Walking a mile or 2.. or 3

[chrisinhouston]

Well it's been a few months now since my wife and I were staying in Hawaii and started walking every morning before she had to go to work and we are mostly keeping it up here at home. We get up just after 5am, well I get up first and she gets up 15-20 minutes later. We usually grab some coffee and do a bit of internet stuff, check email or whatever. Then make a pit stop in the bathroom, if we don't the walk gets cut short. I got a nice pedometer and we usually walk for 45 minutes or so, about 3400 steps and 1.5 miles.

I sometimes walk later in the day by myself after my wife goes to work. I'm averaging 12,000 to 15,000 steps for the day which is pretty good. I think I will need new shoes soon. I don't weigh myself but I feel better and my stamina is improved. My cadio Dr. wants me to do a stress test some time this year so I'd like to be in good shape for that.

Walking gives me time to think about things... life... kids... anything. When I walk alone I know I walk much faster than with my wife as she has short legs and thus a short stride.

[glatt]

That's great! 15,000 steps is pretty good and about 10,000 steps more than the average person gets in a day. I get 7,000 steps in a day without even trying. It's just built into the way I have my life set up and includes my commute. If I go for a walk on my lunch hour, that will bump me up to about 12,000 steps. Walking is a great way to get some easy exercise and and it really relaxes me.

[chrisinhouston]

I'm riding a bike, too. But I would need to start a thread called Riding a mile or 2 or 3, I guess.

[Clodfobble]

Mr. Clod and I try to walk every weekday morning, in theory. The reality is that we manage to walk 1-2 mornings a week, but we have kept that up since last August, so we're actually fairly proud of the averaged-out accomplishment. Exercising is not his thing, by a long shot. I personally enjoy the walking, but I hate dragging him out of bed--it saps my motivation and makes me feel like a nag to boot. It's easy for me because I'm already up at that hour regardless.

[chrisinhouston]

For me the reality is that the later in the day it gets the less chance I will complete my walk. Not only is it hotter and more humid, there are more people out, especially little old ladies with yap yap dogs on those terribly long retractable leashes.

I really try to get out just before or after sunrise. Less people out and if I walk down my neighborhood streets I see people getting their day started. I'm not a peeping Tom but many of the home in our neighborhood have similar floor plans to ours and the kitchens are often up front so I get a feel for who has redone there kitchen and how it looks if the lights are on and the curtains open.

[wolf]

We are engaging in the fitness contest at the rehab again. We were all kind of conscripted. I wanted the team to be named after the involuntary commitment law ... but I lost. We've got a stupider name.

So, anyway, I'm using this as an excuse to get back on shank's mare, and have been walking about a mile, usually three or four times a week. On the other days I do some other sort of fitnessy thing ... I've done a Qi Gong video, worked with resistance bands, and so on. Frankly, I prefer the walking. I get to listen to audiobooks that way, and wanting to know the next piece of the story is my incentive. I have the software on my phone that lets me get audiobooks directly from the library, and it interfaces with my fitness software, so my encouraging coaching voice comes in every now and again to let me know how far I've gone and how much time I've spent doing it.