Monday, November 12, 2007

Slacking off

I haven't successfully made a blog entry in quite a while. I had composed some on my phone while sitting in airports but usually some glitch causes it not to get posted. I usually don't feel like rewriting the whole thing again so I usually look for something else to do such as walking (big surprise here). On Friday, I was waiting in the Seattle airport for quite a while and walked four laps of the A, B, C & D terminals for around 8 1/2 miles. There really wasn't much else to do. I've taken to running on the treadmill for about an hour every other day so I'm still getting plenty of steps in. I've been logging the runs using the Nike+ gadget and it seems to satisfy my competitive nature. On the treadmill, I finally broke the 10 minute mile (for only one mile) and can now jog/run for about an hour at a time without feeling like I'm dying. While I was in Atlanta, I tried running outside and, while pleasant, the treadmill was still a more consistent workout, at least it is for me at this point in my life.

Friday, November 2, 2007

New challenges

A little while ago, I picked up a Nike+ gadget that fits onto your shoe and iPod. This is after meeting someone with the gadget on one of the WIN walks this summer. It doesn't really replace a pedometer but can be used for running or walking "sessions" as in "going for a walk". After calibrating it with a gps, it seems fairly accurate. Even when using it on a treadmill, it is within 5% of the indicated distance. With this gadget, you can participate in challenges on the Nike+ site. Currently, I entered a couple of beginner ones, some walking ones and a 1000 miles in 2008. I was even booted off one challenge since I was racking up too many miles compared to the rest of the field. These challenges are providing me with an incentive to keep walking/running now that the University program has ended. Now, I am running about 18 miles per week in 3-4 mile chunks. This is all on the treadmill since I have a difficult enough time just walking on the icy roads. The real challenge will be to keep it up through the winter and while traveling. Last week, while in Barrow, I didn't get any running in since the treadmill was broken and the 20 mph wind discouraged walking around. Next week, I'll be in Atlanta teaching a workshop at Georgia Tech. It should be nice enough that I should try running outside. That'll be a change.