If 5 days a week sound like too much then you’re not ready.

Reality is that we should be active for 60 minutes a day, 7 days a week, but we can’t be doing the same thing everyday.  Becoming bored aside, the body needs to be moving in different ways.  Using a walking program as the basis of a healthy lifestyle we commit to walking 5 days per week.  Then, to be well rounded, we supplement the program with other activities such as team sports, yoga, strength training, or recreational activities such as skiing.

To get started let’s set out the premise on which this program is based.  You are healthy or relatively healthy – meaning being on your feet for 30 minutes is not a big deal.  Think about your last trip to the mall.  How long did you wander from store to store?  The average person can spend several continuous hours – comfortably – on their feet.  That said, starting any new fitness program means you should check with your medical professional to ensure that the activity is not contrary to any medical condition that you may have.

We’re starting off easy.  Easy meaning you will walk briskly, continuously for 30 minutes.  By briskly I mean fast enough that you have to slow down to drink your coffee – so leave it at home – this is beginning training, not a recreational walk with your best friend.

During this 10 week phase we won’t deal with speed.  The idea is to get a strong training base in, establishing a pattern for your life and your body.  That said, as you get further into the program, your muscles will become stronger and learn a new work pattern which means that walking briskly will change for you as the weeks past…you should see an increase in the distance you can complete in the 30 minutes.  For some this may mean an extra block, for others it may mean an extra 4 blocks can be completed in that same time.  We are all unique, developing muscle strength at different rates, so keep an eye out for your progress and be sure to reward yourself.

Below is a sample layout for a beginning long-distance walking program.  The days of the week are put on the schedule just to give you an idea of how to layout your walking days.  This one is really a good layout for the person who works Monday to Friday.  There are two rest days.  Rest meaning that you are not walking, but you are not inactive.  Trading your sneakers for the sofa is not recommended.  Find something fun to do that will keep you moving!

For the first three weeks you will walk 30 minutes each day.  On week 4 we establish the pattern of a long training day.  This is your day to invest a little more.  Gradually, as your stamina increases, this time/distance will increase.

In week 7 your long training days transition to distance measurements.  For most of you going from walking 1 hour to walking 5K will mean a shorter walk for this week.  The following weeks you will get an additional kilometer added each week to build your endurance.

The result of this beginning walking program is that at the end of 10 weeks you will have established a strong foundation.  Based on this you will be able to transition to a power walking program or an endurance race program.  Both of which will be posted in the near future.

So if you’re game…congratulations on making the choice to create a walking lifestyle!  Here is where you begin.  Welcome to our world!

BEGINNING WALKING PROGRAM

Unfortunately while we are trying to juggle family and friends our walking program is the first thing to be sacrificed.   Yes, the reality is that there are only so many hours in the days and something has to give., but putting your time for you low on the priority list is the wrong way to go.  It is your walking program that will help you survive the season with the most energy.

Walking has lots of benefits, but the most beneficial at this time of year are my three favourites:  energy, mood enhancement, and caloric burn!

BOOST YOUR ENERGY. While it does take time away from other things, heading out the door for a walk will give you an energy boost that will allow you stay up a little later and sleep a little better.  So while you may be giving up some time in your schedule, you’ll come home feeling great and you will be better able to whip through that ‘To Do’ list.

ENHANCE YOUR MOOD. When you are physically active your body releases chemicals that send happy feelings to your brain.  This is why you feel so good following a walk.  Your serotonin levels have been given a boost.  And let’s face it, at this time of year a little happy boost is a precious commodity!

BURN SOME CALORIES. With all the chocolates, cookies, and cocktails that we consume this time of year, the calories burned during your walk are the secret to surviving the season without a weight gain.  A 1 kilometer walk will burn approximately 63 calories…or one rum with diet coke!

BONUS. And another bonus is that the time spent out for a walk can do double duty.  I use it to revise and prioritize my ‘To Do’ List.  Or you can bring friends and family and let your exercise become some quality time with those you love.

