30 Mile Walk Training

weaponx031277

In July im doing a 30 mile hill walk in Derbyshire for Wateraid.

Im not in bad physical shape and can easily do a 5 or 6 mile walk. Problem is im struggling time wise to push out any further than 5 miles.

In the week between work and having to shuttle my non driving missus about im left with an hour roughly spare to get any training in. Weekends just seem to be doing overtime in work, going round the country seeing friends or again shuttling the missus about. At most i seem to have a two or three hour window here and there.

Ive got a week of after Easter in which i was planning to do some more training but this is starting to get cut down with other stuff coming up.

Can anyone suggest any exercises that i can do home base wise that will improve my Stamina and Cardio? Also has anyone else done a walk of this length before and could give me some pointers about what to expect?

John

blisters

stevefish69

Today I embarked on a 40 Mile "Training" walk for a planned 100k event in May.

No blisters to report but we have learnt a few things during our training walks.

Take a massive amount of food. We burned over 6000calories today and kept our energy up by eating something every hour.

Hydrate as above, if you are thirsty you're probably already dehydrated.

Use Larnacane anti chaffing gel around your never's to assist. Prevention is better than cute.

Have good fitting boots, and clothing to suit the conditions.

Get a decent Rucksack, you'll need it.

Change your socks (decent ones) every 10 miles or so to give your feet a new lease of life.

I started out by just trying to hit 10,000 steps a day, then increased from 5, 13, 20, 30 and today 40. It's a killer but the only practice is unfortunately walking. I do also go to spin classes and circuit training which helps. If I can do it, anyone can.

PSM1

Could you try jogging or running to improve fitness. If could manage an hour run then walking for a few hours should be no issue. If time crunched then increasing the intensity can make the most of the time you have.

weaponx031277

Quick update to this....

I've been cycling to work and doing some swimming which is helping my Stamina and Cardio alot. I actually feel alot healthier than i have in a long time

Ive got a 15 mile walk with a few other people in two weeks time. Ive bought some new hiking boots but when i took these out for the first time on a five mile walk it felt like someone had poured hot cement in my hip joints by the time i got back home. Breaking in issue or is wearing boots changing the way i walk???

GaryB19722010

I've got a 26 mile Hadrians Wall hike coming up, when time is limited I get up at 05.30am and do a 1 hour run/walk moor run, prior to the kids/wife getting up

weaponx031277

Well i did it last year and it destroyed me. One climb made my physically sick and the decent on the final climb just made me nearly cry with the pain in my knees.

Im doing it again this year in a couple of weeks but ive had even less free time to prepare.