Fifty-five not out by Nick

So I thought I'd better show my face again, just to let you know I am still alive.  Although I do feel a bit of a fraud coming on here to tell you that I'm still not doing any training.  The hip is feeling a lot better but I am still nervous of straining my left calf muscle, so my return to running may still be several days off.  I don't fret about it - I've been running for years and years.  Maybe this is my body's way of telling me it needs a bit of a rest.  Although it is a bit annoying that this winter the weather has been pretty mild - just about ideal for bashing out the miles.

Some people when they are injured turn to the swimming pool or the cross trainer in the gym or something else - but not me.  I'm not a big fan of training in the gym or in the pool.  My one concession to keeping active is to try and go out for a walk each day, maybe for up to an hour.  I quite enjoy walking around here - you see some interesting things.  For instance I was down in the woods the other day and I found that an old house that I knew from years ago had been torn down and a huge Dynasty-style mansion built in its place.  I don't know who lives there now.  It used to be owned by Holly Valance, then it was bought by Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, before he was given the heave-ho.

Some people will tell you that walking is the very best form of exercise.  There are those who say , "You don't need to wear yourself out with running or going to the gym, a brisk walk is all you need".   I'm not sure.  Just to prove the point there was this article recently in a national newspaper, saying that a brisk walk is the best thing for you.  (Click here)  And in the same newspaper a week later we read that gentle jogging beats brisk walking.  (Click here)  So you pays your money and you makes your choice.

I was never a very brisk walker.  I would guess I average a steady three miles per hour at a steady stroll.  If I make more of an effort I might get up to four miles and hour.  If you want me to get up to five or six miles an hour, I would say that I find jogging very slowly more comfortable than walking very fast.  I have been running for many, many years, have run thousands of miles and I am sure my physique is better adapted to running than to walking.

Walking cannot match running in one sense.  One of the aims of training is to strengthen your cardiovascular system by making it work much harder.  Even if I walk as fast as I possibly can, I find it very hard to get my heart rate and breathing rate up to anything like the level I experience in running.  I believe you need to get your basic heart rate up to something like three or four times its resting rate, for there to be an effect and you're not going to get that with walking.  Otherwise we'd all be getting incredibly fit by walking to the shops each day!

So I think my conclusion is .... I like walking, I like being outside on a fine day and breathing in some fresh air.  I was listening to Bruce Tulloh on Marathon Talk last week and he said that at his age (76) he alternates running one day and walking the next and that might be me, when I'm that age.  But in general I regard walking as an inferior substitute for running and I hope to be back running before too long.