Walking as Transportation

[RG1]

walking is especially good as a way to fight addictions; a family member paid a lot of money to do this for drugs, but I've used it for depression and i suspect it would work for gaming. What's your alternative? moving somewhere more central will cost rent, and hours at a job to pay that rent. walking is a lot more pleasant. Don't forget that your landlord will look more favorably on "I spent 6 hours to get groceries and read my accounting book on the way" than 8 hours of gaming in the middle of the night. Can you do some household chores in exchange for getting a ride at least one way to the bus stop? Doing 6 miles all at once is different than doing 3 miles, resting in the bus, doing 2 miles, taking classes, etc.

[reepicheep]

Get a razor scooter you can fold and carry.

[enigmaT120]

Any free bikes around? A guy here at work gave me his '92 Rocky Mountain Fusion mountain bike. It's a nice bike though I had to replace some of the drive train. He got his (considerable) money's worth from it.

[jredman]

Well I walked about 6-7 miles a day when I was a student in Bordeaux. But I was young! Often I would walk all over town then too. I wore out a pair of expensive walking shoes after 8 months - the sole had holes. It kept me from gaining weigh. I had cheap housing that was not close to the university. It was a 45 minute walk there and 45 min home.

[TenYearsOrLess]

I like walking but I walk most of the time around my city even with a monthly travel pass allowing me unlimited public transport. I'd been hoping I could ditch the travel pass and walk my commute but somehow that takes all the fun out of it. I can do it quite happily walking home from work (if I'm not too hungry) but only managed for a few weeks forcing myself to walk to work, even with the distraction of podcasts and music.

[vexed87]

You said you can't afford a bike, have you tried placing wanted adds for a free bike on websites like craigslist/freecycle? You can even offer labour in exchange for a bike too if that helps sweeten the deal. Lots of people have unused bikes that are just rusting away, if geography was no issue, I'd send 3 old bikes your way right now! If I were you I would start selling my unwanted crap to get a bike, games, dvds, cds etc.

A bike will make your travel considerably easier and you'll waste 2/3 less energy getting about. I would be tempted to spend the last of my money on it, (assuming I had a way to earn more, i.e. basic labour!) Exercise is key to improving your health and fitness and mental well-being. Spending your last $100 on a bike will do wonders to motivate you to find ways to earn more.

[12b-6]

Just a heads up for those who walk for transportation. I walked 3-6 miles most weekdays for a few years and now my feet are fairly messed up. This is easily avoided by the following:

1) Wear appropriate footwear and recognize when to replace them (hard for us ERE folk)
2) Avoid paved surfaces by walking adjacent to sidewalks
3) Walking gently? Or with appropriate technique? I know nothing about walking technique, but heel striking seems bad.
4) Not being an idiot, like me, who is constantly behind schedule and has to walk really fast/hard

[OldPro]

Here I am at 69 reading about a 25 year old who can't walk 10 miles a day. You can't imagine what that says to me.

GhettoErasmus, let me ask you this. If someone said to you that they can't swim 50 lenghts of the swimming pool, what would you say to them? Walking is no different than anything else, you just need to practice. But if you want to keep telling yourself, 'I can't do it', guess what, you'll give up before you ever can do it. That's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'll fail because I know I will.

People walk the entire 2,185 miles of the Appalachian Trail (as an example) with a pack on their back and the record is under 47 days. That's an average of 46.5 miles a day over rough terrain. You're talking about 10 miles without a pack on a road/street. Why don't you set yourself a REAL target to aim for Erasmus. Next year the AT from Georgia to Maine. That's a walk. Stop crying about a little stroll down the street.
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/spe ... -trail.htm

I once was on a backpacking trip in the Sonora Desert in a group of around 8 people. We were averaging around 20 miles per day. Two of them were marathon runners while the rest were seasoned backpackers. The 2 runners had to drop out after 4 days. Why? Not because they weren't in good physical shape, but because they were not used to carrying a heavy pack and walking all day in desert temperatures. Every activity is different and has different requirements that you have to build up to over time. They could run 26 miles but couldn't walk 20 miles.

