Walking News

Is racewalking for everyone? This short critique holds that present racewalk competition rules promote a stylized form of running to the exclusion of valid kinds of walking. If genuine walking competition be the object, then clearly state that one foot or other MUST always be ON the ground, and that both feet MUST NOT be OFF the ground together.  Additional qualifications governing a straight leg or bent knee wont be necessary.

For entire 3-page article with photos, go to link: My Racewalk Failure.

Let’s face it. Walking fast looks silly. . . even prissy. When you talk to a man about walking, this is his first thought. We equate walking with oddly dressed seniors circling the mall, much older than we imagine ourselves to be. We remember seeing those racewalkers on the Olympics late at night after all the really popular events like the biathlon and triple jump are over. Strutting in that odd, rhythmic style. Arms flailing and hips. . . well, the hips just look . . . goofy. This is one of the major reasons why men resist walking. Trust me on this. I don’t claim to represent male opinions on all subjects, but on this one I am confident.

via Walking the Manly Walk – How to Start Men Walking.

Are your walking shoes ready for replacement? Walking shoes generally last 350 to 500 miles. They may not appear to be worn out, when in fact they have lost their support and cushioning. How and where you wear out the soles of your shoes can give you further clues about whether you overpronate, have a neutral gait, or a supinated gait. Here are examples of walking shoes that are obviously in need of replacement.

via Wear Patterns for Walking Shoes – Worn Out Walking Shoes Photos.

SALT LAKE CITY — A pedestrian who says she was injured by a motorist while following an online walking route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google supplied unsafe directions.

via Woman sues Google for providing alleged unsafe walking route – The Denver Post.

We have assembled a great team of writers to tackle the Herculean task of answering common questions.

via Frequently Asked Questions.

Oat groats are whole, minimally processed oats. Because they have not been extensively processed, they retain a high nutritional value, and they can be used in a variety of ways. However, they also take a long time to prepare and cook, requiring hours of soaking and cooking before they are usable. Many markets carry oat groats, often in the cereal section or in the bulk area, if the market sells things in bulk.
Oats have been cultivated for thousands of years and used in a variety of ways. Archaeological evidence at various sites of early human activity shows that people have been making a form of gruel from oats and other grains for a very long time. Oat groats would have been familiar to early humans, and they are a sound addition to the modern diet as well, being high in fiber and various minerals.

via What are Oat Groats?.

Since the 1920s, more than 6,000 people have earned a special distinction by climbing all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks higher than 4,000 feet, including the highest, 5,344-foot Mount Marcy. But within this group of accomplished hikers is an even more hard-core set: the Winter Forty-Sixers. Like Ms. MacKellar and Ms. Carney-Nesbitt, they earned the patch of honor by climbing those same peaks between Dec. 21 and March 21.
Since 1962, only 449 people have accomplished the feat. Some climbers needed just a few years; others needed decades. Children as young as 10 have become Winter Forty-Sixers. Charlie Sabatine, a retired teacher who lives near Rochester, became the oldest person to earn the patch when he climbed his 46th peak in 2009. He was 75.

via Adirondack Winter Forty-Sixers Conquer Goal Peak by Peak – NYTimes.com.

5 pages of great ideas

Time to tune up your walking in anticipation of spring. With daylight savings time and warmer weather just around the corner, get ready to make the most of it.

Wendy Bumgardner via Spring Walking Tune-up.

From the first tiny mention in Backpacker magazine about a decade ago, Larry Luxenberg’s dream of creating a museum to spotlight the Appalachian Trail and its hikers has had as many ups and downs as the 2,178-mile footpath itself…
His persistence will be rewarded June 5 – National Trails Day – when the New York investment adviser pushes open the big, white door to the Appalachian Trail Museum and welcomes the public. The museum, at Pine Grove Furnace State Park, is about 15 miles from Gettysburg and two miles from the trail’s halfway point.

via A tribute to long-distance hikers: Appalachian Trail Museum – baltimoresun.com.

