Hoofing it

A big thanks to Andrew N. who popped over on Friday for a stroll around Jeziorki, bringing with him an extra pair of Nordic-walking poles, which I used. Andrew, who walks huge distances around Las Kabacki with his wife at unfeasible speeds (up to 8km/h), showed me how to use the poles to propel yourself faster.

The benefits of Nordic walking are not just covering ground at a higher speed; they are exercising parts of the body that mere walking doesn't. An hour-and-half of Nordic walking with Andrew convinced me that this is something worthwhile. I was shocked at how much ground we'd covered during the first hour compared to my usual pace. And I could also feel the muscles in my forearms aching by the end of the walk, as well as the muscles between the front of my shins and my feet.

From Wikipedia:

Compared to regular walking, Nordic walking involves applying force to the poles with each stride. Nordic walkers use more of their entire body (with greater intensity) and receive fitness- building stimulation not present in normal walking for the chest, latissimus dorsi muscle, triceps, biceps, shoulder, abdominals, spinal and other core muscles that may result in significant increases in heart rate at a given pace. Nordic walking has been estimated as producing up to a 46% increase in energy consumption, compared to walking without poles.

So yesterday I walked to Decaffalon* in Piaseczno and bought myself a pair of fixed-length carbon-fibre poles. The shop has a useful device for measuring precisely what length of poles suits your height so that your forearms are parallel to the ground. Together with the poles I bought a bag to carry them when not in use. The fixed-length poles have the advantage of being specifically tailored to your height, and are lighter and stronger than the adjustable telescopic poles that can collapse for easier transportation and storage.

Today I tried the poles out in practice.

One thing I found after I'd got back is that I was walking with a longer stride (89cm rather than 80cm without the poles); I blasted a 4.2km circuit in 46 minutes, so averaging 6.1km/h or 3.8mph. That's about 15-20% faster than usual. My Huawei Health tracker defines 'medium- to high-intensity walking as being over 100 steps/minute, on today's walk I managed 114 steps/minute. Not whistling show-tunes, then. The rubber-tipped poles worked fine over asphalt and pavement, but were not so good on sand, mud or ice; if they slip, you get no forward propulsion from your arm thrust.

The acquisition of the Nordic-walking poles will prove to be a watershed. From now on, walking will be divided into walking for exercise (along asphalt and pavement - off-road is suboptimal with the poles), to build up strength and speed - and walking for pleasure - seeing what's new, taking photos, exploring, taking the off-road routes, or walking to the shops with rucksack. 

Now I need a measured circuit, one that will take an hour or so to get around, plus another one that crams in 10,000 paces, without traffic lights, muddy bits or distractions - a suburban circuit for Jeziorki, and a rural circuit for Jakubowizna. And dressing appropriately - not too many layers, or I overheat and drench with sweat.

*As in 'decaffeinated sports shop' - the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, but offering a vanilla range to suit most rather than specialist kit for advanced practitioners. 

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