5K Competitive Walking By Jenny Jenkins At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

We all walk everyday. Some of us just to around the house, or to places where the distance is too short to make it worthwhile to take the car. Walking, as we are constantly told, is a great form of exercise. But to get the maximum benefits from walking you need to do it properly. A 5k walk four times a week will help to keep you is shape and shed a lot of excess weight. This does not mean a slow casual stroll with your friends. It means walking with speed, precision and with an objective in view. The best way to do this is to set yourself a goal of entering a 5k walk and doing well. You probably won’t win because there will be experienced walkers and perhaps even professionals in the pack, but then again, you shouldn’t expect to. Taking part in the event and completing it in a reasonable time is enough of an achievement and once you do it, its all the motivation you need to keep on walking and perhaps even going in for longer distances.

The first thing to do is to make a regular walk a part of your daily routine. Don’t worry about the distance initially – walk as much as you are comfortable. Try it increase the distance gradually along with a slow increase in speed. Don’t push yourself too hard. An increase of 0.5k per week is fine. That means that if you start with a 2k walk, you should reach 5k in about 7 to 8 weeks. Don’t worry about your time – walk a brisk pace that does not leave you feeling exhausted at the end of the walk. A good target for a beginner to aim for is to do a 5k walk in between 50 to 60 minutes.

There is a lot of material available on walking. While this may seem needless for such a common and basic activity, read a few books and articles. Knowing what posture to keep, what strides are best for you and so on are necessary to get the best results from your walk, both in terms of performance and exercise.

Once you have this down as a part of your daily schedule, find a 5k walking race to enter. On the day of the race stay to the rear of the starting grid – let the experienced walkers and the pros get off to a clean start. One you start you may find yourself in a pack of other walkers. If the speed suits you, stay with the pack, but try and keep to the outside so the crowd doesn't cramp your walking style. If the pack is either too fast or slow, drop out and walk at your own pace until you find a pack the matches your speed.

You will find people speeding up away from the packs as the finish line approaches. Don’t let that worry you – you can pick up these tricks later on. Just concentrate on finishing the race. After the race compare your performance with others of your age and fitness level. It will give you an idea of where you stand and if you have to improve your performance which you can do when training for the next race.

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