I am the proud owner of an MP3 player known as the Sansa Clip+. It is the 4gb size in blue and it has been a wonderful companion on my commutes, walks, and general waiting around times. I have listened to countless hours of music, podcasts and books on tape or rather audio books. It is fairly small, lightweight and has a battery that last long enough between charges not to be a hassle. I am still using the original headphones, which to me means that even though they are not perfect they don’t suck to the point I am willing to put forth the effort to find something else. They don’t shut out the roar of a jet engine on takeoff, and sometimes the wind whistles when there is a good breeze or you are riding a bike but that also lets in traffic noises that you need to hear and that is o.k. with me.
The Clip+ has a small window to navigate from (but at least it has a window) but it is all I need to get to whichever item I am trying to find. It has a simple straightforward interface which means it is very user friendly. That was very helpful for the first-timer that I was. I did not use the provided software or Windows Media Player for synching operations but instead just opened up Windows Explorer and used it like a thumb drive. I was not familiar with the other method and wasn’t ready to take the time to learn although I am sure I could figure it out now. The Explorer method of drag and drop is what I use on a daily working basis and still find it the easiest to operate.
The included FM radio works but I haven’t used it much as there are so many other things to listen to that don’t involve commercials. There is a recording function also which I have not used mainly because I got this unit for other reasons, primarily listening to books and it does that pretty well. There isn’t a bookmark function that I am aware of but it does save your place and starts up there again when you return. In all my uses I have not found a need for more than what this unit delivers…almost.
In fact I only have two things to squawk on with this little gadget in the 20 odd months I have owned it, one small and the other a bit bigger. First the small. I find myself spending too much time untangling the headphone cords. It doesn’t happen all the time (I am just noticing it more often lately) but when I want to put the thing in my pocket, unit headphones and all, I usual just kind of wrap it up and stick it in and carry on. This is fine until you pull it out to use it and find that the cords do not unfold as smoothly. It is a short cord so it doesn’t take long to unravel it but sometimes you are unplugging it to make it untangle faster. I have no idea if there is a better arrangement out there or not but 30 seconds is 30 seconds.
My only real desire that would make me want to get a different player is the ability to adjust the playback speed on the audio books and podcasts. I like to speed things up, sometimes quite a lot. This player will allow you to speed things up with a slow, normal, and fast setting but the fast setting is only about a 15% boost and it does not adjust the pitch so any voices will now have a slight chipmunk effect. The chipmunking is not bad, more annoying really, but 15% is slow on my scale. I searched long and hard for a player that could do better but found very little reference to playback speeds even from e-mailing the manufacturer. Apple has a speed adjustment on their players with a slow, normal and fast setting and they do have a pitch adjustment so that you don’t hear chipmunks. There fast setting is only 40% faster and while that is better in all respects I couldn’t justify paying 3 to 4 times as much and then being a slave to apples system. I still have some items in the Microsoft media player format.
Cost was a factor in picking the Sansa Clip+. I think I paid $40 for mine on sale. Sansa is also a good size company that deals in memory and other items so an MP3 player seemed to match their areas of expertise. And like I said, I could buy 3 of these and still be ahead of getting an Apple.
This brings me to one of the points that led me to the decision to stay on the cost effective end of the MP3 player spectrum. I have talked to several people and read many reports on line that lead me to believe that MP3 players are almost a disposable item in that many users have or have had more than one player over the years. Disposable is not my favorite term when describing something you are wanting to get lots of use out of.
So after all my fond use of a tool that has preformed fully for months without complaint, my Sansa Clip+ stopped dead cold in the middle of a podcasts playback on the way to work a couple of days ago. I was devastated and heartbroken. O.k. that is a little extreme but I was bummed.
I didn’t know why or what would make it stop like that. I had just recharged it over the weekend and knew it had a pretty full charge still. I had loaded it with some new items but kept it 500+ Mb below its capacity. I have heard that you never want to take any memory device to close to its full capacity. True with hard drives so why not small drives? No lights, no screen, no sound…so now what? Was the battery dead, shouldn’t be and as these are sealed units you couldn’t replace it even if you wanted too. Did I pick up a virus somewhere that killed my unit? The only thing I have plugged this into is an AC power adopter and my computer so I ran a full scan on the computer and found nothing.
