Last year I did my first ever virtual race. You sign up and even get a downloadable bib (has anyone ever printed and worn this?) but you do the race by yourself at your own pace at your own place. You don’t even have to run. I walked it but cycling is also an option. I used it to make myself walk 10km in January 2018 – I used to walk quite a bit and enjoy walking quite a bit but I’ve gone off it in the last couple of years. And you know what? I even got a medal – a huge unicorn one with a pastel-rainbow ribbon.
Fast forward to December 2018. Other than the Laugavegur Trail, I didn’t do a lot of walking in 2018 and I was thinking about doing more in 2019. How to make myself walk more? Simple. Sign up to more virtual races. So the way it’s worked out is that I sign up to a race per month, with a minimum of 10km over multiple events during the entire month. There are options for different distances, for doing it in one go or in smaller chunks or even between specific dates. 10km is plenty for me, the idea is to make me go out more regularly so I’m not going for single events and I can’t be restricted to specific dates because I will have a Guide thing on that weekend and won’t be able to make the outside thing.
Halfway through January, it occurred to me that it would be nice if there was a similar thing for swimming. I mean, I could swim my virtual races but a minimum 10km is 400 lengths and I’m not doing that in a month. But it turns out there is a virtual swimming challenge! You pick your distance, which ranges from 1km (40 lengths of a standard 25m pool) right the way up to 200km (8000 lengths, if you decide you’re a mermaid and are going to live in the pool.). I do 2.5km (100 lengths) a month.
So, how did it go?
January
I started ok with the walking. I did a nice gentle 8.76km along the cliffs, since I was out of practice. I thought I’d get the rest meeting up with a friend and her dog but that only covered 1.14km. Fortunately, my Rangers demanded a night hike and that was 4.74km – with heated insoles in my boots, which is a delightful and ridiculous luxury, not least because it requires me to have the battery packs strapped around my calves.
I started the swimming gently too. 20 or 30 lengths the first time, that’ll be fine. In the end I did 40 because it’s a slightly smaller pool. The second swim was easier – oh hey, I’m getting used to this again. I used to swim semi-regularly. But the third one… that was hard work. Maybe I’m not so used to it.
February
I did Pax Lodge’s Turn Back Time challenge through London, which covered 9.39km – my first major urban walk. I’m used to the coast and cliffs and the sea. Cars and buses and roundabouts are new to me. For the rest, I did a coastal walk but the weather wasn’t great and the sea was pretty rough and making scary noises on the cliffs so I cut it short, finishing up at 5.03km.
The February swimming went fine. I tried out a new pool, another slightly shorter one, and did 60 lengths, my longest swim so far. I should have kept notes at the time but I have a vague idea that February was harder than January and my distances agree with that.
March
In March I did a walk through the forest, which was fine but relatively uninspiring. I walked down to the bus stop in Corfe from the station in Norden, which was only just over 2km, with a long stop to watch the Flying Scotsman arriving at Norden and then departing Corfe. I finished that up with a 5.73km brisk walk up the local trailway, where the trains used to run before Dr Beeching came along. Again, it’s uninspiring. I need the coast and the sea and the cliffs.
The swimming went better in March. I did a pathetic 6 lengths of a very short spa pool because it’s the coldest water I’ve swum in in a long time but then I went back to my normal pool and did the other 2410m in two sessions two days apart. It must have been around now that I rediscovered floats – I see they’re now called kickboards – and began using them enthusiastically to work on my legs. My arms were quite good at swimming but my legs mostly just… came with me.
April
Ah, April. The month when I went into work on Tuesday 30th and requested four hours off in the afternoon to walk my entire 10km in one go because I didn’t get outside and walk for the entire month. Well, to be fair, I’d spent three days of the month at outdoor instructor training so I hadn’t been completely lazy. I went down to Corfe and walked along the ridgeway towards Swanage until Strava told me I’d done 5km, at which point I turned back. It’s actually probably my favourite walk of the year so far – it was a hot day, I was in the mood for a real walk and I enjoy the Purbecks.
