These Knees Were Made For Walking

On Mondays I walk along the American Tobacco Trail. The trail was built by Rails to Trails so is what I can expect on my journey. Today I walked almost 5.5 miles in about 2 hours. The average was 22 minutes per mile, a little slower than I would like to be when I hit full stride on the trail.

This walk gives me a good idea of where I am in terms of endurance. My goal is to reach a comfortable 15 miles a day 6 days a week. I won’t be quite there when I start walking next April but should be pretty close. I am planning on about a month, maybe 6 weeks of actually being on my walk to reach full stride.

The rest of my training schedule, for right now, is as follows:

• Mondays: American Tobacco Trail (ATT)
• Tuesdays: Gym with personal trainer. We work on strengthening; Yoga at BFP
• Wednesdays: Morning Coffee; Local hike usually about 2 miles.
• Thursdays: Gym with Personal trainer
• Fridays: American Tobacco Trail
• Saturdays: Gym on my own
• Sundays: Rest

I am going to add a little more Yoga and strengthening to my routine. Adding a little at a time so that I can sustain the progress and routine.

My gym is the Duke Center for Living. I work with a trainer, Kyle Wisner, there, 2 days a week. When I first started I could barely do half an hour with Kyle and I had to stop and rest a few times. Now, I do half an hour of aerobics (stairs and walking the inside track) before I meet with Kyle and I don’t have to stop and rest. We work with weights doing various exercises. They also have lots of classes in yoga, step classes, pilates and other forms of aerobic exercises. I have tried the yoga classes and teachers are experienced and excellent.

The DCFL is a really good gym. They have a pool, lots of aerobic equipment as well as weight training and free weights. The staff are very nice and helpful and the clients range in age and ability. There are some younger folk and other folk that appear to be in their 80s and 90s.

If anyone would like to walk with me let me know. I do like company. And if you would like to know more about the gym, etc., also ask.