Last October, the doctor recommended to entrepreneur Vlastimil Kuryl that he walk a lot after spinal surgery. “It simply came to my notice then. Very little at first, because it really was. It was enough to step down from the curb, it was very uncomfortable for the spine. And it was terrible when I forgot I couldn’t jump. Or slip. I was scared, but I started walking, “he recalls.

He is now in the middle of his call to miss a million steps on the streets of Prague in December.

After a year, can you say that walking helps you?

I was getting better from week to week. Regeneration after the operation went well, perhaps because I went more than the doctor imagined. I started on some five thousand steps and quickly got to 20 thousand a day. It seemed a lot to me then. But last Monday, for example, I took a rest day for the first time, and at the same time I walked 26,000 steps like nothing.

We are talking on Monday 13 December, you also have a day off. What exactly does that mean?

I learned it from the athletes’ boys who usually have weekend races, so the next day they usually have a regenerative one. I did the same, even though I’m not a top athlete. I’m used to it from the times when I rode my bike, that I have a looser Monday. I take a break and a massage, now it’s noon and I’m only six thousand steps behind. I don’t know how much I’ll give today, if it’s fifteen or maybe just ten. But you can see it every day on my Instagram (the application shows 11,022 steps on Monday, editor’s note).

This walk could already be described as a sporting performance, right?

It is true that when I came across the December call a million steps, at first I was frightened that it was a lot. But now I’m starting my third week of walking and I only felt my calf lightly twice. But it soon stopped. After all, I didn’t jump into the challenge without preparation, and in November I gradually took 33,000 steps a day.

And what was December 1 like?

I set myself to walk 40,000 steps, and since then I’ve had it every day so I can afford Monday’s regeneration. But gradually I exceed the number and last week I walked 45,000 steps a day. Now a new walking week has begun and I want to try to walk over 50,000 steps a day by Sunday.

Everywhere. I put the car and the bike down, I just walk. Also for shopping, for rolls.

It doesn’t come out yet for 40,000 steps…

Sometimes I still have to go back for butter if I forget (laughs). Or when I go with old paper to a sorted waste container. I go five times today and I don’t mind. I used to tear myself to do it one way. Every step counts.

I live in Strašnice, from there I go to our cycle studio in Braník, then up to Hodkovičky to my dad, whom I now take care of. I especially enjoy getting to know Prague while walking. I discover, for example, Žižkov, as I did not know it, Vinohrady, Vršovice. I go where I would never go. Recently, I was fascinated by the iron stairs on the walls above Folimanka Park, where you can walk at a height along a long gallery right along the wall. I generally liked stairs in Prague and I am surprised how many stairs there are in the city.

Have you started to take more care of yourself?

Yeah, yeah, I switched from drinking wine to good beer (laughs). Due to its composition, it is more suitable for my walk. I treat myself to a massage a few times a week. From the beginning, I took a hot tub for twenty minutes in the evening. Before going to bed, I used cooling emulsions on my feet to relax faster. In the morning before the start, I used warming emulsions again. I have to say I’m surprised. I thought I’d have my legs worn out, but it’s okay. I haven’t used the emulsion in recent days, my legs are getting used to it.

What is the biggest surprise of such a daily portion of walking?

It is said that walking is the most natural movement, and it surprises me that it really is. They didn’t bother me at all. I even had a body that I had a little taken away from my long bike ride. Walking made me very relaxed, even a masseur confirms it.

Why did you want to take a million steps in December?

Actually, I don’t know, I shot it from the side, I liked the number. Only then did I calculate how much it was per day. It is true that when I talk to fellow athletes, they are interested in the long-term everyday life. How my legs will be able to regenerate. What I walk, but I do not consider performance. When I see what long-distance pedestrians are able to walk… There are races where a thousand miles just go, sleeping in the mud. After all, I just walk around Prague comfortably.

Well, right. You find everything in normal operation. How can such a walk be combined with work?

All I have to do is be on the phone. I’m not an employee and I don’t have to go to work from to. I have a rental of construction machinery and garden equipment, in addition, I have set off in recent years for the pleasure of cycling with a cafe, where I enjoy supporting the community around cycling, hiking and active leisure.

When you walk over 40 steps a day, how many thousand is it?

According to Garmin, who measures this, the step counting is relatively accurate. I have a watch on my hand, so my trip to the toilet, for example, counts. On the contrary, the kilometers are averaged and approximate, but I don’t really care about them that much.

For example, on Sunday, yesterday, I walked 45,856 steps and show the watch that it is over 35 kilometers. On Saturday I walked 50,688 steps and it was over 39 kilometers.

How much time do you spend walking?

I’m not counting it, I’m not turning this app on. But I walk at an average speed of five to six kilometers per hour, briskly even six and a half, but then my legs get busy. If I count quickly… Next week I should be walking six to seven hours a day.

What happens when you walk a million steps in December?

As people go on long pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, I thought I could give something like that. It occurred to me that I would go to the south of France to the resort of Nice, where I had cycled from Prague a few times in the past. But first I’ll wait to see after a month of walking. So far, it seems that if a ligament, muscle or tendon doesn’t start pulling me, which is most likely from fatigue, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

I liked this coastal part of France by bike, then I also discovered the local brand of cycling clothes, which I bring to my store in Prague today. It’s great for me and I enjoy being able to try the products I offer others on long journeys.

From the original purely cycling assortment, the brand has also expanded to tourism, which of course suits me extremely well today. Sometimes we also gather with friends, load our bikes and drive to France. Thanks to this, my project called Journey to Nice was created, where I arrange accommodation in an apartment in the marina.

Do you carry a backpack while walking around Prague?

Usually yes, he is three to five kilos, so I walk a load, but it is not essential. In addition, I lost a few pounds in a month and a half, so thanks to that I weigh the backpack on my back as before.

Have you considered Nordic walking sticks?

My friends ask me a lot about why I don’t go with sticks. I read something about it, I tried the type of walking with a backpack and I found out that I had been walking with him in the Mírouce forward bend until then. Thanks to that, I slightly changed my style and relieved the load on the front of my thighs. At the same time, however, I say that I will go to Nice with chopsticks.

The shortest route is about 1,050 kilometers. But there are very high mountains on the way and I don’t want to get into the snow, which will be there at the end of spring, so I will try to look for them and it can be 1,200 or 1,400 kilometers.

How do you remember the first trip to Nice by bike?

I’ve never been a racer. In my youth, I rode my favorite, then came back around the age of forty. I drove 14 or 15 thousand kilometers a year. I gradually liked road and then gravel bikes for riding off paved roads.

But for the first time I rode my bike to Nice on a mountain bike and I weighed about ten kilos more than today. In addition, there is an almost ten-kilo backpack on the back. It was about ten years ago in October and beautiful weather. At that time, I drove 1,400 kilometers in eleven days. I believe and hope that my back will be corrected by walking and that I will be able to go there again by bike.