Something that has always been a key feature of my character is that I am tough on myself. If I set myself a challenge I don’t allow the option of not completing, even if that results in injury. Two years ago I decided I would run every day for a month. For no particular reason, more that it was a challenge that was definable and quite hard, quite punishing. I completed a run every day even when it was clear from the screaming muscle in my left leg that this was not doing me good. In the end, after continuing to put it under pressure, resulting in multiple investigations and tests, it was declared cautiously that I could exercise again. The next day I walked fast/jogged to catch a train, and tore my hamstring.
The pain, anxiety and sheer inconvenience of this injury resulted in a turning point in the way I regard my body. I see it less now as something to be forced into pointlessly rigorous endeavour, and instead try to view it with more sympathy. Some might see the Big Walk as pointlessly rigorous endeavour, but I know that for me it’s much more than that, and taking care of myself is one of its purposes. So this morning I was planning to walk for 10 miles with my full pack to meet friends for lunch. I looked out of the window to see the sheeting rain and dull skies and thought that I probably didn’t need to get soaked today. It might have been on my training plan that I should walk, but I didn’t believe that staying in the dry learning a couple of new songs instead was going to critically affect the success of the enterprise in two months time. So I opted out. Because I could. And amazingly, that’s fine.
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The training walks are taking it out of me. Yesterday was my longest, 14 miles with almost 12 kg, and including 1500 feet of ascents.
Things I have learnt: Probably best not to do an hour's Pilates class before walking for 4 and a half hours. Probably best to take some lunch with me on a long walk. I got home completely drained and unable to do much more than sit vacantly for the rest of the evening. Which gives me anxiety about whether I'll be able to do this day after day in a couple of months time. But it was also useful to know that my bravado about not needing to carry lunch was misplaced. I am now planning to factor in both carrying lunch and incorporating regular stops to rest, instead of just ploughing on to the end. Fitting all the training in around work is proving pretty tricky. March is going to be very busy, with a number of major performances and festivals. So the training will have to take more of a back seat, and I just hope that the fitness and endurance I've gained won't recede too quickly. When I decided to do the walk, I spent ages considering kit. I read every blog I could find, and became the person to avoid at parties because of my propensity to hold forth on the merits of different materials for boots. But eventually, because no one would talk to me about it any more, I finally made a decision and bought some Scarpa leather boots. They were pricey, but super comfortable. But having walked in them for a few weeks, I realised that I’d made the basic error of buying the size closest to my shoe size. As the mileage increased, so did my feet. So the boots became even pricier as I replaced them with another pair a size up. And all seemed well, and I became less keen to talk about footwear.
But the process has now started again with a significant increase in the training mileage, and I am reluctantly considering having to buy a third pair, to reduce the pain in my toes where they’re touching the ends. Frustrating, as they’ll need breaking in again, and time is ticking. I am a big planner. If I have a challenge in front of me, I will feel anxious until I've devised a plan that covers all the eventualities. This walk is a big challenge, and therefore needs a lot of planning. Whereas others might find that oppressive, for me it's part of the fun, and therefore I saved it as something to look forward to when I stopped teaching in July, as a way of filling the two days a week that I was previously working. So I now have the routes planned for each day, and know the maximum amount of time and miles that I'll be doing. All I've got to do is get fit enough to manage them.
With the help of Katie Doody, a fantastic sports rehabilitation expert, I devised a training plan that would, in theory, get me from being able to walk the dog for an hour to being able to do 6 or 7 hours on the hills carrying a full pack. This started at the beginning of November, and has been gradually increasing since then. On Katie's advice I have been only increasing one factor each week, either distance, pack weight or speed. In actuality I can't change my speed - I seem to walk at the same tempo whatever the circumstances, generally a little bit too fast for my friends and family. So now, in the middle of February, I am up to walking around 11 miles a day, carrying a 12kg pack, aiming for 5 days a week. The time spent training is becoming very onerous, a twelve mile walk takes around 4 hours, which has to be fitted in to all my other commitments. But the benefits, I hope, will outweigh the inconvenience of doing lots of circular walks back to home. I am noticeably fitter and able to cope with the distances and hills much better. And when I'm doing the proper walk I won't have to work as well. As David told me rather boldly, it will be just like a holiday! The benefit I wasn't expecting was to discover the beautiful walks on my doorstep that I'd never noticed before. |
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