The Sport Walk Show: Season Two, Show Two – training for multiple challenges & much more

In this edition of The Sport Walk Show, Roger discusses whether ‘Active Zone Minutes are helpful for Sport Walking training, he explains how to take on multiple challenge events in one year & there’s a Trailmaster feature on negotiating chalk trails without ending up on your bum! This show’s ‘amazing place to walk’ is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Llangollen & we reveal what could possibly be Britain’s way marked trail capital.

The Sport Walk Show is now all about answering your questions and demonstrating the things you want to know about, so do leave any questions you may have in the comments and we’ll build them into future shows.

If you’re on Facebook, you can also join our new Sport Walk Community group and leave questions on there for inclusion in the show. Just go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/314107014680325/

You can get our ‘OS Maps’ Sport Walk Challenge Route – Venta All Trails – for the Trail Capital feature here:
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/7695092/sport-walk-challenge-route–venta-all-trails-32k?lat=51.059246&lon=-1.338644&zoom=11.9141&style=Leisure&type=2d

Hello and welcome to the sportalk show it’s the middle of winter but it’s one of those glorious Sunny winter days up here on the south downs but I have to confess it is absolutely freezing so we’re going to mix it up a little bit and I’m going to bring you some features

From up here on the downs and some from here in the studio where it is much much warmer but don’t worry cuz we’ve got an absolutely packed show so you won’t notice a thing We’ve got more of your questions this time about the usefulness of active Zone minutes and also about taking on multiple challenges in one season we’ve got a trail Master feature on staying upright when walking on slippery chalky Trails a feature looking at what we think could be Britain’s way Mark Trail

Capital and a rather lofty amazing place to walk but first a little clarification in the last show we discussed whether swinging your arms makes you walk faster and I explained how it’s best to focus on getting all of your power from your legs not your arms but this didn’t actually answer the

Question of whether swinging your arms makes you walk faster which in fact it does swinging your arms brings more momentum into play which can make you go faster but it’s not actually the most efficient way to gain speed and it won’t make you go faster than you can

Otherwise walk with a good walking form unless that is you reach that Tipping Point where you start to race walk so yes technically swinging your arms will make you go faster but you don’t need to do it because you can save yourself all of that extra effort simply by developing a good walking

Technique great that clears that up on with the Show we talked a lot in the past about the value of data in helping you progress but we’ve had a question asking specifically about about active Zone minutes and whether it’s helpful for sport walking well the answer really needs to come in two parts yes and no now in case you don’t

Know what active Zone minutes are let me explain active Zone minutes is a term used by Fitbit that refers to the amount of time you spend doing heart pumping activity their words not mine they also measure active minutes which relates to lower intensity work and the two terms

Together give you a good measure of how energetic you’ve been either in a workout or during the day so far so good and it is good these features have shown themselves to be really helpful in encouraging people to develop more active Lifestyles so whatever we talk

About here let there be no mistake this stuff is valuable in encouraging people to be more active but if we look looking at whether this is something to help guide your sport walking progress development and training then my advice would be that it has less value because essentially it encourages and rewards

Intensity in your workouts and Sport walking is an endurance activity where the majority of your training needs to take place in lower intensity zones to build endurance the underlying concept of active Zone minutes is nothing new all good performance watch that measure your heart rate will give you a breakdown of

Each of your activities in heart rate zones from 1 to 5 they’ll list how long you spent operating in each Zone and also give you that data as a percentage of your overall session so you can see that you spent say 60% in zone 2 and easy Zone

Maybe 20% in Zone 3 and so on and this data is really useful especially for sport walking because of the objective of walking as efficiently as possible the higher the intensity of your walking the quicker you’re going to use up your resources so being able to translate your efforts into clear numbers that

Show you if you’re achieving your aim of walking more efficiently is invaluable but the risk when data like active Zone minutes are turned into an incentive is that they encourage you to train harder than perhaps you should for your specific objectives it can also lead to trophy hunting focusing on improving your score

Rather than simply working in a structured way to a set of pre-planned outcomes you might also be making false gains for the kind of outcomes you’re seeking overall which is another concern you could be delighted that you’re smashing your active Zone minute goals but the fitness You’re Building

