Remember my proud post with my results after 3 months training for a real hike? How I recovered from long-covid, got fit and lost some weight? Well, that was great.
But then I got Covid again… Omikron this time. I was quite ill, in bed with high fever for almost two weeks.
But it wasn’t all bad news.
Lesson learned!
Back in 2020, I was stubborn and just couldn’t accept that I was exhausted all the time, I was fighting with reality.
This actually made things worse. Instead of recovering, I constantly wasted that tiny bit of energy that I still had.
This time, I listened to my body. I slept an incredible amount of hours during the first 2 weeks, didn’t push myself to read or study while I was slowly getting better and definitely didn’t force myself into walks of 10.000 steps when I got up again.
I wasn’t even upset about my ‘bad scores’ in my activity app.
Without inner pressure I recovered more quickly.
This might be obvious to you, but for me it was a big aha-moment. I couldn’t get my head around it at first. How in the world was it possible, that I sped up the healing process by giving myself permission to be ‘lazy’ and relaxed? But it worked!
Obviously, my hike training went on the back burner for a while. Same thing happened to this blog.
But in April I got more serious about hiking again. I decided to keep the relaxed approach, while I was trying to improve my stamina and strength. Most days I succeeded. Sometimes the inner drill sergeant took over…
This season I am taking my hike training to the city
Instead of hiking on the local beach, I have been strolling through Athens and Coimbra for the last couple of weeks. And I couldn’t be more happy about it.
Finally, a change of scenery. Being able to travel again, visit family in Greece and Portugal. What a joy!
In the next couple of days I will prepare a photo impression of these city walks. But first I take a shower and a well-deserved movie break, after the strenuous walk of today!
I can’t do a full day of hiking yet, but am pretty happy with my improvements since last year. So I will focus on my wins.
To be continued…
Coming weeks I have half day hikes planned in Serra da Lousa and Lisbon. And who knows, maybe there is time for Sintra or a small part of one of the coastal paths of Portugal.
Any tips for short hikes or city walks in Portugal are most welcome!
Phew, you sure have it coming, with all these covid periods. 🙁 You can be really proud of yourself to get back up your feet time and again and keep on going. Literally, by hiking.
I haven’t been hiking for half or whole days for ages. I have no idea whether I could. Although last fall, in Valencia, I was on my feet every day and we saw a lot. Does that count as a whole day of hiking? 😉
Unexpected maybe, but you can consider yourself as one of my inspiration sources for swimming every day! Remember we talked about cold training a couple of years ago? I made up my mind to swim all year back then. I still can’t in the winter but started mid-April. Jippie.
I hope you have a lovely time in Portugal. Take care.
I decided that my city strolls were something between a 2 hour hike and a half day hike LOL.
It’s for you to decide, but walking around in Valencia all day sounds like serious hiking to me… more than your normal hike routine anyway! At the end of the day, we’re only improving ourselves, and our own health, isn’t it?
My 2 hour hikes are between 8 and 10 km now (depending on the environment, my energy that particular day and the weight of my backpack..)
I still have a long way to go before I walk a coastal path here in Portugal for several days with a backpack. Never mind, I am enjoying myself while slowly, slowly working towards my goal.
Ah, yessss, swimming in cold water, it’s great. I am so proud of you!!!
I did swim in the Rio Ceira yesterday, cold but soooooo beautiful and energizing.