2011 walking thread

I usually go to the gym, but am thinking of doing more walking outdoors with summer coming. The gym isn't air-conditioned. Thursday and Friday I walked some 5 hours altogether in the mountains. The alpine flowers were all in bloom. It was so beautiful!

I am am terrible about regular exercise, but love walking outdoors.  A friend gave me an iPod and with my favorite tunes, I feel like I can go for hours....and sometimes do!  I have been very irregular about my walking recently, but need to get back to it.  Motivation, motivation!  What is the USA FIT group?

Good luck with rads, BlazerFanC! Hope they don't stop you from walking the half marathons. Are you speedwalking?

Took me a long time to get to the point where I could say this, but I can now. IMO, when it comes to physical activity, nothing beats going for a nice long walk on a beautiful day (except, of course, a passionate night of "raping and pillaging" my Pack Rat). ;-)

Before cancer, I didn't go for walks regularly (or do any kind of regular physical exercise other than the "night" stuff hee hee) -- I was too busy most of the time (90 hour weeks of full time job/10 credit college semesters at night, or full time job so I could pay the rent and eat regularly while spending my every waking non-working moment practicing/composing/recording/performing my music, later writing my science fiction fantasy series, etc., etc., etc. My favorite ways to spend "down time" from working, school and intellectually challenging avocations were all, without exception, totally sedentary -- reading, watching Star Trek and science fiction tapes, DVDs and various movies, and being addicted to The Sims (a computer game). And other than having a Midsection from Hell (ten pound spare tire all in the waist/belly) which I could have gotten rid of if way sooner if only I'd have exercised, I was okay with my body. Well, several months after the economy ate my job, whammo: 

Feb 2009: diagnosis of Stage IV IBC. April 9 through July 23, 2009 -- 6 rounds of TAC. July 30, 2009 through January 2010 -- Tamoxifen, and then March 2010 through April 2011 Femara, Aromasin and Arimidex, in that order. Besides the fact that exercise had not been part of my original lifestyle, the fatigue from the chemo was so constant and thoroughly CRUSHING that it was a major ordeal for me to just get up from the couch, upon which I spent 80% of my waking hours, to go to the bathroom or to get something to eat. There are some who might say that had I exercised, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but just getting up from the couch, the toilet seat or the chair by my computer desk (for the maybe 20 minutes a day I had the energy to even sit there and use the computer) made me feel like I'd used to feel when I ran full speed up a flight of steep stairs, and I couldn't walk down the block at even half my former walking speed without having to stop and rest twice or three times until I was coming up on 2 months PFC or so. Needless to say, I wasn't motivated and I would sometimes read here posts from women who said they were exercising and/or working full time jobs while they were having chemo and I'd be totally astonished and hardly able to believe it.

It was the AIs that got me started on the walking thing. In addition to my shock learning that some women COULD exercise (even "just" walking) and work during chemo, I was also astonished reading about how so many were also saying exercise helped depression, too. I was diagnosed with depression while on chemo; was given Lexapro, which, as soon as it (surprisingly quickly) began to lift my mood, it also totally wrecked me sexually! I immediately called the psychiatrist, told him about that and said I was going off the Lexapro. (OK with him; I'd only been taking it for 10 days). Since all the most commonly prescribed antidepressants were SSRIs and had those same intolerable (to me) sexual side effects, I decided I'd rather be depressed! But when I started Femara, my depression became worse -- MUCH worse -- within two weeks I was crying several times a day whether I had a reason or not and bordering on suicidal (as in constantly wishing I was dead)! I still refused SSRIs because sex was now the only thing left that was keeping me from actually committing suicide as compared to "just" wishing I was dead.

By THIS time, though, the crushing chemo fatigue had subsided and I was able to walk at my regular pace (kind of fast paced as long as I'm not carrying anything heavy or bulky) and do what I needed to do once again, tired after doing it but only moderately: no more feeling like I was going to drop dead. This consisted of walking anywhere from 1-3 blocks to or from my car on days when I got stuck with a "bad" parking spot; doing laundry in the basement laundry room down four flights of stairs from my apartment (no elevator), taking the garbage out to the dumpster -- down three flights of stairs, through the courtyard and around to the back of the building, hauling heavy bags of groceries up to my apartment -- average 5-6 trips up and down three flights of stairs minimum: a lot maybe but since I didn't do any of this more than once a week, I still thought of myself as very sedentary.

