This has been my norm for most of adult life, and I recently discovered Chaclas which kinda feel like a cross between Birkenstocks and Teva and are a breeze to walk 15 to 20 miles in. Highly recommend checking out their sandals
How to Walk (12 miles a day)
41–50 of 259 posts
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#42For creative inspirations, or even just thinking through a project in your head, a walk outside can be amazing.
What's best is if you can take a full hour-long or more walk, and let your mind wander for the majority of it. You don't need to be actively thinking the whole time, that can actually defeat the purpose of it.
But don't let the great be the enemy of the good, if all you can take is 15 minutes, and you need to be thinking the whole time, do that instead.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#43Look up the word flâneur (or flaneur if the accent is a problem). Nessim Nicholas Taleb describes himself as one.
I highly recommend Rebecca Solnit's book Wanderlust. She dives into the history of walking, and she spends a chapter on notable flaneurs.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#44I know it's not really the point of this missive, but I average right around 12 miles per day at my treadmill desk. So for anyone who'd like to multitask their walking and work, I'd highly recommend trying it. After about a month the walking bit really becomes second nature.
I recommend trying a decently long slow walk first. The mechanics of walking slowly are not the same as walking at a normal pace. Some people get sore, some do not, better to find out before spending real money on the walking desk. Or be like me, know already from experience walking with slow people that I can't walk that slow and not hurt, buy the treadmill desk anyway, sell it six months later after giving up.
To counter, try standing for a few hours vs. walking slowly and you will be surprised that walking is actually easier. Humans anatomy seems to prefer walking over standing. It's particularly obvious after those long moments where you are deep into woking through some code, where you totally forget to move for about 20 min. The treadmill takes care of that. So if you already bought that standing desk...
https://www.lifespanfitness.com/products/tr1200-dt3-under-de...
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#45Taking walks with friends or colleagues is a vastly underrated activity and leads to some great conversations.
It is interesting how much more natural a side-by-side walking conversation feels than a sit-across-the-table coffee shop conversation.
It's true, but in a busy city environment, you're pretty much forced to form pairs. Because of the noise, it's very hard to hear what the person on the other side is saying.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#46I 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…
I cannot deal when a backpack when the temperature is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit, for the very reason Arnade gives -- a sweaty back. I've been using a Nittany Mountain Works fanny pack on bike rides recently (the larger model will carry A5 notebooks, which is plenty big for my non-work commuting since I'm remote full time now). I guess I will still deal with a sweaty lower back, but that's better than my entire back…
Getting a good hiking pack designed to sit off of your back a bit was a godsend to me. I'm with you that I won't carry one if it's hot out, but I'll gladly carry a smaller pack all the time otherwise.
Fanny packs are sweet, except the part where you're wearing a fanny pack.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#47I 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…
I cannot deal when a backpack when the temperature is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit, for the very reason Arnade gives -- a sweaty back. I've been using a Nittany Mountain Works fanny pack on bike rides recently (the larger model will carry A5 notebooks, which is plenty big for my non-work commuting since I'm remote full time now). I guess I will still deal with a sweaty lower back, but that's better than my entire back…
May be a drawstring shoe bag could work, but usually they have lesser carrying capacity than a full backpack.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#48Taking walks with friends or colleagues is a vastly underrated activity and leads to some great conversations.
It is interesting how much more natural a side-by-side walking conversation feels than a sit-across-the-table coffee shop conversation.
It definitely makes the situation feel a lot lower pressure to me. After all, the chief activity is taking a hike/walk, so if the conversation lulls it never feels awkward and there's always something new to see and remark on.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#49This has been my norm for most of adult life, and I recently discovered Chaclas which kinda feel like a cross between Birkenstocks and Teva and are a breeze to walk 15 to 20 miles in. Highly recommend checking out their sandals
Can you link to the sandals you’re talking about? Only thing that comes up for me are the misspelling of chanclas, the generic word for sandals in spanish.
Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)
#50Most days I walk home from work. I'm up on 98th st, Upper West Side, work is down in Soho. It's about 8 kilometers direct, or I can go up the east side, then wander across Central Park, and make it 9 kilometers, or even 10 kilometers.