May be unsuited to keeping you strong over a longer more sustained walk it’s like the difference in fit this between a sprinter and a marathon runner and I think this is the best way to summarize it really incentives like active Zone minutes can give you a motivational boost in terms of seeing

That you’re on the right side of official guidance on activity levels but they’re less beneficial in terms of setting yourself manageable and achievable targets for progress in an endurance activity like sport walking so my advice would be to use them to understand your exertion level in any given session but make sure

You’re looking beyond the headline to see the underlying statistics don’t get to thinking that a good active Zone minute score is the same as having completed a planned session in the right way for You we’ve had a question asking how to train for multiple challenge events in one season or year and this is actually a really good point because once you’ve tasted that sense of fulfillment that you get from taking on a sport walking challenge you’re going to want it again

And again but how can you take on multiple challenges in one year without overdoing it well it’s all down to planning and prioritizing the key to success here is to identify two things the event or events that are most important to you and those that represent the toughest physical

Test now it could be that your most important event is also going to be your hardest but that’s not always the case it could be that a shorter event which isn’t so important to you has more demanding terrain and is therefore a tougher challenge physically albe it for

A shorter duration so consider both the importance and difficulty of the challenge now it is quite tricky to explain simply how to juggle multiple challenges with differing goals in one season but the one thing you must do is prioritize you first need to prioritize the event or events that matter the most

To you where you want to do really well and then you also need to give respect to any others that represent a tough physical test the most important thing for you to do is to plan your training so that you Peak for your most important challenge not just the first challenge that year

So if perhaps You’ youve got a shorter challenge lined up a month or two before a big challenge that’s really important to you you need to structure your training to Peak for the important challenge not the first shorter challenge this means that you’ll need to

Treat the first one as a part of your training buildup and so you’ll need to adjust your challenge Pace accordingly so that you don’t go too fast and deplete your reserves but getting the build up to your important challenge right is only half of it once that’s

Done everything you do in training is about maintenance about not losing the fitness and sharpness you’ve gained in the buildup to that event so the weeks or months between your important event and any others you’re taking on shouldn’t be seen as core training time it should be seen as maintenance preserving the fitness

You’ve already gained and carrying it through to the next test think of it as keeping your Fitness strength and sharpness ticking over rather than training yourself to become faster and stronger for the next challenge you want to be focusing on making progress and improvements before your big Challenge and after that you’re

Simply preserving what you’ve gained you can look to make further improvements over the next winter ready for The Following season and so on personally I wouldn’t take on more than 2 100 km events in any one season unless you’re an experienced sport Walker but you could take on a mixture of different

Distances providing you can space them out enough to give your body time to recover and that really is key to all of this after a major challenge you need to give your body at least 2 to 3 weeks of recovery before returning to structured training for your next event and that

Really is about all you need to know to take on multiple events in one season just remember identify your most important events and train to Peak for the first of these even if it means going easier in a challenge earlier in the year remember that recovery after challenge is more important than

Training for the next one if you get your recovery wrong you won’t be able to train effectively for the next challenge view the time between challenges as being all about maintaining and preserving the fitness strength and resilience that you develop during your training for your first important event

Not about building more Fitness and more strength most importantly though be honest with yourself at every stage it’s fine to do multiple events in one season but if you overdo it you could put yourself back months or even longer listen to your body and defer an event

To the following year if you don’t feel 100% recovered and ready to go again oh I feel the when you’re out on the trail you encounter all sorts of different surfaces Under Foot from soil to Grass to sand to bedrock but there’s one surface that demands more respect than others and that’s

Chalk but Chalk’s reputation as a bit of a slippery character when wet is a little bit misleading so in this iteration of trow master we’re can to look at different chalk conditions and what you need to look out for now before we get into this good chalk bad chalk business I should

Stress that the very nature of chalk being a densely packed generally smooth and super hard surface means that you should always be a little wary when walking on it in the wet and you should also show it respect but you shouldn’t fear it or be over cautious if you know

