Training for the MS Challenge Walk on Cape Cod in Sept..HELP (muscles, push-ups)

[DorrieMA]

Hi Everyone,

Back in September I was on Facebook talking to some friends of mine, we decided we needed to start walking. To lose weight, to get healthy and to just feel better about ourselves. So every day we walked "together" then logged into FaceBook and cheered each other on, celebrated our gaines and encouraged each other through the rough spots. October came and I had to stop walking for a while. They all did too. Life happens and things change.

January came and I was bound and determined to get myself back out there. So I did, well sorta. I started doing a DVD in the house, it was cold here in MA. But come March I was heading out.

So I had been seeing commercials for the MS Challenge Walk on Cape Cod on TV and hearing them on the radio. I wanted to do it but none of my family for friends would do it with me, and I wasn't sure I could do it alone. One day, I went to the site, read all the information and next thing I knew I was registering!! Now, I am walking the 3 day, 50 MILE, MS Challenge WALK!! YIKES!!

So yes I have to come up with all that money in donations (if you want to help with a donation let me know, I sure could use all the help I can get but thought this wasn't the right place for THAT post) AND I have to be able to WALK 50 M I L E S!!

Right now, I am up to about 4-5 miles a day. I was doing a speed walk, I want to lose weight and I know that is how you do it. Fast walk, get your heart going.. ya know. But it dawned on me the other day.. I can not speed walk 50 miles with hundreds of other people. So I am trying to slow myself down and walk farther. This is NOT easy, cuz my mind wants to go fast.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to walk slower? has anyone walked the MS Challenge Walk before? Anyone just wanna talk?

Thanks for reading this reeeeaaaalllly long post to get to a simple little point!!

[ogre]

Kudos to you for starting into exercise, and for doing this charity walk.

I'm guessing that you're asking about how to slow down because you've been speedwalking long enough now that you just naturally fall into a fast pace. I agree that you don't want to speedwalk during the charity walk. Maybe if you'd been doing this for a long time, that would be an interesting challenge, but you probably need to get further beyond the beginner level than you're likely to be in Sept. before trying to walk that distance at a brisk pace.

One way I can think of to slow your pace is to use a mapping website to map out a course, or maybe several courses, for your walking. That way you know the distance you're walking. Then if you time yourself you'll be able to keep track of your pace so you know you're slowing it down to a speed more comfortable for a long walk like you'll do in Sept.

It should also be useful to map out the distance to a few checkpoints along your walking route(s). That way you can determine ahead of time about how long it should take you to reach each checkpoint at the preferred pace. Then you can check your time at each checkpoint and adjust your pace accordingly so you walk at your preferred pace for the remainder of the course.

As for how to go about getting into shape for the MS walk, there's an old runner's guideline that you should increase your distance by a maximum of 10 percent from one week to the next. This should be a good guideline for walking as well. This does not mean that you necessarily have to increase your mileage by 10 percent from each week to the next, just that you should make progress no more quickly than this. It's a good idea to push yourself some, so you keep increasing your endurance, but if any of your joints ever feel sore, or you just plain feel kind of stale and lethargic and unenthusiastic about going out for your next walk, those are signs that you're pushing a little too hard and should ease back a bit, or at least not push for more distance until you return to feeling a fresh enthusiasm about getting outside for your exercise.

There is a possible catch to that 10-percent rule, but there's also a solution to this. The catch is that if you increase your mileage for the week by 10 percent but also happen to increase your pace, then you are increasing your overall workload by more than 10 percent. The way I suggest getting around this is to use the point system found at the following website as your guideline: Cooper Aerobics - Aerobics (http://www.cooperaerobics.com/About-Cooper/Aerobics.aspx - broken link).

I wasn't able to figure out how to copy a link to the page that tells how many points you get for each activity, but if scroll down a little from the beginning of the page I've linked to, you'll find the heading "Aerobics Point System." At the end of that short section you'll find a link to the page that lists the points. Walking/running is the first activity listed, so you can start right in checking out that section as soon as you open that page.

This guy Cooper is a pioneer in studies about aerobic exercise, with his research dating back to something like the late '50's or early '60's and continuing to this day. You can get points based on either the intensity at which you're performing an activity--in the case of walking, your speed--and/or the length of time. That means you can get the same number of points for a longer walk at a slower pace or a somewhat shorter walk at a faster pace. This way, you can vary your pace and still know the percentage by which you increase your workload from one week to the next. Your aim should be to increase your number of points per week from one week to the next, but not by more than 10 percent.

With those basics on how to keep track of your pace and your progress, here are some pointers on how to go about this:

1) Again, aim to increase your point total from one week to the next, but stay the same if your body is telling you that you're straining yourself, then start increasing when you feel fresh again. In any case, don't increase your weekly point total by more than 10 percent from one week to the next.

2) Take a day off from exercise each week. The body needs some rest at times, and in the long run you'll progress more quickly if you don't cause your body to wear down by pushing too hard.

3) It's a good idea to go mostly for longer distances at a slower pace, so you condition yourself for the kind of walking you'll do in the MS challenge, but you should still mix in a certain amount of speedwalking, say, at least one day a week, maybe two days. Walking at a faster pace will enhance your overall aerobic conditioning, so that you'll be better equipped for the task at hand come September. Still do those longer, slower walks the rest of the week, though.

4) Try to set aside one day every other week when you do more walking than you do the other days. At first this should be only a little more than the walking you do on your average day, but still enough to be noticeably more walking. You can gauge that you're doing more on the long day by comparing the number of Cooper points to the number you get on your average day. Aim to increase your long day by 10 percent each time over the points you got on the last long day. After a couple of months, start doing the long day once a week, and increasing your walking on this day by 10 percent over the previous week. That way you'll not only improve your overall conditioning, but the long days which get progressively longer will condition you for the longer distance in a day which you'll be covering in the charity walk.

