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Camp Burch
Yesterday, my son and I hiked to Camp Burch, which is one of the first Boy Scout camps in the United States. It is in the Wet Mountains near Beulah, CO. All that is left now is the foundation for the chow hall and rusty cots half buried in the dirt. There was a big flood in the 1940's. No scouts were in the camp at the time of the flood.
The hike is only about four miles round trip. We went slowly and spent about an hour drinking coffee, eating and relaxing at the camp. It was a perfect day for hiking -- cloudy and about 50 degrees.
Interval Training
This section is for those who wants to sweat and get more aerobic exercise. It doesn't have any place in a long trek as it's more efficient to walk a steady pace at about 3.5 mph.
Let's say a person has a goal of walking four miles an hour for five miles. One way is to walk five miles each day and trying to increase the pace each day. Although this will work over time, there is a more efficient way to accomplish this.
I'm taking this method from my running background, but it will work for walking, also. Once a person sets a goal of walking four miles an hour for some distance, they should walk as many miles as they can at that pace. They can do this by interval training.
The common conception of interval training is that it should hurt. I have exactly the opposite opinion. It should be easy. If we train the mind it will hurt each time we walk, then the mind will start making excuses for not walking. That will be more difficult to overcome than the physical pain.
I suggest starting on a measured course. . These days, it is easy to measure any course with a GPS. If you don't have a GPS, you can use this website to measure distances using Google maps. Mark the course with chalk or other method every tenth of a mile.
Before starting to walk quickly, warm up by walking slowly for as long as it takes. Then walk a tenth of a mile in 1.5 minutes (or other time for a pace different than 4 mph) and then walk slowly for a tenth of a mile. If you need an additional break between the fast tenths, then take it.
What the walker is doing is training their muscles to efficiently walk four mph. Both the stride rate and stride length will be different. This can lead to strains, so don't overdo it. There will be some aerobic benefit.
The first time out, I suggest only doing one or two intervals. The number will increase quickly, but there is no need to do more than about eight intervals. As it gets easier, the walker can close the gaps and eventually walk a mile at four mph. Then it's a matter of increasing the distance over time.
This method is intentionally not specific as people will adjust it to meet their desires anyway.
Why this is not good for long distances
The interval training is for those who want to sweat. In long walking, the time it takes to walk a long distance is more dependent on the time not walking than the speed walking. If a person walks at a speed other than their most efficient speed, then they will require more breaks. They tend to offset each other. The person who walks the fastest will likely be more tired at the end of the day than the person who walks more time at the most efficient pace.
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