is anybody aware of any research that examines the speed at which it becomes easier to jog than walk fast. by easier i mean burn fewer calories. also, i suppose any formula should be influenced by weight of the person.
background: had a discussion with a friend, he has knee problems and was looking at having to walk a HIM. I noted, from my experience, that when you get up to walking faster than about 14 min/mi you may as well jog a 12 min/mi. I read a piece in Runnersworld where he compared his HR on a treadmill and said about 12 min/mi is the crossover line. i’ve seen formulas on cost of running and walking but they were linear and i don’t believe they should be linear. i was planning to do some experiments on a track to see what works for me but thought i’d hit up the brain trust first.
Yes, there is. I remember such a thing from my master’s program. It involves all sorts of fun power functions. Generally around 4.5 mph or a 13:20 pace.
Some years ago after watching the Olympic trials for race walking (and some race walkers looked so smooth at race speeds) … I thought perhaps since I was old and slow that might be more efficient (or at least train some muscles so I could run faster) … though most material I read said race walking was not as efficient as running.
So I signed up with a race walking group to learn the technique.
I was assigned a lady to teach me how to do it properly … and she could easily go faster than me … she said she liked passing marathon runners on the hills … and other race walkers on the flats … “when they drop their arms their speed drops off” … so I did learn that to walk fast … keep your arms up and pumping.
I only kept at it for about a month … and so not a real fair test … but my heart rate was always 10 or so beats higher race walking than jogging.
For me as soon as I am walking faster than 3.6 - 3.8 mph it seems like a lot of internal resistance to walk and then I need to break into a jog…but it won’t be at 3.9 mph…it will shoot up to 5 mph to feel comfortable…the entire 4-4.9 mph range feels like an uncomfortable no man’s land with both techniques!
Race Walking is a recognized Olympic Sport and as such has strict technique requirements. Walking in that manner is very difficult for me due to knee issues but Speed Walking using Danny Dreyer’s Chi Walking technique is very easy on the knees. My WALKING half PR is 2:11:12 at Space Coast Half Marathon in 2011 at age 62 and my WALKING marathon PR is 4:56:28 in 2011 at Disney World after having completed the 5K on Friday and half marathon on Saturday.
Due to last year’s issue with prostate cancer and me having a bilateral orchiectomy performed to eliminate the production of testosterone, I am not able to keep the 180/220 steps per minute cadence any longer, 220 was equivalent to a 8:36mpm pace, so I find that jogging has become easier due to a longer stride when in the 11+/-mpm pace compared to pre-cancer times.
My time for the marathon during 2013 IMFL was a slow 5:30:08 to complete my first IM in 13:31:48. I was only able to jog for about 2 miles of the 26.2.
IOW- Walking continues to be more economical past speeds at which most would transition to a run.
I have a racewalker coming in Monday and I measure economy in everyone; it’ll be interesting to see their values.
Some tests are started at walking due to low fitness and economy invariably gets worse the moment they start running.
IOW- Walking continues to be more economical past speeds at which most would transition to a run.
I have a racewalker coming in Monday and I measure economy in everyone; it’ll be interesting to see their values.
Some tests are started at walking due to low fitness and economy invariably gets worse the moment they start running.
See my point above about “no man’s land”. I believe the economy for most jogging at really slow speeds will be bad, but it is still too fast for them to comfortably walk so even though their economy may be better, it is still a contortion act unless one is trained in race walking and have sufficient hip mobility!
