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100-Day Milestones Toward the Camino

May 27, 2016 •

In 100 days I’ll begin a 3‑week pil­grim­age, hik­ing cen­turies-old trails in south­west­ern France. I started train­ing for this jour­ney in Feb­ru­ary, test­ing boots and equip­ment, and embark­ing on some nec­es­sary con­di­tion­ing.

At the halfway point for prepa­ra­tions, I note con­sid­er­able progress made, as well as unex­pected con­se­quences:

  • 10+ pounds lost since Feb­ru­ary
  • Feet stronger, but a half size larger

Los­ing weight was not an explicit goal, but it’s a pleas­ing out­come… Except for the fact that my pants no longer fit, and much of my wardrobe is now too baggy.

The First 100 Days

Woodland trails near Seattle help with conditioning for the trek

Wood­land trails near Seat­tle help with con­di­tion­ing for the trek

I’ve been train­ing with a hik­ing buddy in the Cas­cade foothills. We walk together 4–5 times a week, solo oth­er­wise.

We’ve pro­gressed to hik­ing 8 miles with ease, with 10 or so pounds in our day­packs. We pre­fer hilly wood­land trails, and will tackle some moun­tains later this sum­mer.

Fit­Bit reports that we’ve already hiked hun­dreds of miles in the Cas­cade foothills.

The North­west foothills offer a good train­ing ground. The ter­rain is var­ied, often muddy, with fre­quent ascents or descents — sim­i­lar to what I’ll encounter in France. I’ll have to look fur­ther afield to find analogs to France’s lime­stone cliffs and loose scree.

45 Days on Cape Cod

Now I’m vis­it­ing Cape Cod until we return to Seat­tle in early July. Con­di­tion­ing here requires cross-train­ing to com­pen­sate for flat­ter and less chal­leng­ing ter­rain. So bik­ing, kayak­ing and yoga get added to the mix.

Feasting on ocean views while training for the Camino

Enjoy­ing ocean views while train­ing for the Camino

Get­ting back on my yoga mat will help rebuild core and upper body strength — which have declined dur­ing the intense 100-day focus on hik­ing the North­west trails. Bik­ing will help with car­dio. Kayak­ing with upper body strength and bal­ance.

Sur­pris­ingly, I find myself miss­ing the North­west: the cooler misty weather, the softer wood­land trails, the ver­dant hill­sides and for­est glades. Here on Cape Cod I face uneven paved roads, heat and humid­ity, and tick-infested wood­lands that dis­cour­age off-road walk­ing. For­tu­nately it’s easy to find unpaved roads in the vil­lage where we’re stay­ing, so not all my train­ing will be pound­ing on pave­ment.…

My walks are often blessed with ocean or bay views and con­stant bird­song, but there’s a chal­lenge to walk­ing solo. Mostly men­tal…

Staying disciplined, despite distractions

Stay­ing dis­ci­plined, despite dis­trac­tions

Sus­tain­ing the dis­ci­pline of daily train­ing walks is harder than expected when stay­ing in a vaca­tion spot with­out a hik­ing buddy. There are mul­ti­ple dis­trac­tions, like overnight guests, and con­ve­nient excuses to avoid walk­ing, like heavy down­pours or time con­flicts. I have to drag myself away from inter­est­ing con­ver­sa­tions to find time to walk for two hours.

Walk­ing solo, the miles pass more slowly beneath my feet. Rain is more of a has­sle. I’m eas­ily annoyed by bit­ing flies or the heat that rises from the asphalt roads. I miss the wood­land trails, the for­giv­ing feel of packed dirt or organic mate­r­ial beneath my boots.

It rains harder here. Yes­ter­day I expe­ri­enced the down­side of breath­able sneak­ers: it takes them no time at all to get water­logged dur­ing heavy rains. So today I learned how to dehy­drate sneak­ers in a low oven when they did­n’t dry enough overnight…

On a pos­i­tive note we’ve launched our kayaks and have already pad­dled for a cou­ple of hours in windy con­di­tions, so arm/shoulder con­di­tion­ing is well under­way. I’ve also returned to my yoga prac­tice, through classes and at-home asanas, so the cross-train­ing has become real­ity rather than an abstract con­cept…

And it’s a good thing, too.

Every time I read the blog posts from pil­grims now trekking the Célé Vari­ant of the Via Podi­en­sis, my com­mit­ment to con­di­tion­ing gets rein­forced. This will not be “a walk in the park” next Sep­tem­ber…

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

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