So this holiday season give yourself a gift of time for you!

When the client began, she took a deep breath and then announced, almost with pride,  “I think I am allergic to exercise.”  It was all I could do not to laugh out loud.  Not so much at the declaration, but rather the client’s apparent glee that she has finally found the ultimate excuse to stay unhealthy and out of shape.

The coach visibly flinched and was speechless for a few moments; then I missed her first words as the barista unfortunately picked this moment to annoyingly break into my eavesdropping.  As a coach I understood and felt the coach’s grimace at this declaration.  From the coach’s perspective this is the ultimate cop-out from a client who is not only not committed to the program but is very likely genuinely lazy.

Unfortunately for the coach, there is a whole lot of truth to this client’s declaration, but unless the coach has explored food allergies it is unlikely that she will know this.  To phrase it as being “allergic to exercise” is wrong though; the correct terminology for this legitimate allergy symptom is “exercise-induced allergic response.”

I became privy to the phrase exercise-induced allergic response while having food allergy testing done last year.  For years I had been having symptoms that could have been the result of a whole variety of conditions such as gluten sensitivity, irritable bowel, ulcers, etc.  Then suddenly I developed an itchiness that just would not go away, so after weeks of this, Doc finally sent me to an Allergist.

As I waited for the Allergist to come by to assess the results. I again found myself eavesdropping.  The walls between examination rooms weren’t very thick so as I waited I listened to the frustrated doctor tell his patient that “If you don’t want the allergic symptoms, then don’t eat the foods you are allergic to.  I will not prescribe you a drug so that you can continue to eat these foods.”  This conversation continued with this declaration being rephrased and rephrased, and rephrased – clearly the news was not being taken well by the patient.  Finally, he gave up after about 20 minutes and joined me for my turn to learn my food fate – and it wasn’t good.

BAD NEWS…it turns out that I am allergic to celery, peppers, corn, shellfish, tree nuts, and…can you feel my pain?…CHOCOLATE. Yes chocolate!  Fortunately all the allergies are mild, but that collectively they can bring me great discomfort.  Meaning a summer meal featuring corn on the cob and steamed mussels followed by brownies with ice cream and crushed nuts will have me bent over in pain. Or consider the Christmas season, which for my baking leans means lots of nuts and chocolate, will cause intestinal inflammation, rectal itching and prickly skin.  Oh the agony!  Fortunately none of the allergies on their own are severe so if I accidentally have one of the forbidden foods I may not even notice the reaction.

Knowing my fitness background though the Allergist did fill me in on a little known allergy problem call exercise-induced allergic reaction.  This means that if you eat a food to which you have a mild allergy prior to physical activity you may experience an allergic reaction because of the physical activity.  He used a patient as an example.  Turns out she was allergic to lettuce and celery but so mildly that she had not made the connection.  On tennis days she would have lunch – a salad – and then she would play a couple of games, after which she would promptly get prickly skin.  However when she ate salad on non-tennis days no reaction.

So with this in mind, I have been mindful of pre-training food consumption to ensure that I did not have reactions and voila the prickly skin disappeared.  I also eliminated the offending foods from my diet in most part.  Gone is the bloating, abdominal pain…etc  While I do admit that I will occasionally indulge in a treat of scallops or a bite of chocolate for the most part I have been a model patient.

Back to this coach and her client.  I do not know what the result of the meeting was – such is the problem of eavesdropping – but it did remind me of the dilemma of coaching.  As a coach there is an expectation that the coach provide the motivation to the client, but in reality a coach can only feed the existing motivation of the client.  If the client is not self-disciplined enough to move toward success, the coach in reality has no means of moving them forward.  After all, it is not as though the coach can do the work for the client.  Without the work there is no reward and it is the reward phase that actually motivates the client to continue working.  As a coach I sometimes get the credit for the rewards of the client but in truth I merely provide the tools for a client to help themselves.  Coaches can be understanding, empathic, and encouraging.  Coaches can help set goals, provide guidelines of performance, and create programs with variety to keep the work interesting. But truth be told, without some level of internal motivation on the part of the client the coach has very limited ability to contribute.

