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!

Oh, I meant to ask a question...

You know the training guide we were sent, which details how many walks you should do each week and how long they should be, do you guys follow that pretty much to the letter or do you walk more/less?

I just made up my own schedule, but included a long walk every week along with two shorter walks.

Vaseline on my feet, what am I on about?? I meant Victs VapoRub of course (tip gleaned from the health section of mn)

What good could vaseline possibly do??

Was just going to ask if Vaseline on the feet was an old remedy for coughs Glad it helped!

As for training, I don't think I've ever truly stuck to their schedule. Usually just manage to do 2 walks a week, but the guide is good for keeping a rough idea in mind of what you should be achieving by when.

Ooh Italy! Ellbell, feeling v envious!...dh and I had our first ever holiday together there, back in 1990 (before he was dh, he was just gorgeous boyfriend!)
We're off there in the summer, staying about 15 miles from Florence. I cannot wait!

Had a slightly better night last night but really hot again and have woken up with a throat that feels like I'm swallowing broken glass. Think I need a holiday. Any space in your suitcase Ellbell

I am struggeling to fit in more than two walks a week.

So I was planning on doing one long (long being 5,6,7,8,10 miles as per the training guide) and one short (3 or 4 miles)

But am worried it will not be enough and I will not manage the ful 13 miles.

And I don't think I will manage any long walks over the Easter school holidays. May get out in the evening for 3 or 4 miles, but that will be all.
Will that seriously set me back??

(am panicking, can you tell??)

Err, vaseline on feet has no effect other than greasy socks and sheets.
Vicks Vaporub on the other hand did appear to reduce the night time coughing. (and I am normally a real sceptic of old wive's tales)

If you can do 10 miles, hippi, you'll be fine on the day over 13. You really don't need to train over the full distance. (Well... so they tell me! This is my first attempt at anything like this, but my - younger, fitter, slimmer, more beautiful - sister has done the London Moonwalk, the London Marathon and various half-marathons, and she says it's OK. I am training more than in the guide atm (but that's because I am starting from the point of zero exercise, so I felt I needed to start sooner - I'm two weeks ahead of schedule) and I've started with slightly longer walks than they suggest. but I know that I am going to find it hard to fit in the longer ones regularly nearer the time, so I am going to have to do shorter ones in the week and longer ones at the weekend, because I know there's no way I'll manage to do 6 or 7 miles three times on work-days.

Sorry all, no space in suitcase! Really looking forward to it, even though the weather forecast for Genoa looks worse than that for the UK for the next week.

Dd2 is still puking. Very weird - she was sick once on Thursday evening, not at all on Friday, three times yesterday and once today. Once she has thrown up she is fine. Hope she's better before we embark on a two-day car journey (driving to Italy) on Thursday. DD1 has just discovered she has threadworms [gross, gross, gross] (she can't say the 'th' sound, so she calls them Fred Worms ) and am wondering if dd2's puking has anything to do with this. Ugh! Kids! So utterly delightful!

Sorry to hear dd is still ill Ellbell, I hope she turns the corner soon....

I don't think I can do 10 miles yet. The training schedule (can you see I spend too much time reading the blasted thing) says to do ONE 10 miler 2 weeks before the event, and that is the longest walk you go on.

I am more worried about not walking 3 times a week and thus not being fit enough....

Are you sure you cna't make space in your suitcase, Italy is so lovely...

By the way, I roffled at Fred worms, now it sounds as if they are her pets....

But Hippi, don't you have a dog you walk, have children you go out with, times when you are walking but not recording the walks iyswim?
How many more weeks have we got? 8 or 9 I think haven't we? Don't panic. It really will get easier, and if you do say a 6 miler then a 3 miler, you'll see such an improvement in how you found it compared with at the beginning. Does that make sense?

Oh yes, I have, and of course the dc and dog and I will go out often, but it is not really a powerwalk as such. We just gently amble through the woods for a couple of miles. That does not count does it?? [hopeful emoticon]

I'd be counting it Hippi, it all counts.

You will be fine, and most walkers have these panics before the day. I know I did and the thought of having to tell people I didn't finish was enough to get me round.

Ah, great, I will count them!

I think I get so hung up on that blasted training schedule, that I forget about the fact I also do my leisurely little walks with the dog and dc.
I have got to the point that if it is not painful-faster-than-my-comfort-zone then it is not 'walking'.

I agree, the fear of telling people I did not finish is spurring me on.

I will feel happy and confident once I have my 10 miler under my belt. Then I will believe I can do it.
All the time I struggle to even do 5 I am not so sure....

Yep, count it all, definitely. And it is supposed to be fun don't forget. On the night I promise you you will be carried along by the atmosphere, the crowds walking, the crowds watching and cheering you on (yes even in the night), the young men doing double takes as they see this mass of women in bras walking past, the police stopping traffic for you, you stopping traffic

In my fundraising page, I said I have never taken part in a more uplifting experience. It is true. I get goose-pimpley even thinking about it. Think why you're doing it. I'm doing it for a real personal purpose this year, so people like my sister get the treatment, care, and future they so desperately deserve.

