Walking rate for exercise. 5.14 miles, 84 minutes.

[Denninmi]

Which is 3.67 miles per hour.

Good or bad rate?

[Denninmi]

4. "doctor evaluation" What's that?

You seem to be speaking in some foreign tongue I can't relate to.

I have crap insurance. 5000K deductible. I only see a physician when it's life-threatening. Welcome to the United States of Haiti.

My general fitness level is moderately suckey, and I work a desk job and get some exercise in the form of working my butt off around home.

[HereSince1628]

2. It would seem to be a whole lot better than sitting.

I walk for my type 2 diabetes and use calories as an indication of whether or not I'm creating demand that reduces blood sugar.

Here's the website I use to monitor calories consumed...

http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc2.htm

[hobbit709]

3. It takes me 10-15 minutes to limp a half mile

That's on a good day.

[byeya]

5. 84 minutes of continuous walking is very beneficial.

As for pace, if a person walks for 30 minutes to an hour, 4 miles per hour is beneficial.
It doesn't hurt to throw in some short jogs while you are walking.
I think walking five miles is very good. Cheers.

[Denninmi]

6. Thanks. The short jogs are not going to happen for a while.

Not until I get in better shape than I am right now.

[byeya]

7. The short jogs never need happen. You can achieve cardiovascular/aerobic fitness

through walking; and, it seems human beings were/are adapted to walking rather than jogging/running. If you have the time - walk on!
Also, look at the MPH figures for Olympic race walkers, I am impressed by the speed they attain.

[GoCubsGo]

8. Not a bad rate.

You can boost that rate by doing intervals. Just walk at a much faster pace than normal for 30 seconds to a minute , then walk a few minutes at regular pace, and repeat as often as you can stand it. Intervals will improve your aerobic capacity faster than a keeping steady pace will. You'll find that, before long, you'll be able to shorten the "rest"periods to where you can go full-out for a minute, with only a minute in between of regular pace. Or, that you can go longer than a minute at the stepped-up pace. You'll be finishing that 5 miles in an hour before you know it.

There are a lot of different routines that runners use, and there's no reason you can't adapt those to walking. Just look up "interval training". It may be a bit overwhelming, but definitely worth looking into if you want to improve what you're doing.

[byeya]

14. Intervals are very good if for no other reason - and there are other reasons - than to keep your

speed up.
Whether walking or running, if you go the same milage in the same area, then most people tend to unconsciously slow down a bit. Mixing in interval training will aid you in keeping, or increasing, your speed - a good thing.

[Brother Buzz]

9. Sound pretty good

I average just over four miles an hour, but I walk a lot and hate to walk with slowpokes. 3.67 MPH isn't slowpoke, I could adjust to your pace.

[Major Nikon]

10. It depends on you

What you really want to do is get your heart rate up. If you don't get your heart rate up, you won't be improving your cardiovascular fitness and you won't be burning calories very efficiently (important if weight loss is one of your goals).

You should get your heart rate up to the point at which you can just carry on a conversation. In other words, if you get to the point at which speech becomes difficult, back off a little. That way you will be improving your overall fitness and you will be burning calories at a dramatically higher rate.

[Denninmi]

12. That I don't know. It was somewhere between

above normal to much above normal. But I don't have a monitor. Guess I should get one.

[Major Nikon]

13. A heart rate monitor is a nice thing to have

It takes the guesswork out of it. However, if you just listen to your body and use the conversation trick, you can get by fine without one. I have a heart rate monitor, but I don't use it much.

[WooWooWoo]

11. I've done 12 miles in slightly less than 3 hours

though, in fairness, I had a 50-lb rucksack on my back at the time.