Nordic Walking

[JasonR]

Hi All,
I have a few months to prepare for the camino and recently I can across the concept of Nordic walking. It essentially like cross country skiing without skis or snow! Apparently you need special poles and a bit of training. I have a bad knee and ankle and the guy who is promoting it in the uk (i bumped into him the other day) says it would be ideal. Concerns are:
1) can it work on non smooth/or steep terain and therefore relevant to the camino
2) I dont want to treat the camino as a race, again is it relevant when moving at a normal pace...ive seen videos of superfit ladies doing about 40 mph across a playing field!
3) i am inherantly a traditionalist and am concerned about looking like a winter olympic wannabee

would appreciate any ones views/opinions

Good luck everyone!
Jason

 

[lynnejohn]

Hi Jason -

There are all kinds of "training" regimes that folks will suggest for you.

At worst, some training programs may make you susceptible to injury, at best, they will not prepare you for the repetetive 20+ days of walking on varied surfaces and grades.

In my opinion, the best way to train for walking the camino is walking.

For your ankle and knee, I suggest you see a physiotherapist to see what s/he suggests.

So just get out and walk - after the first week, walk with your pack and try to include hills and varied landscape. If you intend to use poles, practice with them as well.

Best of luck,

lynne

Also: I walk at about 4 kph on the camino - sometimes 5 for very short periods. Believe me when I tell you that is sufficient to complete your stages in a reasonable time every day. I have seen tall young guys walking 5-6 kph and they were really moving! You can keep this pace up with no problem for your whole camino, but I wouldn't push for more than l4-5 kph.
L

 

[Jacki Dufty]

Hi Jason, I think Nordic walking poles are quite different to ordinary trekking or pacer poles that are used on long walks. Nordic walking is high powered, fast exercise, while most trekkers just need a bit of help with taking the load off their knees.
Jacki.

 

[Larazet]

Talking of skiing - here I am enjoying an active skiing holiday worrying about preserving my knees for May 10th, the beginning of my Camino and being very careful not to damage them! Also subjecting our friends to a viewing of The Way - and for me, getting very excited!

 

[William Marques]

I was given some Nordic walking poles and they are much longer than normal walking poles and held and used in the same way as cross country skiing poles. Nordic walking using poles is more of a form of exercise for the arms as well as the legs rather than a useful aid for walking.

 

[Sojourner47]

I did a Nordic walking course last year, and whilst it can be good aerobic exercise, IMO it's not of much use for distance walking with a loaded pack, unless you're training for the SAS The poles are - usually - one piece, and rather less robust than trekking poles - as has been said, it's akin to ski-ing without skis, and at a much faster pace than normal walking.