Training progress for Walk to WordCamp Europe

First training

Training is needed to prepare my body to walk 700km (see the route for the precise distance). For 30 days I will walk around 25 to 30 km per day, with about five to six resting days.

My first training was done on the 9th of September. I prepared a roundtrip of about 27.5 km. I have to start somewhere right?

I started at 9:40. The route was pretty, and while walking I discovered that your neighborhood is not just what you see when driving through it by car. It's much more. Much more that's discovered when slowly passing through, and yes, that's what walking is, slow.

I wore jeans, a normal t-shirt and my hiking shoes I also used on our holiday in Austria. After 11.86km, I took a break. My first break.

My legs and feet felt good, although I realized things were heating up in those shoes. And that's not a good thing. I continued my walk and had a final charging break on a terrace. 🍺

At 15:14 I returned back home. Ready to dive onto the couch and not move for a few hours. Yes, this was tough, although I had no pain, no blisters, my legs were telling me to lie down for a while. A long while. I was happy with the shoes, but I had some concerns. Let's try them for another training and evaluate after that.

Happily, the next morning everything felt normal again.

Second training

Eight days later, on September 16th, I started my second training at 8:48. This route went a bit more to the west, and covered almost 27km. This time I wore shorts and a sports t-shirt. Way more comfortable and it helped my body stay cool. The shoes felt good in the beginning, but did confirm my doubts about them.

In the middle of what my friend Dave Loodts thought was a cannabis field (no don't worry, it was a field full of nettles), I took a little break and enjoyed the view.

At 13:29 I arrived back home, and finished this training. It was good, my legs felt better, I needed less recovery time and I didn't need to rest. The shoes got the verdict of not being the best shoes for this job. So I have to buy some new ones.

Third training

For my third training I went to France. Well, not entirely true. I went to France for a yearly wine trip with friends, and this year we visited the Champagne region. A perfect location to do a third training, with new shoes. I left the house at 7:30, before sunrise and started a route that would be almost 30km. 29.69km to be precise.

The new shoes were amazing. I have walked on these shoes in my house to see if they were comfortable while wearing for a longer period. And they were.

Because this was not a roundtrip, my friends picked me up in Condé-sur-Marne, where I finished the hike at the church.

I was very happy with this training. No pains, no blisters, and the new shoes felt great! On to training number four, which will be in The Netherlands again.