1,000 Miles in Heels

[mlroseplant]

I may have mentioned at some time in the past that it has been my goal to walk 1,000 miles (or about 1,600 km) in high heels of at least 3.5 inches. Last night, I walked the last 2.8 miles that put me over the top. To be sure, this is no major accomplishment, as it took me about 3 1/2 years to do it, twice as long as I thought it might when I came up with this crazy idea. Of course, I had no idea at that time I would have more work than I could ever imagine, that I would more or less constantly be in a state of exhaustion, and that most nights I just wouldn't feel like getting dolled up enough to walk a couple of miles in heels. But nevertheless, it is accomplished.

These 1,000 miles are purposeful, GPS recorded walks, such as one might record for a fitness program. They do not include any incidental mileage, such as going to the supermarket or the mall, or wherever a person might normally go. Basically, if I drove a car to get there, I didn't count the miles. I am not sure if I want to set any goals for the future, or if I will just continue recording miles the way I have been up to now.

[Shyheels]

Wow! That's pretty impressive! And well recorded too. Congratulations. Am I right in guessing that would have made your ankles and calves pretty fit?

[Thighbootguy]

And I thought @JeffBwas obsessed with keeping  track of his outings.   Congratulations on achieving your goal, and for having set so ambitious a goal in the first place.

[pebblesf]

Amazing!

[SF]

Mr. Mlroseplant,  That is a nice accomplishment.  So what now?  Are you going to "retire" or keep heeling???  We do need more guys out in heels.  I imagine that you will continue to be a "dedicated heeling soldier" and keep up the cause??  Take care, and again congrats.....   sf

[mlroseplant]

 

Thank you all for your interest. It has been a long road, literally!

12 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Wow! That's pretty impressive! And well recorded too. Congratulations. Am I right in guessing that would have made your ankles and calves pretty fit?

It has indeed, and I have really noticed in the past week how taking some time off from heels due to an injury of sorts has negatively affected my stamina in heels. I also do a lot of exercises and stretches to accentuate the good parts of heeling, such as stronger calves and ankles, and minimize the bad parts, such as tight leg muscles and restricted range of motion.

8 hours ago, SF said:

Mr. Mlroseplant,  That is a nice accomplishment.  So what now?  Are you going to "retire" or keep heeling???  We do need more guys out in heels.  I imagine that you will continue to be a "dedicated heeling soldier" and keep up the cause??  Take care, and again congrats.....   sf

It is not a question of whether I will continue heeling (of course I will), but rather whether I will continue to take walks for the purpose of recording the mileage. I am not sure that I want to create a 2,000 mile goal. Probably, I will continue recording. If nothing else, it is interesting to find out which shoe repair materials turn out to be the most durable. Yes, I record that also.

[Steve63130]

Very impressive accomplishment, Mlroseplant! Well done!

Steve

[Shyheels]

4 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

 

Thank you all for your interest. It has been a long road, literally!

It has indeed, and I have really noticed in the past week how taking some time off from heels due to an injury of sorts has negatively affected my stamina in heels. I also do a lot of exercises and stretches to accentuate the good parts of heeling, such as stronger calves and ankles, and minimize the bad parts, such as tight leg muscles and restricted range of motion.

It is not a question of whether I will continue heeling (of course I will), but rather whether I will continue to take walks for the purpose of recording the mileage. I am not sure that I want to create a 2,000 mile goal. Probably, I will continue recording. If nothing else, it is interesting to find out which shoe repair materials turn out to be the most durable. Yes, I record that also.

Between your exercises and stretching, and the strengthening effect for calves and ankles of walking a thousand miles in heels, you probably have worked out a great fitness regime. I have a cycling challenge I have set myself, one involving a scary amount of hill climbing and mountain passes. I could probably do worse than incorporate the mlroseplant regime in my training!       

[mlroseplant]

6 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Between your exercises and stretching, and the strengthening effect for calves and ankles of walking a thousand miles in heels, you probably have worked out a great fitness regime. I have a cycling challenge I have set myself, one involving a scary amount of hill climbing and mountain passes. I could probably do worse than incorporate the mlroseplant regime in my training!       