Ooh, Posey, you've made me well up now.

Hippi... sorry, I meant to say in my post that you are supposed to build up to the 10 mile walk and only do it once. I know this is what my sister did... and even when she ran the marathon she didn't ever run 26 miles in training.

We believe in you, hippi. You have the power of MN behind you...

v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~
(= positive vibes from me)

I did somewhere between 4.5 and 5 miles tonight. The GMap thing measures it at just over 4.5 miles, but I know it was further than the 4.5 miles I did last Sunday (and measured in the car) because I did the same walk with an extra bit added on.

Posey/MrsP/anyone who's done it before... Are there lots of toilets en route? I am discovering that if I'm out for over an hour I arrive back home bursting for a wee. Since dd2, my pelvic floor isn't what it used to be (TMI, sorry).

I am going to type in the place we're going in Italy to the GMap thing now to try to find some good walks. I fear it's going to be very steep around there. The walk I did yesterday was very hilly and today my buttocks are aching... most odd!

Happy walking all. Will check in again before I go on holiday. Have taken tablets tonight designed to kill Fred and his pals. I feel kind of mean, now that he has a name and everything. (I don't think the rest of us have them, btw, but the instructions are that the whole family has to be treated.)

There's quite a few toilet and water stops en route, and when you get the final route map about 10 days before the walk it shows you where they are, so you can be prepared for it.

I would buy a pedometer if you can and use that to calculate the distance you're waking as well as the g maps one. It also helps you to see how far you're walking in a normal day as well.

On the toilet front, yes lots, but be prepared to queue. The first twice I did the walk I went just the once, both times in Battersea Park ("proper" flush loos and by this point no queue!)
Last year I managed the whole marathon without going. My top tip is to get really well hydrated in the days before, and on the Saturday take a glass of water every hour. Then from about 10pm, just sip water if you feel a bit thirsty. During the actual walk, which took me just under 6 hours, I drank probably less than a litre. Just sipping to replace lost fluids but I never felt thirsty.
HTH

Thanks for the advice. That sounds like a good plan, Posey. (Am well impressed with you finishing in under 6 hours.) I had visions of resorting to incontinence pads !

Any pedometer recommendations, MrsP? Dh has had a couple, but they always seem a bit rubbish...

Just signing in quickly to say 'bye' for a while. We're off early tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately, I succumbed to dd's bug yesterday afternoon and I am feeling utterly miserable atm. The thought of two days in the car is making my guts churn. I think I need to go to bed and try to sleep it off.

I'll see you all at the end of the month. Happy walking in the meantime.

Ellbell, have a fantastic holiday. I hope the tummy bug disappears soon!

Thanks for the positive vibes you sent me a few days ago too! Much appreciated.

Thanks too to Posey for all her fab advice.

You lot are great

Ellbell, hope you have a fab holiday and come back feeling all refreshed. Sorry you're feeling yuck at the mo, hope the journey isn't too bad.

Hi to everyone else!
No walking yet this week unless you count a school trip with y6 to the Science Museum which included loads of walking.
After school tomorrow off to the inlaws in beautiful New Forest for Easter weekend so hoping weather is kind enough for me to get out for a walk.
How're the rest of you getting on?

Hope you all have a good easter and manage to keep the legs moving.

I've decided that I need to up my walking to about 5 miles a day even though I'm not doing the walk this year.

Now the sunny weather is here, it'll make things easier.

5 miles a day!!! A 5 mile walk takes me nearly two hours and is a form of torture!!

Had a bit of a 'conference' with the girls I am walking with yesterday, and we are definately not going for speed, but just for an enjoyable experience. I think none of us are really enjoying the whole walking thing.... well, we enjoy the chatting, but not he walking

After hte Moonwalk I will go back to walking the dog in the woods, which is usually a 2.5 - 3 mile amble, and I will do that most days.

But 5 miles A DAY!! Wow!

OH, forgot to say, Have a lovely Easter all!
We are going on an Easter Egg hunt with the children, at a big stately park type place, and it has miles of footpaths

I hope Ellbell is having a great time in Italy [jealous emoticon]

That is 5 miles in total, not a specific 5 mile walk. I've done 2.5 miles already today just running errands and moving around the house.

Just diving in and out to wish you all a "very happy Easter". Hope you all manage to get a bit of well-deserved r & r!

In-laws arriving in a couple of hours for Easter weekend, then we're off to UK for a short break, so bit pushed for time but good luck everyone with your training schedules over the holidays.

(Mine took a bit of a hammering last week owing to yet more illness but back on track now. Bit disappointed that I have only lost 1 kg during 40 days of careful eating and much more activity than usual. Only managed to walk five days a week during 4 of the weeks of Lent, the rest of the time it was 2 or 3 short walks a week. So have decided to extend my fitness programme to mid-May and keep following this thread and you moonwalkers!! (If I can keep up that is, because you are all doing brilliantly!!)

Will have to try harder after Easter ... in the meantime, a few of dd's mini-eggs are beckoning .

Have a good holiday everyone!!