I figured it was done, like those that I had read about, and I would need to start shopping for another one. I have had good luck with this one up until know so why not stay with Sansa unless of course I could find a new unit that had a better playback speed function. Sansa has a new Clip Zip player that other than a slightly bigger screen that has color appears to be a copy of the Clip+. I went on line to find a copy of the owner’s manual to see if it still had the playback speed function and it did. I was just about to say sign me up when I noticed mention of a reset function. Vaguely I recalled a similar function in my owner’s manual and went in search of it. Eureka a reset is done by holding down the power button for 20 seconds. I had tried that (along with all the other buttons and several combinations and groupings) but not for that long.
I went racing upstairs to find my Clip+ and try this last resort to restore functionality to my player. I pushed the power button for two seconds and lost count on my way to twenty and let go of the button to start again when the lights came back on. My player was working again. I didn’t need the whole reset. Why…I don’t know. The battery was showing a very low charge so I brought it back to the computer, plugged it in and everything appears to be working just fine. I am so glad. If you have read any of my past post you will know that it took me more than 6 months of shopping to settle on this MP3 player (and I am glad I did) but I didn’t want to be without a working MP3 player for 6 days. I understand now why those that have had them are so willing to have another or more than one, these things are great…when they are working.
I will still keep my eye out for a better audio book player but for now I am glad that I still have my Clip+. This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Showing posts with label walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walk. Show all posts
01 June 2012
21 July 2010
Hello again
I have not died (much) I have just been missing in action.
Sometimes it is far too easy to get carried away with the day to day activities of life that you lose track of time and then one day you wake up and realize how many days have passed since the last time you _____ (fill in the blank). Today it happens to be the realization of how much time has passed since my last blog entry. At other times it is the realization of how much time has passed since I last visited a relative or close friend. And sometimes it is just about remembering the last time you spent with yourself, taking it easy for a little while, calling a time out if you will to catch up on some reading, listen to some old favorites, go for a leisurely bike ride or take a relaxing stroll.
This summer has been one busy moment after another. Throw in a job change with a new system to learn and new people’s names and faces to remember, a summer cruise vacation, gardening, get togethers and a concert or two and it’s a wonder that there is much time to focus on all the other things that are happening all around us. I have almost given up trying to plan anything knowing that the minute I do there will be something else trying to plan itself in its place. Oh well, such is the busy life of the modern man.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I am still here and will add more presently. There is a lot going on in the world that frustrates the living daylights out of me and I want to be in a rational state of mind if I am to address any of it properly. That is getting harder and harder to do in this day and age, but I am willing to try.
In the mean time, look at your own days. Have you been missing out on the good things that life has to offer, things you like to enjoy and people you like to be around? Stop and take a look. If it has been awhile then maybe now is the time to call a time out and do something about it. And if you have been thinking about any particular some ones lately then by all means stop what you are doing and take the time to reach out to them. I truly believe that those thoughts of others are small but highly important doses of personal revelation and it should not go unanswered. You are needed and this is the call. Answer it when it comes and you will find a world of difference. You might even recognize the blessing when someone else reaches out to you when you need it most.
Don’t let life go by so fast that you can’t even smell the roses with the windows down. You will be missing the best parts.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Sometimes it is far too easy to get carried away with the day to day activities of life that you lose track of time and then one day you wake up and realize how many days have passed since the last time you _____ (fill in the blank). Today it happens to be the realization of how much time has passed since my last blog entry. At other times it is the realization of how much time has passed since I last visited a relative or close friend. And sometimes it is just about remembering the last time you spent with yourself, taking it easy for a little while, calling a time out if you will to catch up on some reading, listen to some old favorites, go for a leisurely bike ride or take a relaxing stroll.
