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Discussion Forum - The Bothy - how to improve walking speed


Author: Pete George
Posted: Sat 24th Dec 2016, 11:11
Joined: 2015
Local Group: Cumbria
Hi Louise,

I was doing the Lakeland 50 earlier in the year and came across someone walking with the Help for Heroes team. She had a small stone in each hand so I asked if it was some kind of weird army initiation process. She said that she finds that having a stone in each hand helps with her arm swing which increased the length of her pace and speed. Could give that a go. No promises it'll work though!!!

Pete.
Author: David Kearns
Posted: Thu 22nd Dec 2016, 12:43
Joined: 1998
Louise

Cut-off times are almost always generous. I am most certainly not a fast walker but in 340 challenge events I've only once been timed out.

Just do it, don't worry about it and enjoy your day of fresh air and exercise !

Dave
Author: Iain Connell
Posted: Thu 22nd Dec 2016, 11:29
Joined: 2010
Local Group: East Lancashire
My take on your post(s) is that distance running (which you already do) isn't the same as distance walking (which you're starting to do), and it doesn't necessarily follow that the former 'scales down' to the latter. It may be a combination of gait (running and walking are different in more than just speed) and breathing (walkers may take more 'lung breaks while moving' than runners).

Watching the Tour de France this year it became clear that near-the-front-finishing a time- rather than position- dependent event like distance cycling requires knowledge of when to 'sit back and wait' rather than 'surge forward' with the leaders. For much of the Tour, Team Sky positioned themselves near the front of the peloton (bulk of the participants) and sat there - ('another day in the office', they call it) for most of the day, reserving their energies for sufficient first or near-first finishes to maintain overall position(s). In contrast, the less experienced (relative term, for what may be the world's fittest people) early leaders would usually be overtaken or have to stop altogether.

It may be, then, that you don't yet have sufficient experience of cross-country endurance walking to have learned where and when to 'hold back' rather than 'surge forward', adjusting your speed, gait and breathing to the terrain rather than the people in front. Doing that efficiently may take several attempts (and other people may be able to give you pointers to what to expect from coming events) and several different routes. You're not 'racing', you're testing yourself against the terrain, the distance, the weather and the conditions, and the only other 'competitor', ultimately, is yourself.

Not so much 'improving walking speed', more like 'gradually reducing finishing times to self-set goals'.

Iain.
Author: Louise Witt
Posted: Wed 21st Dec 2016, 23:36
Joined: 2016
Local Group: South Wales
Hi. I've completed a few walking marathons and I'm always at the back. Whilst I don't want to win any first prizes, I'd love to improve my walking speed so I have a bit more confidence that I'm going to meet cut off times. I run and work with a PT and do sprints and hilly runs but it doesn't seem to improve my walking speed. Does anyone have any walking improver plans or is it just a case of just keep walking and I'll build up over time? Thanks

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