If you happen to be amongst a bunch of runners and you say you are going for a walk, you can almost smell the pity! But I have learnt that proper power walking is not just a walk - it’s damn hard.
When I reached rock bottom with my running mentally and physically last year I decided I would ask Coach Mo to let me start again - a couch to 5 kay type of thing. He did just that - dialled everything back but threw in a lot of power walking.
For my level the power walk should be 9 to 9,5 minutes a kay which I thought was a hell of a fast walk. You need a smooth road which is why a hike cannot be a power walk but you should be able to hold the pace on normal ups and downs. It’s definitely not a stroll with Fido who needs to pee on every stick and sniff every bush. I really take my hat off to all those good power walkers out there who can do it for huge distances at 7 minutes a kay, sometimes less.
Anyway I really nailed it this weekend on this terrain but only for 4,5 kays.
I then asked Coach Mo if he thinks I can build up to a 42,2km run/walk - the Cape Town Marathon in particular - on 20 October this year. The cut off is 6 hours 30 minutes and all I want is to be able to complete the distance within that time at the age of 66 and still live to tell the tale.
He reckons that we have plenty of time to slowly build distance but he has upped the ante with his program and much to my disappointment there are no more power walks! He uses power walks within his interval workouts but I see that each Sunday’s “long” run is a walk/jog combo.
His weekday workouts have a lot more running in them but I suppose that is the price I pay for having a crazy big-ass goal. My brain needs to toughen the fuck up. When my brain and body argue about whether I’m tired or not, my body always wins even though my brain knows there is more in the tank.