When youâre training, at some point in the season your coach will plan a test day to evaluate where your performance is compared to your goal. We used today as our hiking test day. Both Karine and I managed to injure ourselves not long before leaving on vacation. My injury shows up only during heavy squats or long runs, nothing that impacts our vacation other than having to do rehab.
Karineâs injury, on the other hand, manifests itself when going down a hill or stairs. Something that never happens while walking near or around mountains, hills or tall buildings really. Sheâs been working really hard at doing rehab and getting her knee back in shape for the trip however.
The Alhambra was our first test. It allowed us to see that the upper limit, at the moment, is around 3 hours of continuous walking. Today we plan more of a regular day and get a sense of the elevation change and slope thatâs accessible at the moment. As Malaga has the đCastillo de Gibralfaro, on top of mount of the same name, right next to the cityâs downtown, we could not find a better test.
The original plan was for Karine to use walking poles to help her while going downhill. Thinking people might object to sharp carbon steel tipped poles on 14 century stones and the mountain being equipped with its very own elevator (Nature around here is very convenient if you ask me), weâve forgone the poles and went âau naturalâ (no, not like Taggart in Eureka, get your mind out of the gutter).
The 130 meters assertion to the top of the mountain went without a hitch. We visited the castle, took a little rest and walked back down. We could have gone to the đAlcazaba, and indeed it was part of the original plan, but listening to our inner Joey we opted to spread the local activities over multiple days. Weâll be back for a few days next week after all. Wouldnât want to run out of things to do and be stuck walking little and eating a lot⌠(I canât remember why I thought that wasnât a good idea).
The test was successful. Karine wasnât overly tired and already good to go for another short hike. Seven kilometres with a total of 190 meters elevation gain is good progress. Itâll be something we can do a number of times over the next couple of days adventuring in Andalusia.
