Plodding

Last Thursday was not a good day for my feet or legs. I did my daily 4 miles to and from work but then went out for an additional 15 miles walk the evening. I got the distance from http://www.walkjogrun.net/ which has an excellent route tracking tool!

I was perhaps walking quicker than I am likely to do on the Cotswold Plod and averaged 4.5 miles per hour, but my legs and feet should not have been aching in the way they were after that distance - the last mile or so was a real struggle for me.

I hope that this is because I had been doing a lot without any real break for my legs and feet, rather than an indication that there is a weakness, but it did concern me.

My Hamstrings were incredibly tight and very painful towards the end, but also my feet are also causing problems as two of my toes on my left foot are black and my big toe on my right foot looks very peculiar and showing signs of lifting.

I am continuing my 4 miles per day walk to and from work and we have a 20 mile Cotswold Way walk from Tomarton to Dursley planned on Thursday evening after work which will be the final big night walk before the Cotswold Plod on June 10th. I hope that all will go well on Thursday to set me up for the big one, but I am a little concerned. I will take it easy this week in the build up and not walk in on Weds or Thursday this week to give everything a bit of respite.

I have decided to invest in some new and slightly thinner socks to see if I can help my toes a bit by giving them some more space. I had been using the smartwool socks but as the weather has warmed, my feet are swelling therefore giving me the problems. I purhcased some 1000 mile socks at the weekend so will test these on Thursday and feedback. I hope that this will alleviate some of the foot problems.

I also purchased a 2 litre Camelbak at the weekend. This should be useful on the day, but will again test it on Thursday to see how I get on!

If you would like to learn more or indeed sponsor us to do the Cotswold Plod, please follow this link - http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/rsg1
Starting at midnight on June 11th 2011, I will be walking 40 miles non-stop for Action Aid Medical Research.