Monday, April 29, 2013

Now South

I've done routes to the east (Dairy Rd.), to the west (downtown), and to the north (Dissmore's).  Today I decided to go south, down Stadium Way, past the Man Shop and across the tracks to the Koppel Farm, the slightly historical site of the Pullman Community Garden.  Except for Dairy Rd, all the routes have about 250 feet of elevation change each way, since all three destinations are just about at river level.  About 12 minutes out and the same back, though I wasn't pushing.  Very breezy weather, with a chill to it, and intermittent sun.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Walk and Talk

In today's beautiful early-spring weather I went for a lunchtime walk and ran into Ken Clark, an old friend from IT days and also from the local music scene.  He fell in with me and we walked to Dairy Rd, talking about Buddha, quantum entanglement, liver disease, and of course, music.  I didn't make very good time, but so what?

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Two Light Days


Tuesday was a very busy day at work.  Rather than skip my walk, I decided to do a shorter-duration walk, but still get some exercise.  So I took the same route I normally take to go downtown, but when I got to the bottom of the stairs next to Engineering, I turned around and came back up.  Time:  8 minutes downhill, 11 minutes uphill.  That's a smaller differential than usual, perhaps due to the fact that I didn't have an additional 14 minutes to downtown and back.

Today I walked to Dairy Rd. and back, trying to keep up a brisk pace.  I did the round-trip in 22'10".  According to my revised Google maps route, that's 1.6 miles, or about 4.36 miles per hour.  Dr. Cooper's aerobic chart suggests that's about 3.8 aerobic points. Cooper Institute recommends 15 points per week for "health and longevity":   "With just 15 points a week, research shows a 58 percent reduction in death from all causes, and an increase in longevity of six years. "  So even four days a week of this walk or better is a pretty good deal -- and that doesn't even touch quality-of-life benefits.

A Long Walk for Juice

I walked down to Dissmore's because I needed some juice to help with hydration (I usually water it 4:1 or 5:1 to keep the cost and the calories down).  So I had to carry the half-gallon of juice while making the uphill trip.  Time about 39 minutes.

Summary of Week of April 15


  • Monday:  Walked downtown to the bank.  Walking time for the round-trip: 33 minutes (not counting in-the-bank time).
  • Tuesday:  No walk, yoga.
  • Wedensday: Also downtown to the bank, also 33 minutes.
  • Thursday: Dissmore's, 39 minutes.
  • Friday: No walk (rain, plus crises at work).

Friday, April 12, 2013

Finishing out the Comeback Week

After two relatively easy Dairy Road days, I decided to try the 30-minute walk out Grimes Way -- 15 minutes out, turn around, 15 minutes back. Very nice weather -- it seemed a little cool at first, but walking at a good pace got me warm.

Google maps tells me I made about 1.8 miles on the round trip, which is a respectable 3.6 miles per hour.  On the return trip, I counted steps -- it came to about 940 (there might have been a skip or slip in the count in there, but nothing drastic), which is just about 5 feet per double-pace.  Since I doubt I can increase that length without adopting racewalking biomechanics, the only other option to cover more ground in the time allotted is to boost the step rate above 120 per minute.  Easier said than done, while protecting the bod.  I need to research walking biomechanics more, to make sure I am using the best technique for my purposes.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Back after Back Setback

A week ago Friday night I hurt my low back with an ill-advised lift.  At first my back was just somewhat sore, but by Monday morning I knew I shouldn't go in to work, and by Tuesday morning I couldn't get myself out of bed due to back spasms.  Needless to say, exercise walks were O-U-T.

Fortunately, Dr. Kevin Smith, a chiropractor at Moscow Health and Wellness Center, was able to help me.  After two visits with him and a couple of additional days of rest, I am nearly normal (back-wise, that is).

Today I took my first exercise walk since the injury.  The day is beautiful,  partly cloudy and 50 degrees with a light wind.  I didn't try to make time, just walked purposefully along.  At Dairy Road,  I was only 12 minutes out, and considered walking three more minutes outbound -- but then I thought "Well, I don't really know what my back will think of the extra", so I turned around.  Total for the trip was just about 25 minutes.