Sunday 3 January 2016

Walking club notes

Hello, What a rotten day. Rain and more rain. Thank goodness I did my walk this morning, it started when I was half way round the route, so I got a bit wet. It is very tempting to take a short cut back home, but then I thought, no, I've started so I'll finish. If I cut it short I will only have to make up for it later. I see a few more people have joined us, it's nice to see so much enthusiasm, let's see if we can keep it going. A few thoughts, you don't have to go out every day, but it's better if you don't get too far behind.

You can choose your targets, 2.73 miles a day, 19.23 a week, 83.33 a month, 250 in 3 months, 500 in 6 months, 750 in 9 months. The higher the numbers the more scary it seems, but don't worry. The weather at the moment in the UK is pretty naff, but you should be able to get out and do a bit when it isn't raining. Wind and cold are no excuse for not walking, you will soon warm up. Take care if it gets icy underfoot though, keep your fingers crossed, we might be lucky and not get any snow. Members in other parts of the world might be struggling with heat, make sure you take water with you.

Listen to your body. If you feel like doing a bit extra, do it. Put a few extra miles in the bank, then if a time comes that you can't do it, you have built up a reserve. As we come into spring you might feel like doing some longer walks, a day out perhaps. This will give your total a boost. As time goes on, you will begin to feel the benefits, your legs won't ache, you will look forward to going out. If you are taken ill at any time in the next year, don't push yourself too hard, take a break if you have to. When you recover try and do short walks to build yourself back up again. Ask your doctor's advice.

If you start losing motivation at any time, tell us, we may be able to talk you through it. This is not a race, we are all winners, no matter how much we do. If you see the finishing line getting further and further away don't worry. The fact that you are taking part is the bonus. You are doing this for your health and fitness. Although we don't have a physical finishing line to cross, we will all arrive at the 31st of December at the same time, regardless of how many miles we have covered. And if anyone is struggling I will do the extra month, just so I can hold your hand.

Does anyone remember the first London Marathon? Do you remember what happened in the last few hundred yards? Two athletes had been running together for a long time, it was going to be a fight to the finishing line, but they didn't fight. They held hands and crossed together. That one act of kindness told the world that it wasn't about winning, it was about taking part.



Well this post has gone completely off topic, I started it with another idea, deleted that, then had another idea, and ended up here. Non walking club members please bear with us until we get into the challenge, I won't constantly witter on about it. I just want to make sure that we are all on board, all keen to give it a good go, and fire up some enthusiasm. Once the numbers start adding up and people start feeling fitter, it will bimble along by itself.

Hey, anyone know how to eat this chuffin ice cream, it's like a chuffin house brick. A treat I bought myself for Christmas, I haven't had my favourite Magnum for at least five months, so I thought I would get this for £1, on special offer. Good grief, I didn't expect it to be so hard, I need a power drill to break it up. It tastes nice though  :o)


Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon. Toodle pip


 

28 comments:

  1. Your new freezer is turned up too high! You might want to turn it down a bit and save a bit of the electric. It happened with our new one also. If it's like ours was, the too high freezer will freeze stuff in the refrigerator that is close to the freezer unit. Love your blog. Robin in Portland Oregon

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  2. Wow that ice cream!! I ran the side of container under a tap of warm water. That was a couple of months ago! Yum Ginny

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  3. A 30 second zap in a microwave helps a lot with extra-hard ice cream. And what Robin said about the thermostat set at to low a temp cause I have had stuff freeze in the crisper drawers. I don't mind if the milk is a bit icy but not my lettuce!

    Part of the reason I read is about your walking, so if you need to post a bit about your walking challenge please do.

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  4. I have to take ice cream out of my chest freezer 11 or 15 minutes before I plan to get a spoon into it. And then I have to remember that there is a carton of ice cream sitting on my kitchen counter!

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  5. Just leave the ice cream on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften up before you scoop it.

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  6. Good advice, well said.

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  7. Heavens it certainly looks solid. Hope it melted enough for your tasting pleasure!

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  8. Once you get the ice cream soft again you can put the ice cream container inside a gallon size freezer bag before putting back in freezer and it won't get hard again.

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  9. I did my walk yesterday but didn't today as I spent half of today cleaning over at my sons house, his dad died earlier this year and left it to him. We are trying to get it habitable for when he leaves university. When we got home we had all the decs to take down and believe me that is no easy task. I will try and do two walks tomorrow but the weather looks to be naff. I am not too worried about reaching the target though as I will walk loads of extra miles in the decent weather.

