American Heart Association 5K Walk

Well ... My wife and I did the 5K walk for the Heart Association this AM. Was a little leary of doing this walk since 9AM sunshine is pretty fierce in South Flordia this time of the year, but there was enough cloud cover to make the walk comfortable.

There were a ton of people that participated in the walk, young and old, some with todlers or some with their dogs.

There was the normal conjestion at the starting line, and it took a few minutes to get ahead of the strollers. We finished the 5K in 40 minutes ... which pleased me greatly.

When we crossed the finsih line, this young guy came over and h-fived me ... don't think anyone has ever hi-fived me for real.

Felt good!

The Long Walk

Well this morning I walked the longest distance ever for this old body.

Don't have an accurate distance since I didn't wear my pedometer, since I was just walking for time ... one hour. I'll measure later today so I can see if I'm ready for my first 5K walk for the Heart Association.

Spent a good 15 minutes in the pool cooling down, and swimming. Nice!

Saw a female boomer power walking toward me so I was able to study her technique ... interesting ... looks like a style of walking that takes practice, and can result in injury if done incorrectly. I'm gonna do some research on that.

How to Start Fitness walking

Well I've been searching for structured fitness walking programs ... just to be sure that I going in the right direction, and I came upon this, on the Walkingsite blog, and it makes common sense to me ...

"How to start: First of all, start out slow and easy. Just walk out the door. For most people this means head out the door, walk for 10 minutes, and walk back. That's it? Yes, that's it. Do this every day for a week. If this was easy for you, add five minutes to your walks next week (total walking time 25 minutes). Keep adding 5 minutes until you are walking as long as desired."

In a sense thats what I just discovered the other day, and I think that I'll give this a try over the next few weeks. My goal is to walk for an hour at a good pace!

Macho walking ...

As I was complaining to my wife that I really thought I walked a lot further then my pedometer displayed. She told me I should just go out and walk, without pressure or goals, for a period of time, to get to enjoy and feel the experience. I do have a tendency to get competitive in things like this and then also tend to hurt myself ... which gives me an excuse to quit!

Well I tried it this AM, and went out for a walk, just with my mp3 player and my watch. I timed my walk for 20 minutes out, and then 20 minutes back the same route. This really worked out well since I was able at least to maintain an consistent pace thru the walk. I'll probably start to this routinely, while I establish a solid health and fitness program for myself.

Investing in fitness

My current walking shoes are very inexpensive shoes from a large discount store. My sweet wife keeps nagging me to invest in good shoes if I'm going to continue, since she discovered long ago (she's been walking for years for health and fitness) that good shoes are everything in making the walking experience as pain free as possible.

I guess I'll start my research on-line and see what I can find out about the best walking shoes for the novice, and active boomer.

Nordic Pole Walking

Well yesterday I tried Nordic Pole Walking, with the new Exel walking poles for the first time. I reviewed the DVD that came with the poles so I had the basics at least of the proper way to pole walk.

Whew! Quite the workout ... did 2 miles, and my body really felt it.

Soreness in lower body, as well as upper body, surely an indication that it does provide a pretty fully workout while walking. That being said, I'll put them aside for a while while I buildup my endurance.

Hey I've only just returned to a healthy lifestyle.

How do we get active after decades of decadence?

OK ... I admit to being the most inactive baby boomer on the planet. However I know that I must change to get the most out of my boomer years. That being said, I have started walking as a fitness program, and I need to chat with other boomers that are walkers. Hopefully this blog will open some doors for me, and other boomers, with strategies on getting active, and having some fun doing it!