4.0 MPH - My Endurance Zone
There is a point where walking turns into jogging; the speed that is the fastest you can possibly walk before you must jog. For me and my relatively short legs, that threshold is 4.0 MPH. For my 6′4″ husband, that threshold is closer to 5.0 MPH. It is different for everybody.
One of my treadmill programs holds a speed of 4.0 MPH for five minutes. It is a very awkward speed for me to move at. I didn’t think I would be able to hold that speed. I did it though and it was difficult. I alternated between speed walking and slow jogging. When my legs couldn’t go that fast any more, I would switch and exercise my lungs until they had enough.
It’s a challenging speed, but I’m thinking that it is a very good speed to work on building endurance. Which leads me to another thought: If you build up enough endurance, will this threshold change? Or is it proportional to leg length? I guess I’ll have to test it out over time and see.
Does this “threshold” have a name? (If it does, can someone please comment and enlighten me.) For now, I’ll just name it my “endurance zone”.