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This summer, I stopped buying bus passes and told myself that I was just going to bike everywhere, both to save money and get in some great conditioning this summer.  I quickly became a huge fan of biking as a form of transportation.  If you were to do a cost/benefits analysis of this, there are basically no costs.  There are no cons here.

            First off, biking is fantastic exercise.  I am like to jog every day and began making myself do my daily biking to work and back in addition to my running.  I was pretty tired somedays, but as the summer wore on I found my body could handle more and more, more than I ever would have given myself credit for.  On my best day, I ran 5 miles and biked about 37 miles around town.  Another day, I ran 4 miles, biked about 30 miles, and worked at my physically demanding job that night.  I probably wasn’t the fastest cyclist that night as I staggered home from work, but I still did it.

            Another great thing about cycling is that it intrinsically varies your workouts.  Your destination may be far away.  It may be hilly.  It may be windy.  You never know, but no matter what it is you’re going to have to deal with it.  And you’ll be surprised how your body can come through in the clutch when you don’t have a choice.  Tired?  Hungry?  Ten miles from home?  Sorry.  If you want to get home, your body’s going to have to perform. 

            Cycling as transportation has benefits not just for you, but for your community.  Most communities are starting to develop bike lanes on the road and bike racks on their busses.  The more people start utilizing these services, the more city governments will go even further, and truly bike-friendly cities would be an awesome thing.  More people would probably jump on the bandwagon when they saw how safe and easy it is.  More cyclists equals less cars on the road.  Less cars on the road means less car exhaust.  Less cars on the road means less money spent putting gas in the tanks (I have bought gas maybe 5 times this summer, and have gone for over 40 days at a time without putting gas in my car).  Less cars on the road means less wear and tear on the road, slowing down the frequency of roadwork and perhaps one day decreasing taxes.  Less miles on your car means less wear and tear on your, fewer oil changes, and no money spent on parking, which adds up to more money for other things.

            You don’t have to be a cycling expert or a contender for the Tour de France to get started with this.  A decent bike with a comfortable seat, and a backpack or some saddlebags is pretty much all you need to get going if you plan on going to work or running errands.  A good cycling store or someone who can help you change flats is helpful too.  The best pieces of advice I can give you for biking in traffic are:

            -Make eye contact with drivers to ensure they see you, especially when making left turns or coming out of driveways or sidestreets.  Does it feel weird to stare people down all the time?  Yes.  Do I care?  No.  I’d rather been weird than dead, and I’ll probably never see these people again anyway so who cares?

            -Do not wear headphones while biking in traffic.

            -Do not wear headphones while biking in traffic.

            -Do not wear headphones while biking in traffic.  Deafening yourself to the traffic around you is pretty much the dumbest thing you can do.  I usually listening to music when I go running or lifting too, but I’m not in traffic.  Trust me, you are much less protected than people in cars and you need to hear what’s going on around you.

            -Invest in blinking electric lights you can mount on the front and back of your bike for riding at night.  That one red reflector on the back of your bike is not enough.  I used to think these were stupid and then one night last summer I was driving around and I saw some people biking without lights and I absolutely could not believe how hard it was to see them.  I went out and bought some immediately.

            So get to it!  I became a fan immediately and am already a little sad that cycling season is coming to a close.  Wisconsin winters are not kind to those of us that like to travel on two tires, but I already have big plans for some fun bike trips for next summer.

~JK

I read somewhere a while ago that the concept of a “gym” was a relatively new invention, that people’s lives had become so sedentary only in the last 60 years or so that people had to start intentionally wearing themselves out to get some exercise.  The concept would have seemed completely ridiculous to our ancestors a few generations ago.  Who would want to go do stuff to make yourself more tired than you already were just from getting through the day?  That concept interested me; the idea of a lifestyle where a gym wasn’t necessary.

            Then, more recently, I won a gift certificate for a week of free group training at a local gym.  Everyone there was in great shape, but the whole experience struck me as insanely synthetic.  I felt so, so ridiculous driving to the place where I was going to work out, when I knew that I could have biked the round-trip distance in and of itself and saved myself the workout (and the gas money).  We worked out with equipment I had never even heard of before, mostly inside.  We listened to pulsating techno beats as we did so.  The other people crowded around the smoothie bar when the workout was done to drink expensive protein shakes and ask questions like, “What kind of zinc supplement do you take?” and “How many grams of protein are in a chicken breast?”  Part of me just wanted to snap, “Oh for heaven’s sake.  Just eat some peanut butter and ride your bike to work and you’ll be fine.”

