My college is offering a class that only lasts a week, and it is a 70 mile walk with camping in between the walk. It's 10 miles a day. This class is as many credit hours as a normal class, so it would be awesome if I could get an entire class done in a week. I'm just not sure I can handle it. I'm trying my best to lose weight and get healthier this summer, so even though I'm 320 lbs now, after losing weight this summer I could maybe do it. I think walking 70 miles would really be something to be proud of, but I really don't know if I will be able to handle it. What do you guys think I should do?

PS: My friends are doing it too so that might make it easier to handle.

If you think you can handle it, I would say go for it! It would be a great experience, and if you can find some friends to go along it will probably be a lot of fun.

I think one of the best things about losing weight is the ability to challenge your body, and move past what you think you can and cannot do. This would be an awesome way to challenge your self!

Just popping in on this forum, but Go For It! Do what you can to prepare and go with gusto

We're working up to doing a few long thru-hikes this fall - just three-day hikes of 50 miles or so with camping overnight so we'll be carrying all our provisions, etc. That will be the hard part. Will you be carrying your sleeping bag, tent, food, water, clothes, etc., or will that be in a caravan that goes on ahead of you to the next stop?

Do you do any walking now? That would give you an idea of how easy or hard it would be for you. If the class isn't for a while yet you could start walking to get in shape and prepare. 10 miles is quite a distance, and day after day for 7 days is going to be hard (it's like doing 3 marathons almost). Things like blisters, chafing, etc. could be a problem. Not trying to discourage you, I think it's great and definitely something you should challenge yourself with if you are prepared.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Unless you can walk 10 miles right now, I would say no, don't do it and risk hurting yourself.

Plus once you get out there, what if you can't continue? I'd say pass on it this time--focus on eating right and getting daily exercise. You really have to work up to that kind of distance. Even much lighter weight people would have trouble walking 10 miles 7 days in a row, unless they routinely did that much.

Jay

I'd wonder whether the course is actually walking, or perhaps it's hiking--up and down, cross-country, over hills. Walking is one thing, hiking is harder and requires more endurance and lower-body strength.

In general, I agree with JayEll. Challenging oneself is good, but setting oneself up for failure...not so much.

I'd agree in that if you can't walk 10 miles/day for multiple days, then don't do it.

I hike and walk and we'll go on multiple 5-6 mile hikes but we worked our way up to it. And I think I could do a 10 mile hike although I am not sure I could do 10 miles each day for 7 days.

Also, a 10 mile walk is different than a 10 mile hike. If it is hiking where there are vast elevation changes, that is vastly different than a 10 mile walk on flat surfaces.

If you have a few weeks to do some training and work up to that amount, go for it, but I am with Jay, you CAN do it but it could be a lot to demand out of your body without preconditioning, and that could lead to severe injury. What can you walk now? Two or three miles in an hour or so? Further? I would not walk that class unless you can comfortably do 5-7 miles each day without injury or excessive fatigue to where you can barely function the rest of the day.

I don't want to be a downer, I think we can do anything we put our minds to when it comes to fitness goals like this, but that is with the caveat of a reasonable, safe ramp-up in activity. Your body can do it, but maybe not without some conditioning first. Make sense?

And other things to consider, it sounds like it is a backpacking trip which means you may also need to carry a heavy backpack with you. That is something else I'd want to verify before enrolling in the class.

And if you do decide to do it, you'd also need to train with a backpack.

I guess I would see the problem not in the 10 mile walk, but repetitive 10 mile walks.

I would suggest mapping out a 10 mile route and give it a go. Walk as far as you can, how far did you get? Do it 10 days in a row. Then imagine if you had gone all 10 miles.

I'd also recommend practice sleeping on the floor 7 nights in a row if you're not already a camper.

Well, like others have said, you have to ask yourself if you can even walk 10 miles in just one day, let alone 10 miles a day, 7 days in a row. I love walking and I have walked over 10 miles in one day (hiked, actually), so I would go for it, but I would also make sure I got lots of training in before the trip - several miles of walking everyday for at least a week before the trip. Two weeks would be better.

Also, will you have to carrying a pack with your tent and belongings, or will the school being transporting those things to your campsite for you? Walking and hiking become much more difficult when you are carrying 30 pounds on your back.

Since the trip appears to be at the end of the summer, based on your wording, I'd say if you put good effort into preparing for the trip over the summer, you will do fine. Start by walking 2 or 3 miles a few days a week and work your way up to 10 miles a day. Definitely do daily walking the two weeks before the trip so that your body is used to walking every day. And just think of all the weight you'd lose!

Yes, this would actually worry me even more than the daily walks. At my highest weight, there'd have been no way I could sleep on the hard ground. With my shoulder issues, I'm not sure I could do that now.

I'm torn, actually! You asked would I do? Heck yeah, I think I would. But I have a pretty good cardio base and have lost a good portion of my extra weight now. I think that class sounds awesome and I wonder if they anything like that when I was in college! I'm jealous!

But I can tell you we've been doing 5 mile hikes and I'm pretty good and worn out after. I could do ten miles, but I'd sleep pretty well that night.

Finally, I am a major wimp about heat and at the end of the day, I want a cool place to lie down.

How much can you walk right now and how long would you have to train?

It would be an awesome accomplishment and if you have a 2 months to train you could do it.

There are several good training schedules online for walking events. I've used them during my own walk training for various breast cancer walks (the Avon 2-day and the Komen which is coming up soon).

Is it a walking class or a hiking class? Who is carrying your gear for you? (tent, food, etc). What is the terrain you will be walking on (flat paved ground, hills, mountains, backwoods ruff terrain)? What are the medical requirements to take the course and can you meet those?

And what kind of training have you done for this?

Here's the thing. I've backpacked (overnight), day hiked and plain ol' walked 60 miles in 3 days. All of those are very taxing on your body and require a good deal of training and conditioning to get your body ready for it.

In my training for these things, I've found that walking distances over 5 miles you will need proper shoes (and possibly orthotics) that are well suited for your gait. Getting up to the 10 mile range is when you see serious blisters forming and causing medical problems. Any hip or back misalignment will really flare up and cause serious pain. Knee, joint pain, will be magnified. And the longer you walk while sore, your body will compensate - and ends up causing more medical problems.

When you walk that distance, you will need food and drink to keep your energy up. Add a backpack to transport that stuff and you are adding weight to your walk.

My walking hydration pack weighs about 3-5lbs with food and drink plus emergency supplies to handle a 5-10 mile walk on flat ground with stops to refill the water resovoir. Its not taxing, but it is enough to throw off your gait and if you aren't prepaired, can cause back pain.

My daypack for an all day hiking even where I don't have regular water stops, that will way 10-20lbs. (I have one that holds up to a gallon of water). Water, hydration tablets, nurishment, emergency supplies, they add up.

My overnight backpack for warm weather (including tent) is 35 - 45lbs. That will include water for a day, food for a couple days, clothing, change of shoes, tent, sleeping bag, etc. Usually those are with a group of people so tents, cooking materials, etc are divied up amongst the group and shared at the camp site. Also - that is using more expensive gear that is lightweight. If you are a discount shopper, you can count on that being 45+lbs.

Cold weather camping packs are 55+lbs for the wearmer weather gear, etc.

My summer vacation day hike trips don't require much training and I'll go for 2 weeks where we will do daily hikes in the range of 7 - 14 miles. With a warm comfy bed at night and proper nurishment. Carrying a 20lb backpack for several hours up hills and mountains is something I'm fairly conditioned to do. But someone who isn't would need frequent stops and would struggle.

My 3 day 60 mile experience, I trained for 4 months with a group of people. We slowly increased the mileage each week and would do back to back training two consecutive days so that your body adjusted to the workout for days on end. with a 15 mile walk one day, followed by a 10 mile walk the next. I can tell you horror stories about blisters from just 2 days of walking like that.

My overnight mountain back packing trips I train for several months so that I'm ready to carry a pack of that weight and handle mountain and greater altitude changes. (We have hiked parts of the App Trail, Smokeys, as well as the Grand Canyon - from South Rim to the bottom and back out to the north rim)

Are you sure this class isn't an entire semester long - with the courseload being training to walk this walk and the final being to actually do the trip? And would you meet the medical requirements to actually complete this course?


When I was in college they offered a water aerobic's class. I loved that class! They entire semester was spent learning and doing water aerobics with the final being that we each taught a session. It was great!