TRAINING PLANS AND STRENGHTENING EXERCISES
This is just a guideline of ideas what I have borrowed from the internet and from my husband who used to run ultra marathons. It should be used as a guideline only and be adapted to your specific needs and health.
Very important: No matter how much you do, it is ultimately the time on your feet that really counts (walking), as well as good footwear.
During one of my charities walks that was organized by the British Heart Foundation, they provided the following interesting information about measuring your effort that I will share with you:
| Type of session: | Perceived effort level (1(easy) to 10(hard) | Heart Rate | How it should feel – the ‘talk ;test |
| Recovery | 6 – 6.5 | 65 – 70% | You can speak in complete sentences, totally conversational, you are relaxed and enjoying the session |
| Easy | 6.5 – 7 | 65 – 70% | You are in control and very much at a conversational level but you feel slightly flushed with gradual build up of muscle fatigue |
| Steady | 7 – 8 | 70 – 80% | You can speak in short sentences but have a slight pause on your breath. This can often be ‘no man’s land’ in training terms if this is all you do. |
| Threshold | 8 – 8.5 | 80 – 85% | You could speak 4-5 words if somebody asked a question. Your breathing is more laboured and you know you are working. This is called ‘controlled discomfort’ |
| Hard | 9 – 9.5 | 90 – 92% | 90 – 92% |
I am going to give you two examples of my trek plans. The one was for a 100km charity trek I trained for, and the second was of my training for my Himalayan trek. To make sense of it all:- Decide how many weeks you would need to train for. Plot it out and in the total column on the right hand side of each week, decide how many kilometres/miles that you need to walk that week to reach your end goal. To calculate how many km/m to walk during that week, it needs to add up to your weekly goal. E.g. if you decide that you are going to walk 3 times the week and want to walk a total of 15km/m, you need to walk three times 5, or one 4 one 6 and one 5 so that the total of your weekly walk adds up to the 15.
If you know the distance of your walk, use km/m, but if you don’t know the distance, work it out in terms of how many hours you want to walk. Generally on these hikes you can reckon on an average of 8hours of walking per day.
Always compliment your walking on the other days with strengthening exercising or a type of sport so that you can ‘train all your muscles.
MOONWALK 26.2miles (km) TRAINING PROGRAMME
| Week | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Total |
| 1 | 3 (4.8) | Rest & Stretch | 3 (4.8) | Rest & Stretch | 3 (4.8) | Rest & Stretch | Rest & Stretch | 9 (14.5) |
| 2 | 4 (6.4) | Rest & Stretch | 4 (6.4) | Rest & Stretch | 4 (6.4) | Rest & Stretch | Rest & Stretch | 12 (19.3) |
| 3 | 5 (8) | Rest & Stretch | 4 (6.4) | Other Exercise | 4 (6.4) | Rest & Stretch | 6 (9.6) | 19 (30.5) |
| 4 | Rest & Stretch | 5 (8) | Other Exercise | 5 (8) | Other Exercise | Rest & Stretch | 8 (8) | 18 (28.9) |
| 5 | Other Exercise | 5 (8) | Rest & Stretch | 4 (6.4) | Other Exercise | Rest & Stretch | 10 (16) | 19 (30.5) |
| 6 | Rest & Stretch | Other Exercise | 4 (6.4) | Other Exercise | 6 (9.6) | Rest & Stretch | 12 (19) | 22 (35.4) |
| 7 | Rest & Stretch | 6 (9.6) | Other Exercise | Rest & Stretch | 6 (9.6) | Other Exercise | Rest & Stretch | 12 (19.3) |
| 8 | 14 (22) | Rest & Stretch | 6 (9.6) | Rest & Stretch | 6 (9.6) | Rest & Stretch | 16 (25.7) | 42 (67.5) |
| 9 | Rest & Stretch | 6 (9.6) | Other Exercise | 7 (11.2) | Other Exercise | 6 (9.6) | Rest & Stretch | 19 (30.5) |
| 10 | 16 (25.7) | Rest & Stretch | Other Exercise | 7 (11.2) | Rest & Stretch | 7 (11.2) | Rest & Stretch | 30 (48) |
