Getting Fit

I have started the hard task of getting fit.

Tuesday 11 August 2009 I walked to work (6.3km) and home again. I then turned around an walked with the dogs (Ella & Rapid) to Central Allbreeds Dog Training School, where I am one of the instructors. By the time I got home I had a blister on 1 heel. I also found that whichever dog was on my right did not want to heel properly.

Wednesday was 15km and Thursday 18km. The dogs did about 5km each day. Friday I gave the dogs a total day of rest and only walked 10km myself. I was hoping a quiet day would allow the blister to heel.

On Saturday 15 August 2009 I got Kate to drop me off at Petone on the way home from Upper Hutt and I walked the rest of the way. 17.8km in 3hr 15min. Part of the route is in a 100km area walking on the shoulder. Having traffic charging past you at that speed 5m away is fairly scary. It will be worse on the South Island roads where in some cases there is no shoulder at all. Traffic will be zipping past really close at that speed.

On Sunday Kate needed the car and I decided to walk to church (St Peter's on Willis St) with Ella and Rapid. Ella has a special role at church and is allowed to come inside. She is great friends with the congregation but her favourite part of the service is morning tea. Her attitude makes it clear she puts up with church to get morning tea.

After church we walked home following the coast around Evans Bay, Miramar Peninsula and then along the Cook Strait coast back to home. A total walk of 35.5km. I managed to walk it in just under 7 hours (excluding the time at church) which means I have my walking speed up to a 5km/hr average. The road through Shelly Bay and around to Scorching Bay has markings on the road every kilometre. I was able to maintain 6km/h through this part but I slowed down to about just over 5km/h for the last hour. I had a stop for lunch (about 20mins) and two 5 minute rest breaks during the walk.

Unfortunately the blisters are really killing me now. Ella and Rapid are sound asleep.

The photo shows Ella on the left and Rapid on the right walking on a track near the dog school.