the lumbering wildebeest » walking

Music choices for pace

Mary — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 14:38:38 +0000

Lets see if this works. I am going to try to share my morning mix with you. http://www.fitradio.com/ogmix/839 I think you have to log into fit radio to hear it.

Anyhow… this mix took me from walking mid 14 minute miles to (depending on my stride) 13 minute miles. From time to time, I like to go through the mixes on fitradio.com and add some new ones to my favorites. Then, from my phone I can pick what I want in the morning. I tend to stick with whatever one makes me go fastest until I get totally sick of the songs.

I absolutely cannot imagine walking without music. Not just any ole’ music; pace setting music. The best thing that happened to me during my weight-loss adventure was my damn smart phone. Since March, my pace has gone from 16-17 minutes to 13 & 14 minutes. I blame it on the Fit Radio app. Back in the old days (before March 2012) I used my mp3 player for music. That was great and kept me interested but it became a pain in the ass to try and keep any sort of constant pace. The beats just aren’t the same when they’re switching from (for example) Living After Midnight by Judas Priest, to Dancing Queen by Abba to Poker Face by Lady Gaga…etc…

Seriously… if you’re going to spend any amount of time out there walking…get friggin’ fit radio. You might not know or even like half the songs in the mixes but they are pretty damn consistent in the beats per minute. The above link to my morning mix is over an hour long. I’ve not even heard the last songs on it.

<–LoL

Endomondo

Mary — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:14:46 +0000

There are a few apps that do the same thing but Endomondo was my first and I’m sticking with it. I’ve downloaded RunKeeper and other similar apps to my phone but I’m afraid to try them. All of my stats are on Endomondo so that’s what I’m sticking to. Below you’ll see my history. Give it (or something else) a try. It’s so awesome to keep track of your progress.

Walking in the morning

Mary — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:06:33 +0000

I dig morning walking. Mostly because I am inherently lazy and prefer to get all the sweating over with early – which is why I tried my hand at jogging. Running and fitness walking burn the same amount of calories. My thought was that I could get my morning sweatfest over with in a half hour instead of 45 minutes or an hour. I actually completed the couch to 5K program. My knees weren’t quite ready for the abuse so as of late, have backed off the jogging. It’s nice to be able to walk down stairs one foot in front of the other instead of stepping on each tread with both feet before continuing onward. My results of the c25k program were ok I guess. I never did make it the whole 5K. I got as far as 2.5 miles. Really, I’m so ok with that. I went from never running any miles ever…in my life, to being able to run 2.5 friggin miles in 9 weeks. That’s sheer insanity if you ask me. It’s these victories that keep me going. So, though I’m not running any more, I know I CAN if I want to. (or if I’m being chased by zombies or something)

couch to 5k results

The first days of walking

Mary — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:21:08 +0000

I mentioned in the ‘get up and go’ page, that my first days of walking were horrific. Today, I went out for a leisurely stroll and retraced my steps using the Endomondo program. Turns out, I used to walk the .57 miles to the cafe where I would have some coffee and wait for the back pain to stop, then I’d continue walking the remaining .16 miles back home. It was nothing today but a nice leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. Back in January, it felt like I was going to need to call 911 – or at least a taxi.

I love that tools exist to do these sort of things. Endomondo is such a great program.