New Place for Walkers, Training for 2011 and Beyond

[Minnie Lor]

Great pace. I'd skip running if I could walk that fast. I need to get new shoes but need to work on my "style" first.

 

[John VN]

I bought a pair of Brooks last Saturday to replace the Asics Gel Nimbus. Walked in them at the store and they seemed lighter with less cushion but not a problem. Went out Sunday AM for 5K and they did not feel right. Returned to house and put old Asics on and walked another 5K. First step they felt much better. In the Brooks I had a 10:33 pace for the 5K and in the Asics a 10:30 pace for the 5K over the same roads. Turns out the 5 month old Asics were much better.

I will bring the Brooks back to the store tomorrow riding my bicycle for my 100 mile cross train day.

Working on my walking technique resulted in a 2:06:16 time for 13.12 miles last Thursday. The 2:00:00 mark for a half is becoming more realistic for my 2011 goal and a 4:20:00 full for next year's Goofy WILL happen for my 2012 goal.

Dave, glad it's coming back. Be careful and stay healthy.

 

[Minnie Lor]

I bought a pair of Brooks last Saturday to replace the Asics Gel Nimbus. Walked in them at the store and they seemed lighter with less cushion but not a problem. Went out Sunday AM for 5K and they did not feel right. Returned to house and put old Asics on and walked another 5K. First step they felt much better. In the Brooks I had a 10:33 pace for the 5K and in the Asics a 10:30 pace for the 5K over the same roads. Turns out the 5 month old Asics were much better.

I will bring the Brooks back to the store tomorrow riding my bicycle for my 100 mile cross train day.

Working on my walking technique resulted in a 2:06:16 time for 13.12 miles last Thursday. The 2:00:00 mark for a half is becoming more realistic for my 2011 goal and a 4:20:00 full for next year's Goofy WILL happen for my 2012 goal.

Dave, glad it's coming back. Be careful and stay healthy.

Good job! My fastest walk pace is 14:30. I'd be okay with that except I know that i need to be faster for Disney with character stops and pit stops.

 

[RatherBeWithMickey]

Originally posted this on the old thread, as I was unaware of the new one:

Just thought I'd check in, and give this a bump. Was glad to see the thread become active again, as I had a 6 week lay off in my training and was having trouble finding the motivation to start up again. Seeing the activity here reminded me of what I was missing. So I'm back at it again. I'm training for the Hershey Half relay again in October, then I plan on taking the plunge and doing the Donald Half in January. I'm a little bit nervous about taking that step, but I've got over 9 months of training until then, and it IS what I was shooting for when I first starting doing some serious walking. And mine will be strictly walking. Now they've gone and introduced the Chip and Dale relay, so my husband is already talking about doing that one in 2013! And here I thought I was going to do one half marathon, just to be able to say I did it, and then back off a little. Silly me!!
Anyway, anyone else doing the Donald in January? Do a lot of people walk this? My husband is planning to do this with me, but he's a bit slower than me and is worried about being at the back of the pack, or even getting swept. He wasn't that much slower than me at Hershey, and I was well above the pace requirement, so I really think he'll be fine. But any thoughts from those of you who have done this would be appreciated. Thanks!

Mindy

Thanks to John for filling me in! And I appreciate all the advice on training!

 

[windwalker]

John try some racing flats. The lower the heel the better you can transition from heel to toe.

If any of you are on face book I have some friends on there who are world class and have video of their walking. Find Dave Kirgan and I'll do a friend request to them for you so you can follow how they thrain. One of my best buds is a masters lady who lives in New Zealand, she is the fastest masters woman race walker on the planet. She is an office manager during the day, then trains and finally heads off to work as a waitress in a cafe.

One of the things I've noticed about the really good athletes in any sport is they make it look easy.

I'm off today so after a 4 mile training walk I'll be doing yardwork all day: push mowing a 1.2 acre yard, trimming and weeding. Then this evening we are going to watch a friend that fiddles do a concert. She could show Charley Daniels how it's done.

Have a super weekend walkers.

Dave

 

[John VN]

Dave, did you have your racing shoes on to get the mowing done as fast as possible?

Thanks for the hint about the shoes but with the stride I have I come down mid sole. When they had me on the TM for pronation check, the replay showed no heel first contact. Worked out great returning the shoes because by bicycling to the store, 47 miles away, I saved $$$$$ by using no gas and also received money back with the shoe change. Had hoped to get a 100 mile bike ride in but only made 92. Needed to start the dinner turkey so I cut out some return miles.

I'm going to PM you the info for a friend request.

 

[stampingoddess]

Good job! My fastest walk pace is 14:30. I'd be okay with that except I know that i need to be faster for Disney with character stops and pit stops.

Lori

Assuming that you aren't in the last corral, with a 14:30 overall pace for Disney you should have more than enough time for pictures with characters and the occassional potty stop. Not that training to improve your speed is bad, but don't think that at your current pace you'd need to forego these extras along the race course.

