Average Jane

Average Jane Gets A Fitbit

Just to get it out of the way, this post is not in any way sponsored (not that I'd be averse to that, hint, hint). 

We have a wellness program at work that awards points for various health-oriented activities and exercise. If you earn a certain number of points in a year, you pay significantly discounted premiums for your health insurance the following year. That's a pretty good incentive, I'd say. The points are also spendable for a whole range of stuff in an online store, so I figured a good way to use some of my points would be to get a Fitbit to sync with the program and earn me points when I did enough exercise. It might pay for itself!

I got it in the mail last week but didn't get around to setting it up until yesterday morning. I presumed that a trip to the zoo should result in a pretty impressive number of steps and I was not disappointed. I managed to get more than 15,000 by the end of the day. Booyah!

Today I goosed the number of steps by taking the dog on a 3.6 mile walk. I also had band practice and the Fitbit clearly considers dancing around, even in place, to be light activity and countable as steps. I've made it past 10,000 steps today already and it isn't even 6:00 p.m. yet. 

I'm curious to see how four hours of performing with my band, bookended by load-in and load-out, registers. We'll find out next Saturday. 

Based on my experience over the weekend, I'm trying to figure out what a reasonable weekday step goal might be. Maybe 4,000? Keep in mind that I work at a desk job, so I spend long periods of time sitting like a lump. I'm sure that wearing the Fitbit will inspire me to take the stairs and maybe walk a little over my lunch break, but there's only so much you can do when it's your job to sit at a computer and write copy all day.

Before the Fitbit I had a Nike+ Fuelband. I liked it a lot and I learned that gamification is very effective for getting me to exercise more. I'd still be using it today except that an unfortunate confluence of plantar fasciitis and the Fuelband glitching out meant that I had already let it die quietly by the time I was ready to start tracking my activity again.

I'm already finding myself getting up and finding things to do around the house to keep from staying planted in a chair for extended periods of time. Hope springs eternal that I'll hit upon the motivation I need to counter some of my latest weight gain. If it's easy, so much the better!

Average Jane's Exhausting Weekend

I took a half a vacation day on Friday and drove an hour to do this for four hours:

It was fun but a little unsatisfying because the crowd was very light. Friday nights at bars always pale in comparison to Saturday nights. Still, for a first gig it went well and at least we ended up with some photos and video.

The drive home was excruciating because I was so tired. I had to keep pinching myself and slapping my face to stay alert and I ended up cruising down the highway with the windows down for most of the trip. Once I got home I was ravenous but too tired to go out for breakfast with my husband, so I heated up some oatmeal and dropped into bed as soon as I was finished eating. 

I only got about four hours of sleep, unfortunately. Then I needed to get up because it was time for the Kansas City Yoga Festival. I couldn't get it together in time to attend the first workshop. In fact, everyone was in savasana by the time I arrived.

I did make it there early enough to set up microphones for the musicians who would be playing at lunchtime and I managed to grab a lovely veggie and hummus wrap to eat. 

The second workshop went well and I was reminded of a shoulder stretch that I should be doing every day. I actually learned it last year but I'd been mostly sidelined with a sprain then, so it had slipped my mind.

I couldn't make through all of the final workshop of the day. During the introduction portion I'd been lying on my mat fighting sleep and my body wore out after about 30 minutes of poses. My bailout coincided with the arrival of a massive thunderstorm that caused rainwater to come into the building through every window and door, so I made myself useful moving things off the floor, out of the way of the incoming water.

That night, my husband and I tried to watch some TV, but I was completely depleted and by 9:00 p.m. I was sound asleep. I slept eleven hours and made it back to the yoga festival a tiny bit late the next morning.

I made it through the entire Sunday workshop and now every muscle in my body is sore. Seriously, every one of them. But they're sore in a good way and I'm glad I had the opportunity to strengthen myself like that. After lunch I went home and slept for another two hours, for a total of 13 for the day. Ahhh.

I know I haven't checked in for a while, but everything is going well with the new eating plan. I've lost about 15 pounds since I started and I'm feeling really good except when I wear myself out through lack of sleep.

So how have you been?