My Walk to Mt Kosciuszko is no longer a solitary affair: at last count, I will have a dozen companions for the entire distance, and another 16 joining me for at least one day.
One of those coming for the entire trip is the Commentary Editor from Business Spectator, Rob Burgess. Rob will report from and on the Walk on a daily basis, covering it both as a news story, and as the basis for a discussion of the wider issues facing business and economics in the uncharted terrain of the supposedly  ‘post-GFC’ world.
The others joining me on the trek are doing so not just for the scenery, but because they too believe that Australia’s economic policy has become beholden to maintaining house prices at unsustainable levels. Despite government rhetoric (and some action) about improving home affordability, the First Home Vendors Boost  did far more to make houses more unaffordable than the government’s minor actions in the opposite direction. The other walkers are joining me to bring attention to the absurdity of managing the Australian economy by making it impossible for people to afford houses in their own country.

via Growing like Topsy | Steve Keen’s Debtwatch.

VICTORIA, B.C. — The RCMP are investigating two unrelated deaths in less than 48 hours along a popular Vancouver Island trail…
The 60-kilometre Galloping Goose is a cycling and hiking trail that connects the towns of Sooke and Sidney on the Island’s southern shore.

via The Canadian Press: RCMP investigating two unrelated deaths on Island’s Galloping Goose trail.

In March 2009 the SouthCoast region of Massachusetts was selected to be an ACHIEVE community. The main objective of ACHIEVE (Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and EnVironmental changE) is to unite local leaders through CHARTs (Community Health Action Response Teams). Each CHART aims to build healthy communities by specifically focusing on issues such as, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco cessation, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

via – Voices for a Healthy Southcoast.

more info at: http://voicesforahealthysouthcoast.org/wp-content/uploads/flyer.pdf

Britain’s foremost ultra-distance runner, William Sichel, who is attempting to become the first man in more than a decade to finish a “non-stop” 1,000-mile race, passed the half-way point, 500 miles, at around 4pm this afternoon (UK time, Sunday), having smashed one of his own world records earlier today.
Sichel, 56, is taking part in the 1,000-mile World Cup event at the International Ultra-marathon Festival, staged at Loutraki, outside Athens. The race began last Monday and is expected to finish before 31 March. Stops are allowed but the race is “live” from start to finish and most of the international field of 16 athletes stop only for food, changes of clothes and short bursts of sleep.
At the six-day stage – midday today, UK time – Sichel was in second place having covered 800km (497 miles). Germany’s Wolfgang Schwerk was leading, on 870km (540.5 miles), with Italy’s Lucio Bazzana in third, on 754km (468.5 miles).

Nick Harris via Record-breaking British runner passes halfway point in 1,000-mile race « Sporting Intelligence.

The exploits of the British runner William Sichel and his competitors in the current 1,000-mile race in Athens are extraordinary, but these “long distance” athletes are not products of the modern age alone. There was a time in the Victorian era when such races were staged in front of paying crowds of tens of thousands of people. That was when “professional pedestrianism” was in its heyday. And the greatest walker of that heyday – certainly the most flamboyant – was an American called Edward Payson Weston.

via The world’s greatest walker: a Victorian pioneer of ultra-marathons « Sporting Intelligence.

The towering spires and ramparts of Pinnacles National Monument are a big pocket of surreal, as if they fell from an imaginary world onto these rolling chaparral-covered hills. In reality, they’re what’s left of a volcano commuting north – really slowly.
The Miocene-era Neenach Volcano, which originated 195 miles to the southeast, straddles the San Andreas Fault. Every time the Pacific Plate creeps north, it pulls the volcano’s remains along on its journey. Adding to the geologic forces, erosion helped create the eerie-looking monoliths and crags of Pinnacles National Monument.

via Pinnacles.

I was halfway around the loop trail in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains when I realized I hadn’t seen another soul hiking on this cloudy Sunday afternoon.

via Exploring Tucson trail.

