After the first 3 days of the year when I was at 3.2 Miles I caught a head cold and then 3 days ago started feeling that heavy fatigue like I felt during covid 2 months ago so covid again? No testing till Thursday.
So, 3.2 miles. A big 70-80 this year at this pace. I would love a break from sickness and injuries. It seems to never end.
I have wanted to live near the mountains since I was 7. Sadly it hasn’t happened yet. I’m still hoping I can retire one day to a state like Western Montana or Wyoming, but now I realize Utah should be on that list too.
Oh man that sucks. You can’t fight illness or injury. Hope you feel better soon.
It’s so nice to have a beautiful place to walk and jog isn’t it? It makes it so much easier to go out and do it.
So far I’m averaging 8,6 km / 5.3 miles a day this year, and to be honest, I like it quite a lot (even though the surroundings here are nowhere near as nice as in, for example, Utah…). Just have to find a new podcast that keeps me entertained…
I’m going to log 52km tonight for the year. So about 5,2km per day + non-fitness walking (which I average about 3km, I think, but I’m not really tracking those).
Anyway, I’m a little ahead of where I need to be (8km so far). I think it might be doable if I do not hurt myself. If I can keep getting ahead of the goal I should be able to build a buffer.
Edit: here it is. I’m going to try to post these weekly so as to motivate myself and keep track of progress:
I just totaled my walking & running stats for 2021 and was surprised to see that I’d done… 1,823 miles (around 1,400 walking and the rest running). I shoot for around 6 miles / day so that averages down to near 5 when you include the random day off.
I doubt that I’ll try to raise the total mileage much for 2022 since it’s already between 35 to 45 per week and much beyond that starts to take a heavier toll on the body. But I AM planning to see if I can run more of the miles (maybe 50%) since you have to push harder to keep seeing improvement as you lose weight.
I’m average height and weighed about 200 lbs at the start of the COVID lockdowns, but have been floating around 148 for the past year. It’s been SUPER hard to get consistently lower than that & hopefully increasing the intensity and controlling food splurging will make further improvements possible. Don’t tell my wife though. I weighed 133 when we met in college and she might maybe think I’m a little thin already :-)
My biggest tip & encouragement to everyone - Start SLOWLY and work up GRADUALLY. High mileage and intensity are absolutely possible (even for this 53 year old), but you have to work up to it so that you don’t get hurt. Slow and gradual will probably frustrate you if you remember your faster and younger self, but keep at it and you’ll get there before the year is done!
… also good shoes. You will buy so many shoes…
Diego
Progress report:
So about 14km ahead of the goal. Very tight, given that stuff happens. I give it 50/50 hitting the 1000 miles.
Today’s 12k run I completed at 5:04 per km average (with a drop in the middle and late pace actually better). Given that the race is late April and that race pace tends to be significantly better than training, this bodes well for my half marathon goal of under 1:45 (which means running it under 5 mins/km).
Next week I’ll increase distance in the long runs to 14k.
I’m almost exactly on pace, which as @Juan_Raigada points out gives me no buffer for stuff happening:
“Runs 13” is a bit of a misnomer there. Because of how Strava tracks things, everything I do, including hiking and walking, is called a run.
Strava says that puts me 0.4 miles ahead of pace. I’m personally going for 20 miles per week, ending on Saturday (2022 ends on a Saturday) so am doing ok, but I’d rather have a few more banked miles. Planning a hike next weekend that’ll hopefully help.
I’m logging regular 4 miles runs and average about a 9:25/mile pace on my fast runs, so much slower than Juan. But that’s ok; I’m not training for a race :)
You may have mentioned it already but are you sure? If I ‘edit activity’ on the Strava app, I can mark activity as run, hike or walk after the fact.
9:25 is pretty fast for me. Anything under 10 is fast :) I switched to a very short pace a while ago and haven’t had my usual knee problem despite longer distance runs, but it has slowed me a little. A trade very worth making for this 51 year old, and not even that big a deal. I recommend short steps to all older people!
