Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Walk (12 miles a day)

walkingtheworld.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 259 posts

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#91

Post by phendrenad2 »

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.

Yes. I've been walking for a LONG time and 12 miles takes me about 4 hours. That's a lot of time out of your day, plus you likely won't have a lot of energy left for errands or whatever else needs to be done afterwards.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#93

Post by mordechai9000 »

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.

I'm a pretty fast hiker most of the time, and I find that my pace almost always works out to 2 mph once I figure in breaks and miscellaneous stops or delays. Like fishing out sunglasses, taking bio breaks, removing or adding layers, or enjoying the view for a few minutes. (Granted we're not necessarily talking about hiking.)

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#94

Post by lupire »

dkersten wrote: post #51
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…

I agree completely. I used to listen to music and stuff a lot while walking or even commuting but a few years ago I decided to give up on most idle listening, preferring to listen to music or podcasts with intent now: eg to enjoy some music, not just passively. I used to walk a lot (I still walk a good bit but because I work from home I don’t walk to work each day anymore) and I found the quiet time to be the best ti…

> > process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs

> I agree completely.

> preferring to listen to music or podcasts with intent now: eg to enjoy some music, not just passively.

That's the opposite of what parent suggested.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#95

Post by markus_zhang »

kjs3 wrote: post #80
markus_zhang wrote: post #12

I used to ride bicycle with my friend a few times every week 10 years ago. Now it's a distant dream. Both of us have families and full time job so barely getting enough sleep. Weekends are usually spent on chores or personal projects that never get finished. Those were the good days.

Amen brother. I walk about an hour a day, most every day, and do some light weights. It's the perfect amount of clear-your-head-and-think time for me, and makes me feel tons better. But it's a tradeoff about what doesn't get done (or that I push off on my wife & family) because I do it. The theme some folks in this thread are pushing that "oh, just take 3-4 hours a day...no big deal anyone can do that...you have noth…

Exactly. It's always trade off. I actually don't spend a lot of time on my kid because my parents are helping a lot. That will change in a year or so and I'd have even less time. Just hope he can sleep throughout the night without waking up so that we can grab more sleep.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#96

Post by lupire »

cheeze wrote: post #46
bmj wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Spin it around so it's not on your fanny (or is, pending what side of the pond you are on) and it will be less offensive to bigots.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#97

Post by skrtskrt »

bmj wrote: post #40
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…

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…

Cross body bags are a nice midpoint between a backpack size and a fanny pack size and they don't sit on your back causing sweat - I got an adidas one for like $30 and I can easily fit a 32oz water bottle a folded light jacket plus other small things.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#98

Post by gandalfff »

rootusrootus wrote: post #29
sleepdreamy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elaborate on 'I'm not certain the benefits add up'

My interpretation is that GP is observing that the benefits do not scale linearly. Most of the exercise benefit happens after a relatively short walk. The extra two hours a day for a long walk is expensive in time, but doesn't multiply the benefits 3x.

Exactly this! Thank you for explaining this better than I did.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#99

Post by gandalfff »

pugworthy wrote: post #9
gandalfff wrote: post #4

I've thought about incorporating such long walks into my lifestyle but I'm not certain the benefits add up. Definitely a fun idea though!

Last year I used the CityStrides website to track and walk every street in my town. All told about 385 miles or so. Some changes I've noticed since doing this are listed below. Not that they are earth shattering, but just a few things I've observed. * My resting heart rate fell by about 5 BPM. * I can now run and walk in my dreams and rarely have the "legs in molasses" thing (if you know what I mean). * I now wear tr…

These are good reasons! Thank you for the motivation.

Re: How to Walk (12 miles a day)

#100

Post by stevesearer »

lupire wrote: post #94
dkersten wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree completely. I used to listen to music and stuff a lot while walking or even commuting but a few years ago I decided to give up on most idle listening, preferring to listen to music or podcasts with intent now: eg to enjoy some music, not just passively. I used to walk a lot (I still walk a good bit but because I work from home I don’t walk to work each day anymore) and I found the quiet time to be the best ti…

> > process existing thoughts as opposed to consuming more inputs > I agree completely. > preferring to listen to music or podcasts with intent now: eg to enjoy some music, not just passively. That's the opposite of what parent suggested.

How I read what they wrote is that instead of mindlessly listening to anything just to listen to something as the default, they prefer to instead be selective if they decide to listen to something.
Post reply on HN