I'm doing a 12 mile midnight walk tomorrow night and I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to how to prepare myself before and ways of recovering when it's over.

thank you.

Below I am assuming you are not doing a group thing

Get a reflector jersey thing. So people can see you!
Tell people your route and what time to expect you in case something happens.
Take a cell phone with you and check in with a person every hour.
If possible walk with someone else, its safer.
Take a flash light.

General:
Take water with you and stay hydrated. Remember, once you are thirsty you are dehydrated.

Thats about all I know from my 4 weeks running so far

oh, I'll be with other people, 499 other people. It's a charity walk. I'm just a little worried if I'll be able to cope with it all!

Thank you for the advice

I'm going to assume you have been preparing for this.

Before the walk: Don't skip any meals leading up to the walk. Probably about oh 3 or 4 hours before hand eat a reasonable size portion (not too big!) of something heavy on carbs - the post popular dish for carbo loading is chicken fettuccine alfredo. Make sure you hydrate well - start right now! (Hopefully you actually started several days ago.) Maybe take a nap the day of. Only you know how you are going to react to that. Don't do it if you are going to be groggy the rest of the day. Stretch out well. Don't forget to warm up.

During the walk: drink the water at the water stations and get some gatorade sometimes too. Have fun!!

After the walk: cool down, stretch out. Eat some good food. Rest. Drink water. Don't skip meals.

I hope you have a great time!

Hey Alix

I will be doing a 13 mile training walk too tomorrow. Here are some tips you may like to read

http://walk.avonfoundation.org/site/PageServer?pag ename=nwy_training_guide

Thanks guys. I've been training in the gym for it for a few months now and have felt kind of prepared up until today, when it's suddenly dawned on me how long this walk is, I mean I'm not the fittest person in the world. I know it's not a marathon, it's not even a race, I've just never walked that far in one go.

I would love to know what that is!! it sounds like something you'd clean your bathroom with!

thank you Rach and good luck with your training walk tomorrow Sher.

Alix, from what i have been hearing and reading, just keep a slow pace...and keep hydrated basically. You can apply vaseline on your feet and change your socks after about 6-7 miles. Im a bit scared too for tomorrow but its for a good cause and you can always take short rests in between. There will be a lot of people and they will keep you charged up! Best of luck!

Try to roll heel to toe through your steps. If you land hard on your heels, you'll regret it tomorrow.

You don't know what gatorade is? Is that a Southern thing or something? haha! It's like Poweraid. A sports drink with sugar, electrolytes, potassium, and sodium basically. It's funny to find out what things are common place to me and in other places unheard of (and vice versa).

Original poster is in the UK. Gatorade is a sports beverage with other stuff in it.

Here's the wikipedia entry about Gatorade. It even has alternatives to make your own equivalent.

Ohh. powerade, I know that. It kind of glows, I could probably light my way with it!

Thankyou so much for all the advice, I'll use it all tonight!

Wish me luck!!

I did the 12 mile midnight walk last night and managed to do it in 3 hours 10 minutes, which I'm quite proud of!

Thank you for all the advice, it was much appreciated!

Way to go!

Yay Alix! Good job!

Good job Alix!!!