Busy weekend. On Friday about 2:30 my wife made a off handed comment about going up to a B&B in LaValle , WI a day early. We were planning in getting together with several other caching friends, a partially dangerous group since I am the only male and they can be rather spirited, on Saturday but I had a crummy day at work and I suggested she call. They had a room so we went up a day early.
So on Friday night we stayed up much later than what we normally do as we had some wine and chatted with friends, some new one and some we have known for quite a while longer. They were good for some attitude adjustment and had made my day much better.
Saturday we were up early and headed for La Crosse to do the AVA 11K walk. Get to the start location and ask the young lady working there for the AVA box and she has no clue, great, but her co worker did. We have been in La Crosse a bit in the past both caching and for family stuff (my father in law grew up in La Crosse), but I had never been thru this part of the city before. At about the 3K mark we went off the streets and onto a path that headed us towards the bluff, I started getting a familiar twinge in my heel, a blister starting. One of the coolest things on this walk was on the trail they had young adults (Students at UW LaCrosse I think) passing out candy to Trick or Treaters. Saw plenty of little kids enjoying the candy. The walk would eventually take us thru the UWL campus and past some of the historical homes in La Crosse. Ended our trip by getting our first awards fro caching, a beer stein shaped pin.
From there we headed back to Mauston to do 29 caches with our caching friends. It took us about 3 hours to do them all. Six sets of eyes made this a pretty easier and fun trip. We then headed back to the B&B for more wine, chat, laughs (being the only man I was getting a fair share of teasing) and some really good food, Chicken Enchilada Casserole and Chili, both very good.
Sunday morning took us to Madison to do a second AVA walk, this time around the state capital and the UW Madison Campus. This one a 10K and I had thought I prepared from the blister I got in La Crosse and covered the blister well with duct tape, but before we even get 1K in I know something in wrong. Find a bench pull the shoe and sock off and readjust the tape and it seems to fell better, not. This walk drove us a little nuts for awhile as it was go one block and turn right and then go one block and turn left as we covered the entire area around the capital and got a view of Lake Monona also. Finally we start going several blocks at a time and head toward Lake Mendota. We weave all thru the UW Madison Campus (and feeling slightly old with a bunch of 20 somethings everywhere) even watched somebody driving on the pedestrian walk ways near Bascom Hall (for those who don't know there is no vehicle traffic in this area). We found Madison to be a very walking friendly city and as we headed back at the capital we were getting very hungry as we past many restaurants of many different ethnicities. One good smell after another.
Get back to the car and I want to put my Crocs on, get the shoes and socks off and get to time to pull the tape off. I dont look at the foot but I can tell by the look on the wife's fact that this wasnt going to be a good conclusion. I ripped about a quarter sized piece of skin off the blister, which is larger than a 50 cent piece. Since it is the dentist tomorrow I dont have to worry about it but I would like to get to the gym on Tuesday and right now I am thinking that wont happen.
Cant complain 21K done over the weekend, some caching and some good friends. Hope to have more weekends like that.
Now over 250K step walked for almost 150 miles, oh and that milestone. I have not been under 275 in at least 5 years and maybe as much as 15 years. I will not be there again, Friday the scale rewarded my efforts with 274.8. It maybe only two tenths of a pound under but it is under, now onward to getting under 250. And working on blister maintence
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Little Victories
I had hoped to see a milestone weight drop bye but it has not proven to be a good time to have this occur. On Saturday my one sister in law who lives 5 plus hours away had been in town for a job interview and staying with her boyfriend, my other sister in law lives somewhat local, but we didn't have any plans. When my wife sees a posting on Face Book that her cousin from Virginia is in town, next thing you know we are going out for lunch with family. It was a nice visit. But suddenly plans for walking were shot and neither of us felt like going to the gym.
Sunday was more crappy weather so we ran some errands. With all my jeans in the laundry I grabbed a pair from the I used to fit in these stack. I'm hoping that I can just button them and if nothing else I can change later, not quite they way it worked, needed a belt.
Stop at Wally World for some fitness gear and my wife grabs two pair of compression shorts to go try on, one her present size and one of one size smaller. By the smile on her face I can tell it is one pair that she fits into on one pair of her now to big for her size. A pair of nice small victories for us.