Average Jane, Lonely Walker

Yesterday I did the two events I mentioned in my last post. I started the day with the Trolley Run, which was a four-mile route that wound through a truly lovely part of the city. Before the race started, I ran into two different teammates, but apparently I was the only person on my team who planned to mostly walk rather than run. Therefore I was alone the whole way.

Despite the fact that four miles is longer than I usually walk, it isn't that much longer. I did pretty well (57:51 - a pace of 14:28, which isn't bad if you consider that there was a bathroom break in there) except that there was something irritating the side of one foot. I thought I might have a tiny rock in my shoe but it turned out to be a blister.

Everyone else was going to brunch afterward, but because I'd signed up for March for Babies, I got in my car and headed downtown to do the second event. When I got to the staging area I looked around for that team, but couldn't locate anyone I knew. I started the walk and my foot pain kicked in again to the extent that when the course divided and I realized that one branch led right past the garage where I was parked, I turned that way, peeled off from the group, and went home.

If I had it to do over again, I would have done several things differently:

1. Not signed up for two events in one morning, obviously.
2. Gone to brunch with my teammates, even if it meant skipping the second event.
3. Emailed the whole team in advance to find out if anyone else was signed up for the walking wave. If I'd had just one person to talk to, it would have been considerably more enjoyable.

Today I have some pleasantly sore muscles and a piece of moleskin over the blister, so I'm doing well. I think the yoga class I took on Saturday helped me prepare and I'm planning to start going to class at least once a week.

The main thing this taught me was that I'm much happier with an exercise buddy. When I'm walking the dog through my neighborhood, he counts as my buddy even though he really doesn't interact with me on a walk. For other events, I'd like some human company. That will be my goal going forward for future events.

Average Jane on Aging

Despite all ancestral evidence to the contrary, I always pictured myself in middle age as one of those women from the vitamin commercials: lean, with beautiful salt-and-pepper hair, digging in the garden and running a nice 5K from time to time.

I have the digging in the garden and 5K running walking part going on, but I've turned out to be too chicken to let my hair go grey and over the past few years my weight has gone from "it would be nice to lose 10 or 15 pounds" to "holy crap, when did I get so fat?!?"

Add to that the list of physical maladies that seems to increase with every passing year and it's become clear that I need to make some pretty substantial lifestyle changes if I hope to still be 5King and gardening by the time I'm old and stubborn enough to own the grey hair.

On the recommendation of my doctor, I'm cleaning up my diet A LOT. This past weekend I allowed myself two final days of at least partial indulgence, but starting today I'm getting serious. I'm not going to go into the boring details of what I'll be eating, but I am certain it is going to seem NO FUN AT ALL, especially to my husband. However, I need to do this for myself.

I've noticed that even a little bit of exercise feeds into more exercise (kind of the same way that laziness seems to breed more laziness). Yesterday I took the dog on a 3.4 mile walk in the morning and not only did it energize him all day, I noticed that even this morning I was still feeling motivated. I got up much earlier than I have been lately, got a good amount of housework done, showered, and still made it into work at a decent hour.

Once the weather settles down, I'm going to start doing the walks every other day at first and then work up to daily again. Last year I ended up having some foot problems and I'm hoping that a slower build might head them off this year.

That said, I'm signed up for a 4-mile walk this Sunday followed almost immediately by a 1-mile walk. Those are fundraising links, by the way. The first walk supports the Children's Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) and the second is for March of Dimes. I welcome donations to either!

My husband and I talk a lot about getting older, particularly because he is ten years older than I am. Our main conclusion has been that it's important to take advantage of each day. That's why I'm starting this now and I hope it makes a noticeable difference to the way I feel and the amount of energy I have. If it makes me look better, that'll be nice as well.

Photo credit: K. Kendall

Average Jane Is Out of Shape

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had a decision to make. I was signed up for the Diva Dash 5K, but I hadn't counted on it being 32°F out on March 23rd. Also, there was a blizzard in the forecast.

On the other hand, I had already paid and I knew there would be a nice tech t-shirt involved. I had plenty of time to get suited up for the cold and go, so I dragged myself out of bed, bundled up, and headed out the door.

