Want to get hooked on walking? Try our 7-day challenge
All of us at Peak are walking enthusiasts. My colleague Rustin Dodd just wrote a story centered on MLB manager Bruce Bochy's love of a good walk. As Rustin explained, walking can help us both physically and mentally, perhaps even unlocking creativity.
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So we wanted to try something out that you could do with us: A 7-day Peak walking challenge.
The seven-day plan was crafted by race walking guru David McGovern (McGovern's plans are also used by Dr. Alan Poisner, a 90-year-old competitive racewalker who wrote about his love of walking for Peak. Check it out).
If you want to come along with us, we really want to hear how it goes — and learn about your own walking routines and ideas. If you have an observation or thought about your experience, or you want to go into detail about what walking means to your life, email me at edevlin@theathletic.com or drop us a comment below.
Now, on to the challenge.
The key for the first day is 'easy.' Typically, McGovern said he wouldn't recommend a beginner to immediately go out and walk at a fast pace for an hour. But if you're moving at an easy speed, you should be fine.
Another thing you'll want to be mindful of is the time you choose. Make sure it's at some point in your day you'll be able to regularly set aside for walking. Poisner believes heading out for your walk at the same time each day will help make it a habit.
Poisner brought up a few studies that proved why walking in nature is scientifically better than walking in a city environment. In a city, you might experience sensory overload. Spending time in nature also lowers cortisol levels, a stress hormone, and even has the potential to reduce anxiety or depression symptoms.
10-minute warmup: Start at your average walking pace and try to increase your pace by 10 percent every minute.
One minute fast: Increase your speed to as fast as you can comfortably walk and try to maintain that for the entire minute.
One minute recovery: Slow back down to your average pace.
This formula is an example of a HIIT workout (high-intensity interval training) and McGovern and Poisner have both relied on it to improve. Interval training is a good way to build your endurance, McGovern said, which makes it easier to sustain a brisk walking pace for longer periods of time. You'll also burn more calories.
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Day two would be a good time for some upbeat music, but it's optional. In fact, Poisner prefers to walk without headphones, and recommends you give it a try too.
'I like to have my own creative thinking,' he told me. 'Creativity comes in when you're just not thinking about anything, and it can just come to you. But if you're being bombarded by some music or something specific, you lose a little bit of that.'
McGovern jokingly compared himself to David Puddy in the "Seinfeld" episode where Puddy does nothing on a long plane ride but stares straight ahead.
'I want to be out with my own thoughts,' McGovern said. 'I like to calculate my split times in my head: 'What does my next kilometer need to be to bring my average down to X?''
Day three should be at a faster pace than day one.
'It has to be slow enough where you can continue doing it because if you go so fast that you're exhausted after 10 minutes, that's not really helping you either,' McGovern said. 'You want to pick a moderate intensity where you can get out there and do that for an hour.'
To start, that might be somewhere between 15 to 18 minutes per mile.
10-minute warmup: Start at your average walking pace and try to increase your pace by 10 percent every minute.
Fast 10 minutes: Increase to a tempo pace, or the fastest speed you can comfortably hold for 10 minutes.
10-minute cool down: Slow back down to your average walking pace.
If you haven't already, think about switching your location on day four. Poisner hasn't studied if there are specific benefits to trying new walking routes, but thinks that it's impactful in a lot of ways.
'If you just keep doing the same habit, whatever it is, over and over again, you get good at it, but then you don't have the variety to do other things,' he said.
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It's also a way to help you feel a little more excited to get out there and walk, especially on an interval day like day four.
This day is meant for recovery, so McGovern said substituting yoga for your walk works too. Poisner is also an advocate for frequent rest.
'You have to be gradual. That's one of the lessons I give new people: Don't push it,' he said. 'This is something you want to do the rest of your life. If you want a lifetime habit, it has to be something you are enjoying and not doing it as a drudgery workout.'
By day six, you might be losing some steam, so it's a great time for a social walk. Having a friend to go on walks with is a good way to hold yourself accountable, McGovern said, while making it a little more interesting.
He brought up one woman he's worked with as an example. She wakes up every day at 4:30 a.m. to meet her training partner at 5 a.m.
'If she has a training partner that's going to meet her at 5 a.m. every day, it's more likely in the winter or when it's hot and humid in the summer, she's going to get out there and try with somebody to hold her accountable,' he said.
He wishes more people walked in groups. He has found, like Poisner, that it's a way to meet new people.
Every week, there should be a day set aside for a longer walk. It's a good opportunity to test your endurance and to mentally check in with yourself.
'If the muscle between your ears is ready to go, you're ready to go,' McGovern said.
When I spoke to Poisner, he had walked 5.7 miles the day before. He held a 15-minute-per-mile pace, which he called 'brisk walking' for younger people.
The hardest part is usually finding the motivation to do it. Once you're out there, it becomes a little easier to lean into it and enjoy what you're doing.
After all, that's part of this challenge.
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic)
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