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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Walk this way

Over the weekend, I made the decision that if I'm going to have a walking vacation this year, I can't try to rehab my legs with my normal 'work from home' lack of movement.  When I was going through physical therapy with the chiro, he said that the podiatrist's advice of resting and staying off it was the worst thing I could do because my muscles needed to adjust.  Even when I was at a sedentary office job years ago, I was still up filing, going to people's desks, going to the bathroom and lollygagging around and was generally just more active.  Since we all know that sitting is the new smoking, I need to work to make changes to get up once an hour.  I can't go from probably walking less than 1000 steps (minus workouts) per day to walking 10,000 steps or more on vacation and not expect to have serious consequences that could ruin our trip.

In addition to my rehabbing, yesterday I began setting a timer to go off every hour and I had to be up 5 minutes doing something whether it was doing dishes while marching in place to sidesteps and stretches to little workouts online that are 5 minutes long at the top of the hour.  The scary thing is how quickly an hour goes by and then you're like "crap, no wonder I could sit for 3 hours straight and not think a thing about it."  I have tried this before and would slack off but I hope to make it a habit.  This is something I need to do for life as part of my routine so I don't shave 2-4 years off of my life sitting on my butt.

When the Mr got home, we walked around the neighborhood and after a mile, I was pretty sore, stiff and in general pain.  Yeah...definitely need to build up walking.  I'm thinking in the winter, we may need to go to a mall or someplace where snow isn't a concern so we can keep up walking or I may be dealing with this every year.  This time last year I was in the middle of heavy physical therapy with the chiro so this is the first year coming out of winter on my own.  I'm thinking I'll go in for a "tune up" of sorts in January, March and May to try to head off any problem spots that I can't quite work out on my own.  Always learning I guess...whether I want to or not.

It can be so easy to not do the things you know you need to do but just don't feel like doing them.  I have the time in my day to incorporate them so I need to...no excuses.  I'm tired of excuses.  I'm tired of dealing with this leg/feet issue.  I'm tired of feeling stagnant.   I think these will go a long way in making progress.  I hope I'm not fooling myself with that thinking but I won't know until I do it.  I'm just chomping at the bit for my new walking shoes (affiliate link) to arrive so I can get more ankle support as I up my walking.  The ones the podiatrist recommended last year when this crap got underway suck rocks.  When it comes down to it, mesh is horrible for support and I'm tired of the wind blowing through my shoes, dammit!

What, if anything, are you putting off doing for yourself that you need to buckle down and just do?

(This post contains an affiliate link.  Should you choose to buy through it, I will get a few cents to keep the blog lights on.)

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21 comments:

  1. It's good that you're getting up every hour to walk around. I need to do that at work because I can go for hours and find myself stiff by the time I finally get up to walk around.

    I have been kind of putting off taking this certification renewal test but I finally scheduled it and it's time to buckle on down and just get it done. I feel ready, with just a bit more practicing and studying to do, so it's time to just bite the bullet and go do it.

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    1. Yeah, my first alarm just went off and I need to keep this up. I was much less stiff in general yesterday (though that changed after our walk)

      I know you'll do great on your test!

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  2. I have the same problem with sitting at my desk all day. I have set an alarm every hour on my FItBit but sometimes I ignore it if I am in the middle of something. I have been having a problem with plantar fasciitis and I can't seem to get a good shoe. I also have fallen arches. Several years ago I went to a running shoe store and they sold me these Brooks that were just awesome. But the model seems to have been discontinued. I think a trip back to the running store is in order.

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    1. I don't know if you use a tennis ball on your arches or not but it can bring a lot of relief in loosening up that area and it's something you can do at work without people catching on. Also, after workouts, roll your feet over a frozen water bottle. (This is assuming you don't do these things already)

      I wish I had better luck with the Brooks. I have wide feet but these are SO wide that my feet move all around in the toebox and the ankle support is super flimsy. I have the Adrenaline version and was hoping it would be a good solution especially for the price but I'm glad you're happy with yours!

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  3. Going in to see your chiro for a "tune up" is probably a good idea since he helped you so much last year. I personally like "wind blowing through my shoes" but that's just me, and I don't like it in the winter.

    I've kind of been putting myself on the back burner. There are so many things that really do have to be done every day that by the time I'm finished I'm exhausted and meal planning and workouts just don't seem to get done. Yesterday I was on the go constantly from 6am until supper, and then after supper it was 9:30 before I was done grading papers. I have to find a way to take some time for me, but I don't know where it's going to come from.

