First Official Training Session in the Bag!

This was to be the first official Team Tarahumara training session. With Haley called away to Ethiopia on short notice; the remaining troop of three set off this Saturday on a route through picturesque Oxfordshire countryside, with fingers crossed that they'd at least make it as far as the pub before their legs gave in!

We could not have hoped for a better start to the day in terms of the weather for our first team training walk, it was an absolutely glorious winters morning as the three of us (Dan, Richard and Chloe) arrived at Hythe Bridge St to kick off our first official training session.

We had given a few routes around the Shire consideration over the week, eventually deciding that one along the canal would be the smartest plan; there were a few drop out points along the way if it all got too much, and we shouldn't be able to go too wrong navigation wise as long as we had canal to one side or another.

Setting off at just after nine with the sun on our backs we soon fell into a nice steady pace, and before we knew it we'd reached the edge of Kidlington, and were being stared down by multicoloured lion and a rather sinister scarecrow.

As we pressed on along the towpath we found ourselves considering narrow boat living, the most important detail of course being the naming of our boats.

Dan was straight in there with 'Righteous Indignation' which unsurprisingly raised eyebrows at first, but when he revealed it to be the ship in Bucky O'Hare all was forgiven, and the scouring of memories for the theme tune began.

As you might expect this was quite a busy day on the canal, and not just with narrow boats, the sun had tempted everyone out to play.

At around 1 the grumbling stomachs were starting to drown out the sound of passing canal boats, so we decided to settle down for a bit of lunch. We stopped off at Dashwoods Lock under the watchful eye of the local residents.

Dan was outnumbered 2-1 (as you would be in a group of three) vegans to carnivores. Fueled by vegan friendly Nakd bars and flapjack from the good people at Blackfriars the 'two' were actually dining better than the meat eater! We'd all definitely recommend the flapjack (vegan or not), loads of good slow release energy in there to help keep you ploughing through the miles!

About an hour after lunch, we felt the need for a nice refreshing pint, before we had found a pub though, we stumbled across Kizzies at Lower Heyford. After overcoming the initial stumbling block of how to actually gain entry to the place (seriously, who makes windows that look like doors?), we were greeted by a man proclaiming to be the cake therapist. Dubious of this strangers qualifications, Dan tucked in to a healthy wedge of ‘vegan proof' coffee cake purely for the good of the team.

At around 4pm we passed a bit of a landmark, mile 20! Being the grown ups we are, we of course made sure to catch this achievement on camera -  then played around on the remains of a wind felled tree by way of celebration.

 

We continued to clock up the miles, and as our shadows grew longer we decided to make one last stop at Aynho for a refuel before ploughing on to Kings Sutton and the train home.

As Kings Sutton grew closer with each step, the idea of pressing on the extra few miles to Banbury was floated. With two “don’t minds’ and one ‘for the glory!’ the turn off for Kings Sutton came and went, and the race against the sun to Banbury began.


As the light began to fade, and the sugar levels started to drop, madness began to take a hold.

The sun soon beat us (not long after we caught the image above) and we were officially ‘night training’.

Surprisingly our pace didn’t seem to drop off much once the light had gone and we finally creaked proudly into Banbury a little under ten hours after we had set off from Oxford.

The route and pace for the day was all logged on a Garmin and is available for all to see here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/152573858 Although essentially a wiggly line following the canal from Oxford to Banbury, it does give some sense of scale.

Tarahumara Rich, Dan and Chloe with their 'victory' drinks at the Grand Union in Banbury, 27.73 miles start to finish.


So what did we learn that we can take to Trailwalker?

Well, Chloe has learnt that that the right clothes make a difference and although jeans, a Wonderbra and a bag you had when you were at primary school may get you through the day, they are far from ideal; Rich now knows that hurdling objects in the dark won't necessarily end in tears, but you can loose the remainder of your water; and Dan can confirm that a half dozen pints are not the best preparation for a day of walking.