summer safety
summer safety
- Protecting Your Skin from the Sun
- Are You Beach-Ready? Get Essential Summer Safety Tips
- Water Wisdom
- 7 Hot Tips for Supple Summer Skin
- 5 Ways to Protect Your Eyes From the Sun
- Stay Healthy While Traveling
- Get Outside and Walk
- Heat Emergencies: Knowing the Symptoms and How to React
- 3 Pool Exercises That Won't Embarrass You
- Mosquito-Borne Illnesses: What They Are and How to Prevent Them
- Outdoor Food Safety: Don't Let Spoiled Dishes Ruin Your Barbecue
- Hot Weather and Exercise: How to Safely Sweat It Out in the Summer
- Lyme Disease: How to Avoid It and How to Spot It
Get Outside and Walk
- Build your training time gradually.
- Take a break and exercise minimally or don't exercise at all on the day before the event.
- If you can plan far enough in advance, Hoeger advises following the 6-week training program described above and then add speed training on a track one day a week (Tuesday are good days for speed training). Do only one walking session the day of speed training. The following is a sample progressive speed training program:
- Week 1: Walk at 80 to 90 percent of your fastest speed for 100 yards, then walk slow for 100 yards. Repeat 10 times.
- Week 2: Walk 100 yards fast (90 to 100 percent), then 100 yards slow. Repeat 10 times.
- Week 3: Walk 200 yards fast, 200 yards slow. Repeat 6 times.
- Week 4: Walk 200 yards fast, 200 yards slow. Repeat 10 times.
- Week 5: Walk 400 yards fast, 400 yards slow. Repeat 4 times.
- Weeks 6-8: Continue week by week, until you build to 400 fast/400 slow, 10 times (add two 400s per week). "You're in pretty darn good shape at that point," he says.
- During the weeks of speed training continue to walk once or twice per day for 20 to 30 minutes per session each day (depending on the distance of the planned walkathon). Walk only once at a "comfortable/easy" pace the day following the speed training and do longer walks on Saturdays.
- Be sure to stretch. Stretching the calf muscle helps prevent injuries, including back strain, shin splints, heel and knee pain, Oswell says. To do a calf stretch (or wall push):
- Lean toward the wall, your arms stretched out, one knee bent.
- Push in and hold stretch for a count of 10 or 20. "Don't bounce," Oswell cautions.
- Wear the right shoes and socks. Both Oswell and Hoeger advise going to an athletic shoe store, not a discount department store, to get the proper fit. Athletic footwear stores also carry synthetic socks, which are better than cotton for providing good padding and keeping your feet dry.
- Looking for a walkathon to join?