| 11 | 20 (32) | Rest & Stretch | Rest & Stretch | 5 (8) | Rest & Stretch | 5 (8) | Other Exercise | 30 (48) |
| 12 | 5 (8) | Rest & Stretch | 3 (4.8) | Rest & Stretch | 3 (4.8) | Rest & Stretch | RACE 26.2 (42) | 11 (17.7) |
100 KM TREK TRAINING PLAN:
| WEEK | MON | TUES | WED | THURS | FRI | SAT | SUN |
| 1 | Yoga Pilates | Exercises: 15 min | Yoga | Exercises: 15 min | Tennis | Walking: 2hrs | Walking: 30 min |
| 2 | Yoga Pilates | 20 min | Yoga | 20 min | Tennis | 3hrs | 30min |
| 3 | Yoga Pilates | 35 min | Yoga | 20 min | Tennis | 4hrs | rest |
| 4 | Yoga Pilates | 45 min | Yoga | 1hr 25 | Tennis | 4hrs 30 | 50min |
| 5 | Yoga Pilates | 45 min | Yoga | 25 min | Tennis | 5hrs | rest |
| 6 | Yoga Pilates | 60 min | Yoga | 50 min | Tennis | 5hrs 30 | 1hr |
| 7 | Yoga Pilates | 60 min | Yoga | 25 min | Tennis | 6hrs | rest |
| 8 | Yoga Pilates | 60 min | Yoga | rest | Tennis | 6hrs 30 | 1hr 20 |
| 9 | Yoga Pilates | 60 min | Yoga | 60 min | rest | 7hrs | rest |
| 10 | Yoga Pilates | rest | Yoga | 30 min | Tennis | 7hrs 30 | 1hr 30 |
| 11 | Yoga Pilates | 60 min | Yoga | rest | Tennis | 8hrs | 2hrs |
| 12 | Yoga Pilates | rest | Yoga | 60 min | Tennis | 8hrs 30 | rest |
| 13 | Yoga Pilates | 60 min | Yoga | 30 min | rest | 9hrs | 2hr |
| 14 | Yoga Pilates | rest | Yoga | 50 min | Tennis | 3hrs | rest |
| 15 | Yoga Pilates | 30 min | Yoga | 45 min | Tennis | rest | 1hr |
| 16 | Yoga Pilates | 30 min | Yoga | 20 min | rest | Event 14th June |
STRENGHTENING EXERCISES:
These are only a few. Please discuss with your doctor or physiotherapist if you have a specific concern. It can be very overwhelming, but what I do is the following: I wrote each exercise on a small card to create a pack of exercises. I aim to do e.g. 3 of them and put them in the bottom of the pack. The next day the next 3 on the top of the pack. This will ensure that you get through all of them regularly and that you don’t miss some because they are awful to do 😊
KNEE STRENGTHENING:
- Hamstring walk-outs (lie flat on your back in a bridge position with your feet near your bottom. While maintaining this position, walk your feet to the end of the matt and back again)
- Squats
- Lunges – forward
- Lunges – sideways
- Side lying – straight leg raises
- Side lying – straight leg circles
- Side lying – clam shells
- Jumping with 2 feet forward, backwards and sideways
- Skipping with both feet (no skipping rope required)
- Bridge with one extended leg
- Straight leg alphabet (sit upright on the floor and lift your one leg in the air and draw the alphabet in the air. Change over to other leg)
ANKLE STRENGTHENING:
- Heel and toe raises (this is good on the stairs, where only the tip of your toes are on the stair)
- Stair exercises – sideways down (stand sideways on the stairs with both feet on the same stair, then bend the one leg so that the other leg go a step down)
- Stair exercises – forward down (the same as above, except you are facing forward as though you are climbing down, but you don’t touch the floor)
- Resistance band
- Duck walks
- Ankle circles
- Ankle resistance
- Single leg balance
FITNESS/TONING EXERCISES:
- Calf raises
- Step-ups
- Lunge and drive (skip and lunge backwards)
- Crunches – feet on the floor
- Crunches – legs 90 degrees in air
- Crunches – sitting with ball in both hands touching to your left, centre, right
- Star jump push-ups (against wall/table)
- Squat jumps
- Bear crawls
- Dog- and puppy stretches
- Plank
- Wall sitting
AEROBIC & OTHER:
- Waking – Long and slow with weight
- Walking – Short and fast
- Exercise bike
- Yoga
- Reformer Pilates
- Tennis or other sport. I play tennis and have to be careful, because of the sudden movements that can cause injury. I usually stop playing if the event is close.