Thrive Across America Participants Walk the Walk

At program's half-way mark, log-ins show that walking is most popular activity

Here's an update on Thrive Across America, the eight-week employee and physician virtual race across the country, which is nearing the half-way mark.

Logs-ins show that walking is the most popular form of physical activity of employees and physicians. During the first few weeks of the program, more than 108,000 entries of walking were logged onto the Thrive Across America website. The next most popular activity was running/jogging with about 17,000 entries logged.

If all of 108,000 walking entries were converted into miles walked, the results would be astronomical. Assuming participants averaged just 1.25 miles walked per entry, that could mean more than 135,000 miles walked in the first 3.5 weeks alone! Those miles laid end to end around Earth's equator would have propelled someone more than five times around the planet.

Not only will a regular walk help reduce the onset of diabetes, walking is easy, can be done just about anywhere, and it doesn't require special equipment. Read what Chief Executive Office George Halvorson has to say about the benefits of walking here.

Here are some thoughts and suggestions to get you started and help keep you motivated:

  • A good average walking speed for most people is 3 mph (one mile every 20 minutes). Calories burned will depend on a number of factors, such as your weight, your walking pace, and your overall fitness level. For example, a 160-pound person walking at 2 mph burns about 180 calories per hour. By increasing the pace to 3.5 mph (or one mile every 17 minutes), that same person could burn about 280 calories per hour.
  • If you are not physically active now, start slow and walk for shorter periods of time. Aim initially for a 10-minute walk at a leisurely pace — five minutes out and then five minutes return. Do this for a several days while gradually increasing your pace. You will see that you are traveling farther even though you are still walking only 10 minutes. Every few days, add a couple of minutes each way. Before you know it, you'll be up walking 15 minutes each way for a total of 30 minutes, or even longer.
  • Changing your scenery from time to time can increase your enjoyment and help prevent boredom. Use the MapWalk feature on the Thrive Across America site to create a number of walking routes around your home and workplace. Or, map out a route and print it out before going out of town to visit relatives, beginning your vacation, or shuttling your kids to a weekend sports activity.
  • When possible, walk with a buddy or grab some colleagues to join you. If walking alone, take along your favorite portable music player with some upbeat music. And don't forget to bring along some water. If you don't want to carry a water bottle, be sure to hydrate before and after your walk.

There are many online resources available to support your walking goals and interests:

You can also find a variety of healthy tips to share on the Healthy Workplace section of "My HR".

Posted on May 28, 2010

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