Jun 23, 2009

Walking

Walking days :110+ (estimated)
Days recorded by GPS :87
Daily walk length :3.5 Miles
Google ETA :1 hour 9 minutes
Average ETA :1 hour 3 minutes
Fastest :55 minutes
Slowest :1 hour 16 minutes
(6" snow, 14 degrees, 30 mph winds, -7 windchill)
Lowest temp :-22
Highest temp :93
Dollars Saved :$350 (estimate parking ramp - bus)
Pounds lost :15

I'm finding that I'm treating the hot weather walks much like I treated the cold weather walks:
  • I get excited about an hour beforehand and can't wait to head out
  • I take the skyway as far as possible to stay in a comfortable temperature
  • I follow buildings closely and think about where I'm going (winter: avoid wind, summer: find shade)
  • Obsessive tracking of temperatures and hoping for "just a few more degrees" (for better shock factor)
  • Pride in having done something possibly dangerous, definately ridiculous
  • Extreme weather makes for a faster walk, for some reason, even in the heat.
  • On days when I don't walk I feel like I'm cheating
Of course, there are some differences, the worst being that in winter I can add layers of clothing or increase my pace to generate heat. In summer all I can do it sweat. And I really miss the ridiculously cold days of winter - I was the only one outside and it was nice to have some alone time.

Overall I'm happy with my walking plan. And sometimes I like to blog about it - not for you, but for me. :) I really wish I had a concrete record of the days I walked before I started tracking it by gps. The numbers, man! I want the numbers!

My spreadsheet: Click here to see it


2 comments:

Dave said...

How come your distance varies so much?

fnirt said...

Ah, yes.

That's distance measured by the GPS. Sometimes it doesn't get a good hook on the satellites until after I get out of downtown, other times I screwed up and turned it off/on at the wrong time, etc.

But the pace of the recorded section is what I use to compute the total time, etc.