I have completed the MS Challenge Walk for the 6th year!

Well, I am home, resting my feet, soothing my aches and pains and taking a nap. The walk this year went well, Let me give you a brief recap.
Friday, Day 1
We gathered at Ladue High School between 7 and 8 and headed out about 8:15. The first 3/4 of the day went smoothly as we walked thru parts of University City and Olivette. We also walked thru the campus of Monsanto which was quite nice but in there I started to tighten up and the last 5 miles or so were quite slow and painful. Even after a massage and dinner, I was still walking with difficulty. On the spur of the moment, I asked for a second massage with someone who was more experienced. She was able to work out the knots and by bed time, I was once again walking with ease.
Saturday, Day 2
Day 2 started well as we walked east into the city of St. Louis and thru parts of Dogtown and The Hill. One exciting point was when we had the chance to walk thru the Missouri Botanical Gardens, a lovely place that you would normally have to pay to visit. As we approached Maplewood we could see clouds increasing and while at the rest stop at Shaffley Bottleworks, a thunderstorm hit with heavy rain and very blustery winds. We took shelter inside and fortunately, it blew over quickly and I was able to start again after 20 or 30 minutes. With about 4 miles to go, it started to rain again but it was a steady drizzle so I continued on anyway. I got fairly wet but not soaked and I felt really good about being able to complete the entire route for the day.
Sunday, Day 3
I walked the first half of day 3 fairly slowly. At a rest stop next to the History Museum in Forest Park, I decided to walk by pick up the pace. I walked the rest of the way, about 6 miles, at a really good pace, finishing strongly and with great joy.

I am so pleased to have been able complete this walk for 6 years in a row. Many thanks to everyone that have supported me, either thru their contributions or words of encouragement.

It is the day before my long walk

Part of what happened when I had a mental let down at the beginning of May is that I stopped writing my blog. I apologize. The MS Challenge Walk; “50 miles… closer to a cure…”, starts tomorrow. I have been busy during May and by necessity I have missed or cut short several workouts. This is one reason why I feel that I peaked early. I just hope that I was able to hold onto most of the conditioning that I worked so hard on in March and April and won’t have too many problems over the weekend. The weather forecast is not too promising; they call for scattered showers and thunderstorms both Friday and Saturday. Sunday appears to be OK at this point. And the temperature will be OK with highs in the mid 80s. I am going to try to find internet access during the walk so I can post something here, although I can’t promise anything. If I don’t manage to find access, then I will be able to get something up here Sunday afternoon to let you know how it went.

Music: I have listened to a lot of great music of several different genres during my training. I hope you have enjoyed the various commentaries.

Highlight: I am amazed each time that I get a new contribution. I have so many friends and family who have stepped up to support me in the fight against multiple sclerosis. These highlights have kept me going thru my efforts to get ready for this walk.

Do you want to help out? go to:
Together, we can Make a Difference

A skipped day and then a maintenance walk

After two rather strenuous workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, I decided to skip Thursday. I probably should have walked at least some just to maintain a sense of the high level of fitness that I am trying to establish. On Friday, we made plans to meet friends at a pizza place so I had limited time to get a walk in before heading out. So, I quickly jumped on and started out. The result shows that exercise is as much mental as it is physical. My mind was just not right from the start and anything that I did to make this a good effort just didn’t work. There were several factors involved but the bottom line was that this was a mental night and I just couldn’t whip up my enthusiasm to make it better. I even cut the length down from my somewhat usual 4 miles to 3 miles so we could go get pizza. In the end, it wasn’t a bad effort, I just failed to reach the level that I wanted, a reasonable but somewhat difficult point. So, this walk was a good maintenance walk; I won’t lose any fitness but I didn’t push myself either.

Music: Time-Life Classical Favorites – Orchestral Blockbusters – Disk B
Bizet: L’Arlésienne, Suite No. 1
Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Playing classical music during my walk is sometimes an iffy thing to do and it was one of the things to contributed to my iffy effort tonight. I didn’t have the volume turned up enough and the noise of the motor, the moving tread, my foot falls and my heartbeat all worked to cover the subtleties of this wonderful music. In addition, while I am familiar with the main theme in these pieces, there are long passages that I am not familiar with. I like being familiar with the music because it helps distract me from the boredom of the exercise. So, in the end, this is good music but it was not the best choice for tonight.

Highlight: Despite the somewhat low volume, the vision of walking broomsticks carrying buckets of water up and down great stone stairs was a great way to get thru the middle part of my workout tonight. I remember taking our children to see the remastered “Fantasia” in the early 80s and watching Mickey as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice attempt to control those broomsticks.

