Your Walking Adventure: Getting Started - Therese Iknoian

Evaluate Yourself

Whether you've been inactive or simply haven't walked regularly before, take a day to see what you can do. Find a local school track (most are a quarter mile around) or any other measured course. After loosening up a little, walk one mile as briskly as you can. Be careful not to start out too fast, and stop if you feel faint or dizzy. Note your time, as well as how you feel and which muscles seem to hurt from the exertion (a 15- to 20-minute mile is considered a "brisk" fitness walking pace). Use that time as your benchmark to gauge your progress and pace yourself on your walks. If you're the competitive type, feel free to go back to the track every four weeks to do this little exercise again to see if your training program has helped you get faster too.

Get Equipped

One of the beauties of walking is its minimal equipment demands; all you need is a good, supportive pair of athletic shoes. Do invest in walking shoes, however, if you intend to walk regularly. Good walking shoes -- compared to aerobics, tennis and running shoes -- are made for the linear walking movement with enough forefoot flexibility, heel cushioning and heel support. A walking shoe's lower-profile heel also helps you roll through your foot and avoid shin pain. If speed is the least of your concerns on this trip, then you can also choose some comfortable light hikers or "touring" type shoes that have oodles of support but may not be built for fast paces. I'd suggest you do a lot of your day-to-day training in some athletic walking shoes, but make sure you have your trip's selected shoes a month before you leave so you can wear them around town and on some walks to make sure they are right.

Start Easy

Always do less than you think you can when you begin. In this case, when choosing your trip or your day's mileage once you arrive, be conservative so you don't ache with muscles over-taxed by exuberant over-mileage. It's easy to be eager to fulfill good intentions, but even if your mind is willing, your muscles and heart need to get used to the movement. Even those who exercise already but don't walk will discover new muscles. You will need to go slower than you did in your one-mile evaluation since you'll be going quite a bit farther.

Therese's Golden Guidelines

Ten Percent -- Increase your mileage or minutes by no more than 10-20 percent per week to allow your muscles and bones to get stronger gradually and to avoid injury. For example, if you walk three hours one week, you could increase that by 20-40 minutes the following week, with the higher number more applicable to those who have been exercising regularly.
On-Off -- Alternate your workout days or intensity. If you're walking three times a week, walk every other day. As you begin to walk more often, alternate the intensity instead. That means you won't do hills the day after your long workout, but would take an easy and shorter walk then go for the hills the next day. The day off or easy day allows your body to recover, again helping to avoid injury.

Warmup, Stretch, Cooldown

Start each walk at a very easy pace, perhaps spending three or four minutes moving at about half the speed you intend to go. This increases the blood flow to your muscles so they become more pliable, like warm taffy. The warm-up also increases the lubricating fluid in your joints to keep them sliding smoothly.

Then, stop and loosen the muscles you're going to use. For walking, that means the front and back of both your upper and lower legs (quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and shins). Also, stretch your upper back and shoulders by reaching tall, then pulling your clasped hands in front of you as you round your back like a Halloween cat. Then also clasp your hands behind your back and pull them upward to stretch across your chest and pull the muscles open. You can find more walk-specific stretch instruction and pictures of them in my book, Fitness Walking (see reference list).

If you have a Speed or Hill workout planned, then use the next 10 minutes or so to slowly step up the intensity before you launch into it.

Go through the same pattern at the end of your walk, gradually bringing the intensity down to stabilize your breathing. Then step and stretch. Hold the stretches longer since now you're really warm and can work on better flexibility.

Sticking To It

Sometimes the most difficult part is sticking to your good intentions. In this case, remember you have a goal -- a really fun one as a matter of fact! -- and if you end up walking more than you normally do to prepare, it will only be for several months.

Try making an appointment with yourself, even writing your walks in your daily planner.
Ask a friend to come along, since a waiting companion will make you less likely to be a no-show.
Be realistic about when you'll workout. Don't promise you'll put in your miles at dawn when you've never been able to get out of bed early in your life.
Vary your routine by changing locations or directions. Make the walks an excuse to explore new neighborhoods and parks!
Keep a log so you can better monitor progress. There's nothing more encouraging than seeing success!

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