I ended up walking nearly 4 miles today. I’m ready for the 5K on Saturday.
I planned on a 2 mile walk. I ended up going nearly 4 miles. I felt great during the walk. With my muscle soreness gone, I focused on distance, not speed. With the 5K looming on Saturday, I wanted to see if any problems popped up related to my knee or stiffness in general.
Nothing. I felt great.
Tomorrow I’ll try a shorter distance but a faster pace. Other than doing yoga, I plan to give my body a break and take Friday off. That should give me the rest I need before the race on Saturday.
This morning I played with Weight Watchers’ eTools checking out the fitness section. I discovered a fitness quiz designed to build a personal activity profile and training guide. A quiz? Fun.
The first time through, I’d answer the questions honestly to get my profile. Then I’d run through the quiz multiple times to see the different types of personalities I am not. Why? I’m a marketer. It’s what I do.
The multiple-choice questions were pretty simple: last time I exercised regularly, do I like working out with other people, outdoor vs. indoor workouts, and am I competitive.
From what I can tell, quiz takers fit into one of five categories: competitor, explorer, individualist, joiner, and perfect partner.
(You can take the activity profile quiz if you are a subscriber to Weight Watchers eTools. Otherwise, take the poll to choose your exercise type.)
Well, it turns out I’m an (drum roll, please)…Individualist!
I can see that. Working out is a time for me to clear my thoughts. Also if I’m exercising with friends I’m more likely to socialize than get a great workout. I know my limitations!
As for the suggested workouts, some I’m already doing like hiking, walking, yoga and strength training. But some suggestions intrigued me: biking, hitting balls at a driving range, water workouts (suggest exercises for the pool), and inline skating.
The last time I rode a bike? About 20 years ago. Now I did buy a bike in 2010. Where’s that bike now? Sitting in a shed. How sad. Maybe this fall I get back on that horse.
There’s a pool and driving range near out house. Perhaps a couple of times a month I try swimming and hitting golf balls. It certainly breaks up the monotony of walking and yoga everyday.
As for inline skating, all I can say is “Yikes!” I’d say that’s a big, fat no for now. Until I master the bike, no way in hell I’m getting on skates. Now that doesn’t mean never. Maybe it’s something to try next spring.
Looking to hit my goal of walking in five 5Ks in 2013. Image courtesy of Sura Nualpradid/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
So far this year, I’ve walked in just one 5K race. For my New Year’s resolution, I set a goal of five 5Ks. I’m a bit behind.
There’s still 99 days left in 2013. Time to get into gear.
I signed up for two local 5Ks in October. The first one is in two weeks and the second is the day after my wedding anniversary.
That gives me a couple of weeks to prepare for the October 5th race, focusing on distance and not speed. Before the knee went wonky on me, I walked 6.5K (4 miles) nearly everyday. So I’m not anticipating any problems. I’m up to 2 miles a day now without any knee pain. I’m planning on increasing my distance to 3 miles by mid-week. Fingers crossed!
There’s a Color Run 5K in Baltimore the Sunday before Thanksgiving that just looks fun. Not familiar with Color Runs? It’s a paint race. Just wear white at the start of the race and at each kilometer, you’re doused from head to toe in color. I’ll see if I can convince the hubby to walk with me. My only concern is the time of the year – mid-November in Baltimore. I’ll need to layer my clothes.
That leaves me finding one more 5K before the end of the year.
We’re under a severe thunderstorm alert. So I guess no power walk…
I’ve heard the thunder for the last 2 hours. Well it looks like the sky’s ready to split open. I just got a lovely little message from the county that we are under a severe thunderstorm warning until 10 tonight.
I’m actually happy. Not because my walk’s cancelled. Hopefully this will break the humidity. Best way to describe the last couple of days – oppressive. Today it’s 91 but feels closer to 100 degrees. Not great for us fatties!
Tomorrow’s forecast – sunny and 79. Now that’s walking weather!
