My 22 year old son and I get together nearly every second Saturday for a pretty hard core trail hike. We often do between 20 and 30 kilometres on the never-flat terrain of the Bruce Trail in Ontario, Canada.
Since getting a Fitbit Charge 4 at Christmas, I’ve pondered what it would take to put in a 100,000 step day. I figure it would be an 86km walk or a 100km run (less steps to cover the distance while running). My son actually seemed to take more interest than me, even though it would be my steps and not his as his stride is a fair bit longer than mine.
We talked about a 100 kilometre hike. Without much research, I estimated the time would be around 14-16 hours. Of course, after a bit of research, I quickly found that time to be way off. It would more likely be in the 24 hour range. Which is fine with us but then we had to work with the factors of time and environmental conditions.
I didn’t want to do it on rugged trails. I believe the toll on the quads would be too much for a first time attempt. I wanted flat parkway-style trails that would not much nearly as much strain on the muscles. I also wanted somewhere with a reasonable length loop so that we could return to our vehicle on a somewhat regular basis and essentially have it serve as our aid station with food, drink, etc.
After watching some videos on solo, unaided 100km attempts, it became clear that things start to go south as the mileage builds up and it’s not just a steady trek to the finish line. That was when it was decided to do a 50km warmup during the hot summer months, in preparation for a longer attempt in the cooler months of autumn.
The 50km Walk
After somewhat grandiose plans of doing the 50k along the Lake Ontario waterfront in Toronto/Mississauga, we settled on a more local course. Within walking distance of our house is a convenient multi-use recreational trail that just happens to cover about 10km around a man-made lake. (The photo included in this post is actually of the trail)
The Vicki Barron Lakeside Trail circumvents the Orangeville Reservoir at Island Lake Conservation Area at the eastern edge of Orangeville, Ontario, Canada. The trail falls short of 10k but if you add a little loop at the top end, it comes in over the distance.
We were able to park pretty much adjacent to the trail at a secondary parking lot on the north end.
This is where the incredible inaccuracy of the Fitbit GPS comes into play. When I run the course, it measures somewhere between 10.7 and 10.9 kilometres. On our walk day, there was even sharper contrast.
To conserve the battery of the Fitbit (which seems to have longevity issues on long treks), I just went by the daily totals and didn’t use the actual exercise measurement function. The laps seems to come short with the first at only 9.6k and others right around the 10k mark. I measured the fifth and final lap and it came in at just over 10.1.
So, the walk was certainly 50km. But, was it closer to 55? Irrelevant. We reached our goal and did it in a respectable time of just under ten hours. It should be noted that the Fitbit step count was just under 65,000.
How Did I Feel During The Walk?
First, I should note that the weather conditions could not have been any better. For July 31, the temperature at sunrise was just 8 degrees celcius. The high got up to no more than 20. It was sunny for a while but much of the trail is shaded so that wasn’t a factor. It became overcast later and threatened rain but that never happened. A little rain would have been nice, though.
Keeping with the pillars of my lifestyle shift, I did not eat anything before we started and did not have anything until after the second lap. At that point, I took in some raw veggies and mixed nuts. With each of the remaining laps, I had a handful more of the veggies and nuts. I drank a fair amount of water. We both had an extra large coffee at the start and my wife brought us another midway through the final lap.
Also, I maintained nasal breathing through the five laps. Of course, there were periods of talking but there was never any mouth breathing out of pure necessity. My heart rate stayed pretty steady in the 100-109 range.
As the walk wore on, there were a couple areas of soreness. My left upper quad and my left calf had moments of tightness. My right achilles (a chronic problem from my past) would talk to me every once in a while but mostly stayed quiet.
All in all, I finished up feeling pretty darn good. I could have easily continued for more.
The Aftermath
After we got back to the house, I started to stiffen up but not to the point of not being able to walk. I was exhausted but that was mostly attributed to the 5am wakeup after a pretty short and crappy sleep.
The following day, there was definitely stiffness but it was not where I’d expect. My lower back was extremely tight and remained that way two days later. My calf muscles also were quite tight and felt like they were going to cramp up. But, as far as mobility and energy, things were mostly back to normal.
Looking Forward
Next up, as mentioned, as an attempt at 100k. We’re looking at mid to late October. The location is yet to be determined. Much of the walk will take place in darkness – a 24 hour walk during the much shorter daylight hours at that time of year. Ten 10k laps of our local course would be incredibly monotonous. And then, there’s the logistics of it all as, technically, you’re only to use the trail during the daylight hours.
There will be planning and there will be updates to come. The sure thing is that the 100k walk is going to happen…
I’m sure there will also be longer trail attempts, as well. It all comes down to available time…