Deferring

I've emailed the race director for the Boddington 50K and asked to defer until 2011. I'm just not fit enough to do it this year, and I'd rather do a good job of it as opposed to walking most of it (which I could easily do as there is no time limit, however, where is the achievement in that!).

I've found out a bit more about XL Training. You can wear an XL vest (designed by William Sichel, after he found too many faults with the one he wore originally), and/or you can start with ankle weights. The important thing is to start off with a weight of 2% of your own body weight and not use the weight during running more than 3 times a week. The weight is to be used during runs initially of a very short distance until you begin to strengthen your legs (quads in particular). An important thing is not to use the XL within 24 hours of the last session so as not to overdo it.

As I haven't got a vest but do have ankle weights, this is the way I will be starting with this training until I'm able to get further details from Shaun. I actually put the weights on today to get an idea of what they would feel like, and I thought "Oh My GOD"... it really is going to be very hard work. Apparently William didn't enjoy the initial 4 weeks of this training as he found it so hard, so I'm prepared for the same.

I did some circuits today with Graeme. They were so painful. I definitely need to strengthen up as I'm more of a weakling than I thought. One of the important aspects to all of this is a training log where you are 100% honest about how you felt during a workout. I started it today... it was a very achey start to the new regime!