So, as you recall, I decided that I wanted to start running, but starting with walking until my heart rate couldn't stay high enough with walking any more. Then I would switch to running using the C25K schedule.
I figure this way I can run a better time if I'm already at a pretty good walking pace before delving into running. Keeping things lower impact for as long as possible is also easier on my body - my shins, my ankles, my knees and my poor bladder. Man, I didn't miss bladder issues during the months of just gardening, landscaping and hiking.
The plan is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays to walk 4 miles a day - fast walking. That turns out to be about an hour of walking (for now).
Here is yesterday's walk around my very hilly neighborhood: 8/21/12 - First walk to get to 5K Run by berryblondeboys at Garmin Connect - Details
That shows you everything. You can see my splits, my elevation, heart rate, etc. I tried to keep a steady pace, no matter the elevation and it seems I mostly did. I tried to copy and paste things in details here, but either I'm too dumb, or I can't do it. My first mile I did in 15:17. That's from my front door with no warm up through the first mile. Second mile was 14:53. Third mile: 14:36. Fourth mile: 14:37 and then I walked just shy of a half mile for cool down in 8:41 seconds.
My average heart rate the first mile was: 132. Second mile: 145. Third and fourth miles were 152. Obviously, I was working hard, but sustainably. I felt great during the walk and after the walk. Even with fast walking, you get that runner's high.
The terrain is never flat. I'm either going uphill or downhill. Sometimes it's steep, sometimes it's a slow climb or descent, but this definitely not flat like a track would be. And it was fun. I did one loop around the lake, then I went up some paths behind some homes and then as it was getting dark, I moved to the sidewalks along the streets for the last 2 miles. I love that my town has sidewalks everywhere even though there are paths. I never had to go in the streets until I got to my cul-de-sac. That is much safer.
I worked hard, my heart was beating fast and hard, so when I plugged it into my iphone app for counting calories, I was shocked to see that it gave me 334 calories for 4 miles at 4 miles an hour. What? The Garmin Connect site gave me 663 calories burned in that hour. That seems more like it. But these discrepencies are why I don't ever eat back calories or count them as a gurantee of "I should lose this much weight this week" based on calories burned. These are estimates only.
All in all yesterday was a great day. I ate 1430 calories and walked for an hour at a fast pace and I'm not sore because of it. My shoes though are toast. After the walk, I realized how sore the balls of my feet were. They have been worn to death, so I guess I'll be doing shoe shopping soon. It has been 10 months of a lot of use, so I guess it was time.
ETA: how could I forget? While I was walking - the first two miles (my slowest two miles), I was following behind a woman who was obviously doing the C25K program. She would walk mostly and every once in awhile she would run. She must have been on week one where it's mostly walking with a few 1 minute runs thrown in. Anyway. When I started out walking, I was about 30 feet behind her. When she ran, she would get a bit ahead of me, but when she walked, I walked faster than her, so I would almost catch up to her. Every time in those 2 miles (so 30 minutes) I would get within 10 or so feet behind her and then she would run a bit, I would catch back up when she walked. She didn't know I was behind her, but of course, I knew she was in front of me.
This just proved to me that walking fast first is a better approach because basically, we both had the same pace going on - just hers was a mix of running and walking and mine was 100% walking - easier on the joints! And with a faster walking pace, the heart rate stayed up higher.
Stats for 8/22/12:
Highest weight: 275 Now: 177.8
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