The Countdown Begins- 14 Days

Well at least we are down to the final two week before my next stage of the Camino de Santiago.
Yeah! Time to finish prep and relax a bit before going.

The key is not to over do any training. I think I have that bit covered.  I am giving myself some down time.  The last I wrote I was going on vacation with my grandson to London. I knew we would do some walking, but man oh man did we walk!  On one day we walked 16km. In fact most days we walked at least 5k a day and more on most days. It was good training. Two of those days we had our backpacks on for the majority of the day.  And the walking might not sound like much, but that was to include stairs and escalators we walked up and such.I will say my legs were aching. But I good its a good ache.

So on my return home, I decided to take it easy for a bit. At least as far as the walking went. I have been busying myself with the itinerary and room reservations. We have decided to stay in hostels, inns, hotels, pensions, and such. With private rooms for sleeping.  So I decided to go ahead and book the rooms ahead of time. This way we are not "racing for a bed". We should be able to just walk at our own pace and enjoy the walk. There is peace in knowing I have a bed to sleep in and a place to shower.

This week I have some other things to take care of, no camino things. Yes, there is another life outside the Camino world.  I will be posting my packing soon. What I packed and how. I may include my packing list as well. I am a list sort of person.

I am really looking forward to this trip. It seemed so far away and now its nearly time.

Spring Break

Friday Jessie and I went for a walk.  Jessie hasn't been walking long distances for awhile so she suggested we do an "easy low milage" day.  So we headed off to Presseth which is about 10 km away.
Which still seems like a good bit of a walk.  We had a nice time explore different routes and paths. When we finally made out way back home we had completed 22 Km.  

Jessie was pleased with herself that she was able to walk the distance right off the bat. She is in good shape, she runs a lot. Jessie is committed to doing a walk in England in July. I believe its 100 km in 30 hours. So this was good training for her.

As far as me, I did well. Just at the very end I was getting tired and my knee began to hurt. When I got home I did see that once again I had the rash, but this time on both feet. I forgot to have us take a break and sit for a bit. We just walked and walked and walked, straight through.  On Saturday morning though the rash was gone, so I think its ok.

Saturday, the family all went to a fest. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the day we had walked a total of 8km. Which isn't too bad for just walking around the carnival things.

This sunday my grandson and I are heading to England for a few days for his Spring Break. Even though I will not be going out for "walks",  I will be track our walks exploring London and the countryside.

Also perhaps this is a good "break" for my body. Where I am not pushing it to the distances I have been.  Although I am sure we will be walking a lot in London. We shall see.

Its time to regroup and recharge.

Count down to Camino: 29 Days

Day of Rest and Lessons Learned

Today I decided I better give my feet and legs a rest in hopes that the rash will go away. Also I had to see for myself if rest helped. So, for today I mostly did more research and other things needed for the May Camino Trip.

I am happy to report that my rash is doing much better. Its nearly gone. So rest does help. Glad to know it isn't anything more serious. I also feel I can handle it better if it happens again on the walk.

It is the small things that can make a big difference.  Another lesson learned.

Hikers Rash- hum.....

Yesterday I went for a nice walk. The weather was great. It was sunny and warm and I set off on a 15 km/9 mile walk. I had a great time.

However when I returned home and took off my boots, I had a nasty looking rash on my right ankle area. It was strange looking because it ended just where my boot did.  I sort of thought it was heat rash or something.  I put cream on it and took a benedryl hoping it would help.

This morning I woke to find it wasn't any better. In fact it looked a little worse. I went ahead to the doctors to make sure it wasn't anything serious. Ok, make sure it wasn't serious enough to make me stop walking. ;-)

The doctor looked at it and said that most likely it is due to being on my feet for long periods of time. Seems the blood pools in the legs and the blood vessels start to break down. The doctor told me to rest and see if it clears up. I can rest a bit, for now.

Then I did some research online, like we all do, and there is something called Hikers rash or
Golfer's Vasculitis.  I never knew of such a thing. I guess I should be happy that this is the first time I have had to deal with it. Never on any of my other walks, not even the half marathons, did I have this happen.  Last year in Savannah, Georgia I did get a heat rash on other parts of my body. 

So when the weather get warmer there are new things to be aware of. And here I thought once it got a bit warm and not hot all would be easy. 

For now I will rest a couple days. Then I have a trip to England! The doctor told me just to make sure I rest more than I have been. I think that will help, especially since i haven't been taking many breaks on my training walks. Good lesson to learn.

The good news is, its not really painful.