A new standard base is established

I wanted tonight to be longer rather than difficult. I decided to walk for 100 minutes (see what happens to the treadmill at 100 minutes in the log of 4/25). I still wanted to make it moderately difficult, otherwise, what’s the point? With these two points in mind, I started off and settled in within a few minutes at 3.6 mph/6% incline. I still consider this an increase from my usual steady-state moderately difficult walk of 3.5mph/5% incline. I proceeded to walk at 3.6/6% for the entire walk, so I guess I must consider that to be my new standard. I finished well, not totally whipped out like last night, but comfortably tired and I recovered easily. I continue to be amazed at the progress that I am making. My schedule gets busy for the rest of the month and I am not sure I can keep the pace up of walking 5 or 6 nights a week. This base that I have established is of great value in giving me confidence that I will walk 50 miles even if my schedule slows me down in the next several weeks.

Music: I played the first MS Challenge Walk music mix. I know this CD so well that it keeps me company, something I really wanted since tonight’s walk was longer than most of my treadmill walks.

Highlight: Somewhere in the middle, I just smiled. I was walking comfortably, at a good strong intensity and I knew I was going to be able to finish well.

It was a dark and stormy night

After several beautiful days, storms popped up this afternoon and rumbled on and off throughout the evening while I was on the treadmill. I was pleased with my recovery walks of the past two days but now I want to build my building blocks again and I wasn’t sure how it would go. So, off I went and tried to push it a bit with hopes that I could push it even further as I went on. About 12 minutes in, I got a phone call and talked to someone for about 4 or 5 minutes. It was an interesting experience and somewhat more difficult than I expected as I rattled off figures and information while breathing somewhat hard. My caller was understanding for which I was very grateful since it was something that I have been trying to get done. When the phone call was done, I continued on and then made what has become a common decision. To make this a good workout, I had to push myself further. So, in the usual fashion, up went the incline and although it became a rather strenuous workout, I didn’t back down, I pushed it all the way back up to 10%, this time for a full 2 minutes before backing down in steps. I pretty much hung on the rest of the way, glad that I had pushed it but wanting it to end. It turned out to be one of the most intense workouts (based on calories per minute) for several years.

Music: Several years ago, my wife and I attended a concert at Powell Symphony Hall of the Kodo Drummers from Japan. Kodo uses very large drums and beats out a rhythm that was just incredible. We sat right in the middle of the front section and we could feel the rush of the percussion roll over us as they beat on those drums. Tonight I played their CD. It was not the best for walking. The beat is too fast to synchronize with walking and I don’t play the CD enough to be familiar with the tracks. Still, it was fun to listen to and it did push me onward at some points.

Highlight: It’s been quite a while when a workout was so hard that I was grateful for the end. Tonight’s highlight was finally watching the clock hit 70 minutes where I could stop and let the numbers tell the (good) story.

A strong recovery walk

My calves were still sore on Monday night and I wasn't quite sure how much effort or distance to attempt for my workout. So, I just got on the treadmill and started walking. I didn't push the intensity but I didn't back off either, I wanted to give the workout every chance to be a good one. It took a while for me to realize that I actually felt pretty good; I could still feel soreness in my calves but I was walking strongly. So, I pushed the intensity up, eventually settling on a pace of 3.6mph/6% incline. And I kept it there for 24 minutes, giving me a workout that was fairly intense considering how soon after it came my long distance walk on Saturday. I finished with 4 miles and I feel better now. I think I have started a new buildling block, only time will tell how big it is and how well I will maintain it.

Music: Ladysmith Black Mambazo. This is the group that sang with Paul Simon on his CD "Graceland". They are Zulu men who sing wonderful a cappella music from South Africa. It has wonderful rhthyms that make it nice to listen to while walking.

Sunday - a short recovery walk

Sunday morning I did some analysis of my long walk on Saturday. Much to my amazement, I realized that I walked the last 3 miles at a pace of 15 minutes a mile, a pace that just astonishes me. I never walk that fast, let alone after 13+ miles. No wonder my calfs felt sore on Sunday. I needed to walk some to ease the soreness so I did an easy 2 miles on the treadmill, unwilling to test myself with intensity, instead just happy to work out some of the knots and soreness in my muscles.

Music: I listened to the last half of the Judy Collins CD that I started on Thursday. There are great tracks on this half, not only wonderful music but wonderful lyrics so that together they paint a picture that is so uplifting to listen to.