Hit the gym and did an hour on the treadmill for both of us and went home to catch up on the DVR. Some how we are watching less TV but there is more stuff on it, we never seem caught up.
Monday the wife went on a trip to buy wine for our get together with Geocaching Team B & B and after being on a 500 calorie per day diet for awhile her little samples of wine had her feeling good.
Tuesday bought the wind and rain, so it was back to the gym for another hour for both of us on the treadmill. The wife was humored by the guy next to her who appeared to be in better shape than either of us, but struggling to keep it at a pace we consider slow. Have we started to change?
Want to get to the gym on Wednesday because I won't on Thursday since I have an appointment with Drs. Drill & Phil
Hoepfully this weekend we can get two 10K walks in and also try one of the WhereIgo caches in Madison
230629 steps and counting
Sunday was more crappy weather so we ran some errands. With all my jeans in the laundry I grabbed a pair from the I used to fit in these stack. I'm hoping that I can just button them and if nothing else I can change later, not quite they way it worked, needed a belt.
Stop at Wally World for some fitness gear and my wife grabs two pair of compression shorts to go try on, one her present size and one of one size smaller. By the smile on her face I can tell it is one pair that she fits into on one pair of her now to big for her size. A pair of nice small victories for us.
Hit the gym and did an hour on the treadmill for both of us and went home to catch up on the DVR. Some how we are watching less TV but there is more stuff on it, we never seem caught up.
Monday the wife went on a trip to buy wine for our get together with Geocaching Team B & B and after being on a 500 calorie per day diet for awhile her little samples of wine had her feeling good.
Tuesday bought the wind and rain, so it was back to the gym for another hour for both of us on the treadmill. The wife was humored by the guy next to her who appeared to be in better shape than either of us, but struggling to keep it at a pace we consider slow. Have we started to change?
Want to get to the gym on Wednesday because I won't on Thursday since I have an appointment with Drs. Drill & Phil
Hoepfully this weekend we can get two 10K walks in and also try one of the WhereIgo caches in Madison
230629 steps and counting
Friday, October 22, 2010
I dont know how many steps
We took a few days off this week because real life took over for a few days. On Tuesday we went to a local running shoe store and got equipped with better footwear, here is to no more blisters (cross my fingers and hope, and no more duct tape on the heels)
On Wednesday I was feeling down and dragging, could it be two days with out walking had gotten to me. It was a long and miserably slow day at work and work didn't seem to be a bad day, so it had to be me. So on the way home I decide to get my blood pumping before the gym. Plugged the Ipod into the car radio and cranked some Rush. Got thru 2112, Fly by Night, Finding My Way and Working Man and I was amped up. Good old heavy metal does the trick for me (and remember to turn the radio down so the wife wouldn't be upset). Changed and off we went.
Hit the treadmill and plugged in a program called Pikes Peak for an hour. Still trying to find the right level of intensity for me so I ended up with something more like Pike's Mounds. But as the course ran along I would increase the incline to make it harder and I usually go at a 3.4 pace, so I started playing with that also. The last minute before cool down I was on flat terrain so I bumped the speed to the point I had to jog. I may have only been for a minute but now I remember what that is supposed to feel like. We will be back to that point again, even if next time its for 2 minutes.
So how many steps? I don't know. Remember him the ghost character from Family Circus that Billy always blamed things on. He must have turned off my pedometer.
Friday night takes us out to Middleton for a 10K AVA walk. This is a group walk so we get to start to meet some of the other AVA members in the local club, most seem to be a very nice group, but there is always one. This walk was a little different it is a night walk and they ask that you don't use your flashlights. We started by going up a unpaved trail that was a long slow hill that twisted and turned until you got to a nice view that featured the State Capital in the distance. We kept near the front of the group and I surprised my self that over uneven and rough terrain I didn't roll my ankle at all, I do that at least twice on flat paved pavement. The trail took us behind some very nice homes in the area and Middleton has done a nice job interlocking its trails together.
The biggest complaint we had was there was another husband and wife that droned on and on and on about politics. Now maybe some of the reason it grated us was their views were different than ours, but there is a time and a place for those discussion. This was neither. I was wishing I had duct taped my heels, I could have used the tape to tape their mouths shut. Thankfully they eventually dropped back into the crowd.
