WoW Classes :: There is simply no better time to start a WoW Power Walking program than spring! The crocuses! The sun! The smiles of happy people! Our Walk Your Butt Off High Performance 1 class starts this Saturday, April 3 at 9:30am in Oakville with Helena Steer and on Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30pm at the Runners Den in Westdale with Jill Pettit. In addition to these programs, we are really excited to be able to bring back two sessions of our highly successful Walk Your Butt Off Fitness 1 for an evening and a daytime session beginning April 5 and April 6 respectively. If you know someone who may be interested in these classes, tell them that we are hosting an information evening in Oakville on Wednesday March 31 beginning at The Running Company, 118 Thomas Street, Oakville at 6pm. For continuing walkers, our next session of four-month membership begins in May – check the website as all classes are now posted.

Strength tip :: The lower impact of power walking in contrast to running, contributes to significantly lower risk for knee injury among walkers: however; technique also plays a role in this lower risk for injury. When your front leg lands with a bent knee, as it does in running, a considerable percentage of the braking load is absorbed by the ligaments in the knee. It makes sense that if we walk really fast with a bent knee, we again put our knees at risk for injury. A strength exercise that works our legs through a knee extension will strengthen our quadriceps (front part of the upper legs) to allow the legs to fully extend to a straight position for landing. Stand with your feet close together. Raise one leg and keep it in a bent position. From there extend the leg straight ahead. Ensure that the leg is straight. If it is not, lower the leg just enough to straighten fully. Repeat this flexion and extension of the leg 12 times on each leg. If you have weights that can be added to your ankles, you can add them once you have become proficient at straightening the leg fully without weights. This exercise also encourages the brain to body connection so that we feel when our leg is straight compared to when it is bent. Special note. At WoW Power Walking, we strongly believe that cross training and strength are integral parts of being fit and being a strong walker. For the spring and summer sessions, we will include 10 to 20 minutes of these exercises in our 90-minute walking classes.

Nutrition Tip - by Rebecca Lane ::
Some of you may have decided to take up walking because your physician discovered your blood has elevated cholesterol levels and you were told that exercise is important to improve those levels.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is made by the liver and transported through the bloodstream via lipoproteins (LDL and HDL) to wherever it is needed. Cholesterol forms part of every cell in the body and serves many vital functions including proper brain and nerve function.

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is considered the “bad” cholesterol because it can clog blood vessels. It builds up wherever cholesterol has been sent to repair damage to blood vessels. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is considered the “good” cholesterol as it helps smooth out and clear away the build up of LDL and reduces your risk for heart disease.

If you have elevated total blood cholesterol and LDL levels in your blood, it means that there is either too much cholesterol for the HDL to clean up properly or there is not enough HDL to do the job properly. Either way the extra cholesterol can form plaque that sticks to artery walls and may eventually cause heart disease.

Health care professionals consider it important to keep cholesterol levels within the safe range (total blood cholesterol levels below 200 mg/dl; LDL cholesterol levels below 130 mg/dl; HDL cholesterol levels above 35 mg/dl) to prevent heart attack or stroke.

In addition to exercise, it is considered important to consider what your diet can do to help. Include fruits and vegetables, replace high fat animal protein with lower fat protein in fish and chicken, and replace saturated fats with mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Some specific foods include almonds, apples, bananas, carrots, cold water fish such as tuna, cod, pollock, salmon, haddock, flounder, halibut, dried beans, garlic, grapefruit, oats, olive oil, salmon, strawberries, and walnuts.

While regular exercise is critical for balancing cholesterol levels - reducing total blood cholesterol while lowering the LDL cholesterol and raising HDL cholesterol - lack of sunlight has been shown to adversely affect cholesterol levels. Combining your exercise with some outdoor time is what we’ve always encouraged at WoW and, as it turns out, for good reason. Get outside! Today.

WoW Power Walking® coaches are
proud to wear New Balance shoes.

View from the Back by Janey Cawley::
I may be hooked. Participating in the WoW Water station at the Chilly Half-Marathon a few weeks ago has opened my eyes to a new way to enjoy races. Although eager to be involved, my race morning wake-ups must be spurred on by loud, hideous buzzing in nine-minute intervals. I still haven't figured out if my handy "sleep" button is friend or enemy.

