October 3, 2011
Ward’s 100-Day Walking Challenge: Walking for fitness, fun and adventure and to get in shape for upcoming walking tours.
Today was a beautiful day in the countryside. A day that I would have loved being out leading a walking tour on a mountain trail. Since I’m in the midst of preparing to lead a walking trip in Utah tomorrow, my walking mileage was limited to 2.20 miles at a time of 32:50. These numbers came from my Garmin 305, a combination heart rate monitor and GPS that I’ve had for a number of years. I love having a heart rate monitor combined with a GPS for a number of reasons. The first is that GPS allows me to head out the front door for a walk and know my distance, my speed and the route I’ve followed without really having to do anything at all. The GPS, using satellite technology, automatically records all of these numbers and even allows me to upload them to a free Garmin training center where I can store my routes and results and compare my current results against past walks. Garmin’s online training center is simple, it’s free and it provides invaluable insight to my current conditioning.
Ward Luthi trains for his 100-Day Challenge
On the same walk I also wore an Omron pedometer that measures steps and distance as well as several other measurements that I’m not as concerned about. Pedometers are very popular with walkers who want to know how many steps they’ve taken and how far they’ve walked. My goal with this test was to see results from a GPS unit compared to a decent pedometer.
The results are that my GPS showed that I walked 2.20 miles. My pedometer showed that I walked 2.49 miles.
The difference in the distance shown by each method is significant. However, I look at a pedometer primarily as a motivational tool, not as something to compare or compete with GPS. My experience selling pedometers in a retail outdoor store is that most people use pedometers as a tool to make sure they get in their 10,000 steps on a daily basis. As a motivational tool, pedometers are excellent and often that’s all people need to start a fitness program or increase their current level of fitness.
GPS: 2.20 miles: 32:50:
Pedometer: steps=4274 distance = 2.49 miles
October 4, 2011
Okay, so I’m putting two days in this one blog post so I can actually get some sleep tonight. This post is coming from a hotel room in Grand Junction, Colorado, on the night before we meet our Walking The World group tomorrow morning.
GPS: 1.12 miles: 16:36 for time cool this morning before heading to Utah to lead a group
I’m really enjoying this walking challenge. Having a specific goal to shoot for makes a difference. Now there are no good reasons for not going out for a walk, even if it’s a short one.
GOOD WALKING!
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