Do’h. Major lightning strike. Your humble weather chick is logging off.
P.S.
I used the word “oppressive” in this post and it made me think of the video below. It has nothing to do with the weather, but it is about oppression. Carry on.
Ugh! Fingers crossed that the knee is just a bit sore and that this isn’t in my future! Image courtesy Ambro and FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I’ve heard of runner’s knee. Is there such a thing as walker’s knee? Or is it all the same thing?
This morning I felt a sharp pain during my walk. I slowed my pace and the pain dulled. I toyed with turning around and going home, but the pain went away. I chalked it up to age and weight and continued walking, but decided to just do 2 miles and not the scheduled 4. On the way home, I stepped off the curb wrong and sure enough the sharp pain came back. Again it dulled and disappeared after about 50 steps.
When I got home I decided to rest my leg. After 30 minutes, I felt great and decided to run my errands for the day – grocery shopping, cleaning the house, prepping all my veggies for the week. I only had one mishap with the knee. While carrying groceries from the car I lost my footing and fell on the walk leading up to my house. Both knees gave the concrete step a love tap, but it wasn’t too painful.
Now I’m sitting down for the first time since that morning sit and the knee is throbbing.
Great.
Good news is that it doesn’t hurt going up and down the stairs. With all the walking, plus my weight and age, perhaps my knee is feeling a little overused. I don’t think I pulled, sprained, ruptured or imploded anything.
I plan to take it easy the rest of the day – it’s a beautiful day out so I plan to go outside, drink ice tea (curses you 30-day No Alcohol Challenge!), and read with my leg raised. If my knee behaves, I might treat it to a nice ice pack to boot!
Tomorrow, instead of the 5-mile walk, I’ll do a muscle workout and give the knee a rest. With any luck, I’ll be back to my old self by the weekend.
Good progress on the walk today. I’ve reduced my overall pace by 2 minutes, going from 18:48 to 16:46/mile. Sweet. Tomorrow we’ll see if I can do this two days in a row or if yesterday’s day off skewed today’s results.
A few weeks ago, I set a goal to consistently walking 4 miles a day, 5 days a week. Speed didn’t matter. I set my sights on distance.
I’m happy to report I’ve hit my goal. Now I need to push myself. What better way than to focus on how fast I walk 4 miles. The new goal? An overall pace of 15 minutes/mile. Right now it takes me about 75 minutes to walk 4 miles. I want to get that down to 60 minutes. I just need to keep pushing myself, especially on the uphill part of my trail.
Looking at my splits, Mile 3 – the up hill section of my walk – took the longest at 18:29. I don’t know what happened to me the last mile. At 14:39, it was by far my fastest. I think I just wanted to get out of the humidity as fast as possible.
I would love to hit the 15 minute/mile mark by mid September. A tall order now that we are in the dog days of summer. But I’m up for the challenge.
Dot2trot got her walking groove back. Averaging more miles a day. Sweet!
I got 4 walks in this week and I feel grrreat! And I’m super stoked about getting up early Saturday to walk 4.5 miles…..good lord what is wrong with me!?!
I’m not a morning person. I like waking up at the crack of noon. Why am I so damn happy about early morning walks of all things?
Clearly I’m pumping out the endorphins – the brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters. But I think that’s only part of the tale. Exercise is no longer one more thing on my to-do list. It’s becoming part of my daily routine. Exercise first. To-do list second. I’m getting back to making me a priority! Woohoo!
I’ll leave you with a little inspiration. If it doesn’t get you moving, you’re not human.
I hate humidity. It’s my kryptonite. I’m a wuss in its presence. Who in their right mind wants to feel as if they are wearing a warm, wet blanket. Ugh!
For the last few weeks, the weather has been either scorching hot and humid or rainy and muggy. So yes, I get dressed in the morning for a power walk. But do I actually leave my air-conditioned house to do the power walk? Not so much. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind sweating when I workout. I just don’t like sweating because I walked out my front door.
