Taper Time

This morning Dave and I went on our last long walk/hike before our Camino adventure. For the past 11 weeks (for me, and even longer for Dave) we've been taking weekly hikes of 13 to 17 miles. We've gone basically two or three different routes in the areas near us, usually heading North and East through Lake Hodges to San Pasqual Preserve. The surface is soft (well groomed dirt trails/fire roads) with little traffic. We've also gone South and East to Blue Canyon Preserve and once up to Lake Ramona.

This morning we went to Lake Miramar, a five mile asphalt loop, and I did 15 miles and Dave did 8. This is the walk. I pressed the pace a bit more than normal. On the actual trek, we will stroll.

We both took our back packs completely packed as they'll be on the trek. Mine, with water, weighed over 15 pounds, and that wasn't even as much water as I'll carry. My goal was to limit it to 10 percent of my weight, and at around 125 pounds, I was way over. I felt ok for 9 miles, but then fatigue set in. My right shoulder bothered me too. I took my bottles out of the side pockets and carried them in my hands the last 4 miles...not exactly a confidence booster.

I guess as we get closer to the date of departure, doubt is normal. I often have it in marathoning. We get what we call taper madness. Today, my right knee started bothering me, and Dave's doing only 8 miles instead of 15, was due to pain in his knee also - which he hasn't had. At this point in time, we don't need much walking to maintain our fitness. Whether our pains are real or imagined, we are probably as prepared as we are going to be.

We both have a couple of real injuries that we are treating so they don't interfere with the trip. Dave has some plantar fasciitis and is stretching, wearing a boot at times, icing, and hoping it stays at bay. He says the pain is a usually a "1." He may get a cortisone shot before we leave "just in case." His podiatrist says there really isn't much of a downside and the closer to the trip, the better. I have what's called sesamoiditis, pain on the ball of my foot. It's been better the last week, and I've purchased a type of pad that dancers wear. I wear it periodically but it can fold up on itself and I'm nervous about it causing blisters. What's odd is that I ran a marathon Sunday and had no pain at all, but today after my walk, it bothered me some. I guess that's another reason to bring NAISDs.

I'm debating whether I want to wear my heart rate monitor with my GPS (garmin) watch. I'm wearing the watch for sure. It will show where we've been and I like that. Wearing a HRM is more information than what's needed but I tend to be a data junkie and I'm sort of interested in the cumulative effect that day after day walking has on my heart rate. Will it increase over time on the walks? Or will it just increase on each day's walks after a few hours (like it does during a long run) and return to normal with the same pattern each day? I have plenty of time to decide and won't stress either way about this. I'm also contemplating a change in how I carry my water. But, that's for another day.

Let the taper (tapir?) begin

And, with that, I'm probably tapering on this blog too until The Camino start.

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