The Failed Walking Pad Experiment

After reading Born to Walk I was excited to start incorporating more walking into my daily routine and had acquired a walking pad which I was trying to use for a cumulative 2 hours a day while at my desk.  It seemed like a great way to up my training volume a bit without impacting other aspects of my life. Incorporating more walking into my routine did have definite benefits and I am keen to keep walking more every day.  However, I learned that I am not keen to keep doing it via a walking pad. 

I found that in order to maintain the appropriate proximity to my desk so I could type, I had to stand at a distance from my desk that did not allow me to use my normal stride.  This was forcing me to alter my gait in a way that was just not natural for me and was leading to some minor soreness in the knees.  The soreness went away when I stopped using the walking pad and started walking again outdoors instead (my other training was unchanged).  So basically, I love the Born to Walk philosophy and see the value of the approach.  But, for me at least, a walking pad at my desk just didn’t turn out to be a viable way to execute on it. 

Note: the walking pad in the absence of the desk seems fine. Getting the two to work together is where I experienced the issue.