This summer has been one busy moment after another. Throw in a job change with a new system to learn and new people’s names and faces to remember, a summer cruise vacation, gardening, get togethers and a concert or two and it’s a wonder that there is much time to focus on all the other things that are happening all around us. I have almost given up trying to plan anything knowing that the minute I do there will be something else trying to plan itself in its place. Oh well, such is the busy life of the modern man.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I am still here and will add more presently. There is a lot going on in the world that frustrates the living daylights out of me and I want to be in a rational state of mind if I am to address any of it properly. That is getting harder and harder to do in this day and age, but I am willing to try.
In the mean time, look at your own days. Have you been missing out on the good things that life has to offer, things you like to enjoy and people you like to be around? Stop and take a look. If it has been awhile then maybe now is the time to call a time out and do something about it. And if you have been thinking about any particular some ones lately then by all means stop what you are doing and take the time to reach out to them. I truly believe that those thoughts of others are small but highly important doses of personal revelation and it should not go unanswered. You are needed and this is the call. Answer it when it comes and you will find a world of difference. You might even recognize the blessing when someone else reaches out to you when you need it most.
Don’t let life go by so fast that you can’t even smell the roses with the windows down. You will be missing the best parts.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
28 February 2008
The Two Million (2,000,000) Step Goal. Part 3
So now I find myself in 2007. I have a better sense of what I am capable of. I have a sense of accomplishment from my previous years walking. I have had some big months and some big days to make up those big months. I know I can go on the big walks but can I do enough of them to make up a 2,000,000 step year? There is only one way to find out. Go for it.
To do 2,000,000 steps a year you have to average 5,480 steps a day. That is each and every day, not just the days you feel like walking. If you miss a day you have to walk 10,960 steps the next day just to make up for it. You can of course add 548 steps to the next ten days to make up for one missed day or 55 extra steps for the next 100 days. The point here is that you don’t want to miss any days. As I said before, averages are funny things. The longer you generate an average the harder it is to raise or lower it. Towards the end it took some really big days to make a slight increase in the overall average.
This time I was going to attack the goal from the beginning. No slow starts this time. I needed to average 166,667 steps a month. I could do that; remember I even had a 200,000+ step month. It would be tough but it could be done. The desire was there, the motivation was there and the commitment was there. I was going to do this one way or another; I would walk 2,000,000 steps in one year.
When you have a goal like this, your mindset changes. You look for excuses to add steps to your daily routine. You don’t mind that the parking spots closest to the building are taken. You walk to meetings sometimes even taking the longer route to get there. You carry an umbrella with you so that weather does not slow you down. You study your text book while walking on a favorite path. You find yourself doing figure eight laps in the kitchen while you are waiting for the microwave to finish warming up your dinner. You become one of the mall walkers. You find a way to attach the pedometer to every piece of clothing you own from suits to bike shorts. You do whatever it takes to accumulate those steps so that you can accomplish your goal.
This year, by the end of 6 months I had reached 811,014 steps, the best start so far. Again a bout of illness slowed me down but it was not going to take me out this time. This time I knew what my goal was, and I was firm on my goal. I would make it whatever it took. That determination and drive helped keep me motivated. If I had a spare moment I was walking. If I had a layover in the airport, I was pacing the terminals. If I was in a foreign city, rather than take the rental car or taxi, I was going for a walk.
At the end of 6 months I was behind and chasing my average. I was trying to make up the lost ground and that meant putting in days that had steps well over my goal average in an effort to make up for the days I had gone short. I was beginning to understand how these averages worked, and believe me they are work, and it taught me what was needed to accomplish this goal and it all boiled down to steps.
I pushed myself and set new personal records for most steps in a day and then I would set another. I set a new high month and then another. I finally topped out at 291,066 steps in August. This really helped bring me in line with where I wanted to be but I had to keep up the effort. This made it possible. This was no longer a dream or another empty promise to myself; this was mine to take or mine to give away. It was all up to me. And it was within my reach.
As winter approached and I entered my numbers into my spreadsheet, I knew it was going to be close. My averages had fallen behind again. Not by much, I was still within 100 steps of where I needed to be but making up 100 steps a day this late in the year would mean every day had to come in above average and the higher the better.
