Have been working on walking 10 miles - both for fitness and to see how long it takes ( and what other factors may come into it - sun, water, route finding, etc.)

That's great! Keep up the good work. Our bodies were made to walk.

I'm at 6 miles in about 1 hour and 45 minutes, once a week. Shorter distances during the rest of the week.

The problem I am having is that I seem to have reached an aerobic plateau; increasing the distance really doesn't have as much effect on my cardio-vascular fitness as I want or (per the Doc) need. It still burns calories (about 100 per mile), but the cardio training effect seems to have reached the point of diminishing returns.

My solution (still in experimental phase) is to do "Nordic Walking." I use 2 poles to push me along (sort of like cross country skiing). It uses more muscles and burns more calories. The net effect is that when I "Nordic Walk" I can only do about half my usual distance, and I end up "huffing and puffing" a lot more along the way.

explore the possibility of adding some running intervals; definitely run this by your doctor first...

Having the confidence to know that you can definitely huff it X number of miles can really be helpful when any number of things go wrong. That confidence goes a long way in reducing the stress level when faced with some unexpected situation far from "civilization".

To be more practical, slowly adding some weight in a backpack could make it more preparedness-related once you've reached your 10 mile goal.

I often do 10-milers on a weekend. I'm not in a hurry so three hours is my usual time. I find the experience very meditative and calming, even if I may be huffing it up a hill.

I was fortunate in one respect after Super Storm Sandy. I had been training for the NYC Marathon,so I was able to put in the mileage around a blacked out Manhattan when I needed to.

I trained for two years though, with the close supervision of a doctor.

One thing I might suggest is to run/walk at a pace that keeps your heart rate at 80% of maximum (as opposed to running for X minute per mile goals). Building aerobic capacity offers the benefit of a lower resting pulse rate. The heart doesn't have to work as hard at rest, enabling you to recover from exertion faster. A great plus in stressful times.

Walking with a heart rate monitor is a good way to ensure you're getting the aerobic training time you need.

It's also helpful for establishing a pace you can do continuously when you are in an uphill and high altitude situation (such as I see when I go hiking).

Carrying more weight in your pack will also raise the aerobic effort and is good training for bug-out scenario.

Keep up the good work. Just don't overdo it too soon. I've been having knee issues and got diagnosed today with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (causes a lot of pain in knees and sometimes causes them to lock up and stop working, especially on stairs). But my longest walk was 24 miles last year with a 40 pound rucksack. I've done more 10+ mile rucks than I can count when training up for GORUCK events.

I start PT Monday to see how my knees are going to hold up going forward for doing more events. I was scheduled for one tomorrow night (8-10 hours+, 15-20 miles+) but had to bow out due to doctor's orders.

I normally walk anywhere from 5-8 miles just on my job every day.

What to do in the end, depends on the goal.

- Able to do X in Y time.
- Just cardio-vascular fitness.
- Improve overall muscle strength (which prevents all kinds of pains. Does require other activity's than just walking.)
- etc.

General advice;
- Build up slowly, if you rush you will get injuries.
- Take enough recovery or your fitness will go backwards.
- Eat and drink right.

I hate running so walk uphill instead to get cardio-vascular. Still looking for a hill that is uphill both ways; guess it's called a treadmill.
qjs

I have spent a lot of time on treadmills, and noticed something about them---it seems that you go faster on a treadmill than you can actually do on even flat streets. I noticed that in the gym, I could do 4 MPH for at least a half hour, according to the machine speed setting, but in fact on flat terrain outside, the best I could sustain for the same length of time was about 3.7 MPH. The cardio effort seemed roughly equal to me.

I realize there are dozens of variables, but IMO, take the treadmill numbers with a grain of salt, as, when outdoors, truely, YMMV.