So how many steps? I don't know turned off my pedometer after 343 steps, I need to have a serious discussion with that ghost.
Hopefully the weather holds off on the rain, would like to do the AVA Cedarburg walk and also test our PiGo app on our Iphone and see if we can do The Pharm Girl's WhereIGo Cahce with that app. Hopefully I don't know stays home
On Wednesday I was feeling down and dragging, could it be two days with out walking had gotten to me. It was a long and miserably slow day at work and work didn't seem to be a bad day, so it had to be me. So on the way home I decide to get my blood pumping before the gym. Plugged the Ipod into the car radio and cranked some Rush. Got thru 2112, Fly by Night, Finding My Way and Working Man and I was amped up. Good old heavy metal does the trick for me (and remember to turn the radio down so the wife wouldn't be upset). Changed and off we went.
Hit the treadmill and plugged in a program called Pikes Peak for an hour. Still trying to find the right level of intensity for me so I ended up with something more like Pike's Mounds. But as the course ran along I would increase the incline to make it harder and I usually go at a 3.4 pace, so I started playing with that also. The last minute before cool down I was on flat terrain so I bumped the speed to the point I had to jog. I may have only been for a minute but now I remember what that is supposed to feel like. We will be back to that point again, even if next time its for 2 minutes.
So how many steps? I don't know. Remember him the ghost character from Family Circus that Billy always blamed things on. He must have turned off my pedometer.
Friday night takes us out to Middleton for a 10K AVA walk. This is a group walk so we get to start to meet some of the other AVA members in the local club, most seem to be a very nice group, but there is always one. This walk was a little different it is a night walk and they ask that you don't use your flashlights. We started by going up a unpaved trail that was a long slow hill that twisted and turned until you got to a nice view that featured the State Capital in the distance. We kept near the front of the group and I surprised my self that over uneven and rough terrain I didn't roll my ankle at all, I do that at least twice on flat paved pavement. The trail took us behind some very nice homes in the area and Middleton has done a nice job interlocking its trails together.
The biggest complaint we had was there was another husband and wife that droned on and on and on about politics. Now maybe some of the reason it grated us was their views were different than ours, but there is a time and a place for those discussion. This was neither. I was wishing I had duct taped my heels, I could have used the tape to tape their mouths shut. Thankfully they eventually dropped back into the crowd.
So how many steps? I don't know turned off my pedometer after 343 steps, I need to have a serious discussion with that ghost.
Hopefully the weather holds off on the rain, would like to do the AVA Cedarburg walk and also test our PiGo app on our Iphone and see if we can do The Pharm Girl's WhereIGo Cahce with that app. Hopefully I don't know stays home
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Congrats to my walking partner
Most of you who have read my comments know that I walk most of the time with my wife and most of you know that she is on her own journey to loose weight. She is on a program that for a three week period she lives on about 500 calories a day and then goes 4-6 weeks between and does the 500 calories again.
For my caching friends the West Bend Cache Bash was the end of her second week last time, anybody remember how tired she looked. Well we are at the end of week two of her second session thru this program. She has made one major change in her approach from last time, she is walking most of the time with me.
Earlier this week she hit a milestone for pounds lost, and today while on the HeartWalk she hit 100 miles walked since starting . This week we walked almost 35 miles, so my wife has walked nearly a mile for every 100 calories she has eaten over this last week. Anybody want to try giving that a try?
So congrats to my wife who never ceases to amaze me
For my caching friends the West Bend Cache Bash was the end of her second week last time, anybody remember how tired she looked. Well we are at the end of week two of her second session thru this program. She has made one major change in her approach from last time, she is walking most of the time with me.
Earlier this week she hit a milestone for pounds lost, and today while on the HeartWalk she hit 100 miles walked since starting . This week we walked almost 35 miles, so my wife has walked nearly a mile for every 100 calories she has eaten over this last week. Anybody want to try giving that a try?
So congrats to my wife who never ceases to amaze me
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Go the extra yard. It makes a mile of difference-Mason Cooley
Today started a little busy for us. Some friends were at a nearby craft sale and we wanted to stop and say hello, we wanted to work on The Crippler's Amazing Geo-Race cache series, oh and a little 10K walk around Lake Geneva which is one of the YRE (year round events) they offer.