            Now, I don’t mean to knock gyms and group workouts.  Anything that gets people up and running is okay by me.  I was a huge gym rat in college and still set aside time every day to go running, in addition to playing hockey.  But I dislike the idea of setting aside one hour a day to be active and spending the rest of my day just sitting.  So this summer I decided to make some lifestyle changes and try to sort of “live” actively.

            My biggest change was biking everywhere.  I did it last summer, but not nearly as intensely as I did this summer.  I found that my body could handle a lot more than I had been giving it credit for.  I found myself doing a 4-mile run in the morning, biking about 30 miles just getting around town, and working at my physically demanding job, all in the same day.  And eventually I wasn’t even sore after days like that. 

            Another thing I started doing was walking everywhere I didn’t want to bike.  My most common destination is my local grocery store, which is only about 2/3 of a mile away.  I only take a backpack with me, but I go more often.  Not only is my food fresher since I buy what I need exactly when I need it, but I get a nice walk through my neighborhood every time I do it. 

            Playing a sport is a great way to be active outside of more structured workouts too.  My hockey team gives me basically an hour of sprints at least once a week, not to mention the satisfaction of achievement and how awesome it is to have a whole team of built-in friends.

            In conclusion, don’t be afraid to think outside the box, or push yourself to do things that seem too hard.  Showing up at work all sweaty isn’t as big a deal as you think it is.  Being physically active throughout the day (i.e. a bike ride to work in the morning and again in the afternoon, or a walk in the evening) contributes to a better mood, an easily-maintained waistline, and a healthy suntan on your face.        

~JK

I have fallen off the workout wagon yet again. Nothing for it but to pick my somewhat heavier self back up and start running to see if I can’t catch back up.  I was busy, I didn’t have the time, I was stressed, I was…making excuses again. A little time spent sweating seems to make everything else a little easier. This I know, but when things get hairy I conveniently forget it every time. And so I find myself crawling out of the stress pit again. Not as easily accomplished when you haven’t been working out. It’s funny how every time, I swear to myself that this time I’ll remember, I’ll make the time, I’ll brook no excuses for slacking off. Riiight. Coming out of the gate, that’s easy to promise. It’s all in the follow through, though. Or maybe it’s in each fresh beginning. I like that idea better. Picking yourself up and starting anew takes some real sweat, physical and metaphorical. I’m always struck by how much of my workout is a mind game. I suspect that I’m not alone in this. To new beginnings for all of us on the road to lifelong physical fitness…    ~DG

With the luxury of a few days off work just as summer crept into fall, I considered my options.  Somewhere warm?  Someplace mountainous? With beaches? A city? Somewhere I could practice the Spanish I’ve been trying to learn?  Schemes various and sundry swirled.  After some debate, I decided to have a look at our most visited national park.  Never having been there, it struck me as about time I saw the Smoky Mountains for myself.  I loaded up the car and sped off through the night with my dogs hanging merrily out the windows.

12 hours later, we rolled into Great Smoky Mountains National Park just as the sun was rising.

The Appalachian Trail snakes through the mountains on it’s way through 2175 scenic miles from Georgia to Maine.  I’ve read Bill Bryson’s uber popular “A Walk in the Woods”.  Wildly entertaining, there was no part of it that made me want to attempt to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. While I don’t see myself as having the wherewithal to spend 5-7 months trudging, plodding, and lugging my gear every step of the way over rocks, up hills, down gulches, and through the little settlements of Appalachia, the idea of putting foot to trail in one small spot or another did appeal to me.  So off we went.  I studied the maps and found a segment of the famous A.T. that crossed through the park.

It turned out to be every bit as beautiful as I thought it would be.  Truth be told, maybe even lovelier.  There were ferns everywhere and moss of unbelievable variety.  Tropical looking plants alternated with others that looked hardy enough to withstand a major Arctic blast.  I thought wryly that neither should be a surprise considering the climate in them thar parts.  The surprise was in the silence encountered just a few hundred yards into the trail.  While the whole world whizzed by on the road, in cars, trucks, Jeeps, RVs, and on motorcycles, it was a rare soul indeed who seemed inclined to step off into the silent woods.  I only saw one other hiker in all the days I roamed the Smoky Mountains.