At the end of the day I would like at the pedometer and if I was short I clipped it back on and headed out for more. Sometimes I was pacing up and down in the street in front of the house, and sometimes I was just wondering around the house looking for a few extra steps. If anyone saw me, I’m sure they would think me completely insane, but I had my goal and I was going to get it.
As the end of the year came I went shopping, not so much for the presents but for the steps. I went to the local track and made laps. I drank extra water so that I could make more trips. I would walk down the hall to talk shop rather than pick up the phone. All was directed to the goal.
And then it happened. With two days left in the year I hit my target. I had done it. I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I made my goal. The final count showed I had taken 2,011,725 steps. I had traveled 1,074 miles on foot.
This is a wondrous feeling, one that I haven’t experienced for quite some time. It was just what I was looking for. This silly little goal started out as a way to see if I could still set and meet a personal goal. It became much more than that. It became an important message to me. It taught me that I could still direct my life. I could still choose to prioritize my efforts. I could still accomplish what I put my mind to, whatever that may be. I may have forgotten for a time but once again I know that I have it within me.
So what’s next? I am not sure yet. Maybe it is time to finish my pilot’s license. Maybe it is time to learn a new language. Maybe it is time to take up the piano. Maybe it is time to go after that 1,000 mile year on the bike. During the last three years I still managed 311, 457, and 155 miles. As you can see my focus was on the steps. Maybe this year my focus will be on the bike.
Whatever it is, I know that I can; and if I want to, I will.
PS. It is two months now into the new year. My daily step totals have dropped off to about 1/3 of what they were last year. That is about what they were before I started this whole experiment. One thing that may be making a difference is that the battery went dead last November just before the completion of my goal. Bad timing, right? I have replaced it a couple of times and just went to the watch department and asked for a new one. I think it might have been a little big because even though it works it has reset on me in the middle of the day and once at the end of the day as I was taking it off. Frustrating, especially when you are counting steps. Anyway, I suspect that it is not counting every step anymore.
I have kept most of my new good habits like parking farther out and walking in, or walking to make visits whenever possible. Those kinds of things have stayed with me and I hope they always will. I am not however, as obsessed with making steps so I don’t have the pedometer on me every minute of the day. I also don’t bother to go out of my way to add steps at the end of the day anymore.
I guess the real difference is that for the last three years I had a very specific goal with a time frame that was stated, written down and committed to. I do not have that this year. That is another lesson to be taken away from all this. And I am still glad I did it.
return to part 1 or part 2.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
To do 2,000,000 steps a year you have to average 5,480 steps a day. That is each and every day, not just the days you feel like walking. If you miss a day you have to walk 10,960 steps the next day just to make up for it. You can of course add 548 steps to the next ten days to make up for one missed day or 55 extra steps for the next 100 days. The point here is that you don’t want to miss any days. As I said before, averages are funny things. The longer you generate an average the harder it is to raise or lower it. Towards the end it took some really big days to make a slight increase in the overall average.
This time I was going to attack the goal from the beginning. No slow starts this time. I needed to average 166,667 steps a month. I could do that; remember I even had a 200,000+ step month. It would be tough but it could be done. The desire was there, the motivation was there and the commitment was there. I was going to do this one way or another; I would walk 2,000,000 steps in one year.
When you have a goal like this, your mindset changes. You look for excuses to add steps to your daily routine. You don’t mind that the parking spots closest to the building are taken. You walk to meetings sometimes even taking the longer route to get there. You carry an umbrella with you so that weather does not slow you down. You study your text book while walking on a favorite path. You find yourself doing figure eight laps in the kitchen while you are waiting for the microwave to finish warming up your dinner. You become one of the mall walkers. You find a way to attach the pedometer to every piece of clothing you own from suits to bike shorts. You do whatever it takes to accumulate those steps so that you can accomplish your goal.
This year, by the end of 6 months I had reached 811,014 steps, the best start so far. Again a bout of illness slowed me down but it was not going to take me out this time. This time I knew what my goal was, and I was firm on my goal. I would make it whatever it took. That determination and drive helped keep me motivated. If I had a spare moment I was walking. If I had a layover in the airport, I was pacing the terminals. If I was in a foreign city, rather than take the rental car or taxi, I was going for a walk.
