Race season begins! It’s getting tough to keep up with WoW power walkers! From now until November you can find one or more of us at some event or other. The fall started brilliantly with Jane Heath winning the walk division of the Port Perry Half Marathon, and we’re going to continue scorching the pavement almost every weekend until the middle of December. We’ve got walkers entering our local races: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the Toronto International Half Marathon, the much loved Run for the Toad on September 30, the Fallsview Casino Niagara Half Marathon on October 22, and the Angus Glen Half Marathon in Markham on November 5. There will be some “Wow-look-at-them-go” demons traveling to distant venues - walking full marathons in Portland, Oregon; Columbus Ohio; Hartford, Connecticut; New York City, New York; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Good luck to everyone!

Race tips, issues and etiquette.

At the recent Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, I had the pleasure and honor of speaking at the Expo. It was a memorable experience that gave me a chance to meet some exuberant power walkers. It was also the perfect opportunity to talk to race organizers and push for some changes to their races that will encourage the growth of power walking. These changes include separate walker registration, separate walker division with separate result postings, and possibly awards and separate walker starts. Race organizers from Ottawa, Mississauga, and Around the Bay were amenable to the suggestions. I really encouraged them, especially after my experience in Edmonton where walkers received one of the best receptions I have seen at any race. Still, the one concern I hear repeatedly from organizers is that walkers are not paying attention to race etiquette and then they whine to race organizers after the race.

So, here’s a review of race etiquette. If all participants start at the same time, start behind the runners. Slow participants should not block the way of faster participants. No participants should be more than 2 to 3 abreast. This makes it easy for participants coming from behind to pass. If you need to stop for any reason, move to the side before slowing down. Maintain a friendly and encouraging demeanor even if people say things that do not appear to respect your walking effort.

We can make the biggest positive impact in the short and long terms, if we continue to be the best we can be. Many race organizers are making judgments based on walkers who stroll their events. The marathon is a timed, Olympic event. The growth of the marathon in recent years has been phenomenal - largely because of allowances organizers have made so that people of a variety of abilities have an opportunity to enter. Let’s show organizers and everyone else that power walkers understand the challenge of the marathon is to complete in the fastest time possible. There are other events for walkers who are not concerned with challenging themselves for speed and fitness.

The reality is we are in the minority – a pioneering minority – but a minority still. In the spirit of any pioneering effort, we must make an extra effort to make it known that we have challenged ourselves to go fast. We shall compete, not just complete.

Two hours that could dramatically improve your walk. Sign up for Lee’s master class workshop in Toronto on November 4. Amaze yourself by adding some strength and stability exercises to your home routine. We’ll review a series of exercises that complement your walking muscles. You’ll leave with a hand-out so you won’t forget them by dinner!

Words to walk and live by: "All humans realize they are loved when witnessing the dawn: early morning is the triumph of good over evil. Absolved by light we decide to go on."

– Rufus Wainwright as quoted from a Starbucks cup that held a double tall non-fat cappuccino. Ah! Caffeine (the last legal drug), a great power walk, and a sunrise – the perfect combination.

WoW Tip :: The power behind tapering

You’ve been told by us to taper as you approach your event. Tapering does much more than just allow your body to recover from a challenging training program in time for an event.

The body is made of two different types of muscle fibres: fast twitch (types IIa and IIb/x) and slow twitch (Type I). Fast twitch fibres are our speed and power muscle fibres. Slow twitch fibres are our endurance muscle fibres. We are naturally gifted with a preponderance of one over the other. A natural sprinter has more fast twitch muscle fibres than slow twitch fibres. A natural marathon runner was born with more slow twitch fibres. Still, the body, being the miraculous entity that it is, can re-train muscle fibres to manage in a different capacity. If you train to walk a marathon you will convert fast twitch fibres to slow twitch abilities.

Now here’s the really neat part: if you taper properly - decreasing volume of workouts (i.e. endurance) and maintain intensity, you will return some of your slow twitch fibres to fast twitch fibres. The result will be fast twitch muscle capacity for power and speed on race day! There’s really nothing more to say. It’s entirely brilliant. So, be sure to taper properly. Decrease volume but continue to challenge yourself to an intense workout of speed and hills.

Local news:
Bus to Fallsview Casino Niagara. Over the past 3 years we have booked a coach to take us to the early start of the Niagara Falls Half Marathon. This has been extremely popular as the bus has left Oakville (and sometimes Toronto, on request) and taken everyone to the start (giving them a warm and dry place to wait if needed). I know there are many people who will not walk this race unless there is a WoW bus. The bus waits within a few hundred meters of the finish line. When everyone has completed the race the bus returns, usually via Tim Horton’s, to Oakville by 2:45-3pm. The cost of the bus this year will be $52 + GST (for $100 worth of comfort, camaraderie and fun). The absolute final deadline for booking a spot on this bus is October 5 and must be done online (Go to Classes and look for Bus to Niagara Race). If we don’t have 24 people by October 5, there will be no bus to the race.

Edwards Gardens gets a special treat. The Edward’s Gardens program started last week and those lucky participants are being coached by the latest addition to the WoW team – Krista Tevlin. Krista has been walking with WoW for a few years and, in addition to all the many events she has power walked, she has taken a week long clinic with race walker extraordinaire, Dave McGovern. Krista is one of those stellar human beings who makes everyone around them a better person. If you know someone in the east end of Toronto who has been interested in your WoW experience, tell them that Krista is making it available to them in Edward’s Gardens on Thursday mornings at 9:45.

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

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