Worlking - Day 3

If you've ever doubted the effectiveness of walking as a form of exercise, I'm here to tell you that it works. That is to say, if you do a lot of it you will hurt in that good I've-been-working-out kind of way.

I can't say I'm that surprised. I've always known that walking was a good form of exercise, but it's such a low-intensity workout that I've always felt it would be difficult to do enough of it to make a difference. Until now, that is. I probably won't know for a few months just how effective it is, but so far it seems like 8 hours/day will make a difference.

The biggest hurdle I have to deal with so far is sore feet. I have orthopedic inserts that I got from a chiropractor that were custom made for me, and I think they're helping, but they're also making my arches sore. I'm not sure if that's a result of not having worn them much in the last year and then doing this. If the pain continues after a couple of weeks I'm going to have to figure something else out. I wanted to go to the Good Feet store and get some custom made walking shoes, but someone told me they cost something around $400... I haven't verified this for myself, of course, and I still think I'll price them to be sure, but I'm not all that hopeful, honestly. If that doesn't pan out then I think I'll find just a really good pair of walking shoes. I'll have to do some research on that front to determine a brand.

Other than my feet, muscles in my hips are probably the second sorest place, and that's not even bad. Once I start walking most of the pain goes away after I get warmed up. The worst part is when I've stopped for a while and start to stiffen up a bit. I stood in the warm water of this morning's shower for a bit, just letting it relax my leg muscles.

As of now, I've had no thoughts of quitting. I have, however, had to psych myself up a bit more than I hoped, but that's to be expected - I am working out, after all. After a few weeks I might be in good enough shape to where I can do it without thinking much about it, good or bad, and that's what I'm keeping in mind as motivation right now. This is a marathon, not a sprint (a phrase you might have heard ad nauseum during the final few weeks of the baseball regular season) and I need to treat it as such. As such, in honor of the Chicago marathon, I will start keeping the room at a steamy 87 degrees with 80% humidity. Also, no water.