Walking

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ChasnotRobert

great that there is a thread about walking.

i've signed up to do a walk around the isle of wight next year, it's 106km. I think the furthest i've ever walked is about 20 miles so this is a different scale.

i'm 50, i've got a minor knee niggle and an ankle (other leg so it balances) screwed and plated back together after a bad break 30 years ago. other than that, all is good.

I went out today and walked 21km in 3.5 hours, quite enjoyed it.

A friend who has done 100km walks before advises that I should get comfortable with 50km and after that "it's just about mental toughness".

any other advice?

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el_presidente in reply to @ChasnotRobert

I twice did https://trailwalker.gwt.org.uk/ (when I was much younger). I did 3 or 4 decent all-day walks in the lead up, at least 40k each, maybe a bit more. Practice some night walking as well, slightly different mentally.

Otherwise usual endurance event advice Get 100% comfortable with your kit, especially footwear and socks. Don't be tempted to wear anything new. Pay attention to hotspots on your feet before blisters develop. Remember to eat and drink regularly.

Not sure if you are looking for any sort of fast time but whatever you do, don't go out too fast. On the second event we did it in 19 hours - strategy was to walk at a steady pace but be very disciplined to get in and out at checkpoints very quickly. Very easy to get sucked in to spending 20 or 30 mins at checkpoints, especially if they have food, and the time really adds up.

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ChasnotRobert in reply to @el_presidente

thanks - great advice.

timewise, we have an aspiration to complete in 24hrs but not looking for a fast time.
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ELbowloh in reply to @el_presidente

I also did trailwalker twice.

The most I did in training was 25 miles/40km (Guildford to Merstham along the North Downs Way), which i did at least twice before the event.

I wore trail-running trainers both times. The first time it rained heavily for pretty much the whole even, which made it very hard. We lost one of our team to fatigue in the middle of the night, we waiting around for a friend to come and pick her up and then had a wait a bit longer as we were asked to add 2 other walkers to a our team who had 2 of their team drop out (we're still in touch with them!). I think it took about 27 hours that time.

Second time the weather was much better, we did it in about 24 hours. We were quite chilled on that run and took it easy with rest stops.

@ChasnotRobert, is it solo or part of a team? It does help having people to chat to and have support from, although in the wee hours after you've been walking for pretty much a whole day, you don't want to talk to anyone. We had a support team, who turned up in a van at a couple of check points, meaning we had a bit of moral support, but also meant we didn't have to carry as much.

Even though I had decent, worn in footwear, I had quite a few blisters (especially on the first one) and lost many toenails each time I did it.

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