I can't believe it. I actually did it!? And it was....easy!

StaticNomad
StaticNomad Posts: 37
in Fitness and Exercise
So, this morning is beautiful and before it got blazing hot out, I got up, dressed, and headed off to the park for a walk. I got a new pedometer called accupedo. I went through all the settings and my husband helped me to properly measure my walking strides. Geez, I didn't have a clue that I had such a long stride when I walked. I guess it never occurred to me that I could move that fast. But once we got going, we were talking so much that I hadn't realized we had already walked 3.5 miles, up and down hill. At one point, it felt like I was barely even moving. Like I was riding on an escalator. I know it was me moving myself, but it didn't "feel" like me moving that way because of how easy it become once I really got going. We walked clear across the city to the other park that the trail was connected to, right under the freeways. Then we turned around and took a slightly longer path. In all, we walked 6.67 miles in 53 minutes! WOW! :D I am so flippin' proud of myself!!!

*does happy dance*

Only weird thing I noticed, which I hadn't before, was how my hands swell up and felt hard to close during the walk. My blood was really pumping big time! Of course, within 20 minutes of stopping, and re-hydrating, I was fine again and my hands returned to normal, but goodness... I didn't know I could move that fast!

Replies

  • owieprone
    owieprone Posts: 217 Member
    try clenching your fists every so often when walking, it'll stop your hands from blowing up quite so much. Your body will stop doing it once it's used to the exercise, although for some people it doesn't, it's just one of those things. Nothing to worry about though.

    well done too :D
  • 4pawsmom
    4pawsmom Posts: 20 Member
    Congrats! That's a pretty lively pace - good for you!
  • ChristinaR720
    ChristinaR720 Posts: 1,186
    Fabulous job! Congrats!
  • MyJourney1960
    MyJourney1960 Posts: 1,133 Member
    excellent! and i'm so happy your husband is partnering with you on this !
  • marhod5
    marhod5 Posts: 84 Member
    Holy crap! How did you walk that fast?? That is amazing!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Congrats.........I don't want to rain on your parade but 6.67 miles in 53 minutes is faster than many people run.(4 mph is considered a pretty brisk walking pace).....perhaps one of the settings is off??
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but you might want to recheck your stride or distance calculations. 6.67 miles in 53 minutes is around 7.5mph. That's faster than most people can run. Walking speed is usually 3-4mph. I'm tall and in good shape and I can barely manage 4mph walking for longer distances so I'm guessing you're closer to 3. Not that it really matters, as long as you're putting the work in. It just might be useful information if you're trying to calculate calories burned or something.
  • smithed812
    smithed812 Posts: 289
    I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but you might want to recheck your stride or distance calculations. 6.67 miles in 53 minutes is around 7.5mph. That's faster than most people can run. Walking speed is usually 3-4mph. I'm tall and in good shape and I can barely manage 4mph walking for longer distances so I'm guessing you're closer to 3. Not that it really matters, as long as you're putting the work in. It just might be useful information if you're trying to calculate calories burned or something.

    I was about to say... Not to be a buzzkill but I run at about a 9-10 min/mile pace. If you can walk faster than that, kudos to you! But still, a great walk.
  • RTheHutt
    RTheHutt Posts: 46 Member
    6.67 miles in 53 minutes!

    Congrats! Sounds like a great day.

    You may want to check the settings on the pedometer - if that time and distance is right, that is something like a 7.5 mph pace. I'm not much of a runner, but I do wish I could run that fast. For a walk, that would be pretty fast for sure.

    Still excellent though!
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    Great walk and its fantastic that you enjoyed it. I agree with others about the stetttngs though
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
    way to go
  • bannedword
    bannedword Posts: 299 Member
    Nice job, but also highly unlikely.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
    I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but you might want to recheck your stride or distance calculations. 6.67 miles in 53 minutes is around 7.5mph. That's faster than most people can run. Walking speed is usually 3-4mph. I'm tall and in good shape and I can barely manage 4mph walking for longer distances so I'm guessing you're closer to 3. Not that it really matters, as long as you're putting the work in. It just might be useful information if you're trying to calculate calories burned or something.

    I was about to say... Not to be a buzzkill but I run at about a 9-10 min/mile pace. If you can walk faster than that, kudos to you! But still, a great walk.

    Maybe it measures kilometres not miles?