At the end of 6 months I was behind and chasing my average. I was trying to make up the lost ground and that meant putting in days that had steps well over my goal average in an effort to make up for the days I had gone short. I was beginning to understand how these averages worked, and believe me they are work, and it taught me what was needed to accomplish this goal and it all boiled down to steps.
I pushed myself and set new personal records for most steps in a day and then I would set another. I set a new high month and then another. I finally topped out at 291,066 steps in August. This really helped bring me in line with where I wanted to be but I had to keep up the effort. This made it possible. This was no longer a dream or another empty promise to myself; this was mine to take or mine to give away. It was all up to me. And it was within my reach.
As winter approached and I entered my numbers into my spreadsheet, I knew it was going to be close. My averages had fallen behind again. Not by much, I was still within 100 steps of where I needed to be but making up 100 steps a day this late in the year would mean every day had to come in above average and the higher the better.
At the end of the day I would like at the pedometer and if I was short I clipped it back on and headed out for more. Sometimes I was pacing up and down in the street in front of the house, and sometimes I was just wondering around the house looking for a few extra steps. If anyone saw me, I’m sure they would think me completely insane, but I had my goal and I was going to get it.
As the end of the year came I went shopping, not so much for the presents but for the steps. I went to the local track and made laps. I drank extra water so that I could make more trips. I would walk down the hall to talk shop rather than pick up the phone. All was directed to the goal.
And then it happened. With two days left in the year I hit my target. I had done it. I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I made my goal. The final count showed I had taken 2,011,725 steps. I had traveled 1,074 miles on foot.
This is a wondrous feeling, one that I haven’t experienced for quite some time. It was just what I was looking for. This silly little goal started out as a way to see if I could still set and meet a personal goal. It became much more than that. It became an important message to me. It taught me that I could still direct my life. I could still choose to prioritize my efforts. I could still accomplish what I put my mind to, whatever that may be. I may have forgotten for a time but once again I know that I have it within me.
So what’s next? I am not sure yet. Maybe it is time to finish my pilot’s license. Maybe it is time to learn a new language. Maybe it is time to take up the piano. Maybe it is time to go after that 1,000 mile year on the bike. During the last three years I still managed 311, 457, and 155 miles. As you can see my focus was on the steps. Maybe this year my focus will be on the bike.
Whatever it is, I know that I can; and if I want to, I will.
PS. It is two months now into the new year. My daily step totals have dropped off to about 1/3 of what they were last year. That is about what they were before I started this whole experiment. One thing that may be making a difference is that the battery went dead last November just before the completion of my goal. Bad timing, right? I have replaced it a couple of times and just went to the watch department and asked for a new one. I think it might have been a little big because even though it works it has reset on me in the middle of the day and once at the end of the day as I was taking it off. Frustrating, especially when you are counting steps. Anyway, I suspect that it is not counting every step anymore.
I have kept most of my new good habits like parking farther out and walking in, or walking to make visits whenever possible. Those kinds of things have stayed with me and I hope they always will. I am not however, as obsessed with making steps so I don’t have the pedometer on me every minute of the day. I also don’t bother to go out of my way to add steps at the end of the day anymore.
I guess the real difference is that for the last three years I had a very specific goal with a time frame that was stated, written down and committed to. I do not have that this year. That is another lesson to be taken away from all this. And I am still glad I did it.
return to part 1 or part 2.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
The Two Million (2,000,000) Step Goal. Part 2
Once I was committed, I was determined to go through with it what ever the results. I kept a daily log in my day planner recording both the distance and the number of steps taken each and every day. I wore that pedometer everywhere.
Problem was that everywhere didn’t take me very far that first month. I only recorded 27,122 steps in January of 2005. The next month was better but not by much with 53,857 steps taken, and by March I had dropped back down to 50,231. Of course I could blame this all the lousy winter weather that limited the amount of walking space available not to mention how early it gets dark. I would surely do better when spring and summer came around.
