Walking Further? Carry Less! 10/31/14 - 2131 to 2140.8 miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View Remember you bounced the push cart to Missoula from Clarkston or Lewiston? I recommend calling one of the local bicycle shops and seeing if you can send it there. Have them put on some new tires if they are starting to show wear. It's about 124 miles to the next grocery store in Helena. Plan accordingly.

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Do not be tempted to take the interstate or the frontage road near the interstate. The roads don't go all the way. It would only save 11 miles over the planned route. Besides, the planned route follows a creek much of the way. I was told by the owner of a bicycle shop the water is safe for drinking with filtering.

There aren't many services in this 124 mile stretch, but there are plenty of houses where you can stop to ask for water. Usually, I wait until I see someone outside rather than knocking on a door.  

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Walking Further? Carry Less!

Weight has to be carried or pushed

Many neophyte walkers will see an empty push cart and endeavor to fill it with things they might need. Although it is easier to push weight in a push cart than to carry it in a pack, at some point, it will become an issue. Pushing the cart is only part of the problem. Murphy's law says each time you need something, it will be under everything else.

New road walkers think in terms of comfort items they need. They fill their pack, and because it is heavy to carry, they walk maybe 5 miles to a campsite and live in comfort. This is one style of backpacking people enjoy. What they don't realize is they may walk another 4 or 5 miles in random steps around the campsite. People should do what they enjoy, but this style of backpacking will not work for a 48 state hike.

Experienced backpackers looking to get long miles bring ONLY what they need and nothing else. Instead of walking that 4 or 5 miles in random steps around the campsite, they direct those steps towards the destination. They start early and stop late. They spend most of the time while not walking either sleeping or eating. They know what they NEED to be comfortable, and not what they want to be entertained. The walking is their entertainment!

Don't take it if you don't NEED it!

The only things a walker NEEDS are warmth, shelter, food and water. This means enough clothes, a tent that won't leak, an the minimum food and water needed. A walker doesn't NEED a GPS. A walker doesn't NEED an MP3 player, A walker doesn't NEED a Kindle. A walker doesn't NEED five days of food for a three day walk. A walker doesn't NEED clean clothes every day. There are many things a walker doesn't NEED!

A walker does NEED an excellent sleeping bag and tent as they are the last line of defense against bad weather. It's worth spending $500 on a sleeping bag if it prevents 10 nights in a motel. It's worth spending $400 for a quality tent if it prevents spending rainy nights in a motel. It's worth carrying good rain gear if it gives the ability to walk in the rain. 

A walker NEEDS a stove, but they shouldn't carry much extra fuel. Most food can be eaten cold if the walker runs out of fuel. 

A walker doesn't NEED three days of food for a three day walk. What? you say! Let's look at this. The walker can eat heartily before setting out the first day. They only need two meals the first day. They can walk hungrily the third day, so they only need one or two meals the third day. 

When in doubt, don't take it!

There are plenty of towns in the first few hundred miles of this walk where a walker can buy things they find they NEED. There are also plenty of trash cans to toss stuff  they don't NEED. 

A concept, not a checklist

I am going to start building a gear list for myself using this concept. It is not meant for others. Others will make different choices. Then I'll start practicing using only things in my push cart each day. Eventually, I'll know what I NEED for comfort and safety. This is intended to encourage anyone contemplating a reality hike to make their own gear choices.

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Yesterday's walk without following the training plan proved to be easy. I should get the same number of miles during the cycle as I did with the plan. The only problem is I will be giving up the extra training from the high mile days. I'll work some of those in when I can.

Trail Magic: 10/30/14 - 2099.1 to 2131 Miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View No, I didn't walk 32 miles in one day. I took a few days off with low mileage and got lazy about blogging. The route follows Route 12 into Lolo, MT. and then to Missoula, MT. It follows the Lolo Creek and a couple other creeks the whole way. It appears flat. I called a bicycle shop in Lola and there is a bicycle trail from Lola to Missoula. It should be complete all the way to the western Montana border by spring 2016. There is an REI in Missoula if you need to get anything.

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Trail Magic

Trail Magic is any unexpected small gift received while a person is experiencing a difficult time on the trail. Often, nature gives Trail Magic and sometimes people give Trail Magic. It has to be unexpected, or it isn't Magic. 

