Deb's Urban Ranger daily check in :-)

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:30 pm

Hello all!
Seems last time I posted here was in February!!!!!!!!
Recent conversations with a friend who has begun walking, have inspired me to start walking again.. I wish to make this a five days a week thing, just like NoS, but I'm creating this thread for myself, solely for keeping track of my walking... I've been becoming steadilly less interested in tracking my food these days, but I'm doing alright there, though admittedly, I'm in super slow mode..

Something tells me that if I do this every N day, religiously, I'll be posting a lot more weight loss in months to come!

My own personal criteria to post a walking success day, will be based on doing a minimum of twenty minutes, and shooting for 30 to 45...

I have no excuse not to succeed! Even if it rains, I'll take Reinhards advice to me from *ages* ago, and grab the umbrella and go for a really hurried version of this! Just to develop the everyday habit!
I may even start a 21 day club here! Heh heh...

Today I walked for about 33 minutes at a medium brisk pace..
Didn't really break much of a sweat, but my legs do feel like spaghetti now! LOL..
I took the car around after and measured the distance, out of curiosity, and it was just under one and a half miles... Not too shabby for my first day walking in forever!!!!
Hopefully I'll build up more stamina and go for longer, but in all honesty, I'll be very happy to just keep my daily commitment to begin with!
I already feel happier about things! It's a good feeling to do this!
Richard's been running around like a lunatic and riding his bike everwhere, and he is a lean mean muscle machine these days!!!
So why not me too? Heh heh

Hope to see others here too! It will be nice to get back to posting here a bit more! I've been somewhat AWOL!
Heh heh...

But sorry Reinhard, I ain't singing no Ballad of the Urban Ranger!
I'll leave that to you on the podcasts!

Peace and Love,

Deb

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:45 pm

Excellent, Deb! And glad you'll be around more again. I have no doubt that if you walk every N day you'll lose more weight.

I agree, tracking does get pretty boring after a while. So if you feel good about the food, it makes sense to move your limited tracking capacity to the newer urban ranger habit.

Did you see my "negative tracking" post in the everydaysystems forum?

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1325

I know "negative" sounds like kind of a downer, but it's a very efficient way of tracking more mature habits.

Reinhard

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:46 am

Hi Reinhard!
Thanks for writing, and I did see your negative tracking concept before today, but didn't post there at the time.. For me, I prefer to post both success and failure days.. I understand what you mean though and don't think negative tracking is a downer at all, and I might start doing that with NoS when I have a real whopper of a bad day or something, just to nip it in the bud and stay real.. But thankfully, I can't say I've had days like that..

I have to start my count over tomorrow though on the Urban Ranger front though. By the time I was "ready" to go today, it ended up being a total downpour!!! Not just light drizzle.. I was waiting for Nathan to show up, and visit with Richard and I, and he got lost in some park in New Jersey, and didn't have a cell phone to call me for directions out of the park!!! LOL..
If we weren't worried that he had had a car crash and was laying in a ditch somewhere, it would actually have been funny! I thought I was going to do my Urban Ranger with him today once he arrived...

But by the time he came, we were all pressured for time, and we only Urban Rangered from our cars through the rain, to the pizza place for dinner! LOL!!!

See you next year Nathan!

Seriously though folks, I'm doing this!
I enjoyed it greatly the other day and it's just a habit I have to form and get disciplined to go, and not procrastinate...
Then it might rain again!

See you tomorrow on 21 day thread!
Peace and Love,
Deb

ps.. We took some photos today, so you hopefully will get to see us both sometime whenever they manifest

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:39 pm

I'm over at my 21 day thread now!

Why I named this a Daily Checkin I don't know! Heh...

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:01 pm

Good grief two years to make a check in post hahah

Just wanted to say that since about a month or so ago, I am totally hooked on walking now.
Even on a day when I feel really crappy, I welcome it.
I've got a default walk and depending on the weather and my own energy I add a little bit of meandering around to it or not. I've been averaging about 30 to 40 minutes, but today I think I walked for about an hour.
It was pretty hot though, so I think as much as it's nice to get sun, I am probably gonna stick with my early evening walk cos it's much more comfortable for me.

