I’ve been a runner for 25 years. Every single run contains a little life lesson. Sometimes you just have to let yourself slow down and walk for a bit. It’s ok.

Well if someone is just starting out with training, it helps to build endurance if they alternate walking and jogging. Even when I was an experienced runner I would sometimes take walking breaks to help extend my total distance, or to warm up and cool down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pls tell me you mean that you run five times a week, not five times a day.

It depends on the person. Some people may be beginners and may be intentionally blending running and walking. Some people may be doing it for a lower-impact workout. Some may have slowed down to talk to a friend. Could be anything ... doesn't mean they miscalculated!

When I'm walking, I get sort of embarrassed. I like to be seen jogging.

FFS Tell me you're a beginner runner without telling me.

I think it's really weird to judge someone for how fast they work out.

I lift weights. I do heavier weights and slow controlled reps but fewer of them because I am looking to build a lot of strength. I have a friend who is a barre instructor and she does a ton of reps in the classes she teaches but with much lower weights
and while sometimes there are slower reps many of them are to the beat of music and faster than I would ever do them. We are both in great shape and meeting our fitness goals. We just have different fitness goals and started in different places.

Some people walk. Some people run. Some people walk sometimes and run at other times. This feels like one of the least controversial things you could possibly observe. Walking is still exercise. It's not inferior to running it's just different.

Running is a great exercise, but walking makes you thinner. It doesn't make you hungry the way that running does (there is actually a chemical reason for this, look it up,) and walkers (especially on long walks) burn a more fat. Long-distance runners end up developing fat stores in their gut.

-signed, someone who is a size 2 when habitually walking, but a size 4 when habitually running.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walking is so much better for your joints. I know so many former long distance runners who did serious damage to their knees and hips, to the point where they needed replacements in their 40’s and 50’s.

Contrary to popular belief, running is not necessarily worse for your joints than walking. In fact, it’s been found that running regularly may even help prevent joint problems later on. In a study published in 2017 in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, almost 59% of non-runners had osteoarthritis in their knees compared to 53% of runners.

Recreational runners had a lower occurrence of OA compared with competitive runners and controls. These results indicated that a more sedentary lifestyle or long exposure to high-volume and/or high-intensity running are both associated with hip and/or knee OA. However, it was not possible to determine whether these associations were causative or confounded by other risk factors, such as previous injury.

Joint pain erupts so have to go easy.

If you saw me walking it’s because I’m hopelessly out of shape. I want to get back in shape, hence I go out for an aspirational run of a couple miles of which I will actually run maybe one over the total loop with many breaks for walking. I feel like I’m really doing something to get back in shape doing that. If I only went as far as I could actually run continuously, I’d make it around the block at best.

I run daily but I’m in my 40s and not heading to the Olympics. I frequently do intervals and run/walks, especially in the summer heat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walking is so much better for your joints. I know so many former long distance runners who did serious damage to their knees and hips, to the point where they needed replacements in their 40’s and 50’s.

Contrary to popular belief, running is not necessarily worse for your joints than walking. In fact, it’s been found that running regularly may even help prevent joint problems later on. In a study published in 2017 in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, almost 59% of non-runners had osteoarthritis in their knees compared to 53% of runners.

It is dependent on what your knees and other joints are like to begin with. If you have healthy alignment and no knee issues before becoming a runner this is true. If you have pre-existing issues then running can exacerbate them. I had to quit running due to issues with my patella (the groove it slides in is too shallow and the repetitive impact of running increased the instability of the joint) and my hips (alignment issues since a pregnancy shifted my pelvis permanently that can be addressed with PT but running makes it worse and causes more pain).

Walking on the other hand does not make either of these conditions worse and actually is a big part of my PT for my hips. So now instead of running I walk (and bike and hike and kayak) and combined with weight lifting I'm in better shape than I ever was as a runner when I had chronic pain and injury due to the effect of running on my body.

I'm a fairly serious runner, but I'm also 52 and can't hang quite like I used to. So I'll still do the 5-6 miles but I build in a bit more walking. It's purposeful. I'll walk when I'm going up a big hill or when my heart rate gets high and I want it to settle down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pls tell me you mean that you run five times a week, not five times a day.

It depends on the person. Some people may be beginners and may be intentionally blending running and walking. Some people may be doing it for a lower-impact workout. Some may have slowed down to talk to a friend. Could be anything ... doesn't mean they miscalculated!

When I'm walking, I get sort of embarrassed. I like to be seen jogging.

Geeez.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a walker who occasionally runs on my walks!

Same but I wait until the die hard runners have gone past me!

Anonymous wrote:Walking is so much better for your joints. I know so many former long distance runners who did serious damage to their knees and hips, to the point where they needed replacements in their 40’s and 50’s.

Contrary to popular belief, running is not necessarily worse for your joints than walking. In fact, it’s been found that running regularly may even help prevent joint problems later on. In a study published in 2017 in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, almost 59% of non-runners had osteoarthritis in their knees compared to 53% of runners.

Anonymous wrote:Walking is so much better for your joints. I know so many former long distance runners who did serious damage to their knees and hips, to the point where they needed replacements in their 40’s and 50’s.

The actual science on this doesn’t support your view. But we are glad you have some anecdata to help us out.