Walking as a Second Language
 

A lot of cyclists, including myself, love to walk as an alternate form of aerobic exercise. Ken Kifer, before his tragic passing, listed walking mileage right next to his bicycling mileage. Most of my cycling friends love to walk, also.

For me (and I know this sounds strange) sometimes I just get tired of cycling. About once every year or so, I look at the Black Knight bike and say "Ugh!" It's probably because I'm a little older (almost 62) and have been cycling for sooooooo long and sooooooo far. And that's when I break out my walking shoes and start up my walking program. But then about two months later, I look at the walking shoes and say "Ugh!!" and get back on the bike, and wonder why I stopped riding in the first place.

Well, last week I looked at the bike and said "Ugh!" The thought of getting on the machine just didn't turn me on. So, I'm back to walking for a while.

So here's a thread for us cyclists that love to walk, too. We can talk about shoes and hills and walking surfaces and the pounding walking gives our knees lol . . . Questions and answers, experiences, likes and dislikes . . .

It's great to know two languages - Bicycling and Walking.

So, the thread topic is interesting, but why is this a sticky thread?

I'm a few months past 62, and returned to cycling last fall after my knees protested my AT hike attempt in May/June. At first it was to strengthen my quads but then I remembered how much I love cycling and decided my hiking can go to the back burner while I cycletourcamp. I haven't pedaled as far as you, so I'm not tired of cycling yet. I am willing to mix in a hike here and there, though, given an invite from the right party. Mostly, I think my walking technique is not smooth enough to click off 20 mile hiking days, but 75 mile biking days are eminently doable.

I walk anywhere from 5-7 days a week, and usually log somewhere up around 800 km of walking each year. I've been doing that for about 8 years, and maybe about half that for many years before.

These days, my walks are usually at lunch, although I/we will go for evening walks now and then too. Our favourite evening route is down to the beach, and then along the packed sand for the length of the beach and back. I often go barefoot for that, and it seems to ease my arthritis.

We also walk/run on the treadmill at the gym and are looking into getting a treadmill of our own.

And we hike ... there are heaps of hiking trails around here, so we do all or part of one every now and then.

So we can gauge interest. If it shows promise, there may be a walking sub-forum in its future. If it's slow, and garners little interest, I will unstick it shortly.

Is Walking as Beneficial as Cycling?
 

I've always equated my ability to maintain a certain heart rate as a measure of the effectiveness of aerobic exercise, and that's one reason I've always loved cycling. It has always been easy to elevate my heart rate. When I'm walking on a flat surface, though, I don't get the same increase in heart rate - and I walk pretty fast. I've discovered that in order to get a "biking level" aerobic workout, I have to walk up hills. Fortunately my city has plenty of hills to choose from, so I can get the workout I want.

But when you bike up a long hill, at least you get to roll down. With walking, there's no coasting lol -

If you were forced off the bike, do you think walking could provide the same health benefits as cycling? I would think yes.

A suggestion ... it is possible that walking may garner little interest, but "Our Other Sports and Hobbies" threads do keep popping up and I discover that we all have an interest in a variety of sports. And many of us do a variety of things to get a good overall workout, to cross-train, and to take a little break from cycling so we don't get burned out.

Perhaps instead of just a walking sub-forum, it could be a sub-forum for sports we participate in other than cycling. So it would include, for example, canoeing, skiing, snowshoeing, swimming, going to the gym and working out, rock climbing, hiking, walking, etc. etc. Different threads for different sports.

So now that I'm back walking, I notice a very slight, dull lower back pain. My back doesn't like the jarring. So the last two walks, I've increased the time (30 minutes out, 30 minutes back) but am walking slower, up steep hills. I'm hitting a great HR (130) going up the slope(s) and on the way downhill I maintain 115 (remember I'm in my 60s so that's OK). But with the slower pace, no back pain. Meanwhile, I'm starting crunches which historically stop the back pain - I don't know why I stopped.

Good thought. After a few days, I may change the title of this thread to something similar ("Other sports and hobbies"), if the walking discussion doesn't blossom.

Yesterday, we went looking at treadmills. We'd like to set up a home gym, so that we don't have to spend time driving to exercise. While we like our current gym, we've moved and it isn't very convenient.

There are several details about treadmills I hadn't thought of until we started looking at them. I just figured a treadmill was a treadmill. But now I'm discovering that there are speed, and weight and even frequency of use variations.


And then ... we went to our gym where Rowan ran/walked 6.5 km and I walked 5 km on the gym treadmills.

I've walked 56 km so far in the month of January. :) Not bad, but that's a little off my usual pace.

I can't walk on treadmills. They're like bike windtrainers to me - They give a great workout, but are B-O-R-I-N-G! I've tried reading books, watching the telly, listening to tunes, but nothing works. 5 minutes on a treadmill feels like an hour lol. My wife and I actually owned one, but it eventually just turned into dust.

