Baby Ducks and Goslings and Monkey Cups, Oh My!

What a glorious day it was for a very, very long walk on Saturday! This particular walk reminded me why I love living in this fine city and how lucky we are to live where we do! We saw hundreds of AIDS LifeCycle riders on a big training ride (wonder how many miles they were doing?), baby ducks and baby geese and turtles at Stow Lake, those many sails boats out at Ocean Beach and the small doggie met up too! Wish I was one of the golfers drinking beer (mmmmm!) at Lincoln Park and that the kid’s lemonade stand on Lake St. was so neat (wonder if they sold any of the Matzo Crackers with Nutella?) Joel, did you keep your monkey cup?

We should all feel immensely proud of walking 14 miles with three BIG hill climbs – Park Ave, the Great Hwy up to the Cliff House and finally up Wedemeyer Rd in the Presidio! I know for many of you this was your first long walk. Congratulations! Keep stretching and hydrating! Advil and ice for anything more than sore muscles.

Now that we have built a strong base of mileage we'll gradually increase our total mileage on back to back days - walking on Saturdays and Sundays! If you missed this past weekend's walk, never fear we have lots of miles planned in the coming weeks.

Upcoming Walks - Remember to please RSVP:
Sat 5/3 – 12 hilly miles - 7:00am - Warming Hut
Sun 5/4 – 6 mostly flat miles – 8:00am – North entrance Sawyer Camp Trail

Got Podiatrist? We highly recommend Dr Jenny Sanders, our hottie podiatrist. She is offering a comprehensive foot/shoe fitting assessment for free ($115 value) to walkers! Financial District Foot & Ankle Center - 100 Bush Street, #420, San Francisco 415-956-2884 - Email: info@fdfac.com

Do you have the right shoes? As we increase our miles you will definitely see if the shoes you have are working or not. Have a look at this shoe guide.

Shoe Fit Issues: Does your heel slip or is the top of your foot sore? Here is the link I mentioned with different Lacing Techniques. Give them a try.

We invite you to join the Warming Hut Hottie Team! Unlike many college courses there are no prerequisites except having the heart of a hottie:
For the Avon Walk. Email the teams coordinator at teams.sanfrancisco@avonwalk.org and ask to be added to the team.
For the 3 Day: Call 800.996.3DAY or email bayareacoaches@the3day.org to be added to the Warming Hut Hotties team.
Have a wonderful week everyone and hope to see you soon!
Linda

A Rather Blustery Day!

Hello there my walker friends! I don’t know about you but I turned my heat back on last night. What is up with this freeeezing weather? I was amazed by the crazy wind down at Crissy Field on Saturday but – in true hottie form - we walked on! The sail boarders were in heaven but the promenade/beach looked like a sand storm. The 12 mile Avon training route was not our favorite but we all got an opportunity to meet some new walkers and that is always a treat. The Avon Walk Expo was a success with over 200 on the 3 training walks and 800 attending the clinics. Hope you all took advantage of the 15% discount to outfit yourself with shoes, socks and wicking undies!

Thanks to Andrea for leading the Avon Walkers! Thanks for Charisse for the bananas and Wheat Thins snacks! Thanks to Eric for providing rock star route support those 200 walkers on all three walks!

"I'm bringing snackies back!"
We used to have a snacks sign up for each training walk and I am reinstating this lovely idea. If you'd like to be a SnackMaster2008 for a given walk look at the walk schedule and let me know. First come, first served. Snacks can be anything like orange slices, banana halves, strawberries, string cheese, trail mix in individual bags, cookies, etc... it's only necessary to have enough for 20-25 people for a given walk. I can always update you with the RSVP numbers a few days before a give walk.

Upcoming Walks - Remember to please RSVP - all walk details can be found HERE:
Sat 4/26 - 14 miles - meet at 6:45 (!) - Warming Hut. This is a challenging walk with a number of hills!
Saturday 5/3 – 12 miles – meet at 7:00am – Warming Hut. This will be a moderately challenging walk with hills.
Sunday 5/4 – 6 miles – meet at 8:00am - Sawyer Camp Trail, north end. This is an easy walk with only one hill.

To join the Warming Hut Hottie Team:
For the Avon Walk: Email the teams coordinator at teams.sanfrancisco@avonwalk.org and ask to be added to the team.
For the 3 Day: Call 800.996.3DAY or email bayareacoaches@the3day.org to be added to the Warming Hut Hotties team.

Are you clear and copious?

I hear you all had a wonderful walk on Saturday! Andrea told me it was great to walk in front of the DeYoung and Japanese Tea Garden trough Golden Gate Park. And the new route was a *good* kind of hilly walk without being too difficult for our newcomers - hooray to you all! I hope to make tweaks to our tried and true routes but with some new twists and turns to keep it interesting/challenging for everyone.

This Saturday's 12 mile walk is a wee bit different please read below - RVSP HERE.
We are going to merge the Avon Expo training walk and the 3 Day training walk!

Meet time 7:30am
3 Day walkers meet at the East Beach - led by Linda (look for sign on north side of road.) Map/Directions: http://tinyurl.com/5f83na
Avon Walkers meet at the Sports Basement, 610 Mason, in the Presidio - led by Andrea Map/Directions: http://tinyurl.com/5277jo

Our mantra! Drink, pee, no IV!!! Are YOU clear and copious?
After a walker suffered some dehydration problems on Saturday I wanted reiterate the following: it is absolutely essential to drink water and sports drinks (electrolyte replacement) on long walks. http://walking.about.com/cs/fluids/a/drinkingdanger.htm We take it for granted that our bodies can handle training but endurance walking IS ASKING A LOT OF YOUR BODY!

