At the age of 45, I am feeling much fitter than I have in a very long time. This is partly due to my lovely Fitbit (which is now part of my body, and I never leave the house or even the room without it!). I have been running a Fitbit leaderboard on a private Facebook group for the last two years now, and it’s amazing how competitive people are, and also how motivating it can be just to do those few extra steps!
Training for the Camino has kept me in the top 20 on the leaderboard each week, and as time gets nearer to the day that we fly out to Biarritz, I am hoping to keep in the top ten for at least three weeks before we go.
To complete the first leg of the Camino, we need to walk 60 miles in five days, which equates to around 140k steps.
Week 10 – My goal for this week is to accomplish a min of 92k steps and 40 miles.
Monday 14th March – 11,004 steps (4.68 steps)
I enjoyed a lovely walk this morning (trying to get the slightly longer walk out of the way before 6.30am if I can). The good weather certainly helps. I was very active during the day with walking up and down stairs, parking in the top corner of the car park, going to the loo on the ground level of the serviced offices that we work in. It all helps!
Tuesday 15th March – 17,056 steps (7.23 miles)
I am chuffed with my steps today. I was awake at 4.45am and was out of the door for my morning 2-mile walk by 5.15am. It feels good to know that I have completed a couple of miles before the rest of the world is awake. It is still quite dark, but light enough to see where I am going without having a torch. In two weeks time, the clocks change and life always seems so much better when the mornings are lighter.
In the evening, Rachel and I joined the Nordic Walking Club, and we set off from Norton in Northamptonshire for a 3-mile Nordic pole hike. We had our full packs on our backs this time, and there were quite a few hills. I could feel the burn in my legs as we walked up some rather long hills, but this is exactly what we need at the moment. A few more of these types of trails and the Pyrenees will be no challenge for us! (in my dreams!).
Wednesday 16th March – 11,911 steps (4.95 miles)
I woke up at 4 am and by 4.30am, I just couldn’t lie there any longer. I made myself a cup of coffee, grabbed the dog lead, put my outdoor onesie on over my jim jams and headed out the door. I think the dog was still half asleep! Good job no-one saw me as I must have looked a bit strange in a bright red onesie, and hair sticking up! Oh well, 5k steps in the bag before 6 am – so a good start to the day.
At 4 pm this afternoon my brain was a tad mushy, to say the least. The guys in the office were asking me questions, and I am sure that I was just talking gibberish! I got home around 6 pm, had some tea and then took the dog for another long walk. I felt so much better once I had got home.
Thursday 17th March – 10,249 steps (4.25 miles)
A quick morning walk to start my day off. I must admit, I did smile to myself as I spotted that the trees now have blossomed on them. Spring is officially here!
I didn’t have many visitors at work today, so never had much of a chance to walk up and down the two flights of stairs in our services offices. I also took calls on Skype rather than my phone, so again, not much of an opportunity to get many steps in – boo hoo!
But, I was on a mission to stick to my 10k steps a day. Therefore, I took another walk of just over 1.5miles when I got home, and Rachel came with me, which was lovely.
Friday 18th March – 6412 steps (2.68 miles)
Oh dear – today was a naff day for steps, but I got a lot of other things done!
My mum rang to say that our Camino shells have arrived (she wanted to contribute to our trip), so I am looking forward to picking those up on Sunday.
Saturday 19th March – 12,785 steps (5.35 miles)
Saturday 19th March – 12,785 steps (5.35 miles)Rachel and I were up bright and early as we had to meet the Nordic Walking club at 9 am in Flecknoe (about a 40 min drive from our home address). With our walking boots on and our Nordic poles in our hands, we started off with some simple stretching exercises. I now appreciate how important it is to do these exercises before and afterwards.
There are two geocaches in Flecknoe, so Rachel and I introduced the Nordic club to the joys of geocaching! I’ve now grabbed 827 geocaches (which is helping towards my 1000th cache challenge this year).
Sunday 20th March – 22,641 steps (9.22 miles)
We have not walked as many miles as I had hoped this weekend, but I am still happy with the progress we are making. Today we walked around Salcey Forrest again (we walked the cycle route twice), and managed just over 8.5 miles.
Fun at Salcey Forest today. pic.twitter.com/BqBjJc7H0V
— Julia Doherty (@JuliaDoherty) March 20, 2016
TOTAL STEPS FOR WEEK 10 = 92,058
TOTAL MILES FOR WEEK 10 = 38.36
Progress chart to date:
- Week 11 – 91,613 steps / 37.34 miles
- Week 12 – 93,396 steps / 40.18 miles
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