It's definitely getting easier these days so I'm very happy. Started out very out of shape and now the little hills etc are no problem at all!
And the mental airing out is so good!!
Peace and Love,

Debs

Post by **reinhard** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:51 am

I'm so happy to hear it, Deb!

The mental part is great -- and a huge incentive for the physical. I look forward to my walks to and from work every day like no other time. It's the only real private headspace I get. Swinging a sledge is fun, but walking has become necessary.

Reinhard

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:09 am

Hi Rein! Thank you my friend

Have a great week!
Love
Debs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:47 pm

Today was too amazingly beautiful out to wait till night time to walk.
It's usually too hot during the day, but it was about 63 degrees and very nice and sunny. Perfect day for a stroll~
I was a little sleepy so started out and stayed pretty slow for the whole thing.
But went much longer than I usually walk.
My endurance and strength are like 5 times what they were when I was starting out walking in beginning of August!
I'm also trying to tone up my deep abdominal muscles, so I contract them in at the belly button and walk for a block or two like that, for as long as I can while breathing normally.
I will look now but if anyone knows off hand (Reinhard???) where that site is which gives you the miles for any given walking route you put in on the map, I'd be very happy to see it. I am not really aiming for miles to be my goal, but would like to have an idea of how far I am walking. I don't feel like buying a pedometer. Can't remember the name but a few years ago people were talking about some site to calculate the miles you walk.

After I finished I took about half hour to sit on the grass on the front lawn and slowly and luxuriously stretch and do a few asanas and some meditation.
Have a great day and week all.
Peace,

Debs

jessdr · Post by **jessdr** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:30 pm

reinhard wrote:I'm so happy to hear it, Deb!

The mental part is great -- and a huge incentive for the physical. I look forward to my walks to and from work every day like no other time. It's the only real private headspace I get. Swinging a sledge is fun, but walking has become necessary.

Reinhard

Me too. I get really grumpy without my walk. I'm not a morning person, but by the time I get to work, I'm awake and coherent. By the time I get home, I've let go of whatever was going on at work.

I'm sure some of it is the ipod (it's 90 minutes round-trip, so I get a lot of "reading" done), but I also think that some of it is being in control. When I take the train, I have to wait for it, deal with the other people waiting for it (and their cell phones, BO issues, seat hogging), etc. When I walk, my experience is entirely up to me: nobody can delay me except me, and if someone or something is annoying me, I can cross the street.

Deb: it's probably not the resource you were thinking of, but you can get walking mileage from Google Maps. After you plot your course, click on the Walking link. If it doesn't show the exact route you used, click and drag points on the blue route line until it reflects what you

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:03 pm

Deb, I'm so happy to hear UR is continuing to work for you.

Jessdr -- the regular google maps thing is actually perfect (did they beef this up recently? I don't remember the vanilla site having this feature).

It says my daily work walk (1.2 miles) should take me 25 minutes, though (actually more like 17). Urban ranger challenge: beat the google maps walking time estimate.

Reinahrd

jessdr · Post by **jessdr** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:05 pm

reinhard wrote: Jessdr -- the regular google maps thing is actually perfect (did they beef this up recently? I don't remember the vanilla site having this feature).

Yep, the walking directions are relatively recent, and still in beta. It limits you to roads, and doesn't know about the various pedestrian underpasses, etc., so it's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it.

The one that Deb posted in another thread at:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
is great too, but it's a trade-off. It's more work to enter, since you have to map out every point along your route and add extra points to factor in any curvature of the road. However, it doesn't force you to follow streets, so if you use an underpass or cut across campus, this tool gives you more accurate numbers.

I thought the elevation feature would be a big plus, since I live on a hill, but all it told me was that all the potential routes are pretty steep.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:39 pm

Thanks Jessesdaughter and Reinhard

Yeah I actually did the same longer walk yesterday, and my goal is to stick with that being my default, give or take a block or two meandering if I'm up for it, for a solid month.
I'm thinking about building up over time to a daily four mile walk.
I like the fact you put in the individual points actually, JD, because I don't totally stick to the exact route each time.
Have a great week!
Love

Debs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:41 pm

ps.. I don't know where I came up with Jessesdaughter??
Hahah you just have Jessdr..
Maybe you are a doctor!

jessdr · Post by **jessdr** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:51 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote:ps.. I don't know where I came up with Jessesdaughter??
Hahah you just have Jessdr..
Maybe you are a doctor!