The “bridge to far” — the footpath span crossing the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Somerset, which links the northern and southern stretches of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail — was dismantled last weekend…
The bridge was the only off-road connection linking popular sections of the Laurel Highlands. A key juncture in the 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail from Ohiopyle State Park to a point near Johnstown, it was part of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trails system, an 830-mile network from the mouth of the Potomac River through the Allegheny Highlands. The trail attracts 80,000 to 100,000 hikers and other visitors each year.
Temporary loss of the bridge is expected to negatively impact tourism.

via Bridge removed on Laurel Highlands trail.

Tattletale Scale

Skip the Rope

Tone Up to Tunes

Workout Monitor

Many a Mile to Go

via FOXNews.com – Goof Proof Gadget Guide: 5 Great Get-Fit Gadgets.

A number of studies have concluded that restricting calories is a better way to drop a pants size than spending more time in the gym. For example, one University of Pennsylvania trial found that men and women who exercised — but didn’t bother to control what they ate — lost 0.3 percent of their initial body weight compared to those who dieted but did not exercise and lost 8.4 percent of their weight.

via Which is more important for weight loss,… | Gather.

1. Interval walks

2. Toning walks

3. Long walks

4. Recovery walks

5. Speed walks

6. Strength training

via 6 Best Walking Workouts for Weight Loss – MSN Health & Fitness – Weight Loss.

The research used one minute sprints on an exercise bike with a one minute moderate break between each of 10 sprints, three times a week.  The researchers found that this built muscle mitrochondria and performance as well as 10 hours of moderate cycling would over the same two week period.

Wendy Bumgardner via Short Bursts of High Intensity Exercise are Effective.

When it first happened to me, I thought I must be crazy.  Bought a new pair of walking shoes, wore them for one hour (with socks) on my treadmill, and afterward the skin on the tops of my toes and feet felt irritated and itchy.  I wore those shoes a total of three one-hour stints, resulting in the tops and soles of my feet feeling chemically burned and incredibly itchy.

Wendy Bumgardner via Shoe Allergies.

Olympic 50km walk champion Alex Schwazer of Italy set a new national record in the men’s 20km Walk at the “Gran Premio Città di Lugano – 8th Memorial Mario Albisetti” in Lugano, Switzerland, on Sunday.

via European Athletics – Schwazer sets Italian record at European Athletics Race Walking meet in Lugano.

“Years of planning, volunteer hard work and dreaming have gotten us to where we are today,” said Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society — the non-profit organization that was formed in 2002 to lead efforts to establish the museum. “The museum will be more than a building and the midway point on the 2,178 mile trail that stretches from Maine to Georgia. It will be a tribute to the thousands of men, women and families who have hiked and maintained the Appalachian Trail, making it arguably the most famous hiking trail in the world.”

via Renovation Begins on Historic Grist Mill to Become Appalachian Trail Museum .

The Ways of Walking

Strolling, Sauntering, Meandering, Hiking, Wandering

Bibliography, Links, Resources

via Walking: Guide, Links, Bibliography, Quotations, Notes, Lessons. .

Facebook | Videos Posted by Appalachian Trail Conservancy: A.T. underwater across from Harpers Ferry [HQ].

You want to walk, but how do you get yourself out the door or onto the treadmill? That’s the toughest challenge most of us face. I am a natural couch potato, so I face it everyday. Here is how this couch potato has turned herself into a marathon walker.

Wendy Bumgardner via Ways to Motivate Yourself to Walk.

The very best time to walk? Walking can only do you good if you do it. The best time to walk is the time that will fit best into your schedule so you can do it consistently. Experts agree — it is not the time of day that matters as much as finding the time you can set aside consistently for your workouts.

Wendy Bumgardner via The Best Time of Day to Walk and Exercise – Evening Pros and Cons.

We’d first scaled La Tournette, the highest point in the Lake Annecy region of the mountainous Haute-Savoie, nearly 25 years before, in 1986. The guidebooks had described the view from the summit as one of the most stunning in the Alps, but the day we had made the climb, there was no way to tell if this were true: The top of the mountain was shrouded in a pea-soup fog.
After that, we’d often talked of returning to La Tournette to claim our scenic reward. Finally, last summer, we decided it was time. We would celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to France and a replay of that hike.

via Hike in French Alps repeats couple’s trip from 25 years earlier – washingtonpost.com.

