Metafilter Walking Challenge

September 9, 2007 3:38 PM

What happened to the walking challenge?

I noticed that the running challenges have continued, and swimming has been added, but what about walking? Originally walkers were discouraged from joining the runners--is there something separate for people who walk?

posted by tejolote to MetaFilter-Related at 3:38 PM (21 comments total)

Here it is, also on runner+.
posted by pj_rivera at 3:59 PM on September 9, 2007

Hey, awesome! Thanks pj_rivera.
posted by tejolote at 4:06 PM on September 9, 2007

Not many folks are doing the walking though, so please join us!
posted by web-goddess at 5:45 PM on September 9, 2007

I walk lots in my fair city, but don't have a pedometer. Are the cheap types ~$20 accurate at all?
posted by typewriter at 6:14 PM on September 9, 2007

Also, I would likely be fighting it out for the bottom. No real sense at all how much I walk or how long a 'mile' is...(Canadian)
posted by typewriter at 6:19 PM on September 9, 2007

Gmaps pedometer is pretty accurate if you're walking around outside. (And don't worry, the site does metric too.)
posted by web-goddess at 6:26 PM on September 9, 2007

This is cool. I just joined.
posted by jayder at 6:38 PM on September 9, 2007

I signed up. I figure I'll join just so that the rest of you can look all smug, cause winter is just around the corner and this gal don't mall-walk!
posted by Salmonberry at 6:39 PM on September 9, 2007

After seeing wolfdogs awe-inspiring 1300mile performance, all the participants were inspired to get bicycles?
posted by Chuckles at 7:44 PM on September 9, 2007

I see something on the Challenge page about a speed restriction ... what does that mean?

Does it mean that, when setting up a challenge, the organizer can require participants to actually walk, not run?
posted by jayder at 7:57 PM on September 9, 2007

Yes, the runnerplus site has that functionality. (The running challenge, for example, requires a minimum pace of 6:00/mile or 9:00/km, which is just fast enough to require an actual jog.) shinypenny didn't know about it when the challenge was set up, and you can't go back and change it after it's begun. So for now, the walking challenge is counting any distance you do at all, whether walking or running. Those of you keeping track manually can, of course, keep yourselves honest if you want, but I wouldn't bother seeing as sequential and I are both alternating running and walking.
posted by web-goddess at 8:03 PM on September 9, 2007

I'm all about walking. I just joined!
posted by LoriFLA at 8:14 PM on September 9, 2007

Yeah, the running challenge has a minimum pace of 9 min/km, which is about 14 min/mile. There's some kind of display bug on the site, causing that 6 minute mile to pop up. It doesn't affect the runs that are taken into account though.
posted by pj_rivera at 4:40 AM on September 10, 2007

"Shinypenny" here. Thinking about next month's walking challenge, what do people want to see in terms of pace limits? Nothing faster than 5 mph? With apologies to our metric brethren:

5 mph = 12 min/mile
4.5 mph = 13.20 min/mile
4 mph = 15 min/mile
3.5 mph = 17.08 min/mile
3 mph = 20 min/mile
2.5 mph = 24 min/mile

We could also do team challenges, where we split up into two groups (e.g., Green and Blue), but I'm not sure we have enough people?

Right now, I think 5 mph would be a good pace limit as most people can't go faster than that without switching over to running, but if anyone would prefer something faster or slower, please comment with your thoughts.
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:44 AM on September 10, 2007

I think it makes sense to set the walking challenge max pace limit in correspondence with the running challenge min pace limit, i.e. at 9 min/km (14min/mile?). This would be especially convenient for the people who participate in both challenges, as their walks/runs get assigned automatically to the right challenge.
posted by pj_rivera at 10:06 AM on September 10, 2007

Converting 9 min/km to min/mile, gets me 14 min 29 sec per mile (using this pace calculator). The Runner+ site doesn't permit fractional pace limitations when setting up challenges: it's either 14 min/mile or 15 min/mile. Which pace should I choose?
posted by longdaysjourney at 1:19 PM on September 10, 2007

Well, you could change your settings to the metric system, set up the pace limit, and then change back to imperial. No need for heart-breaking choices...
posted by pj_rivera at 1:31 PM on September 10, 2007

I just tried that (setting my personal settings to km and then setting up a challenge, using 9 min/km as the fastest pace allowed) and I'm getting a 6 min/mile limit, 10 mph pace. Obviously, something's not working right or I'm doing something wrong. Given that the vast majority of people participating in the walking challenge are from countries using miles, I'm going to stick with miles when I set up October's challenge, with a 5 mph pace or slower as the pace limitations.
posted by longdaysjourney at 2:36 PM on September 10, 2007

I have no problem with the 5 mph limit. I usually walk between 3.5 and 4 mph.
posted by LoriFLA at 3:29 PM on September 10, 2007

Cool! I'm in. Sauntering away...
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:14 PM on September 10, 2007

LDJ, the pace bug looks fixed now.
posted by pj_rivera at 2:26 AM on September 11, 2007