Monday, April 27, 2015

Progress on This Path

This is the view along the river where I'm taking my Temple Terrace walks!
So much for daily updates!
Now, I'm aiming to update once a week.
It's important to document progress on this path.
I.m learning so much that will be helpful to others who want to get in tip top shape.

Let me follow me Facebook texts and follow the process.
At the start of February, I was following #TeamIvanka's training strategy- substituting walking for running and Zumba for cross-training.  This worked very well for a while.
February 2nd- did 1.33 miles in 30 minutes.
February 6th- had a check up at Curves where I lost 2.5 pounds but 7.5 inches in the month of January.
February 15th- did 1.81 miles in 50 minutes.
March 1st- did 2.07 miles in 57 minutes.
March 12th- joined Miles for Moffitt 8 week training program.

Several things I learned right off the bat:
1) Needed a really good walking shoe- one designed for my weight and gait.
2) Needed to improve my form- found that when I was walking correctly, could walk faster for short periods of time without pain.  Also could walk longer distances.
3) Found that I needed compression wear for support on my knees and to minimize swelling in my lower legs.
4) Found that I really needed to work on my breathing- a lot.
5) And because I wanted to track my HR, my routes, and my time- and I needed my hands free- I needed to get a smart watch- after a little searching- got a Fitbit Surge and it has become an invaluable tool.  Better than the watch is the app.  Without the app- the watch wouldn't be anywhere near as helpful or useful.  Only thing I don't like is that it is hard to give progress reports on Facebook- have to do cuts of screen shots to update folks on my time and distance.

Some highlights:
March 22nd: 2.4 miles in 59:02 minutes- out for 30 minutes and back in 29 minutes- longest walk to date.
March 29th: 2.6 miles in 62 minutes- this time added hills to the course and added speed up the hills due to my hills training class.
This is the week that I got over-ambitious on the hills workout and re-introduced pain to my legs.  From this point on, a long walk-run can cause tingling in my shins and my knees were weaker.  Started to really focus on stretching and RICE- rest, ice, compression, elevation.  Time started to slow down...
April 5th: 2.32 miles in 62 minutes
April 12th: 4.02 miles in 1 hours, 51 minutes.  This surprised me a lot.  We went from walking for an hour to 4 miles.  This may not have been a stretch for some- but I needed to double my distance.  Made the walk but this finished me for the rest of the day!
April 18th: Color Me Rad 5K- finished in 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Surge said it was only 2,86 miles but the 24 minute mile was the fastest time in weeks- being in a race might have helped-but I was also walking on flat ground for the first time in weeks.
Which brings me to Sunday: 4 miles in 1 Hour- 50 minutes.  Exact same time- but this time after icing my legs on the way home (Carrying gel packs in a cooler to my walks- strap them to my legs to save recovery time- those leg weight straps were finally good for something!).  After I came home did my mild curve stretches and after a while did some foam roller massaging- and legs were as good as new!  (Except today my knees were weak and couldn't get down the stairs without holding on to both handrails).

So many things to talk about!  But we'll leave those for other days and try to give you an update every week on Sunday evening.

This to come:
Miles for Moffitt 5K- May 9th.
Miles for Minds- August
Trot Thru the Terrace 10K- Nov 14th
Possibly Linda Gray's Running College 1st and 2nd semesters- if she gets 2 or 3 more cardio-walk students.
That's all for now.  Lots of things to catch up on and people, places, and things to credit in the coming weeks.

Walking Around FMHI at Lunch

Note: This was written 1/30/15.  Since I want to document my progress, am publishing it now!

Yesterday, the goal listed on Ivanka Trumps Half Marathon Plan was to run for 45 minutes.  As last night was a Zumba night (30 minutes of aerobics), I decided to add a 15 minute walk at lunch to my routine.  It was a great decision.  Thirty years ago, I used to go for a walk around FMHI just to clear my head and decide where to go with my analyses and got into trouble for 'being weird'.  But yesterday, I encountered three pairs of walkers on their lunch breaks doing the same thing but all going in the direction opposite mine.  Turns out that the loop around FMHI is now a designated walking trail on the USF Wellness Walking Trails, so it's not weird any more!  Not that I would have minded being weird- I'm used to it - maybe even proud of it- because it means that I blaze my own trails.  And walking around with my IPad to get my Walkmeter app to track the walk was definitely different.

It was a great way to spend 15 minutes.  It still clears my head and it was a great day to walk.  Started the walk going down the stairs normally.  Can't tell you how happy that makes me!  If you ever get to the point, that you can't walk down the stairs like a normal person- find a way to get some strength training for your legs.  Women- Curves has been the best way for me because it is just not complicated and no matter what your health- you can manage most of the machines.  I've worked my way back from pain twice in my life by doing the Curves circuit three times a week.

Anyway- after coming down the stairs I decided to set out around the circle and see where I'd be in 7.5 minutes.  Turns out that I was exactly in the middle of the loop!  So now I know a good 15 minute course- for now.  This time next year, I hope it is a 7 minute course!  And on the way back, I went up the stairs!  Last month, the elevator was broken and I had to up the stairs.  I basically pulled myself up by grabbing the rail and dragging first one step, then the other- in pain all the way and exhausted at the top.  This time I just walked up🌠. And I was done walking .84 miles in less than 20 minutes!  This is progress from just this Sunday!  At that point, I was doing .75 miles in 20 minutes!  So I added at least .1 mile in less than a week!

Hope this encourages all of you to keep moving!

Today's goal is to do my new Friday night routine: Curves followed by Fantastic Sam's- putting in my Pizza Hut order during my blow dry and bringing home supper!  What really makes this convenient is that Fantastic Sam's is on the way home from Curves- and Pizza Hut is in the same shopping center as Fantastic Sam's- so it all feels like a breeze!  Let you know how it goes!




Great-Grandma Weber's Summer German Potato Salad

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