austinfit – miriland

1/12: One day, two walks

Posted by miri On 12 January, 2013

AustinFit Walk

This morning started with a shortened AustinFit Group walk. A lot of the group are walking a half marathon tomorrow, so needed to keep today short. Plus, some of us were going from the group walk down to San Marcos for a Volkssport walk, so we needed to keep it short too. It was supposed to be a 3 mile walk, but my GPS said it wasn’t even 2.5. Quick and easy despite the spitting rain!

Route and info:

HRM info:
Effect: Fitness and max performance improving
Calories: 226
Percent of calories fat: 25%
Average heart rate: 130
Max heart rate: 145

San Marcos Volkssport Walk

Then it was a quick drive down to San Marcos (I stopped in Buda to change clothes). The walk started at Aquarena Center. This used to be a cheesy tourist park when I was growing up, but now it’s a nature and research center (with a few touristy things to help with funding). The weather continued to be sucky (no rain, but the air felt like it was 100% water) which was a shame because the Spring Lake Natural Area is quite nice on a sunny, clear day. My walking buddy, Edwin, and I got a bit confused and ended up doing the second part of the walk first, but I liked that better. It put us in town and on the streets before traffic got to bad and it meant we ended up in the nature area – a much more peaceful end to the walk than all the construction filled streets! We were just walking, but I somehow came home with mud caked on the inside of my legs from my feet all the way up to my knees. Talent!

Route and info:

HRM info:
Effect: Fat burn improving
Calories: 339
Percent of calories fat: 46%
Average heart rate: 101
Max heart rate: 122

We are just going to skip over what I had to eat this afternoon. Let’s just say it wasn’t good – for me or my “no binge” goal.

12/29: AustinFit training walk

Posted by miri On 29 December, 2012

Today’s walk was somewhat against medical advice. After two weird heart rate incidents (one where it dropped rapidly to very, very low and one where it was running high for no reason), I went to my doctor who, in turn, referred me to a cardiologist. (I’ll see the heart doctor in January.) I asked the doctor if it was okay for me to do this weekend’s 11 mile group walk. He said that it wasn’t dangerous, but if I had another rapid rate change, I’d be very uncomfortable and, therefore, he couldn’t recommend it. But…after the week I’d had, I felt the need to get back on track. Skipping a group walk would be big emotional hit for me. So, I went. I didn’t go fast (in fact, I’m not sure I’d make it through the half-marathon before the course closes at this pace), but I did it.

If the old me had seen the current me waiting in the parking lot to start the walk, she would have been pointing and laughing. I was wearing: one long sleeved shirt, one short sleeved shirt, one track jacket, leggings, shorts, wool socks, tennis shoes, mondo mittens (complete with inserted hand-warmers), headband and beanie cap….and I was still shivering! I figured I’d take stuff off as I got warm walking. I finished the 11 miles with everything still on.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home since I was out of yogurt. I need yogurt to get my day started! I manged to make it out of the store without any of those Lofthouse cookies or discount Christmas candy finding their way into my cart. But I was still shivering! It took a good soak in super hot water (with lots of Epsom salt) to finally get warm. Blissfully warm.

Also, thanks to a suggestion by TARfly Martha, I used the Charity Miles app to track my walk and raise money for Autism Speaks – how cool is that? So, in addition to improving my fitness, earning credit at Walgreens via their program, I’m also raising money for charity.

Route:

Info from Endomondo:
Distance 11.60 mi
Duration 3h:05m:33s
Avg. Speed 3.8 mph
Max. Speed 7.2 mph
Calories 1280 kcal
Hydration 0.36L
Min. Altitude 420 ft
Max. Altitude 699 ft
Total Ascent 861 ft
Total Descent 961 ft

HRM info
Effect: Fitness improving
Intensity: 16 mins in zone 3; 1:55 in zone 2; 1:14 in zone 3
Calories: 919
Calories Fat: 30%
Average heart rate: 122bpm
Maximum heart rate: 152bpm

12/22: AustinFit training walk

Posted by miri On 22 December, 2012

I almost didn’t walk today. First, I’d stayed up way too late last night (and eaten far too many cookies, but that’s another story). Second, it was cold out! But, after hitting my snooze one time too many, I managed to get myself up, out and hurrying to make it to the start in time. It was so worth it. I feel better now than before the walk started – refreshed and full of energy. Yes, it was cold, but not windy or wet – crisp. Plus, I walked with and talked a the very nice Mary Nell. She’s walked 3 half-marathons this year. Talk about inspiring.

Route:

Info as reported by Endomondo:
Distance 8.44 mi (it was just 8)
Duration 2h:08m:35s
Avg. Speed 3.9 mph
Max. Speed 8.2 mph (*snort*)
Calories 945 kcal
Hydration 0.27L
Min. Altitude 406 ft
Max. Altitude 733 ft
Total Ascent 1190 ft
Total Descent 1158 ft

HRM info:

Effect: Maximal performance improving
Calories: 991
Fat Calories: 16%
Average heart rate: 143
Maximum heart rate: 196 (!!)

