Hi all! I haven't checked in for a while but I was the one who was going to walk the Goofy. I wanted to let everyone know that this past weekend I walked the 13.1 on Friday and the 26.2 on Saturday. I averaged 14:45 for the half (by design) and 14:40 for the whole (which worked out to about 13:30 for the first 18 miles and 16:00+ for the remainder). I'm not posting this to crow. I just know how doubt and fear and weariness can creep in and discourage you. You shouldn't let it. I was explaining to my wife before the weekend that I was worried about it because it was getting very real. It was like mentally coming upon a locked door that you have to find a way to get through. I'm telling everyone here to go to that door, bust it down, and mentally beat the hell out of anyone inside telling you that you can't or won't finish. If I can do it, so can you!!! Believe in yourself and know that you have support!!!
Crow all you want - that is a tremendous accomplishment! Thank you for telling us about it. Your door analogy is perfect - I've thought a lot about that these past few days.
Thank you for all of the excellent information!! I went to get my MRI results last week and I couldn't have been more thrilled with them. It is indeed a stress fracture but no crack in the bone and it's a slight one. The injury happened two months ago and he said that it's healing nicely and I'm now doing physical therapy and he told me that I could start walking!! I did two miles on Tuesday and three miles on Saturday. We got a family membership to the track at the local university and all three of us (including my 13 year old) are going to start walking tonight! I feel lucky to have the support and lucky that the SF wasn't worse. it was really a wake up call to not go all willy nilly when training. My sports doc also said exactly what you did - to have a training program and stick with it. People that try to do more end up getting injured. He also said that I should work on core strengthening and this is what I'm working on in physical therapy.
I'm so excited that I can walk now and I"m on my way to healing/training!
Again, wonderful news! I know you are so relieved. Also good information about not over-doing it.
What's the best way to increase speed in walking? I don't feel like the distance is going to be a problem just my timing, particularly when starting out. Once I have been at it a little bit I tend to hit my stride and my pace is better.
I don't have a good answer for you, I just wanted to comment that I'm struggling with the same issue. My first 2 - 3 miles are way too slow, then I'm able to hit a pretty good pace for several miles. Haven't pushed pace too much on long walks yet, although I need to get faster there too...
I have seen a small improvement by really pushing the speed on short walks and using a metronome periodically to help me turn my feet over faster, but it's a struggle. And those first couple miles really suck. I have really tight calves and it seems like no matter how much I warm up and stretch, they don't start to loosen up until mile 3. Yesterday I don't think they EVER loosened up and I did 14 miles!!!!
Good luck!
Brooke
Two things:
First, about speeding up, I'm in the same boat in that I have the endurance but speed continues to be a problem. I did walk two half marathons in November [part of a race series] and managed to average a 16:30 for both. What I noticed is that I could speed up to pass people if I wanted to, even in the later miles. So, in a racing situation, I do think I have the endurance, because of logging a ton of miles, to go faster if I spot a sweeper. I just can't seem to make myself go that fast in training.
I did find these drills that I just started using:
http://walking.about.com/cs/powerwalking/a/howfastdrills.htm
If nothing else, they are a good cardiac workout on my short walk days.
I have tight calves too. I think I will start to add a little jogging incase I need it on the day of the 1/2 because I definitely don't want to have to encounter the sweepers.
Second, and this is only my opinion...I'm a little nervous about adding jogging to the mix, for several reasons. First, I really enjoy walking but not jogging as much. Will I work as hard for something I don't really enjoy?
Also, I did try jogging a few months ago - the Galloway run/walk method to finish a 5K. My problem is that the running part fatigued me so I couldn't walk as fast as I needed to. So I slowed down my running to make sure I could finish that distance. If I were to add jogging to a half marathon distance, I would really go slowly - definitely more slowly than walking the entire time.
Then there's the injury issue. I am nervous that adding jogging might just put me at risk for injury - especially since learning a new form would be involved.
Anyway, Disneygirl, I definitely do not want to discourage you. I hope everything works out for you.
Oh, about your speed increasing after 2,3 miles....I've read that this is how it is supposed to happen for the longer distances. If you go out too fast, even walking, you'll poop out too quickly. Brooke, sounds like you're doing it right!