Ups and Downs of Training

So far most of our training has been on relatively flat ground - except for a few short hours in the Galena territory - we have been walking country roads and right-of-ways. Today we visited the Saw Wee Kee Park in Oswego, Illinois to do some hills.  Our first attempt started off really great - until the mosquitoes woke up - we beat a hasty retreat back to the car and headed to the nearest Walgreens  to purchase some Afterbite and Deep Woods Off. 

Now - properly equipped - we should have known better - we re-started our hill training. We have never been there before and we both thought it was awesome!  We were able to really put our trekking poles to good use - going up and down hills - some fairly steep - and in the process handling ourselves well.  These trails are also used by trail bikes and I can see where they must have a great time there. Lots of ups and downs and jump spots.

Looking Down The Trail 

The trails there are smaller than the ones we expect to encounter in Spain and those that we have already walked - in fact we had to walk single file - just wide enough for one person or one bike.  So we learned that we go downhill much slower than we thought and we also learned that in this kind of terrain the rubber tips come off and you use the metal tips to dig into the dirt and mud.  Valuable training lessons 

Tree Roots - Stumbling Blocks in the Path

Steep descents were interesting - we had not encountered any like this before - the ones in the Galena area were all on asphalt - so dirt is definitely different - and I think both of us prefer dirt.

We are still doing a lot of straight walking - building up our endurance - a little over 70 days before we depart - for an older couple - I think we are right where we are suppose to be.

Buen Camino

Dale and Arlene