The Big 200 Mile Mark

Well, after two weeks of not exercising, I am back on it. I did do my strength training the first week I was off, but I took last week off from everything. Sunday I decided to get on the elliptical, as I did not feel any pain in my foot on Saturday. Everything went well, and I went .6 mile. The only real issue I had was the folded towel kept slipping around underneath my foot. So I decided to not use it today.

Like I said, yesterday I went .6 mile, and here is the picture for that day from the virtual walk site.

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

And today, I did one full mile. Actually I can't say I did a mile, as I don't know exactly how far I went. The display screen on the elliptical decided to restart about seven times at least in the first 20 minutes. I was using my egg timer as a backup like I usually do, and I'm glad I did. I told myself that I was going to do 1 mile or 35 minutes, whichever came first. And since the screen decided to reset in the first 2 minutes, the decision was made. It was annoying to keep having to stop so I can turn the fan back on, and after the seventh time I decided to just go without a fan. About 2 minutes later, I had to turn it on again.

I did get a little tired the last ten minutes of my workout, but I think that was because I kept stopping and starting to turn the fan on. I can't turn the fan on as I'm using the elliptical. It works the muscles in my thighs to start and stop the pedals, so they got an extra workout. Needless to say, I obviously need to replace the batteries again. It seemed like I just changed them three weeks ago, and I was off for two. I should buy stock in Duracell. I go through a ton of D cell batteries.

I am back to wearing my tennis shoes also, and my next issue I foresee is blisters. Yippee. With the Vibram Five Fingers, the calluses I had developed got softer and ended up falling off (just on my right foot, not the left, weird). So now that I'm back to the tennis shoes, those calluses are going to need to build up. So, my right foot on the inside of the foot up by my big toe is sore. I'll need to buy stock in Band-Aid also, as I'll be the Band-Aid Queen for a while.

But, all in all, my elliptical workout went very well. I needed to get back on it in a big way, as my balance was starting to go bye bye. Saturday my husband and I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, and my balance and walking were really bad. It wasn't pretty. Not sure what the deal was, but I think part of it was my back was out of alignment. That night, my husband gave me a big bear hug (in an attempt to pop my back), and I heard about 12 pops, from my mid back to upper back. Ahhh...better. I miss my chiropractor in WA State.

So, I'm back to normal, and hopefully won't have another forced time off for a long time. No sign of muscle knots yet, but I expect to get them by the end of next week, at least a little bit.

And hey, I made the big 200 mile mark on the virtual walk today! Took me over two years, but I did it. Still in Virginia, and I have a long way to go still in that state. Here are the stats and the picture from today from the virtual walk site. I'm leaving out the elliptical stats for today since they're not accurate. I went 35 minutes, and I'm guessing I went one mile. At least I seem to be over my obsession problem about mileage.

1 mile today
200 miles since 4/28/08
.72 miles to Mechums River, VA, Charlottesville City County

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab