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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

Racewalking in Balance

As the minutes of daylight increase, the rainfall lessens, and flowers and trees bloom, walkers eagerly pursue their physical activity of choice with abundant optimism for coming activities. Walking provides so many physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. For most, walking provides a sense of self-confidence, a feeling of control over life, an opportunity to test and stretch personal limits and reach new goals. As brisk walking is now one of the fastest growing activities in the United States, more and more walkers are learning to racewalk, the walk of Olympic champions.

The most important aspect of racewalk training or any training program is balance. In the spring, it is easy to exercise with exuberance, sometimes too much, too far, too fast, too soon. Balance in training is one of the keys to success, whether a recreational walker, an avid fitness walker, or competitive racewalker. Balance is achieved by adhering to six basic principles:

Warm-up and Cool-down:
Always include a warm-up and cool-down in your walking sessions. The purpose of the warm-up is to slowly elevate the pulse and body temperature. This increases the muscle blood flow and thus improves delivery of nutrients, the mechanical efficiency and power of the moving muscles, coordination, and helps prevent injuries to the muscles, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues. The warm-up also allows the heart muscle to adequately prepare itself for aerobic exercise.

The cool-down is just as important as the warm-up. The purpose of the cool-down is to slowly reduce the pulse rate, lower the body temperature, and help the circulation in the removal of metabolic waste products. This promotes faster recovery from fatigue, prevents the pooling of blood reducing the possibility of delayed muscular stiffness, and reduces any tendency toward dizziness and fainting.

Stretching/Mobility:
There is much debate today regarding whether to stretch or not. The question isn’t really if one should stretch, but rather does stretching prevent injury. Keep in mind the new Center for Disease Control (CDC) report suggests that there is not enough evidence to prove that stretching can prevent injury, but there’s also not enough evidence to prove it doesn’t. The CDC report did conclude, however, that stretching improves flexibility. Flexibility is an important factor in improving performance, and is an important component of overall physical fitness. Each year at the NW Regional Racewalk Retreat, guest Olympians share their training routines, which include abundant stretching and mobility drills to improve performance. Stretching exercises lengthen muscles, and increased flexibility allows us to maintain the range of motion in our joints.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that an active warm-up of 5 to15 minutes precede stretching exercises. Do not bounce, but hold each stretch steady for 15 to 20 seconds after warm-up and 20 to 30 seconds after cool-down. Do not use any stretch that causes unusual pain or discomfort. Stretching a cold/tight muscle can do more harm than good.

Aerobic Session:
An aerobic activity uses large muscle groups at moderate intensities that permit the body to use oxygen to supply energy and to maintain a steady state for more than a few minutes. Your aerobic sessions should follow the F.I.T. (frequency, intensity, and time) principle to maximize health and fitness benefits while minimizing setbacks such as injury.

Frequency refers to the number of exercise / walking sessions per week. The recommendation is three to four times per week to improve aerobic fitness.

Intensity reflects the energy requirements of the exercise, the amount of oxygen consumed, and the calories expended. Examples of increasing intensity are walking faster or walking hills. By monitoring your heart rate during training, you can tell whether you are training too easy or too hard. To achieve maximum benefit from your workout, train between 65% and 80% of your maximum heart rate (MHR) (see side bar). It is important to mix it up, to not always walk at the same intensity or heart rate.

Time of walking refers to the duration in minutes that the proper level of intensity is maintained. Exercise that brings cardio-respiratory endurance improvement is a function of both time and intensity. The more intense the exercise, the shorter the time can be. Training time varies with your goal. For general fitness, 30 minutes most days of the week at moderate intensity is recommended.

Variation:
Failure to include variety leads to boredom, staleness, and poor performance. You can achieve variation by changing your training routine: alter your time, distance, and/or intensity. Think in terms of hard/easy and work/rest.

Follow a long walk with a short one or an intense walk with a relaxed one. Rest is as important as the workout.

Specificity:
Exercise is specific. When you walk, you recruit certain muscle fibers, energy pathways, and energy sources. If you walk daily, the adaptations will take place in the muscle fibers used during the activity. The type of training you undertake must relate to your desired results. Work on elements that are specific to your walk goals; i.e., racewalk to train for racewalk events. Walk training for a half marathon is different than for a walk relay, weight management, or fat loss. Add a bit of cross training to train other muscles to avoid muscle imbalances that could lead to injuries.

Fun:
Whatever your reasons for walking FUN is a vital component of balance.

As you venture forth, whether you are beginning or continuing with a walking program or taking the next step to competitive racewalking, remember to balance your walk training within itself and with the other aspects of your life. Walking with balance can add quality to the days of your life.