{"id":6883,"date":"2026-05-01T07:20:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/?p=6883"},"modified":"2026-05-01T23:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:04:34","slug":"camino-de-santiago-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/camino-de-santiago-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Camino de Santiago Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve followed this blog or the Robs Camino YouTube Channel<\/a>, you’ll know I’m not a great one for “training” prior to a Camino.<\/p>\n

But I think that could be a mistake.<\/p>\n

Maybe it stems back to my first Camino, the Camino Frances, in 2015.\u00a0 \u00a0I tried to do some serious training prior to that one.\u00a0 But I think a combination of being quite a bit overweight<\/strong>, and training too hard, with a PT, led to the injuries I suffered.\u00a0 \u00a0Mainly Achilles Tendonitis (still) and Back Pain, a month before the start. So as a result, I walked in pain the whole way.\u00a0 But still enjoyed it of course!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"First<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And it’s been the same ever since.\u00a0 \u00a0I try to manage my weight, do some light walks, prior and then start the Camino with shorter days.<\/p>\n

This year Pat and I took it a bit more seriously though. It worked out like this.<\/p>\n

6-9 Months Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Focus on weight loss. Pat and I had both gained quite a bit of weight and I did not want to start training too overweight.\u00a0 I thought that could just lead to injury.\u00a0 \u00a0So we focussed on weight loss and as I had some minor surgery coming up, that gave me a target date to aim for. That was 3 months before Camino start.\u00a0 \u00a0That worked quite well using Intermittent Fasting<\/a>.\u00a0 I think I lost about 20 kgs and Pat about 10 !<\/p>\n

3 Months Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We started walking training.\u00a0 \u00a0No packs at first, and short walks of just 3 kms or so 3-4 times a week with no packs.\u00a0 We are not very active normally and this was just to get us moving!\u00a0 3-4 weeks of this and we were a lot more comfortable walking each day.\u00a0 We extended the walks to 4-5 kms.<\/p>\n

2 Months Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We started with very light packs.\u00a0 just 2 and 3 kgs at the start.\u00a0 \u00a0On 4-5 km walks only.<\/p>\n

1 Month Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We added more weight. Now up to 4 and 5 kgs.\u00a0 \u00a0Once or twice a week we did a double circuit making it 8 kms.<\/p>\n

2 Weeks Out<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We wore full weight packs.\u00a0 5 kgs and 8 kgs. And again once or twice made it 8 kms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Full<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But.\u00a0 \u00a0We are not young.\u00a0 69 and 57. And we are not planning on walking long stages on Camino.\u00a0 So no need for us to train with 20-30 km walks!\u00a0 \u00a0Our initial days will be 12 kms, 14 kms, 15 kms, 20 kms.\u00a0 \u00a0 Again, a slow build up.\u00a0 \u00a0I read recently how in training for a Marathon, you don’t run a full Marathon.\u00a0 \u00a0That kinds of makes sense.\u00a0 \u00a0The added excitement and adrenalin on the actual “Camino” always makes walking a bit longer seem quite easy for me.\u00a0 So I’m happy we can comfortably walk our 8kms with full packs in 2 hours.\u00a0 Double that, with breaks added won’t be a problem.<\/p>\n

So that was our training regime.\u00a0 Nothing fancy, nothing hard.\u00a0 And a bit more that we normally do.\u00a0 Fingers crossed, but we both feel ready now.<\/p>\n

We know our limitations, which helps.\u00a0 And so maybe the essentials for us come down to this.<\/p>\n

1. Fix our Overall Health<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In particular I had some issues that had to be sorted during the months prior.<\/p>\n

2. Lose Body Weight<\/strong><\/h3>\n

if required.\u00a0 Being “fat” puts strain on the joints.\u00a0 This time I plan to keep the weight off!<\/p>\n

3. Get Health Advice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We made sure we had up to date scans, bloods, shots etc.<\/p>\n

4. Fix Feet!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We both get plantar fasciitis on Camino and I get achilles tendonitis as well.\u00a0 With all the medical advice over the years we have found what works for us.\u00a0 Losing weight and then getting cortisone injections……\u00a0 \u00a0(painful)<\/p>\n

5. Pack Light!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Having improved our fitness and reduced body weight, we are very conscious not to pile on too much pack weight.\u00a0 Here’s our Packing Lists.\u00a0 Pat<\/a> and Rob<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So we’re heading off soon.<\/p>\n

Nothing is for certain of course and the Camino always has a few curved balls.\u00a0 But we feel ready and prepared.<\/p>\n

See you out there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’ve followed this blog or the Robs Camino YouTube Channel, you’ll know I’m not a great one for “training” prior to a Camino. But I think that could be a mistake. Maybe it stems back to my first Camino, the Camino Frances, in 2015.\u00a0 \u00a0I tried to do some serious training prior to that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[366],"tags":[370],"class_list":["post-6883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planning","tag-camino-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6883"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6909,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883\/revisions\/6909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robscamino.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}