I wonder if this coach was able to somehow turn this situation around, but my visual assessment of the relationship and the client’s demeanor says it is unlikely.  The client truly seemed excited at the prospect of being allergic to exercise.  I think she was a lost cause long before this afternoon in Starbucks, which is unfortunate because the rewards of an exercise program can be life changing.

Puppy, from day one, discovered that the air conditioner was her savior. Last summer, as a wee little puppy, she would plunk herself down on top of the air conditioning vent whenever it was turned on.  Her little belly would get nice and cool helping her to regulate her body temperature.  We found it cute and funny that she did this, but also recognized it as a sign that she got warm easily and we were going to have to monitor her closely to ensure that she didn’t get overheated.  Full grown now, Puppy has a corner of the dining room reserved for her cool down strategy.  When she lies down in this corner with the air conditioner on you can see the hair on her head slightly rustling from the blow of the nearby vent.  And Puppy recognizes the signs of impending coolness.  We move from room to room closing windows and she immediately heads to her corner grateful for the upcoming relief.

So one day last week Husband was sitting at the dining room table (I wasn’t at home).  The temperature outside was soaring and the heat in the house was likewise getting uncomfortable.  Engrossed in what he was doing I guess Husband was slow in bringing relief to Puppy.  So Husband looks up to see a panting Puppy standing in her corner staring at him.  Apparently, she looked at the window, then back at him again.  (Husband says in an almost accusatory way.) Fortunately he understood right away and went to turn the air conditioner on.  As the first window was shut, Puppy plopped down in the corner waiting for relief to hit her face.

Well I can relate to Puppy’s heat challenge.  As someone who needs to be physically active even in this heat I am continually concerned with training in the coolest part of the day and ensuring that I am getting enough fluids every day to keep my body’s water balance.  Generally, before dawn is the coolest time to train.  Rise early and head out the door before the day gets too hot. Have lots of extra fluid with you and you can safely get your training done.  So I have been training early on the days when work didn’t drag me in another direction.  Out the door before 6am, striving to maintain my marathon training plan.  As this heat wave progressed I noticed that my performance was lack luster.  My Garmin kept telling me that my feet were dragging even though I felt as though I was really working.  Discouraged despite knowing that this is because of the heat, just to be sure I strapped on the heart rate monitor and my Garmin told me that I was actually working harder than normal – but still my pace was lagging.  Damn you heat!

Then following my last long training session I felt ill for the rest of the day.  Dehydration.  Although I had consumed twice my normal electrolyte volume during training and had spent the day before ensuring I was well hydrated, the temperature rose too quickly.  And I had worked hard wanting to maintain my pace.  Bad combination.

So my next free morning, I once again planned to be out for over three hours.  I asked Husband to bring me some extra fluid part way through the session to ensure that I didn’t dehydrate again.  Since it was still very early, I opted to take Puppy for the first 5.5K.  So we headed out the door together and discovered it was still HOT.  There was a light breeze so I hoped that as I headed across the street to the lake’s trail, that the breeze would keep us cool.  Puppy knew otherwise though.  There was no getting to pace.  She was determined that we were going to crawl along at a snail’s pace.  Frustrated, 20 minutes later and a mere 1K from home I called Husband and asked him to come get Puppy.  Then I set off on my own.  As I approached the first Starbucks  (5.4K) of three I would pass on this morning, I visualized the route ahead and stopped dead in my tracks.  This is stupid I thought.  There was no way my body could safely handle this heat for another 23K.  The marina I was passing through was enticingly beautiful in the early dawn.  I checked my watch.  The Starbucks would be opening soon.  I plunked myself on a bench overlooking the lake and called Husband, asking him to join me.  While I didn’t get my long training session in, we enjoyed a drink in the early quiet morning.

