My Journey With Health And Fitness – Changing It Up

I saw something incredibly stupid this morning on my walk. We frequently have trains along our waterfront. They are usually long and can be hauling containers, tankers or coal. A number of years ago people living close to the waterfront lobbied to have the tracks in our city be labeled a quiet zone so that trains could not blow their whistles along the waterfront (crazy since trains have been on those tracks longer than any of those people have been alive). Because of the ‘no whistles’ the company that owned the tracks fenced off the tracks and put in a number of crossings with arms that come down to block people from crossing the tracks when a train approaches. I could hear the train as I neared the beach and thought I would just walk in the parking lot until it passes. Some Einstein, however, decided when the lights at a crossing started flashing and the arms started to lower that it would be a good idea to crouch down to get under them to beat the train. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

I mentioned in my last post that doing some running and 2 consecutive classes involving back squats then a brutal strength class on Thursday meant my quads were on fire. I am not kidding, even after soaking in the hot tub Thursday I was still having issues walking up and down our stairs. Don’t get me wrong, I know they were sore because I had ‘fatiqued’ them which is part of the strength process but man, were they rebelling. I decided it was time to change things up a bit.

I canceled my fitness class yesterday. It was a circuit class with the same instructor from my Thursday class. She is really a great instructor but she is brutal. I knew I would get through the class but I also knew my body was looking for a break. And so I opted to do an endurance walk instead. By that I mean starting my day at 5am with a 3 hour, 15 km walk. I had done this the previous week and while my feet were sore by time I was done it was a good experience and I like the fact that I can walk for that long and do it at a good pace.

And so off I went. I walk so much that I know that my normal 2 hour route gets me to almost 10km. I also know how many blocks I need for each km walked so I simply figured out how to add on to my normal route to get me to my goal. I kept my pace nice and steady and counted off the remain blocks I needed to put in. I will acknowledge that my Apple Watch counting out my km’s for me is quite helpful as it ensures the accuracy of my distance calculations. I got to the coffee shop to meet my friends at exactly the correct time and felt pretty good. I rested up for about an hour before hittig the road again to do 5 more km so that I could hit my daily goal. I should note that I was able to do the final walk at an even faster pace so obviously my body was up for it.

While I still put in plenty of workout time yesterday, it was the right decision for my body. When I got up this morning to head out for a 10km walk my legs felt pretty good. Apparently those quads just needed a bit of a break so that they could recover. Sometimes just changing things up can help with the whole fitness process. It also confirmed that I do have endurance so I think I am going to add at least 1 3hour walk in each week just for something different.