Rule of thumb: start a walk having had 16 oz. of water (a pint or half liter), then replenishing with a cup of water every 15-20 minutes. That is about a water bottle-full an hour, about a half liter or pint. It is recommended to drink 1 bottle of sports drink for every 2 bottles of water. Eating salty snacks such as pretzels before and during long walks is another source of salt. End your walk with a big glass of water.

When training if you feel dry mouth, fatigue, dizziness, stomach ache, back pain, headache, irritability, decreased urination: STOP WALKING, ask a fellow walker to call the Training Walk Leader or route support and being hydrating even if this means drinking someone else's water. This is far less embarrassing than me calling 911 to have you taken away by ambulance.

There are alternate electrolyte replacements on the market if you cannot tolerate Gatorade BUT the events serve Gatorade. Training with what is available on the event is imperative unless you plan on bringing your own supply of electrolyte replacement on event - which is why we have Gatorade on our training walks. So we all chant: drink, pee, no IV.... we all want to finish together, healthy!!!

My tips:
***Try mixing 1/2 to 1/3 Gatorade in with your water if you cannot tolerate drinking full strength Gatorade.***
Be hydrated before you come out walking: start drinking lots of water on Friday. Is your pee clear and copious? No? You aren't hydrated.
Continue of hydrate after we walk: it will help with muscle recovery. Again.... Is your pee clear and copious? No? You aren't hydrated.

Quotes that Could Put You in the Hospital: courtesy of http://walking.about.com/od/fluids/a/drinkorelse.htm
Hyponatremia, loss of sodium through sweating or from over-hydrating, was a huge problem on last year's DC Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. The following are some scary quotes that I have heard/read from people. These are mindsets that you should avoid on any long walk -marathon, half marathon, or 20-miler such as at the Avon/3 DayWalk.

1. "I hate sports drinks! I won't drink them." If you don't drink them, you could easily become a victim of hyponatremia. While salty snacks are good, they are not a total substitute for the electrolytes in sports drinks. Mix sports drinks with water to whatever concentration you desire (most can tolerate half and half).

2. "I walked the entire event last year and didn't drink any sports drinks." You were lucky, very lucky. This year, you might not be so lucky. More importantly, the person you are telling this to may think that they can also make it without sport drinks. Their metabolism is different from yours. They might not make it because you gave them this bad advice. This is not the type of testimonial that distance walkers should be giving out.

3. "I need to drink something, but I only like purple (or orange, or green) sports drinks. This stop doesn't have my flavor. I'll wait for the next stop." Trust me, chances are that if you will only drink a certain flavor of sports drink, you won't find it anywhere on the walk. Don't plan on an assortment of every flavor of drink at every stop. Drink whatever is available.

4. "There are no cold drinks at this stop. I'll wait until the next one." Don't wait, drink it even if it is warm. Pretend that you are in Paris and drinking warm drinks the European way - ooo-la-la!!!! Even if the bottles are warm, fill your personal water bottle with ice, water, and sports drink -yum! Odds are, if one stop is out of ice cold drinks, the next place might not have them either.

5. "Sports drinks make me gag." Lack of sport drinks can may you go into seizures. Bring some powdered Kool-aid/Crystal Light to help cover the sports drink taste.

6. "I'm on a diet, and I don't want the calories." You are on an intense endurance event, and you NEED the calories! THERE ARE NO DIETS ON THE WALK (exemption - diabetics, special medical cases, of course - but for the vast majority of us - NO DIETS. NO GUILT - OKAY!)

“I am monstorous glad to see you!” Mrs. Palmer, Sense and Sensibility

I watched Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility last night on PBS and thought that sentiment is exactly how I feel when we all gather early in the mornings to walk together. The laughter, silly jokes, story telling, chatting, support and camaraderie make it worth getting out of bed to walk and I hope you all feel the same! To start the walk we all shared where we are with our fundraising… we heard some amazing successes and I think those if us who haven’t started our fudnraising felt inspired to get a move on!

20 hearty hotties headed out on Saturday’s 10 miler on another very chilly morning. The sun was out and that made for an amazing vista filled walk along Lincoln Blvd. and onto the much improved Land’s End Trail. Seeing the white caps out in the ocean and that cold breeze was invigorating - brrrrrrrrr! Thanks everyone for your patience in the “free form” portion of the walk as we exited the trail. Ever since the Albertson’s market closed 2 years ago we’ve had to improvise breaks/bathrooms on that side of town but I think we have a new solution that will work quite well in the future.

Remember: keep hydrating, stretch it out and a few Advil can help if you are still sore. Have a wonderful week and I hope to see you again very soon,
Linda

HOTTIE PARTNER: Dr. Jenny Sanders, our hottie podiatrist will give you a comprehensive foot/shoe fitting assessment for free ($115 value)! Many of us have seen Dr. Jenny over the years for our feet problems. She’s wonderful (and is a past walker) and knows how to help keep you walking even if you are having some issues. The assessment is also a great way to keep from having any issues because she can help you pick the right shoe to start with. When you call be sure to tell them you’re a hottie!

Financial District Foot & Ankle Center
100 Bush Street, #420, San Francisco 415-956-2884
email: info@fdfac.com
web: http://www.fdfac.com/