Training Update

This post should probably be sub-titled: "Where have you been for the past two months,and why haven't you written any new posts?"

So, to recap, I ran the Ottawa Marathon on May 29th and set a new personal best by knocking a few minutes off my time. The race felt great and I enjoyed the new course. A light rain every now and then and an overcast sky really helped to keep the temperatures down. All of the races from the full Marathon to the Family Fun Run were completely sold out so Ottawa was full of runners and their supporters. It was a great weekend and a marathon that I highly recommend.

Returning home to Markham on the Monday began the switch to my walking/trekking training program. This was interesting for me because I had never really given walking much thought and the shift has taught me a lot.

We started out walking for half an hour 3 times a week and then the long walk on Sunday was 1 hour in length. This didn't seem to push me at all, so I changed it to 1 hour 5 days a week and the long walk on Sunday. The first thing I had to learn was what pace was sustainable, recognizing that the pace would probably be much slower in Nepal due to the altitude, but at home I felt that I needed to feel the effort. You know, break a sweat! After a few walks I settled in to a pace of a sub-10 minute kilometer so I could comfortably cover 6 km in an hour.

So when the Sunday long walk shifted to 2 hours, that meant I covered 12km. My running routes came in handy as I had a 12 km route, and when we shifted once again to a 3 hour walk, I had an 18km route. All good except that the change to walking made me remember what a total klutz I am as it became really clear, very quickly that unless I really focus on what I'm doing, I can't walk a straight line!! I weave all over the sidewalk like some crazed wacko! And now I know why the people that I meet when I am out walking have a mild look of concern on their faces as I approach!

Now if the image of a middle-aged woman walking/weaving along the sidewalk isn't bad enough ... add the trekking gear to the image. Now I head out for my walks wearing my usual running gear topped off by a pair of Vasque hiking boots, a Deuter 22 liter day pack, and a set of Black Diamond trekking poles. So now not only do I walk crazy, I look crazy! But I have always held the life philosophy that if you're going to burn, burn in hell.

So keeping a good British stiff upper lip and trying to focus on the fact that I was doing this for a greater cause, I set off this morning on my first 4 hour walk. Except for a few blisters and a bit of a sun burn I managed to cover nearly 24km of suburban geography and I learned 2 things: it is much easier to walk a straight line using trekking poles; and if you smile broadly and call out a cheery "good morning", the look of mild concern fades to a look of mild amusement on most people's faces!

Trek on, my friends!!!