For instance, my son and I were hiking the first 75 miles of the Colorado Trail. The first day it started raining after lunch, but nature provided ripe raspberries along the trail. We ate enough to enjoy them, but made sure to leave enough for the people behind us, and also for the bears.

Then we discovered our tent leaked, and it leaked all night so we weren't able to sleep in our sleeping bags. Fortunately, the night wasn't too cold, so we were comfortable enough in our rain gear.

The next morning, after an  uphill climb over the end of a spur, we saw this view of Mt. Raleigh peaking out of the clouds.

Since we woke early in the morning to start hiking, we may have been the only people in the world to see this spectacular view!

Of course there were tears!

We've learned most of what nature gives us on the trail is magic. And let's not forget the magic the people who made the trails gave us. The same is true in life. Most of what other people give us is magic. Sometimes people throw us their worst side, and this is what makes the good sides more magical. (I'm not talking about abuse here.)  We have to experience hardship to experience happiness.

Today's Magic

Each morning, I stop at this gas station for a cup of coffee. I sit on the sidewalk outside while drinking it and watching the people buy gas before heading off to work.

This morning, I found someone had left money to pay for my coffee. I surmised they thought I was homeless, but the clerk told them I wasn't. I just like to sit there in the morning.

So, what I was left with was unexpected kindness -- Trail Magic! It meant someone cared, and that is what is so magical about it.

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For now, I stopped following the cyclical training plan. I found it was too structured for me at this time. Instead, I'm walking the miles I want to walk each day. I did take a few days off because of a feeling of fatigue. I think I was fighting off some illness, as I slept a good bit on Sunday.

I'm building an MP3 collection of audio books and I'm working on some other projects. My 5.1 miles in the morning and an additional walk during the day will average the same number of miles.

How to Market eBooks on YouTube

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Introduction

I'm not generally a fan of marketing because I've found most of it doesn't work well enough to justify the time. I have found one exception for certain types of books in Amazon. Marketing on YouTube takes effort, but the videos do not have to be professional to be effective. This book gives a process for marketing that may work for you.

This is the video series that has worked the best for me: https://www.youtube.com/user/bnaiorpueblo

Types of Books

Marketing on YouTube may work for non-fiction books where a long series of videos can be published. YouTube's search engine favor titles like "Lesson 1...etc." It seems to be completely useless for fiction.

I don't want to over-hype this. If you aren't getting viewers after five or six videos, it may not work for your book. 

The Results

I have one video series that gets about 400 views a day and refers about six clicks a day to my book "Simply Learn Hebrew." This doesn't sound like much, but I haven't added any new videos in over a year. YouTube videos don't seem to have the same decay rate as blogs if they are neglected.

Give away the whole Book

I found it's best to include everything in the book in the YouTube videos. Only the first few videos in the series will get many views. The first few books give the most clicks to the books.

Keep it Simple

It shouldn't take more than an hour from start to publish to make a video. If it takes too much longer than that, it may not be worth the time.

Conclusion

YouTube videos seem to be the most effective form of marketing. Short videos are easy to make if they are not production quality. They have a slow decay rate for the number of views, so they can keep selling books for years with no attention. They are worth trying.

PostScript

One of the most effective means to advertise a book about a long hike on YouTube is to give a one or two minute summary at the end of each day. For the 48 state hike, that would be about 300 videos which are certain to attract attention and sell books.

Why Cannibals should watch who they Eat! 10/24/14: 2088.4 to 2099.1 miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View Segment Map The route follows Route 12 in western Montana. It passes the Lolo Hot Springs Cabins. They have tent camping for $16, and I think there is an additional $15 to use the hot springs. There is also a restaurant.  This looks like good place to spend a night.

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Introduction

Many people worry about eating healthy food, and cannibals should do the same. Seriously, if we think about providing healthy meat for cannibals, we may be motivated to improve our diet. This post is tongue in cheek and meant to get people thinking about why 87.43% of humans are unfit for human consumption. (Like all good statistics, this one was made up on the spot, but it’s probably close.)

Savage Decaying Meat-Eaters

John Kellogg revealed the foolishness of eating savage decaying meat eaters in his book, “The Itinerary of a Breakfast.”

Half of the body’s system is devoted to eliminating waste. Veins are bringing blood to be filtered and the lymphatic system is the body’s garbage dump. 

