As you can see, the week before (which I never got around to posting, sorry) was an awesome week. I really busted my ass. But this week was a terrible week. A lot of intense stuff at work, a sick wife and kid, down to one car, and crappy pouring rain weather all combined together to keep me from getting out and walking. I really need that walk. But I'm not going to get depressed about it. I'm just going to resolve to try harder next week. After all, if the prior six weeks prove anything, they prove that I can do this.

Next week will be better! I'm going to keep my goals where they are for one more week, then up them again. Also, from now on, the most recent post is going to include the image at the right, updated weekly.

Week of 04/24/2005
date	dow	steps	aerobic	miles
04/24/2005	Sunday	2584	0	1.06
04/25/2005	Monday	589	0	0.24
04/26/2005	Tuesday	600	0	0.25
04/27/2005	Wednesday	1992	0	0.82
04/28/2005	Thursday	6415	3768	2.63
04/29/2005	Friday	1808	0	0.74
04/30/2005	Saturday	657	0	0.27
TOTAL:		14645	3768	6.01
AVG:		2092	538	0.86

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This was a good week. As you can see I had a couple "soft days" but for the most part I hit my goals. One thing I learned about geocaching and exercise... even though I am climbing hills and walking all over the place, it registers very little aerobic steps if any (from all the stopping and restarting). That's why last Sunday I had 13 thousand steps, but I still had to do two laps around the cemetery at day's end to get any aerobic steps. Thursday and Friday were busy days for me and I couldn't get out. Can you believe it? The day they ran me on the treadmill my silly pedometer didn't record any aerobic steps! (I was wearing it at a funny angle, and it likes to be vertical.)

Saturday we went geocaching again, and one of the caches required a good flat half mile hike with no stops... so I at least picked up some aerobic steps there. When we got home I chose to scrub the winter's crud off Vanessa's wheels rather than go walking. As you can see I had plenty of regular steps that day!
 
My goals were:

1. 7500 steps per day:
   Just like last week, I hit this for 5 of the 7 days! I averaged 8953 steps per day, so overall I feel good about hitting my goals.
    
2. 4500 aerobic steps for at least 3 days:
   I hit this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (and Wednesday too AFAIC, I'm not going to quibble over 46 steps!)
    
3. Some aerobic steps every day:
   Hit every day but Friday, but I ran on a treadmill Friday morning, so I have to believe I picked up some aerobic exercise.

I've included a chart of the daily numbers so far. Looks to me like there is a general upward trend. I'm going to keep the same goals for another week before moving them up. I found the goals difficult to hit and I don't want to raise them too quickly.

Week of 04/10/2005 date dow steps aerobic miles 04/10/2005 Sunday 13621 5102 5.59 04/11/2005 Monday 9428 5195 3.87 04/12/2005 Tuesday 8249 5356 3.39 04/13/2005 Wednesday 8675 4454 3.56 04/14/2005 Thursday 4792 2851 1.97 04/15/2005 Friday 5702 0 2.34 04/16/2005 Saturday 12201 2105 5.01 TOTAL:  62668 25063 25.72 AVG:  8953 3580 3.67

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This week (while still hectic) was better than last week--I hit my goal for 5 of the 7 days, and the extra steppage from the other days more than makes up for the days I didn't hit the goal. The goal was 6000 steps per day which would be a total of 42,000 for the week. As you can see, since I exceeded 45,000 I made up for my two low days. Yipee!!

Sunday was the day after Patty's birthday celebration. We were all wasted and spent most of the day just recuperating. Thursday sucked because I had a crapload of stuff to do for work and couldn't get time to go out and do my walk... my numbers always look bad until I go walking. In fact I've gotten to the point (I think) where my body expects to go walking, and if I don't go, I feel kind of crappy.

Today I'm going to go geocaching for the first time this year... doubtless THAT will rack up steps!!

Goals for next week: 7500 steps per day, 3 days with 4500 aerobic steps, some aerobic steps every day.

