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How to Walk (12 miles a day)

walkingtheworld.substack.com

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Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#121

Post by cortesoft »

dionidium wrote: post #83

> I will end by saying, as a guy, I have never had any problems from other people. In all my years walking all over. But that it is sadly very very different for women. He's either only walking in exceptionally safe areas, he's very large, or I have a particularly punchable face. I biked every road in St. Louis a few years ago, which required biking every street in some high-crime neighborhoods. I was frequently made…

> I biked every road in St. Louis a few years ago, which required biking every street in some high-crime neighborhoods.

He is likely avoiding high-crime neighborhoods. There is a big gap between 'exceptionally safe' and 'high-crime' neighborhoods. Your average and even below average neighborhoods are likely safe for most walkers.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#122

Post by balaji1 »

munificent wrote: post #62
stevesearer wrote: post #8

After walking to and from work for 5 years along the same route, I found that I prefer walking without listening to anything on headphones. Just thinking increases awareness of my surroundings, allows me time to process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs, and connects me to the people I would inevitably see on a semi-regular basis. Personally, I have found that 1 hour + is a good threshold to aim f…

> allows me time to process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs This can't be stressed enough. With phones and the Internet today, most of us consume way more information than we have time to really process, organize, and reflect on. It's like we do a shopping spree every single day and never spend any time in our house unpacking any of the grocery bags. Our minds are a chaotic mess of piled up worr…

There is a benefit of re-listening to certain audiobooks, lectures or podcasts. If there was a sophisticated way to just have content on-repeat, that would be cool. New content all the time is over-consumption, while repeating could be used for learning.

Also if walking alone, people should try calling friends and family. It's a great way to reconnect and stay connected with friends. Handsfree, heads up, it's good fun. I also feel much more chatty when on a walk.

Anyway, walking commutes are the best.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#123

Post by nradov »

balaji1 wrote: post #110
dinkleberg wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What service does you walking generate for others that they should pay you to do it? As a daily walker, I have to say it is its own reward.

agree that walking is a reward in itself. I should have phrased it as - "more people would walk more if they were rewarded more tangibly". Friendly competition might incentivize more people to walk. Just some thoughts since the article is trying to encourage more people to walk.

Some fitness tracker apps and websites such as Garmin Connect have monthly challenges for walking steps or distance. They allow you to challenge your friends and track progress.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#124

Post by rootusrootus »

rootusrootus wrote: post #32
ketanmaheshwari wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey I understand the spirit of your message but you don't really have to be a professional hiker. The OP says it takes three and a half hours to walk 12 miles but could be easily squeezed to 3 hours. Then, it could be split. Half of this could be done in the morning and the other half in the evening. I would kindly urge you to consider this and give walking a fair try. It made a lot of positive change in my life. Bes…

> could be easily squeezed to 3 hours The fraction of the population that can sustain a 4 mph pace comfortably for three hours is probably small. That's a pretty good clip. 2.5 to 3 mph is much more realistic.

On an unrelated note, this is the one detail that always bothered me about the Long Walk. It doesn't seem plausible. 2 mph I could believe.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#125

Post by [deleted] »

munificent wrote: post #62
stevesearer wrote: post #8

After walking to and from work for 5 years along the same route, I found that I prefer walking without listening to anything on headphones. Just thinking increases awareness of my surroundings, allows me time to process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs, and connects me to the people I would inevitably see on a semi-regular basis. Personally, I have found that 1 hour + is a good threshold to aim f…

> allows me time to process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs This can't be stressed enough. With phones and the Internet today, most of us consume way more information than we have time to really process, organize, and reflect on. It's like we do a shopping spree every single day and never spend any time in our house unpacking any of the grocery bags. Our minds are a chaotic mess of piled up worr…

[deleted]

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#126

Post by stevesearer »

bradlys wrote: post #117
stevesearer wrote: post #8

After walking to and from work for 5 years along the same route, I found that I prefer walking without listening to anything on headphones. Just thinking increases awareness of my surroundings, allows me time to process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs, and connects me to the people I would inevitably see on a semi-regular basis. Personally, I have found that 1 hour + is a good threshold to aim f…

> Personally, I have found that 1 hour + is a good threshold to aim for for some really quality thinking. After about an hour I've already processed normal stuff about family or work and have moved on to deeper topics. I find this kinda pointless for myself. Most of the time I just revisit the same subjects over and over and come to the same conclusions no matter how I try to solve it. Once I’m done with the menial t…

Interesting, the way I think I think while walking/hiking is much less wrestling one specific topic to come to a conclusion and more bouncing around between many things. Maybe I don't even really conclude things but instead just move an idea along.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#127

Post by perardi »

entropie wrote: post #16

Easy to accomplish (at least for me). One word: Dog. I walk daily 90 minutes at least. There was a time (and another dog, but thats not the reason) where it was more like 120-200 minutes a day outside. I live in a fairly populated town in east Germany. We have a solid forest and lots of lakes around. Its great and like 20 years+ later I know most of them, but not all. My coworker and I worked like a year together at…

A dog is also great for motivating you to get outside during bad weather.

Well. I suppose not all dogs. But get yourself some retriever mutt monster, and strap on those snow boots.

https://imgur.com/a/E8bPE5h

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#128

Post by nahmean »

timerol wrote: post #36

I find the anti-backpack mindset interesting, because I started urban walking after getting wilderness backpacking experience. I can't imagine walking around without a daypack, and I often bring it with me even when it's empty. On my morning commute today it held a Kindle, a spare set of headphones, and a plastic bag for when I buy more groceries than can fit in the pack. I'm probably not going to use any of those be…

Perhaps an odd thing to ask, but what are you packing in your backpack for coffee? That sounds lovely, but between the need for hot water, the subpar quality of most powdered coffees, etc, it has seemed out of reach.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#129

Post by abyssin »

entropie wrote: post #16

Easy to accomplish (at least for me). One word: Dog. I walk daily 90 minutes at least. There was a time (and another dog, but thats not the reason) where it was more like 120-200 minutes a day outside. I live in a fairly populated town in east Germany. We have a solid forest and lots of lakes around. Its great and like 20 years+ later I know most of them, but not all. My coworker and I worked like a year together at…

Such a lovely story. Thanks for sharing!

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#130

Post by kendallpark »

dionidium wrote: post #83

> I will end by saying, as a guy, I have never had any problems from other people. In all my years walking all over. But that it is sadly very very different for women. He's either only walking in exceptionally safe areas, he's very large, or I have a particularly punchable face. I biked every road in St. Louis a few years ago, which required biking every street in some high-crime neighborhoods. I was frequently made…

I had a conversation with a cyclist who grew up in one of those "high crime neighborhoods" in St. Louis. He said that he received strange looks and comments when he visited his old neighborhood with a road bike attached to his car. He belonged; the bike did not. I suspect that more-than-casual cycling is a cultural oddity in some areas. I'm not sure that walking would garner the same reaction.
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