Hi all, Some of you have expressed an interest in walking, either as an alternative to running, or to fill the gap while injuries prevent you from running. While you may not have a specific interest in taking up racewalking, having an understanding of the basics of racewalking can help you to become more efficient and faster in whatever walking you do. Before getting into the mechanics of racewalking, I have just a few comments about equipment. Equipment? We don’t need no stinkin’ equipment for walking!! Well, yes we do. We need clothes (most of us..) and we need shoes (again, most of us). For clothes, whatever you wear for running should suit you well for racewalking or fast walking. One word of caution is that, in colder temps, your body may not warm up quite as fast as when running, so perhaps add an extra layer or so till you see how your body’s furnace responds to walking. For shoes, you want something that is very flexible, and with a low heel. Racing flats will generally suffice for most people. Keep in mind that you strike the ground with a force equal to about 1.5 times your body weight when walking, as opposed to 4-5 times your body weight (or more) when running. So having as supportive a shoe, especially for shorter workouts/races, is not as critical. You need a low heel because you should be striking the ground with your heel, and a shoe with too high a heel will put undue pressure on your shins, and will prevent a smooth rollover as you move through your stride. A flexible show will allow you to land on your heel, and roll forward till you push off with your toes. With too rigid a shoe, your foot will more likely slap the ground rather than roll as you transition from heel to midfoot to toe. Rather than go into a detailed discussion of technique, I’m directing you to a web site where Jeff Salvage has already done that very well, in good detail, and with good explanations about why particular techniques are important. Here http://www.racewalk.com/HowTo/Introduction.asp is a good pace to start on Jeff’s site. Keep going to the Next Section to learn more, or go to the Technique pull-down menu to skip ahead. Also take a look at his warm up and cool down stretches, which will help your flexibility, which will help you walk faster and more comfortably. You’ve got questions? Maybe I’ve got answers. Let me know what you think, and I’ll help out when I can, and direct you to someone else who knows what they're talking about when I can’t. Jay

Coastwalker, thanks for all the great information. I racewalked in high school and found it a very demanding yet extremely satisfying sport. I had a great coach so I never disqualified, but maintaining the racing form was hard on my body. I might take this up again someday.

Hi Tetsujin, Thanks for your observations and insights! Here's my take on the heel strike in walking: First - a heavily-cushioned shoe is generally also indicative of a relatively inflexible shoe. If your shoe isn't flexible, you can't efficiently and effectively roll your foot from heel strike, through the mid-shoe, to a toe push-off. Your foot will have more of a tendency to slap the ground as your body moves over your leg, and that slap is not a smooth transition, which means that it will produce more stresses on your ankle and legs, and will result in a less efficient, and therefore slower stride. (Go to You-Tube and search for 'slow racewalking.' There are some videos there of efficient racewalkers in slow motion, which makes it easier to see how smoothly they roll their feet.) I think you are absolutely right, in that a hard heel landing prevents good foot control, which will result in a less-efficient stride. Second - One of the critical elements of an efficient heel strike is to make sure that you don't overstride. If your heel is too far in front of your body when it hits the ground, it will momentarily break your forward momentum. If the foot is fairly close in front of your body, it will allow for a much easier, faster rollover as the leg passes under your body and into position for the push off. I don't know if you noticed on Jeff Salvage's site that he says that a good racewalking stride is longer behind the body than in front of the body - that speaks to a closer heel strike for efficient rollover, and a longer stride behind you for a stronger push off. Regarding relative stride lengths for different types of running and walking, I did a quick Google search for "comparative stride length for running and walking" and got some tangentially interesting results. Give it a shot, and see if you find something that addresses your questions. Jay

Hi Marj, Shoes may certainly be the cause of shin pain. But there could be other causes as well. When I first started racewalking, I had terrible shin pains. Someone explained to me that the pain resulted from the capillaries in my shins not yet adjusting to the extra blood flow from racewalking, but that it would pass. I started doing 1/2 mile warm up walks at the beginning of my workouts to more gradually increase the blood flow, and haven't had a problem with shin pains since then. I hope your knee does come around for you. But, if not, there is a great walking club in Boston - the New England Walkers. Jay