Tag Archives: walking

Still Running!

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Soon after her surgery back in October, Robyn started walking with me. We would usually go for about 30 minutes or so after the kids went to school. I sometimes ran for part of the time to keep up with my routine and after a while, Robyn would join me. This winter has been much colder than last so there were some days where it just wasn’t much fun to be out on a 22° day so in January, Robyn got a membership at Planet Fitness. Her membership allows her to bring a guest every day so that works out pretty well for me.

Robyn’s been going at least four times a week and I’ve been trying to get three in when I can. The big change for me has been using the weight machines and working on my arms and upper body strength. I’m actually seeing some results! I do miss running outdoors and I’m looking forward to getting back to it. As the weather warms up I’ll probably just work on strength at the gym and run on the “off” days.

I’m coming to realize that although cardio health and strength are important, it’s the ability to move freely that is probably the most important aspect of overall health.

My latest Instagram: The Moon over the Manhattan

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on Instagram: http://instagr.am/p/WJAtoxLfmo/

For our 11th wedding anniversary, Robyn and I decided to head into NYC again this year. I made a dinner reservation at Bond 45 for 7:30 but we had Gram come watch the kids at 3 o’clock so we could leave early and walk around. Here’s Robyn showing off her hot little dress on her “new” body. Amazing!

All dressed up with somewhere to go!

All dressed up with somewhere to go!

The first thing we noticed right after we parked the car was that it was much more windy than we had expected. Robyn did wear smart shoes this time but she was also wearing a dress so she was freezing. The first place we went was a store so Robyn could get some pants. After trying on a few pair, she purchased one and put them on under her dress. She’s so ingenious! We headed back out and walked all over Times Square. For a place that gets so much attention from the world, there’s not a whole lot to do in Times Square unless you want to shop. We went into a bunch of different places and bough the kids some stuff from the M&M Store.

Robyn in Times Square

Dinner was pretty good – not great. There was no comparison to last year’s feast although we did have a delicious meringue cake for dessert and I had a tasty Malbec with our meal. After dinner we walked south to the Empire State Building where we looked up and saw the full Moon overhead. It was a beautiful sight that’s definitely not fully captured in the photo above. We headed back to the car since things were closing up for the night. All-in-all, we had a good time out on the town.

First 5k!!

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I ran (and walked…but mostly ran) my first 5k today! I’ve been using the Cyclemeter “5k Training Program” for several weeks and today was supposed to be a long run day (28 minutes). So, I figured I’d take a route that would get me over the 3.11 miles for my round-trip. Using Google Map Pedometer, I came up with this route. It’s mostly flat with some nice downward slopes toward the end (that’s always a reward!) and a little elevation gain in the middle so it turned out to be a good run. Here’s my time:

Run Time: 38:41
Distance: 3.45 miles
Average: 11:13 /mile

Running

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At the beginning of the new year I made a resolution to be more active. I’ve been pretty consistent over the last couple of years about starting off in January with some exercise regime like running on the treadmill or whatever but that usually tapers off after the first couple months. This year, I set my sights low and just determined that I would get outside just about every day for a 30 minute walk and breath of fresh air. The much warmer than average winter and my busy work load probably had something to do with this decision. In any case, I began on January 9th with a walk around the neighborhood. It was nice to break up the work day with some time outdoors and I enjoyed seeing parts of our neighborhood that I had never explored. The other plus was that I was getting a chance to catch up on the many podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis.

I wasn’t so completely out of shape that walking tired me out so I began thinking about adding some jogging into my walk. I started off slow with the idea that I would work up to a certain distance and then level off. In the past, acclimating to these faster paces didn’t take very long but this time was different – my 40 year old body wasn’t as accepting of the demands I was making on it so I had to take it slow. Five minutes of running was about the most I could do at a stretch and then I followed up with several minutes of walking. I’m still pretty slow but I’m getting faster and more comfortable with my workouts.

One of the great helpers has been the use of the Cyclemeter app for iOS. I’ve had this app for a long time (I originally got it to track my biking routes) but now that I’m walking/jogging outdoors it tracks where I go and how fast I go so I am able to track my progress on a day-to-day basis and over time. Here’s a look at my daily distance and average speeds since January.

Daily Miles walked/run

Average Speed