Perimeter Trail to Smiths Creek (30km) – Sat

Notes:
Well while my feet are still recovering I’d better get this final training update in the “Walk All Week” series posted. Yes, you guessed it, although I “could” keep walking tomorrow, I’m gonna enjoy a walk-free day on Sunday and just crawl between the couch and fridge all day. Ha ha

Additionally, I’d been promising a 30+ km walk all week to round out the series, and boy did I deliver. A gruelling 320m extra. Hey, it was pitch black and I couldn’t be bothered wandering around in the dark just to pump up my step count. Besides, I’ve now walked over half a Camino-Frances just in training so I’m gonna cut myself some slack.

And speaking of step counts… the Eagle-Eyed Sleuths amongst you may have wondered why I did over 27000 steps yesterday for a 24km walk, and today my watch only registered 17668 steps for my 30km effort. Well just like my training post on 30 APR, my Suunto watch needed charging during the walk and, while not on my wrist, dropped my Heart Rate to zero (and as it turns out stopped the step count accumulation). I didn’t even notice that last time.

So as can be seen by this HR Graph, at the 21.1km mark I took my watch off and put it on the charger. Unlike 30 APR though, I didn’t even think to strap it back on once it was charged. Now that I’ve been alerted to this it explains why my step count on the Cowan and Cockle Creek (23km) was unusually low too – I had to charge my watch while walking that day too.

Anyway, what this highlights to me is that if I want to accurately track my step count for my Camino stats, I’ll have to throw the watch on charge everytime I stop and take a extended break (breakfast/lunch/sock change etc).

Perimeter Trail Wrap-up

Still loving my trekking poles
Tried a few different Timewarp settings on the GoPro for today’s walk (I’ll compare soon)
Preparation was key again – Pre-created the trail and uploaded to my watch to keep me on track
My new rig accommodates four 600mL bottles in response to a short-coming identified on the Cowan and Cockle Creek hike. This means I’ve doubled my water carriage ability which reduce my chances of de-hydration.
I didn’t learn my lesson from last time and started too late again. The upside is, I was determined to walk 30+ km regardless so my headlamp was put to the test for the last 3km. It passed with flying colours.
No spiderwebs, leeches or “closed track” surprises.