Even if the meat is fresh, it is still filled with waste products. Let’s call this the pre-shit phase, because that is what it is. None of this is taken out of the meat during processing. In fact, they no longer soak meat in salt to draw the blood out.

   

Meat-eaters who don’t get enough insoluble carbohydrates are often constipated. In fact, John Kellogg said about 85% of the population is constipated. So, why is that a problem?

The solids in the large intestine of meat-eaters putrefy. What is putrefaction? Think dead skunk on the road on a hot day. Now leave it there for a few weeks. That is how long crap stays in savage meat-eaters. In fact, both Elvis Presley and John Wayne died with 40 pounds of crap in them.

Then there are the diseases in the large intestines of meat eaters. Cholera and Typhoid are normal.

Sugar addicts

Aside from the problems with causing diabetes and other illnesses, sugar addicts are often infected with Candida! Candida is a yeast infection. It is normally present in a healthy intestine, but like all yeast, it feeds on sugar. Eat too much and you have yeast gone wild. It gets all through the system and does things like eat through the walls of the large intestine causing leaky gut syndrome. That’s a nice term for crap flowing from the large intestine into the gut area.

Unnatural Food Eaters

Natural food looks like food in its natural state or which is minimally processed by cooking. There are no chemicals added. To make it simple, if there is an ingredients label, it is probably not natural. If it is not organic, it is probably not natural. GMO foods were developed so they could douse them in large quantities of pesticides and weed killers.

Inactive people

Good meat has lean muscle tissue. If meat is red, it is muscle. That marbled fat in a steak makes it tasty, but it also contains toxins. That’s right. When a person is constipated, and most are, the large intestine can no longer eliminate all the toxins. The body stores them in the fat for processing later. That is if later ever happens.

This is one reason people who don’t eat meat will feel ill if they are served something with hidden meat in it. 

Starch-based Vegans

Oreos are vegan. So are many other unhealthy foods. There is a particular type of vegan that is healthy and the science proves it.

That is a starch-based vegan. This means half the plate filled with what people commonly call starches. Potatoes, rice, couscous, oats, etc. The other half filled with vegetables. Add a piece of fruit a couple times a day and you have a healthy diet. Up to an ounce of nuts is allowed.

I can’t give all the benefits in a short blog post, so I suggest reading “The Starch Solution” by John McDougall. He gives many references in the book and I suggest reading them, too. This is not a new diet or some sort of fad. It is what the healthiest populations have eaten for thousands of years.

About 95% of diseases are conditions caused by meat and dairy foods. They can be quickly reversed by a starch based vegan diet. They cannot be reversed by drugs which add more chemicals to the body and do nothing to control the source of the disease. All they can do is cover the symptoms so the damage will continue to get worse.

Conclusion

As I said, there is only room for an overview in this post. If a person thinks about the quality of their meat for cannibals, perhaps they will think about the quality of the meat in their body and improve their diet. The scientific research overwhelmingly shows a starch based vegan diet is the healthiest.

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This time through the cycle is turning out to be easier than the last time through, I find myself wanting to walk more miles at the end of the day, but I'm sticking to the plan.

Treadmill Ponderings: 10/23/14: 2078.8 to 2088.4 Miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View Animated Street View The second part of today's walk entered Montana. There appears to be a bicycle trail that branches off from the road at the Montana border. There is a visitor's station at the border, and it would be worth asking about it there. Today's walk also completes Segment 32. :)

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Tread mill ponderings

Introduction

Sometime within the next two or three months it will be difficult for me to find the time to complete the high mileage days. At first, it will only be a few days that are difficult, but eventually, the entire 28 day cycle will be difficult.

Then there is the issue of bad weather coming. Although I walk in most bad weather, there will be times it is too cold and windy to walk the scheduled miles.

The only solution I can see is getting a treadmill. I think there will be three stages of incorporating the treadmill into training.

Stage 1: Treadmill during Breaks

Yesterday, I went to Sports Authority and walked a couple miles on a treadmill. It felt as if I was walking faster on the treadmill that the speedometer indicated. When I checked my Fitbit, I found my stride rate agreed with the speedometer on the treadmill.

Apparently, there will be a learning curve for walking on the treadmill. At first, I’ll only need to get a couple miles on the treadmill and I can do this during my seven minute break I take each 20 minutes.