By the end of June I totaled all my steps for the year so far and had a whopping total of 312,811 steps. This was half way through the year so I should have been up to 600,000 by now. I had been sick in June and only managed 9,537 steps but this was no excuse. If I really meant to accomplish this goal, and it was for no one else but me, then I was going to have to change my ways and dedicate more of an effort to doing what I set out to do.
In July I reversed my trend and scored a 155,677 step month. This was followed up with a 170,242 month in August. This was one of those ah-ha moments. I could do this if I wanted it enough, and after all wasn’t this what it was all about.
I pressed on with a renewed sense of the possible and at the end of the year the tally stood at 1,215,583. I had managed my first accomplished goal. It felt good but it also seemed to be less than what was possible. After all hadn’t I just covered over 900,000 steps in the last 6 months alone? Why if I could do that pace for 6 months, why not the whole year. 2006 would be the year to go for 1,800,000 steps.
That was an ambitious goal I know. Those last 6 months did take some effort and this would extend that effort for a full 12 months right on the back of the 6 months I had just completed. Could it be done? There was only one way to find out. Go for it.
And I did initially but this was a struggle. Some months were well below the goal. For a 1.8 million step year you need to average 150,000 steps a month. At the end of 6 months I had yet to have a 150,000 step month. It was not looking good. I decided to revise my plan to 1.5 million steps for the year. It was my plan and my goal and I could do what I wanted. This was not a complete submission. At the end of 6 months I only had 585,388 steps meaning I still had a long way to go for 1,500,000.
Again I had to step up to the plate. I had to recommit myself to attaining my goal. I had to decide if this was something that I still wanted. I decided that it was and with renewed energy I went for it.
The next 6 months saw me increase my average and even hit a new personal record of 201,772 steps in one month. The funny thing about averages is that the longer you are working on one the higher the number has to be to change the overall average. Even though I had some big numbers, they didn’t change the overall average as much as I had hoped, but they did contribute to the bottom line. And that is what I was after.
By the end of the year I had made 1,545,278. It wasn’t what I had started out for but it was what I was going after at the end. I had accomplished my goal but the questions lingered. What was I capable of? Did I have one more year of this in me? And if so, what would be the new goal? Could I pull off a truly big goal?
go to part 3. or go back to part 1.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Problem was that everywhere didn’t take me very far that first month. I only recorded 27,122 steps in January of 2005. The next month was better but not by much with 53,857 steps taken, and by March I had dropped back down to 50,231. Of course I could blame this all the lousy winter weather that limited the amount of walking space available not to mention how early it gets dark. I would surely do better when spring and summer came around.
By the end of June I totaled all my steps for the year so far and had a whopping total of 312,811 steps. This was half way through the year so I should have been up to 600,000 by now. I had been sick in June and only managed 9,537 steps but this was no excuse. If I really meant to accomplish this goal, and it was for no one else but me, then I was going to have to change my ways and dedicate more of an effort to doing what I set out to do.
In July I reversed my trend and scored a 155,677 step month. This was followed up with a 170,242 month in August. This was one of those ah-ha moments. I could do this if I wanted it enough, and after all wasn’t this what it was all about.
I pressed on with a renewed sense of the possible and at the end of the year the tally stood at 1,215,583. I had managed my first accomplished goal. It felt good but it also seemed to be less than what was possible. After all hadn’t I just covered over 900,000 steps in the last 6 months alone? Why if I could do that pace for 6 months, why not the whole year. 2006 would be the year to go for 1,800,000 steps.
That was an ambitious goal I know. Those last 6 months did take some effort and this would extend that effort for a full 12 months right on the back of the 6 months I had just completed. Could it be done? There was only one way to find out. Go for it.
And I did initially but this was a struggle. Some months were well below the goal. For a 1.8 million step year you need to average 150,000 steps a month. At the end of 6 months I had yet to have a 150,000 step month. It was not looking good. I decided to revise my plan to 1.5 million steps for the year. It was my plan and my goal and I could do what I wanted. This was not a complete submission. At the end of 6 months I only had 585,388 steps meaning I still had a long way to go for 1,500,000.
Again I had to step up to the plate. I had to recommit myself to attaining my goal. I had to decide if this was something that I still wanted. I decided that it was and with renewed energy I went for it.
