You don’t need to be a seasoned athlete to challenge long-distance walking. People of all ages and abilities are challenging amazing distances. Walkers explore the Trans Canada Trail, from start to finish, stroll the backroads of every county, and challenge marathons. Long-distance walkers turn the ordinary into the extraordinary with their passion and commitment to walking. YOU can join them in this wonderful adventure.
LONG-DISTANCE EVENTS. If you’re looking for structure, you can train for a specific long-distance event. The pinnacle of long-distance events has long been the marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers). While elite athletes still lead the pack, ordinary people in all shapes and sizes have taken the challenge and joined in for the thrill of crossing a finish line. In the spirit of fostering activity and good health most marathons also host shorter events such as the half-marathon and the 10K.
Walking a long-distance event is as much a mental game as a physical one. You need to train your body to complete the distance and then keep your mind free of doubts about your sanity while you spend hours walking. But at the end the reward of crossing the finish line is well worth it.
Long-distance event training should be a comprehensive training program with cross-training and hill-training enhancing your development. Tackling all this at once is overwhelming and throwing yourself in to such a degree can lead to failure. Take long-distance walking one step at a time, build your distance and then gradually introduce activities to complement your walking.