But I love walking IRL -

The ones at the gym are hooked up to a TV network, so I can plug in my earbuds and rather than sitting on the sofa watching TV, I walk and watch TV. And that works really well for me. When I'm a bit fitter than I am now, I do commercial intervals on the treadmill like I do on the trainer ... where I run during the commercials and walk during the show. Of course, it has to be an interesting show. :)

Near as I can tell, I logged 56 miles (90 km) using various tracking apps on an Android tablet or a Windows Phone 8.1 device. Does not include traipsing up and down the aisles of stores/malls.

I use my same Excel spreadsheet that I use to track my cycling distance. And I either calculate the distance on Google Maps or using a pedometer.


90 km is good ... you're on pace to cover over 1000 km of walking this year.

I walked my bike through some pretty deep snowdrifts while riding in the blizzard-like weather this afternoon. Much more enjoyable than taking the car to the supermarket!

I started walking for exercise a little over five years ago at age 46. I wasn't overweight, but I was way out of shape. My wife and I traveled to Hawaii, and I about stroked out on a long hike, then my father dropped dead from a heart attack a week after our return. I got my wake up call, and started walking, working up to what I do pretty consistently (with dog), a 3.2 mile loop in 34 minutes +/-. I can't run consistently because of a surgically repaired knee, but walking at speed provides a similar workout without the pounding of running. I lost some weight, increased my fitness, then started cycling a couple of years ago. Now I mix up walking and outdoor riding (nice weather) and stationary bike and rollers (foul weather).

Let's keep the thread going!

Definitely a wake up call! At least you got the wake up call (and answered it) before you had your own heart attack.

3.2 miles in 34 minutes is fast - a very brisk pace. Maybe I'm slower because of age, but I've discovered a good, gonzo walking pace for me is about 3.3 mph. And when I'm doing that I pass most of the other walkers. I wonder if I'm not actually walking faster than I have calculated, because it's a rare bird indeed that can keep up with me.

Walking seems to give me more diversity in sight-seeing options than cycling, that's one thing. If bicycling through a neighborhood, so often I'm concentrating on the traffic, the road conditions, etc. etc. and it's difficult to take in the scenery. Of course, being on the bike is better than being in the car in that respect. But with walking, you get to see everything - the gardens, the buildings, -- ya get a real feel for the neighborhood. I really enjoy that.

I work in the middle of the city and I take the bus to work, so when I run errands at lunch, it is just quicker and easier to walk.

My coworkers do the same thing ... they might drive, but most park some distance away, or they might take the bus like I do. But almost all of us end up walking at lunch ... to get lunch, to do some shopping, to run errands, to take care of medical issues, to go to the gym, to get some fresh air, etc. etc. etc.

And it's not just my coworkers ... between about 12 and 2, the streets are flooded with pedestrians. If I want to nip out to do something quickly, I'll sometimes go before 12 or after 2 when I don't have to push my way through a wall of other pedestrians. I'm actually debating about doing exactly that right now! I want to pick up something that is rather bulky and it might be easier with fewer people around.

But it is nice to see so many people out walking. :)

Shoes
 

What I would like is to find some shoes that are comfy and that will last. Seems so many shoes are designed to be tossed after x amount of miles/time.

Shoes are the bane of my existence.

My feet are skinny and bony, so half the shoes out there feel like they are wearing away skin and bone and I constantly battle blisters and bleeding. My ankle bones are really low, so the bit that goes around the heel on half the shoes out there jams into my ankle bones giving me a lot of pain and more blisters and bleeding. I burned my left foot to the bone a number of years ago, and the scar tissue has limited the amount of flexibility that foot has, although just in recent years that has improved a little bit. And I've got arthritis in my right foot, in the joint where the big toe attaches to the foot ... so I can't wear anything tight or inflexible across that joint.

What's left? Practically nothing. That's a large part of why I enjoy walking barefoot as often as possible.

As for the shoes ... I have to vary them. I cannot wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row.

That said, I do have a pair of hiking-style shoes which I bought back in 2009 which are actually pretty good. I've done some fairly lengthy walks and hikes in them and have been reasonably comfortable. I'd like to find another pair like that. I've been thinking ... do I pay a 3 month membership fee for the gym in the basement of my office building over winter ... or do I spend the money on a good pair of shoes and go for longer walks outside ... ??? But what are the chances I'll get lucky again and get a good pair of shoes?

My wife jogs at my power walk pace. 36" inseam legs help. . .

For me, it has taken a lot of time to troubleshoot and experiment and find the right style of shoe that works for my feet. I use running shoes from New Balance, Asis and Skechers and have always kept two pair (currently 2 prs New Balance 890 (no I'm not a shill, plz don't infract me). I replace them annually, even though the manufacturers recommend more frequently. But the cost, which is less than $100 a year, seems reasonable considering the gain in comfort with good shoes and the gain in fitness. My problem is that I ride my bike also - so there's the expense of supporting two activities.

Today's walk was like a dance. It felt great. I was fast and walked with purpose, and had my headphones on 10 with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- Endorphins rushing around - it was just one of those days. Sometimes I have those types of days on the bike, sometimes on the feets.