The next 6 months saw me increase my average and even hit a new personal record of 201,772 steps in one month. The funny thing about averages is that the longer you are working on one the higher the number has to be to change the overall average. Even though I had some big numbers, they didn’t change the overall average as much as I had hoped, but they did contribute to the bottom line. And that is what I was after.
By the end of the year I had made 1,545,278. It wasn’t what I had started out for but it was what I was going after at the end. I had accomplished my goal but the questions lingered. What was I capable of? Did I have one more year of this in me? And if so, what would be the new goal? Could I pull off a truly big goal?
go to part 3. or go back to part 1.
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
The Two Million (2,000,000) Step Goal. Part 1
It started out with me feeling like I was in a rut. I didn’t seem to be getting very far in life, my job stunk, and many of my aspirations and dreams were stuck on the side of the road. I had all the makings for the perfect pity party lined up and ready to go. I didn’t need another one of those again. I knew that I needed to do something, anything really to shake myself up even if it was just a little and put myself in motion. I needed a goal.
Since my fear of missing out on so many dreams was staring me in the face, I did not want a goal that was so big it would not get done. I needed something small enough that I could tackle yet big enough to give a real sense of accomplishment. It had to be something I could accomplish. That was the whole point at this stage. I needed a mark in the win column.
I had already tried to reach a 1,000 mile biking year and I enjoyed biking but again the rut thing raised its head. I could only seem to average about 600 miles a year and lately my average had been dropping. A lot of variables can come into play with biking such as weather, daylight, time available, not to mention desire that ebbs and tides. It takes an effort to get suited up to ride and it takes time to make a ride big enough to feel like you went somewhere. So even if I still had my yearly goal of getting in a 1,000 mile year I needed something to go along with it, just in case.
This goal needed to be something that could be done more often and was slightly more in my control. It had to be something that would be self motivating and yet small efforts would still pay dividends.
About this time there was talk of the 10,000 step exercise program. The idea is simple enough. Walk 10,000 steps a day and you would lose weight and become healthy or at least healthier. Since I am a numbers guy and a slight tech geek I have had an interest in pedometers. I had never gotten one though. So one day while in the local Wal-Mart I happened to notice a simple pedometer for under $4. My price point was met. My interest was piqued; I mean how do those things work anyway? I went ahead and bought myself a new play toy.
So now I had my toy. The first thing to do with it is learn how to use it. Set up is usually the toughest step. Figure out the average length of your stride and not only will the pedometer count your steps it will calculate how far you have traveled. This takes some effort. Finding out your average stride is a little like thinking about which step you take when you go bowling. If you are thinking about it, your whole rhythm is thrown off and you look like a total spaz. I tried to measure the sidewalk and see how many steps I took for a given distance. I got a different count almost every time. It all depended on my mood, speed, arm swing, phase of the moon, temperature, altitude, wind velocity and how well I was avoiding breaking my mothers back by not stepping on the cracks.
I finally decide to take a walk around the block twice and compare the steps with the distance as measured by my bikes trip computer. I ended up walking around that block several times and coming up with an average of 34 inches. Being a numbers guy I knew that some steps would be longer and some steps would be shorter but I was happy with this distance and thought that it would serve me well as a representation of my average stride.
At 6’2” I have a fairly long stride and when I get walking I can really move out. For those thinking that 34 inches doesn’t seem very big or that it seems incredibly huge let me give you some other numbers with which to compare. At 34 inches it takes 1872 steps to make a mile. That means that a 10,000 step day will cover about 5 1/3 miles. I have another friend that used to do the 10,000 step program by counting all her steps during the day and then getting on a treadmill at the end of the day to make up the difference. Being somewhat smaller than me her 10,000 steps worked out to about 4 miles.
I found a web site referenced from work talking about the 10,000 step plan and one of the better pieces of advice was to wear your pedometer for a few normal days to establish a base line. This gives you a place to start from. It was not a great place. I realized that being stuck in a cubicle does not afford one many opportunities to acquire large numbers of steps. That combined with snow on the ground in winter time limited me to about 1200 steps a day. That only worked out to 36,000 steps a month. That was about 3 ½ days worth on a 10,000 step plan. I had to think about this.
