The End is the Beginning

Yes, we've finally reached the end of the 2010 Pedometer Challenge - but don't quit now. Over the past 8 weeks I've gotten used to having my pedometer clipped to my waistband. While I already know that I'm a pretty active person, that little device still inspired me to work hard everyday. I hope that it did the same for you.

Now that the challenge is over, it doesn't mean that we should discard our pedometers. They are tools that we can continue to use without the incentive of winning fun AhealthyU prizes. Continually challenging yourself to hit a certain number of steps, or to gradually increase your number of daily steps, can help you win an even better prize - a higher quality, healthier lifestyle.

Thanks for following my blog during the Pedometer Challenge! I look forward to blogging about future AhealthyU programs with you.

7/16/2010 | Daily Step Total = 30142
Friday I did an easy 30 minute aquajog session and then rode the bike for 60 minutes.

7/17/2010 | Daily Step Total = 31945
Saturday I was back at the Lake. A 60 minute aquajog was followed by lots of leisurely swimming and wakeboarding.

7/18/2010 | Daily Step Total = 42640
I celebrated the final day of the Pedometer Challenge at the Lake. My morning started with 90 minutes of aquajogging and I then relaxed for most of the day floating in the water. I did take one run on the wakeboard in some super choppy water.

More of the same

If I were a triathlete I'd be very happy with the training that I'm doing. I've been in and out of the pool and on and off of the bike a lot this week. Man those are really two different activities from running. I have a lot of respect for swimmers. It is very stuffy in the pool and you don't really have much to look at. Now, people say the same about running on the track, but at least you're outside. And that's why it's great to be a distance runner and do most of my running off of the track. Plus, it's not like you can talk to your buddy while you are swimming. How do I pass the time in the pool? I race people. They don't know I'm racing them - but I am...whatever gets you through right?


7/13/2010 | Daily Step Total = 38309
60 minutes in the pool followed by a 40 minute bike ride for my cross training today. It's looking like I'll be able to run again soon!

7/14/2010 | Daily Step Total = 29241
A long ride on the bike plus a lot of walking down to the HR office on New Mexico.

7/15/2010 | Daily Step Total = 41334
Big day with 60 minutes in the pool and 60 minutes on the bike. My legs are toast!

Bike meet bottom

I cranked out another 45 minute bike ride on Monday as my cross training. This was a little lighter day than usual because we can all benefit from recovery days even when we're cross training. My 90 minute aqua jog session on Sunday really wore me out, so today was an easy day.

This is the last week of the Pedometer Challenge, so I'm going to work hard and I hope everyone out there is going to walk their little hearts out too in order to finish on a high note (or step).

7/12/2010 | Daily Step Total = 17147

Draggin my feet

Apparently Amy finally caught the blogger bug and I lost it. Now she's making me look bad because of my lack of posting. Here's a quick post to catch you up on what I've been doing. My real excuse for not posting is that I still can't run because of my injury which frustrates me and it takes me a lot longer to convert steps from my cross training exploits than to just look at my pedometer and count the actual steps that I took while running. Hmm that was a long winded excuse. I apologize. I hope you're riding, swimming, running, jumping and everything else you can do to earn steps with a much better attitude than I am. It's tough when you can't do the exercise that you want to do, but keeping active helps us stay healthy so that's what I've been doing.

7/6/2010 | Daily Step Total = 31226
Rode the bike for an hour and 45 minutes. I don't know how those Tour de France riders do it!?!?

7/7/2010 | Daily Step Total = 25230
Rode the bike for 90 minutes...watch out Lance, here I come!

7/8/2010 | Daily Step Total = 26971
Rode the stationary bike for 97 minutes. That does not feel good...

7/9/2010 | Daily Step Total = 41443
Mega cross training day. 35 minutes of aqua jogging followed by 70 minutes on the stationary bike. Aqua jogging makes for great cross training when you're not forced into it by an injury. I finally feel like my achilles is getting a bit better. I should be able to run soon!

7/10/2010 | Daily Step Total = 20194
A day at the Lake with a wake board run, a water ski run, lots of leisurely swimming and for some reason treading water for 30 minutes while talking to my neighbors at the lake who floated on rafts....seemed a lot more relaxing to them.

7/11/2010 | Daily Step Total = 45039
A day at the Lake that started with 90 minutes of aqua jogging, then had some swimming, and wake boarding too.

I thought vacation was supposed to be relaxing...

Sorry for the big gap in posts. I went away for a long weekend with my family to Lake Monticello, just outside of Charlottesville, VA. I love going to the Lake spending time in the water and the sun. For most of my life I've thought of vacations at the Lake as being relaxing and low-key. Little did I realize that my idea of vacation was packed full of movement and physical activity. As those of you that follow my blog know, I'm a little bit injured again so I haven't been able to run recently. Well, this long weekend at the Lake saw some of my highest step totals ever even though I couldn't run.

Being in the water is apparently a great place to tally up steps. I recommend that you head to the pool and try it out for yourself. There are 4 strokes you can use to swim laps if you want some traditional dedicated exercise. But, normal pool games and treading water even add up as steps. Water provides natural resistance for our bodies, so any movement we do in the water requires more energy. Simply walking in a pool works our heart and muscles more than it does on land because of this added resistance. So, beat the heat, jump in the pool (or lake, or ocean), and earn yourself some steps!

Thursday I was still on campus and managed to walk around a bit. On top of that I rode the bike for 90 minutes.

7/1/2010 | Daily Step Total = 35779

Friday I was at the Lake. I was in the water for a lot of the day, only taking breaks to watch some soccer games. A pull on the wakeboard helped boost my steps today.

7/2/2010 | Daily Step Total = 24656

Saturday saw a lot more swimming, a lot more wakeboarding, and a lot more walking around in general. That was all followed up by some awesome fireworks being shot from one of the beaches at the Lake. We watch them from our boat in the middle of the Lake.

7/3/2010 | Daily Step Total = 35727

Sunday was more of the same. Swimming, wakeboarding, and more swimming. Today I did do an "official" workout with some aquajogging.

7/4/2010 | Daily Step Total = 30656

Monday looked a lot like Sunday except I started out with 30 minutes of swimming up and down our cove and then aquajogged with Joy, who also has a hurt achilles (we were meant for each other!).

7/5/2010 | Daily Step Total = 37904

The Pain Returns

Well, just when I thought I was in the clear with my heel, the pain came back. And it's worse this time. No running for the next few days. It's back to the bike. Actually, the doctor said that I can do some light barefoot jogging (10-15 minutes) to promote blood flow to the area, but no more than that. 10-15 minutes doesn't really fulfill my running needs, but it will have to suffice.

Here's my advice today. If it hurts, take care of it! Don't end up like me getting hurt all over again. Listening to your aches and pains and taking care of them is one of the best things you can do to keep yourself in top shape and ready for exercise everyday.

6/30/2010 | Daily Step Total = 19615

Cutdown

On Tuesday morning I ran a cutdown workout with some of my training buddies. These workouts are based on the simple principle of starting easy and slowly increasing the intensity of the run. We try to step down the pace each mile of our workout over 10-12 miles. For Tuesday's cutdown we started at 5:55 pace and over 10 miles cut down to 5:05 pace.

Cutdown runs model a very beneficial type of graded exercising that you can do on your own. Starting any activity easily will get your muscles warmed up. As you continue with the workout you can up the intensity to work your muscles more and more. This helps to not only build muscular endurance throughout your prolonged workout, but also adds strength as your muscles continue to work harder as they near their fatigue point.

6/29/2010 | Daily Step Total = 22065