In Training

It is a little difficult living in close proximity to adventurers without getting biten by the bug. After a conversation with Lisa a few months ago about finding my own adventure I now have one….it isn’t Japan as I first thought (that will have to wait a while) but I have decided to do Camino de Santiago or The Way of St James.

The route is a very ancient one and starts just the other side of the Spanish border (in France) and finishes in Santiago near the top end of Portugal. See map…..I have highlighted the route I will take in yellow. Initially I thought the walk was about 610 kilometers but subsequently found out that if I want to do the whole of this particular route it is about 790 kilometers.

Which made me take a very large breathe; and in addition to buying the book and researching on the internet, I decided to get really stuck into some full on training. My 8 weeks of Ashtanga yoga proved to me that I do have terrific stamina but I needed to put in a lot of time on my feet. Having a daughter who is an adventure and expedition racer has it’s advantages and the one thing I know from her is that at the end of the day it is not so much how fit you are but whether you little feet will stand up to the first week…if they do, without looking like lumps of rump steak, then you should be just fine. The other thing about having an adventurer daughter is that she is a shoe and foot expert….and she has heaps of advice regarding very, very light weight gear – because I will have to carry all my stuff.

So, I have been in walking training and loving every bit of it. I put on my little backpack filled with a litre of milk and some canned chickpeas and will slowly build up this weight until I am used to it. Since I started walking I have more than doubled my distance and my previous long walk is now a quick one for when I don’t have a lot of time. I also thought I could only walk in the morning (hmmm…talk about avoidance tactics) but have since found that I love walking at any old time – long walks in the mornings over the weekend and longish walks in the evenings after work. Next weekend I am going to walk to my brother’s house – which will be my first really long walk.

I am a bit anxious about Camino…if all goes well, it will take me about 6 weeks. But one thing that does worry me is that if I cant find a bed for the night I will have to sleep under a tree or somewhere... other than a cosy room!!! I have never done that before so am feeling a bit nervous about that. By the way, I am planning to go during September and October.

I guess as well, the whole object of this rather long posting is to tell you about a small little glitch that I have encountered in my training. I can’t breathe properly. On the slightest little incline I sound like I have never walked more than 2 steps in my life. Even going up the stairs at home made me sound like a huffing, puffing steam engine. I gasp and splutter and I thought I probably had TB. So, a few weeks ago I took myself off to the doctor and whilst she tested for TB (I don’t have it) she also did a lot of other tests and x-rays and it turns out I have emphysema….. It is really freaky and I am now on a puffer called Foxair and it is helping a bit. I go onto some other drugs a bit later in the year and hopefully that will slow it down. You can’t cure it!

But here’s the thing – I gave up smoking 16 or 17 years ago….and my doctor said “well thank God for that”. But here’s the other thing that is so freaky…this is how I feel (breathless, puffless, gasping) on just over 2/3 lung function. I can only guess how I will feel as I lose more lung function…..But the very worst freaky thing is: how can people who already have emphysema still smoke? If I feel like I do without smoking, how can they carry on doing all this damage? Things that are really bad for me are: being around people who smoke – second hand smoke is a no-no, and air pollution. So I will run a mile if you smoke around me and I really should move from my office – it is almost underneath the M1 highway that goes around Johannesburg; and if my car is all gritty and dirty then I am breathing in that air as well….

Doing the Camino will be terribly exciting and I am so looking forward to it; it will be a wonderful adventure. But what I really want to preach about is smoking – emphysema is most usually caused by smoking so give it up…..now!