Sunday, December 11, 2016

280,000 Steps in 4 Weeks

Since my last post, I've managed to keep up my pace of averaging 10,000 steps a day. Little tricks I can share include taking the stairs up to my 8th floor workstation at least once a day, getting off a stop or two before mine and walking at night, going for a little stroll before Friday night ultimate frisbee, and even walking down to the drugstore today to finish up my Christmas shopping. Lately, I've even been tempted to purchase a used Fitbit to track my steps more formally. I'll probably take the plunge and spend the $50-60 after Christmas as I have my eye on the purple model ;-)

Wishing everyone an active and wonderful holiday season! Keep stepping!

Friday, November 18, 2016

Still Stepping...

I've never been the most consistent blogger, but a total lack of posting in recent months was not my intention. Reality is although my goal is to keep fit, measuring steps every day is far from my top priority. That said, despite still working through the lingering effects of bronchitis that has lasted for over 3 weeks, I managed to take 71,309 steps over the past seven days. Playing two ultimate games, going for walks over lunch at work, and taking the stairs up to my desk on the 8th floor in the office all contributed. With snow forecasted for next week, it will be a challenge to continue to average over 10K steps per day....but I'm looking forward to that challenge :)

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Highs & Lows

"You can't let the highs get  too high and you can't let the lows get too low"
- Heather O'Reilly

DaySteps
10/04/201610022
11/04/201610653
12/04/201610533
13/04/20161644
14/04/201613896
15/04/201611882
16/04/201611112

The first week of aiming for 10,000 steps a day was generally a success with only one day of not achieving my goal. The "low" was on a Wednesday when I decided to work from home and took it easy. Although I felt guilty about only taking 1,644 steps, my body needed an easy day, so I gave it one. Similarly, I'm working from home today and will unliekly meet my target of 10,000 steps. The high day during my first week was Thursday, when I still felt guilty about my low day previously, so went for a long run at work over lunch.

Following Heather O'Reilly's advice, I'm trying to do a better job this week at not letting the highs get me too high, or the lows get too low. I have found ways to incorporate more movement into my days without going for runs. That said, I set an all-time high step count earlier this week while attending a 3-hour ultimate frisbee tryout. More on my 18,586 step day in a future entry :)

Keep moving my friends!

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Baseline

Baseline:
a. line serving as a basis, as for measurement, calculation, or location.
b. Something, such as a set of data, used as a basis for comparison or as a control in a study.
c. starting point.
(Source: www.thefreedictionary.com) 

Before updating you on my journey to take 10,000 steps a day, it is worth exploring my baseline. We all need to start somewhere, so here is where I am starting from.

Although I have always considered myself an athlete, that description has taken a backseat to husband, father, and even employee in the last five years.  As I was promoted at work, got married, and became a dad, my activity level decreased from 2-3 nights per week, to 1 night a week, and sometimes none. Even having a gym on site at work has not been enough of a motivating factor to keep me moving. That said, I still manage to play ultimate frisbee and run at a pretty decent level given my athletic background. That background consists of doing distance running from the age of 13 to 27, and then discovering ultimate frisbee and falling in love with that sport. Over the last 10 years, my love affair with ultimate has evolved into a stable long-term relationship, that has its shares of ups and downs. For those ultimate friends that end up reading this post, it's safe to say I'm more of a weekend warrior at this point, as my competitive days are fading into the distance in my rearview mirror.

I started the 10,000 step challenge last Saturday weighing in at 162 pounds on my 6 foot, 1 inch frame. Some might consider that skinny, but the nurses who did assessments at work last year told me I was slightly heavier than I should be given my tiny bone structure. Since I decided against playing ultimate frisbee this spring, I have been hauling myself to the gym and trying to walk more in order too get in my 10,000 steps the last three days. The result has been very achy legs at night and a whole lot of sweating when running & working out at the gym. 

Trying to calculate my baseline number of steps is challenging. I figure every day when I work from the office , I take about 5,000 steps. When I work from home, or kick around home on the weekend, that number falls to about 1,500 steps. Clearly, there is a big gap between those baseline numbers and where I want to end each day. I have been thinking of ways to fill that gap in a natural way, so that I do not have to make the trip to the gym each day, or go for long runs/walks on the weekend.

I have been using a very basic pedometer since February after sending away two proofs of purchase from boxes of Vector. Seriously, my main tool for completing this challenge came from cereal boxes. My highest step count for a day was over 15,000 when I made the mistake of covering one of Canada's best Masters age ultimate frisbee players in a league game. Although I like to challenge myself and my team needed me to step up that night, I had a hard time getting around the next day.

In summary, I am a 37 year-old, 162 pound, desk jockey who has been struggling to keep active as my priorities shift in life. With my best athletic days behind me, I am looking to keep active in order to stay healthy and happy.  

Keep moving friends!













Sunday, April 10, 2016

First Steps

If every journey begins with a single step, mine began with 5,807 today, mainly amassed through a 30 minute run. It is 2:38 in the afternoon, and as I wait for my son to wake up from his nap, I decided to start a blog to track my progress toward becoming more active and healthier. There's nothing magical about my 10,000 step daily goal, and no pot of gold after step number 9,999. I picked an arbitrary standard to measure myself against to motivate me to get and stay moving. There will be no excuses, but possibly some explanations. Don't expect deep thoughts, but insights might occur. If the writing isn't to your taste, I'll take no offence when you move along. Afterall, there's nothing special about my daily grind, unless you can appreciate small victories.

Walk on!