sloegin wrote:
I have grown to understand that increased capilarization induced by prolonged aerobic excercize (in this case running) increases "endurance" and the ability for our bodies to use oxygen efficiently. Now my question is could this type of capilarization be attained by prolonged sessions of walking (several hours a day) and in return increase a runner's performance?
my experience says yes...the summer before my senior year in HS, i worked a job called detasseling that basically involves walking quickly through corn fields for about a 10 hour shift, with a 30 minute lunch, and little water breaks every 15-30 minutes. So, essentially I walked quickly about 7-8 hours a day, and despite my actual running mileage (singles 6 days a week in the late afternoon after work every day) being slightly lower than the previous summer, I had by far the best endurance of my life. I absolutely attribute this to that job...
my first and second XC races that fall were some of my best performances ever. I then developed an injury that caused my calf to lock up after about 10 minutes of hard running, especially on soft surfaces, which meant in a lot of my races I lost several spots in the last mile. Despite this, I still finished, on average, better than my junior year, when I had done higher mileage.