Stage 2: Treadmill Work Station

Treadmill work stations are two expensive. The good news is I can make a table that will fit on the handles of a conventional treadmill. The cost should be close to zero. This means I can buy a new treadmill for about $599.

The objection is I don’t want to move the computer between the work station and my desk. The easiest alternative seems to be having a computer for the treadmill and one for my desk. I could either share files, or dedicate each computer for different tasks.

I’ve watched some good reviews of treadmill work stations on YouTube. It seems people start around one mile per hour and peak around three miles per hour. Given that there seems to be a learning curve

Stage 3: Many Treadmill Miles

Eventually, I’ll be walking about 10 to 15 miles a day on the treadmill. This shouldn’t be a problem with a treadmill work station if I’ve progressed to 3.5 mph at the work station.

Used vs. New

There are usually treadmills on Craigslist for about $75. A new one is $599. I’ll keep checking Craigslist for a month or two.

Conclusion

In order to complete the training, it appears I will need a treadmill. The only question now is the timing and the type of treadmill to buy.

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Walking has been easy. I think it's time to get an another route. I'm not finding many new pictures.

Reality Hike 105: The Complete Training Plan: 10/22/14 - 2072.7 to 2078.8 miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View The route continues along Route 12 and the Lochsa River in eastern Idaho. The area is heavily forested and there should be places to stealth camp. About three miles from the end, it turns away from the Lochsa River, so be sure to get water for the leg into Missoula.

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Introduction

The complete training and hiking plan is on the top tab named “Cyclical Training Plan.” Take a look and come back when you think I’ve completely lost it.

The plan is designed so there is no pain or fatigue the entire time. Of course, it is designed to complete the hike in a year. It does get difficult to find the time after about a year of training. For now, I’m following the plan to see what happens.

No Pain or Fatigue

In “Road Walking: Conversations with my Coach” I explained the need to walk without pain or fatigue. Pain is a warning sign of impending disaster if the physical activity continues. Fatigue is fine if a walker is only walking a day or two. If a walker walks every day, fatigue becomes chronic and can lead to illness or injury.

The Cyclical Training Plan starts at an easy level and progresses slowly. If a walker follows this plan and takes extra rest if they need it, they should never experience pain or fatigue.

It is tempting to skip a few cycles, but many physiological changes need to occur to prevent injury and fatigue.

Too many Miles after a Year!

The miles in the 48 state hike will not change if a walker doesn’t have the time to train. So, I have some choices.

1.  I can make time to follow the plan.
2.  I can start the hike less prepared and see what happens.
3.  I can choose not to take the hike.
4.  I can adapt.

The first phase of getting extra miles when I run out of time to walk so much is to get a treadmill. I take a seven break after every 20 minutes of work so I don’t get repetitive motion injuries from working on the computer.

Instead of pacing around the house, I can hop on a treadmill for seven minutes. That will work for a while.

The next phase is getting a treadmill work station. That should take care of the problem.

Is this Hike for Real?

Someone asked me this in the comments yesterday. The truthful answer is I don’t know. The problem is taking a year to make the hike. I don’t see the miles as a problem.

For now, it is a possibility, but not a probability. What is probable is I well go as far into the training plan as possible and take shorter hikes on the road.

However, the hike will never become real if I don’t train as if it is real. Something may happen along the way to make the hike possible and I want to be ready.

Conclusion

The cyclical training plan gives the training structure. I’ll follow it until I get a better idea. The long term goal is to average 24 miles a day for 365 days. I’d prefer to average closer to 30 miles a day. If I find the cyclical training plan isn’t achieving my goal, then I’ll change it.

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Yesterday's walk was easy and so was my 5.1 mile walk this morning. I'm surprised at how warm it is in the mornings. I was expecting it to be colder by now.

Fall is in the middle month of its season. Now it's the time of kicking leaves on the sidewalks.

It's approaching the new moon and the moon hadn't risen yet this morning when I took my walk. It was dark!

Reality Hike 104: Cyclical Walking Plan Overview: 10/21/14 -2063 to 2070.7 Miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View The route continues along Route 12 and the Lochsa River in eastern Idaho. The area is heavily wooded. The Lochsa Lodge is near the end of the day. They have rustic cabins for $65 and rooms starting at $95. there is also a restaurant specializing in steak, seafood and hamburgers.

