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Walk
Write
By Judy Heller
Judy
Heller, founder of
Wonders of Walking LLC,
advocates walking for well being and pleasure. Wonders of Walking promotes
Walking Events for Walkers by Walkers. Judy Heller is founder and owner
of EroFit & Associates, LLC, celebrating Fitness for a Lifetime.
Heller offers personalized fitness training and coaching for individuals
and groups.
Contact: Judy Heller
at 503-282-1677:
email judy@erofit.com
jheller@wondersofwalking.com
Also
visit: www.erofit.com
www.wondersofwalking.com
I
only went out
for a walk and
concluded to stay out until sundown,
For going out,
I found
Was really going in.
— John Muir
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Where Do I Go From Here?
Cold Weather Training Tips
On a windy, cold day, always start your walk headed into or against the wind. You will quickly determine if it is too cold or windy to walk.
Hydration. It is as important to replace body fluids when exercising in the cold as in the heat. Although sweating is less marked in cold environments, fluid losses through breathing during exercise in the cold can be more pronounced than in warm air. Not only is water lost as vapor in exhaled air, but the kidneys increase urine production in the cold.
The best to way to dress for cold weather walking is in layers, being careful not to overdress.
Torso. Clothing is best worn in several thin layers rather than a heavy coat or bulky sweater or both. Polypropylene and Coolmax are two fabrics which work well next to your skin. They keep you warm and release excess heat. Water and sweat is wicked to the outside and away from your skin, thereby keeping you warmer. Consider adding thermal long underwear, turtlenecks, and a nylon windbreaker to your Christmas list.
Head and Hands. Wear a hat and gloves to keep your head and hands covered. Remember a significant amount of heat can be lost through the scalp. |
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November and December are filled with gatherings of family and friends, shorter daylight hours, inclement weather, and holidays. The summer relays are over, the time for marathons is past, and the seasons are changing. While many people are quite willing to walk in the spring and summer, they tend to hibernate in late fall and winter. Don’t forget that adopting a fitness routine is key to being healthy. Walking is a very accessible form of physical activity offering incredible health and fitness benefits.
Irish novelist Edna O’Brien wrote “In a way winter is the real spring, the time when the inner things happen, the resurge of nature.” How can you as a walker “rise or grow strong” during the upcoming winter and nourish yourself for next year’s triumph? What can you do in this gray and wet Oregon winter to strengthen yourself, maintain your motivation, and emerge in spring as a better, stronger, healthier athlete?
Look to Mother Nature to provide some clues. Winter is a time of sparseness, of economy. A time when acorns stored in autumn are used to get animals through the cold. This is a time when plants and grasses are working underground. Winter gives us a hiatus from competition, the opportunity to re-group, re-focus, and use our heads; the chance to go “underground” to improve our walking.
Make your fitness resolutions for 2008 before the holidays.
“A review of both laboratory and field studies on the effect of setting goals when learning or performing a task found that specific, challenging goals led more often to higher performance than easy goals, ‘do your best’ goals, or no goals. The main mechanisms by which goals affect performance are by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development.”*
Take stock of your progress over the last year. Did you have goals? A goal is an aim or purpose with a timeline. Did you meet your goals? If not, what kept you from achieving them? If you didn’t set goals last year, now is the time to write them out for next year.
Goal setting for your walking program is one of the best ways to motivate yourself to maintain your walking. Having goals enables you to visualize where you want to be, to prepare for upcoming events, adventures, or desired changes. Set long-term goals as targets, with short-term goals to help attain them. Perhaps you want to do a marathon or do the marathon faster, maybe racewalk it. A relay can be a long-term goal or an intermediate goal to a marathon. When walking for the health of it, know your numbers. Monitor your improvements.
Fall and winter are the time to plan as the training cycle begins anew, unless you have a specific winter goal. Your walking program should consist mainly of building a mileage base, focusing on form and technique, and incorporating resistance training to increase muscular strength; do not neglect your flexibility or stretching routines.
Generally, cooler temperatures make walking easier and invigorating, but you must dress properly for it.
*Locke, Edwin A.; Shaw, Karyll N.; Saari, Lise M.; Latham, Gary P. (1980) “Goal Setting and Task Performance: 1969-1980.” Reprinted in Psychological Bulletin, 90:125-52, 1981. |
