Blog #25: Walk1200km Wilderness challenge

Photo: Me, my father-in-law, brother-in-law and husband at the top of Mackinnon Pass, Milford Track, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand.

Last week I signed up for Wilderness magazine’s Walk1200km challenge.

This year, one of my favourite magazines, Wilderness, celebrates its 30th anniversary. The Wilderness team has set readers a challenge to walk 1,200km in 12 months, so I’ve registered and began logging my first kilometers last week.

It’s an individual challenge and you can set your own ‘rules’ as to how you achieve the 1,200km. When I asked in the private Walk1200km Facebook group about the rules people had for themselves, most people have set similar rules to those I’ve set for myself.

My Walk1200km rules

The rules I’ve set for myself are:

• Only intentional walks count. This means I’ll only log kilometers I’ve walked when the purpose of my walk is to walk. I’m not including walks such as walking to friends’ houses, walking to do errands, walking to the local shops for icecream. Walks with a coffee do count though, if the core aim of the walk is to walk.

• Runs don’t count. I have a love/hate relationship with running. I’ve completed 3 half marathons before, and I’ve loved the challenge of completing 21.1 km. I’ve enjoyed the training when I’ve trained with a friend, not so much when I’m training on my own. During this extended COVID-19 lockdown Auckland is currently in I’ve started running again, but I’ve decided the challenge is Walk1200km so I’m only logging walked kilometers.

• Bike riding doesn’t count. Okay this one’s a given, but I could really clock up some kilometers on my bike!

Why I’ve registered

Regular exercise is an important part of my migraine treatment pie. There’s a lot of evidence that confirms exercise is important to help manage migraine, which is why I make regular exercise a priority. And for me, exercise does help to minimise the intensity of my migraine attacks.

I know for some people with migraine disease exercise can trigger a migraine attack. If this is you, I do understand a bit of your frustration. I have to be a bit careful when I’m at the gym as to what exercises and classes I do, because some can trigger a migraine attack for me as well. Though this could just be due to my fitness level when I’m trying to keep up with everyone else during bootcamp (and usually failing).

Being outdoors is also good for mental health, something I can attest to particularly at the moment. There’s nothing like leaving the house after a morning of juggling homeschooling and work (thanks COVID-19), to walk near the beach or through the local parks and bush reserves. I also enjoy the opportunity to listen to my favourite podcasts when I’m exercising on my own.

I usually don’t enjoy recording my exercise stats. A few years ago I owned a Fitbit, but soon grew tired of knowing how many steps I walked each day. Some days I found myself walking in circles around the house just to hit my 10,000 steps, which was pretty pointless. It also wasn’t particularly accurate either, as it would start to add steps if my arm was moving lots, for example when I was stirring dinner on the cooktop.

Years ago when I used to run regularly I used a Polar watch to time my runs and know how fast (or more accurately, how slow) I was running each kilometer. But in general I just enjoy walking and running for the opportunity to be outside and keep fit and I don’t want to know my stats.

When I saw the Walk1200km on the Wilderness website, I thought it would be a great challenge to take part in and see how hard or how easy it is to intentionally walk 1,200km in 12 months. I’m sure the challenge will also provide that much-needed motivation to walk on rainy days when the couch is more appealing.

Each month I need to aim for about 100km, so about 25km a week. I know that’s not totally accurate maths, more like 23km in 52 weeks, but let’s keep it simple and aim for 100 km each month – but maybe a few more during summer to carry me through winter!

Because I’m only logging ‘intentional walks,’ I hope to use this challenge to do even more hiking. My family and I hike quite a bit during spring and summer and I have a long list of day hikes, overnight hikes and multi-day hikes on my wish list, so hopefully we can tick more off the list in the next 12 months.

As I hit publish on this blog post, I’m heading into week two. During week one I walked 19.5 km. It rained a lot last week. I started week two with a 9.5km walk so I’ve got six more days to clock some more kms.

To find out more about Wilderness magazine’s Walk1200km challenge, check out the info on the website: wildernessmag.co.nz/walk1200km.

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve also signed up for the Walk1200km challenge. Especially if you’ve registered after reading this blog post. Email me: sarah@sayline.co.nz, join the conversation on Facebook, join the Migraine Down Under community or come say Hi on Instagram.