For a person confident in her abilities as a hiker (c’mon people, we’re talking about WALKING here!) these trails were something of a challenge.  Elevation was only around 5000 feet, but the ups and the downs were pretty taxing.  The dogs wore out more quickly than I’d foreseen and I nearly had to drag my poor old German Shepherd back to camp at the end of the first day.  A relative flat lander, it’s hard to train for conditions quite so variable at home and I found a few little muscles I hadn’t realized I had.  I would recommend the trails at Great Smoky Mountains National Park to anyone looking for a good workout in a beautiful atmosphere.   All in all, a very satisfying walk in the woods, indeed.       ~DG

You already read my post on the first day. Now here is an update on my experience in the first week of Boot Camp.

DAY 2:

Walking around the office I really feel it in my legs all day. They are stiff as a rock and I can barely bend at the knees. I guess this is a good thing. Definitely working the muscles a bit. Note to self: take ibuprofen before working out! Where are my concerns right now? Well, try-outs for hockey is only a day away and my whole body aches. No problem, I can get through this. Just gotta suck it up.

Day 3:

Boot camp was again a butt kicker today. We did a trial run of our mile for the upcoming fitness test. I need to consult with my co-bloggers who enjoy running, because this is definitely something I do not enjoy. We pushed our lower body to the limits. I learned a new exercise that I have a love/hate relationship with. Love it because its going to really do my abs some justice and hate it because its not an easy thing to do. The Leg Throw. Check out the YouTube Video on how to do the Leg Throw:

Day 4:

Using our weights a lot today, we worked on our upper body strength. A realization I had today was that playing hockey gives me awesome legs, but my arms are weak. We worked our arms in a couple of different directions allowing various muscles to be worked including our shoulders, upper and lower back, and our upper arm. In between reps with the weights, we jumped rope. The basis of the hour work out is really to never stop working out. While you are resting one muscle, you are working on another one.

Day 5:

Fitness Test Day. We started out with running a mile. Now, I ran cross country in high school and while running the mile today, I was asking myself how the hell I managed to run every day back when I was 15. If I wasn’t running, I was power walking. I managed to get my mile in under 12 minutes. Not something I’m proud of, but at the very least its motivation for me to work on this. My goal for the final fitness test will be to get my mile in under 10 minutes.

Some of the other areas we were tested on were how many sit-ups we could do before falling apart, push-ups and a plank hold. The plank hold is another good one for the abs.

Well, the first week is done. I’m exhausted, but I feel good about myself. I’ve been eating healthier and feel more motivated throughout the day. We will see what week 2 brings. ~ LH

“Why do you walk?” she asked as she passed me, another pink blur in the continuously shifting pink and white crowd.  My friend Christine answered for us both, “Because we can”.  One out of 8 American women who make it to the age of 85 can expect to do battle with this disease.  Breast cancer accounts for nearly a quarter of all cancer diagnoses and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, only preceded by lung cancer.  Neither Christine nor I have yet come face to face with this monster in our personal lives, but statistically speaking, it’s only a matter of time.  We were lucky to be out raising money for a cause that we feel is important.  For so many others walking with and around us, the stakes are already higher.  Many, many others were out walking  in the hot sun remembering their best friends.  Mourning their sisters taken too soon.  Missing their mothers.  Celebrating their own victorious struggles with cancer.  With 1800 participants, there were more stories and more reasons for walking than any one of us could have told.

With the click of a mouse, I’d signed up for this odyssey a few months ago. I’d been looking forward to walking 20 miles a day for three days in a row.  I joined a team of women, most of whom I hadn’t met yet and many of whom I wouldn’t actually meet until the event itself.  Months of fundraisers rolled on by with emails a flying and everyone raising money the best ways they knew how.  With a minimum donation of $2300 per participant, the fund raising was no joke.  Finally, the anticipated weekend arrived and we all carpooled down to the Chicago suburbs full of excitement and ready to rock! er, walk.

Day one started out just fine.  With nice enough weather, we were all in a fine mood despite our 4am wake up call.  The opening ceremonies had been inspiring and it was a lovely day to be outside.   Right up until the rain started.  At first it was no big deal.  Coupla raindrops? Not a problem.  We’re tough, we’re ready, we’re…still slogging away, hours and hours later in wet shoes and soggy socks.  I wonder how many blisters could have been saved if we hadn’t started out with half of our first 20 miles in the rain?  Somehow, morale stayed good.  These were women (and a few men, too!) with a purpose and the dour weather was not enough to stop them.  After a warm dinner, we all bunked down.  A sea of hot pink tents in a rain drenched field is an inspiring sight unto itself.