I did indeed used to have quite a fitness regimen. I've never lived a sedentary lifestyle, but several years ago, I had gotten to the point where I wasn't happy with how I looked or felt. I started an informal program slowly on indoor stationary equipment, and worked my way up to where I was quite excited to give a triathlon a try the following spring. I was in fighting trim, at the same weight I was in college, only stronger.

And then.  .  . this job I'm working happened. Although it continues to be a wonderful opportunity to gain more financial independence (and a way to buy more and better shoes), it is just exhausting, especially after doing it for coming up on 3 years. So plans for the triathlon went out the window, and now I'm lucky if I can drag myself out at night to walk a mile or two around the neighborhood (in heels, of course).

So yes, you're half-right. My legs and ankles don't look bad at all, but my belly has grown somewhat.

[Shyheels]

I've always been extremely fit - mainly through many thousands of miles of cycling (touring, not racing) but an injury a couple of years ago when I came off my bike on black ice, coupled with a crazy work-travel schedule this past year, meant I have fallen from grace in a big way, and out in over twenty pounds. I am older than you (I feel pretty sure I am anyway) and once you lose it, it is hard to come back.

Hence my solo cycling challenge to myself and a pressing need to find ways of regaining my fitness! 

[mtnsofheels]

On 11/17/2016 at 5:06 AM, mlroseplant said:

I may have mentioned at some time in the past that it has been my goal to walk 1,000 miles (or about 1,600 km) in high heels of at least 3.5 inches. Last night, I walked the last 2.8 miles that put me over the top. To be sure, this is no major accomplishment, as it took me about 3 1/2 years to do it, twice as long as I thought it might when I came up with this crazy idea. Of course, I had no idea at that time I would have more work than I could ever imagine, that I would more or less constantly be in a state of exhaustion, and that most nights I just wouldn't feel like getting dolled up enough to walk a couple of miles in heels. But nevertheless, it is accomplished.

These 1,000 miles are purposeful, GPS recorded walks, such as one might record for a fitness program. They do not include any incidental mileage, such as going to the supermarket or the mall, or wherever a person might normally go. Basically, if I drove a car to get there, I didn't count the miles. I am not sure if I want to set any goals for the future, or if I will just continue recording miles the way I have been up to now.

That is impressive Miro, Good for you for doing all the painstaking task of GPS and mapping it out as well. That is an great walking goal to do in heels, admirable. Yes we all face challenges in keeping our fitness as we get older and having a goal/challenge is a great way to maintain ourselves. Geez it is making think about making a challenge/goal!  Thanks for sharing and inspiring us!

[mlroseplant]

Wow, talk about lazy! Since passing the milestone, I've managed only an additional 0.8 miles. I refuse to feel guilty about it!

[Shyheels]

Well you are precisely 1000.8 miles ahead of me...

[Amanda]

I did a rough calculation based on walking about 4-5 miles a day which is getting on for 2000 a year.

[Shyheels]

25 minutes ago, Amanda said:

I did a rough calculation based on walking about 4-5 miles a day which is getting on for 2000 a year.

Chapeau! If you kept that up for twelve years that's once lightly around the globe at the Equator or a tenth of the way to the Moon. 

[Amanda]

28 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

Chapeau! If you kept that up for twelve years that's once lightly around the globe at the Equator or a tenth of the way to the Moon. 

Well I think I would opt for the moon since the globe is very messy as you well know.

[dww]

I can remember doing 1000 miles on my bike, I had a mileometer fitted to the front wheel, but that was back in about 1965, don't know how many miles in girls style shoes but I started in about 1968, and still doing so today, every day.

[Amanda]

3 hours ago, dww said:

I can remember doing 1000 miles on my bike, I had a mileometer fitted to the front wheel, but that was back in about 1965, don't know how many miles in girls style shoes but I started in about 1968, and still doing so today, every day.

How can you have been doing that in 1968 and still be alive today, that's impossible!

Edited November 21, 2016 by Amanda

[Shyheels]

20 minutes ago, Amanda said:

How can you have been doing that in 1968 and still be alive today, that's impossible!

Come now, the world wasn't that  intolerant in 1968!