Geared up and headed to Brookfield to stop by Scrappy Scouts (Its a caching nickname) stand. Seems Scout stayed home and slept but we spent about an hour chatting with Scrappy. Nice and not as interesting as last time we visted with them, no runaway corn trailers this time (yes I am being serious).
Got to Lake Geneva and I assumed it would be slowing down since it is off season, wrong beautiful day and cars everywhere. Found a parking spot and headed to pick up the map for the walk. The start of the walk took us along the north edge of the lake, with a wind that made me wonder if I was wrong in ditching my coat and long pants in the car, I prefer walking in shorts. But soon the route took us on a trail that circles all 26 miles of the lake, the walking is very uneven through this area but the breeze was blocked.
Eventually the route breaks away and we headed into town and near the first cemetery in town (GR8 Eyes you missed placing a cache here) and would eventually start heading south on the east side of the lake. Now the lake front property on the North side is nothing I can dream about owning, and the property on the east side is what the people on the north side dream about never owning. A four floor 50 room mansion built in 1930 for $2 million, that included a mini golf course and a pool on the roof and a Frank Lloyd Wright design would be among the properties we would pass.
After what seemed like and endless distance we get routed back onto the path that circles the lake. This is an interesting area as it basically goes thru peoples back yards. Some have tried to get the path removed and fought it court but the path remains and basically it is public access but everything around it is private property. Some people have put down pavers for the path that cuts thru their yards and some have left it very primitive. In a few spots you are close enough to the lake to get splashed.
The cool part is you get to see all the multi million dollar homes much closer than when we past them on the road earlier. The coolest part of this walk was near that 50 room mansion I mentioned earlier, on the lake path there is one person who has put up a fence on both sides and the fence boards are ornately painted and there are inspirational quotes painted on the fence. From Lynn Redgrave to Michelangelo to Jiminy Cricket to various other thinkers, some religious, some proverbs from foreign county to the quote I have above. Even Munchkins get love here "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". You cant help but walk away from this place with an uplifting feeling in your heart. You owe it to yourself to walk this route once.
We finished the day but doing 2 legs of the geocache series I mentioned. One thought came to us on the second cache, we had to park almost a 1/2 away from one cache and after walking over 6 miles you would have thought we would have groaned about it. I know in the past we would have, before walking that is. No real complaints, except I had some mud to cross and I almost lost my shoe. Times are changing
With todays walk I have over 200K steps into my journey. Tomorrow is the HeartWalk and soon we will be adding walks in Vegas and Pasadena to our list. I have started to wonder can I hit 400K steps yet this year? I know I need to keep a go pace going if I am serious about the marathon walks in May and June.
Anybody want to go for a walk?
Geared up and headed to Brookfield to stop by Scrappy Scouts (Its a caching nickname) stand. Seems Scout stayed home and slept but we spent about an hour chatting with Scrappy. Nice and not as interesting as last time we visted with them, no runaway corn trailers this time (yes I am being serious).
Got to Lake Geneva and I assumed it would be slowing down since it is off season, wrong beautiful day and cars everywhere. Found a parking spot and headed to pick up the map for the walk. The start of the walk took us along the north edge of the lake, with a wind that made me wonder if I was wrong in ditching my coat and long pants in the car, I prefer walking in shorts. But soon the route took us on a trail that circles all 26 miles of the lake, the walking is very uneven through this area but the breeze was blocked.
Eventually the route breaks away and we headed into town and near the first cemetery in town (GR8 Eyes you missed placing a cache here) and would eventually start heading south on the east side of the lake. Now the lake front property on the North side is nothing I can dream about owning, and the property on the east side is what the people on the north side dream about never owning. A four floor 50 room mansion built in 1930 for $2 million, that included a mini golf course and a pool on the roof and a Frank Lloyd Wright design would be among the properties we would pass.
After what seemed like and endless distance we get routed back onto the path that circles the lake. This is an interesting area as it basically goes thru peoples back yards. Some have tried to get the path removed and fought it court but the path remains and basically it is public access but everything around it is private property. Some people have put down pavers for the path that cuts thru their yards and some have left it very primitive. In a few spots you are close enough to the lake to get splashed.
