Walking to Race Walking Step 4

[windwalker]

Walking to race walking step 4



So far we have explored getting our posture upright and proud, leading with our hips and counterbalancing the forward hip motion with the arm swing going further to the back. Now this week I want to talk about what the feet are doing.

When we walk more efficiently our feet are going to be landing in a straight line in front of us, as someone mentioned like the drunk test that the police give you. When you bring that hip forward the leg and foot are going to be there anyway when your doing it properly, but this week it's time to concentrate on that. Your front stride will seem short to you but it is NOT as short as it seems. It's just a perception.

It helps to practice the straight line foot steps when you have a line in the road to follow or on a track that has lane lines. If you go to a track try going down the stadium steps a few times or just walk thinking about going down steps like that. You walk down steps automatically in a straight line because it's the most stable and balanced way to walk down those steps.

As you walk this week, with straight up posture, being pulled forward by your hips, with good arm swing, getting that elbow back and concentrating on your feet landing in a straight line, the whole motion should begin to smooth out for you.

Your foot plant should be more of a heel first plant, on the forward foot, then the foot rolling forward to the toe when your foot is back and then the toe push off to bring the rear foot forward. We will discuss this part more next week but for this week a good exercise to do is to walk on just your heels for about 25 yards, alternate back to normal walking and then 25 more yards on just your heels. This is a good warmup exercise also for before a race or training walk.

Thanks for reading and good walking this week.

Dave

 

[lisah0711]

Who knew so much thought has to go into walking? It does help to do bits of the puzzle for sure.

I did a 13 mile training run on Friday on an indoor track. I started to do the last mile the picture of "enduring," as I often is the case by that part of a long indoor run at that point. Head down, trudging along. But instead I took a deep breath, adjusted my posture, put my head up and got 'er done. I was still very, very happy to be done but it did help that last mile to end on a more positive note. Thanks!

 

[windwalker]

Who knew so much thought has to go into walking? It does help to do bits of the puzzle for sure.

I did a 13 mile training run on Friday on an indoor track. I started to do the last mile the picture of "enduring," as I often is the case by that part of a long indoor run at that point. Head down, trudging along. But instead I took a deep breath, adjusted my posture, put my head up and got 'er done. I was still very, very happy to be done but it did help that last mile to end on a more positive note. Thanks!

Yes at te beginning there is a lot of thought that goes into getting the technique right, but eventually you get to the point that you can walk briskly and smoothly for hours without having to think about it. Another perk of efficient walking is that you can go further without the pounding that running does to your body and once your walking muscles are strong you can walk pretty much as far as you want as long as you fuel up along the way.

Dave

 

[windwalker]

http://www.racewalk.com/HowTo/Introduction.asp