Walking Trails
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Taking your walk off the road and onto a trail is an excellent way to stretch your walking beyond an hour. How fast or how far you hike, or whether you climb a specific hill is not that important while trail walking. Enjoying your setting, your hiking partners, and a great sustained workout needs to be your focus.
There are some basic rules that will keep the fun and make your day more enjoyable:
- You should nibble food and sip water frequently. You need to drink water every 15 minutes if you intend to walk for longer than 60 minutes. You will also require a nutritional snack if you will be out for two hours or more.
- Set an intermediate tempo, but keep moving consistently. Stop for food and water as often as required. A moderate and consistent pace will cover more ground than short fast bursts followed by long resting periods.
- Keep your head high to see where you are going and where you have been.
- If you are walking in a group, allow the slowest walker to set the pace.
If this is simply too slow for some, you can break into smaller groups with
similar abilities. Plan to join up every 45 to 60 minutes for snacks and water.
Do not allow someone to end up all alone at the tail end of the group.
This can also prove to be dangerous and certainly not enjoyable for that person. You need to realize that walking speed the tens on two things: the link of your stride and the speed of your steps. If you take longer strides then you will of course cover more ground and you will be walking faster. This is an advantage to the long legged person as the longer your legs, the longer your natural stride. If you take faster steps then you can also walk faster this advantage goes to a shorter person. - Set a specific turnaround time. You will need to decide on the total period of time you are willing to be out on the trail. Choose half of that time as your turn around time. You will need to stick with that planned time, even if you have not reached your goal destination. Whether it is a peak, a waterfall, or a view, there will always be another hike. Your goal is to ensure that you are there too.
Day to day walking workouts is the most important method of preparation for weekend trail walking. Building your basic fitness and general walking strength takes time. Prior to undertaking a lengthy trail walk spend some time doing a series of shorter trail walks gradually building to the time you expect to be out on the trail.
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