Anyone going to WALK this winter?

[emily_in_nc]

Anyone else do walking for exercise when they can't bike?

Absolutely -- of course, I walk year round since Pepper, our Boston Terrier, requires it! This time of year it's too dark to walk when I get home from work (so DH walks Pepper earlier), but I walk or jog on the treadmill at work, or, if it's nice, walk around our building on trails at lunchtime. If it's nice out, I'll walk up to the bank, as I did today (about 2 miles round trip, which I walked briskly). It's nice to get some sunshine and out of the office during the day!

On weekends in the fall, winter, and spring, DH and I enjoy hiking. We take day packs with hydration bladders, snacks, etc, lace up the hiking boots and head to a state or county park to hike trails. We've done some pretty strenuous hikes in the NC mountains, in addition to plenty of moderate hikes here in the rolling piedmont. It's been fun getting into hiking as we've been to so many parks in our home state that we never had visited before and seen some beautiful landscapes. We can also hike on horse trails behind our property (all wooded and vacant land) for miles, but not during hunting season, except on Sundays (no hunting allowed).

I ride the trainer twice a week too, this time of year. DH and I have two trainers, set up next to each other, we crank up music with a good beat, and turn the TV to the news with close captioning, so I can "read" the evening news while riding. It's not as much fun as riding outdoors but is quicker, safer and warmer, so I don't mind it on a dark week night.

Enjoy your walks!

Emily

[MyLitespeed]

I walk both my dogs for 45 minutes each morning, then at night my husband takes one dog and I take the other and we walk from 45 minutes to an hour. It works out to 2.5 - 3.0 each time. He is getting bored with riding the trainer every other day so he figures walking will do him good too.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well, it was a beautiful sunny day today 35-45. I couldn't bike because my bike is getting repaired (broken spoke) and won't be able to pick it up until yet another day, tomorrow evening.
Anyway, no snow yet either, so can't try my snowshoes yet.
So... this morning I got tired of sitting on my butt for the past 3 days and went out on my first "official" winter walk of the season- 3 miles brisk walk around my small town. It's a pretty walk actually, and I always reward myself by starting out with scrambled eggs, croissant & latte at our favorite cafe. Gotta have fuel, after all!!

I did this 3 mile walk almost daily for about 8 months before I started biking, then I just was biking all the time for the past 7 months now. One thing I noticed this time was how much EASIER the walk seemed than I remember, and shorter. Definitely WAY less hard breathing on the uphills...biking has greatly improved my respiratory efficiency. The other thing I noticed is that my hip joints got a little sore- it must be that the heavy walking uses my hips in a slightly different way than biking does....interesting!
I guess it will be good to get a few walks in more regularly....at least for my hips' sake!

[MomOnBike]

I walk all the time, too. Monty (dog) requires it to keep his little innards working. (IBS in a dog - sheesh!)

I'm also walking home from work semi-regularly. On those mornings that I'm too lazy, or the weather is too yucky, or it's just more friendly to ride with DH to work, I car it, then walk the 2 miles home. Co-workers don't think such a thing is possible. What do they know?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

IBS dog?-good grief, that must be difficult!

Since my bike is STILL being repaired, I walked my 3 miler again today. The muscles on the upper INSIDES of my thighs are really sore from the sudden new walking- funny isn't it?

[sbctwin]

I have worked walking into my daily routine until I can start commuting on my bike to work again. I get up and do 30 min on my trainer, shower, then head out for 1+ mile walk to the trax station. I catch trax to within a mile of where I work, and walk the mile to the office. On my trek home from work, I take a bus to the trax station, ride trax to my original station and walk home. I don't slouch when I walk and have learned that I can't wear my work clothes when I walk in the morning. I work up a good sweat, even when it's 15F. I do enjoy the change from my bike commute. I still have some "control" over my time and I use public transportation to get to work. Today we had a good snowstorm and so the walk home was slow because most of the sidewalks were not cleared...

[MomOnBike]

Yeah, poor little guy. When he gets excited he can't poop. He's a mini-Dachshund, so he's excited a lot.

Furthermore, his backyard is NOT a toilet. It's a walk or nothing.

It doesn't help that he had a fight with a car that really messed up his back end. (To hear Monty tell it, he won. After all, he's here, and do you see that mean old car anywhere? Now do you? So, he won. QED)

I sure put up with a lot.