Waking up to the pitter patter of those same raindrops on the roof of our snug little tents the next morning was another story entirely.  Everyone was a bit sore, and the prospect of more trudging in the rain was not bringing many smiles.  Before long, though, moods brightened with the weather.  Girls giggled, women joked, and all was right with the world again as we took to the roads to celebrate our purpose.  The day had dawned rainy and before long, the hot sun made our trek downright steamy. The third day was hotter still, and those last miles, so beautiful along the Chicago shoreline, were also brutal with no shade to be found for literally miles.

We walked through many a municipality over those three days and felt a great sense of support from all of those communities, but Mount Prospect deserves a special shout out.  The cops all wore pink shirts as they stopped traffic for us. Wherever we went, we had a crossing guard in pink chaps and a paramedic dancing outside the window of his ambulance to the music he played.  Little girls waited with pink lemonade at the ends of their driveways, boy scouts plied us with candy, and dogs in pink feather boas were a constant testament to how much the community cared about this cause.  People cheered wherever we went and even those who couldn’t stand outside to yell for us left coolers of water and sprinklers over the sidewalk to help the walkers finish what they’d started.  What an amazing outpouring of support!  The walk culminated with a triumphant march past Lollapalooza and the museums and right into Soldier Field.

At the closing ceremony, they told us that our event alone had raised more than $5 million for breast cancer research through the Susan G Komen Foundation.  What a triumph, especially when you consider that the Chicago walk was only one of many, and that across the country, the work continues week after week and year after year!  If you’d like to help next year, there are opportunities for volunteers as well as walkers.  Thanks to all who supported my walk, either through donations, volunteering, or actually coming out and doing it with me.  We’ve all done one more thing we can be proud of in the fight to end breast cancer. ~DG

It’s only been 5 hours since I finished my first day at Boot Camp. My legs hurt, my arms hurt and my gut hurts. To make matters worse, I did not push myself as hard as some of the other campers did. Feeling a little blah this morning, after getting up at 4:30am – something I normally only do if I’m about to jump on a plane to head to the Caribbean – I was taking the easy path and not using the weights for all aspects of the training.

The group of ladies was diverse, yet we all had something in common – getting our belly’s to disappear by waking up at the crack of dawn to workout by the lakefront. Although I wasn’t feeling 100%, I did enjoy myself. And as much as I am aching and tired today, tomorrow will be even better.

If your not familiar with this program, its comprised of 4 weeks, Monday through Friday, of an hour long kick in the butt to get yourself in gear. Not being a morning person was the only reason for hesitation on my end. After I started walking around this morning, I was able to get in my car, drive in the dark to the park and start jogging, running, lifting, squatting, pushing, etc. Day 1: Not the best for me, but that’s what the first go round is usually going to be like. Especially after I spent most of Saturday at the State Fair eating fried food. What am I supposed to think would happen when I push myself to the limit on Monday A.M.?

I’ll keep ya’ll in the loop with the upcoming weeks. ~LH

A friend of mine has been after me for years to do this fun run.  Starting at 9:00pm, you run 5k through the night city, winding up at Bastille Days, the city’s celebration of all things French.  One thing or another (heck, sometimes one thing AND another simultaneously) conspired to keep me away until this year.  I almost didn’t believe it when nothing momentous popped up to stop me.  With wary surprise, I laced up my shoes and wandered down to Milwaukee’s fashionable East Side not too long before nightfall.

I met up with a couple of my friends.  And a couple of their friends.  And a couple of the friend’s friends too, I think.  The crush of people at the starting line was something else, though I do have to give credit where credit is due: Milwaukeeans are a very friendly crowd!  I never heard the starting gun, if there was one.  The crowd shuffled forward a bit, then began to walk, and finally started a slow jog as the pack began to break up.  My more athletic buddy bounded along gamely with me for the first mile or two before starting to get all motivated on me.

“What do you say we pick up the pace a little?” he volunteered.

“Nope.”  I was steadfast.  I have a pace.  I’m a one speed kinda gal.  I can go forever if you don’t mess with my pace.  Change it?  I don’t think so.

“A little?” he tried again.

“Uh, uh.”

