Find One Buddy That is Faster or Slower Than You For This Fun and Challenging Workout

If you find yourself mentally drifting during a speed workout, this one will keep you engaged. You don't need a partner that is your same pace. In fact, you'll want to find someone that is either faster or slower than you. It can be a runner, race walker, fitness or power walker. Both of you will be challenged.

Start with a warmup of 15-minute walking warmup, followed by some drills, stretching, hydration and a few strides. Here is a link with some examples:    • Warm up Drills from the Racewalk 102 Video  

Once you're ready to begin, put a cone at your starting/finish position. Put another cone about 100 meters in front of you.

The faster athlete will start at the starting/finish cone. The slower athlete will start 100 meter down the track. Start by having one of you give a command to "GO". Both of you will sprint around the track. The person in the back will try to catch the person in the front. The person on the front will try to finish without being passed.

In order to make this an effective workout, you'll need to adjust the cones to give both athletes a fair challenge. If done right, you'll both get a great workout and hopefully train with a friend you can't normally with, due to differences in speed.

Coach Carmen is a USATF Safe-Sport Certified Racewalk Coach in the Portland, Oregon Area. She launched Reshod Walking Shoes in 2008 and offers technical shoes for competitive and non-competitive walkers. You can check out her offerings at www.reshod.com