Jacob wrote, "Walking is more about stamina than anything else. I'd easily pit a 65 year old who consistently walks 5M/day against an 18 year old basketball player who plays a lot but never walks further than the garage in a 25M walkathon... or a 100M/week load." and that is absolutely correct. READ it again and figure it out. It's simply about walking REPEATEDLY.

What I'm reading Erasmus is that you are tying the walking to a specific need to get to College. That simply isn't going to work. You can't start out at 10 miles, you have to build up to 10 miles from where you are now which appears to be around 2 miles before you become unhappy. Find another way to get to College for now and start walking in your FREE time. Do 2 miles a day for a week; 3 miles a day for 2 weeks; 4 miles a day for 2 weeks; etc. etc. Then come back in around 3 months and tell us about 10 miles a day.

[Arbo]

Here I am at 69 reading about a 25 year old who can't walk 10 miles a day. You can't imagine what that says to me.

GhettoErasmus, let me ask you this. If someone said to you that they can't swim 50 lenghts of the swimming pool, what would you say to them? Walking is no different than anything else, you just need to practice. But if you want to keep telling yourself, 'I can't do it', guess what, you'll give up before you ever can do it. That's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'll fail because I know I will.

People walk the entire 2,185 miles of the Appalachian Trail (as an example) with a pack on their back and the record is under 47 days. That's an average of 46.5 miles a day over rough terrain. You're talking about 10 miles without a pack on a road/street. Why don't you set yourself a REAL target to aim for Erasmus. Next year the AT from Georgia to Maine. That's a walk. Stop crying about a little stroll down the street.
http://news.discovery.com/adventure/spe ... -trail.htm

I once was on a backpacking trip in the Sonora Desert in a group of around 8 people. We were averaging around 20 miles per day. Two of them were marathon runners while the rest were seasoned backpackers. The 2 runners had to drop out after 4 days. Why? Not because they weren't in good physical shape, but because they were not used to carrying a heavy pack and walking all day in desert temperatures. Every activity is different and has different requirements that you have to build up to over time. They could run 26 miles but couldn't walk 20 miles.

Jacob wrote, "Walking is more about stamina than anything else. I'd easily pit a 65 year old who consistently walks 5M/day against an 18 year old basketball player who plays a lot but never walks further than the garage in a 25M walkathon... or a 100M/week load." and that is absolutely correct. READ it again and figure it out. It's simply about walking REPEATEDLY.

What I'm reading Erasmus is that you are tying the walking to a specific need to get to College. That simply isn't going to work. You can't start out at 10 miles, you have to build up to 10 miles from where you are now which appears to be around 2 miles before you become unhappy. Find another way to get to College for now and start walking in your FREE time. Do 2 miles a day for a week; 3 miles a day for 2 weeks; 4 miles a day for 2 weeks; etc. etc. Then come back in around 3 months and tell us about 10 miles a day.

Here's my theory : If a lot of people say that doing 100 push ups straight is 'do able' or 'easy', then they should be able to do 100 push ups

If they then said that doing 100 push ups PER DAY was easy, I would ask them to spend two weeks doing 100 push ups per day

With the walking 10 miles per day, my main concern would be to ask someone to attempt it -- I think what happens online is that people DRASTICALLY over-estimate how far they're walking. For example, one poster said he walks 3 miles in 30 minutes, which is actually a faster pace than a lot of runners run one mile! This is because I don't think many people can walk above 3 MPH -- Maybe they can, but Jacob said that 2.5MPH is the speed that militaries march at, and I think that probably is true based on me walking at a fairly decent clip and usually ending up at 2.6-2.9MPH

I also appreciate your call out and your perspective. I do think that walking is something that because I haven't did in a long time, but nevertheless, as CS Lewis noted paraphrasing Pascal, the error of the Stoics is that they think that which we are capable of doing sometimes we are capable of doing always(quoted from memory)

