Slow in the Fast Lane

I haven’t blogged for 2 months. I wanted to get through the holidays and test myself to see if I could get back on track.  A couple of things inspired me to do that. Mark and I are now going to the health park together and he bought me a Fitbit watch for Christmas. This photo above is the gym at the health park where we shoot baskets together about once a week and above that is the walking track where we walk 3 times a week. I am trying to get in shape to walk/run a 5k and not be the absolute last one in the race, followed closely by the police car and race officials picking up the route cones! As of yesterday, I can walk/run a 19 minute mile. I use the term “run” very loosely. The outside lane is for runners, but when I am running in that lane, or rather when I am jogging, there are several people walking who walk right past me. There are few, if any, runners when I go. So, I stay in that lane, because there is a psychological boost for me to be in the runners lane. I am working my way through a “couch-to-5k” plan and it took me 8 weeks to make it to “day 30” out of 75, but I am on track now to finish in real time. When I started, I could barely run 2 minutes.

The fitbit Ionic has been fun to have and helpful for keeping track of my heart rate and steps per day and sleeping hours. It is not that I have to have one, but it has helped me at this time in my life to stick with a plan. For example, when I go to the gym, I set the watch to log an activity like running. It will tell me the distance I ran and my heart rate and it will encourage me to log at least one activity a day for 5 days each week. But even if I have no specific activities, it tracks my steps for the day and how many flights of stairs I walk, and times per day that my heart rate rises with regular activity, like lugging groceries from the van to the house. The watch cannot detect that I am specifically lugging groceries, though. (I don’t think!) One day, my back and neck were sore and I needed to use the hot tub. I had been reading that when pain prevents us from exercising, the hot tub is a good alternative, because it raises the heart rate and respiration as though the body was exercising. I’ve used it a couple of times and it was quite a nice alternative. It did raise my heart rate according to the Fitbit. However, I have a goal now to be ready for a 5k by springtime, so I will keep on running until I get there.