Week 12 walking progress

Week 12 walking progress:

Total for week 12 = 52 miles
Average per day for this week (52 / 7) = 7.43
Running total = 316 + 52 = 368 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 368) = 682

Wow! Massive effort this week! Am I becoming obsessed? I’ve been in the office 4 times this week which, given that I walk over 5 miles a day (to and from stations as the walking element of my commute) every time I go into London to work, this has pushed things up a it.

In addition, I decided to walk through Central London instead of getting the tube during the working day (on top of the daily London trek from and to the station). For example its nearly 2 miles from one of our Central London offices to another one. And meeting my daughter in the West End after work racked up another couple of miles. So one day I actually walked 14 miles just by not taking the tube! (And burned off a huge 1200 extra calories too)

And on Sunday I did 12 miles with my local walking club…

Posting these updates every week or two is certainly helping to keep me motivated and look for ways of walking extra miles!

Week 11 walking progress

Week 11 walking progress:

Total for week 11 = 39 miles
Average per day for this week (37 / 7) = 5.57
Running total = 277 + 39 = 316 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 316) = 734

Throughout the last couple of weeks I’ve been making a really conscious effort to push up my walking mileage. This has included going for a short walk at lunchtime (when in the office) and putting extra miles in while at the gym. I’ve now started to include the extra gym miles in my weekly total. I’ve also been walking ‘the long way round’ for example when walking to the Post Office just to add more miles.

We’ve had yet more snow in the UK throughout the last weekend meaning another snowy walk on Sunday. This time we went walking with a few friends before going back to theirs for a warm bowl of chilli. We’ve had more snow than usual this winter and I’m looking forward to spring time!

Week 10 walking progress

Week 10 walking progress:

Total for week 10 = 37 miles
Average per day for this week (37 / 7) = 5.29
Running total = 240 + 37 = 277 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 277) = 773

Another good effort this week! Using MapMyWalk has been really helpful throughout the last week… I’ve now found that I’ve actually been under-estimating some of the distances! For example, each time I walk to our local swimming pool and back I am doing nearly 2 miles, not the one mile I had estimated! Never mind… the purpose behind all of this is to make a conscious effort to walk more, drive less and generally increase my fitness levels. Underestimating the odd mile here and there doesn’t really matter 🙂

In addition, one of the best forms of exercise is stair climbing! When I am in work, my office is on the 9th Floor. I have made a conscious effort to use the stairs rather than the lift and also to ensure I get away from my desk and go out each lunchtime. Climbing 9 flights of stairs on average 3 times a day is hard work, but getting easier the more I do it.

Weeks 8 & 9 walking progress

Week 8 walking progress:

Total for week 8 = 25 miles
Average per day for this week (25 / 7) = 3.57
Running total = 187 + 25 = 212 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 212) = 838

Week 9 walking progress:

Total for week 9 = 28 miles
Average per day for this week (28 / 7) = 4
Running total = 212 + 28 = 240 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 240) = 810

A couple of decent weeks of walking progress… the most exciting 16 of these miles were racked up in Switzerland on a last weeks’ hiking weekend! It was fantastic to hike in soft powdery pure white snow.

Little did I know that I would come back to snow in the UK… and have just completed a 9 mile hike in local snow this morning! It was melting so was muddy and slushy and I managed to fall over twice…

I’ve now actually started to use Map My Walk too rather than estimating my mileage using Google Maps… I downloaded this app to my phone a couple of years ago but have never bothered to use it… until now…

In addition, a quick check on annual progress towards target:

Monthly average for January and February 2018 (240 / 2) = 120 miles per month
Daily average for January and February (240 / 60) = 4 miles a day
Monthly average left for the next 10 months (810 / 10) = 81
Daily average left for the next 10 months (81 / 30) = 2.7

So if I keep up this rate of mileage (around 120 miles per month) I should reach my target to walk 1050 miles in 2018 some time in September! It will be interesting to see what happens and if I achieve this…

Week 7 walking progress

Week 7 progress:

Total for week 7 = 50 miles
Average per day for this week (50 / 7) = 7.14
Running total = 137 + 50 = 187 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 187) = 872

A massive effort this week where I managed to walk an extra 50 miles… As always, these miles are in addition to the normal day-to-day steps one takes by walking around the house or office.

Significantly this week, yesterday I did a 17 mile walk through the scenic Goyt Valley in the Peak District. The link shows several short walks… a group of friends and I combined some of them into a big circular trek and spent 7 hours walking to and past some of these features.

Today I completed a 12 mile walk with a local walking group. Tonight I have aching muscles but a sense of achievement!

Week 3 walking progress

Progress:

Total for week 3 = 39 miles
Average per day for this week (39 / 7) = 5.57
Running total = 46 + 39 = 85 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 85) = 965

I’m pleased I managed to walk 39 miles this week which is quite a psychological boost as it has given me a few miles in the bag towards my target. As well as 2 x 5 or 6 mile treks in Portugal on Monday and Tuesday, I did two walks at the weekend; an 8.5 mile local trek with a group of friends (in the rain) and a 10.5 mile trek with a local walking club (in the snow).

Week 1 walking progress

This is a newly added challenge… as I enjoy walking and trekking I decided to add a walking challenge for this year!

A personalised walking challenge…

Many people pledge to ‘Walk 1000 miles in a year‘ for various reasons but probably mainly for the excellent health and wellbeing benefits you achieve by regular walking. These include:

Burns extra calories
Builds stamina
Strengthens your heart
Reduces the likelihood of many serious diseases
Keeps you active
Improves your mood
Its free

My spin on this is to walk 1050 miles this year… an extra 50 in my year of turning 50…

This is an average of 2.88 miles a day or 20.16 miles a week

I don’t have a fit bit or app or anything to calculate this accurately so I will just estimate the extra walking i.e. where I have chosen to walk rather than drive or take public transport or any specific walking or trekking I undertake.

For example, week 1:

Mon: (New Years Day = couch potato = 0)
Tue: walk to and from train stations (work journey) = 5 miles
Wed: walk to swimming pool and back = 1 mile
Thu: walk to town centre and back = 2 miles
Fri: walk to and from stations = 5 miles
Sat: walk to town centre and back = 2 miles
Sun: organised walking club walk = 10 miles

Progress:

Total for week 1 = 25 miles
Average per day for this week (25 / 7) = 3.57
Running total = 25 miles
Miles left to walk in 2018 (1050 – 25) = 1025