training/getting fit before my Camino portugués

[Californian Hobo]

Bon día!
I will be walking the Camino portugués (from Lisbon) this summer (July 2016), and I was looking for some advice on how to get fit before I begin my journey. Here is some info about myself:

sex: male
age: 46
weight: 79 kg (with my clothes on)
height: 1.63 m
I already work out every day.
I run 7-8 km a day, but I am very slow. It usually takes me 80 minutes to complete this distance (one major hill, at the beginning, the rest of my trail is flat).
Thanks in advance!

 

[cj2003]

You sound good - with getting the basic condition from running. We are preparing our by running for 45,-1h twice a week (been doing that for years) and then - more importantly - every weekend...

• Get the camino clothes on!
• Get the camino socks and boots on (very important to train in your chosen footwear imho!)
• Fill the backpack so it weighs about 10% of your bodyweight (our target for the backpack's weight!) - and put it on
• Remember compeed or other foot-healing products that you might need when walking, you might need them in the training as well
• ...and then walk 15-20 km on a sunny/cloudy/rainy Sunday morning - if it rains you also get to check your ran gear too!

We've been doing this for 2-3 months up until the camino starts.

Enjoy!

 

[J F Gregory]

My daily routine as I prepare for my Camino is 3 morning walks a week at about 5 km before I go to work. On weekends it is about a 20 km hike with all of my gear and my wife. We are starting from SJPDP on March 19th, 1016. About 8 weeks from now.

 

[SYates]

Bon día!
...I already work out every day.
I run 7-8 km a day, ...

Sounds like you are already half-trained. Just do the same what you do now with a backpack and you are good to go soon.

Buen Camino, SY

 

[purplesage]

My daily routine as I prepare for my Camino is 3 morning walks a week at about 5 km before I go to work. On weekends it is about a 20 km hike with all of my gear and my wife. We are starting from SJPDP on March 19th, 1016. About 8 weeks from now.

Gregory.... you walk with your gear AND your wife?? Man, that must be quite some weight? Buen Camino

 

[Sue Blue Mountains]

Gregory.... you walk with your gear AND your wife?? Man, that must be quite some weight? Buen Camino

I'd like to know how he fits his wife into the pack along with his gear!!!??

 

[Sue Blue Mountains]

You sound good - with getting the basic condition from running. We are preparing our by running for 45,-1h twice a week (been doing that for years) and then - more importantly - every weekend...

• Get the camino clothes on!
• Get the camino socks and boots on (very important to train in your chosen footwear imho!)
• Fill the backpack so it weighs about 10% of your bodyweight (our target for the backpack's weight!) - and put it on
• Remember compeed or other foot-healing products that you might need when walking, you might need them in the training as well
• ...and then walk 15-20 km on a sunny/cloudy/rainy Sunday morning - if it rains you also get to check your ran gear too!

We've been doing this for 2-3 months up until the camino starts.

Enjoy!

Oh dear, makes my training look a bit lame! I don't expect to be even as aerobically fit as you when I start in 8 weeks time but I am walking about 15km with my pack and full weight and boots and I am already using foot pharmacy stuff for blisters that have developed. Great that I know where they are and I've been trying all different sorts of things. Double socks don't work for me (have a huge blister to show for that experiment) but tape and compeeds do before the blister occurs.
Not sure if I'll get to do any 20km walks (more to do with time available) and hoping that just walking the Camino will make me fit for walking the Camino, especially if I don't bust my gut on the first few days!

 

[amorfati1]

Bon día!
I will be walking the Camino portugués (from Lisbon) this summer (July 2016), and I was looking for some advice on how to get fit before I begin my journey. Here is some info about myself:

sex: male
age: 46
weight: 79 kg (with my clothes on)
height: 1.63 m
I already work out every day.
I run 7-8 km a day, but I am very slow. It usually takes me 80 minutes to complete this distance (one major hill, at the beginning, the rest of my trail is flat).
Thanks in advance!

bom dia - bom caminho indeed .
lucky you
train - but not to the degree to get injured before the fun begins on the actual caminho. all /most my training attempts ended shortly after they were started. so i decided to get the hint - and just get trained on the caminho. and so it was. the first days were 11km, 16 km, 15km bits ... and slowly up from there. day 3 was already a well-deserved rest-day. and had served me well. eventually i even had a 27km day - and survived that too. and all the while: zero blisters.
alas, they don't have those pretty roman roads here in california, but that would be a perfect training route.
notorious cobblestones abound in portugal. give you feet some advance notice on those.
good hiking poles also to be recommended. had zero training on those either. just took them in my hands and off we went.
portugal can get buggy and muggy in the summer. how to train for that i don't know either. good mosquite repellent will be helpful.
Slow is good!
sounds like you are already well set in that regard. you might like to train though on how to deal with copious amounts of 'pastei de nata' (pastries) and milk cafe' and vinho verde and bacalhau (codfish ... portuguese national dish in all variations), porto (port wine) etc etc.
very best wishes for a marvelous caminho.

 

[Urban Trekker]

Bon día!
I will be walking the Camino portugués (from Lisbon) this summer (July 2016), and I was looking for some advice on how to get fit before I begin my journey. Here is some info about myself:

sex: male
age: 46
weight: 79 kg (with my clothes on)
height: 1.63 m
I already work out every day.
I run 7-8 km a day, but I am very slow. It usually takes me 80 minutes to complete this distance (one major hill, at the beginning, the rest of my trail is flat).
Thanks in advance!

I loved my Porto to Santiago Portuguese camino and so will you.

Portugal has cornered the market on cobble stone. Roads, sidewalks, walkways, alleys, plazas, and roads to nowhere are all paved with it. Oh and I almost forgot, miles and miles of Roman roads that Rome has not maintained for a few thousand years.

So to train for the Portuguese Camino! Go find a street, road, or sidewalk covered with 2 to 3 inch pieces of broken rock then walk back and forth on it for 5 to 6 hours a days for 3 weeks or so . That should about do it. Buen Camino

Happy Trails

 

[SYates]

... but I am walking about 15km with my pack and full weight and boots and I am already using foot pharmacy stuff for blisters that have developed. Great that I know where they are and I've been trying all different sorts of things. Double socks don't work for me (have a huge blister to show for that experiment) but tape and compeeds do before the blister occurs.
...

If you get already blisters during your training walks than chances are good (actually bad) that your shoes/boots don't fit properly. You might want to look into a different pair. Buen Camino, SY

 

[Utgaard]

I was mostly concerned about making sure my boots and pack would be comfortable for 15-25 km per day. About a month before I left, I started walking the 10km home from work about three times a week in my boots and pack, with longer walks on the weekends. I kept adding weight to the pack until I was carrying everything that I planned to take with me. A friend who has walked several Caminos told me that I was over prepared.

Don't worry too much about speed. There isn't a huge rush for beds on the Portuguese Route and Santiago will be there even if it takes you a few days longer.

Bom Caminho!