Day 3 - Walking Tips - My Favorite App

Map My Walk

My favorite walking app is Map My Walk. The app keeps track of distance, duration, pace and elevation. It also calculates calories burned on the walk. Which is good and bad. It's nice to know that I'm burning calories but I also know 622 calories is just about equal to a hot fudge sundae. That's probably why I can't seem to lose any weight! It all balances out.

My favorite thing about this app is that it's free. (also my favorite word) It works well for me and I get an email showing my weekly progress. I even get notifications when my friends complete walks and there's challenges I can join.The app uses the GPS on my phone and shows a detailed map of my walking route. I can use it offline so it saves on data.

I find tracking my progress is a great motivation to keep walking and this app does the trick without being too complicated.

"Everywhere is in walking distance if you have the time."

Steven Wright

For the month of October I'm going to be writing everyday mostly about walking. I hope I might encourage someone to get outside and take a walk!

 

Wednesday Walking - Our First 20 Mile Walk! Baldwin Rail to Trail

I like to walk but last year if anyone told me I'd walk 20 miles in one day I'd have had a good laugh!

But walk 20 miles we did! Whoop-Whoop!

This is all in preparation for our trip to New York next month. We'll be joining about a thousand other folks in  The Great Saunter a 32 mile walk around the shoreline of Manhattan.  

Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail

The Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail runs 14.5 miles between Imeson Road Trailhead and Brandy Branch Road Trailhead. There's several places to stop along the way including the Helsema Road trailhead, Baldwin Station and Camp Milton Historic Preserve.

Our walk started at the Helsema Road Trailhead on the Baldwin Rail to Trail. We walked 12 miles round trip to the Imeson trailhead, back to Helsema and then four miles towards Baldwin Station and four miles back to Helsema.

A total of 20 miles! 

The Baldwin Trail is a nice flat paved over railroad track that runs mostly through farm land.

This little black cow followed us for quite a ways on our walk.

We walked under a tunnel of sorts and there's even trail for horseback riders that runs along the side of the walking trail.

Our First Bike Encounter

There are no cars allowed but walkers and bikes share the trail. And on this walk we had our first run in with a bicyclist. Signs at the trailheads instruct everyone to stay on the right side of the trail. The idea being that faster traffic can pass on the left.
You can hear the bikes coming up behind you and most of the riders call out "passing on the left!" which is great. Unfortunately one woman on a bike didn't see us because the visor of her helmet was obscuring her vision and she plowed into us.
It's weird how things like that seem to go in slow motion. All of a sudden she was there falling to the ground between us.  Thank God she wasn't going very fast! She pretty much missed me but John caught it on the arm and foot. Poor lady she was so embarrassed and apologetic but we were none the worse for wear.
She got back on her bike and we went back to walking. But after that I was a little paranoid and couldn't help but turn around whenever I heard a bike coming up behind us.

A Few Tips For Long Distance Walking

1. Start by walking 1 -3 miles a day on most days.
2. After you're used to walking short distances daily begin adding a longer walk once a week. We did a few 6 miles walks then moved up to an 8 mile then 10, 17 and finally our 20 mile walk. 
3. Stay hydrated! Sweating and drinking plain water tends to wash the minerals out of your body so consider a sports drink. We take Lemon-Lime Gatorade in a 3 liter hydration system that's in John's Deuter backpack. Plus I carry powdered Gatorade and a water bottle as well. 
4. High energy salty snacks are a must. We take a snack mix of dried fruit, salty nuts and pretzels. We also take a few bananas and PBJ sandwiches are nice and portable. 
5. Think about eating a good (not heavy) meal at some point in a long walk. We stopped back at our car after 12 miles and ate the picnic I'd packed. Turkey, ham and cheese sub sandwiches with lettuce, pickles and black olives.  
6. Take frequent rest stops. At the beginning of the walk we stopped for about 10 -15 minutes after each 3 miles. The last three miles I think we stopped for about 5 minutes every mile. 
7. For ladies consider taking something like a P-Style along. We don't have the freedom to pee on a tree like the guys but there are products available that make it possible. Carrying something like the P-Style means you don't have to drop your drawers and squat behind a tree! When it's a two mile walk (that's forty minutes!)  to the nearest bathroom you'll be glad you've got one with you. 
8. For me I need a walking partner. If John wasn't encouraging me along the way I'd have stopped at 12 miles! 
9. Plan on a really good high calorie meal after your walk. Even if weight loss is your goal you need to replenish your body. I burned 2100 calories on this walk. 