The cool part is you get to see all the multi million dollar homes much closer than when we past them on the road earlier. The coolest part of this walk was near that 50 room mansion I mentioned earlier, on the lake path there is one person who has put up a fence on both sides and the fence boards are ornately painted and there are inspirational quotes painted on the fence. From Lynn Redgrave to Michelangelo to Jiminy Cricket to various other thinkers, some religious, some proverbs from foreign county to the quote I have above. Even Munchkins get love here "Follow the Yellow Brick Road". You cant help but walk away from this place with an uplifting feeling in your heart. You owe it to yourself to walk this route once.
We finished the day but doing 2 legs of the geocache series I mentioned. One thought came to us on the second cache, we had to park almost a 1/2 away from one cache and after walking over 6 miles you would have thought we would have groaned about it. I know in the past we would have, before walking that is. No real complaints, except I had some mud to cross and I almost lost my shoe. Times are changing
With todays walk I have over 200K steps into my journey. Tomorrow is the HeartWalk and soon we will be adding walks in Vegas and Pasadena to our list. I have started to wonder can I hit 400K steps yet this year? I know I need to keep a go pace going if I am serious about the marathon walks in May and June.
Anybody want to go for a walk?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
100 miles
When I started this in early September I actually wondered how long it would take me to get to 100 miles walked. Today I found out, while on the treadmill at the gym I started my second 100 miles. In about 4 1/2 weeks I have made it to 100 miles, trust me I am shocked byt his, I was hoping maybe 100 by Christmas or so, but never such a short time.
But I now look back and see some very clear cut changes in me. I may not have lost the weight I wanted to, but it is starting to come off, my lifestyle has become healthier. I would have never set health related goals or fitness related goals. Now I am looking at a 17 mile walk near Madison in May and a 26.2 mile walk in June and I am telling mys self that if I want to seriously do these two events (and I am seriously interested) I need to get at least 30 pounds off my body (or under 250) before that date. But I have 6 months so I think I can (guess I need to sound like the little engine that could).
My biggest fear is winter, I normally hibernate and come out 3 months later 10-15 pounds heavier. I can't do that this year, I don't know how not to, but I suspect it will be by putting one foot in front of the other. Other things that will help is we are planning a trip to Vegas and LA, I have already found walks in areas we will be staying. Visiti0gn family up north, already know what trail we can hike. Halloween with caching Team B&B do a walk in La Crosse first, finding a way to still do everything else but to also start to take care of myself.
Thanks Roxy for being there most every step of the way and inspiring me to start and get my butt off the sofa. Thanks Robin for Ourhike, it may have been for your cause, but it has shown me a new path
To date 182041 steps for 102.6 miles. I have now burned enough calories that if you wanted to visualize them in one sense, I could eat one fast food chain specialty Cheeseburger for every day in February, during a leap years an still have not used up my calories burned. Onward to the Heartwalk and The Dairyland Walkers Lake Geneva 10K walk this weekend
But I now look back and see some very clear cut changes in me. I may not have lost the weight I wanted to, but it is starting to come off, my lifestyle has become healthier. I would have never set health related goals or fitness related goals. Now I am looking at a 17 mile walk near Madison in May and a 26.2 mile walk in June and I am telling mys self that if I want to seriously do these two events (and I am seriously interested) I need to get at least 30 pounds off my body (or under 250) before that date. But I have 6 months so I think I can (guess I need to sound like the little engine that could).
My biggest fear is winter, I normally hibernate and come out 3 months later 10-15 pounds heavier. I can't do that this year, I don't know how not to, but I suspect it will be by putting one foot in front of the other. Other things that will help is we are planning a trip to Vegas and LA, I have already found walks in areas we will be staying. Visiti0gn family up north, already know what trail we can hike. Halloween with caching Team B&B do a walk in La Crosse first, finding a way to still do everything else but to also start to take care of myself.
Thanks Roxy for being there most every step of the way and inspiring me to start and get my butt off the sofa. Thanks Robin for Ourhike, it may have been for your cause, but it has shown me a new path
To date 182041 steps for 102.6 miles. I have now burned enough calories that if you wanted to visualize them in one sense, I could eat one fast food chain specialty Cheeseburger for every day in February, during a leap years an still have not used up my calories burned. Onward to the Heartwalk and The Dairyland Walkers Lake Geneva 10K walk this weekend
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Gyms and MIlwaukee AVA walk
With the bustle around Al's Run/Walk I failed to mention other new things that are occurring. Given we live in Wisconsin the likelihood that we will be able to walk thru winter is nil. Between cold,snow and early sunsets it just isn't a good match up. So what to do, join a Gym.
