Friday

25 January 2013

Um...why???
No, I'm not itching to get a treadmill bike. I'm trying to figure out why anyone would, though... Let's take the thing that lets us walk indoors, slap wheels on it, and then we can walk outdoors! How novel!

I love my toys, but this one just baffles me.

This is how I felt I looked
Today, instead of the car or the motorcycle, I rode my bike to Starbucks. It's all a part of the whole getting into better shape; why waste the gas when I have a perfectly good bike?

I'll tell you why.

Because the road to Starbucks is uphill, both ways. In blasting wind. With snow and ice and a a sharp, sharp 35 degree grade.

Hey. Would I exaggerate?

It's only a mile and a half--or probably only a mile since I'm not on the sidewalks and not looping around the park partway--but I haven't been on it since the Great Colitis Debacle in July. I didn't feel like my heart rate was getting too high, but holy fritos, my legs were burning before I was even halfway there.

I survived. And I'll do it again.

I haven't been slamming myself trying to get into shape RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE. I figure I'll be more likely to stick with it if I ease into things. I'm not obsessive about my diet yet, though I need to be fairly soon; I've noticed that the days I don't eat a lot of processed carbs that my gut does better. I'm moving a bit more; there's a DYI 10K coming up in March benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and I'm walking it. I can walk 10K easy.

Worn at the same time; that's a huge difference
My big complaint with it is that, because it's a Nike event, you have to use a Nike device to upload your data after completing the 10K. I bought a Nike FuelBand, but it is so inaccurate I would have to walk an 18K for it to register all my steps. Seriously. I contacted Nike support, and after having me do a soft reset and then a hard reset, the answer was "Well, they're only 80% accurate. We're working on that."

Really? Why the frak wouldn't they work on that before taking peoples' money? You know, like FitBit and Body Media and a bunch of others got mostly right from the moment they launched.

Yeah, not happy. But they also allow the use of the Nike phone app, so I'll wind up using that for the 10K.

I'm only doing it for the t-shirt. If not for the t-shirt, phfft. 10K, 4K, whatever...

Really.

Fine, don't believe me...


9 comments:

Vicat said...

NIKE maybe should have worked the bugs out before actually releasing the product. How did it ever get out of beta? They should donate 20% of the profits from the entire run to your walk ;)

Books, hooks, needles, and my weightloss journey said...

Now that was interesting, I was just about to buy a Nike Fuel. I've been wanting to for a while now and had finally decided to do so, but I checked in on your blog first. :D I think I will go with FitBit instead now. It's even $50 cheaper!
Thanks Thumper!

Anonymous said...

You're doing a 10K for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society? Can we sponsor you for that one? My uncle passed away from Leukemia a few months ago. If you're looking for sponsors, count me in. If you already posted a link, I must have missed it.

Jan Scholl said...

I used to do a race every weekend. Winter, summer whatever. I wanted the tshirts (I make quilts from them). Then the races crossed the $10 mark and I cut back, then only went to the cool ones with nice t shirts. Then the races got to be $20, then $25 and the shirts got ugly. I did one race every year for 30 freaking years! I wanted to do a New Years Eve run locally and it was $40. Not in a million years! And the shirt was cat poopy. Glad I stayed home. For the right shirt, I would do an ultra. But who designs these things? And where does a town of 7000 get off charging $40 bucks to do a 5k?

ladyvyvian said...

Walking on a treadmill on wheels seems kind of pointless.

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

treadmill on wheels? How in heck does it balance! It looks heavy!

Thumper said...

This 10K just had a straight entry fee, no fundraising. I'd like to find other events, though...my mom is a lymphoma survivor, so it matters to me, too...

Anonymous said...

Okay, how about this. If you start the 10K walk, I will make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in your honor. I don't care if you manage to finish the walk. I know you always make your best effort, even though your health doesn't always cooperate. So keep us posted.

Karen Jo said...

A treadmill on wheels just seems stupid. Congratlations on your getting into shape efforts.