Athletic Zone 2 Walks

Building an aerobic base for heath, fitness, and performance is paramount to us all for its vast benefits. As many of you have read from our weekly wisdoms, at least 75% of our training is best executed in Zone 2. Until this robust reserve of efficiency is developed, it’s best to work on it off your paddle board! Hence why the Athletic Zone 2 Walk is your key.

I personally have embarked on a first thing in the am daily 2 mile walk as part of my regime. It is going real well and I'm learning lots of important things.

1. You need some type of heart rate monitor.

2. Stay below your first lactate threshold so your mitochondria produces energy through the oxidation of free fatty acids not glucose.

3. Be aware of how your breathing and heart feel to correlate when back on your board.

4. As you become more efficient you will notice you can cover more distance faster, but still at the lower heart rate.

5. Case in point; we know a very high performance paddler athlete who can maintain 5.8 mph at 139 bpm.

6. What a great time to work on your spinal and head posture and how it relates to your performance paddling.

7. Learning to maintain fluid and smooth total mechanics while walking will carryover to performance paddling and skiing. Adding the Athletic Zone 2 Walks as part of your total plan will build resilience and efficiency unlike anything you have ever experienced. The beauty also is you can theoretically do it every day without any burnout and/or over training.

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