spring scenes

i took a lovely little 4 mile walk this morning with miz nina and took my camera along today since yesterday i told you how pretty it was. i'm going out for my run later this afternoon.

interestingly, yesterday was the first time i had ever ever ever walked ten miles. doing the "nordic walking" was a lot of fun too. today i can feel that i really got a work out yesterday, but i am not sore -- except i have a blister of the ball of my foot. that's my only complaint.

click here for more info nordic walking

the one with the nordic walking

today is absolutely gorgous! sunny, mid 70s. the colors of the day are: pale sky blue, grass green, dandelion yellow, alpine white. there's a light cool breeze. days don't get much prettier than this. i wish i had brought my camera along so you could see too.

i decided to take a long walk today instead of going for a long run. my knees are a kind of achey and i wanted to rest them a bit, but not miss out on an aerobic workout. so, i went NORDIC WALKING.

it was glorious! my pedometer says i went 10.97 miles - i'll take that as an estimate. i walked 2 hours 40 minutes and covered all my running routes in one giant loop. what's nice about nordic walking is that it's more of an exertion than normal walking, but not as rough on you as running. i felt strong and powerful the entire time. let me tell you, there's an enormous difference in tackling a big hill with the poles, than running up one! i only stopped a couple of times for some water, and to change the caps/tips of my poles (rubber stoppers -- or die gummipuffers -- for the asphalt and steel tips for the trails). click here to see my route and elevations.

if you're looking for a new sport that's a great cardio workout, but gentle on the ol' bod, try nordic walking!

nordic walking pic from http://www.hostatt.ch/sitee/pix/nordic/nordic3.jpg

duh feet

yeah..so, i admited defeat (duh feet) after my last run and that i had actually injured myself and would need to take some time off to heal. dagnabbit. i've stayed home catching up on boring housework all week, resting my painful, probably, achilles tendonitis. housework = yuck

today i'm meeting friends to go walking for a few hours down by the river in bern. i'm looking forward to it, and if i can walk painfree, then i will recommence my running program next week. i'll probably start back a week or two on the program and work my way back up again.

i bought another pair of shoes yesterday. i stopped in a swiss sporting goods store and had someone help me pick out a pair of shoes to use on asphalt. (last week i ran on asphalt for 2 miles with my trail shoes. hmmm). the guy also said these shoes would be ok to use in the "grunewald" as well. i did the entire transaction in my best german (thanks to an intensive class i took last summer!) my german is no so good, but i actually understand most of what people say to me, especially if they speak standard german and not the berner-swiss version (an entirely different thing all together!). 119 swiss francs later, i have another pair of shoes. i'm going to try them out today!

by the way - we had snow this past week and the temps have dropped. hmmm. snow is not really my thing.

later same day: i met up with my friends and walked one hour with them at about a 5.5 mph pace. they were "nordic walking" and i was just walking. man! using those poles can really increase your speed! those girls took off and left me in the dust the last .25 mile. whew! i'm i impressed. i'm going to try the "nordic walking poles" tomorrow.

after the walk i did 2 miles on the treadmill, easy. took me 19.30 minutes. felt ok. only had the usual tenderness in my right heal/achilles area. the bad pain i'd given myself last weekend is all gone. super!