Edit: Never mind - I see what you mean about Strava. It doesn’t show the hikes etc under your profile stats.
It does, but you can’t collectively group different activities into the same goal or stat bundle. (Actually you can, but only if you create a group goal with yourself as the only participant. But group goals don’t show up on your main profile page.)
I did figure out how to track runs separately from warmup/cooldowns though. You can create a segment that includes just your running route. I run a 4 mile route, then cooldown for 0.5 miles after, so I created a segment for just the 4 mile section and it tracks segment stats separately. It will apply this retroactively to completed runs.
Yeah, I’m 45 and very aware of joints. I definitely use a short step, on downhills especially. I also try to cultivate a “gliding” gait: less vertical, more shock absorbing. It’s not as efficient, but in the long run (pun intended) it will keep me in running shoes longer. If I was 35 instead of 45, a month of consistent running would have me well below 8 min/mile(= Juan’s 5 min/km pace), so age (and if I’m honest weight) is a factor in how fast my training improves. I’m not shooting for much below 9 min/mile, and I’m perfectly satisfied with anything below 10 min/mile.
Isn’t there a better app for this? I like Strava for running and cycling, but it’s not great for walking. They treat it like a third tier activity, which is strange because their annual report shows that they have a lot of walkers.
That said, do we have a Qt3 club on Strava? I am currently injured, so my numbers won’t be great, but I am trying to get more walking in per doctor’s orders.
Also just on track, though just walking.
On Dec 15th I went indoor skydiving. I clocked 98kg on weigh-in, which was a bit of a wtf moment. Re-activated my gym membership a few days later and have committed to an hour a day - walking, stationary bike, rowing - paired with intermittent fasting until I get down to a reasonable weight. As of this morning I am am down to 86.5kg.
I just made one. Come one, come all
Um…
This is a thing here in San Diego. For approximately half the price of an outdoor skydive, you can get blown into the air with a giant fan for 30 seconds or so. I did the outdoor version a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the jump.
I haven’t lived :) Joined Qt3 Strava though - going out to get those numbers up now!
Ugh not a great start. Had to sit out all week from any exercise as had Covid. Generally not a great start to the year otherwise. Can make up miles later but always tough starting in the hole.
I joined the Strava club! (after figuring out how to sync all the year’s activities from Garmin connect).
I hear you. Last time I ran seriously I was 35 (I’m 40 now) and at that point I was 15+ seconds per km faster on short runs (under 10k).
5 years later and 10kg more (and a 4 year old, which matches nicely with me stopping running until recently), I don’t think I can reach that pace short term (I hope I can get closer in a year or so, even though there’s no guarantee).
That said I’ve done some HIIT for the last two years and looking at where I’m at, it seems it was surprisingly effective at keeping some baseline fitness.
I’m on track to do complete 8-9% of my 1,000 mile goal by the end of the month, which is on track to complete by the end of the year
It was an exciting week. I walk at 7 AM, and at this time of the year means it’s pitch black when I start. And it was excessively foggy on Monday. I’m just in the first few minutes of my walk, busy trying to figure out what podcast to listen to and not paying attention, when I turned and came across an abandoned Mercedes running in the middle of the road. It was eerie in the thick fog. The engine was on, but the lights weren’t, and the trunk and moonroof were wide open.
It was in a dead-end section of road next to a clearing. And, needless to say, my spidey-senses went nuts. I immediately turned around to make sure no one was sneaking up on me. And I wear that jogging vest with front and rear lights, so I was able to illuminate the inside of the car.
Best guess is it was stolen and ditched, judging from the contents inside (box knife in the trunk with a bunch of cut-off merchandise tags. A grocery store package of pineapple in the back seat and other trash.) At that point another early-morning walker came by, and we called the police. Sheriff arrived shortly and confirmed it was likely stolen, as it was registered in Issaquah. He took care of it from there.
And that was my week in walking!
