. Although no more than 100 yards long, the hill was incredibly steep and I felt like a mountain goat climbing to the top. However, once at the top, the views were absolutely stunning. From the top of Culver Down we were able to see all along the coast of the Island and out to the Solent and mainland in the distance. We ventured on across the island through lots of dirt tracks, fields and farming land. There was a definite country smell in the air.

We plodded on and reached our first check point without any hassle. We were averaging a good 3 miles an hour, thanks to John's military time keeping and I was still feeling pretty motivated. The next part of the course took us on lots of wonderful downhill sections, through shaded woods and out onto sandy tracks. We reached mile 9½ with the sun still shining, however, by this point I was looking a little more glum. The muscle in my left hip, which has been a recurring problem, had started to ache and I was conscious of trying not to compensate with my right leg.

After some stretching we carried on to Carisbrooke Castle to reach the half way mark. By this point I had started to break the route down into sections to try and focus my mind away from the pain in my hip. Flat, hill, down hill, flat, hill, bend. The thought of lunch helped me clamber up the last hill to the half way mark. We stopped at 11:40 for a 20 minute lunch break, devouring sandwiches before heading off again.

Disaster struck shortly after we set off. As I had stopped for a rest the muscle in my hip had tightened causing me to walk with a limp. After a quick intake of ibuprofen we ventured on. Needless to say however, after 100 yards of limping along I decided to pull out of the walk rather than do any further damage. I very reluctantly hobbled back to the half way mark whilst the team continued on to the end.

The remaining walkers continued down to Mottistone, along to Freshwater and in to Alum Bay, completing the walk at 16:30, a total time of 8 ½ hours including stops. A good time and a great training session, bar my attempt.

The injury worries are starting to really set in now, so it's off to a sports masseur tomorrow to get the hip sorted. Fingers crossed she can eliminate the problem quickly and for good! 

Alicia's lazy sunday!

Up until Sunday I had begun to believe I was getting the hang of this training malarkey. I had been substituting week night walks with 5 mile runs and planning long walks in the New Forest on Sundays. Unfortunately, it all went downhill when I saw the weather report on Friday afternoon last week.

 

Predicted showers for Sunday got me wondering if walking from Southampton to Winchester in my wellies was really such a good idea. By Saturday afternoon I had decided that a 15mile walk was not in my best interests given that I would be walking 27 miles the following Sunday. I'm sure that these marathon runners have a break the week before the big one. By Saturday evening I had decided on a short walk in the rain to keep the muscles loose of around 4 miles. By Sunday at 3pm, the sun was shining, there wasn't even a hint of rain and I still hadn't left the house! Not only that, my laziness extended to actually choosing to sit bored in front of the Man Utd v Chelsea game rather than going out for a walk! I should point out that I am not the slightest bit interested in football!  

 

I'm starting to wonder whether this 27 mile "training" walk across the Isle of Wight on Sunday is really such a good idea!

Sophia's footwear musings...!

Ok, so as the self-proclaimed least experienced member of the team I thought I would write the first blog on perhaps the most crucial piece of kit for the walk - the footwear. Apparently your choice can be the difference between 'agony and ecstasy' so I am pretty keen to get it right.

The furthest I have ever walked, non-stop, was in Thailand a few years ago when I trekked in the Chain Mai jungle. I did this in my flip flops; despite our guide's best efforts to get me to swap for his rather battered looking trainers. Luckily I made it to the other end in one piece and proved that it could be accomplished in beach wear.

However, I have had to accept that for the big 100km (in around 170 days time!) I will need more robust footwear to see me through to the finish line. And of course I am told that I have to break them in first, so I guess that means I have to make a purchase sooner rather than later.

I've had a look around online and in a couple of outdoor shops. It's strange to think that I'll have to spend around £80 on a pair of shoes that do not have heels but it has to be done! There are so many things to consider - grip, arch and ankle support, fabric breathability, foot beds...and I haven't even touched on socks yet. So after testing some models and checking their reviews out online I have a pair in mind which I will purchase very shortly - or more specifically after pay day!

Sophia

 

Our first post...!

Hi, thanks for visiting our page! As you are no doubt aware we are BL 3 and we are a team of four from Blake Lapthorn solicitors who are taking part in Trailwalker 2011!

The Challenge
For those of you who do not know what Trailwalker is there is a link to the event on the left hand side of this page. However, in brief, it is an 100km challenge along the South Downs. Each team has 30 hours in which to cover the distance but we are aiming to complete under 20 hours, a pretty ambitious target! The event was set up to raise money both for Oxfam but also for the Gurkhas.


The Team

The BL 3 team is made up of the following members: 


John Hepworth (Senior Solicitor in the Professional Regulatory team); Joseph Lloyd (Solicitor in the Professional Regulatory team); Sophia King (Trainee solicitor in the Corporate team) and

Alicia Marsh (Trainee Solicitor in the Clinical Negligence Team).
  
We will be aided in our attempt by a support crew who will provide vital assistance by meeting us at the appointed checkpoints with food, drinks and, hopefully, clean/dry clothes when necessary! This crew will be Tim Williamson (Solicitor in the Driver Defence team) along with his fiancee, Jennifer.

Training for the Event

We will be following the 'advanced' training plan as suggested by Oxfam. It is based on a 15 week training plan which will have us training 6 days a week (with Friday being the suggested day of rest). All members of the team have a good basic fitness level and the training plan will really build on that. It will have us covering between 6 and 10 km on the weekdays with a longer training session on Sundays. It should get us up to speed so that we can complete the 100K on our target - which is 20 hours or less. The average last year was between 24 and 26 hours.


We are looking to complete a 'warm up' walk in May. It's the Walk the Wight; a 27-mile walk across the glorious Isle of Wight in aid of the Isle of Wight Hospice. This will hopefully provide a boost to our training and show us where our weakness lie. 

John and Joseph will also be completing the 15 Peaks Challenge one month before the walk. This requires them to have been at the top of all 15 of the mountains over 3000 ft in Wales within the space of 24 hours, without using any form of transport.
So thank you for taking the team to read about our attempt and a big thank you to all of those who have donated.