Week of 04/03/2005
date	dow	steps	aerobic	miles
04/03/2005	Sunday	1194	0	0.49
04/04/2005	Monday	10009	6424	4.11
04/05/2005	Tuesday	6363	4906	2.61
04/06/2005	Wednesday	8856	4273	3.63
04/07/2005	Thursday	2156	0	0.88
04/08/2005	Friday	6302	3809	2.59
04/09/2005	Saturday	10592	4579	4.35
TOTAL:		45472	23991	18.66
AVG:		6496	3427	2.67

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This week work was very hectic as I was trying to get Friday off... we celebrated Patty's 40'th Birthday on Saturday and I thought it went pretty well, as you can see I managed 13211 on Friday and Saturday together and none of that was aerobic... all just running around preparing for the party. It was crazy but I think it came off pretty well. The best part was hanging out with Maggie and James afterward and playing Wise and Otherwise. (Remember, bread is the staff of life but pudding is teh new hawtness.)

I did try a treadmill late one night last week. After I got off I came to the conclusion that a treadmill doesn't work all the muscles that walking does. Boy did my legs feel weird. On Wednesday night I did laps around the inside of the Burlington office. The laps were 150 steps each, so I did 20 of them. More than once I got strange looks from people in cubes wondering why I was walking by every two minutes.

As you can see, I didn't hit my goal of 6000 steps a day... too busy at work to get out, but I did manage to squeeze in 3 days with 3000 aerobic steps or better. This week I'm going to try again for 6000 a day and see if I can manage 3 days with 3000 aerobic steps and some aerobic steps every day. With Pat's party behind me, this week will be better.

Week of 03/27/2005
date	dow	steps	aerobic	miles
03/27/2005	Sunday	7318	5061	3.00
03/28/2005	Monday	6711	3322	2.75
03/29/2005	Tuesday	2885	0	1.18
03/30/2005	Wednesday	5663	3405	2.32
03/31/2005	Thursday	2678	0	1.10
04/01/2005	Friday	5718	0	2.35
04/02/2005	Saturday	7493	0	3.07
TOTAL:		38466	11788	15.78
AVG:		5495	1684	2.25

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Got in some long walks this week. Check out Saturday!!! Holy Moly! Boy am I sore now.

Next week's goal will be 6000 steps a day, and at least 3 days with 3000 aerobic steps or better.

Week of 03/20/2005
date	dow	steps	aerobic	miles
03/20/2005	Sunday	5251	2948	2.15
03/21/2005	Monday	4086	1989	1.68
03/22/2005	Tuesday	7083	5303	2.91
03/23/2005	Wednesday	4689	2830	1.92
03/24/2005	Thursday	8280	4598	3.40
03/25/2005	Friday	5371	1761	2.20
03/26/2005	Saturday	13567	10624	5.57
TOTAL:		48327	30053	19.83
AVG:		6904	4293	2.83

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I didn't get the pedometer until Monday, and I didn't configure it and start using it until late Monday night. As a result the figures for Sunday and Monday are really inaccurate. Going by the last 5 days alone, my daily average is 2898 steps per day (530 aerobic), or 1.19 miles per day. Tuesday and Wednesday I made a conscious effort to walk extra steps. Thursday I was very busy and working out of the Littleton office which is a lot smaller. Friday I did a walk around a nearby cemetery and netted aerobic steps. I did that again today so that will show up on next week's table. Saturday I forgot to wear the pedometer but I was also a complete bum and did nothing beyond walking around the house. That 500 steps is a rough estimate. My goal per day for next week will be 4000 steps. I also want to register any amount of aerobic steps at least 3 days of the week (this requires at least 10 minutes of continuous walking). I know the numbers below aren't impressive, but I'm very out of shape (those little walks around the cemetery left me exhausted), and I plan to gradually to work my way up to higher and higher daily numbers.

Week of 03/13/2005
date	dow	steps	aerobic	miles
03/13/2005	Sunday	0	0	0.00
03/14/2005	Monday	129	0	0.05
03/15/2005	Tuesday	4015	0	1.65
03/16/2005	Wednesday	3561	0	1.46
03/17/2005	Thursday	2495	0	1.02
03/18/2005	Friday	3790	2649	1.56
03/19/2005	Saturday	500	0	0.21
TOTAL:		14490	2649	5.95
AVG:		2070	378	0.85

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