How to Calculate Miles Walked

Written by anne reynolds | 13/05/2017
How to Calculate Miles Walked
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Walking provides exercise, relaxation and stress release for many people. You can walk inside and outside, around a track or on a treadmill. Many people like to track how far they walk daily, weekly or monthly. Some people record the number of steps they walk throughout their day. There are several methods you can use to calculate how many miles you walk.

Use a pedometer to count the number of steps you take. Calculate your stride length by walking 10 steps. Measure the length you walked in feet. Divide that number by 10. Enter the stride length into your pedometer. Instead of calculating this way, you can use a standard value of 2.2 for women and 2.5 for men. After your walk, convert the number of steps shown on your pedometer to the distance walked in feet. Multiply the total number of steps by the step length. This will give you the distance walked in feet. Convert feet to miles by dividing the distance walked in feet by 5,280 feet. Many pedometers can measure the distance for you. In this case, you can avoid the math and set the pedometer to measure the distance automatically.

Map out your route on the Internet. Many search engines display maps. Once you locate an appropriate map, you can use it to plot out your path by clicking on each point until you achieve the number of miles you want to walk. Many map sites enable you to save your route to a database and provide connection information with fellow walkers in your area.

Walk on a local high school or recreation center's track. The general distance around a track varies between 400 and 440 yards. Walking four laps around a track generally equals a mile, depending on the track length. Count how many laps you walk around the track and divide by four to calculate an approximation of how far you have walked.

Calculate the distance walked on a treadmill by using the speed you are walking in miles per hour and the amount of time you have walked in minutes. For instance, if you want to walk for 20 minutes on the treadmill at 10mph: input 10 for the speed and 20 for the time. Divide 60 by the time (20) to determine the fraction of minutes walked in the hour: 60 divided by 20 equals 3. Divide the speed in miles per hour (10) by the answer (3): 10 divided by 3 equals 3.3. You have walked 3.3 miles.

Things you need

  • Walking shoes
  • Weather-resistant clothing
  • Pedometer
  • Computer
  • Internet access
  • Calculator
  • Treadmill (optional)

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