Fitbits, Apple watches, and even the health app on your phone are calculating your daily steps, whether you’re an avid step-tracker or not. But how do you convert those steps to figure out how many miles you’ve walked?
The average stride length is 2.2 feet, so for most people 13,000 steps is 5.4 miles.
Of course that’s a a very general figure. The actual distance you’ll cover in 13,000 step depends on your individual stride length, which itself will vary based on if you’re walking or running and within each your speed.
Below you’ll find more details to help you understand how far 13,000 steps are for you.
How Many Miles Is 13,000 steps?
Since the average person’s stride is 2.2 feet and there are 5,280 feet in a mile, the average person walks about 2,400 steps per mile. You can reach the same conclusion by dividing 5,280 feet by 2.2 feet to get 2,400 steps as well.
If you divide 13,000 steps by 2,400 steps, you get 5.41 miles, so, generally speaking, 5.41 miles is 13,000 steps.
How Many Steps Are in a Mile?
If you want to use the same equation to find your specific feet per step, take a few steps from a starting line to a finish line and measure the distance.
Let’s say you measure 7 feet in 3 steps: 7 divided by 3 equals 2.3 feet per step. Your steps per mile are 5,280 divided by 2.3, which equals 2,295 steps.
13,000 Steps to Miles - How To Convert Steps to Miles
The easiest method is to convert average steps to feet. Once you have your average number of steps per foot, simply take the number of feet in a mile (5,280) and divide that number by your feet per stride.
Easy steps to miles calculator
If you’re short on time or not up to a mathematics challenge, you can also use this easy steps in a mile calculator to determine your average steps in a mile.
Steps per mile for walking
To calculate steps per mile for walking, take a serious number of steps, such as 100 steps, over a measured distance to find the average.
You need the final answer in feet, so the distance must be in feet. Let’s say you travel 200 feet in 100 steps; you have a stride of 2 feet per step on average.
Steps per mile for running
There are approximately 1500 steps per mile taken when running (if we use our average stride length to calculate). For more on the difference between steps running versus walking, read: What is 2 miles in steps?
How Do You Calculate Your Walking Step or Stride Length?
If your fitness app is asking for your stride or step length (which are the same thing, often used interchangeably), you need to know how to calculate your stride!
On average, a stride is usually 2.5 feet long, or about 30 inches. Of course, your height, leg length, and overall health can play a part in how long your step is.
To determine how long your step is, get some chalk and measuring tape, then head outside. You’ll want to mark out 30 feet with chalk, making a mark for every five feet.
Allow yourself about 15 feet of walking before you start counting to ensure you’re at your normal pace. Once you’ve hit 15 feet, count how many steps it takes you to get to 30.
Then, divide the number of feet (15) by the number of steps you took. So, if it took you 10 steps, that would be 15/10, which equals 1.5 feet per step.
Average stride length for women
According to the University of Oklahoma, women have shorter strides than men, but all people have two average strides, a walking, and a running/jogging stride. Women average 2.2 feet walking stride and 4.3 feet running stride.
Average stride length for men
In general, men have an average walking stride of 2.6 feet and an average running stride of 5.18 feet. You can see that when running, women have to move their legs faster to keep up.
Does age affect stride length?
As we age, our pace tends to slow, and, according to research by the NIH, our strides shorten as well. Interestingly, cadence remains relatively the same.
How Long Does It Take To Walk or Run 13,000 Steps?
The trouble with calculating how long it takes to travel 13,000 steps means leaving out an important factor — cadence. Cadence is how fast you are moving your legs. The quicker you move your legs, the sooner you’ll hit the 13,000 mark.
Walking 13,000 steps
The Gunderson Health System mapped out a pedometer conversion chart. Let’s say you walk at a speed of 2 miles per hour; 13,000 steps will take 217 minutes or just over 3½ hours. Because of the factor of cadence, you have to know how fast you are walking.
Running 13,000 steps
If you go for a relaxed jog at 5 miles per hour, 13,000 steps will take 130 minutes, or just over 2 hours and 10 minutes.
How Many Steps Can I Cover in How Much Time?
As stated above, the answer to this question is miles per hour (mph). Plenty of devices tell you how fast you are walking, but if you want to do the calculation yourself, time yourself walking in minutes.
Get a stopwatch, walk for a minute, and count your steps. If you know your stride is 2 feet long, and you take 60 steps a minute, your data collection is complete. Each minute, you are traveling 120 feet.
Maybe you only have 30 minutes to walk, so you multiply 120 feet times 30 minutes and get 3,600 feet, a little over half a mile.
How Many Miles a Day Is Healthy?
While this number depends somewhat on age, a good round number is 5 miles per day or about 10,000 steps daily is a healthy goal.
Unfortunately, most people get as little as 3,000 – 5,000 steps, which qualifies as a sedentary lifestyle and can potentially lead to a host of illnesses.
Simple Tips To Add More Steps to Everyday Life!
Walk to work
Since many people are short on time and a desk job may impede your physical activity, walking to work is a great way to work exercise into daily life. Perhaps you have to travel to a city; you may have the opportunity to walk to a metro/subway station.
Park further away from your destination
If you drive to work, you may be able to park a mile from work and walk the rest of the way. You can get a few more steps in during lunch hour if you walk a few blocks away to get food. The same goes for shopping, park as far as you can away from the store.
Carve out time before or after work
Some people feel getting in more steps warrants waking up earlier and walking around the neighborhood. Most of us will take time after work to walk. You might have a track nearby that lets you count laps and manage distance easily, but if not, neighborhood roads work great.
Join a gym or buy a treadmill/walking pad
If you need to, join the gym or buy a treadmill for home use. Treadmills allow you to set a target speed and challenge yourself with varying elevations.
You can also potentially set up your laptop on your treadmill to get in some steps while working or buy an “under-the-desk” walking pad and a standing desk.
Summary
Whether you wish to determine how many miles is 13,000 steps or figure out how long the you’ll take, converting steps to other forms of data is a valuable piece of knowledge.
You might decide to lengthen your stride or walk faster to go farther in the same amount of time. Whatever you do, exercise is important for a healthy lifestyle, so get going and improve your quality of life.