12/15: AustinFit training walk

Posted by miri On 15 December, 2012

I almost didn’t walk today. I hadn’t had a decent walk since last Thursday. First, I went out of town for the weekend – getting back late Monday night. Tuesday, I came down with a horrid cold and spend most of Wednesday and Thursday laying in bed coughing and sneezing. I woke up Friday, did a Walk-at-Home DVD (my head still felt too weird to walk alone in the great outdoors) and ventured in to work. I wanted to walk today, but should I? Would I make my cold worse? Should I conserve my energy?

The route today was just 7 miles, so I decided to go. If it had been a 10+M day, I can’t say the decision would have been the same. My goal was just get the walk in without worrying about time. Turns out that’s a good thing because I found out that when walking while not feeling well, your heart really gets going. It was beating, on average, 20 more beats per minute than usual. And doing this while I wasn’t going as fast as usual. I was a little light-headed a few times, but overall, I’m glad I went. I always worry about trips/illnesses undoing months of habit building. I wasn’t going to let that happen this time.

Route

Info (as recorded by Endomondo)

Distance 7.63 mi
Duration 2h:01m:46s
Avg. Speed 3.8 mph
Max. Speed 10.6 mph
Min. Altitude 395 ft
Max. Altitude 671 ft
Total Ascent 1188 ft
Total Descent 1226 ft

Since I figured I’d be going much slower than everyone else, I brought my headphones and listened to some music. (Wearing headphones is usually discouraged for group walks.) So, here’s the playlist:

John Lennon: Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
Buckwheat Zydeco: Ninth Place
Midnight Oil: Stars Of Warburton
Crowded House: Better Be Home Soon
Tracy Chapman: A Hundred Years
Violent Femmes: Promise
The Reivers: Dragon Flies
Peter Gabriel: The Family And The Fishing Net
Wilson Pickett: In The Midnight Hour
The Weepies: Not A Lullaby
Silversun Pickups: Broken Bottles
The Waterboys: A Boy In Black Leather
4 Non Blondes: Drifting
The Pogues: Gridlock
Patti Smith: Seneca
The Monkees: Pleasant Valley Sunday
The Turtles: So Happy Together
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Hey Tonight
Icicle Works: Reaping The Rich Harvest
The Weepies: How Do You Get High?
Talking Heads: (Nothing But) Flowers
The Beatles: Sun King
Comando Tiburon Ft. Mach And Daddy: Pasado Pisado
Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros: Mondo Bongo
R.E.M.: Zither
The Decemberists: When the War Came
Janis Joplin: Me And Bobby McGee
Concrete Blonde: Joey
Matchbox Twenty: Shame

I admit I was feeling pretty tired and ready to quit when “Pasado Pisado” came on. Not the best song ever, but one that always cheers me up because it reminds of watching the Spanish Davis Cup team’s drunken, table-dancing celebration after winning the Davis Cup. The best b-day I’ve ever had!

12/1: AustinFit training walk

Posted by miri On 1 December, 2012

Remember how miserable I was after mile 8 of my last AustinFit group walk? Today was worse. I was almost crying. The pain got bad, once again, around 8 miles in. Is that my limit? Is it a hard limit or just something I need to work through? I don’t know. I guess only time will tell.

Route

Info as reported by Endomondo

Distance 11.43 mi (really 10.5)
Duration 2h:46m:57s
Avg. Speed 4.1 mph
Min. Altitude 418 ft
Max. Altitude 764 ft
Total Ascent 1833 ft
Total Descent 1858 ft

11/24: AustinFit training walk

Posted by miri On 24 November, 2012

Oye. Quite simply: Oye. Today’s walk was 9.5 miles. The last mile and a half were miserable. My hip was killing me – reminding me that it’s bone-on-bone with every step. I was so very happy when the walk was done.

Route

Info (as reported by Endomondo)

Distance 11.01 mi (wow – that’s way off)
Duration 2h:45m:02s
Avg. Speed 4.0 mph (nope)
Min. Altitude 360 ft
Max. Altitude 719 ft
Total Ascent 1447 ft
Total Descent 1482 ft

11/17: AustinFit group walk

Posted by miri On 17 November, 2012

An insane day of walking started with an 8 mile walk with the AustinFit half-marathon training group. Our route went from south Austin all the way through Hyde Park! If you had told me a year ago I’d walk that far, I would have said you were insane. Then again, if you’d told me that from Riverside to 45th was just 8 miles, I’d also say you were insane.

Route

Info
Distance 9.26 mi (really just 8)
Duration 2h:18m:26s
Avg. Speed 4.0 mph
Min. Altitude 404 ft
Max. Altitude 709 ft
Total Ascent 1494 ft
Total Descent 1472 ft