Well a few days ago, I decided my weather wuss days were over. I spent about 90 minutes outside weeding and trimming the rose bushes. I kept pushing off this chore to the point where the rose bushes were covering the walk to our front door. Nothing like getting poked and scratched by thorns every time you leave the house to motivate you. I set Friday for the day and figured it would double for my workout. Of course, the temps topped 99 degrees, making it the hottest and muggiest day of the year. Awesome!
But I didn’t burst into flames from the heat or melt away in the humidity. I just kept myself hydrated and wore a baseball cap. Yes I was a hot mess afterwords. And sure, I was still sweating after I got out of the shower, but it felt great working outdoors.
So this morning I walked for nearly 45 minutes. I did 2.5 miles and my pace was just over 17 minutes/mile. While today’s not a scorcher like Friday, it is still hot and muggy outside.
H/T to Popsugar Fitness for some basic guidelines to follow for exercising on hot days: drink lots of cool water, wear a hat and loose-fitting clothes, take it easy, and walk in the shade. I did speed up my pace near the end and that resulted in some mild abdominal cramping. So that tells me I need to keep to a moderate pace and try a shorter walk tomorrow.
I survived New York City and its wonderful plethora of scrumdiddlyumptious food.
The keys? 1. Smart choices and 2. Walking, walking and more walking.
I left the cannolis and opted for eggs, ordered tasty salads, skipped desserts, drank lots of water, and avoided bad snacks. The biggest boost this weekend was the amount of walking we did. I worried as the weather report called for rain the entire time.
Sure enough it rained all night Friday, but that didn’t stop us from taking a 3-hour trek through Times Square, Hell’s Kitchen and the Theater District. Saturday it was windy, chilly and sprinkled some. That didn’t stop us from walking everywhere, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. No cabs! With the exception of our outing to The Book of Mormon, we were on our feet the entire day.
Saturday night I did indulge in a few Cosmos while listening to jazz. But my dogs were barking at me, so no guilt!
I plan to step on the scales this Friday so we’ll see if I kicked the worm to the curb.
Crossing the finish line at my first 5K. Next year I’ll be running, not walking.
Today was my first 5K and I loved it. I’ve never moved faster. I’ve been averaging 16:38/mile during my 3-mile walks. Not this morning. Say hello to 15:44/mile.
I’m always fastest during my first mile. I just go too fast and start to run out of gas. Well something changed during the 5K. I became progressively faster each mile. By the end of my second mile, I had shaved 10 seconds off of my first mile pace. By the time mile 3 came and went, I was 8 seconds faster than mile 2.
I didn’t feel winded. I didn’t run out of gas. So what gives?
During the 5K, my competitive juices kicked in. I officially wasn’t racing. I didn’t have a timer since I was a walker. But as the 5K progressed, I picked out people who I needed to catch up with and pass. I have no idea why, but that became my motivation. Perhaps its simply because when I do my daily walks I’m alone. It’s just me against my timer. Not today!
Pack of teenage girls engaged in the world’s most insipid, shallow conversation…had to blow past them so my head wouldn’t explode.
The gaggle of old lady power walkers who had an incredibly fast pace at the beginning…became the hares to my tortoise.
But hats off to one woman who I designated my archenemy. She walked a very steady pace. Throughout the race, she was the one I had to catch. No matter how close I got, I couldn’t pass her. It was infuriating. How did I get so close only have her pull further away? It wasn’t until the middle of mile 2 that I learned her secret. She would walk for 5 minutes then breakout into a jog for 30 seconds. She was interval training during the 5K. As soon as I caught up to her or even passed her, she would just breakout into a jog and blow right past me. It only made me want to go faster – but since I haven’t started interval training, running is my kryptonite. She used her ninja powers to finish about 6 seconds ahead of me. Thanks to that “defeat,” my interval training will start soon.