I had plenty of layers on, especially once I put my new shirt over my jacket. It make me look very...fluffy. I snagged a free coffee from one of the vendor displays—largely for the warmth—and lined up to get on with my first run of 2013.

As always, my plan was to run as much as possible and walk when I needed to catch my breath. My running isn't much faster than my walking, so it doesn't make a lot of difference either way.

The good news is that the chronic foot problems that I was suffering from all last year seem to be gone. The bad news is that my asthma is as bad or worse than ever. By the end, my bronchial tubes were cursing me and I really should have brought an inhaler, but I didn't.

I walked most of the last mile because I was well and truly exhausted. At the end, I somehow mustered the energy to run the last little stretch toward and over the finish line, but I was actually a little afraid I might pass out.

When I finally looked up my race time it was 42:31.1, which I thought was very satisfactory under the circumstances.

Amped up by the relative success of my run/walk, I decided to do the boot camp class at my office last night.

Yeah.

Here's the thing: I have about two months or less to get in shape to be on stage moving around and singing with my band for four-hour stretches. I need to get in better shape and not just because it would be nice to lose a little weight before I start performing.

So boot camp was super hard and I had to stop and rest way more than my younger and fitter co-workers (except when it came to wall sits—turns out I have strong quads, or as I like to think of them, powerful thews). I aggravated the elbow that I injured weeks ago shoveling snow. I had to modify the jumping jacks because they were hurting my ankles and even then I couldn't do full minutes of the wimpy kind.

However, I didn't give up. I made it through all 45 minutes of the class, playing the theme from "Rocky" in my head when I needed encouragement. I thought it was possible that I might die and I had to go back to my desk and work for a while afterward because I wasn't sure I could drive at first, but I made it through.

Later that night I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. and slept for ten hours.

My company offers boot camp twice a day all week long and I am definitely planning on going back. I'm also ready to start yoga class again at my favorite studio and I'm looking forward to resuming my daily walks with the dog as soon as the snow melts off the sidewalks.

I always feel so much better when I'm in better physical shape, but it's hard for me to maintain an exercise schedule, especially related to outdoor activities. All I can do is start over and see how it goes.

Notes To Average Jane's Dog Regarding Our Workouts

Hi, Toby. Your Gotcha Day is coming up next month, so that means we've been walking and running together for nearly a year. As your coach, I thought this would be a good time to give you a few performance tips that will undoubtedly make things go more smoothly from now on for us both.

Let's start with etiquette, which could use a little refinement in your case. When we encounter a jogger, I know you find it very inspiring. However, you can take my word for it that it makes people uncomfortable when you strain at your leash and try to chase after them. I'm sure your bark is meant as a jaunty "Good morning!" but it usually only serves to startle them.

Then there are the other dogs. While I imagine that your episodes of leaping about and barking furiously are very aerobic, they are really not appropriate behavior in a residential area at the crack of dawn. Also, you weigh 20 pounds and almost every dog we see could eat you for breakfast, which is something you should really have realized on your own by now.

Jogging is something we both enjoy - at least until you abruptly stop to smell something. Our route is 3.4 miles at minimum, so I'd appreciate it if you would consider skipping just a few of the olfactory signatures along the way when we're going full speed. If you trip me and I fall on you, you'd better hope I have my cell phone on me and someone we know is awake to come and scrape us off the pavement. Either way, it would be bad on all counts.

Finally, there are your pit stops. I certainly don't begrudge you the opportunity to avail yourself of them; after all, that's one of the reasons we're out and about. However, it would be great if you could do a little advance planning and get your biological business taken care of when we're either in a neighborhood that has trash pickup that day or downtown where there are plenty of trash cans.

Otherwise, I think we're both getting a lot out of our walks. They're good bonding time, although I understand that as a sighthound you have other priorities while we're outdoors that take precedence over interacting with me. The exercise is great, though, and I think we both enjoy getting to know the neighborhood, the neighbors and their dogs.

Thanks for being my workout buddy and I look forward to traversing the area with you for years to come.

Average Jane's Next 5K Event

In addition to my frequent 5K+ walks through my neighborhood, I've been averaging one "official" 5K event per month for the last several months. However, I didn't have one lined up for August until I got an email last week from a PR rep for Head for the Cure. They were getting in touch with active social media types in Kansas City to help promote their event.

