what does one eat when walking 630 miles in 39 days when everything must be carried on ones back?

wow, i'm really bad at this blogging thing. ah well. i reckon i'll get a lot better as i walk in the summer.

so how am i planning on getting my calories in for my walk? how many calories do i need to get in?

i found a useful article here, which reckons on a woman hiking for 7 hours a day needing between ~3330 and 4320 calories a day. thats quite a lot. and using their sums would mean carrying lots of food. i don't intend to carry all my food by any means.

here's a list of what i think i'll carry:

• ready brek or similar (couple of servings worth)
• museli (a couple of servings worth)
• cous cous (a couple of servings worth)
• pasta (a couple of servings worth)
• noodles (a couple of servings worth)
• flavoursome stuff in small amounts (bouillon powder/salt/herbs/spices/black pepper/dried onions)
• parmesan (good flavour to weight)
• cheese (better flavour, but i'll need less cos of the parmesan)
• coffee (few cups worth)
• dried milk (enough for museli and coffee)
• trail mix (nuts/dried fruit/biscuits)

• multi vitamins (because i don't expect i'll be getting enough fruit and veg all the time)
• glucosaminetablets (we have family history of joint problems)
• vitamin c/echinacea effervescent tablets (taste good as a squash alternative and can form the basis of rehydration drink with a small pinch of salt - and help to keep the immune system strong)

obviously that's not gonna be enough even for a week. the stuff i'm carrying is intended as backup for days when i'm not passing towns/villages/cities close to breakfast and dinner time/when i'm running low on pennies.

when i'm passing towns i'll be grabing food as i go. pasties and fish & chips will, i'm anticipating, play key roles in my main meals. i'll also grab fresh fruit and veg (snacking stuff like carrots, tomatoes and sugar snap peas) and biscuits and other high calorific density foods to snack on in the day. and frigg. i love frigg. and it's pretty much the same nutritional balance as recovery shakes.

i'll also stock up on my pack basics when i pass towns with proper supermarkets close enough by, and/or by calling on my family to send out care parcels to me at youth hostels/bring supplies when they join me.

i'll also be relying on my plentiful fat reserves, to save both pennies and weight.

so what do you reckon? i know some of the stuff seems a bit overkill, but i'm a foodie at heart and it's a long trip, so i want to carry enough that i can make tasty/slightly varied food. would you add anything to the list to carry? any other suggestions of good high calorie food for snacking in the days?

up next: give us your money!

jin x
33 days to go...

what does one carry when walking 630 miles in 39 days and everything must be carried on ones back?

so on my walk i'm gonna need to be prepared for everything most eventualilites, but not chuck in loads of stuff that 'dosn't weigh much and might come in useful' that in fact is pretty pointless and just adds to the weight of my pack unnecessarily. this is what i've come up with:

bag (osprey exos)
tent (terra nova laser competition)
sleeping bag (summer weight down - kindly lent by my friend bertie)
silk liner
sleeping mat (poe peak elite ac - hopefully - it's currently very delayed in the post)

waterproof jacket
windproof jacket (still working out if i'm gonna get one of these or just cope with shirt/waterproof depending on situation)
waterproof trousers (just in case)
warm top  (mainly for sleeping)
shirt (for sun/wind protection)
vest
shorts
tights (thermal for sleeping/compression for recovery)
boots (inov8 roclite 400 gtx - still breaking me in being broken in at the moment)
flipflops (for round camp and to air my feet - i think blisters will be my nemesis)
various socks (padded, support, twin skin, liners - so i have enough to keep them clean, and options depending on how my feet feel)
pants
sports bra
bikini (so i can swim in the sea to stretch out/combat the ridiculous tan lines i'll be forming on my one or two rest mornings)
gloves (windproof)
buff

pen knife
headtorch
iphone (to act as camera/ipod/video player/book/games console/gps/blogging device/mirror oh, and phone)
solar phone charger
heart rate monitor watch (possibly - i lost mine in a canyon in mallorca, but if i can scrounge one from somewhere i think it could be interesting to see the results)

pan with heat exchanger
pot cosy
gas
sparker
sponge/scourer
spork

washing line
soap (hopefully a 3 in 1 dish/hair/body type affair)
facewipes
exfoliating mit
suncream (planning on using reimann p20 - anyone have any opinions on this stuff?)
aftersun/rosewater
muscle rub

water purification tablets
rehydration salts
zinc oxide tape and gauze (to stop blisters)
blister plasters (in case blister prevention doesn't work)
burn ointment
vitamins
diclofenac gel
paracetamol/ibuprofen/diclofenac (if i can persuade the nice doctors to give me some in light of my recent knee issues and crazy walking plans)
plasters/ wound closures
diarrhoea tablets

and i think that's it.

what do you reckon people? have i missed anything that you'd be taking? do some things seem pointless? i really would appreciate thoughts cos it's not like i've really done anything like this before...
(please put any thoughs in comments below cos it's easier to find them on here than facebook when i come to pack!)

next up: what does one eat when walking 630 miles in 39 days when everything must be carried on ones back?

jin x

40 days to go... (really? oh. crap.)

baby steps...

most people when posting after a couple of weeks of not posting have to apologise for being crazy busy. but as most people who know my will confirm, i'm a procrastinator. my blog is one of my favourite procrastinations. lately i've not had much to procrastinate, hence, not much blogging. basically i've been lazy.

