The Pilgrimage is an adventure you can experience in many ways. Depending on the fashion people face it, their suffering is bigger or smaller.
With this series of posts we will try to prepare for the Pilgrimage so we can live it as a pleasant experience, as far as can be expected.
Today we will speak about distance and time in the Pilgrimage.
Nowadays, the perceptions we have regarding distance and time are closely determined by motor vehicles, which are the most common means of transportation we use daily.
For most people, 100 km mean an hour, or viceversa: in one hour, we can travel 100 km. When we are going over a flatland, we have the idea that we can reach the horizon line in less than an hour and so on.
We should translate all these measurements and perceptions to the language of the Pilgrimage and the 'on foot transportation'. If we have all this figured out, we will avoid a lot of anguish and nervousness, especially at the end of the stages, when we are running out of energy. The long-awaited finish line doesn't seem to be far away even though only 5 insignificant kilometers separate us from it.
Let's see how 4 km are in the Pilgrimage. One hour is a good mark for our age (more than 55) and our physical condition. I know that when we train in the city we walk faster, but in the Pilgrimage we have to take into account the pauses for having breakfast, drinking water, talking to other pilgrims, getting fascinated by the trees, the clouds, the animals, the plants, the rivers, the wind and thousands of other things. On top of everything, the Pilgrimage is an endurance and determination test, not a speed one. Therefore, we must bear in mind that 5 km correspond to an hour approximately and that we will complete a 25-kilometer stage in no less than 6 hours.
Based on those premises and my own experience, you can find below a little chart of equivalences:
Today we will speak about distance and time in the Pilgrimage.
Nowadays, the perceptions we have regarding distance and time are closely determined by motor vehicles, which are the most common means of transportation we use daily.
For most people, 100 km mean an hour, or viceversa: in one hour, we can travel 100 km. When we are going over a flatland, we have the idea that we can reach the horizon line in less than an hour and so on.
We should translate all these measurements and perceptions to the language of the Pilgrimage and the 'on foot transportation'. If we have all this figured out, we will avoid a lot of anguish and nervousness, especially at the end of the stages, when we are running out of energy. The long-awaited finish line doesn't seem to be far away even though only 5 insignificant kilometers separate us from it.
Let's see how 4 km are in the Pilgrimage. One hour is a good mark for our age (more than 55) and our physical condition. I know that when we train in the city we walk faster, but in the Pilgrimage we have to take into account the pauses for having breakfast, drinking water, talking to other pilgrims, getting fascinated by the trees, the clouds, the animals, the plants, the rivers, the wind and thousands of other things. On top of everything, the Pilgrimage is an endurance and determination test, not a speed one. Therefore, we must bear in mind that 5 km correspond to an hour approximately and that we will complete a 25-kilometer stage in no less than 6 hours.
Based on those premises and my own experience, you can find below a little chart of equivalences:
A 20-kilometer stage finishes at 13:00.
A 25-kilometer stage finishes at 14:00.
A 30-kilometer stage finishes at 15:00.
A 35-kilometer stage finishes at 16:30.
A 40-kilometer stage finishes at 18:00.When we are walking the last kilometers and our feet are sore, the clothes are chafing us and our body needs a hot shower and a bed to rest for a while, we must not forget those equivalences. In addition, as we walk and walk, the willingness to reach the finish line will not make our path any shorter.
Knowing the number of kilometers left and the time left will give us the necessary tranquility to face bad moments in a more positive way.
Buen camino! Good training!
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