a 'training walk' on Good Friday

[CWBuff]

Be it as I was off on Good Friday and my wife had to work, I took this opportunity to try a first long distance walk.
I went with her to her place of work and walked home from there. Doubled-up on socks using Injinjii inners; no-special footwear (my usual cross-training FILA sneakers; not the footwear i plan to bring with me on The Camino but suffices for now); a daypack with perhaps 8 lbs in it incl 2.5 liter bladder.
28.5 km done in sightly less than 7.5 hours which included couple of short rest stops and one 45-min for lunch.
Elevation can be seen here:


I was Blessed with a reasonably nice day; just couple of spitzes as far as showers go; otherwise sunny with light breeze.
Couple of pics I took along the way (I'll let you play the game of naming them my "Burgos" or my "Rio Arzua" or anything else (I had lots of fun thinking about it while I was walking)

















All-in-all a very good experience and while I was unquestionably tired, I was not exhausted. I developed one tiny blister on my right foot pinky toe.... I felt a hot spot but as Murphy's Law would have it - 2 km from my house, absolutely no place to sit down and to top it off - this was the last spitz of the showers so I was not about to take the sneaker off and get everything wet (thus possibly worse). Hence - my question: I guess if faced with the same in similar circumstances, does one just goes on to the destination Albergue and deals with it there?
I taped it and applied some Vaseline and next day was able to do a short 3-mile walk with no problems (but of course its 3 miles after 12+ hours rest and no backpack). Just curious if this would be just as effective on the Camino facing "tomorrow" so to speak.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts and thanks for induging me in this little 'boasting' ✌

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Problems grow on subsequent days. If you don't treat a hotspot immediately it will grow into a major problem. Stop in the rain as best you can take care of it. Whatever caused the hotspot will still be there, so figure out the source, too! Keep up the training. What you discover on training hikes you will not have to discover on the camino.

 

[Left Coaster]

Your photos are as charming as anything you will see in Spain. Falcon is right, always attend to those hot spots ASAP. The only blister I suffered started about 5km from my destination. Poor logic took over and I decided to tough it out. Really unnecessary discomfort. I also believe the cause was a bit of dehydration. Watch for that.

 

[CWBuff]

Thank you both

Poor logic took over and I decided to tough it out. Really unnecessary discomfort. I also believe the cause was a bit of dehydration. Watch for that.

Yup I definitely want to avoid that. As to dehydration - I do not believe it was the case in my situation. As I have stated I brought a 2.5 liter bladder. I have an app on my phone (Repeat Alarm) which I set up to remind me to "drink water" every 5 mins. And so it did... and so I did - every time it squawked, I took 2 nice pulls on the tube. In addition I drank probably 32 oz of unsweetened Iced Tea during lunch. I guess I could've replenished the bladder at that time, but for whatever reason I did not (perhaps didnt wanted to be bothered being in one of the Fast Food places inside a mall...and the faucet in the restroom was not very 'friendly' for that type of operation). I did ran out....hmmm... right about the same time as I felt the hot spot.... (OK... interesting... )... but I still do not believe I would consider myself dehydrated (Anyone knows what the stats for it are?)

 

[emmanuel]

Hydrating is fine and essential, problem is when you are walking in urban surroundings, all the "pit-stops" men my age (61) will recognize. I am absolutely grateful most Camino walking is cross-country and full of appropiate bushes and thickets.

 

[CWBuff]

Hydrating is fine and essential, problem is when you are walking in urban surroundings, all the "pit-stops" men my age (61) will recognize. I am absolutely grateful most Camino walking is cross-country and full of appropiate bushes and thickets.

I hear you and am turning 60 in 2 months myself. Again, I was lucky as short of that pit-stop at the mall for lunch I had no urges. I think that throughout my life I have been lucky to reasonably retain water. I can think of only 2 times when I was dehydrated (and to be fair - took me a bit to understand that that's what happened 1st time), but both of them were in July at the temps pushing 100 F (38 C) with high humidity and being clad in 100% Wool Uniform (obviously re-enacting events). At the same I don't run to the restroom a lot....

