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The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

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Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#101

Post by vanilla_nut »

kashyapc wrote: post #85

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the p…

> I completed the first marathon in April in 2h:12m; and the second one last month in 2h:9m.

Fyi: you might want to add the "half" word from earlier in your post into this sentence as well. 2 hours is a very respectable half marathon pace. For a full marathon, it's Olympian!

Glad to hear you're enjoying running. I also transitioned from "long walks almost every day" to "wow i can actually run pretty well" and I have just one piece of advice...

Don't get too into the stats. It's much more fun if you don't agonize over the optimizations, IMO.

Oh, and if you normally trail run with headphones and listen to music or podcasts, every once in a while try going without the headphones. I find I have my best ideas on runs where all I can hear is nature.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#102

Post by r_c_a_d »

I adopted a retired greyhound about 6 months ago and now walk about 200km a month with her. I used to do a lot of cycling and did lots of thinking on long rides, but after 3 crashes this year I'm now riding a lot less and find myself explaining things out loud to the dog on our walks (particuarly the early morning walk). It helps set me up for the day.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#103

Post by deepGem »

"Whether one is outdoors or on a treadmill, walking improves the generation of novel yet appropriate ideas, and the effect even extends to when people sit down to do their creative work shortly after."

This is actually quite profound. I actually associate walking with the surroundings. It's always pleasant to walk in a forest, or where there is lush greenery. If the surrounding does not matter, then I should stop finding excuses to not walk. An urban environment seems to make no difference.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#104

Post by kashyapc »

vanilla_nut wrote: post #101
kashyapc wrote: post #85

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the p…

> I completed the first marathon in April in 2h:12m; and the second one last month in 2h:9m. Fyi: you might want to add the "half" word from earlier in your post into this sentence as well. 2 hours is a very respectable half marathon pace. For a full marathon, it's Olympian! Glad to hear you're enjoying running. I also transitioned from "long walks almost every day" to "wow i can actually run pretty well" and I have…

(Oops! Added the crucial missing word, "half". I thought I checked carefully, bad me. Sorry for the sloppiness. Yes, full marathon is something else! )

Nice work yourself on your transition, go you! :-)

Two hours for a full marathon was the "Breaking 2" project[1] that Eliud Kipchoge finally achieved [in Vienna, a separate event]. It's inhumanly lung-busting. I wouldn't get there in a million lifetimes!

On stats: totally! I'm not at all obsessing over it; just using high-level stats as a moderate motivation. I also don't look at my watch (only use it for running) at every lap or anything like that. Headphones: I have a rule of "no music at all" for running. It's my way to tame the inner dragons. (For walks, I do use the headphones, though. And you're totally right on mixing it up; neuroscience backs up your suggestion too.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking2

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#105

Post by kashyapc »

tavorep wrote: post #98
robbiep wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus. I thought breaking 3 was crushing it for amateurs. Congrats. What sort of training do you do to progress? I’m relatively fit (swim/ride/squash) but haven’t run much for a long time. Now doing 1-2 10ks a week but no idea how to move further

Breaking 3 hours is crushing it for a full marathon. The post you're replying to is talking about a half -marathon.

Yes, indeed. At a crucial place I missed the word "half"; corrected it. Sorry for the sloppiness, once again.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#106

Post by Daub »

Walking, running, cooking... In fact anything other than engaging with the creative task in hand, are known to aid creatively. The thing they have in common is that they are all physical activities which requires little mental demand.

These habits are the stock in trade of jobbing artists and designers.

Many of my students in London art schools seem to believe that a short cut to creativity is drugs. What they are missing is the engagement of the body in the thinking/feeling process.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#107

Post by kashyapc »

sedeki wrote: post #90
kashyapc wrote: post #85

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the p…

Inspiring! I am on a similar journey as well. I haven't heard the term "zone 2" cardio -- can you expand on that?

Read up on heart-rate zones; this is a decent post[1]. Basically, you should be able to comfortably hold a conversation throughout the run. I learnt that many serious athletes train a lot for it. Improving zone-2 fitness apparently contributes in a non-trivial way to zone 3-5 fitness! But don't get too hung up on these stats (I didn't bother at all for the first 5 months of running), but follow that golden rule of "listen to your body" to differentiate "good pain" vs. "bad pain".

[1] https://www.polar.com/blog/running-heart-rate-zones-basics/

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#108

Post by kashyapc »

robbiep wrote: post #94
kashyapc wrote: post #85

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the p…

Jesus. I thought breaking 3 was crushing it for amateurs. Congrats. What sort of training do you do to progress? I’m relatively fit (swim/ride/squash) but haven’t run much for a long time. Now doing 1-2 10ks a week but no idea how to move further

Firstly, sorry for the bad thinko at a crucial occurrence in my first comment; I was talking about half marathons all along. I'm still a novice runner; only one year in. :-). For both the half marathons, I implemented the below bog-standard rough plan (no fancy high-interval training or anything like that—it helps, though!):

- "Rest" on Mondays - walk 6K or bike 10K

- 7K run on Tuesdays

- "Rest" on Wednesdays - 10K biking

- 7K run on Thursdays

- Rest on Friday; just daily life walking/bicycling

- 5K run on Saturdays

- 10K run on Sundays[1]

Most importantly, pay attention to diet (a whole another beast). As the saying goes, "you can't out-run a bad diet!"

And here's[2] my silly 'retro' of my most recent half marathon.

[1] When training for a race, I gradually increase the Sunday distance to 13K, 15K, and 18K; reserve the best for the race day. "Taper off" the intensity of running in the last week before the race. (Specific to my situation, in retrospect, all the city bicycling I was doing as part of daily life here must've contributed to my running too. So take that "hidden training" into account too.)

[2] https://kashyapc.fedorapeople.org/half-m-Bruges-retro.html

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#109

Post by kashyapc »

scotty79 wrote: post #93
kashyapc wrote: post #85

I don't know about creative thinking ... but consistent walking sure as hell helped jump-start my running life. Here's my little story. I'm 37 and was never a runner, but last October a friend dragged me out for a run. We ran a 5K straight-up (at ~6m:30s/KM). It's not a "couch to 5K", as I'm lean and bicycle a lot ("zone 2" cardio) as part of my daily life, eat healthy, and put in many walks and some hikes over the p…

> I had no idea I could run these longer distances, and was not even planning to run. I know I can't run. Never could. My lungs just close up after even a short run and the rest of my body promptly follows. I could walk though but despite walking few kilometers each day this summer best I could do was squeeze a minute or two of running into my walking. And even walking ended when my feet arches began to hurt from ove…

I hear you. The first rule is: "don't injure yourself". On feet: try out "Superfeet" insoles (not affiliated). I recently learnt about 'em and been trying for a month; they're working well for me. I have a flat left-foot, and it starts paining after 18K. And I limp a little bit for a day with pain, and it goes away. I hate this, and have lived with it for too long. Finally, I began with a specialist (podiatrist) to see if I can find a long-term fix.

Re: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking (2014) [pdf]

#110

Post by uwagar »

diffxx wrote: post #53
uwagar wrote: post #24

does cycling count? walking hurts my back.

The great thing about cycling is that it's low impact so it's a good way to get back into exercise. If you can't walk well, aging is going to be even more unpleasant than it has to be so I'd recommend working on strengthening your body so that it can handle walking again. Cycling is far better than not exercising at all, but I would recommend walking to anyone over cycling if possible. For many years, I cycled > 10 h…

haha i'd have stopped to watch that battle too.

since i live deep inner city i dont enjoy walking along the pavements/tarmac. to get to the woods i have to cycle. maybe i should get there and then walk a few miles.

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