Fast walking was not one of my New Year’s Resolution for 2025, but now it is and here’s why.

When I went to the gym the day after Boxing Day 2024, I was not planning to do anything different. As always, I started my walk at 4 km/hour. Ten minutes into my walk, I decided to up my speed to 5 km/hour. I began jogging at this pace My body began to rebel as my shins tightened and my bad left ankle began to hurt.
“Another minute, and I will stop,” I promised myself.
One minute became two minutes, then three. I felt the initial rebellion in my legs subsiding. I upped my speed to 6 km/hour and kept jogging. Five minutes into my jog, my legs had loosened up and I was getting into a gentle cadence. I continued to jog for another five minutes before dialing down slowly to 4 km/hour.
When my jog ended at the thirty-minute mark, I was absolutely exhilarated. For years, I refused to jog, let alone run. Perhaps due to recurring knee pains, I have always believed that I have arthritis (not tested) and could damage my knees if I jogged or ran.
I read James Fixx‘ Complete Book of Running several times in my late teens and dreamed of being a runner. However, I never took it up seriously. Initially, I told myself I was too poor to buy proper footwear or apparel (these days the barefoot runners have taken away that excuse). Then I moved to the United Arab Emirates where it was too hot most of the year to run. Gyms were few and far between in those days and were also very expensive.
I was not being true to myself. The truth is I have always hated being out of breath or sweating hard. I would rather walk and the occasional fast walk.
2025 is the beginning of this change though I am changing my jog to a fast walk. Since the year began, I have been consistently jogging for four days a week. My jog lasts 10 minutes out of 30 on the treadmill at 6 km/hour.
However, the tightness in my shins and the pain in my ankle have been quite a bother. Therefore, I tried something different for the last two days.
I switched from jogging for 10 minutes to walking fast for 30 minutes. After I warm up on the leg machines, I begin with a 5-minute walk at 5 km/hour. Then I raise the speed and walk at 6 kms/hour until I have walked for 3 kms. Today, I achieve this distance in 30.5 minutes total. After a 10-minute cool-down, my final distance was 3.82 kms.
I feel great after today’s session of fast walking. I do not have any pain in my foot or legs. I did sweat a lot but discovered that I do not mind it. Most of all, I am surprised I managed to fast walk @ ~10 minutes/km non-stop for 30 minutes. To top it all, I am getting an incredible high after my fast walking.
While I would like to delve more into the research about fast walking, I do not intend to change my routine. I intend to stick to this pace for five days a week.