Walking 10 Miles A Day: How To Prepare For Success

Walking 10 miles without stopping requires a solid cardio base and well-developed muscular endurance. There’s nothing easy about walking 10 miles a day, and athletes who do so need to take care of their bodies to stay healthy and strong to keep up this habit.

It can take several months to build up to walking 10 miles a day., but if you’re consistent with walking several days a week and you gradually increase the distance of your walks, it’s not unreasonable to set a goal of walking 10 miles a day.

In this article, we will cover what to expect with walking 10 miles a day, the fantastic health benefits of walking 10 miles a day, and how to properly prepare yourself to do so.

More specifically, we will discuss: 

• How Far Is 10 Miles?

• How Long Does It Take to Walk 10 Miles a Day?

• How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking 10 Miles a Day?

• Benefits of Walking 10 Miles a Day

• Important Considerations When Walking 10 Miles a Day

Let’s get started!

How Far Is 10 Miles?

For those more familiar with kilometers, 10 miles is approximately 16.1 kilometers.

If you decide to walk 10 miles on a standard 400-meter running track, you will need to walk just over 40 full laps. 

How Long Does It Take to Walk 10 Miles a Day?

Walking 10 miles a day takes a long time. There’s no way around it. Even if you walk a very brisk 4.0 miles per hour pace (15 minutes per mile), it will take two and a half hours to walk 10 miles.

Moreover, walking 10 miles a day at a more leisurely pace of 3.0 miles per hour (20 minutes per mile) will require 3 hours and 20 minutes to cover the distance.

These are reasonable approximations for most walkers because the average walking speed for adults is between 2.5-4 miles per hour, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The table below shows approximately how long it takes to walk 10 miles at different walking paces:

How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking 10 Miles a Day?

Walking 10 miles a day burns a lot of calories. The more you weigh, the faster you walk, and the steeper the incline (if any) you ascend, the more calories you burn walking.

If you wear a heart rate monitor with GPS so that you can measure your walking speed and heart rate, you can get a more precise estimation of your energy expenditure.

The good news is that even if you don’t have a way to capture this data, you can estimate the calories you burned walking 10 miles a day using the metabolic equivalents (METs) for walking at different speeds.

The Compendium of Physical Activities reports different METs for various walking speeds and incline grades.

Using these METs values, you can calculate the number of calories burned walking 10 miles at various speeds and weights using the following equation to determine energy expenditure:

Calories Burned Per Minute = METs x 3.5 x (your body weight in kilograms) / 200 

Then, multiply this calculated value by the number of minutes it takes you to walk those 10 miles.

Below, we’ve created a chart that uses these METs values for common walking speeds and conditions to calculate the approximate number of calories burned walking 10 miles a day for different body weights. 

Benefits of Walking 10 Miles a Day

Walking 10 miles a day is an impressive physical feat that demonstrates you’re in great physical shape and have excellent cardiovascular and muscular endurance.

Walking consistently on a regular basis is fantastic for your health, so even if you’re usually doing shorter walks, you’ll reap many benefits.

Some of the top health benefits of walking 10 miles a day include:

• Reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and the risk of premature all-cause mortality

• Lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure

• Improving the health of your heart and lungs

• Decreasing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol 

• Building your endurance

• Strengthening your legs and core

• Increasing your aerobic capacity (VO2 max)

• Reducing stress and anxiety

• Improving blood sugar regulation

• Improving your mood, confidence, and self-esteem 

• Decreasing musculoskeletal pain

• Improving cognitive function and working memory

Important Considerations When Walking 10 Miles a Day

If you are habitually walking 10 miles a day, you need to think of yourself as a competitive athlete.

What this means is that you need to treat your body in a way that ensures you are able to recover well from your workouts without progressively becoming overtrained, injured, or worn down.

Even if you are only walking 10 miles a day one or two days a week and doing shorter workouts on the other days, it’s still really important to do all of the little things that support your overall health and recovery.

Examples include:

• Getting enough sleep every night

• Eating a well-balanced and nutritious diet

• Stretching and foam rolling after your long walks

• Drinking enough water

• Reducing stress

• Listening to your body if you have aches or pains

Remember, walking 10 miles a day requires a tremendous output of energy.

Therefore, it’s vital that you not only fuel your body well before, during, and right after your walk, but also that you are consuming a balanced, nutrient-dense, well-rounded diet that provides an adequate number of calories and nutrients to support your exercise.

You can take a look at our numerous articles on diets based on athletes’ needs to see what may work for you: The Best Popular Diets For Runners, Running Nutrition Guide, and Plant-Based Diets.

Walking 10 miles a day can take a lot of mental and physical stamina, though it’s totally worth the benefits!

What you see and experience on such a long walk can stick with you forever.

If you have been walking for a while, but are interested in starting to run, check out our beginner training plans here!