Nah, those are just my initials! I wanted to be a doctor when I was seven, until I found out how little sleep residents get.

mjn · Post by **mjn** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 11:56 pm

I love walking too!!! I wish you the best on your endeavor, Deb. You can do it and you will get into the habit soon. I walk everyday. I started out thinking that I if I could just do a half mile, that would be awesome. Now I walk at least 7miles a day 7 days a week in all kinds of weather. I actually love walking in cruddy weather, wow did I just say that?! Anyway, good luck and happy trails.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:23 am

Thank you so much jess and mjn!

Well I just surprised the heck out of myself and went for a marathon walk for me.. I plotted it out earlier in the week and thought it would take me a month of building up to do it, but I just did it tonight.. Walked about 3.8 miles...
Man my legs felt like spaghetti at certain points, but it was doable.
Took me ages though.. I think I must have walked for about 90 minutes..
I walk really really slowly usually, but tonight was even slower because I had a minor virus I was fighting since yesterday..
I'm amazed that even though I was sick I didn't poop out on walking.. I was only a little sick so I figured it would probably be good for me to do exercise because it boosts your immune system.
I am so proud of myself for that (not pooping out) and especially amazed at the length of the walk.

mjn, I bet you feel like a million dollars doing all that long distance walking! I guess as long as you are dressed right, even cruddy weather walking can be okay. Do you mind me asking how long it took for you to work up to seven miles?? Were you very consistent?

All I can say is this feels very much like an adventure, and I am finally experiencing the "Ranger" type feeling, from these walks.

On a side note it was funny because I went walking the other day to get some stuff from the store, and the fact that I turned my pleasure walk into a chore walk, totally killed it for me! LOL..
It just wasn't the same, and I didn't really like having to carry to groceries back either!

I will keep walking a pure pleasure activity from now on, with no chores or multitasking..

I wonder how I will feel when I am not fighting a virus and used to walking this kind of distance a few times?

Thanks for the support friends

Peace and Love

Debs

mjn · Post by **mjn** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:12 am

Deb, it took me just a couple of months. Maybe not even that. I think I could have done it sooner. I used to power walk 2 miles once a day, at about 4.0 or more mph. I was obsessed with making sure I got it in everday. It turns out that I do much better at a 3.0-3.5 mph range or slower it I want. I pace myself and enjoy the walk. When I quit the power walking and did it for the enjoyment, I walked further and further. I also wear a pedometer, because I like to keep track of myself. I know you don't like to use them and that's ok. It's fun for me to see how many miles I can get in walking for the day. I don't feel any pressure anymore and just walk to enjoy day. My husband and I went tent camping and hiking in Yellowstone this summer, and I know that I wouldn't have been able to do that if I wasn't walking everyday. Walking also helps me with my mood. I feel mentally and spiritually fit when I am getting my exercise. I am a 48 yr. old female and I feel like I am the fittest I have ever been in my life. Oh, by the way, don't beat yourself up if you can't get the walk in. Think about how far you have come and don't sabatoge yourself. You can do it. Have a great day tomorrow on your walk and feel proud of yourself.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:57 am

Thank you so much my friend!
That is inspiring to hear how well you did and I really appreciate your encouragement and enthusiasm!
As far as turning the moods around and uplifting the spirit, I am so down with that!

Love

Debs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:18 pm

Woo! Went for the same long walk today and it was not as hard as yesterday.
Wasn't rushing myself and still ended up doing it in ten minutes less as well!

Debs

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:15 pm

Had a mega walk today.. I upped my miles to a little more than four miles now..
My feet are kinda throbbing and my legs are in need of a real good stretch now..
Yay walking!
I'm hooked

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:37 pm

Deb,

Congratulations! I think you're out-rangering me!

Reinhard

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:51 pm

Reinhard, if I end up as fit and great looking as you as a result believe me, I won't complain! hah

Really enjoying it, and it's been going very well!
Have a great day.

Debs