I arrived on the site sleepy and lethargic but, as preparations began, excitement enlivened me and by the time I was surrounded by racers, I had burst into wild exuberance. Other water station volunteers felt this transformation. When racers started coming by we were all raving lunatics – just part of what makes our water station so celebrated.

The preparations started as soon as race officials dropped off tables, cups, buckets of water and energy drink. Prior to that, we got a chance to meet or be re-acquainted with each other, forming the strong bonds necessary to live up to our reputation as the outstanding pit-stop on the route. The weather, unlike last year, defied the name of the event.

After preparing the table to withstand the pressures of thousands of participants needing hydration, there was only one last duty to perform before our time would be commandeered. Our venerable WoW coach and water station leader, Helena, the irrepressible Mona of the purple fedora, and I headed toward the promised portable toilet. Yikes! The potty was nowhere to be found! Desperate for relief, I screamed at my companions, "I saw it on the map! It was on the map!" Thankfully, my partners were calm, lucid and impressively practical.

"Look, there are some hedges over there. If we create a two-man shield while one of us goes, we not only block the vision of The Radio Man in the Truck, but also the security cameras of that factory right over there." We wriggled through the evergreens, and found a suitable place. Further inspection of the area revealed that familiar yellow portable john – a fire hydrant jutting out of the ground! We almost laughed ourselves into disaster. We had, indeed, found the perfect spot. Ever discreet, Helena was the first to back deep into the shrubbery. Mona and I guarded the perimeter. Immediately we heard her shriek. " Oww! Oww! These are sharp! Sharp, I tell you! And, they've fallen into everything...!” Then. panicked... "I can't get them out! I can't shake them out! It's impossible...now they're in my pant legs too!

Mona and I pulled Helena out of the prickles so that she was available to guard for us. She jumped, danced and shook her legs frantically. Perhaps insensitively, Mona and I told her to stand still, in case we were spotted by factory shift-workers. With gratitude to Helena's misfortune because we knew the dangers, we came out needle-free. We tried to soothe Helena with the fact that she'd be able to change clothes in three or four hours.

That was 3 to 4 hours of thousands of racers coming through. We enjoyed a strenuous workout rapidly and seamlessly doling out fluids, alternating with dashing, running and sprinting back and forth to the cup tables. We were happy but relieved as the numbers of racers dwindled. By then, Helena must have been the most relieved. She sidled up to Mona and me, smiled and said, "Well, the needles are gone."

Races :: Races. These are our favourites races in the Greater Toronto Area because each includes a walking division and, except for Mississauga and Sporting Life 10k, prizes for walkers. In order of appearance. Sign up soon!
Mercedes Benz 10k, Oakville, April 25. Random draw from all participants for a Mercedes for one year.
Sporting Life 10k, Toronto, May 2. What a way to see the city from a closed-to-traffic Yonge Street.
Mississauga Half Marathon, Mississauga, May 16.
Alfie Shrubb 8k, Bowmanville, June 6. Beautiful route and great community spirit, walking trophy!
OTMH Classic 5k, Oakville, June 20. Loads of awards for age category walking winners, breakfast!
Midsummer Night’s 15k Walk, August 21 (price increase after March 31) Love the costumes!
Kitchener Waterloo Walking Classic, September 26 (price increase after March 31) Canada’s first walkers-only competitive event.

WoW Clothes :: It’s not just those lu-lu-la-la yoga types who like to look good when exercising. We power walkers have our pride too. To help you out, we are pleased to tell you that next week we have two new WoW Power Walking style items to add to your walking wardrobe. Capri pants ($56 + tax) with a wide waistband emblazoned with WALK YOUR BUTT OFF on the back. You can flaunt it or not – depending on your mood! To top off those stylin’ capris, we will have super comfy and stylish technical fabric hoodies ($90 + tax) featuring two unzipped pockets at the front and a zip cell pocket at the back hip. It will be available in clean white with periwinkle speed stripes down the arms. Oooohhh….we are going to look good. And, just to remind you, all of our clothes are designed specially for you and made locally!

Words to walk and live by . . .
If you prepare for old age, old age will come sooner.

- Unknown