What to look for you see many people just see chalk and assume it’s going to be ice rink slippery which is a mistake the simplest and easiest way to tell if the chalk that you’re approaching is is likely to be treacherous is to look at the

Color hang on a minute I hear you all cry it’s chalk it’s going to be white not so concerned viewer not so the chalk you encounter on the trail will vary in consistency and Purity if it’s a little gray brown then the chalk is mixing with soil even though the

Chalk itself may still be predominant in this case the soil coloring the chalk will more often than not be making the surface more gritty and the chalk is likely to be looser which adds to the grip so on the whole not a lot to worry about with grayish brownish chalk

Assuming that you’re still approaching it with a sense of caution likewise those bands of pure white chalk are also generally speaking safe the surface is clean given its pure white color and while I’d never say throw caution to the wind you can generally expect to have some grip because the surface is

Clean the C you need to look out for in chalk on the trail and to avoid underfoot is green this is where chalk deserves its reputation for slipperiness because the green you see is a thin coating of an algae like substance and this really will have you slipping around like some

Kind of cartoon animal now we have tried researching to find out what this green substance actually is but without any luck but really truly it doesn’t matter what it is all that matters is that it’s slippery as the combination of the hard packed chalk and this organic covering truly do

Make the trails lethal especially on descents so it’s really important to keep a laser focus on the color and condition of the trail when you’re walking you’re most likely to encounter green Chalk in deeply shaded areas or North facing Trails where there’s little air flow and a lot of moisture rather

Like where I am at the moment although I have to say being trudged up a very steep very long hill with all the camera gear all the chalk that we found is rather beautifully white jalk is also more likely to become exposed from under top soil or grass

Where there’s a high footfall so very popular routs might see sections where there’s a lot of chalk exposure more so than remote lightly used parts so to recap gray or brownish colored chalk means that there’s some soil in there somewhere and that means there’s likely

To be more of a gritty surface and some grip although still approach with care Pure White chalky Trails usually mean that the chalk is clean and without any organic covering so again approach with care but you should have some grip as long as you’re placing your feet well

If it’s green show the trail the utmost respect try to avoid stepping on green chalk especially when descending and if you’re faced with a large band of hard smooth green chalk and the Trail is wet find another way around don’t risk it as with all potentially slippery surfaces chalk or otherwise making sure

Your center of gravity is right is very important so if you’re descending and you suspect the trail may be slippery lean forwards as this will put your weight over your feet there are many good aspects of chalk not least the fact that it’s firm underf foot so try not to

Turn it into your arch nemesis as long as you have a healthy respect for it in any condition and adopt a zero tolerance approach to Green chalk then you should always remain the right way Up if I were to ask you which town or city in the UK has the greatest collection of way Mark Trails either running out of it or through it you’d probably say something like Sheffield or Fort William or some other Great Adventure Center so you may be a little surprised

To learn that it could actually be Winchester yes this Cathedral City famed the world over with its Gothic architecture King Arthur’s round table hanging in the castle and its historic College could well be the way Mar Trail capital of the UK you see Winchester has no fewer than

Seven make that eight we found another one major Waymart routs either starting or finishing there or running through the center of the city the most famous route is the South Downs Way 100 Mil of Glorious downland Trails running between Winchester and eastborne but there are some equally glorious and challenging routes as

Well there’s some swin way leading to faram in Su and linking up with the north Downs way there’s alen King way leading to the Roman Fort of Portchester Castle near Portsmouth there’s the itching way the three Castle’s path St james’ way which which is part of the Camino to Santiago route the pilgrims

Trail Clarendon way linking Salsbury to Winchester and of course the southdowns way itself if you broaden your search area a little to include the greater Winchester area then you can also add the spaghetti squiggle that is the Monarch’s way through twiford and the ox droveway which skims past Winchester services on the

M3 but I don’t want to cheat here it’s what’s going on in the city center that really matters and this is where we’ve not been able to find another town or city from our research that has as many way marked Trails either running in or out of it or through

