I had strapped on my new shoes, my new sports bra, my new moisture wicking fake under-armour shirt (Russel), new Nike+/iPod mix and set out.. I had originally planned a .25 mile walk, since that's one lap around my little circle in the neighborhood and I didn't know what my walking endurance would be..
Anyway, .25 was NOTHING, so I set up my Nike+ for a 30min walk.. When that wasdone, again, felt like NOTHING, so I set it up to burn another 100 calories figuring okay, I'll go home after that. Again, really felt like nothing so kept on going. (I feel like Forrest Gump here!) When the 100 calorie walk finished, I just kept on going and had my Nike+ keep tracking me.. All in all I walked about 8 miles, and would have kept on going except it was getting late and I figured 8 miles is pretty darn good.
Surprisingly, I didn't really feel sore at all afterwards, and still don't. I didn't get any blisters on my feet with my new shoes (except for a LITTLE bit of pain where the arch support is since I'm kind of flat footed, but it went away as the gel insert got warmer maybe? - I guess it's normal until I break them in more) or any problems with the sports bra.. I had just updated my Christmas-present iPod to have about 500 songs on it, so I had a good upbeat mix to keep me going. I'm just surprised it went so well. It was really relaxing and allowed me to unwind and not think about anything except song lyrics. I even managed a teeny-tiny little bit of jog/run in there and it wasn't too bad.
Now, I'm not naive enough to think I can manage this every day, (I was out about 2hrs) and I was walking pretty moderately. (Didn't take my HR monitor, will do next time) However, I think I can probably manage about an hour a day so like 3-4 miles, and I can try to up the pace. The weather is pretty good right now, cold, but not too cold so I can keep doing this outdoors since we have a lot of inclines which I guess are good for me, and I don't really care for gym atmospheres as opposed to the outdoors..
Now.. Does anyone have a good walking program? If I can manage about 8 miles on my first day, I suppose I can walk a bit, so if anyone can suggest something for me to burn fat and shape up? (I want to work up to the C25K program and eventually start adding runs and hikes - I prefer the outdoors!) My alloted time would probably be about an hour a day, give a bit sometimes. I'd greatly appreciate any and all advice!
P.S. Oops! Forgot to add in my little .25 calibration walk, so it bumps it up to a teensy-tiny bit over 8 miles.. Every step counts, right? :smile:
