While walking on the treadmill today – a great place/time to think, by the way – I started calculating exactly how long it would take, at a fixed-pace, to walk a mile.
My particular treadmill does this calculation for me, but with nothing to do but walk, I figured I’d work out the math anyway.
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We measure speed in miles per hour. There are 60 minutes in one hour. Here’s the basic equation for figuring out how long it takes to walk 1 mile, given a fixed speed.
60 minutes / x (minutes to walk 1 mile) = speed (in mph) / 1
Using 3.7 mph, let’s figure out how long it takes to walk one mile.
60 min / x = 3.7 mph / 1
A little old-school cross-multiplication yields
60 = 3.7x
x = 60/3.7
x = 16.22 minutes
We then need to convert the .22 minutes to seconds
60 seconds per minute * .22 minutes = 13 seconds
So, it takes 16 minutes 13 seconds to walk 1 mile at 3.7 mph.
Here is a quick chart with speeds from 2 mph to 6.5 mph.
Speed           Time (m/s)
2.0Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:30:00
2.1Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:28:34
2.2Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:27:16
2.3Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:26:05
2.4Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:25:00
2.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:24:00
2.6Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:23:04
2.7Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:22:13
2.8Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:21:25
2.9Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:20:41
3.0Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:20:00
3.1Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:19:21
3.2Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:18:45
3.3Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:18:10
3.4Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:17:38
3.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:17:08
3.6Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:16:40
3.7Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:16:13
3.8Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:15:46
3.9Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:15:23
4.0Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:15:00
4.1Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:14:38
4.2Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:14:17
4.3Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:13:57
4.4Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:13:38
4.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:13:19
4.6Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:13:02
4.7Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:12:45
4.8Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:12:30
4.9Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:12:14
5.0Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:12:00
5.1Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:11:45
5.2Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:11:32
5.3Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:11:19
5.4Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:11:06
5.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:10:55
5.6Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:10:42
5.7Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:10:31
5.8Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:10:20
5.9Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:10:10
6.0Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:10:00
6.1Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:09:50
6.2Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:09:40
6.3Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:09:31
6.4Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:09:21
6.5Â Â Â Â Â Â 0:09:13
Most treadmills will do these calculations for you, but it’s cool to re-visit some per-algebra once in a while. I rounded when making calculations, so I could be off by a second-or-two. Let me know if you find an error in my calculations. Be blessed.
I used some of the great information found at Fitness Math to verify my calculations.
