Pia and the twenty minute mile

Last week I spent more than a few hours on a couple of different fitness websites. In particular, Women’s Weight Training and ExRx.net. Being as how I get scared easily by the idea of being an intense gym bunny, I went to the beginners section of both sites, to see what I could see.

I guess my main problem right now is my fitness level. I am incredibly unfit, I use oxygen poorly and get very red faced and sweaty very easily when I’m faced with cardio. Weight training doesn’t fuss me so much, which is why I love it. But this whole unfit thing is something I need to fix. I don’t want to run marathons, but I do want to see improvement in my general fitness, and for that to happen, I’m going to have to work at it.

I don’t mind the treadmill or the exercise bike, however, I try to avoid using the elliptical trainer because it makes me want to cry. So much hard work! Besides, I still hate jogging/running, and that’s exactly the motion that piece of equipment inspires. The only time I plan on running is if I need to get away from something, and even then, I think I’d probably try to persuade it to leave me alone, rather than have to run.

I decided to check out the aerobic conditioning stuff on ExRx.net, found the Rockport Walk Test as a means of assessing my cardiovascular fitness and then went off to the gym to go and walk out my first mile. Amusingly, I came it at 17 minutes, 45 seconds. This puts me in the poor category and suggests that I go off and do the ‘blue’ walking program. I love it when something or someone will tell me what to do – it makes it so much easier for lazy ol’ me! As an aside, I often use that handy phrase, “I can’t brain today, I have the dumb”. I’m not typing it out in lolspeak because it’ll make me feel icky inside.

That was Friday. Since then, I’ve done three days of my week one ‘blue’ walking program, one mile (1.61 km) at 3mph (4.8 kmph). I feel like I’m crawling to start with, because it’s so darn slow, so I’ve been putting the incline up between 3 and 6 to make me feel like I’m actually doing something. Sure, that’s probably not what I’m supposed to do, as it does say my heart rate should be 60% of max, and when I’m striding on an incline it tends to be around 80% of max. Still, it gets me sweating and keeps me active for 20 minutes a day, which is all I can ask for.

So twenty minutes for a mile. Roger Bannister, I ain’t.

According to this program, over the next 20 weeks I’ll increase my speed to 4 mph / 6.5 kmph (about 20% faster than my normal walking speed of 5.5 kmph) and my distance to 3 miles / 4.8 km. Holy crap – I just did the calculations on that. Instead of galumphing along for only 20 minutes as I’m doing now, this is going to take 45 minutes! At least I’ve got 20 weeks to get there. Then I can retest and get myself a new program – or just fall on a heap on the floor.

As long as I pair all this cardio with a sensible amount of weight training, I should lose fat only and not muscle. I don’t want to end up all stringy and gross. The bonus is that I can read while I walk if I’m using a treadmill. The downside is that if I don’t have a treadmill, I have no idea of what the different speeeds are supposed to feel like. I think that’s something I’ll need to learn before I leave Australia and my beloved gym. I’m sure there will be a gym that’s just as good in NZ, but I doubt that I’ll be joining up immediately, unless they offer massive discounts to new migrants.