Going the distance

 A week ago I received this Garmin Vivosmart 5, fitness tracker. Unlike FitBit, you don't have to pay them a fee to keep track of things. This was on sale and I thought I'd give it a try to see just how active I really might be in my everyday life.

The nice thing about it is that I don't have to always remember to start and stop the walking or stepping part every time I am going to go do something. Before, I was using a MapMyWalk app on the phone. I had to start and stop it to track my hikes or walks that I planned out.

According to my MapMyWalk results, I've walked 143 miles through the 16th of June for this year. These were planned walks when I remembered to put my smart phone in my pocket and turn the app on when I was doing a 'walk' or 'hike'. 

This did not add in my daily routines of fence checking, chores, and other things I did. Just planned 'events'.

My son had given me his old Garmin watch in April to try out and I didn't get along with it and perhaps my non tech savvy was part of the issue.

I was curious, but not obsessed by how or what I do. 

I was pretty surprised by the distance I walked since the 19th. This includes my daily routines. 55 miles. Funny, I never thought that all of my movement around the farm and then doing simple things like changing gates or catching the gals for grooming would amount up like that.

I enjoy walking. I'd say most of my walking is meandering. But with the steep hills on our farm a walk is a bit more than just a meander...below is a screen grab of yesterday afternoon's walk. I was checking to see if any more trees fell down along the creek.

The blue color indicates 'low' land and the orange shows it getting to be an incline and the red is even steeper. 

Now I can tell why my 'walks' just to check fencing could be a workout in itself. I've done it for so many years it is just a routine now. 

I sometimes can just tromp up the hill and other times, I stop to catch my breath.

What does this all mean?

Oh not that much. I do a LOT of walking and I can do a lot of that while the other half is napping and not go that far away. 

There are some interesting things to observe in 'read' out. Since I've only had the watch for 9 days, I can't say much about it. The sleep part gets me laughing. 

I'm using the watch to actually tell time and to also provide entertainment. 

The shocker of it all?

The miles that were logged included two whole days of doing nothing but chores, reading, and taking naps. Those days, the smarty pants watch buzzed me a few times to 'get moving'. I laughed and ignored it.

I too need to recharge and I take advantage of rainy days and easy meals to do that.

I'm flabbergasted. I had no idea I moved and walked so much. 

It reminds me of that joke saying....

Here I am after a cardio workout at our gym. The choices for cardio were: running - rowing - stationary bike - x country ski. Everyone got to choose their 'poison'.

Alyssa and I went for the 200m sprint x 7 with a minute rest in between each 200 meters. She is pregnant and not quite 30. I am ... ahem 38 years her senior. And we both love to run and run together.

[She is the cute one!]

We did it! Next time, I am wearing the very cool sunglasses so I can look awesome.

As long as I am able?

I'll keep going the distance.