According to the materials they sent me, "Head for the Cure seeks to raise awareness and funding in the fight against brain cancer. Each year, nearly 200,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with a brain tumor. Through fundraising and donations, Head for the Cure is able to donate 90% of the proceeds from events to the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative. By doing this, Head for the Cure is working to find new treatments for those diagnosed with malignant brain tumors."

The event will be held on Sunday, August 26th at 8:00 a.m. at Corporate Woods, which sounds like a great location for a race and I'm surprised I've never done one there before. This is their 10th year, so they hope to exceed the 4,000 participants and $300,000 raised last year.

Register by August 6th and the entry fee is only $25. You can find more information on their Facebook page.

So who's with me? 

Note: In exchange for this post, my registration fee for the race is being waived. I have received no other compensation for my participation.

Average Jane Gets Colorful

Last weekend I had a blast doing the Color Run 5K with my friend Bonnie. What's the Color Run? Well, I imagine that someone saw some photos of a Holi celebration, thought, "How can I bring that to the U.S. in a non-religious context?" and decided a 5K was the way to go.

The 5K route was around Kansas City's sports complex. About every 3/4 of a mile, there was a Color Station with attendants who would throw handfuls of powdered pigment at you as you ran by. At the end of the race, they invited everyone to gather in a crowd for a Color Party, which meant opening up the packet of pigment you received at check-in and throwing it into the air. That's where the serious color came from.

Here are some of the photos I took that day:

Here's Bonnie with Arrowhead Stadium in the background. Note the clean white shirt. I was wearing one just like it.

There was a huge crowd - about 15,000 people. We were in the first wave of the run, so we managed to get through to the end and leave while it was still easy to do so.

All be-colored at the end of the race.

Even though I brought sheets to drape over my car seats, I couldn't help but smudge some pigment onto the fabric of my car door. Oops.

Pro tip: Don't park too close to a color station.

I had saved my old running shoes specifically for this race, so they were ready for the trash in more ways than one when I was finished.

Next on my agenda: The Glow Run on Saturday, July 14th. Because I'm obviously up for any color-oriented racing gimmick that someone can think up!

Average Jane Is Obsessed

Yesterday I woke up a little bit late and had to rush out the door to get to the site of the Tri-Yoga 5K that I'd impulsively signed up for the previous week. I was determined to do as much running as I could manage and I'd even gone to a short running clinic for newbies the day before.

Unfortunately, after I was already on the road I realized I'd forgotten to put on my Nike+ Fuelband that tracks all my movement. Aaagh! I was already running late so there was no way I could turn around and get it. So I wouldn't get any "credit" for my 5K. Darn it.

I didn't run as much as I'd hoped to, but my 5K time was the best I've managed in many years. I came in 150th out of 165, but I was incredibly pleased at how it had gone and I feel very optimistic about my other upcoming 5Ks.

Once the race was over, I did a bit of yoga and headed home. Toby had been very disappointed to watch me put on my running shoes and leave without him so once he greeted me I thought, "Why not take the dog on our usual 3.4 mile route?" 

I'd be lying if I tried to tell you that I wasn't also thinking about making up those Fuel Points. Yesterday was Day 30 and I'd hit my goal every single day since I started!

It was still quite early and I knew Toby would appreciate the exercise, especially because he'd been cheated out of his walk the previous day due to my dad's garage sale.

So that's how I ended up covering 6.5 miles of ground on foot in a single morning. 

I thought I'd be really tired after all that, but instead I felt energized. I waited for my husband to get up and we went out for an incredibly hearty breakfast. After that, I went to do a volunteer project, attended my 7-year-old nephew's baseball game, and took my sister's 5 o'clock yoga class, which was just what I needed for my stiff leg muscles.

After dinner at my sister's house, I came home, cleaned the cat boxes (ick), and went to bed at 9:00 p.m.

I didn't get in a walk this morning due to rain, so I'm trying to decide between using our treadmill at work or hoping it clears up so I can walk tonight after work. Either way, I have to get those points!

Wordless Wednesday: Average Jane Walks the Dog