So the issue is doing the walking every day almost, and then the fact that it's ON TOP of other responsibilities. Is it possible? Well, is getting a daily 2 hour Ice bath 'possible'? Yes. But there is some limiting factor for humans IMO, some element where you can head towards either a break down or just becoming very burned out. That happened to me when I was forced to walk for 8 hours, probably 8.5 hours, and with some waiting and bus riding in between etc. It changed my world view. Having to do that really convinced me of many problems in my current situation, and helped 'bring out' a lot of the secret underlying psychological issues that were really controlling my circumstances(I will make this post in another thread asking advice, since I don't want to make this get too off topic)

I'm thankful for the tips, this is a very solid community of controversial original thinkers. However, there IS some limit to what we can do. BTW, I think you are right and that I can work up to walking this, but sadly for other reasons, this dream is not going to happen(even after being approved for generous financial aid, etc)

So it's fairly complicated, something I hope to actually make clear in my other thread since others have mentioned reading my video game thread

edit: I actually made a bit of a miscalculation, it turns out that it's 3.5 miles to my bus stop, so when I was doing those test walks to figure out a pace, I wasn't walking 6 miles but 7.

[vexed87]

@GhettoErasmus, I'm curious, what solution have you settled on for your 7 mile journey?

[JohnnyH]

On my 30 minute lunch break I can walk 3 miles.

I am extremely skeptical about this assertion. 6 MPH isn't even walking anymore, it has to be at least a jog...

It is not leisurely, but completely possible.

[Arbo]

@GhettoErasmus, I'm curious, what solution have you settled on for your 7 mile journey?

Well, I want to revise my post I made because I was coming back to thread and maybe not taking the suggestions offered to heart. I do think that the speed of walking is WAY slower than most people think, BUT, it's also true that I did not do much consistent working toward increasing my mileage and kind of sprang into a, walk 2 miles one day, next day six miles, and then the next day 20 miles(which messed up my feet)

I now realize that I have not actually investigated everything fully and haven't actually tested to see if what Jacob and the others have said is true -- That walking more will build up my capacity and that this very slow, draining journey, can somehow become easy and perceived in a more positive light

So, this morning I took the advice of two posters and walked to a destination 2.5 miles away, and then came home. It was boring, difficult, and I kept thinking about how far away the lights were and how crazy it was to think I can work up to walking 11 miles a day, but I just decided to not consider it an issue and I went forward with this small walk

So I will begin making this walk every other morning until I get a job or have some responsibility that interferes with it -- It's a 5 mile walk, hard on my feet etc, but maybe if I keep doing it, it can become 'easy'

--note, I know that it would be better to do this every morning but I'm also trying to run in a field by my house on the off days just for fitness sake -- edit, I'm doing HIIT cardio but haven't seen any fat loss results from it yet. I'm following a protocol from a BBC documentary I saw, 20 seconds all out, then about a 30 second rest, and repeating that 3 times, and 3 times a week. I'm getting better at running but no visual changes or waist size changes. Also, backing up what Jacob said about walking being about stamina and not vo2max, my walking seems to have actually gotten worse as my running has gotten better

Day 1/workout 1: I felt that I went slow this morning and didn't have the enjoyable experience of walking I sometimes have had. I wasn't sure exactly when I left, but I would guess I left around 4:20-4:30, and I got back at 6:00, so roughly one hour and a half of walking. I have nothing better to do other than browse the internet, play video games, and I kept telling myself that during my walk, as well as thinking about the posts in this thread, in hopes to encourage myself to finish the walk. This walk made me depressed as I realized how far everything is and also made me feel sorry for the many people who don't have cars. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this walk a 3[/quote][/quote]

[Dragline]

I applaud your efforts. In my experience, you won't see any physical results for at least 2 weeks (more if you start eating more), but once you start losing weight, it will come off continuously for a while, and then the walking will get easier too. It's like your body doesn't get that its supposed to start changing right away, but there is a snowball effect once you get going.

