Classes :: Slugs on the move! Our summer classes start next week (this Saturday in fact!). If you would prefer be a summer slug (hail the slug!) to a summer snail (lazy snails!), we can help. And, exciting news , we are re-vamping our fall classes to ensure a better transition from our Marathon Training Level 1 program to Marathon Training Level 2. We recognize that some of you who have been walking with us for a while may have different goals than relative newcomers. We also recognize that not all of you want to be walking marathons (or even half marathons, 10ks or 5ks!). We want to make sure we set each and every one of you up for success to meet your personal goals. To that end we will be presenting you with a few more options. Keep an eye on the website toward the end of July.

Strength tip :: Here’s a slugilicious idea for the beach blanket. Lying prone on your blanket (face and belly down!), rest your forehead on your crossed arms. Breathe in. As you exhale, raise your crossed arms and head at the same time. This is a back extension and it is typically very good for your back. Repeat this torso raise 8 to 10 times. For extra challenge: add a single leg lift as you raise the arms and head. For extra, extra challenge, add a double leg lift. (Only your belly will be on the ground on this final progression).

Stretch tip ::   After completing the slugilicious strength move, treat yourself to the “angry cat stretch”. Raise yourself from your prone position lying belly down on the beach blanket to your knees and hands (watch out this may be too much movement for summer snails!). Hands are under your shoulders. Knees are under your hips. Breathe in. As you exhale, pull your navel to your spine and lift the spine to the sky. Inhale as you lower your back to starting position and exhale to lift again. Repeat as comfortable, possibly 6 o 8 times.

Races :: There will be a large contingent of WoW Power Walkers at two great races that support walkers. Consider putting these races on your calendar. First, is the Midsummer Night’s Run and Walk – a fun 15k evening event with a Shakespearean theme on August 22! Next up, is the KW Walking Classic 5k and 10k on September 27. For the fall, we always recommend the Toronto Marathon in mid-October for its walking division in the half event and then, our personal favourite, the Angus Glen Half Marathon the first weekend of November (register now to get a club locker for the day!).

And something to noodle over while you are relaxing by the pool or lake - April 2010 is the 25th anniversary of the Big Sur Marathon!! Registration will open on September 1 and we have had many people say this will be the year they walk one of the many events – 9 mile, 10.6 mile, 21 mile and some even considering the full marathon (6 hour time limit). For 2010 the organizers are sponsoring a “Boston to Big Sur” event with people doing both races receiving a special jacket.

Since Boston is really a no-walk event, I have suggested we create the Big Sur to Big Trees event which would see us walking Big Sur on Sunday April 25 followed by a trip up the coast to walk The Avenue of the Giants Marathon (flat course among the biggest redwoods in the world) on May 2!! Email me if you are interested.

There’s also whisperings of organizing a team for Marathon du Medoc 2010. This a race that is best experienced as a team. Check out the website and Lee’s blog  describing her excellent adventure in Bourdeaux last September.

Nutrition tip :: Slugs need to eat. And the best feasting at this time of year is fresh produce! For the past 20 years I have been supporting organic and local farmers wherever possible. Along with the larger issue of the damage we wreak (read wreck) on the planet, there should be concern over human health from eating massive quantities of residual pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and hormones. Farmers’ markets are a bounty of fresh strawberries, cherries, lettuces, peaches, nectarines, and pears. Consider that none of these have protective skins or peels to help limit residue on the fruit or vegetable flesh we eat. It’s worth buying organic or transitional-to-organic for these foods. It helps to be a proactive consumer. Ask at your local market or store how the produce they offer for sale is grown.

Words to walk and live by . . .

“Bob Dylan impresses me about as much as … well, I was gonna say a slug but I like slugs.”
– Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart, American musician and artist