I’m making a big effort to train for this year’s Bloody Long Walk. YoungB is less present than hoped – he’s away at rehearsals An Awful Lot – but I don’t really need his assistance or encouragement to work out what I need to do. It’s just nice to have someone else cheering for me! Dr B can no longer accompany me on the longer distances and, as enjoyable as it is to walk around the block with him, it’s social more than physically challenging (for me).
I’ve said in the past that where we live is ideally suited to doing loops that you can finagle to add distance without going far from home. Finding my total a little light on by the time I was almost home, I did that during yesterday’s training walk. It remains a good option. Without venturing too far, I added almost another kilometre to my intended route, ensuring that I covered the calculated increased distance plus a bit.
What I’ll admit to this time around is needing to sit and have a rest every now and then. You do that on the BLW itself, because there are support stops where volunteers hand you drinks – or orange quarters, or both – as part of a wellbeing check, and sometimes you meet up unexpectedly, or by design, with friends or family. But in my previous training walks, I’ve more or less kept on going; pausing if there’s a nearby water fountain where I can top up my bottle without actually stopping to regroup. Now, I’m carrying rather more interim injuries and older, stiffer joints so I can’t just gallop uphill the way I could when I was a kid; or even when I wasn’t a kid but hadn’t broken any bones!
The BLW site sets out some training plans, so I know I’m on the right track. The thing I’m finding most challenging is working out decent cross-training. I could simply do a shorter, faster walk (sometimes I do), but that’s really more of the same and doesn’t generally work different muscles so much as work the same muscles a bit harder than usual. There are lots of beginner yoga or chair weights classes I can do via YouTube. We have a few indoor swimming pools not far away for aquatic options and parks with exercise equipment. So I’m not lacking choice; more, to be fair, enthusiasm.
A return to frankly unfriendly morning temperatures hasn’t helped, with a recent forecast for frost; at this time of year!
Wishing you all the best with all of your training, too, whatever it encompasses.
tingledfangers 