One of the things you might also experiment with are the shoes, socks and clothing you are wearing if you have some different options. Your walks may become more interesting if you have a little plan for them and you may discover things that make it easier. If you are on rough terrain, you might also want to use a stick or hiking pole, but its usually not necessary unless you have on a backpack or something. I probably would definitely take some water, though.

Also, if you have the option to walk on a path vs a road, I would choose the path most of the time.

I tend to sing to myself, too, on long bikerides. (Just make sure its not too loud.)

[sky]

Does anyone have a recommendation for shoes that are good for walking but also stylish enough to wear at the office?

[Arbo]

I applaud your efforts. In my experience, you won't see any physical results for at least 2 weeks (more if you start eating more), but once you start losing weight, it will come off continuously for a while, and then the walking will get easier too. It's like your body doesn't get that its supposed to start changing right away, but there is a snowball effect once you get going.

One of the things you might also experiment with are the shoes, socks and clothing you are wearing if you have some different options. Your walks may become more interesting if you have a little plan for them and you may discover things that make it easier. If you are on rough terrain, you might also want to use a stick or hiking pole, but its usually not necessary unless you have on a backpack or something. I probably would definitely take some water, though.

Also, if you have the option to walk on a path vs a road, I would choose the path most of the time.

I tend to sing to myself, too, on long bikerides. (Just make sure its not too loud.)

Thanks, and about shoes, socks, etc, here is what I've found : I bought a pair of 'minimalist' shoes and they're wrecking my feet. The problem with the shoes is that they're actually sized too small for many people because they have a very 'tough' upper/small arch. After doing probably 12 walks hoping to allow my feet to actually adjust to these shoes or 'build up' to them, I'm done (they were New Balance MRT10's, a lot of people have actually complained about the stiff upper)

I did better miles and everything wearing regular shoes with heels, however, the big heel in the other shoes I have, definitely makes walking feel 'weird', but at the same time, I was free from foot pain so I have to side with them

About seeing results etc, well, I have been doing it for about 2.5 weeks now and I'm currently researching steady state cardio vs HIIT style. Luckily one thing I can be sure of is that the HIIT I'm doing will actually have some carry over to longer distance running if I decide that steady state is the better method

Your point about the path vs road and singing to yourself, duly noted, lol

[vexed87]

Keep it up, you'll improve quickly (fitness) when you are just getting started!

WRT comfortable but attractive walking/office shoes... my solution is just have a pair of both! I have smart office shoes which live under the desk at the end of the day, I change in and out of them as I arrive/go home. I avoid walking in dress shoes outdoors as the heels/sole will wear quickly, whereas proper walking shoes can handle outdoor terrain much better.

[KevinW]

Does anyone have a recommendation for shoes that are good for walking but also stylish enough to wear at the office?

IMO, Doc Martens shoes (not boots) are adequate on both counts. They are also adequate when it comes to resoling. I am still looking for shoes that are "good" to "excellent" in these three categories.

[jacob]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047FJWXU/

I haven't used them but I've been looking at them for a while due to their trackrecord. Given my personal situation I prefer to use one pair [boots] to get to the office and then just switch to another pair (my wedding shoes ;-P ) I keep in the office. Mostly I don't bother switching at all though.

[lilacorchid]

Good job on getting out there! The half a mile used to seem like forever, but now I don't even think about it!

Get good shoes. You don't outfit the footmobile in flipflops any more than you leave flat tires on your bike or car. I wear the ladies version (meaning an oxford shoe, not a postman shoe, which I understand is different) of what @jacob posted. I find I go through about one pair of shoes per year or less, which is pretty good considering I wear them all the time. What's a couple hundred dollars in shoes per year when you compare it to the cost of gas, insurance or a car loan?

[Arbo]

Day 3/Walking day 2 : Left at 4:00 AM, gopt back at 5:37 AM. A bit discouraged about the time factor, seems that even going at a fast walk I can't shorten the travel time. I will continue doing so however.