The Wide World of Walking Equipment

In my last post I mentioned that boredom was the greatest single impediment to a successful walking routine, and it’s no wonder. You’re doing a repetitive activity, often, and for a not inconsequential length of time. One could compare it to working on an old fashioned assembly line where all you did all day was tighten a single bolt. Probably not quite that bad, but you get the idea. People need variety and change to make their activities compelling and keep them motivated and enthused. Last post I suggested that learning and applying new and different walking styles was one way to “change the dynamic” and add a bit of variety to your walking activity. But are there other ways to “spice things up”. The answer, “you bet there are, more than you would think”. We’ll discuss a few below. A word of caution before we begin, not everything listed will work for everyone. How people deal with and overcome boredom will vary. There’s no “one size fits all” here. You’ll probably have to experiment with these and others to find out what works for you and what doesn’t. Or you may have to come up with an approach all your own. Just be aware that after you’ve begun your walking routine you will at some point hit the wall of boredom. So think about and plan for it before it happens.

So what are some walking motivation tips, tricks and equipment.

Ipod/MP3 Player

Probably the greatest boon to walking since the walking shoe. Many walkers go it alone and listing to music, podcasts or audio books can melt the miles away. Which of these three you decide to use will depend greatly on your personality and objectives. If your trying to maintain or pick up your walking pace music is the best choice. As a benchmark. good walking music has 115 to 120 beats per minute. You can program your song selection to match a varied walking routine. If you walk for an hour you may want to start with a slower beat for 10 minutes to warm up, build the beat and your speed for 40 minutes or so and then slowing it down for the last 10 to you cool down. You’ll need to change the songs occasionally. If you are of a more cerebral bent, your favorite podcasts may be just the thing to keep you walking day after day. Audio books can be a great motivator. If you find a good read, or in this case a good listen, you’ll begin to look forward to you walks to catch the next installment. There are some safety concerns about the inability to hear cars and other potential dangers as you walk, so it’s probably advisable to wear only one ear bud.

Walk with Others

Many people enjoy social interaction while walking. It could be a friend, neighbor or family member. It’s important to select someone at your conditioning level, with the same walking style and pace. Consider varying your walking partner as well. Schedule a walk with someone different on the weekend. Instead of meeting for coffee or going out to eat, call up a friend and suggest a walk in a nearby park or mall. Finding a good walking partner or partners can be a real boon. There will be scheduling issues that may make things a bit more complex but the benefits of having someone to talk too and the additional motivation you’ll provide one another will more than tip the scales to the positive. Having two of you present, should any sort of problem arise, is a plus as well. If your having difficulty finding a partner you may want to consider calling or joining a local walking club.

Pedometer

For those of us who need to work toward a goal to stay motivated, a pedometer is an indispensable piece of walking gear. The process begins by setting goals for yourself. They can be in miles walked, calories burned, weight lost, steps taken, calculated by the day, month or year. These metrics can be monitored and measured by a pedometer. providing instant feed back on your performance against the goals you’ve set for yourself. The level of sophistication of these little gadgets is improving daily. An item call the Fibit was recently introduced. It clips onto your clothing and tracks all your movements all day and night, It uses the information it gathers a to help you determine in the aggregate how much exercise you’ve been getting and how many calories you’ve burnt. Enabling you to vary your food consumption and/or exercise routine in real time. All this data gets automatically synchronized to your computer and then the web through a wireless base station, Once synced, you can view your health dashboard online and get compensation suggestions to keep you in the trim or help you get there.. Cool, No? The fifth generation Ipod nano also incorporates a pedometer, killing two birds with one stone.

Vary your route

Seeing the same sites day in and day out is boring, no question about it. When planning a walking routine, one of your first tasks should be to take a look at Google maps and plot out as many routes as possible ( I’d suggest a minimum of 10) within a short drive distance from your home. You’ll notice I said drive distance. Yup that’s right. Who said that your starting point always has to be your home. Click here to see how the mapping is done. Try to set them up so the scenery is as different and varied as possible. You may also want to consider incorporating a difficulty level ( walking up hills) to a route or two to vary the impact of your walk. Mix the routes as much as possible during the week. Picking them out of a hat would be the best approach.

Bring a Camera Along

For those with an artistic streak, bring along a small digital camera. Commit to taking a minimum of one or two pictures during each walk. How does that help? Well once you start looking at your surroundings with the idea of taking a picture you begin to look at things differently, more intensely. You begin to find even the mundane interesting. You start to notice lighting and consider possible picture compositions, In general you become more aware of where you are and what’s happening around you. The walks fly by and you begin to look forward to the next outing . Keep a photo journal,. if you like,. as a record of you daily walks It helps with that sense of accomplishment that keeps us all motivated.

There are many, many others that I could list but these is just a few of the more interesting and widely effective . As with walking itself, staying motivated takes a bit of time and effort. Time to select the music and load the old Ipod, time to plot out the walking routes, buying the walking equipment but spending that time will pay dividends making your walking routine more pleasant… and who doesn’t want to do pleasant things.

I’d be interested in hearing from you regarding what tips, tricks and equipment you use to while away the hours during your walking excursions. Take a moment and share them in the comments section below..

