Walkers' thread (those training for a moonwalk or those just wanting to get a bit fitter... sign in here)

[EllbellTheBluestocking]

OK... following on from another thread, I thought I'd start this for those of us who are not really that into exercise but who are struggling to get a bit fitter.

I am working towards doing the Edinburgh moonwalk in June (and would prefer it if no-one mentioned just exactly how blardy far it's going to be just yet [panic emoticon]), and am struggling to find the time and the inclination to train.

Anyone else in a similar position? Hippipotami? Quint? Don't leave me walking all on my own...

Will come back and post again when I've got off my bum and done some exercise!

Hmm... just me then? Well, I've just walked for 20 minutes - fast walking (as fast as I can go), in the pouring rain too (which I know doesn't improve the fitness, but surely I must be due some sort of brownie points for that?). I also rode for an hour this morning, so today has been a good day. Not sure the rest of this week will be so good.

Hello Ellbell, thanks for starting this thread.

I am working towards getting fit (currently very obese and unfit) and doing the London Moonwalk in May. But I am doing the half-moon which is 13 miles. You are doing the full one arent' you?

My plan is to briskly walk for 45 minutes 3 times a week, and to perhaps do a longer walk (starting with an hour for this month) once a week. Then I can increase the once a week one regularly. I will be walking on my own for the 45 minute stints, but will do the longer weekly walk with a few mums from school. They are all slim and fit, hence why I am doing extra walking on my own, because I have a bit (lot ) of catching up to do.

My aim is to complete the half-moon in 4 hours, so I reckon I need to walk just over 3 miles an hour. Should be do-able no?

Please tell me you are not walking tonight?? It is cold out there, and dark!!
(and it makes me feel guilty as I am sat here with a glass of wine and no intention of moving...)

Oh, crossed posts - well done on going out tonight!!

Hiya... 3 mph should be doable, yes, and your training regime sounds good. Have they sent you any info about training etc. yet? I haven't had anything except the confirmation that I am 'in', but the Edinburgh walk isn't till June so there's a bit more time.

Time is a major issue for me (and also the fact that dh works shifts, so leaving the kids to do regular 10 mile walks isn't very feasible) so I am aiming to do some exercise 5 days a week, starting with just 20-30 mins walking or 15-20 mins on the rowing machine. I am going to have to build in longer walks when I can fit them around dh's work. When the mornings get lighter I may be able to walk a bit before work but I am sooooo not a morning person, so there is no chance of me dragging myself out of bed to do exercise in the dark!

I just had a major panic tonight that there's no way I can walk nearly 27 miles. But I really want to do it for my friend (I feel I am helping to keep her spirits up... in the sense that every time I say the word 'moonwalk' in the same sentence as 'me' she creases up laughing!), so I shall keep training.

I am also working on eating more healthily. Actually I don't eat badly - I just eat a lot! I am toying with giving up meat for Lent, but dh does a lot of the cooking in our house and when I mentioned it he gave me a look somewhere between and , so maybe not!

Good luck anyway, and keep posting.

Hi

I have not yet had any training details, they promised a pack by the end of January, so am hopeful it will arrive next week.

Time for training is an issue for us aswell. One of the mums has a small baby so can really only do evenings, two of the mums work f/t, and one works p/t. I am the only one with the luxury of being a sahm and thus being able to exercise most days. (but as I said I have so much catching up to do in the fitness stakes...)

We have decided to walk together every Tuesday evening. We did an hour last week. We are planning to increase the time walked as time goes by, and we are also hoping to squeeze a second evening into our routine from April onwards.

So should be fine

Glad to hear you are keeping your friend smiling. Our friend originally was going to do the walk with us (she was told tumour not spread, she would have a mastectomy, reconstructive surgery and perhaps a little radiotherapy) But after the mastectomey and testing the tumour was still found not to have spread, but to be of a type that was very likely to recurr without chemo. So she is now undergoing a heavy chemo regime, and has been told she will need radiotherapy after that. Then still the reconstructive surgery. She is still keen to do the walk but has already said she doubts she will manage the full 13 miles. But good on her for even attempting it - I am in awe of her.

EllbellTheBluestocking - please may I join? I was considering starting a thread like this (didn't dare join the runners) so very glad that you have!!

