Biomechanical mystery

[bakedweasels]

Why is it that my wife can walk so fast that I can't comfortably keep up, but I can jog/run much faster than her? Why is there an inflection point in our relative speeds as we move through the walk/jog/run continuum?

Comments

[algorithmancy]

If I may conjecture wildly, I would observe that relatively speaking, walking is aerobic and running is anaerobic. I would expect running speed to have more to do with power/mass ratio and walking speed to have more to do with things like resting heartrate and stride length.

[bakedweasels]

I think stride length is probably part of the answer. On the issue of aerobic vs. anaerobic, anything you can do for 30 minutes or more at a more or less constant rate is predominantly an aerobic activity, so I think if it were simply a question of superior aerobic capacity she'd be able to outrun me over medium to long distances too.

[kirisutogomen]

Probably because you're walking inefficiently. This usually happens when your center of mass is bobbing up and down as you walk; efficient walkers' centroids move almost exclusively horizontally.

Also possible: your feet are striking the ground weirdly, and/or your arms are swinging wrong.

[firstfrost]

This usually happens when your center of mass is bobbing up and down as you walk; efficient walkers' centroids move almost exclusively horizontally.

A while ago, I read about walking with more hip swivel and less bounce as being more efficient, and tried walking that way experimentally for a little while. It was interesting, and did feel vaguely more efficient, but I definitely wasn't going faster. :)

Also, when you're on the moon, walking is harder work than jogging.