Soon after I was physically able to go about my normal business without feeling like death was imminent, I decided to see if walking every day would be exercise enough to help the depression. I started slow over a period of about a month or so to build endurance first, since even before chemo, I had been horrendously out of shape. Once a day, every day, as long as it wasn't pouring down rain or cold AND windy, I would walk around the block once until it was easy (easy = my normal pace and not feeling tired at all), then expanded that to around the block twice until THAT got easy, then three times around until it was easy, and I expanded all that from one block to two once, twice, three times, then two blocks to three once, twice, three times, plus, doing light errands (picking up meds from the pharmacy, buying milk or eggs, going to the bank or post office, all on foot. At that point I also bought a pedometer and started going to the park next door to my apartment building to take REAL daily walks on the walking paths (twice around the lake was a mile and I could shake it up a little by going in opposite directions and/or modifying which path I used). I worked up to walking two miles a day, then made that my minimum requirement. If I had light errands I always did them on foot. I would take the pedometer with me and if the errand running didn't add up to at least two miles worth of walking, I'd make it up by walking in the park until I hit 2 miles.  If I wasn't tired when I hit 2 miles I'd try for 3, which I could do sometimes. On days when I had no errands at all, I did the whole 2-3 miles in the park. I got up to being able to do four miles in a day: walking to and from the supermarket which was 2 miles away and I actually went semi-serious grocery shopping on foot about three times: yes I had a whatchamacallit...ummm right: "old lady shopping cart" on wheels so I'd bring that with me. Of course on the days I did THAT, it was "enough" exercise, and boy did I need a NAP once I got home and put the groceries away! LOL

While I found that daily walking definitely improved my level of physical fitness (plus helped me to lose weight: in May 2010 I went on a diet too), it didn't fix the depression. Sometimes I would end up depressed and crying while ON my walks in the park even! I'd be walking and then suddenly think of something I used to enjoy or do or feel but hadn't in awhile. That would make me sad and I'd cry while I walked, unless people were around in which case I'd walk faster and be barely holding back tears till I got home. I ended up telling my oncologist, about the Femara, "If taking this medication is what I have to do to live, then I don't WANT to live." He took me off it, I started feeling like a human within a few days, but two weeks later he put me on Aromasin! (like "what about 'aromatase inhibitors totally f*** me up!' don't you understand?" )At that point I did some research and found out there actually was an antidepressant which had no sexual side effects -- Wellbutrin.  So I went on that and the depression improved to "barely tolerable most of the time" (but no, not totally gone, not even with the daily 2 miles of walking).  Too bad there was no help for the stiff aching joints and painful hands and feet, plus the feeling like I was 90 years old when I was only 48-49. But I kept walking, every day, weather and conditions permitting (temps between 45-85 degrees F, overcast OK but no heavy wind on already cold days and no actively falling precipitation or dangerous accumulations of snow or ice on the sidewalks). Which is almost every day from mid spring through mid to late fall if it's still warm enough.

I moved in the fall of 2010, 300 miles away to a much different area (oh, and I'm two months off the AIs and feeling like a human for the first time since before my diagnosis). It's way more hilly here, so there's NO WAY to walk anywhere and avoid hills -- even just to go from my house to the street is a semi-steep hill, so walking only a mile or two here gives the same kind of workout as walking 2-3 miles on the flat ground I started out with, so rather than track how many miles or footsteps I switched to tracking how much time I spent walking (ideally I'm happy with anything between half an hour and 45 minutes per walk, once or twice a day, every day when weather and conditions permit). Since there was still good walking weather when I got here (not to mention gorgeous: can you say New England fall foliage?), I walked mostly every day and ran all my light errands on foot (same as I did before moving except now the stores were different LOL), until some time in mid November when it just got too cold and windy. I shut down for the winter; I can't stand the cold. Then it got freezing, subzero, tens of feet of snow, ice so bad I had trouble coming up the hill-driveway in my car with studded snow tires!  I stayed on my diet (had to eat even less since without the daily or near-daily walks, I wasn't getting any more metabolism boost from exercise, unless shoveling snow counts) so I still lost a few more pounds. I resumed regular walking in May -- spring came late to the northeast this year. I even changed pharmacies because the new one is easier to walk to in spite of being slightly farther from my house in terms of distance. I didn't like crossing the dangerous intersection on foot to go to the first one. And, hey, get this: it's CLOSE walking distance (5 minute fast-walk, 8 minutes leisurely-moderate walk) from my house to the pub where there's live music 3-4 times a week. I've done that maybe three or four evenings since the weather warmed up.

So walking is good! Count me in as a walker.  I have rads coming up in July so I'll see how long I can go before I end up couch-bound.

Lena, on another thread I wanted to congratulate you on dropping so much weight. Now I know how you did it. Congratulations!

While on chemo and rads, I was walking everyday. It really helped with fatigue. Even if you have to crawl out the door, anyway you get your b*** out there, will be well worth it in the end. During rads I also did my arm exercises everyday. Up to 2 hours. I just hated the tightening feeling if I didn't do my upper body workout.

