Tap tap tap. Yes, it’s the BBC weather website. Right, I see, it’s raining on Saturday, but very little chance of precipitation on pretty much every one of the following six days. Tap tap. Sunday. Maximum temperature 5 Celsius. Right, perhaps a little colder than I would ideally like (that’s around 8-12 Celsius) but ok, I will have my gloves and woolly hat. Click. Ah! what’s this? “Feels Like: -1 Celsius”. Ok, we’re in for a cold one. That is pretty much how it went this week. I have a week off coming up, with the possibility of a couple of extra walks, but Sunday is the one.
There’s been quite a bit in the press, media and social media about the creation of the myth of 10,000 steps. So let me have my own say. Anyone who is getting through that number every day, most days, or even two or three times a week, will be doing themselves some good. It sounds nonsense to suggest that two minutes strenuous exercise does you as much good as five miles’ walking. However, four people have asked me about this week, one suggesting that I might as well give up walking because it’s not really doing me that much good anyway (I think he was joking, actually, but you can never be absolutely sure with some people). But it is not unreasonable to think that both activities have something going for them, and they can be combined, of course.
Anyone who has the time to walk 10,000 steps should be able to fit in a few flights of stairs or a speed walk into that regime. In fact, the latter will help you complete the number quicker. For me, in any case, the “High Intensity Training” is incorporated in virtually every one of my walks with a speed walk for a mile or so, and/or by pushing myself very hard up a steep hill. Anything that makes the heart beat quicker or builds up a sweat is ok. This is the way I have to do it – I can’t see two minutes intense exercise doing the same for my mind as a long walk. Head music wouldn’t even get through the first track.
I was determined to walk just a little bit further than last week’s 16 miles, and today I knocked out just under 20 miles on what was indeed a very cold Sunday late morning / afternoon / early evening. Yes, it does take that long, and that is the biggest barrier to anyone taking up long distance walking. The details of the route: from Sarisbury to Southampton via Sholing, Itchen Bridge and Ocean Village, the habitual coffee stop, and then pushing hard northwards through Bedford Place, Southampton Common and The Avenue. Turn right down Bassett Green Road, through Swaything, Mansbridge, pass by West End, then down Kanes Hill and back to Sarisbury.
I didn’t really feel the distance in my legs until late on, which is a good sign (yeah yeah – “always do one or two miles more than is comfortable”). I was in the zone today and sometimes in deep concentration, though not so deep that I couldn’t acknowledge a couple from work walking together in Southampton, and a car driver flashing and waving (I’ve no idea who you were, sorry!). I did feel the cold for a bit after the coffee stop; it is surprising how much one can cool down during half an hour or so, even while partaking of a hot beverage. But I was pleased with myself today – I would class anything over 15 miles as a decent walk, and over 20 as a long one. So almost long, and very decent indeed. No doubles entendres intended, though you may like to play with that one. Let’s see how stiff I am in the morning.
Spiceboy's Very Long Walk 