Things I Learned On My Walk Today

Reposted from http://www.avonwalk.org/goto/Paul_Willett
Originally posted May 1, 2010

As a first-time walker I've found the training guides provided by the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer to be very useful and easy to follow. Getting ready to walk a marathon & a half is definitely a major commitment in terms of both time and effort, but I was looking for exactly that kind of physical challenge and I've found that it's much easier to fit the time into my schedule than I thought it would be.

For the 39.3 mile walk there are four different training programs, depending on how early you want to start. I got involved fairly early in the year so I was ready to do the 24-week program, which has you walking five days a week and building up time & distance slowly. The first four weeks the schedule only has you walking 14 miles a week, in segments of 1, 3, 3, 4, & 3 miles on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday respectively. This will build up slowly so that by the end of August we'll be doing training walks totaling 42 miles a week, at 2, 4, 4, 22, & 10 miles.

This was the first week that the mileage bumped up a little bit, from 4 to 6 miles today. (The 8-mile walk two weeks ago was a "bonus" for me, I was only scheduled for 4 miles, but I've been exceeding the scheduled distances by a bit every day to begin with. Stinkin' over-achieving super-ego...) Looking back on today's walk I think that I learned a few things.

#1 Use a checklist. As a pilot, I know about checklists. Wouldn't fly without using one, it's not smart. I need to have one for walking, especially as the training walk distances start to pick up. There have been a few times that I've forgotten something or the other (sunglasses, water bottle) but today I made a bigger mistake, forgetting to put on my fancy, expensive, and really good fitting & supportive running shoes. Instead, because I had just come from playing racquetball, I realized about 1.5 miles in that I was still wearing my regular old gym shoes. I realized it because my feet were starting to hurt and I thought that I might be developing blisters. (I seemed to have somehow dodged that bullet, although my feet are tender & sore. We'll see how they are tomorrow morning.) Time to put a short checklist card into that fanny pack.

#2 As walks get longer, plan them out better & stick to the plan. At first I was planning routes using Google Earth, but I had gotten away from that after the first two weeks because I had a pretty good feel for how far three & four mile walks would take me. Today I had done a quick look at the map and had an idea of where I wanted to go, but then changed the route a bit at about the 5-mile mark just to get into a different neighborhood, get off of the loud & noisy major streets, and not walk back home the same way that I had left. Instead, my impulsiveness got me into a tract of homes that didn't have an easy exit due to a couple of flood control channels cutting off the major cross streets, and by the time I wandered about looking for a way back out to where I wanted to be, I went way over the 6-mile target for today's walk. (Total distance today ended up at 8.57 miles.)

#3 Trust the dog when it comes to being comfortable! When your feet hurt, taking off your shoes and socks and just resting your feet on the grass in the shade feels *wonderful*! Late this afternoon my feet were still sore. Not in agony, but sore & tender. Jessie was lounging out on the grass and I went out to sit with her and without thinking slipped off my shoes. Aaaaaahhhhh!! Jessie had been trying to tell me that all afternoon. Next time I'll listen.