060 Get 50k fit with Oxfam V01.qxp
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FITNESS
ARE YOU TACKLING OXFAM’S 50 KILOMETRE TRAILTEKKER THIS YEAR? YOU NEED TO...
GET 50K FIT
OXFAM’S 50KM BEGINNERS’ TRAINING PROGRAMME
ave you enterd a team in this year’s Oxfam Trailtrekker? If not why not? And more to the point, if your team has never done anything like TRAILTREKKER before, you’re going to have to get 50k fit, pronto! Follow this simple eight week guide to get you to a level where you can finish the 50k course within the 20 hour cut-off. Good luck, break out the sweat bands.
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PHASE ONE
BUILDING A BASE
WEEKS 1 & 2: For the first week you just need to get out and walk. For some of you, this might be 20 minutes, for others, 50. Don’t push, don’t hurt and don’t get breathless. Walking should always be fun, even when you increase your physical challenges later in your programme. For the next week, continue walking. Try to go every other day, with a minimum of three walks each week. Each time you walk, add ten minutes to your walk and try to go just a bit faster. PHASE TWO
LONGER WALKING WEEKS 3, 4 & 5: Once you’re able to comfortably walk for one hour non-stop, it’s time to look at the
second phase: building the long walk. Use this period to train with your team and to work out your hydration system, eating habits and strategies for rest stops and sleeping. Phase Two includes a mixture of easy training days, medium-to-hard days and then the long walk at the weekend. Easy and rest days are extremely important, as they allow your body to recover. Aim to walk three or four days each week, and remember that the long walk is the most important. SAMPLE SESSIONS: Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Hard day. Spend 50 minutes walking. Try and include a hilly section in the walk to experience both the uphill work and the downhill pressure on knees and legs. Push yourself and ‘feel’ the hills. Wednesday: Easy day. Relaxing pace for 45 minutes or more. Focus on how your body is feeling: heart-rate, stride length, posture, breathing etc. Later in the training, try some of these walks at night to become familiar with night walking. Thursday or Friday: Medium day. 15 minutes warm-up very easy, five minutes stretching, 20 minutes quickpaced walk followed by 10 minutes easy and then 10 minutes stretching. Rest on the other day. Saturday or Sunday: Long walk. The aim of this session is to do a long steady walk, preferably on the trail and with your team members. The distance covered should
increase over time, starting with three hours and increasing weekly to as much as eight hours. Weekly increases must take into account the difficulty of the trail (so don’t simultaneously increase the walk by two hours and attempt the most difficult trail sections) and you should give yourself a break after three weeks of steady increases. Sample training might be: Week Three: Three/Four hours, medium terrain
Week Four: Four/Five hours, easy Week Five: Four hours, hard The motivation in this phase comes from both the desire to complete the event and the personal satisfaction you get from gaining fitness and strength, and from experiencing the occasional ‘runner’s high’! Plus you get to have fun with your team mates and enjoy the great outdoors! PHASE THREE
PEAK AND TAPER
WEEKS 6 TO 8: In the final phase you are looking to maximise your strength and fitness and then ‘taper’ or recover to be in peak condition for the event itself. The long walk included in this phase will prepare you mentally for the distance and time required to complete the event. Your team strategy for rest stops and sleeping on the trail should be agreed and your individual plan for what to carry, wear, drink and eat should also be decided. WEEK 6: These will be similar to the preceding weeks but the long walk should now ideally link several sections of the trail and should last for six hours or more. WEEK 7: For the one weekend prior to the event, you should reduce the amount of training you do, your long walk should drop back to no more than three hour. WEEK 8: the week before the event it should be no more than one and a half hours. Your weekday walks should also be shorter and less intense. If this has got you in the mood for a tough but exhilarating weekend this September 10-11, why not enter Oxfam’s TRAILTREKKER? Find out more at www.oxfamireland.org/trek or text TREK to 51500 (standard text rates apply)
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