Day 31: End of Month 1
It is the morning of October the 1st as I write this. Back home in Canada it is still September. I have now been in Japan for one month.
My most obvious purpose for coming here was to hike the Tokai Shizen Hodo trail through the mountains from Osaka to Tokyo. That plan went out this window about 3 or 4 days in to the trip, with the final nail in its coffin the aggravation of my lingering right knee injury.
It was very difficult for me to walk away from that plan; figuratively as I spent so much time researching and planning that hike, but also literally as I had to climb back down a mountain with a fucked up knee.
After mulling it over, and waiting back in Osaka the late summer heat to pass, I settled on walking the old Tokaido road along the southern coast that once was once the link between Tokyo and Osaka in the Edo period. This would let me follow the spirit of my goal, but save me from ruining my knee in the process, as the costal route profile is much smoother, with vertical changes being much slower and fewer.
The original route on the Tokai Shizen Hodo was going to be about 900km. Following the Tokaido the new route is about 600km. At current I am about 100km onto that route.
If you are doing the math at home that progress might not sound great. I am 1/3rd through my time here, but only 1/6th done the route. Thankfully math is evermore on my side.
I did the math for my first month, and I have been averaging a weekly walking distance of 80km. Even though I have only spent ~5 days walking the Tokaido, I have been walking a lot every day, and that is really showing through in how my legs and body feel.
When I first started training, 15km was the most I could manage in a day. I pushed 20km once and it was a pretty terribly experience.
Part of my limit was the horrible, heavy, feet-shredding trail shoes I was wearing at the time. I would finish each day with a whole bunch of blisters and completely exhausted legs. Discovering to my Altra Lone Peak shoes helped this immensely. Half the weight, properly comfortable, no blisters.
The other half was just the simple fact that my body could only manage 15km, both physically and mentally.
Today I am able to do 25km walking a day on the Tokaido in two 12.5km halves. With the extra walking I do before and after the actual Tokaido progress it is more like 30km in a day.
This progress is fantastic, and very tangible. I can feel my body changing slowly under the constant demands of this new way of life. But it's not just a physical game.
The longer my walking gets, the more the mental factor becomes just as important. And in that regard this trip has been slowly help change the way my mind works as well.
Between the overt challenge of walking long distances and keeping my mind focused and fresh in the same way I must maintain my legs, and the many hours of downtime I have each day, I have had a lot of time for introspection.
I have met a few important people along the way who have helped me in this mental journey as well, even though they weren't aware of how helpful they were being. Couple this with a newfound tool in my meditation, and I have spent a good deal of time understanding myself and repairing a lot of emotional damage I have done to myself over the years.
With my legs now able to manage 25km of walking on the Tokaido, and 60 days left before I leave japan, I am more confident than ever about reaching Tokyo on foot with time to spare.
I had originally planned for my bad knee keeping me at 15km per day max, which ment ~40 days to complete the journey. With my new standard the journey is ~24 days, 4 of which I have already completed. This means for every one day of walking, I have two days of downtime to rest or explore.
So while on paper my progress is lacking, in the big picture I am thrilled with how I am doing and everything that is happening.
One month down - Two to go.
My most obvious purpose for coming here was to hike the Tokai Shizen Hodo trail through the mountains from Osaka to Tokyo. That plan went out this window about 3 or 4 days in to the trip, with the final nail in its coffin the aggravation of my lingering right knee injury.
It was very difficult for me to walk away from that plan; figuratively as I spent so much time researching and planning that hike, but also literally as I had to climb back down a mountain with a fucked up knee.
After mulling it over, and waiting back in Osaka the late summer heat to pass, I settled on walking the old Tokaido road along the southern coast that once was once the link between Tokyo and Osaka in the Edo period. This would let me follow the spirit of my goal, but save me from ruining my knee in the process, as the costal route profile is much smoother, with vertical changes being much slower and fewer.
The original route on the Tokai Shizen Hodo was going to be about 900km. Following the Tokaido the new route is about 600km. At current I am about 100km onto that route.
If you are doing the math at home that progress might not sound great. I am 1/3rd through my time here, but only 1/6th done the route. Thankfully math is evermore on my side.
I did the math for my first month, and I have been averaging a weekly walking distance of 80km. Even though I have only spent ~5 days walking the Tokaido, I have been walking a lot every day, and that is really showing through in how my legs and body feel.
When I first started training, 15km was the most I could manage in a day. I pushed 20km once and it was a pretty terribly experience.
Part of my limit was the horrible, heavy, feet-shredding trail shoes I was wearing at the time. I would finish each day with a whole bunch of blisters and completely exhausted legs. Discovering to my Altra Lone Peak shoes helped this immensely. Half the weight, properly comfortable, no blisters.
The other half was just the simple fact that my body could only manage 15km, both physically and mentally.
Today I am able to do 25km walking a day on the Tokaido in two 12.5km halves. With the extra walking I do before and after the actual Tokaido progress it is more like 30km in a day.
This progress is fantastic, and very tangible. I can feel my body changing slowly under the constant demands of this new way of life. But it's not just a physical game.
The longer my walking gets, the more the mental factor becomes just as important. And in that regard this trip has been slowly help change the way my mind works as well.
Between the overt challenge of walking long distances and keeping my mind focused and fresh in the same way I must maintain my legs, and the many hours of downtime I have each day, I have had a lot of time for introspection.
I have met a few important people along the way who have helped me in this mental journey as well, even though they weren't aware of how helpful they were being. Couple this with a newfound tool in my meditation, and I have spent a good deal of time understanding myself and repairing a lot of emotional damage I have done to myself over the years.
With my legs now able to manage 25km of walking on the Tokaido, and 60 days left before I leave japan, I am more confident than ever about reaching Tokyo on foot with time to spare.
I had originally planned for my bad knee keeping me at 15km per day max, which ment ~40 days to complete the journey. With my new standard the journey is ~24 days, 4 of which I have already completed. This means for every one day of walking, I have two days of downtime to rest or explore.
So while on paper my progress is lacking, in the big picture I am thrilled with how I am doing and everything that is happening.
One month down - Two to go.
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