I'm the heaviest I've ever been currently but what's worse is I feel really sluggish and unfit.

I don't know what a moonwalk is (live mainland Europe) but I'm intending to follow the 8-week plan in this month's (February) Good Housekeeping magazine, P70. It looks quite good. You can do it with or without a pedometer but you basically add to your baseline steps each week ... .

There's also lots of books available from Amazon on walking for fitness, plus Good Housekeeping recommends an online site called Walkactive. (Haven't looked at that yet so cannot personally recommend.)

Very low will-power currently so I could really do with some kicks up the bum encouragement ....and happy to reciprocate !!

I'm doing the full moonwalk in London in May - I actually hate walking I've discovered - too slow

dh works away a lot so fitting in long walks is hard so I'm trying to do as much as I can when the dcs are in school and I'm not working (which doesn't leave me with a lot of time ...)

I've pencilled in a couple of weekends before the event where I've told dh I'll be walking pretty much all day and I'm going to have to hope that together with frequent shorter walks that'll be enough

no training plan here either and I really need to get some decent trainers as mine are falling to pieces - any recommendations?

Welcome Counting and mimsmum. The moonwalk is a marathon (or half-marathon) which you power-walk (or just stagger, in my case) rather than run. It's done at night (hence the 'moon' bit) and is in aid of Breast Cancer.

Will have a look at those books Counting. I'm a bit worried that my more frequent shorter walks won't be enough to prepare me for the distance I'll have to walk in June. However, they have got to improve my general fitness, so they can't do any harm. Whereabouts in Europe are you? Somewhere nice for walking around?

mimsmum, I thought it said that the Walk the Walk people would send info about suitable shoes when they sent training info. I don't know if trainers for (power-)walking need to be different from trainers for other sports. (I am very much a novice at all this, as you can tell!)

Ooh, have just found some info about shoes and initial training here. Am a bit confused, though, about the instructions about walking a mile in x minutes. Am I meant to go and measure out a mile and then time myself over it? [Not-very-bright emoticon]

Thank you EllbellTheBlueStocking and hello & good luck everyone!!

Thanks for link: it looks amazing. I like the idea of walking in the dark (less opportunity for people to see me wobbling along ).

I'm in Brussels. Great place to live but not beautiful in terms of walking (too much traffic and dog s**t on pavements) but a few nice parks here and there.

Noticed that there was a moon-walk in Germany so it might be possible to organise an event in Brussels - have a friend battling with breast cancer at the moment so would be good to get involved .....

Hwr, first things first, starting "new regime" this Wed once I've worked out how on earth to programme my pedometer and ipodShuffle ...

Have checked out that Walkactive site btw. It looks quite good. Lots of events going on in London and S East and some walking spa weekends at Ragdale Hall in Leicestershire (?) I think.

Hi walkers,

I am not signed up for a moonwalk or anything but I am needing the incentive to return to my walking.

I will try to walk or swim everyday and increase my distance and speed.

Are we doing a daily or weekly thread?? To keep us all updated.

Morning all!

Great to see more people on this thread, I hope we can all keep eachother motivated

I am going to take dd to school this morning (ds is on a residential school trip and hence not here) and then take the long way home via the canal. I hope to be walking actively (but not really up to powerwalk speed) for 45 minutes. It is not much, but it is a start....

hello all! Saw this thread linked from Quints and just wanted say hello to the fellow walkers. I've always been a hard-core walker and swear by it for weight-loss. Just start slowly and get into the habit of walking everywhere you can. In no time at all it will become second nature. If you can get hold of a pedometer all the better as it does become slightly addictive bettering your step count [sad sack emotion] I'm overseas at the moment so not signed up to anything but wanted to wish everyone luck with their plans!

Oooh, an expert , welcome bamama and may I pick your brains please.

I am seriously unfit. And very very overweight, probably 8 stone at least if I am honest... In May I am doing the half moon. [extremely scared emoticon]

At the moment I can walk for around 45 minutes at a decent pace. But no longer, as I start panting, can't breathe and get a stitch in my side.

Is it okay to carry on doing 45 minute walks for the next month or so, or should I start walking for longer periods now? I am very concious of the fact that the half-moon will take me between 4 and 5 hours, so 45 minutes seems like nothing at the moment...