Following this session I was forced to assess how I was going to handle my marathon training and this heat.  Option one:  train on a treadmill.  Ha ha, I would sooner have my toenails pulled out.  Option two:  pool training.  Again boring, although if you have a buddy to take with you it isn’t quite so bad.  For me though not going to happen – it’s too much like a treadmill.  Lots of effort but not getting anywhere. Option three:  indoor track.  Unfortunately, we don’t have any good ones nearby.  They are all too short so you spend a lot of time working on a curve.  Couple this with the requirement to only go in one direction according to the day of the week, it is just not a viable option.

I reviewed my training plan and considered…option four:  stop walking until the temperature lowers. Now while I came up with this option, I will admit that I was not keen on it.  The advantage of my life is that I spend my days on my feet.  Generally, without training, I put more than 10,000 steps on during a day.  Disadvantage though is that it will require a daily leg  strength workout to challenge my legs.

So option four it is.  Am I bored without my training program…hell yes!  While my life is very busy, I love my training – both my walking and running days.  It keeps my sane!  It is part of my very essence.  But sometimes you just have to say “Uncle.”  And now that I have said it, when is it going to cool off?????

1. “Anyone can walk a marathon.”
2. “Walkers get in the way.”
3. “Walkers don’t move fast enough.”

CONFESSION TIME I will admit that I am a bit of a walking snob, particularly when it comes to entering marathon events.  I believe that if you are going to enter an event that you should be investing in the process by working as hard as you can.  So regardless of your physical ability you aren’t just treating the race as a jaunt in the park…you are out there working hard!

This means that your heart rate is working in excess of 75% of its maximum.  This means that you aren’t stopping to take pictures along the route.  And most importantly, this means that you have trained diligently for months on end to ensure that you are physically prepared to challenge the distance.

So now that I have confessed it is time for me to ask you “why you aren’t walking to your ability?”  I am continually perplexed when I see walkers out there, dressed in full garb – expensive clothes, shoes, and toys – arms going through the motion, but their pace so slow that the arm swing looks ridiculous and frankly doesn’t not contribute at all to the process.

I frequently coach folks who start out treating their long training days as an extended coffee break.  They quickly learn though that if they are going to work with me, I expect them to be continually pushing the limits.  They may be paying me, but I still expect them to sweat!  I want an elevated heart rate!  I want them working hard enough that they don’t want to waste precious energy sharing all the latest gossip.  I push and push until I see that they are truly investing in the process.  And when an athlete challenges a new pace on a training day and is giddy with glee at check in, I know that I have done my job as the coach.

Last Saturday, I passed a group of walkers.  I was at about 15K at the time – well enough into the session to be in my groove pace for the day.  Coming from behind I saw that they were pumping their arms, but strangely they weren’t moving very fast.  The distance between us shortened.  Then they kicked up the pace a bit-en masse.  The distance between us shortened some more.  Then abruptly and en masse they once again slowed down.  The distance between us continued to shorten.  One minute later they went faster again, just as I was passing them.  This is when I noticed that many of them weren’t really working.  Their physical ability was much higher than the exertion of the activity.  A couple could have easily kept up with me.  Some however, were not in great shape and the activity was actually taxing them.  They needed to pump their arms to help them gain some momentum to move them along.

While I understand they they were likely under the misguided direction of one of Running Rooms pseudo-coaches, I do admit to having an overwhelming urge to stop and introduce myself.  But heh, they weren’t my clients so I remained quiet and continued on my way.

Endurance walking is only an effective group activity if you all have the same physical ability. If not someone is either working beyond their capability, which in the long run will lead to injury, or someone else is not working to their capacity and thus not getting the fitness benefits that they think they are getting.

Walk to your ability.  Unfortunately for some of us that means that we train alone because our speed is different than that of our friends.  But truthfully people, if you expect walking to improve your fitness level you need to be working.  Share the joy of your effort at a coffee shop catch-up following training.

