Cross Training

All of the things I have been reading about doing long walks encourage cross training. While I would rather do walking workouts, I have decided to add cross training once a week. I like to ride the spinner bikes at the gym and riding the bike gives me the opportunity to read for an hour - so it isn't all bad! Here is what most sites say about cross training:

Produces a higher level of all around conditioning
Conditions the entire body, not just specific muscle groups
Reduces the risk of injury
Work some muscles while others rest and recover

About.com has a lot of information about walking. Here is a good site about cross training.

Tonight during my spinning I was reading a crazy little book called Long Way Down by Nick Hornby.

Tired!

I am really tired today from my 5.5 mile walk yesterday. My body isn't tired, I am just exhausted. Seriously exhausted. I have no energy today.

In trying to find some solutions to this energy problem, I found a really great website for long distance walking. It says that it is best to do one long distance walk a week - not several long distance walks. This is good news. I am on the right track.

This website has a sample training schedule for an Avon walk that happened last year. This is the type of schedule I will be following in the last months of my training.

Fish Oil

I started taking fish oil supplements a couple of weeks ago. When I have done long walks in the past I have had a lot of problems with my hip joints and knees. Fish oil is suppose to help joint soreness. When taken in the right doses, fish oil does a lot of amazing things. See the page on Medline Plus that discusses the benefits of fish oil.

Today was my second long outside walk. I walked the outer loop of the neighborhood and the inner loop of the neighborhood. Joel picked me up about 2 miles from home. I walked a little over 5.5 miles today. Not a single tingle of a blister! I got new shoes last week and I am quite happy with them.

I walked for over an hour without seeing a car, a dog, or any other people. I was approaching the far reaches of our neighborhood when two long coated boot wearing walkers appeared from the only cross street in the neighborhood. We were walking exactly the same pace, so instead of following right in step behind them, I turned at the cross road and did an unexpected loop. If you have seen the film, A Child's Christmas in Wales, the two walkers were just like, "two hale young men, with big pipes blazing, no overcoats and wind blown scarfs, would trudge, unspeaking, down to the forlorn sea, to work up an appetite, to blow away the fumes, who knows, to walk into the waves until nothing of them was left but the two furling smoke clouds of their inextinguishable briars."

Music as Therapy

Music is also good therapy!

You can check out American Music Therapy Associations's website.

Since I can't imagine doing some of these long 20+ mile walks for my training without some entertainment, I decided to get an iPod. It arrived this week. Last night I loaded almost all of my CDs on to it. Amazing! To hold all of my favorite music in the palm of my hand - and better yet to be able to take it on the road with me just blows my mind. I also have tons of room left for books on tape and room to download podcasts.

Good for Your Brain

Just this week the University of Texas has announced the results from a study on exercise and depression. The study found that doing one workout can be a benefit for people suffering from depression. And it doesn't even have to be a high-intensity workout. Doing moderate exercise was shown to make a difference in this study. WebMD has a little article on the study's findings.

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/117/112688

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation in the last week!

Thanks to your generosity I am 33% toward my $1800 goal. The work that the Avon Foundation supports is quite meaningful. It supports both cancer research and programs that help individual women and men through medical obstacles. Your donations will change people's lives.

Getting donations for the walk has really been meaningful to me as well. As soon as the first donation was made last Monday (only a week ago!) I immediately realized that this walking project is a community project - and so much bigger than me or anything I can do by myself. Feeling part of a larger community was not something I thought I would learn to appreciate on this journey. It made me realize that there will probably be a lot of unexpected things I will learn in the next several months.

Thank you all for supporting this community project!

Walking Outside

I just finished my first outside training walk. I left home without looking at the temperature. I knew it was a bit cold when I left, but the walk was bitter! The thermometer says it is 28 degrees right now, so it was at least that cold when I left. The lesson I learned today is check the temperature and dress for the weather. I was cold the entire time - no matter how fast I walked!

I walked the outer loop of our neighborhood which is 4.7 miles from the front door and back. I only passed 2 cars in my 1.5 hour walk. In the home stretch I got to meet 4 neighborhood dogs. One white fluffy dog and a Golden Retriever dashed out to meet me. They were good and left me alone after I passed their house. But just as they left me alone I saw 2 Bassett Hounds running for their lives across the desert. They were short and had green collars. They walked with me for about half a mile. I kept telling them to go home, but they just wouldn't listen. Eventually their angry screaming mom drove up in her car and took them away.

I love dogs! But I hate being followed by dogs when I am walking. I walk in the street, and the dogs do too. In the past when traffic was heavier I had a dog walking with me for nearly a mile and it was nearly hit by a car right in front of me. I hate that. A dog can ruin a good walk.

I found some socks I like and they really made a difference on my feet. I did some research and found socks made of a fabric called Cool Max. They are kind of thin socks, but they don't get wet and they slide really well in the shoe without messing up the feet. Target sells them - 6 pairs for about $8. I was at a sporting goods store yesterday where they were selling a similar pair of socks - one pair - for $8.

Package Arrives

I have been looking for my Walk package in the mail every day for the last week! It arrived today! It includes my training manual, t-shirt and coupons for accepting check donations.

Blisters and Feet

I have a lot to learn about walking and my feet in the next couple of months. I have decided to take a break today from walking and hope my blisters are a bit better for my long walk tomorrow. When I have done long walks before I have had really sore hips and knees so I went to a doctor a couple of weeks ago to see what he might recommend for my legs. He recommended an in-sole for my tennis shoes. I have been using the in-soles for the last two weeks and I really like them. I feel like I can stand properly and straight and I haven't had any of the joint pain I am use to. But changing the in-sole in my shoe has been a big change and I feel like I am having to break-in my tennis shoes all over again. So my current goals are to find good socks and find a good treatment for blisters. I know I will have blisters, I just can't let them slow me down!

One Hour

I am nearing the end of my first week of one hour workouts. Walking for one hour at a 7% grade has been much more challenging than I anticipated. I have developed blisters on the back of my feet and I am physically pretty tired this week. I have read that socks made of synthetic fiber can help prevent blisters, so my goal is to find a good pair of socks this weekend. I also learned that the books don't lie and that stretching after a long walk is good practice!

Gym Training

I started my gym training today. I have been doing 3-day-a-week workouts for almost 5 years. While they are great for my health, they don't build endurance. My goal is to change my 3-day-a-week workouts into hour-long workouts uphill on the treadmill (7% grade at 3.7 miles per hour). Then I will plan to do one long-distance walk a week outside on pavement. I will probably do this for the next several weeks and start the proscribed training in February.

This morning's workout did not start off perfectly. I broke out in some kind of allergic reaction about 20 minutes into my walk with tiny itchy bumps all over my face, arms, and neck. I am still optimistic about all that is ahead!

The Start

I just signed up for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk today. I am excited and looking forward to the work I am going to do in the months ahead. I have been reviewing the training schedule and it seems a bit daunting with a week near the walk requiring 45 miles of walking.

I am also looking forward to spending time with friends who are planning to walk too. My friend Susan from Cornell and her husband Sean are preparing to register for the walk.