I did my entire April swim in two sessions, which is the quickest I’ve ever done it. I mean, I did do the entire March swim in two sessions as well, since I did enough extra to negate the pathetic six spa lengths. Clearly I’m starting to pick up some stamina.
May
My May walking is all over the place. I tried Couch to 5K. I soon discovered that I’m not even starting at couch standard – week 1 is too much too soon for me – and also I hate running. It knocked off 1.49km and it took more effort than April’s 10km. The Rangers went out for another evening walk, this time over the heath and that was nice. We did it as a penny hike – toss a coin to decide which way to turn. I finished off my distance in Salisbury. My car needed to go in for an MOT (and a lot of work, especially on its suspension) so I had eight hours to kill. I used it to walk from the Cathedral across the water meadows pretty much to Netherhampton and then back.
I left the swimming until the last weekend. I discovered a nearby lido, which is open-air and sunlit and warm and delightful. Bit short. I swam about 2/3 of my distance in there, once around a load of kids and floats and once completely on my own on the afternoon of Bank Holiday Monday. Finished up with 30 lengths of my usual pool. I’m starting to feel quite comfortable with it. I’m swimming more lengths with fewer breaks, shorter breaks, less cardiac effort.
June
I knocked the walking out without even noticing, really. While in North Devon, I walked around Ilfracombe, I walked down the beach at Woolacombe, I walked down to Croyde Bay from the campsite and I walked along the beach at Saunton, which came to 21.59km. I didn’t think to measure the walk down to the village on Thursday night when I arrived, the walk down to the village pub on Saturday evening and the GPS didn’t record the entire walk down to Croyde Bay – didn’t pick up until I was on my way back, so I actually walked quite a lot further that weekend.
I was getting confident with the swimming. It was starting to feel fairly easy. So I doubled my target. I did 50 lengths at my usual pool, then I went to London to take my passport to the Russian visa centre and since I was there, I went over to Stratford to try out the Olympic 50m pool and did 26 lengths there. That’s my usual challenge completed and half my double-length June challenge completed. 50 more lengths of my usual pool, followed by a lazy 30 lengths and then finished off with 31 of the nice lido on a sunny Saturday while it was packed full of kids and floats.
I won’t be doing the double-length challenge again for a while. I absolutely do not have time in September and I can’t see it fitting in July or August. Maybe November.
Do I feel any fitter for the 18.6km I’ve swum or 83.6km I’ve walked this year? No, not at all. But I can see that I’ve improved in the swimming. I’m back to my usual time of a little under a minute per length, which was my time estimate when I was swimming regularly, but which was pretty much impossible back in January. My legs are stronger at swimming now, although I think I’ve lost some strength in my arms. I swear, I used to be able to swim several lengths with just my arms. The mere fact that I decided to double my swimming distance in June says I’m better at the swimming than I used to be.
And here’s a secret. It’s not a secret. I told my mum. I want to do the Laugavegur Trail again next year, but do it better than last year. I need to practice walking more and I need to be more generally fit. To that end, I’ve bought a skipping rope. I’m not as good with it as I was when I was ten. But skipping and swimming and a few rounds of the Lulworth-White Nothe walk ought to get me in a state where I’m better at walking the trail than last year, right?
And also – look at all these medals! I know they’re ridiculous, I know they’re a waste of money and I know they’re the ultimate millennial participation trophy. But I also know that I wouldn’t have walked 83km without them and I wouldn’t have swum 18km without them. Those are the distances that little rail of sparkle represents, that’s a certain amount of exercise and fitness those things represent and when I look at them hanging from a hook on my bedroom wall, I see all that swimming and all that walking that they made me do. The swimming ones are engraved with my chosen distance, so I’m particularly proud of June, with 5,000km engraved. I’m looking forward to having a full set of 24 medals by the end of the year, and to adding up my total distance.
Next year, I’m thinking I might aim for the 500km walking/running challenge, rather than a monthly challenge. That’s less than 42km a month and I’ll get 55km from the Laugavegur Trail – that’s more than 10% of my entire annual challenge, plus having a higher distance will force me to do more training. So, I’ll see you in January with a July-December virtual running update and news of what I’m doing in 2020.