AND if you are going to enter a marathon event you need to be working!  It is a race after all.

If you are finding your long training day without joy, you can incorporate some simple strategies to help make them more interesting. Here are some of the key concepts I employ to ensure that I continue to enjoy the process:

PLAN I like to have a plan for my long walks.  If it is your first time challenging a specific distance focus on completing the route and pay close attention to how your body responds to this new distance.  Did you find that your fluid intake was too low?  Did you find your energy lagging part way through?  Record this information for future use.  These first takes at this distance help you plan for your race by giving you an opportunity to understand how your body responds to the distance and how best you can supplement with fluids and nutrition to enhance your walking performance.

If you have already challenged this week’s distance, now is the time to fine tune your performance for this particular distance.  Anticipate fluid and nutritional needs – check your training log – several kilometers before you found yourself needing some nutrition on the first go-round have some fruit chews or whatever you use to boost your energy.   By giving your body these things before you realize that you need them, prevents that sluggish feeling from setting in. Then at the end of training assess how it worked.  Is there something more (or less) that you can do to fine tune your performance?

Planning in this way keeps me interested and engaged in my long training days.  There is a greater purpose beyond just completing a distance.  I am learning what works best for my body and how this will translate to a better race experience.

Another part of planning is tackling the route with a specific completion time in mind…

PACE I start with a goal time and pace myself to ensure that I accomplish this goal.  Now this may mean a hard or an easy pace, but always, I know before I leave home what my goal time for this training day is.  Some weeks my pacing will mean a consistent even pace throughout the route.  Other weeks, I employ my negative-split race strategy on my long training day.

The term “negative-split” refers to completing the second half of a race faster than the first.  For me, I incorporate a gradual increase in my pace throughout the whole race rather than an exact divide of the halves which I know many people favour for its simplicity.  I start off with an easy pace, waiting for the starting line congestion to ease.  Then I begin increasing my pace at about 2K.  From this point on my pace will continue to increase to my average goal race pace by mid-point of the race.  From the mid-point, I will then start ramping up the pace so that I am working at maximum capacity for the final few kilometers of the race.

Pacing on my long training days keeps my mind engaged with the process and looking forward to assessing my results when I get home.

ROUTE I have a large selection of long distance routes to use, thereby preempting any boredom with my training routes.  It is well worth the time to create a variety that will keep you interested.  For example I did a 22K yesterday using a blend of two routes that run fairly close to each other.  One route has a 4K stretch of deep rolling hills that I wanted to complete, but the route they were on was a bit shorter and being a weekday, a lot noisier.  So 8K into my training I did a slight diversion from my quiet route jumping to the other route at the beginning of the hills and jumping back to the quiet route once the hills were complete.  It was the first time that I had done this combination.  I was looking forward to it before I began, and I enjoyed it while out there.  This is really important for keeping me interested in heading out the door!

TOYS I am the first to admit that I find having a technical toy is a fun way to spice up my long training days.  Whether it is Lance Armstrong congratulating you on your performance complements of your iPod Nike shoe sensor or a Garmin history chart showing you all your hard work, taking a toy on training days can help keep you engaged.  I am a results driven person so I enjoy seeing my mileage progression build and I always want to know how my pace is.  AND if you are inclined to get bored easily, playing with technology on your walk can help to alleviate this by giving you something to focus on.

MUSIC I have always used music to pace to and generally speaking love that music drowns out the din of the city.  Fitness-wise studies have shown that when you work out to music you tend to work harder than you think you are – which is a good thing.  To help you look forward to your long training days, create a play-list that you only use on long days or races.  This way you’re not getting bored listening to the same music everyday.  I always look forward to a change up in the tunes.

