Getting fit in 7 days!!??

Hey,

Im going on my 50 mile Duke of Edinburgh walk in wales next friday and i havnt trained one bit and am now panicing. Anyone have any tips.

Am going to go on a walk with rucksack everyday. Any other ideas?

It cant be good for my heart to just strain it with a massive walk without any preparation.

Thanks

Helena
xox

Reply 1

Clarence

14

I did this last year..... i didn't really get that fit before and I survived.

Reply 2

DENNIS_MENACE

Depends on your fitness but have a go with an exercise bike for 20 minutes on a low resistant setting. If you havent got one, just jog for 20 minutes then walk for another 20 minutes. Repeat three times in a session. If you have recovered after four hours go and do another session in that day.

I'd suggest that if you train for one day, rest (ideally) for another two days. However, i never really follow this and only rest for a day but i train quite alot so my body is used to the intensity.

Reply 3

generalebriety

16

Helena224

Hey,

Im going on my 50 mile Duke of Edinburgh walk in wales next friday and i havnt trained one bit and am now panicing. Anyone have any tips.

Am going to go on a walk with rucksack everyday. Any other ideas?

It cant be good for my heart to just strain it with a massive walk without any preparation.

Thanks

Helena
xox

Build up slowly. And on the day itself, eat healthily, drink water only, that sort of thing. Take breaks, blah. I walked 25 miles for fun in about 8 hours one day. I felt fine at the end of it, albeit in need of the toilet.

Reply 4

SuperhansFavouriteAlsatian

I've walked 26 miles in a day and i was tired at the end but i survived. Doing it twice in a row wouldnt be impossible byu any stretch of the imagination, and that's assuming you're only doing it over 2 days.

You'll be fine. In fact, any strenuous exercise now would probvably make you more likely to get sore and painful quicker. Just eat a ton of glucose when you're doing it and you'll be fine.

Reply 5

jumpinglunch

13

u need 2 build stamina,and the only way 2 do that, is to increase the strength of your heart.So it beats less when exercising.Do intense running/cycling for like 15-20mins per day,it should should improve your fitness.Other endurance exercises will help>swimming,,,

Reply 6

Cano234

It ordipends your fitness now, but you can get your fitness up to an extent but you cant get ready for something like that in one week. It is impossible, do some running every other day, dont burn yourself out. leaving it a bit late tho lol

Reply 7

Barny

17

Its too late now, and as already said, 50 miles isn't a great deal.

Reply 8

lizzyd

assuming it's gold if its 50 miles?

Reply 9

lizzyd

i have that problem, me and my friend walk a lot faster than the slowest person in our group. she moans on and on asking us to slow down when she makes no effort to compromise and speed up a bit!
we always end up turning our walks into competitions, i know it isn't meant to be but me and another girl in my group orienteer(she does it to a very high standard) and the other group always get a bit jealous and try and beat us. they haven't managed it yet though and we always end up being early when we don't want to be!
on our silver exped we had a really bad second day which mostly involved tramping over about 7 miles of thigh deep heather in the middle of the north york moors. we were really quite down and thought we were going to finish really late, but when we met our assessor he told us we were 2 hours early!

Reply 10

gas_panic!

12

Just make sure you have a good breakfast before you set off. Your not going to get fit in 7 days. 50 miles is not that much of a slog.

Reply 11

Orizon

DoE's not that hard at all - you can take breaks whenever you want, go at whatever pace you choose, and you have lots of time. I thought Gold was two nights and 3 days, so thats only around 17 miles a day (or have I got the number of days wrong?)

I remember when we were doing bronze, we managed to visit all the newsagent's along the way (yes, we went off the route which we'd planned, which originally took us through forests and rivers), and we also found a shopping trolly, so we dumped all our bags on it and pushed this thing about 8 miles down stairs, across roads and roundabouts, through all the trails and through fields. Yes it was fun and I loved every moment of it :smile:

Reply 12

Helena224

OP

It is gold, yes. I would say that 50 miles was quite a lot personally and im kind of scared. I should be alright though as long as i get a few extra walks in to toughen up my feet a tad! Will do that running/walking thing that was advised. Food wise, I have good lucozade tablets, kendel mint cake and alpen for brekkie.

Am not perticularly fit (i.e. i dont do any exercise) although am not overweight or anything. Its just the rucksack that is a killer and im only 5ft 2 and 7 stone and it crushes me. Cross fingers i wont be the moany one that one of you was talking about! Am not so good on the stamina side of things and the rest of my group are fitness queens who play hockey and stuff, but they are all nice n so should be supportive.

Much appreciated for the tips everyone.

Helena
xox

Reply 13

mik

walking doesnt put such a strain on the body and you should easily adapt.

when i was at home i didnt do any exercise or sporting (in UK i at least cycle) yet survived a 3 weeks hitching & trekking including climbing 2300m mountains with additional 25kg on my back.
in first 2-3 days you are gonna think you will die but after that you get in rhytm.

ps: depends on your kilograms. its maybe dangerous if you are fat.

Reply 14

Champagne-Dahling

10

Bugger the training, take lots of chocolate.

Reply 15

dirty_dancin196

Near to impossible to build your fitness up so quickly, but I did DofE without a single step of training and had no problems what-so-ever!

Reply 16

dirty_dancin196

I second the chocolate idea - take energy drinks and kendel mint cakes gallore - thats how i passed my DofE!!!

Reply 17

Steeps

11

i wouldn't take chocolate, the high sugar will make you feel great at first, but it will wear off quickly and will make you feel crap. cereal bars and dried fruit are the best for this, and LOTS of water.

i would just do a couple of walks this week just to get used to walking, nothing too hard as you will want to save the energy for next week. you won't want to be tired before you've even started the hike!

something that helped me was to carry something i really craved for along with me on the hike, in my case a can of coke. i carried it all the way through my silver, saw it each night knowing it would be there at the finish line for me to enjoy. team spirit and will power are what counts the most and will make you succeed. we were a couple of hours behind on our last day due to some bad footpaths, however it didn't stop us sharing carrying the rucksacks whilst the others rolled down steep fields. enjoy it and good luck :smile:

i'm hoping to do my gold in a couple of years time with a few friends (didn't have time this summer)

Reply 18

ssmoose

13

A couple of years back I did 40 miles without any training. Nearly killed me, but I wouldn;t panic.

Reply 19

Crazster

16

7 Days isn't really enough to get fit, and with 25 pound bags.

What level DoE award? If its bronze light training and jogging and then rest 2 days before, eating protein (so you don't start with muscle fatigue).

If its silver or Gold, its not enough time. I'm guessing its bronze, jogging, if you can run on about * 10 * speed on a treadmill (resonable jog) for at least 1/2 an hour you should survive.

It also depends on your group, if it is a very poractive and I LIKE HILLS (where i live we live in mountain and hill country!) Prepare yourself. Water/Bocari and energy snacks, it will be hard but if its bronze you'll survive.

P.S. 50 miles? Over the weekend right? 3 full days or 2 and a 1/2? If its 3 the pace is a lot more leasurely.

Getting fit in 7 days!!??

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