Edited November 21, 2016 by Shyheels

[dww]

The late sixties was a great time to live, much better than today. What started the downhill bit was getting rid of the 240 pennies to the pound, still convert to old money even today, over ten bob for a mars bar, used to three for a shilling, that's five pee for the youngsters. Three and four pence for a gallon of fuel, that's six gallons for a pound. Give me the sixties anyday.

[HappyinHeels]

mlroseplant,

Interesting thread. I am curious if most of these miles were recorded on city or town streets you drove to. Would you record steps taken say, in a large mall? I would think that would be fair enough as well. An equally useful measure may be to record all the different activities you have done while wearing heels and the elapsed time of wear which may be included in the pedometre device. While I don't know how many miles/kilometres I have walked in heels I do know I have driven rental vehicles and my own vehicles, gone our to eat, gone to get a pedicure (Steve63130's favorite salon in Ohio), gone to the movies, did household chores, gone shopping in different cities, worked on woodworking projects, cooked and had sex all while wearing heels all things which women do. This may  prove to be a practical tool as well. One thing is fr sure, walking in heels definitely does something to build calf muscles.

Try and replace your home's electrical service in a pair of wild wedges next time. It'll put some special spark into that next project

HappyinHeels

[mlroseplant]

On 11/22/2016 at 8:40 PM, HappyinHeels said:

mlroseplant,

Interesting thread. I am curious if most of these miles were recorded on city or town streets you drove to. Would you record steps taken say, in a large mall? I would think that would be fair enough as well. An equally useful measure may be to record all the different activities you have done while wearing heels and the elapsed time of wear which may be included in the pedometre device. While I don't know how many miles/kilometres I have walked in heels I do know I have driven rental vehicles and my own vehicles, gone our to eat, gone to get a pedicure (Steve63130's favorite salon in Ohio), gone to the movies, did household chores, gone shopping in different cities, worked on woodworking projects, cooked and had sex all while wearing heels all things which women do. This may  prove to be a practical tool as well. One thing is fr sure, walking in heels definitely does something to build calf muscles.

Try and replace your home's electrical service in a pair of wild wedges next time. It'll put some special spark into that next project

HappyinHeels

I had no idea there would be this much interest in this thread. Since there is, I will explain a little bit more about what I have typically done to achieve the 1,000 miles, how I've catalogued it, and what I have discovered about myself and about my shoes over the past 3 years.

I walked the bulk of the 1,000 miles in the area around my house, which is in a small town in the Midwest U.S. Typically, I take these walks in the evening after dinner, 1-3 miles at a time, recorded by a GPS application I have on my phone. There are three places I go regularly where I do not switch on the application, because the mileage is a known quantity already. The walk to church is 0.6 miles (one way), the walk to the nearest grocery store is 0.5 miles, and orchestra rehearsal at the college is 0.4 miles (carrying a cello in heels really sucks by the way, but I've actually kind of gotten used to it).

Pretty much, that's it, that's all I record. I don't count the mall, I don't count Costco or any such large shopping establishment. I don't count the miles and miles I must have walked inside the church over the years. When we visited the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, I did give myself 2 miles credit, and I figure that was a super conservative estimate.

After each of these walks or events, I then record (by hand, oddly enough) the mileage, the date, and what shoes I was wearing. I also record what repairs may have been made to the shoes, such as new soles and heels. More about that later. I also mentally note each time, but do not record, the speed at which I walked on any given outing. Obviously, this is only useful where I have walked somewhere all in one shot with no stops for shopping or whatever. What I have discovered is that I have "fast" shoes, and I have "slow" shoes.

In sports shoes or in bare feet, I typically walk one mile in 16:30 to 17:00 minutes. I know it's not super fast, but I have found I simply do not enjoy walking any faster than that at all. If I need to go faster, I'd rather just run. I have really short legs, you know. In high heels, my mentally calculated average is about 20 minute miles, or 3 miles per hour. In my "fast" heels, 18 minute miles are no problem at all, and in my "slow" shoes, 22 minute miles can be a struggle. There is somewhat of a correlation between the height of the heels and how fast I can comfortably walk in them, but it is certainly not the only factor. For example, my go-to winter boots, which have 5.25" heels, are definitely "fast" shoes, even though they're in the top 25 percentile of being my highest shoes. Another exception to the correlation is the time I did a blistering 18:30 per mile in some super flappy 4.75" mules, which you'd think would be super slow shoes, but for some reason these fit tightly on my feet in just the right places and they never feel like they're going to fall off. At that fast speed, hearing protection is recommended to muffle the slapping sounds. It is much better to walk more slowly in those particular mules, it was just an experiment.