Anumacha, I try to keep moving as well. Hardly ever use the car unless I have to get out of the city. I run, walk or bike to do my errands.

This weekend I'll get a chance to hike in the mountains. I can do my high altitude training. We'll be here

http://www.grimselwelt.ch/bilder/impressionen/handeck/

Walking is my exercise of choice. I went from serious couch potato to completing a 10k (walking of course) in four months.



Here's how: http://www.ccc10k.com/uploads/CCCTrainingCalendar2011.pdf

Hi  walkers....

Today is a crappy day for walking (chilly windy "earache weather," I call it, plus threatening rain). BUT..... since I had to go out today: had an eye doctor appointment 4 this afternoon, and his office is walking distance, plus, today was farmer's market in the common -- which I pass on my way to and from that area -- and last Friday one of the merchants promised me little begonias for today -- I ended up walking after all. Took my umbrella "just in case," but in spite of the drizzle, wind and ominous clouds, didn't need it. Only about 20 minutes worth of walking today though, but like I said, the weather's crappy. Had it been warmer or less windy, I'd have walked more, but no, not in "earache weather," which I HATE.  So I gotta ask:

Am I the only one who ends up with earaches when spending time outdoors on chilly windy days? 

Oh, no, mks, this has nothing to do with chemo or sinus infections -- I've had this problem since I was a kid. When early spring came, and the weather would get up to 40s, 50s or 60s after being in the single digits, teens, twenties and thirties, I'd be walking to school, the library, my friend's house or wherever, but it was usually very windy on those "warmer" days, making it feel extremely chilly/downright too cold even though it wasn't really cold, temperature wise, and I would end up with an earache. Same thing happened in the mid to late fall when the temps got down to to that 60s, 50s, 40s and it was windy. The earaches would go away after I was indoors for maybe 20 mins to half an hour, and I never had them otherwise. I don't get them if it's in the 70s or higher and windy, just the days which, without the damn wind, wouldn't have felt either TOO cold or TOO hot. The only way I can avoid them is if I wear a winter coat and scarf on days like that (or just stay in the house! LOL).

Uhhhh.... I hope us folks who just go for leisurely walks and/or do errands on foot adding up to only a few miles a day still "count" as walkers. That is, non-marathoners, non-hikers and non psychos walking up a Sisyphus hill. For today, I've walked about two and a half miles or so (since I walked to the pharmacy and back which is 2 miles, plus all that walking at the ginormous med center (parked in the furthest lot from the building and walked, plus all the walking inside to get to the radiation onc area, then back through the building and out to the parking lot again...maybe half a mile to a mile's worth, since I didn't use the elevator, only the stairs? Well it's still daylight and nice weather, so I can go for one more walk.  :-) Later.

Anyway, I don't do, and have no interest in doing marathons, charity walks, hiking trips or any of that, and I'm the total antithesis of athletic. I just want to be active enough to be able maintain my body's ability to do necessary everyday types of function and kick up my metabolism a little bit so it'll be a little easier to keep my weight happy.

I just came across this thread tonight and would like to join in too as walking is my exercise of choice. I find it hard to get out walking in the summer as I'm very intolerant of the heat. But having read the thread this morning, it motivated me to get out this evening at dusk. When I choose to walk in the evening, I start from my house and do a circular route of 30-45 minutes. I always try to wear my pedometer when I'm out and about so every step is counted. So today I did 7,500 steps which is about 3.3 miles. I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't read this thread this morning. 

I found Lena's post particularly inspiring. What an essay on determination. 

My walking speed is much slower than others here. I see some of you walk a mile in 15 minutes, while it takes me at least 20 minutes . On those days when I do 10,000 steps (4.5 miles), it takes me at least an hour and half. I'm not good on hills either. But I'm quite happy with this as I've come a long way from the day in 2008 when I was suddenly striken with paralysis from toes to waist. I was lucky to be treated by a fast-thinking neurologist with intravenous steroids and lots of intensive physio. I literally had to learn to walk again and nothing makes you appreciate the ability to walk more than having had it taken away from you.

I'm a big fan of using a pedometer. It really does encourage one to meet your walking goal. Mine is an Omron HJ-112 which I've had for years but I see they still make this one. I like that I can just put in in my pocket or purse and it works equally as well as when clipped on my waistband.

Another "tool" that I find useful is Gmaps Pedometer. I use this to plan walking routes. It's very easy to use -- if your route is along roads, use "automatically for cyclists" but if it's off-road, such as through parks, across beaches, use "straight lines" or you can use a combination of both. I like to vary my walking route.