One Hour a Day - 3 Days a Week

So, my first steps on this journey to (eventually) trek the Camino...are to walk an hour a day, 3 days a week. That sounds pretty easy. And with everything else that's going on in my life, the walk finds itself squeezed to either end of the day, either early morning or late afternoon/evening. When it's dark... and wet... and cold. But... onwards!

First Walk

I came out of Starbucks one morning at 8:10 am and decided to do a hike along the parkway trail. It stretches a total of 18 km from one end of the city to the other. One day... one day... I will walk that trail from one end to the other! But... for now... I just timed myself... 30 minutes out and 30 minutes back.

I was actually quite surprised at: (a) how long 30 minutes is - longer than I thought, (b) how far I could go in 30 min (almost 3 km) and (c) how many sparkles of creativity came to me during that time - ideas for writing, things to remember, etc. My mind was given a chance to just drift and roam and it dug up all sorts of interesting things. I grabbed my phone at multiple points to record quick vocal recordings of things I wanted to remember.

So this is something to consider. Usually... when I'm doing a walk, I'll pop in my ear buds and listen to a podcast. But when I'm listening to the podcast, my mind is occupied in paying attention. It doesn't get a break... it has to stay focused and attentive. So there isn't time or space for it to burble around and serve me up with some creative ideas. Although, I do like listening to the podcasts... so perhaps a good idea to mix it up a bit.

My second day of an hour long walk was just shy of an hour. I went out in the early morning hours and went through the neighbourhood. But again, 30 minutes was much longer and farther than I expected. I ran out of sidewalk at one point and had to backtrack and try some other side streets and cul de sacs, trying to beef up the time. But even so, it ended up being 55 minutes and about 4.5 km. There were many more hills in this section, which isn't a bad thing... it just slows me down a bit.

My pace on the first walk was about 10 min/km (so theoretically, 6 km/hr) and on the second walk it was more like 12 min/km (more like 5 km/hr).

These are good numbers to know because your pace determines how far you can go in a day on the Camino and therefore, how long it will take you to complete. Now, both of these walks were on pavement soooo... not a good indicator but... I will try some forest hikes and see how my pace does in there.

I have a sense, that I will be exploring a lot of new trails over the next few months! Which is exactly in line with the "living the Camino now". My partner even suggested I sign up for a virtual camino but so far... I haven't found one that will link to my fitness watch. Onwards!