As I mentioned before, I keep track of when repairs are made to all my shoes, so I have gotten a sense of what lasts, and what doesn't. As we all know, in general, the stock heel tips, or top lifts, as cobblers call them, do not tend to last very long. With stilettos, I find I am at the cobbler shop within just a few miles of walking. Sometimes even broader heels wear out surprisingly fast. One exception is my Sofft Belicia sandals. The stock top lift is still good, though slightly worn, after over 100 miles of walking on concrete. I have half a mind to keep walking in them just to see how long it takes to wear the heels out, but unfortunately, the rest of the sandals are worn to the point where I like neither how they look nor how they feel any more. One thing that will not be surprising to most of you is that stiletto heels wear out a lot faster than broader heels. It is for this reason that I severely limit my purposeful walks in stilettos, saving them for occasions where I won't be doing a lot of walking on concrete. For the perfect balance of durability vs. looks, I have settled on heels which are about 3/4" x 3/4" (2mm x 2mm). These last many times longer than your typical stiletto at 3/8" x 3/8" (1mm x 1mm). In general, I can easily get 40-50 miles or more out of the slightly broader heels on concrete, whereas I am lucky to get 10 out of stilettos. Concrete is hell on stiletto top lifts.

What I have discovered over the last 3 years is that I've gotten a hell of a lot better at walking in heels. No surprise there. As I have gotten better, I have tended to buy and wear higher and higher heels. Whereas my original collection from 3 years ago contained a lot of shoes in the 3.5 inch range, my present collection contains relatively few which are lower than 4.5 inches. I have also discovered my limitations. My favorite, most comfortable heel height is about a 4 inch difference in steepness between front and back. Typically for me, this means a 5 inch heel with a 1 inch platform. This is on a size 9 shoe. Some of you guys up in the size 13+ range can wear 4 inch heels, and it looks like a kitten heel to me, LOL. If I go much more than a 4.5" difference in elevation, I can't really walk properly. If I made it my goal, yes, I could probably learn to walk in 5" heels, no platform, but it would require a lot of effort on my part, and I'm not willing to put that kind of energy into it at this point.

So that is the long version of what I might have posted originally, but I didn't want to bore you to death. I hope this answers some of your questions and more, and that you are still awake as you read this last sentence.

[Thighbootguy]

 

I think there is now a strong competition between JeffB and Miroseplant for being the number nerds of hhplace.

36 minutes ago, mlroseplant said:

orchestra rehearsal at the college is 0.4 miles (carrying a cello in heels really sucks by the way, but I've actually kind of gotten used to it).

I have always loved the sound of a cello outside the orchestral setting.  Acoustic guitar and cello make a great combination and to that end I just purchased a cello (an inexpensive Ammoon student cello from China, $168 including shipping) and I'm starting to learn the fingering.  Not being encumbered by written music , I'm having a really good time with the instrument.  To stay on topic, I discovered that patent leather knee high boots are great for holding onto the instrument.

 

49 minutes ago, mlroseplant said:

One thing that will not be surprising to most of you is that stiletto heels wear out a lot faster than broader heels.

When my cobbler replaced heel tips for me he flairs the bottom of the tip (kind of like a cone with a flat top) which almost doubled the surface area hitting the ground, but retains the look of the stiletto heel.  This greatly extends the longevity of the heel.  If nothing else, this could be another variable in your stats.

 

Thanks for the great post.

[HappyinHeels]

mlroseplant,

Now that's a well-documented and scientific account of your "heelventures". HappyinHeels

[Steve63130]

Mlroseplant,

Thanks for the details! Very interesting stats. As you may remember, I have a pair of the Sofft Belicia also, thanks to your sage advice, but as I have lots of other sandals, they don't get worn too often and are in great shape. I still enjoy them.

Steve