You don't have to walk 20 miles but lace up and take a walk today!

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Walking Tips - Set Goals and Keep Track to Stay on Track

Have you ever wanted to get healthy, lose weight, or exercise more but you find the weeks go by and you're still saying the same things over and over?

I used to be like that. I knew I needed to start moving and lose weight in order to be my healthy best. But it was only after I set specific goals and started tracking my progress did I begin to have success. 

One way to set goals is to use the S.M.A.R.T. plan. You may have seen this before. 

I'll show you how my husband and I set our goal of walking 600 miles this year.

S.M.A.R.T.

To achieve a goal it must be specific and you must have a way to measure your progress. The goal should be something that pushes you but you can be successful and attain it. You must pick something that's relevant to your lifestyle and maybe the most important thing is to give yourself a certain amount of time to achieve the goal.

This is how John and I set our goal of walking 600 miles this year.

S = Specific - Instead of saying we need to get more exercise and spend more time together we were very specific. We decided to start walking together and that we'd walk 600 miles over the course of 1 year.  

M = Measurable- We keep very careful record of our walks. OK John takes care of recording the miles.He uses a pedometer app on his phone to measure our walks and a spreadsheet to keep track. If we miss a day we make it up on the weekend or if we really get behind we make it up on vacations. 

Simple Excel spreadsheet to measure progress.
The columns:
Day, Date, Goal for that day, Actual miles we walked that day , Total miles walked, difference
You can see on Oct 10 we are actually ahead 5 miles. Yippie!

A = Attainable- We knew the goal would have to be something that pushed us but also needed to be reasonable. Working long hours, business travel and family obligations make it difficult for us to walk together every night but we felt we could cover around 12 miles a week so 600 miles in a year is a figure we feel we can reach.

R = Relevant - The exercise we chose had to fit in with our life style. Walking does just that. We can walk just about anywhere and anytime, it doesn't require special equipment and it's FREE! 

T = Time bound - We wanted to develop a life long habit so  we set a goal of walking 600 miles together in 1 year. 

Setting a goal for walking and keeping track is working for us. This is our fifth year of  setting a goal of walking together. It really helps to have an accountability partner-someone who will pull you up off the couch and get you going out the door!

I'm just wondering, are you a goal setter or do you just wing it? 

Walking Tips - Four Things I Take on Every Walk

The thing I like most about walking is that you don't need much to start. 

Good shoes help although my son walks barefooted. YIKES! Not me. 

There are however four things I take on almost every walk. 

1. Cell phone -I have a pedometer app on my phone that I use occasionaly but I mainly use it to keep track of the time.  For me 20 minutes of walking equals 1 mile. 
2. Bandaids - I take no chance on getting a blister
3. Key - of course
4. Pepper Spray - I've never had to use it but it's comforting when walking alone.

Why I carry Pepper Gel

First off I'll tell you I'm not a scaredy cat. I'm not fearful going places alone or walking in my neighborhood but I'm also not naive. I know things happen and I want to be prepared the best I can. 

I used to have a cute little pink canister of pepper spray until my husband bought me this one. 

Pepper Gel - Mace Brand 

I like the fact it's a gel with a UV dye that will mark whoever or whatever you shoot it at. 

 Secondly being a gel it's not going to be carried by the wind as bad as a spray. You still need to cover your face if you shoot it. It will shoot up to a distance of 25 feet.

Obviously Pepper spray or gel needs to be kept away from children. At home I keep it on a high shelf in my kitchen. I always keep it in the same spot so I can find it if needed. 

I'll leave you with one tip. If you carry pepper spray or gel it won't do you any good if it's in the bottom of your purse. Carry it in your hand if you find yourself in an iffy situation. When I'm walking I usually stick mine in the waist band of my pants where I can get to it easily. 

Just saying, I would really hate to pepper spray anyone but hey if it's me or them I'm going to put up my best defense! 

Take a walk but be safe!