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Latest Question

I have been doing a fitness walking programme for about a year and walk/jog about 6km at least five times a week. My BMI is about 20 and I feel pretty fit. There is a 15.5km event coming up on Feb 20th. Do you think its realistic for me to enter this and how quickly should I increase my kms per day to achieve this?
Thanks very much

Question sent in anonymously

replies:

Dear Wonder Walker

Thanks for your enquiry and yes, I do think it is OK for you to do the 15km event in a couple of weeks as long as you don't have any expectations about your time. There are a couple of things you need to do though:

1. Increase your distance this week and next every third day by at least 2-3 km each time. This means that in two weeks time you will be up to at least 12 km.

2. Find out the type of terrain that the race course is on and try to emulate this in your training, e.g. is it hilly or flat or a mix of both. By trying to get the terrain for your training as exact as possible your
muscles and your mid will be better prepared for race day.

3. Your recovery is critical and yes, you will be sore as you increase your distance! Drink at least 2 litres of water daily and ensure that you take water and something sweet with you when walking. Most of the sports nutrition research shows that you need to add sugar or some form of carbohydrate to your intake about 1.15hrs from commencement of the event, so you need to get used to that in training.

Check out my articles on the web-page as there are some hints for the night before your event.

Good luck and keep a smile on your face. The hardest part will be the final 5km!

Regards

Wendy

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