Gosport Syndrome strikes

With this cricket thingy getting in the way, fortnightly walks are there merely to keep up a façade of fitness and I’m sure I had lost some of the edge when I walked today. It was a warm and muggy day, and this is more troubling than I ever found when I was a runner many years ago. Perhaps it was due to a run usually taking around 30 to 90 minutes (depending on the distance) whereas a normal long walk for me may be around 5 to 8 hours (6 hours 40 minutes today, minus half an hour coffee break) . That is a long time to be muggied.

An excellent first stage with 8.4 miles taken in 2 hours 15 minutes, a very good pace all things considered. I suffer a bit with secondary hyperhidrosis, which is over-sweating as a side effect of another medical condition or medication (as in my case). This can be irrespective of heat or weather but the warmth today did bring out plenty of sweat. I was keeping as hydrated as I could but as I was walking through Rowner (a part of Gosport) I experienced aches in my calves and slight light-headedness.

I had to walk for around another five minutes before finding a row of shops and a cashpoint. One local shop had heavy security shutters over the door and windows, as if they felt they might need to repel a raid by Rommel’s tank corps. Nothing gives an area a more crushing area of distrust than a shop battened down by metal. The cycle lane painted on the pavement appeared to be useful more for helping drunks walk in a straight line than anything else. I nipped into the convenience store, picked up some food and (another) water-based drink, and moved on quickly.

Fortunately, the mere act of having supplies instilled some energy, and I did feel a bit vulnerable – I wanted somewhere reasonable and safe to sit down (i.e. not a smashed up bus shelter) and replenish. I had too many things on me that I consider valuable – like my coffee shop loyalty card, my walking shoes, my arms, my legs – to stay still for too long round there. Forget Stockholm Syndrome, I’d become victim of the recently discovered psychological condition known as Gosport Syndrome, the crippling desire to leave somewhere you know only too well.

Even after eating, it was tough going but I did find it ok to have a few 5-minute speed walks between longer periods of trudging. I may have lost the edge off my fitness but I can still do the just-keep-going thing reasonably well. Getting on for 21 miles. Yes, it’s going to hurt in the morning, and it feels like the morning has come already. But it could be worse – I’m not in Gosport.

21 today and coming home

I faced a tough choice today. Watch the Cricket World Cup Final, or go for a long walk. It was tempting to stay in in front of the telly, but I felt I could listen to most of the match while out walking. I caught about the last 15 or 20 overs and saw all the drama at the end. So my mind was not that much on the sights and sounds of my walk, only the sounds on my DAB radio.

On Friday, I caught up with a work colleague who is walking the West Highland Way, finishing with climbing Ben Nevis. Despite me initially going to the wrong room, we had a great talk for about half an hour, bringing back many memories of my own walk there in 2014. I was very fortunate that the most difficult day was at least dry, if the most draining I have ever had as a walker. And I had to get back out there the next day – I remember being very down at the end of that one. Jas seems very grounded and very well prepared – and when I asked her what she was doing over the weekend, she replied that she was climbing Snowdon! Ouch!

I am in some awe. Her sponsorship page is below:- https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jaspreet-gakhal2

After sitting out in the sun for hours yesterday at cricket, I did need a long walk. My job is for the most part a desk job and fairly sedentary, and I hadn’t had a long walk in July as yet. I was out of the house just after 10:30am and proceeded to stomp away in warm weather, not as warm as yesterday but still much warmer than ideal. I have started wearing a thin neckerchief on long walks in the sun, the type that is part of the kit given away as part of the Ultra Challenges. I burn easily and the neck is one of the most vulnerable areas for me as I normally wear a long sleeved t-shirt with no collar.

No Ultra Challenges for me this year but there will be something(s) in 2020, for sure. I do want to complete the set and that probably means one or two each year, costly though that might be. I am thinking about some sort of challenge in the autumn – the weather will be cooler, for one thing – but it may not be of that ultra level. Just enough to keep me sufficiently motivated; I would hate it to become a chore to keep my fitness up. Just under 21 miles today before I came home, as did cricket. Decent, but it might hurt a bit in the morning on both counts. Thirsty work too and rehydrating aplenty now.