2011 walking thread

Gilly: Last rad day -- this is certainly one to celebrate! Be prepared to still feel very tired for the next few week, and don't be surprised if you feel even more tired than during rads. But this will pass and the walking will definitely help. I really want to see "The Help" - I really enjoyed the book. Went to see "Sarah's Key" last night but it was sold out. Booh! Saw "The Future" instead which was very quirky.

Hrf: you're shaming me into getting back into my stride. I've been bad for the last week. Was thrown off kilter by the biopsy and other stuff. Also got back to my bad habit of staying up too late then sleeping in.

gillyone - I have an Omron pedometer.  Googled, looks like an HJ112. It works great!  I'm pretty sure I got it at walmart or target.  It clips on your pocket or pants with a safety cord too.  A couple of days ago, I posted about the pedometer app for iphone or other smart phones.  It is a free app and it is awesome!!!  Very easy to use and it will run in the background when I listen to my tunes while walking.  Gives lots of other info too.  My DH found another pedometer app that tells distance by GPS location.  I haven't checked that out but I bet it would be more accurate for distance using sats and stuff.  Just wanted to chime in on this topic.

Anyway, walked yesterday eve.  Still oppressive hot here.  Took plenty of water breaks but completed my 1 mile.  Rough also because of chemo 1 week past. 

Walk on ladies....

Thanks for the welcome Mary, pleased to meet everyone on this group! 

I am gaining some weight I believe due to the steroids and I hate it.  I know the walking is good for me, even though I'd rather lay my head on a pillow.  I like to walk at dusk, which is very soon.  I'm ready to go...

OK, apparently surgery was "minor" -- no walking yesterday (hell, they wheeled me down in a wheelchair and my Pack Rat brought the car around), but today I was able to do the long parking lot and no elevators walk to get my rads, which I'm planning to do tomorrow.

I should mention, though, while driving me home from the hospital yesterday, my Pack Rat pointed out this walking trail I had no idea existed. Since it goes all the way to the next town it's too much to think of doing the whole thing (at least for quite awhile), well, now that I know about it, I can at least try some of it if/when my energy comes back. Right NOW, just walking down to where it starts and then walking back to the house would be quite an accomplishment. Which is good, I'd like a 'new' route.

How come when you are walking with your grandsons, you get so tired and sore you can't move- my daughter was pushing the stroller - Probably the 20 minute stop at the playground on the way through did it ... I think I might go take a nap...

Oh yeah forgot to mention I did the long parking lot/no elevators walk for yesterday's rads too (I'm at 20/33 now). No rads today or tomorrow, thank goodness.  Still no energy either but for after breakfast I want to try the walk to and around the town commons. Yes, it's one of the shorties, but, like the parking lot for rads walk, something has gotta be better than nothing, and, if I can do once around without feeling entirely wrecked, I can either make two rounds of the commons or continue from there to the library. Around the commons twice or once and then to the library and back to the house would be a medium walk, which would be pretty good for my present condition.

Mary, if I was going to set any kind of goal to be able to walk the entirety of that "new" trail my Pack Rat showed me (the one that goes to the other town), it has to wait till next year. It's too late in the year here to start something like that, because "too cold" (for me to be out walking or doing anything I don't absolutely have to be doing) hits Northern New England by the third or last week of October, so never mind Thanksgiving. I'm too tired from rads to do more than minimal to maybe (I'll find out today) moderate walking -- my whole summer has been shot by this. It's not just the walking I'm too tired for, it's everything. I stopped cleaning the house (except to wash the dishes every 2-3 days and take the garbage out once a week); I eat quickie stuff on paper plates mostly since I'm usually too tired to cook too, and I'm even neglecting my plants; not enough to kill them but I don't look in on them and water as often as I should and I'm going to have to stake the tomatoes soon and don't know how the hell I'll get the energy for that; I just have no freakin energy at all -- about 50-60% of my waking hours are spent on the couch (a little better than chemo at least; when I was doing chemo, it was 80% or more). And yesterday my RO told me I'm doing really GOOD with my rads; even though I told her how tired I was she said "you're tolerating the treatments EXTREMELY well." Um, OK if she says so, but I'm still wiped! So for that trail, I'll have to start from scratch in the spring -- a couple weeks of "getting back in walking shape" since I don't go out for walks in the winter; small to moderate walks, then a couple bigger ones, and when the big ones feel good, THEN start to work on being able to take that trail. Yup -- as far as weather and walking go, summer has way more good walking days even though there are occasional days here and there where it's "too hot." In the winter here not only is it painfully cold but the snow and ice is all over the place is for weeks or months solid and it's dangerous.  Hell, I can't even go up my driveway hill in my car with studded snow tires and not skid! Like I'm going to walk on THAT? There's way fewer days I have to skip walking in summer because it's too hot than days I have to skip in winter because it's too cold, snowing, icing or the damn ice and snow all over the place makes it next to impossible to walk without slipping and falling. Um hey... maybe what I should really do in the winter is my stairs, in the house (no ice, snow or cold). Hell, maybe if I did 10 up-and-downs of those stairs once or twice a day every day in the winter, I wouldn't need the "get in shape" easy walks in the spring and could get started right away working on segments of that trail once the good weather came back.