I am a bootcamp walker so am checking in here, also after reading hipi's excellent posts on quint's thread
I really do need to gear up to get fit enough to do more cardio exercise and lose weight, so am happy to swap tips here
I am aiming to do 25-30 mins four days a week in my lunch hour. An accident of geography means I have a wholly pedestrian circuit to pound with no road crossings or sweetie shop diversions
I have an Omron pedometer which I find really helpful for motivating me to cover sufficient ground at "aerobic" walking pace - when I remember to look at it

Hello marina

I must invest in a decent pedometer. I have a pink one bought in aid of breastcancer awareness last year. The problem is that where I have it on my waitband, my flabby tum rests on the reset button and it keeps resetting itself. The other day I walked for 30 odd minutes but my pedometer told me I had done 2 minutes of exercise and taked 97 steps

Does a pedometer have to go on your waistband??

taked taken

No, that's the reason why I like mine Hippi
It can be clipped to your bra strap under a jumper or cardi, or carried effectively in a shoulder bag or coat pocket
I had Pedometer Ping too
You can get Omrons from Amazon. They are dearer but as it is the only one I've ever found which worked it is well worth it IMO

sorry about delay - time difference!
Hippi - wouldn't like to say re your plan, really don't think I'm expert enough! However, don't worry too much about May - once you get into the swing of your 45 minute walks you'll soon find you can push yourself that bit more. If you incorporate more walking into everyday things - stairs not lifts y'know that stuff they always go on about - then you'll be able to up your distance without really thinking about it.

As far as I can remember (and Marina will know this from bootcamp) it's 10,000 steps per day to maintain weight and 13,000 steps to lose weight.

I think that if you're out there and enjoying yourself with the aim of being a bit fitter the weight will sort itself out. After I finished bf ds I put all the weight back on I'd lost whilst bf. Since then I've been lucky enough to have the time to walk for at least an hour a day and I've lost well over a stone (and with a BMI of 19.5 I didn't really have that much to lose)

told you I wasn't an expert!

You could, of course, hop over to the bootcamp threads as generally looking after yourself can make all the difference

Ugh! I have done nothing today. Didn't get home from work till 9.00. Ate, and am now back at computer trying to persuade myself to look at some more work! And... having eaten my sandwich at 11.30 because I knew I'd be working through lunch-time and until mid-afternoon with no chance to eat, I was starving by about 5.00 and had to go to the chocolate machine.

I will walk tomorrow.

Then I have a late work thing on Wednesday night and I have to go to Italy on Thursday and Friday (work, sadly - won't be fun). Won't get home till midnight or so on Friday. Aargh! When will I fit any walking in? (Not to mention, will my dds still know who I am come Saturday?)

OK... so, I can walk tomorrow night once dh gets home from work. Maybe I can do a quick walk on Wednesday morning before I go into work? Maybe I can do 99 circuits of Stansted airport? I will keep moving....

Just thought of something else .

My Dh is in the process of losing 4 stone (he is about half way there) and although his exercise of choice is cycling he swears by using a heart rate monitor. I think the optimal fat burning rate is about 50-60% of your maximum heart rate (I could have just made that up though - will check) and so you can make sure you're always walking 'in the zone'. We went out for a couple of hours recently and the HRM beeps at you if you go out of zone. It was really useful. Not sure of the cost but may be a thought?

Ellbell - don't beat yourself up. Where in Italy are you going? It may be just for work but I love Italy and would happily move there so am really

Thanks bamamama, and well done to your dh
Dh is threatening to buy me a heart rate monitor thingy, may take him up on the offer.

Ellbell, don't worry. You will find time as and when, it sounds like you are a very very busy lady. Just do what bamama suggested further down - take stairs not lift etc.
Mind you, 99 circuits of Stanstead Airport sounds fun

I am going out for my walk this morning, need an extra push because it it raining...

I'd like to join, I have a bit to lose and just find that getting outside at this time of year makes me feel better - even if it has to be in the dark sometimes! have a baby, so a bit limiting, but also have a dog which is a great motivator - he has to go out, whatever the weather!

Never found a pedometer that works, but have counted the steps on my usual cucuits, never get near 10 000 a day though.

Can I join please?

I walk anyway but will be doing a bit more now as the evenings are getting lighter and might need a kick up the proverbial from yourselves when it's peeing it down outside