So, how did I get here!?! (pt3)

“”Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
TS ELIOT

Since January I have hiked over 100 miles. Mostly through cold and crappy weather. My first hikes in the Chicago area gave me confidence that I could possibly do this with a 10 mile walk with the local  APOC chapter (American Pilgrims of the Camino) being my initial hike. Now, I felt like hell after that hike and it took me three days to feel normal again but I soon began to realize that I had two tasks that needed to be accomplished. First to build up my ability to walk long distances and second to do enough work that my recovery time between hikes was reduced to basically overnight. I know I have knocked out my first goal as I walked 15 miles on Easter Sunday following a 5 mile trek the day before. I guess we will find out together over the two weeks whether I have accomplished the second.

I have learned over that time that the hiking community in general, and particularly in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, is far more pervasive than I would have ever imagined and, thankfully, more than willing to share experiences and advice with newcomers. For example, I was told by both Rich, the fellow whose idea this trek originally was and another friend at work, Donnie, that I needed to get trekking poles (basically high-tech walking sticks) to help traverse tough terrain as well as allow the upper body to carry part of the load while hiking. I was skeptical, particularly that I needed two, because I felt I needed to keep my hands free. So, I bought one to try it and boy was I glad I did.

My first hike in East TN was at a local city park called Steele Creek Park in Bristol TN. It’s a typical main park for a city of 30,000, nine-hole golf course, picnic area and walking trails…or so I thought. In my mind what was shown as trails would be the 5 to 8 foot wide paths that I had been walking in Chicago what failed to dawn on me until I was on a trail basically 1 foot wide on the side of a knob (a small mountain for those in the mid-west) where to my left the knob stretched to its apex and to the right, about 200 feet down was Steele Creek. I remember having three thoughts at that point: the first “Well big boy you may have just bitten off a bit more than you can chew on this one” the second “Well the trees will probably catch you before you fall all the way to the creek but I’ll be damned if I can figure out how I will get back up here” and the third “Damn I’m glad I bought this trekking pole or I really would be screwed right now”. Add to this the fact that this was literally the first time that I had ever hiked with any type of pack, much less one with 25lbs of books in it to simulate my field weight and looking this was probably not one of my brighter moments. By the same token I was learning that in an endeavour such as this one had to exceed one’s limits in some form in order to continue to force progress. However, the line is fine between not enough and too much. That hike was only 7 miles but there was roughly 800′ of elevation change (vs the Chicagoland hiking where over the course of 10 miles there was roughly 150 feet of elevation work) What I had failed to realize is that, being on the edge of the Appalachian Trail, hiking in East Tennessee meant backcountry trails with steep elevation changes because, while I went up 400 feet that also meant I came down 400 feet and believe it or not its much tougher on the legs and hips going downhill than up. Which I found out about a couple of weeks later.

I February I decided to change tactics a bit and hike around my subdivision one complete lap was roughly 3.5 miles with about 400′ of elevation change with some steep work but all on asphalt and not back country. Everything started out fine until I came to the realization that my right knee has an unaided design limit of 7 miles before it does not want to walk downhill anymore. I had developed runner’s knee and for a couple of weeks I had a real concern that my trip might be torpedoed. I tried to power through it, I have always been a play hurt kind of guy,  so when it first manifested itself I took an hour break and went back out on the less challenging part of the course and got about a mile and 1/2 in before my knee gave out again. This time I was fortunate to have gone back and bought the second trekking pole because they basically functioned as crutches as I limped back to my place. For the next three weeks my workouts were limited to seven mile hikes.

This trip would not be possible on the schedule I set if it weren’t for Google. I cannot begin to tell you the knowledge I have gained on the web from those folks who have more experience than I in such matters. It also doesn’t hurt to have a nephew who has his doctorate in physical therapy. Obrigado medico Scudere! With some exercises and an IT (iliotibial) band strap I was able to soldier on doing a 9 mile and 11 mile back to back hikes on a track to test the band out and then a 9 mile backcountry hike followed the next weekend by the 5 mile, 15 mile back to back trek Easter Sunday. The strap has worked like a champ.

Well, that does it for the description of my prep. The hiking, along with my excercise program has allowed me to shed 27lbs to this point. My next submission to the blog will go through my gear and why I am packing what for this trek. There will be a picture! For those waiting to start seeing pictures, good Lord willing I will be arriving in Madrid this Thursday and there will be fewer words and more pictures…promise.