Walk, walk, walk. Every time I turn around this summer I am walking again. I don’t mean up and moving about for some humanly purpose, I mean walking for a long time for some predetermined distance to train to walk. The trip to Myanmar involves a 3 day hike of about 20 kms/day. We do not have to carry any weight, but 20 km is a long way. Three days in a row and we are likely to be tired.
So, a couple of weeks ago we contacted our travel companions and started another walking training regime. Debbie and I have residual fitness from the summer, L has been walking every morning, in part because she walks the dog, and R walks a lot for work. We are 3 weeks in and already knocking off 9 km in l hr 45 min. I think we are good to go but we are not doing back to back days so recovery is still a question mark.
We are again using Edmonton’s river valley as our training ground. Fall has taken hold and the flora is preparing to hunker down for winter, the grass is dying and the trees are turning colour. I figure next Sunday, when we walk again as a foursome, we will be crunching along on a deep carpet of fallen leaves.
The cooler temperatures make for a pleasant walk. We still work up a sweat but it is our own doing, walking fast, not the heat of the day causing this condition.
I think the biggest reason for this bit of training is to make sure the hike is without pain. How much can be seen and enjoyed of the surroundings when your entire consciousness is preoccupied with how much you hurt? On the West Coast Trail Debbie stopped taking pictures as soon as her feet started to hurt. That accounted for more than ½ the day, so she did not take many pictures! We will probably not return to Myanmar so every minute and every picture counts.
We may have to turn this walking into a trip to the Camino de Santiago next year. 25 km/day for 30 days, I think that could do a lot for one’s waistline. We would come back really skinny. We’ll see.