“I’m going to walk 35,000 steps today.” For some reason, that was the first thought that entered my mind when I blinked my eyes open the other morning.
Several years ago, I bought a fitbit to track my steps occasionally, and to properly take part in a work step challenge. Since I enjoy nature walks, hitting the so-often recommended 10,000 steps a day wasn’t a problem. (But as a side-note, that recommendation is apparently totally made-up and comes from a marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer!)
During the pandemic, my leisurely nature walks increased and I began going on more vigorous strolls and hikes. One person introduced me to a lovely area in Hamilton, Ontario, where we completed a 16km hike together complete with tons of hills and stairs. It was definitely a leg-burn for sure. By the end of that, I had clocked 25,000 steps. Then, there was the day that I went on a 20km adventure to a pretty part of town with my brother’s friend. That day gave me 30,000 steps – and a few blisters.
More recently, I started wearing my old fitbit again after having put it aside. I quickly saw that averaging 10-15k a day was the norm for me. But I decided that I wanted to up my daily steps. So I started shooting for 20-25k. Although a little more time consuming, I didn’t start to hit a wall mentally or feel discomfort until I hit that 25k ceiling.
But for some reason, I was annoyed. I mean, I love walking, so I felt as if hitting a higher number should be doable for me. Thus, I decided I would have to challenge myself and give myself a higher target to hit just in everyday life. For about a week, I watched YoutTube videos of people embarking on similar challenges. Some folks aimed for 10k, while others went for 100k! And of course, there was everything in-between depending on the starting point and fitness level. One thing that struck me though was that nearly everyone talked about how surprised they were that walking could indeed be very tiring.
As a fast fact, the average Canadian gets in an average of 4,819 steps per day, while the average American gets slightly less at 4,774. For health benefits, it is actually suggested that we get about 4000 every day, and if we’re shooting for something more ideal, 7000 is a good number that health experts promote.
So, I can see why some folks even struggle to get to 10k. It takes time and intention. You don’t just stumble upon those steps. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you naturally will accumulate a portion of them. If you park far away, take the stairs, and have a busy day at work, you can also rack up a few thousand. But to really get a higher overall number, you’re pretty much waking up with an intention to do exactly that. And as I mentioned, that’s what I did.
So after waking up with the decision to walk 35k, I texted a friend and asked if she wanted to join me for a morning stroll by home. There’s about a 3.5 km path near my house and I thought having some company to do that back and forth with me would help start me on the right track. She came by and we ventured off; by the end, we accumulated about the 10k. I was feeling great. It wasn’t even Noon yet, so I knew I could very much accomplish the goal if I stayed motivated.
After returning home, I decided to put on some music and just simply pace around the basement – something I do often anyway, which also gets me a lot of steps when the songs are just right. After a few thousand more steps, I was feeling a bit tired, and I hadn’t eaten much, so I fuelled up and rested my feet for about two hours before heading out again.
I re-did the trail halfway and then decided to walk along some major streets for another hour or so. My feet were starting to hurt by the time I hit 26k, so I stopped and grabbed some dinner solo at this place on my way home. The walk back was short now, so I took my time to ease my feet and to get more steps! By the time I returned to the house, I had about 28k. It was only 6pm. Again, I was feeling super optimistic, but I knew I had to do a little recovery.
I recall one of my athletic friends telling me once about the value of putting your feet up on the wall while laying on your back. Apparently, it helps with circulation by draining fluids that could be pooling in your legs, and it stretches your hamstrings. So I grabbed my bunny slippers because at this point, my feet needed to get out of constricting shoes, and I did that stretch for about 15 minutes.
With just about 7,000 more steps to go, I decided to get those in my house. It was already dark outside and I figured it would be easier to walk in slippers now. So, I grabbed my headphones again and decided to get 3k, take a break, and go for the final 4. All in all, by about 10:00pm, I had reached my goal of 35,000 steps. Everything felt heavy, so I resisted the urge to keep going and took a nice warm bath instead.
And there we have it! So what did I learn from this self-imposed challenge? Well, I learned that as I said, intentionality is key. Getting 35,000 steps was surprisingly difficult! I really thought that since I can easily get to 25k, the extra 10k wouldn’t be a big deal. But it took effort! And while feeling tired, or having small injuries on your feet suck, the mental game was especially challenging. Near the end, I remember obsessively checking the tracker and feeling like I would never hit the target. Also, periodically throughout the day, I would wonder if my goal was dumb or not actually going to be achieved; I really had to remind myself it was possible.
I learned the value of fuelling up. I’m decent with hydrating, but I didn’t really eat much. But when I told myself to stop and get some salt and protein – and just snacks in general, I felt better. So between some nut butter, chicken, and some avocado toast, I noticed that my energy definitely increased during the day.
I learned the importance of variety. As I said, I walked in parks, city streets, and in my home. I walked alone and with a friend. I walked in hiking shoes and in slippers. All of these things helped me stay encouraged and rested my body.
Lastly, I learned that both the mind and body are miraculous things. While I don’t think I’ll ever attempt 100,000 steps in a day (that takes about 18 hours of non-stop walking), I do think I could try for 40k* as the next challenge. Once you see that you’re capable of one milestone, it’s exciting to think of the next one. So, until the next challenge, there you have it. Below are some pretty nature pictures from my adventure.
May you all find a fun challenge to get your body in motion, too!
*just a couple days after writing this post, I did go on to reach the next goal. My fitbit died just shy of clocking 40k, which sucked, so a couple of months later, I re-did it so that I could accurately see it reflected… and so that I could unlock a nifty badge on my app.
