OK, let me catch you up. On May 4th I did the Great Saunter--which turned out to be a 33.7 mile walk round the perimeter of Manhattan. I did this in 10:34 for an average pace of 18:49/mile. If you take out about 35 minutes of non-moving time (eating, bathroom, changing socks, etc.) I averaged 17:46/mile, which I'm satisfied with. I felt good throughout although once I got past about 25 miles things were definitely on the uncomfortable side and I slowed down a bit and periodically rested for a minute or so. Overall, I'm happy with the effort and training effect:
Three days later I went back to SNP for what was supposed to be 2 last days of long hiking before Bolivia. The first day, after an early morning 4-hour drive to the park, I did the Jeremy's perimeter hike I first did on April 18th. This turned out to be about a 16.3 mile hike (my Garmin shows a little less as I inadvertently paused it for about 10 minutes or so. None-the-less, my average horizontal and vertical climbing pace had improved another 5.4% bringing my overall improvement, since mid-March, in those two critical fitness measures by about 14%:
Unfortunately that night I was knocked down with a sudden (and violent) episode of food poisoning during the night. In the morning I decided it probably made sense to call it a day (also, I didn't like the number of ticks I saw during the 5/7 hike). Not to worry, I definitely feel fit and ready for Bolivia!
On top of the training I went through a series of medical check-ups/activities including physical and colonoscopy and I passed all with flying colors. Importantly I had three more cycles of Euflexa injections, had about 80cc of fluid drained from my left knee (over 4 sessions) and this morning got an injection of Cortisone. If the past is any predictor of the future, this should yield a relatively pain free and more flexible knee for my Bolivia trip!
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