Technorati Tags: digital camera, exercise motivation, google maps, Ipod, pedometer, walking, walking clubs

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Walkability Map Walking Equpment

There’s been a study making the rounds of late that has some good news for walking enthusiasts. Its’ conclusion is a bit of a surprise given the spread out/car oriented nature of the American culture. Simply stated, the study’s findings states that the higher the “walkability” of a neighborhood the higher the home values.

The Study Sponsor

The study was commissioned by CEO’s for Cities, a association of civic, educational, business and philanthropic individuals and groups dedicated to building and developing better, more sustainable cities. It examined 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 major cities across the US and compared the home value of with a “walkability score” developed by walkscore.com. It found that in 13 of the 15 markets studied, the higher the “walkability score” the higher the home values.

“Wakability Score”

What is the “Waklability Score” exactly. It a process developed by walkscore.com that calculates the proximity of a specific address to nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. using Google maps to do the plotting. It then applies its’ algorithms which assigns a value representing how many and what type of amenity destinations are located within a short distance (generally between one-quarter mile and one mile) of that location. It assigns a weight to each destination category and the result is an index ranging from 0 to 100.

90-100 – is considered a walkers paradise where everything can be done on foot and you don’t need to own a car

70–89 – is a bit more challenging but its still possible to get by without owning a car.

50–69 – is considered somewhat walkable with some stores and amenities within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require transportation

25–49 – car dependent – only a few amenities are within easy walking distance. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.

0–24 – completely car dependent : Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. Think farm house

A couple of things it’s not or doesn’t do. It doesn’t measure how pleasant or unpleasant the walk may be. You could live in a crime ridden neighborhood but have all the amenities close at hand. It follows straight lines in calculating time/distance from the amenities. And it doesn’t take into account walking amenities like the availability of side walks. However despite these short comings it is a crude but telling measure of how walk enabled a neighborhood is.

Home Value

The home values were adjusted for the characteristics of individual housing units. Such things as size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and age as well as for the neighborhoods were they were located including the neighborhood’s income level and accessibility to employment.

Results The study showed a positive correlation between ‘walkability score’ and housing prices in 13 of the 15 housing markets studied. In the typical market, an additional one point increase in “Walkability Score” was associated with between a $700 and $3,000 increase in home values. If You want to read the complete study click here. All in all good news for those of us who enjoy walking. Not only does it improve our health, fitness and well being, it may make us a bit wealthier as well. Not bad. If you wold like to check you neighborhood’s “Walkability Score” click here Interestingly, of all the cities studied Las Vegas was the only one with a negative correlation. Surely has something to do with gambling but for the life of me I can figure out what it might be. If anyone has any thoughts, put them in the comments section. I’d love to hear them.

Technorati Tags: google maps, guides, home value, Las Vegas, maps, walking, walking aids

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At home you have your walking route all planned out. You know where your going, how long it’s going to take and how far you will go. But now your on vacation or traveling away on business. Your in a new city and unfamiliar with your surroundings. You don’t want to hang up your walking gear for the duration of your stay. What do you do? You could just head out and “play it ear” without any idea of where or how far you’re going but that’s difficult at best. But hold on there is a better way….Google Maps.

Google Maps enables you to plot out a walking route around your current location and calculate its’ millage. It gives you a street level view of route enabling you to avoid potentially troublesome areas and provide you with landmarks along the way. You can email or print it, even create a hyperlink.
 

How do you take advantage of this great walking aid? Lets take it step by step. First get a Google account if you don’t already have one. Next sign in and get into the Google Maps application. Put the full address of the starting point of your walk in the box at the top of the page. The click on “search maps”. That will bring you to a closeup map of the location, identified by a red balloon.

At this point you can begin creating your customized walking route map. Start by clicking on “My Maps” in the upper left. Then click “create a new map”. Give it a name and description. You can make it public or private as you wish. Next locate the three symbols at the upper left hand corner of the map. They are a hand, a balloon and a crooked line, The hand is used to move the map about and the last two are used to create your route. Click on the blue balloon which will create a placemark and then click on or near the red balloon. This will set a reference point to which you can return if needed. Next step is to hover over the crooked line and select “draw line along roads”. A cross hair will appear. Place the cross hair near your blue placemark and click. This creates you starting point. Slowly move the cross hair along a particular route that looks appealing. When you get to you first four way intersection click again. A second small circle along with a box will appear. You’ll see a distance number appear inside the box. Continue to move the cross hair slowly along the streets you are considering walking. You’ll see the distance number changing as you do. Continue on until you have reached about half your targeted walking distance and click again. Another small circle will appear. Now you can begin to plot your way back to your starting point. Once you’ve return click again and hit “Done” to the left of the map and your finished.
 

The Google Maps application is designed to plot the shortest route, so it may automatically try to change your route along the way. If you don’t want it to re-plot just click at the point where it starts its’ re-plotting process. That will establish another set point (small circle) and you can go on from there. Using it may take a bit of getting use to but with a little practice you’ll be able to get your routes planned and plotted quickly and effortlessly.

Once you’ve got your route saved you can then examine it in detail from street level view, a satellite view, get an idea of terrain, email, print it or create a hyperlink. Google Maps is really an amazing and highly useful piece of software that should take it’s place alongside your shoes, socks and other pieces of walking equipment.

Technorati Tags: google maps, guides, maps, street level view, walking, walking aids

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