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Introduction

The plan will ask the walker to walk many miles before the 48 state hike. It starts easy for the first 28 days and gets longer each cycle. The numbers are somewhat shocking, but they are doable.

This training cycle will continue through the actual hike, and the miles will get longer each 28 days during the hike. They seem reasonable based on my studies of people who have completed long hikes.

Total training miles

The total miles walked during training for a novice walker will be 11,125.5 miles. The walker will complete 32 twenty-eight day cycles before beginning the hike. This will take 128 weeks. Are you shocked yet? I was when I examined the plan. If a walker has already been walking regularly, they may be able to reduce this number to about 104 weeks or two years. Keep in mind, the hike needs to start in March or April, so plan accordingly.

Continue increasing miles during 48 State Hike

It would take another four cycles to start averaging 24 miles a day. This is the minimum requirement to complete the walk. If a walker has time, it would be easier to complete the four cycles. However, I’m assuming people will continue to get in better shape during the 48 state hike. Therefore, the Cyclical Walking Schedule will continue to increase miles during every 28 day cycle during the hike.

Conclusion

Remember I said this will be simple, but not easy? If a person follows the Cyclical Walking Plan, they should never experience significant fatigue. The hard part will be finding time to walk the miles during training. (I’ll have a solution for that later.) Many walkers will take less time to get in shape.

I’ll reveal the complete plan in the next post.

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Yesterday I completed the first time through the cycle. I walked 8.2 miles yesterday instead of the 3.5 miles scheduled. That's because I didn't want to give up my morning walk. I'll likely continue this habit through the next cycle and use the bonus miles another day if I need them.

I walked 260.7 miles during the last 28 days. I planned for 251.3 miles. I averaged 9.3 miles a day and the plan was for 9.0 miles. 

During the next 28 days, I'll increase the distance a half mile or more each day. This shouldn't be difficult, because on the average was 0.3 miles over each day last month. 

Reality Hike 103: Cyclical Walking Plan – An Introduction: 10/20/14 - 2055.1 to 2063 Miles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View The route continues along the Lochsa River next to Route 12 in eastern Idaho. The forests are getting even denser. There are no services along this leg. However, the water in the Lochsa River is drinkable with filtering. The road is still too narrow for a pushcart.

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Introduction

This plan will encourage the body’s cycle of stress, rest, and recuperation. The plan gradually increases miles for two weeks and decreases the miles for two weeks. Every seventh day is a rest day. Yes, the plan is almost obnoxiously structured, but in my opinion, it will give the most training effect with the fewest miles. All the miles will be measured with a pedometer.

Stress, Rest, Recuperation

I’m assuming anyone considering this hike is acquainted with these terms, so this section is a reminder.

The body can do every day what it is accustomed to do every day. It can also do more for a limited number of days if asked to. The body will never improve if there is no demand to do more.

This cycle will start with a week of walking that should be easy. Then there will be two weeks of walking which will be a slight challenge. There shouldn’t be any fatigue except during a few days of the cycle. It’s not always the highest mile days.

The idea for the plan is to peek into fatigue with a few high mileage days a month and then back off from the fatigue. That’s not quite how it has been working for me. I feel a little more fatigue in the first and last week than I do in the middle two weeks. I don’t have an explanation, and it may be psychological. Your experience may be different.

Each cycle, the low day mileage will increase 0.5 miles and all the other distances will also increase.

Measuring Miles with a Pedometer

I’ve tried different methods of measuring miles and I found a pedometer is the simplest. I include all steps during the day, even those when I’m not taking a walk. Although these steps exaggerate the miles, I found training effect is higher for the random steps during the day. In other words, don’t worry that you are recording more miles than you actually walk.

I use a Fitbit Zip pedometer. It is usually $59, although you can find it for $49. I clip it so it hangs inside a pocket and then I forget about it. It sends the data to my computer. A cheap pedometer can work as well. There are probably smart phone options, but I don’t have a smart phone, so I can’t tell you about any.

A GPS didn't work for me. It doesn't accurately measure distance except when going in a generally straight line. It will underreport random steps. This is because it cuts corners each time it queries the satellites. I also forgot to bring it places, and the batteries don’t last long enough for a long walk. Other times, I’d forget to turn it off in the car.

This is one of those cases where good enough is good enough. A more accurate method won’t improve the training.