5) Three or four times a week, do some kind of exercise to strengthen the quadriceps (muscle on the front of the thighs) and abs. When you walk a lot on flat surfaces, like around a neighborhood, you'll be using mostly the muscles on the backs of the legs and in the lower back. If you do nothing to work the opposite muscles, you can develop an imbalance which can make exercise more difficult, and could even cause injury in the worst case. So, if you do a lot of walking on pavement it's a good idea to do some lunges and/or squats and some ab exercises several days a week. While you're at it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in some dumbbells of varying weights and also include a few basic exercises for the upper body, such as chest presses or push-ups, shoulder presses, and dumbbell rowing. Just these few basic exercises done several times a week will really help in maintaining good muscle balance over your entire body. However, exercising the abs and quads is most crucial, since this will help maintain good balance with the muscles you use most during walking.

Phew. A lot there, but I think I've covered the basics pretty well. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. Congrats again on getting involved with exercise, and best of luck as you train for the big walk in Sept.

[jade408]

Join one of those other fundraiser walks where you walk a marathon. And follow the training program.

[DorrieMA]

Ogre! Thank you so much. Your suggestions are just what I need and what I was looking for. I am going to go hit that site and see what you are talking about with the points and figure out my walks. Thank you!!

[DorrieMA]

Thanks Jade!! I am following the training program of the walk, but I still find that I am walking fast. Although I have slowed myself down and I am walking farther I have to catch myself and make it a point to slow down.

[DorrieMA]

Orge, the site didn't work. Thank you though

[ogre]

Grrrrr, about the fact the Cooper site isn't opening. It worked fine the night I posted that link, so I hope it's only a temporary shutdown. I tried Googling "Cooper points" and "Cooper aerobic points," and still got either articles about Cooper and the points system that didn't actually include tables of the points, or links back to that site that isn't opening now.

No problem, because the basic idea is simple, and I'll tell you here. The points are based on oxygen consumption during an activity, which I've read also corresponds closely to number of calories burned. That's what makes this system so useful. Whether you walk longer distances at a slower pace or shorter distances at a brisk clip, if you get the same number of Cooper points, you've burned about the same number of calories, in other words done about the same amount of work, so it's a good way to track your progress in terms of the total work you do each week.

The reason I recommend that you continue to walk briskly a couple of days a week is that vigorous exercise conditions the body in different ways than lighter exercise like walking at a moderate pace. By doing some days of slower walking and still doing some days where you move at a speedwalking pace you're getting both the conditioning for the longer distances you'll cover during the charity walk and an extra edge of including some speedwalking to condition your body in an overall way for demanding exercise--and walking the distances you'll be covering in the charity walk will be fairly demanding.

So here's how the points work for walking/running (works the same for either walking or running). First, in order to get any points on Cooper's charts, you need to walk at a pace of at least 3 mph, or 20 min. per mile. Start calculating points by assuming this is your pace. At a pace of 3 mph or 20 min./mile, you get one point for the first mile, or the first 20 minutes. You get one more point for each half mile, or 10 minutes, walked non-stop after that, which also means you get 0.1 pt. for each additional minute past the first 20. So, if you walk three miles in an hour, that's five points--one for the first 20 minutes, and four more points for the remaining 40 min. to finish the hour after you've walked the first 20 min. At that pace, you get two points for walking half an hour--one for the first 20 min. and one more for the next 10 min. to get you to half an hour. Or you'd get 11 points for walking six miles in two hours--one point for the first 20 min. and 10 more points for the additional 100 min. it takes after the first 20 min. to reach two hours.

That's how to figure points if you walk at a pace of 20 min. per mile. If you move faster, add one point for each five minutes you knock off of the time you'd walk at the 20-min./mile pace, which comes to 0.1 additional point for each half minute by which you reduce the time. So, for example, if you walk three miles in 45 min., you start by figuring that you would get five points for walking that distance in an hour. Then you get another point for each five minutes you knock off the time. In this example you've reduced your time by 15 min., so you get three additional points, or a total of eight points for three miles in 45 min.

Let me know if I've explained this clearly. If my explanation clicks for you, great, if not we'll see if we can discuss this until I explain it in a way that does make it clear.

[DorrieMA]

Thanks ogre. I think I got it!! you did great explaining it. I just did a smaller walk for MS on Saturday, it was 6 miles. This "practice" walk helped a lot. It helped show me the pace of walking and also what I need to get for this type of walk. I need socks with padding on the bottom at the ball of my foot. I believe that is where I am going to be getting blisters. Thank you so much for all your help!!

[ogre]

You're welcome, and congrats on the six-miler. Good to get that experience, and learn things like what you need to wear on your feet.

By the way, it's good if my explanation of the points system worked for you, but still would be more convenient to read the charts. You might be able to pull up the charts using the link below. I managed to dig up a copy of the chart that still seems to be showing up online. It's a PDF file, and I don't know how to copy from those, so the link is actually to the Google page I got when I used the search term "Cooper aerobic points chart." If you hit the link and go to the Google page with the results, you should be able to open the charts by clicking on the first item on the page, "Kenneth Cooper's aerobics point system - Cooper Aerobics"

Congratulations again on your recent event, and keep on truckin'.


Google

[Sciameriken]

I think Ogre has this pretty well covered - but I was going to suggested taking along extra weight to slow you down - pack a good amount of those plastic water bottles - if things get too heavy you can always give them away