I went with the idea that 100,000 steps a month was doable. That was about 3 times what I was averaging on a normal day, so this would still require some effort. 100,000 steps a month would work out to 1.2 million steps in a year, so not only would there be effort there would have to be a commitment. Since this commitment was to no one else but me, it would require self motivation and determination if I was to succeed. This was just what I was looking for. I decided to go for it.
go to part 2
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
Since my fear of missing out on so many dreams was staring me in the face, I did not want a goal that was so big it would not get done. I needed something small enough that I could tackle yet big enough to give a real sense of accomplishment. It had to be something I could accomplish. That was the whole point at this stage. I needed a mark in the win column.
I had already tried to reach a 1,000 mile biking year and I enjoyed biking but again the rut thing raised its head. I could only seem to average about 600 miles a year and lately my average had been dropping. A lot of variables can come into play with biking such as weather, daylight, time available, not to mention desire that ebbs and tides. It takes an effort to get suited up to ride and it takes time to make a ride big enough to feel like you went somewhere. So even if I still had my yearly goal of getting in a 1,000 mile year I needed something to go along with it, just in case.
This goal needed to be something that could be done more often and was slightly more in my control. It had to be something that would be self motivating and yet small efforts would still pay dividends.
About this time there was talk of the 10,000 step exercise program. The idea is simple enough. Walk 10,000 steps a day and you would lose weight and become healthy or at least healthier. Since I am a numbers guy and a slight tech geek I have had an interest in pedometers. I had never gotten one though. So one day while in the local Wal-Mart I happened to notice a simple pedometer for under $4. My price point was met. My interest was piqued; I mean how do those things work anyway? I went ahead and bought myself a new play toy.
So now I had my toy. The first thing to do with it is learn how to use it. Set up is usually the toughest step. Figure out the average length of your stride and not only will the pedometer count your steps it will calculate how far you have traveled. This takes some effort. Finding out your average stride is a little like thinking about which step you take when you go bowling. If you are thinking about it, your whole rhythm is thrown off and you look like a total spaz. I tried to measure the sidewalk and see how many steps I took for a given distance. I got a different count almost every time. It all depended on my mood, speed, arm swing, phase of the moon, temperature, altitude, wind velocity and how well I was avoiding breaking my mothers back by not stepping on the cracks.
I finally decide to take a walk around the block twice and compare the steps with the distance as measured by my bikes trip computer. I ended up walking around that block several times and coming up with an average of 34 inches. Being a numbers guy I knew that some steps would be longer and some steps would be shorter but I was happy with this distance and thought that it would serve me well as a representation of my average stride.
At 6’2” I have a fairly long stride and when I get walking I can really move out. For those thinking that 34 inches doesn’t seem very big or that it seems incredibly huge let me give you some other numbers with which to compare. At 34 inches it takes 1872 steps to make a mile. That means that a 10,000 step day will cover about 5 1/3 miles. I have another friend that used to do the 10,000 step program by counting all her steps during the day and then getting on a treadmill at the end of the day to make up the difference. Being somewhat smaller than me her 10,000 steps worked out to about 4 miles.
I found a web site referenced from work talking about the 10,000 step plan and one of the better pieces of advice was to wear your pedometer for a few normal days to establish a base line. This gives you a place to start from. It was not a great place. I realized that being stuck in a cubicle does not afford one many opportunities to acquire large numbers of steps. That combined with snow on the ground in winter time limited me to about 1200 steps a day. That only worked out to 36,000 steps a month. That was about 3 ½ days worth on a 10,000 step plan. I had to think about this.
I went with the idea that 100,000 steps a month was doable. That was about 3 times what I was averaging on a normal day, so this would still require some effort. 100,000 steps a month would work out to 1.2 million steps in a year, so not only would there be effort there would have to be a commitment. Since this commitment was to no one else but me, it would require self motivation and determination if I was to succeed. This was just what I was looking for. I decided to go for it.
go to part 2
This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.
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