Pissing Wall

Conclusion

The cyclical walking schedule will get your body into a rhythm of stress, rest and recuperation. This should improve the training effect. It starts easy and will get harder every 28 days. It’s based on pedometer miles because that is the simplest and it’s good enough.

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Yesterday's miles were easy. I decided to take my morning 5.1 mile walk today even though it is supposed to be a rest day. I enjoy the walk too much to give it up. Then I'll spend the rest of the day actively resting. Perhaps I'll even take a nap or two.

Reality Hike 102: The Surprising Truth about 8,750 Miles: 10/19/14 - 2038.7 to 2055.1 Miiles

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Virtual Hike Animated Street View Animated Street View The route continues following Route 12 through a densely forested part of eastern Idaho. It still follows the Lochsa River.  The road appears safe enough if a person is carrying a pack. It does not appear safe for pushing a cart. I think bouncing the push cart forward to Missoula, Montana from Lewiston or Clarkston would be a good idea.

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Introduction

I’ve been exploring whether a reality hike is possible. It is close enough to impossible that the hiker will need a structured plan to make it. I arrived at a surprising answer after exploring and testing different plans.

Walking options

Option 1: No days off

8,750 miles is 24 miles a day for a year. For option 1, the road walker needs to walk 24 miles every day for 365 days. The problem with this option is it leaves no margin for error. There are no zero days and few people can maintain this sort of schedule. The miles must match the fitness level or long term fatigue will start after about seven days.

Option2: One day off a week

In this case, the walker would have to walk 28 miles each walking day. This would take about seven to eight hours.

This option allows the walker to choose days off based on weather or other considerations.

Option 3: Take each day as it comes and walk what you can

This would be the most favorable option, except for one problem. The route starts in Pueblo, Colorado. The optimum start date is from March 15 to April 15^th. Within a few days, the walker will be passing through the Wolf Creek Pass. This is also the time for bad snowstorms. In other words, the walker needs to check the weather for the next week and scoot through during a period of good weather.

Then there is the desert starting in Utah and continuing all the way through Washington. About 1,700 miles of hot desert or prairie. Except it doesn’t start getting too hot until about June. In fact, it will likely be pleasant weather until mid-May and doable until about the first week in June. The walker can’t count on getting fit on the road as a slow start will put them in the desert when it is too hot.

Option 4: Cyclical Walking Schedule

Use a cyclical walking schedule to walk between 23 and 33 miles a day with every seventh day off. This will help the walker get fitter on the road by alternating stress, rest and recuperation. It’s possible this walker could complete the hike in 10 months as may increase their fitness more rapidly along the way. They could either increase the length of all the days or increase the short days and leave the long days the same.

This option will likely require about four months more of training.

All of these are possible!

I had a revelation in the past few months. Time on the feet is more tiring than time walking. I discovered this by using a Fitbit Zip pedometer which tracks light, medium and intense activity. My fatigue level depended more on the total time on my feet than how many miles I walked during the day. I typically spend about six hours a day on my feet, which is close to how much time I’d have to spend walking on a reality hike.

All I have to do is train the right muscles to walk for six to seven hours a day and I’m ready! Oh, what do I do with the other 16 to 17 hours? Stay off my feet!

How to start

I know you aren’t convinced yet, but at least know I’m convinced. You won’t be convinced without the knowledge that comes from doing.

The first step is to start walking. Much depends on where you are physically, but the same general rules apply to all. Do not walk into fatigue. The whole training program depends on never feeling fatigue. When you need a day off, take it!

Do not walk with even minor pains. I’m talking about pain in the feet, knees, back, or anyplace else it can evolve into a chronic injury.

Speed isn’t important. Speed will come with miles and it doesn’t need coaxing.

How long will training take?

Realistically, I think it’s best to plan for two to two and a half years of structured training. Many physiological changes need to occur. These can’t be rushed.

What is the surprising truth?

Anyone who works an 8 hour day on their feet is expending more effort than needed complete this hike. The reason they can’t do it is they have trained different muscle groups. In other words, a reality hike is possible!

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I felt surprisingly lethargic yesterday even though it was a low mileage day. I think I would have felt better if I walked more miles. This morning's 5.1 mile walk was easy. My stride rate was over 130 most of the time. 

I'm not looking forward to skipping my morning 5.1 mile walk tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll go even though the schedule says not to. Perhaps there is a base mileage I need to walk everyday.