Walkers are growing in numbers and increasing in speed. Six years ago when WoW Power Walking was born, the time seemed right to move out of the gym and on to the road. The odd, solitary pioneer could be found walking marathons and I thought it was a brilliant notion. The idea of running 42.2 kilometres never appealed to me. But walking, now walking seemed possible. The trick is, of course, to walk fast enough to finish before the finish line is taken away! Well, in these 6 years of walking and training walkers some things have improved out there on the race course and some things are frustratingly the same. Just this September the New Albany Walking Classic in Ohio added a half marathon to its 10k race. The race sold out. More than 600 walked the half and almost 2,000 walked the 10k. In Kitchener, a few enthusiastic and determined walkers put on the first walk-only event in Canada last weekend. More than 300 people entered the KW Walking Classic 5k and 10k events. Already they are talking about adding a half marathon next year. At the same time we find organizers giving us excuses about how it is so difficult to manage walkers. Early race starts are being eliminated, registration numbers for walkers are being scaled back, and new races aren’t even acknowledging the huge growth in walking. The disappointment is poignant in an industry rife with can-do slogans such as “Impossible is nothing”. You’d think we could put our heads together and figure out how to recognize walkers on a race course.

Speaking of impossible is nothing, check out the WoW blog on Myra’s final half marathon in her year long journey to raise money for the library at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Nutrition tip :: As a confirmed chocoholic, recent articles praising the ability of chocolate to lower blood pressure have provided great arsenal for all my justifications. Still, the reality is that chocolate, even dark, 70% cocoa content chocolate, packs a mean punch of calories.  Since it’s the flavanols in cocoa that give dark chocolate any healthful qualities, an alternative for you chocoholics who are keeping a lid on your caloric intake is to add powdered cocoa to heated skim milk. It’s a low fat and healthy chocolate treat. Recent studies have shown calcium to play an important role in maintaining a healthy weight. And milk is still considered one of the best sources of calcium. The whey content in milk plays a role in reducing stress and improving mood. As far as the cocoa you add to the milk, there’s more to know. Dutched cocoa powders are processed in such a way that the phytochemicals - flavanols in this case - are removed. Look for naturally processed cocoa powder. Fair trade and organic cocoas are always naturally processed. Raise a mug of skim milk hot chocolate to your health and good mood!

Stretch tip :: Never forget that stretching can also improve performance. Quite often we focus on the range of motion around the hip and ankle to do this. Improved range of motion at the shoulder joint will result in a more powerful backward pull of the arms. If the muscles at the front of your shoulder are tight, your range of motion of the arm through the back half of the arm “gait” will be limited. Stretching out these muscles can increase range of motion to allow your arm to move further back in the arm swing. This gives you more power from the arms and upper body, and will likely result in lengthened stride of your legs behind your hips which will facilitate power behind your toe push-off.

Strength tip :: Plyometric moves have been shown to improve performance by training the muscles to reach maximum strength in as short a time as possible. Some plyometric exercises include jumping and hopping. We like to include plyometric moves in our training on occasion to add power to our endurance abilities as walkers. An ideal time to work on plyometrics is in the off season, but carefully considered and introduced plyometric exercise can be done during the taper phase of your program. This gives your muscles an extra power kick when they have been training to work in endurance mode. For those of you looking forward to our late autumn Level 2 classes, you will have noticed that our coaches will be adding 5 to 10 minutes of plyometric moves at the end of classes for that 8-week session. Plyometric training develops three areas of muscle strength: starting strength where muscles must contract to move the body against gravity; stopping strength where the muscles must contract as they lengthen to absorb stopping energy; and, elastic strength which is the ability to absorb the stopping energy and overcome it to move again in a short time.

Races :: WoW Power Walkers are criss-crossing the continent in coming weeks to walk events. There’s a good crowd going to the Run for the Toad (one of our favourites for challenge, beauty, and recognition of walkers), Columbus (where the organizers recently renewed their commitment to walkers with special bibs and results posting), and the Angus Glen Half Marathon (walker event limited to 200 participants). In our home town of Oakville, we are recommending the KSM Run for Hope 5k event on Thanksgiving Monday. This race is really behind walkers, registration is filling up, and you can do that turkey justice after powering your way though 5k.

Words to walk and live by ::

When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another
– Helen Keller, Blind and deaf educator

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

Long-distance number 1-877-WOW-WALK (1-877-969-9255)!

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