"Training" For Vacation

I don't have a specific vacation training regimen, but I make sure I keep up my habit of walking for exercise before the trip so I can handle the parks without any difficulties. This means I take 4-5 mile walks at least a couple of times a week, more often if the weather permits. But this is something I try to work into my schedule all year weather permitting. (So needless to say I'm not doing much of it in this bitter cold winter.)

I very highly recommend getting into the habit of taking long walks well before a trip to WDW. I went a couple of times before I got into regular exercise, and by the end of the week my leg muscles ached and my feet throbbed something awful. Since I started walking regularly, I've never had any problems walking the parks. Yes, I'm tired at the end of the day, but by the next morning I'm rested and ready to go again. Meanwhile, hubby (who is younger than I am but doesn't exercise) is sitting on the ground at the bus stop when the day is over because he can't stand to stand any longer, and then sleeps in the next morning while I'm up and on my way to the next park.

As for dieting - nope, don't diet, but I try to eat healthy most of the time (don't always succeed). Tanning - I can't tan worth a darn anyway, so I just make sure I wear sunscreen every day, even though we usually go in mid to late fall when the sun isn't as strong. Raising alcohol tolerance - also not something that works for me, so I make sure I limit myself to one drink a day, or space them out by several hours if I have more than one. No pub crawls or drinking around the World Showcase for me.

I plan to start walking once this "wonderful" winter weather turns to spring. I will be going the end of September so I want to shed some extra poundage before I go and build up my tolerance.

We go for long walks in the neighbohood for a few weeks before our trips. If we're taking the kids, we want to be sure they're prepared, too, so there's no extra whining about sore feet.

Nothing seems to REALLY prepare me, though....by Day 3, I've hit the wall by noon (we're go-go-go for 4 days straight, then home kind of travelers).

Isn't the average walking distance around 8 miles a day in the parks? Or maybe that's just Epcot and less for the other 3?

Donna and I walked 3 to 5 miles a day for a couple months before we went. And we both wore heavier shoes (I wore my work boots) than we would while in the parks...so our cross trainer shoes we normally wear seemed light as a feather...and really seemed to help.

Alcohol prep? I drink a couple glasses of wine or bourbon a day anyway so this wasn't a big deal. Donna doesn't drink much so one glass of wine in Epcot and she was done. We got the wine option added to our dining plan. She'd have one glass and I'd finish the bottle.

For me its about breaking in my sneakers. I want them to be as comfortable as possible so that I don't get any blisters!

I usually try to break in a new pair of tennis shoes by walking on the treadmill for 2 episodes of ncis. Other than that we don't do a lot of pre-gaming.

Like most of you I also increase my walking.

I also increase my dessert intake before a trip so I don't end up will belly aches! It is important to increase one's dessert tolerance.

I walk in the morning and walk the babies I work with at work and the hubby and I have decided to get some walking in at night. However I think pretty much by day three at Disney we haul out the naproxin pills for achey muscles and hit the hot tubs to relax. It seems more and more no matter how much "training" we do, we still get pretty stiff and sore at the end of the day.

I'm going to try to start walking around our neighborhood on a more regular basis, but definitely motivated in order to not get sore feet and legs at the parks on our next trip. We usually do pretty good anyway, but I don't want to feel tired at all like I do after really long park days. I also have a great pair of sneakers that I broke in before our last trip, and those Nikes were super comfortable and my feet weren't too upset on the last trip. I think footwear is definitely key in all of the walking.