Camino Fitness Week Nine
Linear vs Exponential Curve
Week Nine Training (10 minute read)
Weeks Nine, Ten, Eleven and Twelve are where the magic happens.
This is what we call the peak phase. Going back to weeks one and two we had ‘Adaptation’, designed to ease into new movement patterns. Then the ‘Build’ phase where we have added the foundation of strength and increased aerobic endurance.
What this all leads to, is an exponential curve vs a linear curve. Many people experience frustration with fitness results because of beginning hard, then making fast gains, then tapering off increases and then results level off, or plateau.
With the Camino Fitness plan the gains are less at first, but as a foundation is gained, the body and mind are more equipped to do training which produces massive results towards the end of the plan. This can be applied to the actual camino pilgrimage as well, if you begin with lighter days and slower pace, you’ll generally finish very strong and get fitter, as opposed to some pilgrims who are wearing down week by week.
The triad of success for the next four weeks is:
~ Endurance - longer, still easy paced walks.
~ Strength - combo of Daily Dozen, Strength circuits, or other strength-based training.
~ Speed - Interval training.
And the obvious question on speed, is why would I train to boost speed - or pace, when I plan to walk the Camino slowly?
The answer is that as your body adapts to go quicker, your aerobic range, increases as a result of your lactate-threshold increasing. Or a less nerdy way of looking at this, is to imagine the red-zone or line on a car speedometer. The red line is what you have to stay below, or you’ll burn up the engine. The Lactate threshold, also known as the Anaerobic threshold, is your red line. And interval training increases that threshold or red line. What this feels like, is that as you increase this, you’ll be able to climb hills with ease, that previously put you over your threshold/redline, because it went up - and it goes up as a result of interval training. Your bodies systems are changing. And because of the foundation you’ve built you’ll see rapid gains over the next four weeks. You’ll literally feel different. Hills which would have had you gasping for air, you’ll take in your stride, and this will also leave you less fatigued at the end of each day’s walking.
Think of endurance training as increasing the range of your car, and interval training increasing it’s ability to go fast. And strength training helps you carry the load, both you - and your pack.
So in essence, these are the three types of training sessions, and each other day of the week is dedicated to recovery.
Note: We see a lot of advice in different forums/pages to walk far everyday, and that will get results, but slower, and it generally puts a high strain on your body as well. We don’t recommend walking long distances every day, but varying the length and intensity day by day.
Finally, let’s remember that recovery is where the gains happen, not during the effort, so rest and recovery becomes critically important in this phase.
Going easy most days, then going high intensity on the interval and strength days, combined with the long easy walks, will send your results skyward.
But before you start, you have a decision to make: Are you better at endurance or strength?
At this point you have no trouble walking long distances, but struggle with the pack weight, then you will be best served to spend more time working on strength.
If you can carry weight with ease, but the distance or pace fatigues you more than pack weight, then more time on interval training and long walks will be advantageous.
How to work this?
There are five training and two rest days in the seven day week. Going forward we’ll recommend three long walks, back to back to back.
This leaves two high intensity days. You could do two interval training days, two strength days, or one of each, and this can change week to week.
How to strength circuits?
Strength training can be as simple as the DD X 3 times for total of 36 minutes. It could be a Yoga or Pilates session, weight training, or walking with weight in your pack. If you do the Daily Dozen exercises, you can mix them up and/or add your own exercises. Basically what you want is 12 exercises for 40 seconds effort/20 seconds rest, then a two minute rest.
Repeat this 3 times for a total of 36 40 second efforts.
How to do Interval Training?
Find an uphill slope or stairs. You'll want to mark a start and end point and the length of effort for intervals shall be between 40 and 60 seconds.
For the warm up. We suggest a mile walk and Daily Dozen, then you make efforts up, with a minute rest at the top and a slow walk down. The number of intervals ought be between 4 and 10. And you want to stop on the one BEFORE you get really fatigued. In other words don't push past the point of diminishing returns. You'll know you have if you can't go quickly any more.
Question: What if I have no hills/stairs where I live?
Being creative, what opportunities might you have for stairs, even indoor? A school, municipal building or sports stadium may have some and l'll you need is one or two flights. Bridges can work as well?
If you have nothing, you can do all the interval training on one step or platform. Safety is key here, you'll want to make sure the platform or step doesn't fail... and check your surroundings, so that if you fall, you won't hit anything which could hurt you. Using the step method, use a stopwatch to time 40 seconds effort. The rest a minute, then walk easy for 200 yards and then go again.
You can do some leading on right leg, some on left, or alternate. And make sure your step or platform is too high.
