I mentioned in my other Bucket List Blog on "marathoning" how obsessively methodical I am. (See galenlouis.blogspot.com). This transfers directly to this situation.
So what does this mean? It means that I now must take my new physical realities and methodically mesh them with my mental perspectives. My public health planning background naturally leads me to do an assessment. I know that walking with crutches will necessarily mean a much slower pace. How slow is slower? When i walked able bodily three years ago, my pace was around 3.5 miles per hour. After the operations, walking with a cane brought me down to around 2.2 miles per hour. That became my training pace. To test the crutches, I have walked two miles a day for the past two days. My pace is an agonizing 1.33 miles per hour (about 2 kilometers).
Okay, the average leg of each day's journey is planned at 11.5 miles. My 'cane pace' of 2.2 mph meant that I would be walking around 5 to 6 hours a day. My new pace means it would be more like 10 to 12 hours. Realistically, this is not possible. The 2 miles I walked really took it out of me and I do not have sufficient time to train. I'm leaving for Paris in 7 days.
The other reality is that with crutches, i no longer have the use of my hands. Balance and movement is tricky. Plus, at least for now, the pain. With Peggy out of town these past few days, I have become painfully aware of how hard it is to do simple daily tasks around the house. Over the past few years, i have learned to be single-handed because of my dependence on the cane. However, this is different. I know it sounds easy, but try it for a few hours. Things like carrying a plate from the stove to the table; taking a shower, emptying the garbage, cooking....
So now that I have assessed, I need to plan. I remember always advising my students that in order to meet program goals, you need to have SMART objectives. That's an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Bound. So it's time to practice what I preach.
When I trained for a marathon, I had three specific goals. Here I have just one. To complete the itinerary as planned. I may not be able to walk all of it. I will need to bus part of it in order to meet up with Peggy and Christine at our designated nightly stops. So, finish at any cost! This is a biggee. When I fell off that ladder two days ago, my first inclination was to climb into a bottle of Two Buck Chuck and disappear.
The objective is definitely measurable. The route is 247.8 kilometers (154 miles). Each stage has a definite starting point and a finishing point. Like I said early, the average is 11.5 miles a day.
What is attainable? As mentioned above, I don't realistically think that i can walk 10 to 12 hours a day (at least now right now). So, the busing in between is an acceptable option. However, how much walking is attainable? With my original plan, I had planned to cover those 11.5 miles in approximately 5 to 6 hours. I now plan to walk on the crutches as far as I can in those 5 or 6 hours before busing it. Rather than clocking distance, i will be clocking time.
I think of relevance as doing training that is relevant to the task at hand. Therefore, sit ups, for example is not specifically relevant to what I want to do. Walking with the crutches to acclimate my arms, torso and stride is appropriate. Clocking in 'time' on the road is relevant (see my marathon blog for more on this). Also, there is the dimension of needed healing. Because of my vascular problems and my age, healing takes longer. There is not adequate bloodflow to my lower appendages to hasten this mending. I have therefore scheduled three appointments with an acupuncturist before I leave next week to see if we can enhance this.
Finally, the entire trip is definitely time-bound. We only have so much time to do this entire trip, and also each day's trek is bounded by the 24 hour period.
Now, just do it!
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