So we go to one place and the guy behind the counter seems annoyed because we ruined his attempted pick up, shows us some prices and none of the equipment, we didn't buy. So we try another place and the manager is about to go off duty but stays to give us the tour. The place is a little small but alot of high quality equipment in it, the same equipment they use on the Biggest Loser in fact. Clean, neat, not a meat market and prices that were good enough, so we bought a membership.
Friday after doing a few things around the house, we grab a bite to eat and hit the gym. Right know just an hour on the treadmill is all I am looking for. Quickly I realize that walking right after dinner isnt smart, as I get a B of a side ache, but I keep going. The other major difference is when your walking a trail you set your own pace and soemtimes have to stop for traffic. The treadmill just keeps going at the pace that I entered in, which in the end seemed much tougher than trail walking. But thru the winter it will work and just 10 minutes from home is all the better.
Sunday we did our second AVA walk. This one was a little different than our first as it is a unsupervised walk (they do many of these). In this case we went to a hotel near Grand Avenue Mall and picked up the start cards and maps. The walks would take us 10K starting down Wisconsin Avenue to the Calatrava, then North on Lincoln Memorial to the snack shop at McKinley Beach, up the hill to the Water tower by Columbia /St. Marys and weaving our way back down to Lincoln Memorial. This time we veer off at the War Memorial (who knew there was a statue of Lincoln in front of the War Memorial?), over to Cathedral Square and finally back to the hotel to stamp our books to show we did the walk.
In the Friday thru Sunday time frame we walked a 5K and two 10Ks, roughly 15 miles. No wonder the wife is tired. Next weekend brings the AVA in Lake Geneva and a 5K Heartwalk.
Its funny on how quickly we have gotten some serious distance accomplished, at times I have been a little bummed that the weight hasnt gone as quickly as the miles have but 280 is near for me and I started at 296 so I cant complain much. People are starting to see it so I know there is some good happening.
To date168316 steps for 94.7miles, Tuesday I should go over 100 miles
So we go to one place and the guy behind the counter seems annoyed because we ruined his attempted pick up, shows us some prices and none of the equipment, we didn't buy. So we try another place and the manager is about to go off duty but stays to give us the tour. The place is a little small but alot of high quality equipment in it, the same equipment they use on the Biggest Loser in fact. Clean, neat, not a meat market and prices that were good enough, so we bought a membership.
Friday after doing a few things around the house, we grab a bite to eat and hit the gym. Right know just an hour on the treadmill is all I am looking for. Quickly I realize that walking right after dinner isnt smart, as I get a B of a side ache, but I keep going. The other major difference is when your walking a trail you set your own pace and soemtimes have to stop for traffic. The treadmill just keeps going at the pace that I entered in, which in the end seemed much tougher than trail walking. But thru the winter it will work and just 10 minutes from home is all the better.
Sunday we did our second AVA walk. This one was a little different than our first as it is a unsupervised walk (they do many of these). In this case we went to a hotel near Grand Avenue Mall and picked up the start cards and maps. The walks would take us 10K starting down Wisconsin Avenue to the Calatrava, then North on Lincoln Memorial to the snack shop at McKinley Beach, up the hill to the Water tower by Columbia /St. Marys and weaving our way back down to Lincoln Memorial. This time we veer off at the War Memorial (who knew there was a statue of Lincoln in front of the War Memorial?), over to Cathedral Square and finally back to the hotel to stamp our books to show we did the walk.
In the Friday thru Sunday time frame we walked a 5K and two 10Ks, roughly 15 miles. No wonder the wife is tired. Next weekend brings the AVA in Lake Geneva and a 5K Heartwalk.
Its funny on how quickly we have gotten some serious distance accomplished, at times I have been a little bummed that the weight hasnt gone as quickly as the miles have but 280 is near for me and I started at 296 so I cant complain much. People are starting to see it so I know there is some good happening.
To date168316 steps for 94.7miles, Tuesday I should go over 100 miles
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