Winter Fitness Challenge

“My fitness routine was flushed down the toilet with the disruptions from the pandemic, so it’s time to build a strong base this Winter. Join me by walking, running, or hiking everyday starting with just one mile. Come Spring, I’ll be in great shape, and you will be too!” -Michael

Keys to the Game

Get Out the Door. The most important success factor is tying your shoelaces and getting out the door. Make it a game to see how fast you can get out your door and onto the road or trails. Can you beat 60 seconds?

Warm-up. Whether you’re walking, running, or hiking, take five minutes to walk, run, or hike at a super slow pace to get your body moving and identify any sore spots. Stretch a bit as needed before getting going. A five minute walk before I run has done well at keeping me injury-free.

Easy, Easy, Easy. The purpose of this training isn’t to improve speed - that comes automatically with time. Make sure 80% or more of these miles are at an easy pace that means you can carry a full conversation the whole time you’re out there. BUT, move like you gotta be somewhere - that’s where the cardiological benefits come from.

Recovery. Daily training creates accumulated fatigue that can lead to injuries. Take five minutes after your daily mileage to walk, run, or hike at a slower pace to cool down. THEN, stretch immediately afterwards to accelerate your body’s recovery cycle. [see the videos below]

Monotony. Everyday. Mileage. Mostly in the neighborhood. That is a recipe for boredom. As your schedule allows, take your daily mileage away from home. Some variances I like include trails, hills, or running with friends. AND, as time passes and you make progress, remind yourself that you’re kicking ass!

Zero Days. It’s perfectly okay to take a zero mileage day anytime that your body isn’t right. Often, taking a day or two off is all that’s needed to resolve aches and pains. Just get back at it and keep going - and don’t try to make-up the mileage. This is a fitness base-building program, so missing a day or two won’t make a difference, but pushing when you don’t need to can lead to overuse injuries.

Recovery Yoga

“I’m a big fan of stretchy yoga to keep the injury bug away - mainly because it works! Here are the two videos I’ll be using after my runs. And no, my poses don’t look like Adriene’s. The key is stretching these particular muscle groups.” -Michael

Gear

The beauty of walking, running, and hiking is you don’t really need much gear to get started. While backpackers nerd out on gear, for short mileage efforts like the ones in this challenge, you just need some simple things.

Shoes. I have both road and trail shoes and lots of them:-) What you’re looking for is a comfortable fit that will keep you away from injuries. Also, your walking/running gait matters. Please visit the Asics Shoe Finder to identify which of the three running gaits you have and get shoes that are designed for your kind of movement - https://www.asics.com/us/en-us/shoe-finder/

Cold Weather Layers. Most days, I wear old school dad joggers and a few layers of synthetic shirts up top. When it gets cold, I’ll add some baselayers (long johns) and a basic beanie. On super cold, windy, or rainy days, a rain jacket on top is the final layer.

Gloves. It’s ideal to have thin, synthetic fabric gloves for days in the 30s to 40s to keep a little warmth in the fingers. For days colder than that, go with thicker gloves. A combination glove-liner + lightweight winter gloves will take care of 95% of Winter days in Kentucky.

Ice and Snow. I LOVE running on snow without any extras, but ice or packed snow is slick! You can grab some YakTrax if you want to get out on these surfaces. https://yaktrax.implus.com/ I neglected to use these last year and took a nice fall after the ice storms on Balanced Rock Trail. Whoops:-)

Night Gear. With most of us working dark to dark, grab some night gear that includes two things - a headlamp and a reflective vest/belt. It’s normal to log miles in the dark, but having appropriate safety gear is a MUST! You can pickup both items at your local Walmart - and they can easily save your life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does it matter what I do - i.e. walking, running, or hiking?

No. This is a base-building program - meaning that it’s about establishing a good foundation for more specific training later. So, you can run one day, walk another day, hike the day after that - all that matters is the mileage.

What if I’m training for a specific hike or race?

Specificity training is the most important kind of training when you’ve set a goal. For me, I’m building a base with Breaks Ultra in mind. That is a 45 mile trail race on Pine Mountain with 12,000 feet of vertical gain. So, I’ll be running and hiking with vertical in mind because that’s what I’ll be doing on September 24th. If you’re training for backpacking, strap that fully loaded thing to your back and get moving and try to get as many of your days on trail as possible. Also, go base-gear-only when walking roads to reduce impact force and save your knees.

What if I want to do more mileage or have a different start date?

Download the .xlsx file and customize it by entering your start date and starting mileage in the highlighted cells. The rest will automagically fill out the rest to increase your daily mileage by 10% each week.

I don’t do yoga. Are there other recovery stretches you recommend?

Nope. I do yoga because it’s easy to follow, the pose names are a helluvalot simpler, and ultimately, in the West, yoga is stretching and stretching is yoga. (don’t be offended, yogis and yoginis - general audience here)

I’m hurt, now what?

Overuse injuries are common when we’re talking mileage-based activity and they stem from all sorts of reasons. The most common causes of injuries I have seen over the years are (1) doing too much too soon, (2) trying to go too fast - even for short distances, and (3) not taking time to warm-up, cool-down, or do any form of recovery stretching. That said, if you’re injured, rest first. If you’re still hurting, go see the doctor.

Will this hurt my knees, joints, back, hip, whatever?

Yes. Whether you’re walking, running, or hiking, mileage demands a certain level of impact force in your body. That said, you can reduce impact force in four ways: (1) move slower, (2) move across softer terrain - e.g. trails instead of roads, (3) train with less elevation change - particularly downhill, and (4) lose weight. Of the four, the last one is the best move - albeit the most challenging. The less weight you carry, the easier everything becomes. I dropped about 50 lbs. over two years just before taking up running by drinking water and black coffee instead of sodas and cooking a much higher percentage of meals at home. And yes, I can still demolish two entire chickens battered and deep fried because I like what I like:-)