How do you account for walking?

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Canute Mar 2014 11:45pm, 9 Mar 2014 881 posts	0 Canute If you find a 10 mile walk moderately demanding it seems to me that makes it even more valuable, but you clearly need to take account of it in your training plan. Assuming it is most practical to walk on the week-end, it seems to me that your current plan of long run on Tues , intervals on Thursday and parkrun on Saturday morning is sensible. But if you feel very tired on Monday, do a short, easy session or have an extra rest day, as it is best to be sufficiently well recovered before the more demanding sessions later in the week.
Nutkey Mar 2014 4:33pm, 10 Mar 2014 40 posts	0 Nutkey I would always log this sort of thing, so that when I feel tired/injured, I can look back and figure it why. Depending on what events you are training for, you might find benefit from joining one of your runs to the walk - I felt I got excellent benefit in the Lakes last year by getting up at 5.30 and doing a three hour fell run that finished in Grasmere carpark where I met family and walked up Helm Crag. Then again, fell races (and especially mountain marathons) are inherently a mixture of run/walk...
HappyG(rrr) Mar 2014 5:23pm, 10 Mar 2014 21,924 posts	0 HappyG(rrr) Depends how "hard" that walk is (for you). Have you got a heart rate monitor? If you are at 60-75% of max HR then it is perfect endurance training. If it's below 60% max HR, then it's prob not hard enough to count as training. Doesn't mean it's not good, but just not training. So, e.g. if one is going up a 1:3 hill, and yomping as hard as you can, then most folk's HR would be high - this is good training. But if you are ambling along on the flat, chatting, most folk's HR would be pretty moderate. However, cardio fitness, strength etc. come into it, so everyone's different. Which is why HR % is a good way of measuring how hard you are working. Lots of ultra runners walk and they count it as training. However it is a very fast walk (often 15 min/mile or quicker - which is as fast as some people would call a run) and some of the hills for some ultra folk are pretty brutal too. So definitely training! You can actually use all the HR zone type theory for walking or any other sport - high intensity (above 85%), medium (75-85%), fat burning/endurance (below 65-75%), recovery (55-65%) (other zones cna be defined depending on which school you follow) etc. might be worth looking at? :-)G
FenlandRunner Mar 2014 5:41pm, 10 Mar 2014 876 posts	0 FenlandRunner Walking up a hill of 2,000ft at any pace my heart rate near the top is higher than when running a 10k race
Joopsy Mar 2014 5:55pm, 10 Mar 2014 7,261 posts	0 Joopsy That is what I was talking about Saturday G. I often throw walking into my training and it tends to be around 13:30 pace which I just log with my runs. At the end of the day it is your log so you put it in how you feel fit.
Drell Mar 2014 8:44pm, 10 Mar 2014 1,643 posts	0 Drell Yes, I'm not really concerned about what to log it as, that's under control (and anyway, I can log anything as anything if I like, it's up to me). I'm more concerned about how it might interact with other training sessions. Typically I don't walk fast enough for it to be cardio training. I don't use an HRM at the moment (lost the strap and can't be bothered to replace it) but breathing rate doesn't go up at all. But if I'm in the hills, yes, bits of it certainly would be cardio. But I feel it in my legs. Even on the flat (ie any walk round here) if the walk's long enough, and on hills for shorter walks.
FenlandRunner Mar 2014 8:59pm, 10 Mar 2014 877 posts	0 FenlandRunner Drell, when you say you 'feel it in (your) legs' or start flagging, is it lack of energy or range of motion?
Komodo Mar 2014 9:49pm, 10 Mar 2014 2 posts	0 Komodo If'd say if you feel pain adjust your programme otherwise carry on. Walking in heavy hiking boots uses different muscles than a run in light trainers and sometimes I can feel it in my legs more than doing a race! Gardening can knock me out also but maybe I am a wimp!
Wriggling Snake Mar 2014 9:53pm, 10 Mar 2014 6,392 posts	0 Wriggling Snake I stick it under cross-training, walking, if it is a touch harder, regardless of distance, i.e a few hilss etc, cross-training hiking, what else would you do. it is cardio training, at a vrey low level.
CStar Mar 2014 10:00pm, 10 Mar 2014 2,836 posts	0 CStar + you can get Fetchpoint points for walking too I logged 6 hours gardening yesterday. It was definitely exercise. I had DOMS today !