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  10. Greetings!
    Is it too late to add my name to the walking club? I walk several days a week, but i'm feeling it's not enough. Today was just about one mile. But, with gale winds and several inches of snow blowing around my ankles, i wasn't about to go any further. (Does that sound like an excuse? Ha!) I am an ex runner but my mojo seems to have dropped by the wayside. I've gotten over 1000 miles running, but never walking. I think it's about time to remedy that! Thanks for all you do! It's so nice to have our own personal cheerleader!

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  11. I managed 10.8 miles in three days! With this grey, rainy weather, I usually would have left the house only as long as absolutely necessary.

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  12. Good and necessary advice re walking! I started out well and am now sick and on a medication that restricts exercise. There is always next week.

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  13. I'm spending some of my enforced idleness looking for ways to walk a measured distance indoors. For those who can access youtube there is a 3 mile walk video from the American Heart Association at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYuw4f1c4xs&list=PLbwN3y8ChVSKJBMUGtbrx8HC9gs81xHt9.

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  14. Might be your freezer is a tad bit too cold. I like my ice cream to be just like it came out of a soft serve machine.

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  15. Add me to the walking club. I am going to count all of my walking throughout the day as tracked by my iPhone app. I will start out strong, but I will probably have a scheduled surgery between now and summer to slow me down a bit. I will need the encouragement to get going again. -Michelle in Oklahoma, USA

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  16. I'd love to join in the walking (its my absolute fav pastime) but just not up to it. The ice cream looks good! Tesco's Soft Scoop Neapolitan is fab! Juhli is right - look on youtube - there's a lot of really good walking videos if the weather is too bad to go out in. Natalie

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  17. Fantastic news, Gillie. More than me.

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  18. The hardness of the icecream is nothing to do with your freezer temp, it's all about the air they whip into it during production. That's why you have to churn homemade ice cream otherwise it's just an ice brick. You don't expect an ice brick from the supermarket, disappointing.

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  19. Hi.Whenever the 1000 mile challenge comes up I am interested.As you know, I'm not officially in but still enjoy the news.We have a temperature of -24 this morning,and the sun is out.Such a beautiful day here.I walk regularly(25 years) to keep my body mind and spirit in good form and enjoy nature as I'm doing it,am not overweight,and have good mobility for a person with my health challenges.It's a great way to clear the cobwebs out of my head too.It's cheering to see so many people involved and your motivating everyone!There are many of your readers who are not able to though and you are sensitive to that too.Yup,that is one heck of a solid block of ice cream Ilona.I'd try letting it sit for a while on the counter...it's worked for me.Then maybe adjusting the temperature of the freezer.Happy hiking everyone,keep on moving!Bye for now,D.

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  20. Add me to your list 1000 mile challenge Ilona.
    You personally have inspired me to do this.
    I walk quite regularly, but never log the miles I walk.
    This is a great idea.

    I've been reading your blog for a few years now. One of my favourites by far. Living frugally as you do, and sharing so much creative inspiration on your blog is fabulous, but you've taken it up a notch with the walking challenge.

    Thank you!

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  21. Replies
    1. That's about 4.5 miles if you walked fast.

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  22. Have dithered about whether to join your challenge, but I'm going to go for it. I have been inspired by it to do different one hour routes at roughly after-lunch time, as many days a week as I can (3.2 miles yesterday), plus longer walks whenever I can, and that's as well as cycling. Don't know whether I'll make 1000, but I'll have a jolly good go.

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  23. Hi Ilona. Not sure whether you have seen the 'ticker factory before but here is the link. It is free and other 'walkers ' might like to create their own and put it somewhere on their blog. I have put one on my blog if you want to see what they look like. You can choose from loads of designs. http://www.tickerfactory.com/ezticker/ticker_designer.php

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    Replies
    1. Hi, thanks. Not for me, but others might like to try it.

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  24. Can you add my name to the 1000 mile walk challenge? I still have my yard duty job and am able to walk a minimum of 500 steps 3 times week. I would like to increase that.
    Beverley M. Calif. USA

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    Replies
    1. Done, Beverley, you are number 62. Time to up your game, hope you do well.

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