reinhard:
Yeah, I know what you mean about "going until it hurts". I've done a lot of hiking in my life...and it's a killer when you hike a long distance out and already already at your limits just to realize you have to walk ALL THE WAY BACK! That hurts. LOL
Actually, I've walked a lot in my life. Lots of hiking and long distance walking. Used to do the Volksport walks (10 K or 6.6 miles) before I moved to No. CA, where they aren't held as much.
A lot of people are shocked to hear that I can walk so far. We live in a society where people drive the 1/2 mile to the gym so they can work out or (my favorite story!) drive around and around and around the gym parking lot, trying to find the closest parking spot.
I guess for me, it's the challenge of it all. It's not quite a "test my limits" thing (that's when people get hurt!), but more of a "I'd like to reach that goal some day". It isn't as if I don't have the time or the patience!
The important things to me is 1) knowing my limitations, 2) slowly building up my distance, 3) having long and short walk days and 4) having the weekends off.
I really started working on training for long distance in January. I walk a long walk Monday and Friday (about 3.5+ miles right now), short walks Tuesday and Thursday (usually about 1.5 miles) and a medium walk in Weds (about 2.5 miles), with the weekends off.
But yes, I agree completely. I've got the hard part (the exercise) down. Now to deal with the food. I haven't really played with my food until this month. I'm still nursing my 9 month old and I didn't want to fool with my input until she was eating more solids and not depending solo on my "output" for nutrition.