1. FAST FITNESS COASTREK PLAN & TRAIN E-BOOK BY WILD WOMEN ON TOP

Transcription

1 FAST FITNESS

2 1. FAST FITNESS COASTREK PLAN & TRAIN E-BOOK BY WILD WOMEN ON TOP 2

3 The Wild Women On Top Coastrek is a fitness challenge which is achievable for most people, and this guide will give you the tools to be perfectly prepared. Many people tell us the training is the best part, so get your team together and hit those trails! 3

4 FAST FITNESS Your decision to enter Coastrek will with workout videos and plans to make give you an opportunity to break down your Coastrek Training as smooth physical and mental barriers and as possible. You ll also receive lots of achieve an extraordinary goal. Walking motivation, inspiration tips, and advice continuously for 30 or 60 kilometers from Wild Women On Top, the experts is a great achievement of mental and in Coastrek Training. physical toughness and a goal that is within your reach. If you are starting from scratch and are new to fitness/distance walking, However, training to trek 30 or 60 we highly recommend that you start kilometres presents unique challenges. training at least 18+ weeks before In addition to fitness, you will require event day. You can use the 12-week team work and committment, as well training program and repeat some of as an understanding of nutrition, the weeks, building up your distance hydration and foot care. walks by 2kms each second week from To prepare for Coastrek, as well 5kms upwards. as some longer walks, you need to incorporate interval training and cross Please note: All exercise involves some training into your training plan. By risk, so please consult your doctor following our Trek Training guidelines, before commencing this program. you ll minimise the time it takes to prepare your body and maximise the results you get in your preparation for Coastrek. You will receive a 12-week Coastrek Training plan directly to your inbox, 4

5 30KM TRAINING PLAN Program at a glance Plan your fortnight as follows: 2 x 2-3 hour Trek Training sessions, starting with 5kg pack and increasing to 10kg. 2 x 30 minute Interval Training: Stairs, bike or soft sand interval training sessions. 2 x relaxation and injury prevention session such as yoga, swimming or Pilates 1 Endurance Trek 12-week endurance trek distances: Week 1: 12km Week 2: Light walk Week 3: 15km Week 4: Light walk Week 5: 17km Week 6: Light walk Week 7: 20km Week 8: Light walk Week 9: 22km Week 10: Light walk Week 11: 12km Week 12: Light walk then complete rest for 2 days before the event 5

6 60KM TRAINING PLAN Program at a glance Plan your fortnight as follows: 2 x 2-3 hour Trek Training sessions, starting with 5kg pack and increasing to 10kg. 2 x 30 minute Interval Training: Stairs, bike or soft sand interval training sessions. 4 x relaxation and injury prevention session such as yoga, swimming or Pilates. 1 Endurance Trek 12- week endurance trek distances: Week 1: 15km Week 2: Light Walk Week 3: 20km Week 4: Light Walk Week 5: 27km Week 6: Light Walk Week 7: 34km Week 8: Light Walk Week 9: 40km Week 10: Light Walk Week 11: 20km Week 12: Light walk then complete rest for 3 days before the event 6

7 TREK TRAINING Trek Training is a time-efficient, outdoor adventure workout, using endurance walking and high intensity interval training on rough bush tracks, stairs, hills and soft sand, with weighted back packs, trekking poles, body weight and natural features to provide resistance and to prepare the body and mind for challenging treks. cardiovascular fitness. It also provides a time-efficient, fat-burning workout, where a significant amount of fat is burned AFTER the workout has finished! Trek Training is a time-efficient method of metabolic resistance training with reduced risk of overuse injury. In Trek Training, we use the undulating trails, stairs, hills, soft sand and natural features to provide the setting for high-intensity, low-impact exercise. By adding weighted back packs to these intervals, we increase the work required by the muscles to move the body, which increases muscle mass. In other words, we force the body to adapt to the challenge of carrying heavy weight up and down stairs and hills or along soft sinking sand, by growing more muscle. Pack weight replaces dumb bells and bar bells. So Coastrekkers, get into Trek Training and you ll get fit in half the time! This forces the heart muscle and the lungs to work harder, improving 7

8 GET THE FEEL ENDURANCE WALKING An endurance walk is a long distance hike with back pack and trekking poles on a bush, coast, rock and/or soft sand route with uneven and irregular terrain including hills and stairs. The Workout: Grab your buddies and hike with pack and poles on a bush, coast, rock and/ or soft-sand route with uneven and irregular terrain including hills and stairs. Tips and Variations: Pack weight depends on your goals, strength and fitness. Start with 3kg and increase pack weight by kg per week. (Note: If you are more than 10kg overweight, DO NOT carry a back pack for endurance walks). Take a five-minute stretch/drink/ snack break every 90 minutes. Aim to trek 3-6kms per hour, depending on pack weight, the gradient and the difficulty of the terrain, so that you are puffing, but can still manage a conversation for most of the time. Ensure you do a dynamic five min warm-up, and finish each session with a 15 min session of core work and stretching. Practice training by torchlight on bush tracks wearing trail runners or boots with at least two friends. Adjust footwear for the terrain, conditions and your strengths: trail runners for bush and fire trails, trail runners with ankle support or boots for torch light and really rough terrain, runners for footpaths. Force yourself out in wild weather apart from being exhilarating it will build your mental toughness. DO NOT trek in electrical storms or high winds near gum trees. 8