During weight loss, bones are being remodelled – breaking down old bone and forming new bone – at an accelerated rate. As a result, bone density is reduced, causing increased fragility.
“Accelerated bone turnover is not favorable, but the potential negative consequences of increased bone turnover do not outweigh the numerous other health benefits of weight loss. Adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D may minimize the reduction in bone density during weight loss,” said Pam Hinton.

via Fast walking, jogging don’t prevent increased bone turnover during weight loss.

The popular mapping site’s introduction of bike directions follows a couple of years of grass-roots lobbying that led the Mountain View, Calif., firm to disclose plans for this feature last fall.
To request bike routes, select “Bicycling” from the pull-down menu below Google Maps’ directions form. As a company blog post explains, the site prioritizes off-street trails (designated with thick, dark-green lines) over separate bike lanes (thinner, light-green lines) over designated bike routes (dashed, light-green lines) and also tries to avoid hills, busier streets and crowded intersections.

via Faster Forward – Google adds bicycle directions to Google Maps .

Walking workouts, however, can increase in intensity by increasing the incline on the treadmill or finding a walking route that has hills. This will increase your caloric burn by quite a bit without much added jarring. As well, yoga can be very difficult in intensity and burn calories if you are performing a more intense type of yoga, such as Ashtanga yoga. If you like cycling, try a spinning class as this often does not increase joint loading if the bike is adjusted properly, but it will increase total caloric burn.

via Increase workout intensity, not joint pain | StatesmanJournal.com | Statesman Journal.

Smith, down 90 pounds from his 325-pound maximum, admits it took a health scare — declining vision, tingly feet and an emergency-room diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes last August while filming TV’s “Top Chef Masters” — before Oprah’s former chef reached out for help from a complete stranger.

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/2092523,FIT-News-Art10.article

That day, I began by getting rid of every coupon for a buy-one-get-one pizza tacked to my fridge and dumping the ice cream in the freezer. I threw out all of the soda and Little Debbie snacks and replaced them with healthier foods.

via ‘My idea of exercise was walking to the refrigerator’.

There are thousands of Asheville hiking trails in the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. To find the best nearby North Carolina mountains hiking, we evaluated trails for all skill levels.

via Hike Asheville North Carolina Mountain Hiking Trails.

Ecuadorians Rolando Saquipay and Mesías Zapata highlighted the 17th South American Race Walking Championships that took place in Cochabamba on 6-7 March.
Competing at the always challenging altitude of 2574m, the thirty-year-old Saquipay won the 20km event in 1:24:50 (7 March), leaving Colombian Gustavo Restrepo in second place with 1:27:40, and Chilean Yerko Araya in third (1:30:45).

via iaaf.org – Ecuadorians shine at South American Race Walking Championships.

Johanna Jackson shaved one-minute from her two-year-old UK 10km race-walk record and lifetime best at the CAU Inter Counties Championships…
The Middlesbrough & Cleveland athlete clocked a PB of 43:52, which corresponds to a 60-second improvement on her two-year-old lifetime best and UK record.

via Athletics Weekly.

He started the run on the 1 July 2008 and after 21, 250km he will be running into Cape Point this Saturday, 13 Mar 10.
He has run thorugh a dozen different countries in his quest which was a lot harder than first expected. Fighting illness, injury, fatigue and lonliness on the road! Even though he is no stranger to Solo Running, having completed his first World Run in 2005 (Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia and North America – 26,000km), this Run has been a lot harder than expected and he will be taking a break at Cape Point before starting the second half of his journey in South America in a few months time.

via Ultra Legends » Blog Archive » Olsen to finish first half of World Run 2.

Joyner is a cancer survivor. Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2007, she has been cancer-free since later that same year. She is once again pursuing many of her hobbies, including racewalking, but the experience has taught her to enjoy the finer things in life.

via The Vicksburg Post > Archives > Sports > Walking away from cancer.