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    1. I don't mind the wind blowing through on hot days but squishy feet and/or cold wind is no bueno. LOL

      I wonder if it would do you good to break up workouts in 10 minute segments? Like in the morning you could follow a short workout (FitnessBlender.com has quite a few workouts that are 5-10 minutes long), then maybe 10 minutes at lunch power walk the school with some other teachers and then 10 minutes at night to do some yoga or stretching. It might seem less taxing to do and you'd still be able to fit in 30 minutes a day! :-)

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  4. I had plantar fasciitis from running, so I haven't run since summer. I got some new balance shoes that seemed to have helped. I went walking for 1 1/2hrs on Sunday and I was so sore and my feet started acting up again. I'm putting going off to the Dr. I have two bum knees that I'm pretty sure is arthritis and my back has been giving me trouble. I have a lump at the small of my back. It gets very sore from standing and walking. And my elbow feels like its been wrenched. I'm falling apart from working out and I'm only 35 lol

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    1. Aww, poor thing! Roll out your feet on a tennis ball. It really does loosen up the fascia (I'm doing it right now!) and a friend who has it rolls out her feet on a frozen water bottle and swears by it. (It does feet quite good, I've done it several times) Have you done any light stretching or light yoga? Loosening up the back and hips might go a long way. Here's one of my favorite yoga stretching workouts from DoYogaWithMe.com

      http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/yoga-hips-hamstrings-and-back

      He does have one that's about 10 minutes longer too if you want to do deeper stretching

      http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/deep-release-hips-hamstrings-and-lower-back

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    2. thank you, i do yoga occasionally, but not often enough apparently ;) I think maybe I need to work more on my form. I'll look into the link you gave me. thanks again

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    3. No problem. These are nice, light sessions but very effective. The Mr always curses it because his legs are so tight. I have to believe if he did it regularly, he'd loosen up. ;-)

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  5. I joined a gym with the hubby because we are not good at holding each other accountable, but with this, we are both good at going and now that the kids are no longer an excuse not to do things, we have no excuses not to go.

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    1. That's awesome!! It's always nice to have a partner to workout with and even if you can only get each other accountable enough to get to the gym but have to answer to someone else, you can certainly do that! Good for you guys!

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  6. I need to buckle down and workout again, period. Walking would be great. Starting skating though and having a blast. Ordered new awesome roller skates too. I just got tired of the routine in the gym and needed to make it fun again. Hopefully I stick to it too. this girl also needs some new tennies. I hear ya with the mesh air flow thing. What up with dat?

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    1. Roller skates!? Dang girl, mad respect. I would be on my butt in a hot second!! LOL I don't know what the deal is with mesh shoes but it's a trend I hope dies a quick death...along with handlebar mustaches, craft beers by the thousands and vocal fry.

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  7. Saucony shoes are the bomb diggity! I love them! I hope these work out great for you. I've been putting off quite a few things, with the two being consistent meal planning (and actually prepping stuff the night before for my lunches) and consistent exercise. I've gone in good spurts with exercising, then just fall off for no good reason. I have the same problem as you with sitting during the day. Where I work now, I'm pretty much tied to a phone and I sit at a taller counter rather than an actual desk, so I'm really feeling the legs swelling during the day. I got one of those foot rests, but that doesn't seem to help. For the past couple of days I've been putting my phone on "wrap" so I could spend a couple of minutes stretching my calves (so tight) and marching a bit just to get the circulation going. Later this week (after another dang night of snow!) I'm going to drive up to this one park/dog park area to see if I can walk up and down the road for about 20 minutes. Not so much for exercise (I'll sweat too much in my work clothes), but more just to keep the circulation going and get some fresh air. I figure it can only help with this whole process, so I want to see if I can swing it within the time frame during my lunch hour.

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    1. Ooh, I'm glad to hear the ringing endorsement! Apparently since I chose free shipping it meant "hope you didn't want those this month."

      That park idea sounds great. I think it'd be a good way to keep the blood pumping. (Am I the only one who thought of this when I said that? http://youtu.be/P_d0ykpzQgY) Meal planning is always a good idea. Maybe one morning you can take stock of what you have on hand and do some planning during a work break. Gotta do something to make the day pass, right? ;-)

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  8. I'm on my 4th pair of saucony shoes. I went to shoe carnival with the intent to buy new balance but they are too wide. I have a wide toe box, high and narrow arch and heel. saucony's are perfect. I also got a pair of sketcher's walking shoes for half price. I wanted to try something new.

    I work a desk job, but I can listen to the radio. I will sometimes identify a couple of songs and everytime the song plays I dance. (pretty frequent replays on top 40 radio). I do get bogged down and miss my hourly exercise minutes.

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    1. People seem to really like Saucony's so I'm encouraged by that for sure. I just hope I get them sometime this year since they seem to be dragging their feet on shipping them out.

      Office dance party!!

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  9. Hi. I was just wondering if the walking shoes you linked to are supposed to provide good ankle support. That is something I really need to find in a walking shoe and seems that might be a consideration for you as well based on what you wrote.

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    1. It says it gives good support for neutral walkers (whatever that means! LOL) but doesn't specifically mention ankle support. Everyone says it gives good arch support but for me, the supports are going to come out for specific ones I already have. The ones I currently have (Brooks) are just waaay too flimsy for me. I have no stability for them at all when I walk. I figure since these are leather and no mesh like runners shoes, they have to be better than what I have now. When I get them, I'll do a review on them. Of course since I selected free shipping, it seems I'll be lucky to get them by the end of the month at this rate! Yeesh!

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    2. Thanks! Will look forward to your review!

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