So, a couple days ago, after drinking several glasses of wine, a friend of mine convinced several of us to join her in the 56K Great Lake Walk. Yes, 56 kilometers. About 35 miles. It’s not until September, so I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with walks like this, or suggestions for how to “train”. Now I’m a great long distance swimmer and biker, but I’ve never been an even decent runner. I don’t even know where to start with this; should I take a running course to get technique down? Start walking really long distances? Try to find a gait that’s not my usual cat-walky hip-swishing booty-flaunting walk? Yeah, probably. Anyway, any advice would be excellent, thanks.
I prefer Cable walking, it’s faster…
Begin with 5K walks, three during the week, and then do a 10K on the weekend. This schedule is agressive, but you’ve only about 15 weeks or so to 16th September. The idea is to actually train up to the target distance, building endurance through short walks and long walks…Add the distance in something like 2 mile(~3K) and 4 mile(~6K) increments, reinforcing the distances via repetition. Give your self recovery days.
May/June
Week #1: 5K, 5K, 5K, 10K
Week #2: 5K, 8K, 5K, 13K
Week #3: 5K, 8K, 5K, 16K
Week #4: 5K, 11K, 5K, 19K
Week #5: 7K, 11K, 7K, 25K
July
Week #6: 7K, 14K, 7K, 28K
Week #7: 7K, 14K, 7K, 34K
Week #8: 7K, 17K, 7K, 37K
Week #9: 7K, 17K, 7K, 43K
August
Week #10: 7K, 20K, 7K, 46K
Week #11: 6K, 20K, 6K, 52K
Week #12: 6K, 23K, 6K, 56K
Week #13: 5K, 10K, 5K, 20K
September
Week #14: 5K, 5K, 5K, 10K
Week #15: Break
This is an agressive schedule…I can’t believe that these people didn’t post suggested training schedules. :rolleyes: Or maybe they did, but I can’t find any.
I don’t have a calendar on me at the moment, there may be a couple of “extra” weeks that aren’t really there. But you can see how you might reduce the schedule to 13 weeks or so. The thing is this: get repeated walks at 10K, 20K, 30K, 40K, and break 50K at least once.
Just finished reading this gem:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451196716/102-4060830-6551321?v=glance&n=283155
Your OP gave me the willies. Have fun on your walk.
When I was training to run a marathon, I decided to do a 20 mile (32k) walk. I had good shoes and a 40 mile/week foundation, so I figured it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Taking my time, enjoying the scenery, stopping to eat and drink whenever I wanted.
Had to call my husband in the car and abort at 17.5 miles because of back pain. Yes, lower back pain. I had never ever in my life felt back pain before. This was not a shooting pain like a slipping disc but simply the stress on my lower back from lifting one foot and putting it in front of the other, 2,000 times a mile.
I was 45, and you’re probably lots younger, which means the back is much more supple, but if you think you might be anything like me, do some back stretches every day, and ask a trainer how to add some exercises to your three times weekly regimen in which you lift a weight with your ankles from a sitting position.
Oh, thanks! I thought my only problem would be cougars! Now I’m freaked out.
cerberus, thanks so much. In addition to working out, I’ve been doing late night “clear my head” walks that I recently realised were about 6K, so at least I’m not starting from nothing. So I’ll start in on that schedule. Thanks so much, and yeah it seems weird to me that they don’t really post any tips on the website.
gabriela, oooh. Didn’t think of that one. I’ll look into that.
Thanks so much everyone for your responses!
I’m a little curious myself about the phenomenon of distance walking. There was a GQ thread not long ago where someone asserted, in passing, that he could easily walk 50 miles in a day if he had to, while not claiming to be spectacularly fit. Another poster, possibly in another thread, said that at as a kid, he did a 50-mile walk to earn a merit badge, and that the middle-aged, slightly-out-of-shape Scoutmaster had no trouble keeping up.
Both of these assertions made me wonder. In college, I once went on a long walk as a lark. I probably walked between 20 and 25 miles, and by the time I got back, I could barely move. Ditto for the following day. I wasn’t in highly athletic form back then, but I did have the advantage of youth.
So here’s the question: is the kind of surface you’re walking on determinative of how far you can walk? Concrete is about the hardest thing going, so it stands to reason you couldn’t walk as far on sidewalks as you could on dirt. Asphalt is a little softer than concrete, but it’s hard to say how much. What would be handy would be a comparative chart showing how far the average person could walk on concrete, and how that would compare to asphalt, dirt, sand, etc. Or failing that, some good anecdotal evidence. Anyone?
Anecdotal evidence–walking on dirt/sand/etc. can be harder than walking on concrete. Walking on short, mostly level, grass isn’t a problem, but taller grass is. Walking on stuff like dirt and sand means that it tends to be too soft underfoot, you have to be careful not to trip on it, and if you sink in, you have to lift your legs higher, which makes them tired faster.
Having said that, I seldom ever walk more than about three miles at a time-- unless I’m hiking, and then I walk slower, have more roots and things underfoot to avoid, and more up and down slopes to manipulate. And, hopefully, better views.
You can control for the “hardness” of the course by choosing shoes that “eat” more of the shock.
Also, maintaining good breathing and balance posture for these distances amy cause some lower back pain, especially when you’re moving up hills or are carry extra weight on your frame. You can build some back training into your schedule.
The thing is to pace yourself. If you check the Great Lakes Walk websie, they provide a link to the 2005 results: you’re looking at 9-13 hours of this walking about.
And a nice little pit to the organisers for not including an obvious link to a set of training schedules. All that I picked up from them is that one should use vasoline rather than talcum to avoid chafing… :rolleyes: