3 Things I learned walking 100,000 steps (48 miles!) in a single day, plus tips on long-distance walking:
Yesterday, I set out to walk 100,000 steps in a single day. I did it.
Back in December, I attempted 50,000 steps and did it with ease. I didn’t plan this 100,000-step journey out ahead of time. I had a vague idea that I wanted to do it eventually, but on Sunday night, I randomly decided I would actually give it a shot. I went to bed around 10pm with the intention of waking again at midnight to start.
Unfortunately, I could not fall asleep quickly enough due to the excitement of what would come the next day and ended up sleeping until around 3:45am. I got going to the gym (because it was dark outside) and started my journey. I did the first hour and a half on the treadmill. I then went home and did another hour and a half there. Luckily, my neighborhood is quite large and a few laps around is time-consuming.
After I dropped my daughter off at school, the real adventure started. In a nutshell, my day was spent walking from store to store to pick up food. It’s what motivated me: having a destination in mind where I knew I would be able to refuel with a tasty snack. I did do quite a bit around local trails to get out in nature more and vary my scenery.
I finished around 11:00pm.
Things I learned:
- I did not know boredom before. I do now.
- Coconut water is the nectar of the gods.
- It’s all a mental game.
Tips if you’re insane like me and want to do this:
- Decide to do it and don’t stop. If you get in your own head, you won’t finish.
- Have destinations in mind. This keeps motivation higher.
- Vary your walking. This means picking new types of destinations (for me it was to various stores for food, various nature trails, and around my neighborhood, alternating types of walking areas so I never got too bored of one type).
- Vary your entertainment. I listened to audiobooks, music, and podcasts of all sorts. You will get bored. You’re walking for 12-16 hours. It’s bound to happen.
- Take breaks. A lot of them. Just don’t sit for too long or your muscles will try to fight you.
- Eat a lot of small snacks. I ate several Clif Bars, bananas, and lots of oatmeal. Eating more than 200-300 calories at a time will make you sick.
- Use an anti-chafing agent. I like Squirrel’s Nut Butter. It prevented all chafing, even in this cold winter weather. I'm sure there's other good brands out there. Test them out ahead of time to see which works best for you.
- Drink often, but not a lot at a time. Every few hours I had a coconut water (6-12oz at a time).
- Carry with you extra bandaids, a cell phone recharger pack, two pairs of headphones (mine lasted 8 hours each), your ID, and a credit/debit card.
- It’s seriously a mental game. Remember that. Your body can do it. Each time I thought I couldn’t push on I thought to myself that I’ve already come this far and I’m never going to attempt this again so I just have to keep going, and then I took a break and just kept pushing through.
In all, it was a good experience and a test to my mental strength. I feel good today, some stiffness but I suspect tomorrow is when it will really hit. If you have recovery tips, that would be great.
Edited for formatting.
Posted Jan 29, 2019, 5:43 PM UTC · edited
I took 100,000 steps last WEEK. I was proud of myself for having two days in a row over 20,000. This is humbling lol you’re a god
Hey! I started with 20,000 in a day being a huge deal. Heck, 10,000 a day was a big deal for me in the beginning of my fitness journey.
100,000 doesn't just happen. You work up to it. 20,000 two days in a row is an impressive feat! You're doing awesome work. Seriously!