10 Things You Dont Want to See on Your Walk

Wendy Bumgardner via What You Dont Want to See on Your Walk.

Who was your worst walking partner? What did they do (or not do) that was so annoying? I’ve walked with a lot of different walking partners over the years, and there are a few I’ve had to part ways with. Share Your Story

Wendy Bumgardner via Who Was the Worst Walking Partner You Ever Walked With.

Wendy Bumgardner’s 10 Rules for Walking Partners

In their first 48 hours of peddling hiker permits, under a new system designed to relieve weekend and holiday crowding on Yosemite National Park’s popular Half Dome Trail, park concessionaires have sold nearly all of the 5,700 available spots. Permits went up for grabs Monday morning. As of 3:19 p.m. Tuesday, park spokesman Scott Gediman said, just 69 were left, all of them earmarked for Memorial Day, May 31.

via Yosemite: Half Dome hiking permits sell like hot cakes – Travel – LATimes.com .

Weight-Loss Challenge: How these dieters lost 10 to 20 pounds.
Several readers who participated in this year’s Weight-Loss Challenge lost 10 to 20 pounds in a few months.
USA TODAY asked four dieters to share the keys to their success.

via Weight-Loss Challenge: How these dieters lost 10 to 20 pounds – USATODAY.com.

William Mackesy is on a long quest to identify the world’s 100 best walks. He is tackling and assessing all the walks himself, and has so far done more than a third of the likely best walks (listed on our about page). His descriptions of these walks will be appearing on this website.

via Walkopedia – the world’s best walks.

Max Walked it Off with his Dog
Reader Stories: How I Walked Off Weight

Wendy Bumgardner via Max Walked it Off with his Dog.

Studies show that even small amounts of brisk walking can help keep you healthy.  Here’s the amount you need daily to lower your risk of five diseases:

• 17 minutes reduces depression symptoms by 41%
• 17 minutes reduces colon cancer by 31%
• 18 minutes reduces coronary heart disease by 36%
• 21 minutes reduces stroke by 43%
• 30 minutes reduces type 2 diabetes by 30%

courtesy of Walkstyles.

If you add just 2000 more steps a day to your regular activities, you may never gain another pound. So says research by Dr. James O. Hill of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. To lose weight, add in more steps.

Wendy  Bumgardner via Never Gain Another Pound – Walk 2000 More Steps a Day.

If you have signed up for a 5K walk, such as a charity event, but don’t regularly walk for fitness, take a few weeks to train for it so you can enjoy the event without the agony of the feet.

Wendy Bumgardner via 5K Walk Training Schedule for Beginners – Train for Your First 5K Walk.

Credit for saving this remote tract from imminent logging in the early 1900s goes to the good folks of Wonalancet. As related by Marjory Gane Harkness in The Tamworth Narrative, innkeeper Kate Sleeper Walden (who had founded the Wonalancet Out Door Club in 1892) persuaded Louis Tainter of Publishers Paper Company to give her a 60-day option on the purchase of 3,000 acres in The Bowl area. Half of the $50,000 was to come from local and summer residents, the other half from the federal government as part of the creation of the new White Mountain National Forest.
In 1914 a delegation of 16 from the WODC, led by Edgar Rich, journeyed to Gorham for a White Mountains Forest Conference and pleaded their case with the feds. Their efforts were successful, and the Bowl tract was included in a larger appropriation for National Forest land purchase.

via A snowshoe journey into The Bowl.

I have been a nurse for over 25 years and realized that the largest health issues facing America are directly related to and can be prevented by good nutrition. Heart disease is the number one killer in America and can be 98 percent preventable with changes to the American diet. Yes, there are some genetics involved but for the most part high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and high cholesterol are on an increase because of the rising obesity level.
I have struggled for 40-plus years with my weight and through the process of walking the walk have found that diet is only 80 percent and exercise is the other 20 percent. Good, healthy nutrition includes both. The medical association for years has said prevention is the way to go. I found a way to help reverse the problem and educate in the process to prevent people from yo-yo dieting.

via Acton firefighters join weight loss challenge – Acton, MA – The Beacon.