Vox

Musings, rants, rambling, general nonsense

Couch Potato

Posted on | May 21, 2010 | 5 Comments

One of my friends has been doing the Couch to 5k challenge and posting his progress on Facebook. To be honest, though I enjoyed seeing his updates, I sort of thought “That’s fine for him. He’s a lot younger than me. He’s in a lot better shape than me. – – – He’s a lot younger than me.” Did I mention, I’m old.

But…I have been wondering how much distance I cover with my walk/jogs with the puppies. I tried to find an app for my Android phone to work as a pedometer. Nothing that I found worked, so I was just going to Google maps and mapping my route to guesstimate the workout. Not so efficient.

Monday, I saw my buddy’s latest workout (week 5) and thought, “No friggin’ way”

But…I went to the site…and they have an app for my phone. So I downloaded it. I like that it gives me specific timing, beeping to let me know when to change my speed, I like that the first week is super easy, I like that the app was free 😉 (Droid apps get me to try a lot of things, it’s how I ended up on Twitter)

Since I take the dogs out every day and the program only involves three days per week, I am changing it up a bit and using the cues every day. I doubt I will ever be 5k shape, I don’t know that that would ever be a goal for me, but I am looking forward to doing as much of this plan as I can manage.

Interestingly, I haven’t really been able to run (or even walk that much) since I ran the Bay to Breakers years ago (1992) Since then, my mangled and weakened knees have meant my cardio was limited to non-impact things like biking & rollerblading (and even those have faded in recent years) When I first began walking the dogs each day, I had problems with my ankles and my back, but not my knees. I tweaked my shoes with inserts and supports which seemed to alleviate those issues. I don’t know if I’ve babied my knees long enough, or built the right muscles. I don’t know if the slower gate I “run” with the puppies is easier, or if having them on either side forces a healthier step. Whatever it is, I have had no problems with my knees. None.

(Incidentally, I assume that anything my tired, old, out-of-shape butt can handle, the dogs can handle, as well. However, if there is a point that would be “too much” for the critters to do, would someone let me know?



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Category: animals, fitness, friends, General, technology

Comments

5 Responses to “Couch Potato”

  1. bk
    May 21st, 2010 @ 6:37 am

    You did not name the app you found, but I really like My Tracks. it maps your route, including time, distance and elevation changes.

  2. Vox
    May 21st, 2010 @ 9:35 am

    It’s actually the “Couch to 5k” app (I think they may call it C25k in the marketplace) So far, so good.

    I also found a couple of new jogger trackers, that get good reviews for tracking distance – about to go give ’em a try 🙂

  3. Vox
    May 21st, 2010 @ 12:17 pm

    The one I tried today was “JogTracker 1.0.6” and it seems pretty accurate. It shows your route on Google maps and it seemed to get all of our detours into culs de sac and crisscrossing the park.

    Tomorrow I will try “Journey Tracker” and let you know 🙂

    (Oh, and the Couch potato one I’m using is actually “C25k Lite” – ’cause that was the free one)

  4. bk
    May 21st, 2010 @ 12:48 pm

    This is the one I was recommending, but it may not be as full featured as a dedicated exercise app. (OTOH, it does let you tweet your tracks. Tweeto, ergo sum…)

    http://mytracks.appspot.com/

  5. All Fall Down
    May 29th, 2010 @ 11:39 am

    […] Fall Down On 05/29/2010, In animals, fitness, general, personal, By Vox I previously mentioned a possible attempt at the Couch to 5k Challenge. I was right that Week One was super easy, owing perhaps to the fact […]

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