SELF-CHALLENGE I am not competitive with others, but am very competitive with myself.  I love challenging myself to achieve a new time.  Generally, I will spend several weeks working on speed with shorter distances.  Then I will select a half-marathon distance route to challenge myself to beat previous times.  It’s like having a race day whenever you want.  This really motivates me to head out strong and excited about my training day.

Last week I returned home from a walk to discover that the rubber nose piece of my Nike glasses was deteriorating.  I suspect caused by a combination of age and the chemicals in the sunscreen that I use.  Now I do admit to loving my Nike glasses.  I purchased two pairs years ago.  Although expensive, they were super comfortable to wear!  The best part about them was the ridged rubber nose pads.  Even when you are sweating up a river the glasses don’t slide down your nose.  The first pair had their demise last summer.  I forgot that they were on my hat and when I took the hat off, the glasses hit the floor in just the right way to take a chunk out of one of the lenses. With the second pair being canned last week I found myself without eye protection and mourning the loss.

There are lots of glasses out there for athletes.  I have tried many over the years but my favourites remain the Nike ones, followed by an Oakley pair that I had prior to the Nike.  Both companies provide attractive styles, but most importantly a comfortable fit that works when you are active.  Unfortunately both have starting prices at $140.  A tad expensive.  That said when you get to wear them year after year, barring any stupid actions such as dropping them on the floor, they are a good investment!

I was resigning myself to having to spend lots of money to get a new pair when I dropped into my local Running Room store to see what they had.  I figured it wouldn’t hurt to check out some other brands before I committed to another pair of Nike glasses.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that they carried a line called Ryder that had really affordable prices – $40.  Gleefully I checked pair after pair and liked so many that I had to do a systematic comparison of each pair to finally settle on the winning pair.  The winning pair had a ridged rubber nose piece and rubber grips on the arms at the ears.  They wrapped nicely around the sides of my face and the arms didn’t pinch into my head. Bonus they are polarized. (There is another pair that has caught my eye, so there may be a trip back for my back-up pair.)

Here are some things to consider when purchasing sunglasses to train in:

1. Wrap around lens You want the lens to wrap around the side of your face.  This protects your eyes from sun coming in the sides and also provides protection from dirt blowing around or a flying branch if you are off-road training.

2. Ridged Rubber Nose Piece I specifically say ridged because a smooth rubber nose piece will slide down your nose just as quickly as a smooth plastic one when you are sweating.

3.  Correct Width Everyone has a different face shape so you need to check lots of pairs to get a pair that fits your face well.  The glasses should curve around the side of your head but not brush into your cheek bones.  Also, trying glasses on in the store for a few minutes may not warn you that the curve of the arms will annoyingly press on your head at the ears.  Compare arm widths on different pairs to find one that fits the size of your head.  Smaller head need to ensure the arms aren’t too far apart, while larger heads need to select a pair with a gap wide enough to ensure that a long training day won’t end with a headache.

4. Correct Height Many of us wear hats with a beak with training.  If your glasses have too much height for your shape of face, your hat will press down on the glasses causing discomfort over time.  If you have a shorter forehead and tend to wear a billed hat, bring it with you when looking for glasses to ensure the glasses will clear the hat.

5. Good Colour We all tend to have favourite colours for frames, but don’t forget to check the effect the colour of the lenses has on the scenery.  Sometimes the wrong colour will give you head aches.  My preference has always been with browny-grey tones over brown tones.  Not sure why, but my eyes just seem to be more relaxed with these tones.

6.  Grips on the Arms If you can find a brand that puts rubber grips on the arms you’ll be ahead of the game for comfort and staying power.  There is nothing more annoying that having to constantly adjust your glasses because they are shifting under the sweat.  When you are out training you want as few distractions as possible.

7.  Have a Back-up Pair If you can afford a back-up pair I highly recommend investing in a second pair.  You never know when you will need them.  When traveling to a marathon, I have always carried a second pair just in case.  And if you train everyday and break a pair one day, you are still good to go until you get a chance to replace the first pair.  Better safe than sorry!