Hmmm. Time to go eat breakfast now. Think I'll put on my sneakers before I go downstairs though, so I can start my walk as soon as I'm done eating. 

I am proud of myself.  Yesterday I did over 12,300 steps - thanks to not having to go to Rads anymore in the middle of the day.  It was drizzling, so I went to the Y and walked the treadmill for two hours.  Time just flew by, I guess because while I was walking I was thinking about how much my life has been changed the last several months and figured that I should look at yesterday as being the first day of the rest of my life and what kind of positive changes can I make.  Today my DH actually went with me to pick up some veggies at the Farmers Market and then we went together to the Y and exercised for an hour and a half.  Got over 8200 steps in so far and hopefully I can go for a walk after supper around the neighborhood hills to get my10,000 steps in.  If I can keep this up and make it a habit, I may actually lose some of the 35 lbs I need to lose to get down to where my BMI should be. 

Did a little over 9100 steps yesterday and 5000 on Sunday, so didn't make the 10,000 goal, but maybe over the week, it will average out. My exercise class at the Y tonight is on Pilates - we try a different Y program each class.  I missed the Group Active program (which is a circuit alternating between cycling and weights) last Thursday because it was my last day of Rads and I celebrated instead of exercising (zero steps on the pedometer that day).

It's raining today, so I am planning on going to the Y an hour and a half early and walking the treadmill or elliptical before Pilates.  Maybe I can get that average up there.  There is only 2 weeks left of this program left that the cancer center and YMCA is offering.  I have really enjoyed it and I hope to be able to join the Y after it is over and continue exercising.  I think it has been beneficial and find that it is helping me sleep better and I think it may even be helping the hot flashes a little bit.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen any weight loss yet (maybe too much celebrating).

I am sorry Old Town, but I grew up in Vermont and was active all winter.  Just a question of wearing the right clothing.  And a brisk pace.

I agree with you when temps reach something like -5F, but otherwise just a case of dressing for the weather.  Winter is lovely....cold and crisp.  November is the tough month as often rainy and deer hunting season.  I got outdoors anyway.

Then there is snowshoeing and skiing.  Both warm you up to the point you have to watch getting sweaty.

I won't walk if black ice, but otherwise I am out there.  I was cycling in the rain during chemo.  Not that cold here in Seattle, but I did get wet.  But nothing that a hot bath couldn't fix.

I find heat harder, but the solution there is to go when relatively cool.

Anyway, I will most likely go cycling today, and glad my ankle should be healed up completely in time for ski season.  And I will make sure I find time to explore on foot during the winter months.

A special time of year that I have no intention of missing. - Claire

Meegan: I share your trick of walking around in circles to get the last few steps in. And my living room is small so they are tight circles! Did you really do 12,000 steps in 40 minutes? I can only manage about 5,000 steps in 40 minutes.

Hubby walked around the duck park trail with me this morning... he walks sooooooo fast.. he would stop if I needed.  I don't know what happened though - after it was like I was hit by a mactruck... I am just dragging! Usually I feel accomplished and pretty good... might be the med changes again ... hopefully I get back in the routine... Had the little grandsons and mommy and daddy at the house for 5 days.. just went home this morning.

Just couldn't bring myself to walk before work today... then I didn't do it after either..it was too hot.

Lena, you done good and now don't push yourself anymore. I think you will recover your energy within a few weeks of finishing. So I have 7 work days left. (no work on Friday). Does that mean only 8 more zaps for you?

Lena, I know the feeling. I walked in the woods daily during chemo and rads. There were times I'd just sit on the ground or a tree stump until the pain left or until I got a second wind. I knew somebody would come along if I really needed help getting home, which is what happened in your case with your MIA car.

8903 steps yesterday - and that was including walking the treadmill at the Y.  It is so hard for me to get to 10,000 steps.  I'm eight days out from my last Rads and I find that I get pretty tired mid-afternoon and early evening.  I can only imagine how fatigued I would be if I didn't exercise at all.

Only a little 3100 steps so far today (from running around the house trying to pack and up and down the stairs to the laundry room.  Probably won't get too many more steps in today.  My girlfriend is picking me up in a hour to drive to Des Moines to visit another friend.  That's a 3 1/2 hour drive - maybe more if the interstate is still closed due to the Missouri River flooding.  Tomorrow we will hit the Farmers Market (eight blocks of vendors in downtown Des Moines) and on Sunday the Iowa State Fair.  Don't how much walking we'll get in at the fairgrounds because my friend and I are going to be sitting at a table from 8 am to 6 pm demonstrating china painting and then drive back home.  I'm sure I'll be tired, sore and stiff on Sunday night.  Everyone - have a good weekend and hope that you gets lots of walking in.