So!
Last couple of posts were a little... well... down.
However.
Have no fear.
I have gotten my big butt in gear and have had the best week evah!
(well... okay maybe not the best week evah, but a really good one, perhaps the best in a good long while)
I have found my marathon!
On August 26th, Spunky and I will be walking the
sponsored by the 73rd Squadron Walking Club!
It is relatively local. The chap I spoke to was very positive and welcomed Spunky (so long as he was friendly and was well heeled around livestock). It is right around the time my marathon training will be peaking to race day. I'm chuffed.
My registration form and fees go in the post today.
Also. To keep me even more accountable I have signed up to fund raise for two charities.
Well. I signed up for one, Spunky signed up for the other... but since we walk together, and he doesn't have opposable thumbs...
Anyway!
Those charities would be
Specifically Canines for Veterans
(Spunky's choice)
and
If you are so inclined you can donate via
or
Last week was my first week of training.
Training you ask? How does one train to walk a marathon?
By walking of course!
If you are curious and would like to see the schedule I will be keeping check this website out.
Specifically this plan...
Now, some people might argue that I'm not a beginner... and they would be right... but since I have been out of real walking for so long, and I am rehabilitating an injured foot I decided to take it slow and easy.
(for which I am already glad... goodness how out of shape I didn't know I was!)
But... back to the first week of training!
It looks something like this...
Monday - 3 miles concentrating on pace
Tuesday - 2 miles concentrating on technique... I totally spazzed my strength training...
Wednesday - 3 miles concentrating on pace (which increase from a 21 minute mile to a 19 minute mile)
Thursday - is a cross train day so dog park for a wander... should have been bike and resistance bands... but I spent it house cleaning instead (a valid cross training exercise if I do say so myself)
.Friday was off schedule as it was supposed to be distance day, but it was spent travelling to Yorkshire and having a short wander.
Saturday - 4 miles concentrating on simply going the distance.... and walking the hills and finding a geocache.
Sunday- easy walk or cross train, we did just short of 3.5 miles on Yorkshire hills looking for geocaches again.. woof!
Today.... REST!
The weekend put me slightly off my own schedule, which is actually slipped a day from the posted online one as I would rather my rest day came on Sunday.
Anyway!
Official cumulative distance for the week is 17. 52 miles.
Official weight?... Down by 5 pounds.
Official observance? My mental state for eating has changed drastically. I found it easy to make better choices. It was easy to choose to not eat... easy to put food out of my mind, in fact, I didn't find myself thinking about eating at all. Which is fab. I love not having my brain working on what it will be eating next.
A couple of things are helping me with all of this.
I use Map My Walk
It has an app that tracks my walks and easily allows me to log distance etc... it has a nicely accurate calorie burn calculator as well. I have been using this website for several years now. Even without their app it is easy to map your walk. Don't know how far you went? No problem! Just keep track of how much time it took you, go to their maps, and mark out your trek, enter in how long it took and whalah! You have stats!
If you would like to join me there you can find me by me name!
The other thing I use is My Fitness Pal.
This is a lovely app/website that tracks my food intake. It is the best one I have found for showing, explaining and keeping track of exactly HOW MUCH you should be eating. Clean and simple logging food is less exact and less OCD making than Spark People where I used to track everything. It is also more accurate. My only complaint is it won't partner with Mapmywalk to share my workout. I have to manually enter my distance and calories burned. Not a horrible issue, but one that could be easily repaired as they offer pairing with several other exercise tracking apps. If you would like to join me there I am Mbroidress!
I love tracking my progress.
I love being able to go back and see what I have done over the past weeks.
Sometimes it is not pretty...
But an entire calendar month blocked out with the activity you did is an awesome thing to behold!
So!
That's how it goes here!
Today is a rest day (yes there will be dog park action)
But tomorrow starts us on 3/2/3/cross train/ 5 week!
Come on! Join us!
One foot in front of the other...
Just in case 3 miles seems daunting, keep in mind that one mile takes just over 2000 steps.
The average sedentary person takes 1000-3000 steps per day.
Increasing the number of steps you take goes a long way to increasing your health.
Not up to walking miles?
Here's a better way to start.
Grab yourself a cheap old pedometer.
Wear it for a few days.
See how many steps you average.
Work at adding 500 more to that total over the course of a week.
Each week add another 500 until you reach 10,000...
(and guess what?! ... when you reach that you are actually walking 5 miles!!!)
This 10,000 steps challenge is outlined here...
In fact... if you haven't noticed... I love this website.
Okay! So!
I would hate for this entire entry to go without any pictures, so here is me and Spunky getting our distance on the Yorkshire Dales!
Notice the look of grim determination on my face and the slightly sad disappointment on Spunky's... I am by god getting up that hill, and he is by god not chasing any sheep! :-D
Also! Chuffed to discover that after a week of stretching I can once again do this!!!!
Why yes. That is me,, palms flat on the floor... legs straight....
So! New week! New challenges! Off we go!
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