It one factor seems key to Winchester collecting so many signed Roots the cathedral there are pilgrimage routs Roots linking Winchester to other Cathedral cities or linking up to other pilgrimage routes elsewhere then you have the natural landscape with roots hugging rivers and crossing the South Downs whatever the motivation for

Creating any of these individual routes the result is a city where your sport walking options are practically boundless in fact it is possible to walk all of the trails in one go with the help of a few linking paths and this is one fabulous way to celebrate the trail

Riches on offer here to walk all the way Mark trails in and around Winchester in one single challenge route it’s such a good idea in fact that we’ve actually published such a route on OS maps and you can find it at the link in the comments below this video it starts and

Finishes at the Cathedral so you’ve got one of the most impressive Trail heads you could imagine but the thing is we don’t actually know for sure that Winchester really does have the greatest collection of way Mark trails in the UK so if you know of a town or city that

Has more than seven Waymart routes make that eight we found another one running through it or out of it let us know in the comments below and we’ll investigator I’m walking a short stretch of the office Dyke path but this historic National Trail isn’t my pick for an amazing place to

Walk no it’s this this is the pkaa aqueduct and I’m going to take you across Itno now I’m going to put up some information at the end with all the the core details about how high it is that’s if you can still hear me with the wind up here when it was buil all this stuff I just want you to soak up what it means

To be up here on the aqueduct is just remarkable I just stop a second look across there’s a vict this part of Wales is just full of ducts some aqua some V but all are just stunning and if we look over the other side of the canal you’re looking West towards

Snowdonia and there’s a buzzard flying gracefully above us anyway the rain’s coming so I’m going to press On we’re so if I move out a little bit you see we are quite high now and any minute we’re going to cross the river and that is where it really does get spectacular this is the river D it’s an iconic River in this part of Wales and it runs right through the

Heart of flang Gotham and if we catch a glimpse on the other side it’s quite difficult because you got the the canal right next to you but then you can see D on the other side and as we go a bit further on there’s a bridge which offers a fantastic vantage

Point to look back up at this remarkable Aqueduct once you get used to the fact of the height and what seems like a really perilous drop on the other side you can become quite comfortable being up here and it just is a great place to hang out dangerous time don’t fly too

High sure keep the so we’ve come down underneath the aqueduct now get right literally right underneath it in fact you can touch the stone columns and it really does Tower over you quite magnificently and what’s good about this as a an amazing place to walk is you’ve got choices you can either go

Across the the aqueduct on the oposite path and you can just follow it all the way along through Clan goland and out the other side or you can you just follow that stretch as your means of getting across the river and then you can come down and explore these little bits of single

Track some of which are quite precipitous and end very suddenly going off into nothing but White Water turmoil but then you’ve got other trails that just lead through the woods crying out to be explored for me though I just wanted to show you this magnificent Beast because until you actually come

Here and not only stand at the foot of it I’ll turn that way cuz you can see the colum in stand at the foot of it and look up but also until you actually walk across it’s very difficult really to picture just what an impression it makes on

You and it is quite some impression okay so I’ve just found a little place where I can get down to the river this is clearly somewhere used by people angling possibly some paddlers might use it as a place to get out although this is not a

Good position on the river to do that but it just really does illustrate first of all I think it’s important to say the beauty of this Aqueduct but also the scale of it just take a look at this and the people walking along the top okay time to turn around I

Think now I got further to go but I’m going to leave you with one last trip across this remarkable structure Loing get off For we’re smly on top of the world dangerous times don’t fly too high be sure to keep the mountain sght five forever if you keep it Tight love the world but keep the sky on your mind well that’s it for this show if you’ve got any questions about the topics we’ve covered then leave a comment and if you’d like us to answer one of your questions in a future show then ask away in the comments as

Well if you want to learn more about sport walking then make sure you subscribe to our Channel and if you’re on Facebook then do come over and join our community group on there likewise if you’re on straa join our straa club and get support from other club members when

You share your walks and lastly we’ve had a lot of interest in our get fit walking Series so if you know anyone who’s looking to do something about their Fitness and who likes walking make sure you point them in our Direction but for now enjoy your sport

Walking and I’ll see you again very soon for another edition of the sportalk show He