WALKERS & RUNNERS: WALKING WORKOUTS

Waiting for the snow facing to be removed. Taken by PKSenagore March 8, 2017. All rights reserved.

WHETHER YOU 1) DECIDED TO ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE of walking a half marathon or 2) WISH TO INCREASE THE GAINS from your weekly walking sessions, or 3) CROSS TRAIN AS A RUNNER WITH WALKING SESSIONS, there are workouts designed to help you.
 
Wendy Bumgardner for verywellfit.com, presents a ONE WEEK SCHEDULE with several different workouts suggested by race walking coach Dave McGovern that include: economy, recovery, and threshold #1, and threshold #2 walks.  
 
There also is a link to a 15 Minute Walk ‘maximizer’ workout, if that’s all the time available.
 
In addition, Bumgardner provides an explanation of six different types of walking plans. She explains them more fully in the article, which is essential reading. 
 
For quick reference the basics as explained by Bumgardner are summarized below:
 
Easy Health:    Every day                     30 minutes duration   50-60% maximum heart rate
Fat Burning:    Every day                     45-60 min                   60-70% MHR
Aerobic:           Every other day           20-60 min                   70-80% MHR
Threshold:       1-3 x per week             50 min or less             80-92% MHR
Endurance:      1 x per week               5-10 miles distance      65-80% MHR
Economy:        1 x per week               20 sec/2min; 8-12x     fast as possible/slow
 
Running and walking without a goal or a plan may be disappointing if we hope to realize improvements over time. At worst, injury can occur with overtraining.  Most of us understand that If we want to build endurance, we will need to TRAIN to walk or run progressively longer distances. 
 
Similarly, if we want to build speed or aerobic (cardiovascular) fitness we will need to TRAIN to accomplish these goals.  We can’t BE different, in this case better, unless we DO something differently, which means we must work our bodies to function at a higher level!
 
Walking for exercise is not the same as pleasure strolling.  Walkers, as athletes, benefit from having a plan with purposeful workouts. Stretching and warmup/cooldown sessions are components of such workouts.   Twice weekly muscle-strength building sessions are recommended in the CDC’s Physical Activity Guidelines for all healthy adults, so walkers should also include resistance work in training programs. Mobility routines are a great idea too.
 
Wendy Bumgardner provides a variety of resources and information that walkers will find motivating and helpful in this article and others on the verywellfit.com site, including heart rate training.  Consider taking advantage of her offerings to get moving this spring!
 
RUN & MOVE HAPPY!
 
 
https://www.verywellfit.com/weekly-walking-workouts-3432627
 
https://www.racewalking.org
 
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/prevention/policies_practices/physical_activity/guidelines.htm
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