“Don’t you want to stretch your stride a bit?” he wheedled patiently.  I did not.  I allowed him to go boinging off into the sunset without me.  My other friend kept a more conservative pace than I and I’d lost track of her early in the game, so I arrived at the finish line all by my lonesome, which was just fine by me.  After the longer distance training I’d been so focused on this year, the 5K had flown by.   I was just warming up when it was over.  Hmm.  Maybe it’s time to try out a new pace after all. ~DG

Storm the Bastille, Milwaukee 2009

Our route: Wauwatosa to Oak Creek

After much hesitation, I stuck to my guns and had my awesome husband drop me off at my friends house across town. We jumped on our bikes and took the ride. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. According to MapMyRide.com, our adventure was 18.12 miles.

We started in Wauwatosa near 76th and North Ave. Headed towards Miller Park to jump on the Hank Aaron Bike Trail which starts near Miller Park and takes you through the Menomonee Valley into downtown. There was some slight confusion initially as the signage for the Hank Aaron Bike Trail gets a little blurry near the Palermo’s plant, but we managed to figure it out. Once we approached downtown, we decided to deviate from the trail and start heading south through the lovely streets of Bay View and into Cudahy and St. Francis heading to our final destination in Oak Creek.

We approached many hills that had the added challenge of the wind in our face. But once your up a hill, its downhill time with lots of speed to keep you enthusiastic. The total ride took 2 hours as we kept a slow and steady pace.

Overall, this ride was not that bad. It was a great day, we started early and the adventure was fun and peaceful. I’ve got a new passion for bike riding and I can’t wait for my next journey. I’m hoping the next ride will be with my husband. Not sure what path we will take, but I hope its a long peaceful one! ~LH

I usually go it alone.  I tend to be the solitary sort, I suppose.  Sometimes it’s just that I’ve gotten used to doing what I wanna do even if nobody else seems inclined to come along for the ride.  Just as often, it’s that I’d prefer not to have an audience and the implied judgement that sometimes comes with it while I work things out at my own pace, whatever that may be.  I’m happy sweating by myself.  I do some of my best thinking with my blood pumping hard and when the freedom exists to change my plan on  a whim.  I relish this private time and see it for the treasure it is.  I usually run alone. I usually bike alone. And so it’s with great surprise that I’m just beginning to discover that maybe, just maybe, a little company might not be a bad thing every once in a while.

The half marathon was a transformative experience that way.  Far from being a nuisance, the crush of runners was invigorating.  Rather than provoking me to irritation, the cheering crowds encouraged me.  Surprise of surprises, I actually LIKED running with other folks around!  I still haven’t been able to bring myself to train with other runners, though, not yet.  One step at a time, pardon the pun.  Except, of course for the Hash House Harriers, but they’re a very special case indeed.  I’ll run with ‘em, but I’m not too sure the word “training” can be properly be applied to that scene…

And now, all in the same summer, I come to find out that I kinda like biking with company, too.  Who knew?  My friend had gotten a mountain bike last year but hadn’t yet gotten much use from it.  I spent last summer biking an obscene amount and while I’d loved it, I’d be lying if I didn’t confess to having been a bit burned out on it, too, before all was said and done.  Miles and miles and miles and miles, just me and my podcasts and the roads and the wind… Anyway, my friend and I play hockey together on a team where a full two lines is a good day indeed.   A little extra conditioning wasn’t going to hurt anybody.  We schemed and plotted.  A plan was hatched.  Perhaps not a great plan, or perhaps such a great plan that we wouldn’t allow ourselves to be thwarted.  However you care to cast it, our first foray into the world of biking with buddies launched us on our bicycles into the maw of an oncoming thunderstorm.  We knew the forecast, we’d seen the radar, but we soooo wanted to go that we ignored our better judgement.  Pelted by marble sized raindrops and awed by the lightning growing ever closer, we finally turned back before reaching our destination.  We raced the business end of that storm home.  Bedraggled we were, but invigorated, too.  Who doesn’t feel tough after biking through a storm?  We were hooked and a terrific little tradition was born.  Our little adventure led to a standing appointment between us for a bike ride for breakfast once a week.

I surprise myself.  With age and experience, I’m learning that I’m less a loner than I thought.  Not that I’m not a team player, but I’d always thought running and biking were different.  Companionship is an altogether different motivator for these things than I’m accustomed to, but it’s a valid one and I’m glad to have found it.  I’m glad to find new ways to love the things I already did and new people with whom to share my previously solitary pleasures.  Not that I’m giving up my solo bike rides anytime soon or inviting anybody along on my runs just yet, but this just might be the beginning of something beautiful.    ~DG