Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!! OMG!!!! I'm so insanely excited right now!!!

My brother is getting married Sep 15th or 16th, either on the boat before we leave, or in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria the next day. Cruise ship (Diamond Princess) leaves Vancouver Sep. 15th, sail to Victoria, then on down the coast to LA (4 nights on ship) Then we'll get off in LA, SURPRISE the kids with two days in Disneyland!!!!! Then fly home, 7 days total.

I have never been on a vacation in my adult life! Some of you will remember me being too afraid to go to Portugal this past Christmas with my hubby...tooo big a trip for the first time (for me and the kids at least...Rudy's a seasoned traveler).

I'm a terrible sucker for Disneyland, went once when I was four, and once when I was eleven, and have never seen a cruise ship except floating by at the beach!

Best of all....yet again, Rude's mom is going to pay for the whole thing.
I CANNOT believe it!!!!

So my question is....how do I build my walking endurance the fastest??? I've got 65 days and a good treadmill. At this point I'm getting winded with nearly no exercise...and Disneyland is a walk-o-rama! I want to have FUN and not be lame and slow and ruin my own fun! I'm not sure if I'm more excited for my kids or MYSELF!!! This will be my first trip with Rudy too...except for little local weekend getaways

ADVICE???

Thanks
xoxo

Linda

You build endurance by... walking

Our bodies are very good at learning and if you start walking and increase the amount of walking you do, then you can gain very good endurance. I would walk on your treadmill but from what I've learned, machines can not totally replicate the "real" environment. I would encourage you to get some outdoor walking, maybe some mall walking as well. Walk in as many different types of environments as you can, pushing yourself each time. You will be amazed at the improvement you can show in just a little time.

Oh Linda that is soooo exciting!!! What a great time you will have. And it's paid for. WoW!!!

One question though before I can answer you. Just how much walking do you normally do in a day right now?

How exciting!! You're going to have so much fun!

Start using your treadmill (or walk outside) every day, maybe even twice a day, depending on how far/long you can walk, and add a minute or two each time you walk. DO NOT try to add a lot of minutes at once--your body will rebel and then it becomes too easy to give up.

That sounds so exciting! Good for you to get the walking stamina up, though.

I would work on slower speed, longer times on the treadmill. You don't powerwalk at Disneyland, but you do walk a LOT. And get comfortable shoes. REALLY comfortable...you will be walking ALL DAY.

You'll have a blast! And cruises are SO much fun.

I see Nelie posted at the same time. I was going to say basically the same thing though. I think you would be better off not on the treadmill, but outdoors. And the best way to build up endurance is to just get out there and do it.

The reason I wanted to know how much you are CURRENTLY doing is to be able to advise you on how much additional you should be doing to build yourself up.

Not knowing what you ARE doing now, I would probably say keep on increasing your walking by no more then 5 minutes every few days.

The good news is that if you really stick to it, you CAN substantially increase your endurance for walking in that time. I know when I first started walking at 287 lbs, 15 mins was HARD for me. Every single week though I was able to increase it.

I would also agree on the comment about not worrying about power walking but just a steady pace.

My own example has to do with hiking. When I first started hiking, I could walk for miles but walking 1/2 mile up a steep hill was nearly impossible. I would have to stop, rest, start again, stop, rest, etc. Within a few months of hiking, I was able to do longer hikes, steeper hills with fewer rests and it wasn't something I was doing every day. The funny thing I realized is that I could jump on an elliptical and do a few miles of "hills" on the elliptical but when I actually tried walking that hill, it was a different story. My elliptical endurance and plain walking endurance didn't translate to hiking endurance.

Thanks Ladies

Robin....ummm....ahhhh....welll Right now, I'm doing none I've been starting off just my trying to improve food choices again

So I should just do as much as I can, and increase it as often as possible..I can DO that!

This is kind of exciting, because maybe for the first time, my exercise will have more purpose. Some of you know I have a really weird exercise problem..emotionally. This will be cool, because I have a focus other than I just "should"

Love you!!!
I'll take all the advice, endurance-wise, and travel/Disney-wise that I can get!!

Linda

My advice for disneyland would be the same for any amusement parks, take some snacks and water with you into the park.

Disneyland rides, for the most part, are weight friendly. I went there over a year ago and the only "scare" I had was on the matterhorn ride where DH and I shared a seat belt and the seat belt barely fit. DH is a skinny guy but most of my weight is in my belly. The matterhorn is one of their older rides so that isn't surprising. If it hadn't fit though, we just would've not shared a seat and each got our own instead.

Linda, for me in the beginning - 15 mins was all I could handle. Ummm, barely at that. But you are way lighter then I was. So if you wanna try 20, try 20. Or 15. But I urge you to do it - today. You will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you really can build up.

To this day though I still don't like exercising for long periods of time - so pretty early on I decided to walk 2 times a day. There is only so much I am willing to walk for at any one given time.

You are going to have so mcuh fun!!!! Just get out there and walk. My first walk after being a lump on the couch was awful. I was so tired and in pain -- it was the hardest walk of my life. But I kept at it, every day, no exceptions. The following week the same walk was MUCH easier. A few weeks later I was walking over a mile and a few weeks after that, I could walk 3 miles a day. Just keep at it and you'll be set for Disneyland in no time.

Just a tip for packing-- September is one of the hottest months here in Southern California, so being in better shape will definitely make you more comfortable walking around D-land.

I went to Disneyland last year, for 4 days. I had comfortable shoes, and I had been walking at least 2 miles a day, and my legs were SO tired! Just a little tip, make sure to take some pain killer with you. Cuz at night, when you lay down after a whole day of walking, it will hurt!
I love Disneyland though! I am jealous that you are going! We aren't going again till next summer. Have a wonderful trip!

That is so exciting Linda!!!! I know in the past that once I actually started walking it didn't take me too long to get up endurance. At one point I was doing 9 miles of WATP tapes a morning and got to that after about a month.

What fun! The great thing about walking is that you can build up your endurance soooo fast. Within 6 weeks, I was able to go from being barely able to walk 1/2 mile in 20 minutes to walking 3 miles in 50 minutes. I just kept adding a few more minutes every few days as Robin suggested. 65 days is plenty of time to make an impact on your endurance and stamina. Initially, I don't think it matters whether it's outside or on the treadmill, but after a couple of weeks, I would definitely start moving some of the walks outside.

Girl you are set!

Building up endurance is much easier than you think. Just get on that treadmill and go!

Also, about 30 days out - find a pair of walking shoes and break them in BEFORE disney!