Walktober - First Week! (Day 1-7)

The first week of Walktober is over! I must say, it wasn't too bad. Not bad at all, actually.

Day 1 + 2
The first days were supereasy. I walked the 3.1 kilometers to work and then back home again, the challenge was still fresh, the weather was amazing... On Thursday I listened to Tim Ferriss' podcast during my walks. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were his guests, and at some point he asked them what habit they picked up from working with Snoop Dogg. Turns out, the Snoop in quite a walk-fanatic himself. "Walking is great man, it's important." Evan then went on to describe how he started taking short walks in the morning and in the evening, and how it has had a massive impact on his life. Not a coincidence!

Thursday 1 October: 11,991 steps, 8.6 kilometers
Friday 2 October: 13,030 steps, 9.3 kilometers

Day 3 + 4
Weekend! On Saturday morning at 8:30, I had an appointment at the hairdresser, resulting in some logistical issues. I would have to leave the house quite early in order to get there on time, and it would take me too much time on the way back in order to catch the bus. So I comprimised by walking half the way there with my bicycle in hand... Which looks pretty silly at 8 AM in the morning. Then, I traveled to meet up with friends for lunch and to visit my parents. Due to the lack of walking a substantial distance, I walked around the house a bit more at the end of the day to pick up some final steps.

On Sunday morning I actually went running (!) with my sister, who was also "home". We ran (and walked...) for 4.2 kilometers, which was actually further than I had ever even gone running before. Sure, it wasn't a record time-wise, but it felt pretty good. That distance however was pale in comparison to what my mother walked that day: a whopping full marathon! GO MOM! We went over to support her and ended up taking in a few extra kilometers ourselves, walking around at the beach. Good day.

Saturday 3 October: 11,475 steps, 8.2 kilometers
Sunday 4 October: 15,935 steps, 12.1 kilometers

Day 5 + 6 + 7
This is where it started to get a little boring. On Monday and Tuesday I walked to work again, but I was getting kind of annoyed by it. The weather wasn't so great anymore, and the fact that walking takes up 15-20 additional minutes on my commute is something that I started to resent, particularly in the morning. I haven't had a very busy week, but to have to leave the house at 7:30 in order to arrive around 8:00 is a bit of a hassle. I have no problems with getting up early, but I like to take those few extra minutes in the morning to do some chores or a little reading, or just, take it easy. And yes, I do realize that my commuting time is still peanuts compared to many others :-)

So on Wednesday, I shook it up a little. I went running in the morning (what, again???) and took the bike to work. I actually missed cycling! When I came home at the end of the day I had to go outside again for a short walk to reach my goal, but overall, it was a nice variation.

Monday 5 October: 12,934 steps, 9.2 kilometers
Tuesday 6 October: 11,712 steps, 8.4 kilometers
Wednesday 7 October: 10,357 steps, 7.7 kilometers

Review week 1:
The average score of the first week stands at 12,491 steps & 9.1 kilometers per day, and I made it to 10,000 steps every day. Hurrah! Obviously I did not deliberately "walk-walk" all those kilometers each day, I was actually surprised by how many steps you pick up by just getting up and walking around at home or at work. If you don't have a desk job, I reckon it would even be quite easy to reach the 10,000 on a daily basis. However, I did need to put in a little extra effort a few times this week to get there.

Anyway, I decided to up the ante and set myself the additional goal of reaching 10,000 steps every single day, not as a result of the average. To be continued!

Walktober - Day Zero & What, Why, How

Today was one of those perfect early days of fall, with bright blue skies and sunshine and colored leaves just starting to fall. Tomorrow marks the start of October, and I'm taking on a new 'challenge' that involves... walking. Exciting, right? :)

It begins with a feeling of urgency to become more active. I work as a consultant which is basically a desk job, and unless I have meetings outside of the office, I pretty much sit on my ass (and stare at a screen) all day. Perhaps I've been indoctrinated by the 'sitting is the new smoking'-police that I'm starting to get worried now - but at least I don't have a standing desk (yet).