    Nice walk anyway! It's always good to get out for a long walk, especially with someone else.
  • bobf279
    bobf279 Posts: 342 Member
    I don't think 6.67 miles in 53 minutes is walking pace, you sure it wasn't set to kilometres?

    ETA: Oops I responded after only reading the first post and see that several others had already mentioned the settings.
  • FakingFitness
    FakingFitness Posts: 325 Member
    Is accupedo a phone app?
  • norahwynn
    norahwynn Posts: 862 Member
    The same thing happens to my sister when she does any type of exercise or just gets hot in general. She doesn't sweat...at all. Her joints just swell. So basically her body doesn't have a way to cool itself down. If you're the same, I'd keep an eye on it. A couple summers ago she went to an outdoor festival and started to overheat. She went to sit under a tree to get a bit of shade, but she just kept swelling. It went beyond just her hands...her feet, her joints. She had to go to the emergency room, and they had to cool her down in some sort of room.

    I'm the same way sometimes. It's not as extreme at all, and I do sweat. But if I'm just walking around outside in the heat, I can feel the joints in my hands getting tight and it's a bit hard to clench a fist. But it's nothing to the extreme of what happens to my sister.

    Oh, and congrats on the great walk!!
  • salladeve
    salladeve Posts: 1,053 Member
    That is fantastic! I know that I'm happy when I can put in 45-60 mins in a brisk walk, I am much older then you, with RA in both knees, but the walking is really helping so I'll be thrilled when I can match your pace (hopefully, some day :)
  • alfiedn
    alfiedn Posts: 425 Member
    My hands swell up, too. I have to remove my rings prior to a long hike. I've found that if I elevate my hands (put them on backpack straps or something) it sometimes helps/alleviates the swelling. Not comfy, but not terrible either! :)

    Happy walking!
  • StaticNomad
    StaticNomad Posts: 37
    I had two different pedometers on (one regular click counter with an estimator in it, and one phone app with more specific measurements in it). We definitely walked 6 1/2 miles though. I mapped it out when I got home because I wasn't sure if we really did go that far, and sure enough, it is 3 and a quarter miles one way, which we walked in a round trip.

    Now, I did not check the time when I started, so that part I am unsure about. The click counter gave a reading of 59.2 minutes, so I'm not sure how those things measure time. Next time we hit that trail though, I'll be taking note of the time. Regardless of how long it took me, MAKING that distance is a huge triumph for me.

    I have RA. I've had it since I was 16. It set it hard on me when I hit about 18 years old and my sprinting days ended not long after that due to the deterioration of my tissues in my joints. I still cannot run, as that's a distant memory for me anymore, BUT I can and do walk and I push myself hard to stay out of wheelchairs, and keep moving. I refuse to be reduced to a chair. Even though I can hear the clicking and grinding in my head as I walk, I keep going. So this is why walking that long was such a big deal for me. :) Thank you to all who commented. My focus was more so on the distance than the time. Whether it is an hour or four that it took me to do it, I don't care. But I do know that it definitely did not take me more than two hours to get through because of the time we left the house to drive to the park (which was 8:30am), and the time we went to get breakfast after the walk (which was 10am, I noted because of the menu ending breakfast at 10:30am).

    And no, it was not set to kilometers. I changed all of the settings to be US measurements of inches, lbs, and miles. :)
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    I can run 5 mi in 50 min, so you would have to be running to make that distance in that time. Something is "off"! I'd say it would take about 90 min to walk a very brisk 6 miles.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
    Way to go! That's a blistering pace.

    If your phone has GPS you might want to try a tracking app to check against your pedometer. Here is a great free one for Android phones but there are a lot of them out there just like it.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wsl.CardioTrainer&hl=en
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    Pretty amazing; good for you. DD and I walked about 3 miles yesterday, the last mile up hill, and I was really struggling.
  • kmrichardson1
    kmrichardson1 Posts: 41 Member
    Good for you!! But definitely check the settings on your pedometer, that pace is faster than most people can run. I have had to mess with mine quite a bit and I've had it for a year! I finally got it right though and it's really cool to see how far you went and how long it took you. Instant feedback!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Only weird thing I noticed, which I hadn't before, was how my hands swell up and felt hard to close during the walk. My blood was really pumping big time! Of course, within 20 minutes of stopping, and re-hydrating, I was fine again and my hands returned to normal, but goodness... I didn't know I could move that fast!

    CONGRATS!! A great NSV

    The hand swelling is common no matter how fit or hydrated you are. It's caused by swinging your arms when you walk.

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