9 GET THE BUZZ HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) involves periods of high-intensity effort, followed by periods of low-intensity effort, to maximise the overall training effect possible in a given time frame. Research proves that HIIT is the most effective and time-efficient way to increase fitness. The workout (60 min): 1. Warm up with a walk to stairs, hill, ramp, soft sand or steep rocky track which takes you 1-5 minutes to get to the top. 2. Fast walk to the top so you re really puffing and recover on the way down. 3. Repeat for 45 minutes. 4. Do half your sets with your pack and half without your pack. 5. Finish with five minutes core and stretching exercises. Tips and Variations Use stairs, ramps, soft sand, steep rocky tracks, thigh deep water or hills with a minimum of one minute high intensity intervals. Do some sets taking two steps at a time, jumping up the stairs (without pack), or jogging. Go at sunrise or sunset for a seratonin boost! 9

10 PUFF ENOUGH RATE OF PERCEIVED EXERTION The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale gives a quantitative identification of the feeling of fatigue. These feelings of fatigue are very highly correlated with heart rate. During Trek Training, your training zone should be from 5, which is moderate exertion, to 8 which is very hard exertion to get maximum results. During interval training, you should get to 8 as you go up, but during endurance walks, you should aim for 6-7 for most of the time. As you train, estimate your level of intensity based on the following scale. RPE Scale 1: Resting 2-3: Very, very light exertion (you could go for hours, easy to breath & talk) 3-4: Very light exertion 4-5: Moderate exertion (breathing heavily, can hold short conversation) 5-6: Somewhat hard exertion 6-7: Hard exertion 7-8: Very hard exertion (getting uncomfortable, short of breath, can speak a bit) 8-9: Very, very hard exertion (very difficult to maintain exercise intensity, can barely breathe & speak a single word) 10: Absolute maximum exertion (feels almost impossible to keep going, completely out of breath, unable to talk) 10

11 GEAR FOR TRAINING What to wear: Comfortable shorts or leggings T-shirt preferably made from wicking fabric to keep you comfortable Hat (for day sessions) Quality socks Trail runners (or boots if you need more support) Sunglasses (for day sessions) Cooling bandana for hot days What to carry (8-12kg pack): Backpack (put the heavier items close to your spine and use the lighter items to keep them in place. If you haven t packed properly, don t carry extra items because this can cause discomfort or injury!) 2 litres of water Maps (hard copy or on charged phone) Rain coat Mobile phone Snacks Whistle Sunscreen Trekking poles Head torch Personal first aid Yoga mat or towel Warm fleece Optional extras: thongs, thermos, tea, cup, pocket knife and compass. 11

12 SHOES FOR TRAINING In Trek Training, we recommend alternating trail runners and runners so you have cushioning while you strengthen your ankles and the intrinsic muscles in the foot. Ankle support trekking boots can be good at night. However, for Coastrek we recommend trail runners in dry conditions, and boots in wet conditions. Make sure you check out the Blister Sister and OMG What Do I Wear e-book chapters to learn more about caring for your feet and shopping for shoes. If you have weak ankles, train in low cut trail runners to strengthen them, but use high cut trail runners for the event. Bush walking boots are often hard, hot and inflexible but you must choose what works for YOU. Footwear selection is an extremely important issue for Coastrek success. The only way to work out what s best for you is to do your homework and practice in similar conditions on a similar surface to Coastrek prior to the event. 12

13 MAKE FITNESS FUN Here are our top tips to make Coastrek training more fun: Grab your buddies Find several different sets of stairs, ramps or hills in a similar location and incorporate 15 mins on each set. Dice game: Roll your dice: Nos 1-3= sets with a pack, Nos 4-6 = sets without a pack. Puff so you can t talk easily on the ascent, while recovering the breathing on the descent. Focus on muscular control to protect the knees on the descent. On soft sand intervals, do some with and some without trekking poles, with and without back pack (no sneaking onto the hard sloping sand). Use poles for variety, upper body workout, injury prevention and balance with packs over 10kg in weight. Select a route with several sets of stairs in close proximity and do 2 sets with pack and 2 sets without a pack at each set of stairs. Find a location where you can go upstairs and down a ramp, or up a headland and along the soft sand for your intervals. Time yourself on your first interval and your last, aiming to improve your time towards the end of your workout. Don t wear your Gore-Tex jacket during interval training in the rain because you will overheat and sweat so much that you will think the jacket is leaking. Go at sunrise or sunset Find a beautiful park, coast, bush or beach so you get your nature hit as well as your workout Reward yourself with a luxurious stretch, swim or meditation session after your workout. 13

14 TRAINING RESOURCES Team timing calculators: Team timing calculators are a great way to plan your event timing so you don t fight! Choose the timing calculator that matches your event, change the start time as needed, and fill in your estimated speed of travel per section. The calculator will show you your estimated finish time. You can use the calculator to work out how fast you need to be walking to complete your event in a certain time or to let your support team know what time you estimate being at checkpoints on the track. Download your timing calculator from the resources page of the Coastrek website. Coastrek training plan: You will receive a 12-week Coastrek Training plan directly to your inbox, with workout videos and plans to make your Coastrek Training as smooth as possible. You ll also recieve lots of motivation, inspiration tips, and advice from Wild Women On Top, the experts in Coastrek Training. 14

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