One step at a time

Take small steps every day and one day you will be there. Proving this unknown adage, a man from the city has been zealously stepping forward on foot for years, and in so doing, he has achieved quite a great feat. And he is now raring to set a national record in long-distance walking.

While travelling in a train, an Army officer commented that I was overweight in spite of being in CRPF. That hurt and changed my life, says K Ravi Kumar who retired from the service as a sub-inspector.

For the past 26 years, he has been walking extensively in different climatic conditions and in difficult terrains. Why walking? "Initially, I started jogging but I did not like starting brisk walking. In 2010, for the first time I walked to Chilkur Balaji temple from my residence in Tarnaka in 11 hours. Later, I walked to Yadadri in 14 hours, and Keesargutta in 12 hours.

Walking also helps explore many places and Ravi has trekked in Jammu & Kashmir, Ooty and Kandala hills. He went to Amarnath once, Mata Vaishnavi Devi temple 8 times, Tirumala 25 times since 2014 after retirement.

Now, Ravi is busy training to break the existing national record of 1,00,128 steps in a day created by Sushant (28). and will try to create a new record by surpassing 101000 steps on October 25.

"In the beginning, I walked for one hour but now I can walk continuously for more than 15 hours. In December 2017, I walked more than 900 km. On September 17, I walked 80,000 steps in flat 15 hours. At present at I can cover an average of 24,000 steps which is more than 4 hours of hard work," he says. Ravi plans to walk another lakh steps on November 8 and dedicate the feat to Sonu Sood. Ravi has a balanced diet, sleeps just for four hours and is up by 5:30 am.

PREPARE WELL

Once you've set your goal and carved out time in your schedule to train, there are a few things you will need to do

♦ Buy proper shoes

♦ Get the right gear

♦ Learn about nutrition and hydration

♦ Build your base mileage

♦ Prevent injuries

(More funda at www.verywellfit.com)

First, work up to being able to walk comfortably at a brisk pace for one hour. From that point, do three hour-long brisk walks and one long walk a week. Gradually build your mileage, increasing 10% per week for the long walk until you are able to walk comfortably for 8 miles