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jayfurrWhat's going on in my life? Why haven't I posted much lately? ("Do you care?" "No.")
Well, I was on the road for all of July, including a lot of travel that had me coming home on Saturdays or going out on Sundays. I did just about no recreation of any kind that whole month. After the July 4th weekend that month was just one big loss from the standpoint of diving or kayaking or hiking. I didn't even do any walking to get in shape for the Breast Cancer 3-Day because I was consistently staying in places that didn't lend themselves to doing eight mile walks after work. (Hotels at the junction of two freeways or in sketchy parts of downtown Denver aren't always your friends, walking-wise.)
Then at the beginning of August I came home, did laundry, packed, and headed off on vacation from the 3rd through the 11th. (I'll post about that at some point.) Then I had one more week of traveling to do (Louisville, Kentucky, as it happens), and then finally I was back in Vermont with two weeks in the office with no classes to teach and NO TRAVEL.
Earlier in the summer, I'd been trying to do a lot of walking to get my body toughened up for the upcoming Breast Cancer 3-Day. Then July came and put paid to that plan. Okay, I did do some hiking while on vacation, but nothing near what I needed to be doing in order to get back in shape for the upcoming walk.
So since my vacation, I've tried to make up for lost time, with varying degrees of success. I did an eighteen-mile walk that left me feeling pretty damn stiff in the hips afterwards. I did a five miler that left me feeling pretty much okay, walking home after work from the Park and Ride lot out at the interstate. Then on Friday I did a seven-miler (which was meant to be an 18-miler, but I had to abort after seven) in new shoes that left me feeling very stiff and with a huge blister on the back of my right Achilles tendon. And that's about it. So much for my plans of doing lots and lots of walking as soon as I got back from my vacation. I may have been too ambitious and I definitely shouldn't have tried to wear that new pair of hikers on a long hike before even wearing them around the office for a few days to get used to them.
To be blunt, I was feeling pretty gloomy about having lost all the tone I'd developed before July and wondering if I'd be able to get it back in time.
But yesterday, with new insoles in my already-broken-in hiking shoes, I left the spare car at Carole's office and walked 11.6 miles home, taking about 3.25 hours to do it over hilly terrain. And felt fine upon arriving home. No hip stiffness, no shin splits, no pain. In fact, I felt as good on arriving home as I did when I started, if not better. I could have done five more miles if it hadn't been just going eight o'clock when I walked in the door.
So there's that.
Admittedly, I'm a tiny bit stiff just now, but I attribute part of that to how chilly it was last night; I should have gotten up to close the window instead of hiding under the blankets and feeling achy and cold. The blister doesn't appear to have gotten infected and I'm considering going out for another walk tonight after work.
I'm very pleased with my weight loss results. I've been eating a lot of salad and high-fiber bran cereal and not much else lately and I think my body is finally getting used to eating less and not being so damn hungry all the time when I'm trying to lose weight. The high-fiber/high-veggie diet combined with all that walking seems to be causing a steady, if not rapid, loss of weight.
At 222 pounds, I weigh less right now than I have at any point in the last six years and I'm still hoping to get back to weighing what I did before we headed out on our honeymoon in September of 1997. (When we left, I weighed 210. When we got back, I weighed 224. We did a lot of oh-why-not dining on that honeymoon. Sigh.) My goal is to be at 210 by our wedding anniversary, which is actually a bit unrealistic; you're not supposed to lose weight that fast. And failing that, I want to be at 210 by the time I head off to do the Breast Cancer 3-Day on October 2.
If I keep walking after the 3-Day and don't suddenly decide to go back on the Deep Fat Diet, I should be able to keep this weight off for a long time.
Wish me luck.
Well, I was on the road for all of July, including a lot of travel that had me coming home on Saturdays or going out on Sundays. I did just about no recreation of any kind that whole month. After the July 4th weekend that month was just one big loss from the standpoint of diving or kayaking or hiking. I didn't even do any walking to get in shape for the Breast Cancer 3-Day because I was consistently staying in places that didn't lend themselves to doing eight mile walks after work. (Hotels at the junction of two freeways or in sketchy parts of downtown Denver aren't always your friends, walking-wise.)
Then at the beginning of August I came home, did laundry, packed, and headed off on vacation from the 3rd through the 11th. (I'll post about that at some point.) Then I had one more week of traveling to do (Louisville, Kentucky, as it happens), and then finally I was back in Vermont with two weeks in the office with no classes to teach and NO TRAVEL.
Earlier in the summer, I'd been trying to do a lot of walking to get my body toughened up for the upcoming Breast Cancer 3-Day. Then July came and put paid to that plan. Okay, I did do some hiking while on vacation, but nothing near what I needed to be doing in order to get back in shape for the upcoming walk.
So since my vacation, I've tried to make up for lost time, with varying degrees of success. I did an eighteen-mile walk that left me feeling pretty damn stiff in the hips afterwards. I did a five miler that left me feeling pretty much okay, walking home after work from the Park and Ride lot out at the interstate. Then on Friday I did a seven-miler (which was meant to be an 18-miler, but I had to abort after seven) in new shoes that left me feeling very stiff and with a huge blister on the back of my right Achilles tendon. And that's about it. So much for my plans of doing lots and lots of walking as soon as I got back from my vacation. I may have been too ambitious and I definitely shouldn't have tried to wear that new pair of hikers on a long hike before even wearing them around the office for a few days to get used to them.
To be blunt, I was feeling pretty gloomy about having lost all the tone I'd developed before July and wondering if I'd be able to get it back in time.
But yesterday, with new insoles in my already-broken-in hiking shoes, I left the spare car at Carole's office and walked 11.6 miles home, taking about 3.25 hours to do it over hilly terrain. And felt fine upon arriving home. No hip stiffness, no shin splits, no pain. In fact, I felt as good on arriving home as I did when I started, if not better. I could have done five more miles if it hadn't been just going eight o'clock when I walked in the door.
So there's that.
Admittedly, I'm a tiny bit stiff just now, but I attribute part of that to how chilly it was last night; I should have gotten up to close the window instead of hiding under the blankets and feeling achy and cold. The blister doesn't appear to have gotten infected and I'm considering going out for another walk tonight after work.
I'm very pleased with my weight loss results. I've been eating a lot of salad and high-fiber bran cereal and not much else lately and I think my body is finally getting used to eating less and not being so damn hungry all the time when I'm trying to lose weight. The high-fiber/high-veggie diet combined with all that walking seems to be causing a steady, if not rapid, loss of weight.
At 222 pounds, I weigh less right now than I have at any point in the last six years and I'm still hoping to get back to weighing what I did before we headed out on our honeymoon in September of 1997. (When we left, I weighed 210. When we got back, I weighed 224. We did a lot of oh-why-not dining on that honeymoon. Sigh.) My goal is to be at 210 by our wedding anniversary, which is actually a bit unrealistic; you're not supposed to lose weight that fast. And failing that, I want to be at 210 by the time I head off to do the Breast Cancer 3-Day on October 2.
If I keep walking after the 3-Day and don't suddenly decide to go back on the Deep Fat Diet, I should be able to keep this weight off for a long time.
Wish me luck.
