Happy weekend – how is your training going? Mine has been good this week – still doing moderate training compared to my usual high intensity training due to having to take it easy – but all good – I am training and I am thankful for that.
I have been doing a fair amount of walking lately so got to thinking – I’ve often seen a lot of books and articles talking about walking and I guess as a runner I have always overlooked it as a credible element of training but I know a lot of people that regularly walk as their exercise, and as well as eating a healthy diet they are very fit and healthy so I decided to look more into it in comparison to running.
I guess it is easier to compare another high impact exercise such as cycling more than it is to compare running with walking as the intensities are completely different. But I tried to put together a list that might prove helpful:
Running Walking
High intensity Low to moderate intensity
Harder on the joints Easier on the joints
More calories burned Lower calories burned
Less time needed More time needed if wanting to burn off calories
Harder to do as you get older* Easy to do at any age
* I put an asterix by this as one of the men I used to train with in the UK was in his mid seventies and had been running all his life and could still outsprint me so I guess I would say it may be harder to start running when you get into your twilight years but not impossible.
I’ll always be a runner as long as my joints allow. My husband isn’r a runner so we do a fair bit of walking too and I think I enjoy both for different reasons. Running more for the exercise, adrenalin and the sheer fact that I can do it (most of the time), whereas walking is nice when you have more time, and just want to chat, catch up and do something that is exercise but not too full on. During the summer my husband I when he gets home from work we’ll grab the dog and take her for a walk and catch up on our day and by the time we get home we are both wound down from our crazy days – so benefits in both I feel.
More reading
Here are a few posts I found that may be of interest looking at the benefits of running vs walking and vice versa
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