Again, this was a good experience. I don't rightly know what I was expecting but at the same I don't think I thought it would go 'as easy as it did'. (And I guess now I have to be careful as to not become 'overconfident!' ) I will be looking forward to more training hikes, obviously at some point with the 'Camino' backpack and boots (I like having my ankles fully enclosed so I like to hike in boots) and make applicable ajustments

 

[Francois de Meillon]

Being ff

Be it as I was off on Good Friday and my wife had to work, I took this opportunity to try a first long distance walk.
I went with her to her place of work and walked home from there. Doubled-up on socks using Injinjii inners; no-special footwear (my usual cross-training FILA sneakers; not the footwear i plan to bring with me on The Camino but suffices for now); a daypack with perhaps 8 lbs in it incl 2.5 liter bladder.
28.5 km done in sightly less than 7.5 hours which included couple of short rest stops and one 45-min for lunch.
Elevation can be seen here:
View attachment 55695

I was Blessed with a reasonably nice day; just couple of spitzes as far as showers go; otherwise sunny with light breeze.
Couple of pics I took along the way (I'll let you play the game of naming them my "Burgos" or my "Rio Arzua" or anything else (I had lots of fun thinking about it while I was walking)

View attachment 55696

View attachment 55697

View attachment 55698

View attachment 55699

View attachment 55700

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View attachment 55702

View attachment 55703

All-in-all a very good experience and while I was unquestionably tired, I was not exhausted. I developed one tiny blister on my right foot pinky toe.... I felt a hot spot but as Murphy's Law would have it - 2 km from my house, absolutely no place to sit down and to top it off - this was the last spitz of the showers so I was not about to take the sneaker off and get everything wet (thus possibly worse). Hence - my question: I guess if faced with the same in similar circumstances, does one just goes on to the destination Albergue and deals with it there?
I taped it and applied some Vaseline and next day was able to do a short 3-mile walk with no problems (but of course its 3 miles after 12+ hours rest and no backpack). Just curious if this would be just as effective on the Camino facing "tomorrow" so to speak.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts and thanks for induging me in this little 'boasting' ✌

Good for you on an even better than Good Friday. Christ is Risen.
Your kms done shows you're already in good shape. You need to decide what your walking strategy will be when on the Camino where you need many days of reasonable walking.
Do you take off because you are fit and full of verve or do you pace yourself gently knowing you have a reserve if needed.
Walking is central in this pilgrimage. So is rest and meeting folk along the way. It is necessary to get a happy medium is this varied experience.
Think pro-actively about plans B and C if A is hampered by challenging weather conditions, unwellness, hassles, etc along the way. You need a spiritual nerve to deal with it as well.
Doing the Camino is challenging and rewarding. It presents you with matters beyond planning. It asks of you to deal with your best and worst.
Fail to prepare and be prepared to fail. By all means prepare but take it beyond the physical. Tune your heart and mind alsio towards the experiences that awaits.
Enjoy and grow.
Ta.
The Doc

 

[CWBuff]

@Francois de Meillon
Merci mon Ami! And we are Blessed here in Eastern Pennsylvania with couple of nice warm sunny days from Easter Sunday... HE IS RISEN INDEED!
Thank you for thoughtful suggestions. To be honest, as I mentioned in previous post - I don't rightly know what I was expecting but at the same I don't think I thought it would go 'as easy as it did'.

I am fully aware of the challenges the Camino provides (Good Lord ONLY KNOWS all the 'old-timers' (i.e. Camino Veterans) here keep on pounding it into our newbies' heads ). My current plan (and I've alluded to it in some of my other posts since I became a Member here) is to do SJPdP --> SdC in 37 days; hopefully allowing for 3 days off somewhere in there (or perhaps as per other suggestions shorten some stages). I am definitely planning on splitting Stage 1 into 2 days by staying at Orrison and reasonably taking it easy for the 1st week learning as I am going along. If all goes well (GOD WILLING!) 2 days rest in SdC and then 4-day to Finisterra before going back home

Hopefully within the next couple of months I should get my "Camino backpack" (already checked out REI and seems that Gregory Zulu 40L was the one I felt most comfortable with) and then start training with it slowly building up endurance and stamina.

And on that note - I truly LOVE your last paragraph:

Fail to prepare and be prepared to fail. By all means prepare but take it beyond the physical. Tune your heart and mind alsio towards the experiences that awaits.