 

[Minnie Lor]

Lori

Assuming that you aren't in the last corral, with a 14:30 overall pace for Disney you should have more than enough time for pictures with characters and the occassional potty stop. Not that training to improve your speed is bad, but don't think that at your current pace you'd need to forego these extras along the race course.

Thanks! I've been doing alot of crunching numbers to figure out my minimum pace needed. The reality is that I'll probably be faster by January since i went from a 16:30 pace in October to now a 14:30 pace. You give me hope.

 

[windwalker]

I forgot my watch this morning so my 4 mile training walk was untimed. Even untimed though I felt like I got in a zone I haven't been in for a long while. I'm starting to feel like I just might be able to get back to some sort of racing shape if I stay focused and don't get hurt again.

When your training isn't going well because of illness, injury or just not feeling it, it's still important to keep the spark alive so when your ready you can fly again.

Dave

 

[windwalker]

Great hour training walk at the mall this morning with Sally. Our weather is supposed to take a turn for the better this weekend so we can venture outside again.

I'll be meeting my race walkers in the morning for a 6 miler along the river, it will be a chilly high 30s low 40s. I feel like I'll be able to keep up better tomorrow since my training has been very good this week and last week.

I hope it's warm enough soon for track training.

Dave

 

[windwalker]

Ok Guys it's April and time to get into training mode. It's been cold and rainy for a long time but we all should see a big improvement from now on.

My training is going well and I'm very pleased with the results considering I'm being very cautious. I'm doing a hard training walk 3 times a week and an easy training walk 2 to 3 times a week. I'm dropping my times a little every week now.

I'm training 4, 5 or 6 miles at a time even though most of my races are one mile to 5k distance. By training longer than my race distance I believe it builds more strength, especially if it's a hard effort.

Happy April and let's all get our best Grrrrr on.

Dave

 

[Minnie Lor]

We finally had a beautiful day today. I walked and ran some but got in 9 miles.

 

[John VN]

Here in SW Fl. it is nice most of the time. There is little reason to not walk so I can't really use the weather trump.

Today is another bicycling day for me, 60 to 80 miles. I feel that spending 3 to 6 hours on a bike provides excellent body conditioning for the hours needed to complete a half or full. Tomorrow should be a 3:30AM start for a 15 mile walk.

Lots of stars out early in the AM. Last Sunday we had a beautiful view of the stars and the ISS passing overhead just as we turned a corner and looking up.

Have a great weekend training.

 

[jeanneg]

Hi Dave.....and everyone else! So glad to see this thread revived. Planning on getting back into the walking groove again and am considering doing one or more of the WDW races in January. Anyone have any plans?

 

[monte]

DAVE!!!! So good to see you. I just returned from Virginia, where a few WISH team members met up and participated in the Shamrock half, in Va. Beach. So great to see other Wisher's.
When is your next race? Are you planning on participating in the Princess half in 2012? I'm planning that as well as DL half in 2012...I want that Coast to Coast medal!

So good to see you!

 

[windwalker]

Not sure when I'm doing another Disney race. There have been so many changes to my life over the last 2 years. Divorced and remarried and all that goes with both.

Plus last year I had a bad PF issue with my right foot as well as catching the flu. So I've just been back to training will over the last 3 weeks. But the training is going very well now that I'm not injured and/or sick.

I'm training hard 3 days a week and easy 2 to three days a week. I'm back already to walking comfortably in the 12:30 range over 3 to 6 miles. Still a long way from where I need to be but it's a good start back.

I'm looking at a couple of 5Ks and a 10K here in the area and maybe a half somewhere like the Air Force in Dayton Ohio.

Good to see you guys coming back, I have dearly missed my fellow walkers.

Dave

 

[windwalker]

This morning was another milestone on my comeback trail. My 4 mile training walk time was 50:52 for a pace of 12:28. I look at comebacks from sickness and injury just as though it was a new beginning and celabrate PRs just like I did as a beginner.

My goals for the near future are to get back below 48 min for the 4 mile and under an hour for walking 5 miles. Stretch goal for this year in an hour and 10 min for the 10K in Oct.

Dave

 

[John VN]

dave, glad to read about your come back. keep it going

i will not be training in the near future so little doubt about improving on my 2:06:16 on the training 13.12 i walked 3 weeks ago.

reason is as follows....at the 77.25 mile mark of the planned 100 mile ride on Saturday doing 22mph into head wind i was launched into air landing about 12 feet from launch point. i am now home with a fractured right clavicle and C-6.

pain is not good in this instance

good training to all and stay healthy

 

[jeanneg]

i will not be training in the near future so little doubt about improving on my 2:06:16 on the training 13.12 i walked 3 weeks ago.

Wow, that would be a sub-10 minute pace for walking! I didn't even know that was possible! So sorry about your injury, but congrats on your speedy pace.
P.S. I lived for quite some time in a neighboring township (Tenafly).

 

[Minnie Lor]

Oh John - I'm so so sorry. Lots of pixies for a speedy recovery. Hopefully you will still be on here to "coach" us newbies along.