All my life I've never been a sporty kind of girl, and I tried to introduce exercise in my life in quite a few ways over the past decade or so... Here's a brief history of my failed attempts. In college, I joined the university gym and did some sporadic cardio. After graduation, I subscribed to a nearby fitness club with a friend, but instead of motivating each other to go, we often mutually agreed that today was simply not a good day to work out because of, well, most of the times because it was raining (also, the place was supercrowded and smelly). A few years ago, I attended Zumba classes for about a year which I quite liked, but then the course got cancelled. Ever since, I've been going out on runs on a very, very infrequent schedule which I also liked doing (even getting up at 6 AM to make some miles before work!) but somehow it turns out I'm not inclined to really pull through and make it a lasting habit.

However, one thing that I managed to improve throughout the past few years in terms of activeness is that I really started to enjoy walking. Walking to work instead of cycling, voluntarily skipping the bus or tram and just... move my feet. Even just going out for a walk without having somewhere to go! Crazy, I tell ya!

So... with the crisp fall month of October coming up, why not find out if it could work to introduce more walking as a low-key way to be active in everyday life and burn some more calories? The name 'walktober' is quite obvious and a quick Google search also showed a range of challenges and events taking place in cities from Portland to various locations in Australia... so yeah I realize I'm not entirely original :) But what the heck, let's do this thing! (Oh and by committing to this publicly, it's a lot harder for me to give up, ha-ha).

The Only Three and Supereasy Rules

• Walking is the default transportation mode. Other forms of transport are allowed, but cannot interfere with reaching The Goal.
• The Goal: reach an average of 10,000 steps per day by the end of the month.
• Monitor results and publish weekly updates.

Day Zero

Today, September 30th, was the first day I took my brand new Fitbit Charge wearable tracker thingy for a spin, and it was a perfectly average Wednesday to see how 'active' I am on a normal weekday. A brief outline of the day:

• Cycling the approximately 3 kilometers to work
• Short shopping round in the supermarket
• Work at the office, no external meetings (sitting down - I did play pool with my colleagues after lunch though!)
• Cycling the approximately 3 kilometers back home, including a quick stop at the post office to drop off a package
• Doing some chores around the house: laundry, watering my plants...
• No cooking because I had a second portion left from the pumpkin soup I made yesterday
• Writing this post (sitting down)
• Eat dinner, watching The Mindy Project and later on maybe watch a movie or read a book (sitting down)

See, perfectly average and boring. The result so far? My Fitbit tells me I set 4,686 steps, resulting in 3.35 kilometers, burned 1,701 calories and I climbed 8 stairs. Since a daily amount of 10,000 steps is apparently a good norm for an active lifestyle, it's clear that I'm still wayyyyy below that! But, frankly, I'm not disappointed and thought it would have been less.

Edit: by the end of the day, before going to bed, the number of steps for this day was 5,302.

Okay, enough rambling - time to start walking!

Phonebook poetry

Alain Alexander Andre Angela Anja Anne Anneke Annelies Annemie Annett Anouk Anouk Anthony Auke Aukelien Barbara Bart Bas Bert Bob Brenda Brigitte Camille Carlo Carla Carmen Caroline Cathelijne Cedric Chris Christel Christopher Daniël Denise Eelco Eiko Eline Elisa Els Erik Esther Etienne Eva Eva Eva Femke Hanna Hanna Harm Helfin Helene Helga Herman Hester Ilse Ine Ineke Ines Inge Irene Iris Isabelle Isabelle Ivo Ivo Ivo Jan Jan Jan Janneke Jesse Jill Jolien Joost Josée Julie Karin Karlijn Kasper Kelly Kelly Kim Kyra Leon Leonie Liesbeth Linda Luc Lydie Marieke Mariska Marjolein Mark Mark Marleen Marloes Marloes Marte Martijn Mascha Merel Michel Monika Monique Myke Myrtille Nanne Nannet Nicholas Nick Nicole Nicoline Onno Peter Petra Ralph Rebecca Riccardo Rinus Rob Robin Rolf Rosa Rudie Sabien Sabrina Samira Sapta Sepp Serge Sharon Sjoerd Sophie Sophie Souad Stephan Stijn Susan Svenja Theo Thomas Thomas Tim Tinne Tom Tom Walter Whitney Wilco Willemijn Winne Wouter.