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Walking the Marathon

Walking the Marathon

Running a marathon is a great challenge. But so is walking one. The appeal for covering 26.2 miles is just as strong for walkers as it is for runners. Walking a marathon also has the same sense of accomplishment as running one.

But walking the Halie Gebrselassie Marathon on October 20, 2013 takes plenty of the same preparation and training as the runners do. You simply can not roll out of bed on marathon morning and easily walk the HG Marathon. Certainly, the stresses and demands of walking a marathon are different than running one. A walker’s body will undergo less pounding than a runner’s does, but walking a marathon will take much longer than running one. Because it will take so much longer to walk 26 miles, the greatest challenge to a marathon walker is to prepare to be on your feet moving forward longer than you probably ever have before. To accomplish that, you need to train your body to adapt to walking continuously for a long time.

Most fitness walkers typically walk for an hour a few times a week at a leisurely, conversational pace. That’s great. But if plan to walk the HG Marathon, you’ll be spending at least six hours on your feet. Assuming you are already a regular fitness walker, you will have to gradually do longer and longer walks in your training to accomplish your goal of finishing the marathon. This is achieved by overloading your system with more stress than it is used to. Don’t worry. Your body will adapt to these higher levels of walking if you do so gradually. The idea is to increase the length of your walks and weekly totals by a few miles each week. That doesn’t sound like much—and it isn’t--but after several weeks you will be walking longer than you ever thought possible.

It will take you about three months of ever-increasing walks to get ready to walk the HG Marathon. But finishing and enjoying the race is achievable if you give yourself the time to properly train for it. If you are already fit from a regular walking program, you can finish this marathon (or if you choose, a half marathon).

Beginners for this marathon walking program should be walking at least three or four hours a week and cover approximately 10-15 miles a week. Intermediates have been regular fitness walkers for 6-9 months and walk at least five hours a week. Advanced walkers have been walking for at least a year and can easily cover 10-12 miles in a single walk.

In order to prepare for the HG Marathon, you’ll have to walk more often and longer in your training than what you’ve been doing. There is only one way to get yourself ready for the marathon and that’s to walk long distances. As you get fitter, you will become faster and the walks will become easier. You won’t have to walk every day (in fact, it is not recommended), but you will have to do at least one long walk a week.

Before starting out, you must buy a good pair of running shoes. Only running shoes. Not basketball, aerobic or tennis shoes, but running shoes. Visit a good running store in your area and get fitted for a proper pair of shoes. Explain your fitness goals and the sales people will be happy to find the right pair of shoes that work for you. How fast should you do your walks? Slower than you might think. It should be a comfortable pace that doesn’t leave you breathless. You will get faster over time, but speed isn’t your concern. Endurance is. Your long-walk pace (and the bulk of almost all the walks) should be one or two minutes slower than what you expect to walk during the marathon.

How you determine this is simple. Go to a track and time a one-mile walk. Your marathon pace will be about 90-120 seconds slower than this. Add another minute or two to the projected marathon pace and you have your long-walk pace. For example, if your one-mile walk time is 12 minutes, your marathon goal pace (the pace you expect to walk for the marathon) will be 13 ½-14 minutes per mile. Your long-walk pace and the pace you’ll do most of your training walks will be approximately 13 ½-14 minutes per mile. Again, speed is not an issue. You need to do slow, strength-building walks. On occasion, you will do shorter, but faster walks at marathon pace to see how it feels and whether you can sustain that pace for 26.2 miles. But most of your walks will be at an easily sustainable pace.

Try not to start your walks too fast. If you do, you will get too tired and be unable to finish the intended length of the walk. What do you wear? As little as possible. Depending on where you live and the temperatures, you should dress accordingly. But the key is to not overdress. You’ll be generating plenty of body heat and if you wear too many layers of clothes, you’ll overheat and be uncomfortable. This will take some trial-and-error on your easy walks to find the right clothing solution.

Since you’ll be doing long walks that take a lot of time, you’ll need enough fuel to cover the distance. It will take approximately 2600 calories to complete the marathon. Calories come from two major sources—carbohydrates and fat. Doing long slow walks, will teach your body how to store and utilize these fuels. Unfortunately, your body can only store about 2400 calories so you’ll need to take on more fuel during the marathon (and long walks). This is accomplished by eating energy gels (thick packets of instant carbohydrates) and/or easily digestible foods such as bananas or fig bars during the run as well as drinking sports drinks such as Gatorade and PowerAde which contain carbohydrates. If you take on the proper amount of fuel during the run, you can avoid the infamous Wall marathoners talk about so much (when their bodies have burned off all available fuel sources and they run out of gas).This can be pretty painful, but it can be avoided if you fuel your body properly during the marathon.