Yesterday, I woke up sore and little tired from working on the roof , cleaning the gutters and from a little harder running. So I decided to just walk for 2 hours instead of a run/walk. The morning was nice not cold,not hot as I walked from home to the trails. I walked steady,not hard or super fast and not slow.....just good and steady. I got to thinking "Is this training??"
As Arthur Newton, 1920-30's distance runner observed, walking does not make one a better runner. However, it does make one a better walker...AND if I am ever going to do another ultra race I will walk ALOT. In fact, in a 100 miler I will need to walk at least 60% of the time, probably more. The pace does not need to be fast, 15:30 to 16:30 pace is good.
So I walked a course going up as many hills as we got on the trails course. My heartrate was low, in the 80's, and my feet felt good. I finished my estimated 7.2 miles in just under 2 hours w/ avg. HR of 87. This equals 1450 heart beats per mile, which is good for me.
I did not run at all yesterday.....probably a good thing for my legs. Just walking is okay with me now. I used to never walk or at least run/walk. With being basicly injured for the past 7 years I've learned to enjoy walking. Now I respect the "walk".....there is a place in "training" for walking. (Of cousre, hiking in the mountains would be nice to do everyday, but that's for another post).
Maybe, I'll extend my "just walking" to 3 to 4 hours but I need to be creative in my route unless I want to drive to a nicer course/trail.....we will see but I need to watch my running totals and maybe "just walking" will do the treat and along the way help me to a new level of fitness.
For ultra training, "time on feet" is very important. If that means lots of walking, no problem.
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