Book Review - Walking Fast - Therese Iknoian

When you want to learn to walk faster, you can't find a much better expert than Therese Iknoian. She has a masters in kinesiology and is a certified health/fitness instructor by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Council on Exercise and USA Track & Field. Plus, she set a new world record for the indoor 3K walk.

OK, but can she write a book you can really use?

"Walking Fast: Techniques and Workouts for High-Level Fitness and Performance" is a user-friendly and interactive book.

Are you ready? Like any good trainer, she starts with assessing your health, walking speed, walking technique, experience, and goals with charts and checklists.

Walking technique: Yes, what she coaches you through is the classic racewalk technique - with plenty of photos, drawings and explanations to tell you why the technique increases your speed and your workout.

Walking workout design: Measure your workout intensity by understanding and using V02 Max, Heart Rate, and Rating of Perceived Exertion. Then measure your pace. Now you are ready to select from the Menu of Workouts. These include Easy, Long, Anaerobic Threshold, Aerobic Capacity, and Anaerobic Capacity. Therese has designed several workouts, both structured and unstructured, in each category.

Training Program Design: Now you are ready to get into a program to meet your goal - be it a race, a marathon, or just getting into better shape. Therese takes you through several considerations in designing your program, including fitting in the rest of your life, annual cycles, rest and overtraining, and staying injury free. She has programs detailed for novice, sport, and race training and words about marathon training. Finally, she ends with chapters on the details of walking judged racewalking events and staying motivated.

"Walking Fast" is a great book for anyone who wants to start walking faster and wants good, clear, expert advice on training programs, walking workouts and good technique.