Question:
I am going to walk a full marathon
(26 miles) in January. There are
two other friends along with myself
who will be training together, even
though we live in different states.
We need to find a training schedule
that allows us to prepare for this
kind of event. Any help would be
much appreciated. My two friends
are fairly active walkers. I try
to walk 60-90 minutes a day, 5 days
a week; hills outside, treadmill
inside set at 5% incline and working
up from 3.6 mph to 4.2 mph over
60 minutes. Any marathon Walking
training schedules out there?
Answer:
Here's how I train, which works
for me but you don't have to take
my word
for it.
I walk according
to the Audax method, which implies
a steady 6km/h pace (about 4mph)
with compulsory stops of 15-40 minutes
every 12-18K. We walk as a group,
following captains who set the pace
and maintain it. It is forbidden
to walk ahead of them. Audax walks
are events, not competitions.
I have done
more 25K marathons (if you can call
them that because nobody really
wins) than I care to remember. I
recently moved to doing 50K, and
I hope to try a few 75K and perhaps
even a 100K this summer. I train
regularly throughout the year (rain
sleet or snow), walking 15K three
times a week (Mon Wed Fri). When
the events season starts (May to
November) I increase my milleage
about three weeks in advance in
the following pattern:
Week minus
3: 15K on Monday, 25K on Wednesday
and 20K on Friday (I take it easier
that last day since the walking
events themselves usually take place
on Sat or Sun).
Week minus
2: 20K on Monday, 25k on Wednesday
and 20K on Friday
Week before
the marathon: 25K on Monday, 30K
on Wednesday and 20K on Friday
(please note that on Wednesday and
Friday I walk uphill, whereas the
long distance events take place
on the flat)
According
to the group of people with whom
I walk (who have been doing it for
years), doing the longer walks (50K
+) is not a matter of training more,
but simply depends on good mental
preparation (i.e. if you can do
25K you can do 50K, once you've
done 50K a few times you can do
75K and so on). I trust their wisdom,
since most of them have done up
to 150K. Seems that after a certain
distance, the walking itself is
not really the hardest part. A 50K
walk takes about 10 hours, which
means walking from about 8 a.m.
to 6 p.m. But anything above that
implies walking after sundown (a
100K walk takes 20 hours).
Everyone
agrees that the period between 1
a.m. and sunrise is the hardest
as they have to fight the urge to
go to sleep. Most people will simply
stare at the shoes of the person
walking ahead of them (hence the
reason why we walk as a group) follow
them like a zombie and trust that
the captains know where they're
going.