being lazy has been my forté of late. since bailing on the saunders all motivation has gone out the window. no great surprise there really. but...yesterday and today i actually headed out for my first solo hikes. yesterday was a baby hike as i got a little lost, today's was reasonable at just over 7.6 miles:

harford moor/erme valley hike

7.6 miles / 12.23 km

a good intro hike with a decent hill, just under half of what i'm planning to do each day on the coastal path, except the hills will be steeper, slightly shorter, but a lot more frequent.

i was planning on camping out on the moors last night aswell, but, well, putting it simply...i wussed out (why am i doing this again?!)... it was my first time pitching my new tent, and working out if my kit would keep me warm enough, so i decided i wouldn't mind a failsafe. that failsafe came in having my sisters house less than 10m from where i camped:

yes, it was her back garden, but at least i have christened the tent. and it was a lovely little tent. kept me cozy and warm all night. and just in case you need proof that i actually slept in it, here's a shot my sister took in the morning when she came to wake me up:

next post: intended kit list

jin x

45 days to go...

epic bail...

so, in light of my recent knee issues, and concern that i could potentially screw it up enough that my walk would become ridiculously difficult, more ridiculously difficult than it is to start with, em and i decided to bail on the saunders.

it makes me a bit sad, but turns out that a lot of out friends who usually do it, aren't this year. which means not even the overnight camp would be that much fun. and since, with said knee issues taken into account, the walking/running bit was not looking like it would be fun, we decided to bail.

on the plus side, this means i can focus more on hiking and less on fell running training. when i get round to training. really must get back on that...

jin x

55 days to go...

this time in two months...

...i'll be sitting in minehead youth hostel, wondering why the hell i decided to undertake the challenge of walking the whole south west coast path, in one go, in 39 days, in summer, alone.

i'll probably be very scared, a little excited too, but mostly scared. because i'll be leaving the next day.

with only two months to go it's really starting to sink in how daunting the summer seems.

on the plus side, i ordered the last few expensive bits of kit today. my pans, solar charger for the iphone, and my sleeping mat*, and we know how excited i get by gear.

poe peak elite ac

now i've just got to wait for it to be delivered and i can get out on the moors to test it all out.

jin x

61 days to go...

*for those observant people with good memories, you'll realise this isn't the thermarest neoair i talked about getting before. turns out this one (which has only just come out) is cheaper, warmer, and lighter than the equivalent neoair. and it's black. most importantly it's black.

and the verdict is...

having had a good google the other night, i was pretty sure the knee pain i got in the half marathon was itbs (illiotibial band syndrome), resulting from weak glutes.

a classic running injury, particularly in women, and particularly from running on uneven ground.

various sites lead to me various conclusions on how to a) treat it and b) stop it happening again (when i run the saunders in 7 weeks time). so i decided to see a professional. luckily my uni, marjon, specialises in sports stuff, so you can see a trainee physio for only a tenner, at a days notice. who needs the nhs?!

their verdict: i have itb and hip flexor issues, resulting from a weak glutes, a dropped arch and lateral hip rotation on my right hand side - well i was half way there at least!

their advice was similar to what i'd gleaned from internetting: stretch it out with a foam roller, work on my glute strength, make sure i get some training in on similar terrain to the event, and keep up the cross training.

they gave me some good stretches i didn't know, and some foot exercises to hopefully reduce my overpronation, which should stop my hip rotating so much.

now to put it all into practice, daily, so i don't let emma down in the lakes. and don't let myself down on my walk.

jin x

66 days to go...

pain. lots of pain.

i did it! i ran 13.1 miles across salisbury plain. well. almost.

this is how it went:

mile 1: feeling good, wish emma had trained more/had not spent the last week in mallorca getting pissed, smoking lots and only flown in last night at midnight.

mile 2: still feeling good, wish emma had trained more/see above.

mile 3: we've done 3 miles already? that's ok! also, emma seems to be whinging less, score!

mile 4: it seems to be flattening out a but, that's nice!

mile 5: nope, not flat, apparently flat, that's subtly up hill, damn it!

mile 6: i felt like crap at this point in the mk half last year, not so much now, training seems have worked! though that does feel like a blister starting to form.

mile 7: over halfway! starting to feel it though.

mile 8: oh yeah, that's what the wall feels like.

mile 9: getting back into it. no wait. what's that? ah. um. em, my itb is playing up again. i think i'm gonna have to stop.

mile 10: i feel like a failure. i wanted to run it all. wait. what's that? we've only been going for 1h40m?

mile 11: crying (and resultant horrendously tight chest) out of the way: i can do this. oh no. i can't

mile 12: yes i can. no i can't. yes i can. no i can't. yes i can, if i run like a weirdo. there's the finish!

last year, we ran the flat, milton keynes road half marathon in 2h17m. and died afterwards.

today despite em's 'slow running' at the start. and despite my knee deciding it definately does not like rutted ground. and despite the heat. and despite the hills. and despite the holiday indulgences. we ran in 2h12m.

i had to ask 3 different people who had timed it on their watches before i would believe it. i'm still not sure i do.

even more odd, aside from the massive blister i earned (7 miles in the making):

i really don't feel that bad (some thanks probably have to go to the aesthetically pleasing masseuse boys at the end).

i was gonna put a bit in about mallorca's runs, but quite frankly, that can wait, i have top gun to watch, and the cardiff half to enter!

jin x

76 dags to go...