Tuesday, February 6, 2018
My 1.5 year hiatus
Well, I'm back on the TM desk once again. My goal is 5 miles per day for Feb/March. Stay tuned....
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Back for good???
After many injuries and some severe calf issue, I am finally back on treadmill desk. Calf pain is still plaguing me, but I can walk through it for now. I am starting at 5 miles per day at 6% to 10% incline. Let's see what happens.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
I'm back!!!! After a month of recovery from knee surgery, I was able to put in just short of 5 miles yesterday at 7% incline. Overall, my knee felt good, but I can tell that I lost a significant portion of what I had gained prior to surgery.
I have no doubt that this will drastically speed my recovery time. 2 years ago, when I had surgery on meniscus in right knee, my recovery was long and painful with several months of PT. I definitely do not need PT this time around and I credit a large portion of this due to my fitness level just prior to surgery.
More to come...
I have no doubt that this will drastically speed my recovery time. 2 years ago, when I had surgery on meniscus in right knee, my recovery was long and painful with several months of PT. I definitely do not need PT this time around and I credit a large portion of this due to my fitness level just prior to surgery.
More to come...
Thursday, October 23, 2014
And just like that, torn meniscus. Surgery next Wednesday. According to my doc, none of this due to my recent spike in exercise and appears to be an old injury.
This has been an ongoing thing and I have been receiving cortisone shots in my knee for last two years, one approximately every 4 months. Not in any pain right now, but doc says I should be with the fluid building-up. Either way, I plan on keeping the miles up until surgery day and expect the treadmill desk to help in recovery.
This has been an ongoing thing and I have been receiving cortisone shots in my knee for last two years, one approximately every 4 months. Not in any pain right now, but doc says I should be with the fluid building-up. Either way, I plan on keeping the miles up until surgery day and expect the treadmill desk to help in recovery.
The Beginning
On 9/15/2014. I made the plunge...with three kids, a sedentary job, and just feeling somewhat lousy all the time, I decided to take that treadmill in the basement and turn it into a working treadmill desk. Over the last few years, I have become soft, lazy, and an exercise procrastinator. I wasn't overweight (5' 10" and 151 lbs on a small frame), but I was certainly significantly out of shape with a nice tire around my waist to prove it. 5 years ago, I could do a 10 mile run with no problem at a fast-ish pace. I couldn't do 4 miles now. It was time for a change.
I built the desk from scraps in the garage and was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. It only took about an hour to make. Not fancy, but large enough for a great workspace and non-intrusive enough that I still had access to a large walking belt surface. Time to get to work!
Week 1 - Well, the first day was fairly non-eventful. I walked 5 miles at about a 1.5 mph pace and 3% incline and burned a little over 700 calories. It felt good emotionally, if not physically. Day 2, about the same - 5.7 miles and about 800 calories. Then 6.93 and 7.32 miles. I also put in two runs at 2.6 miles and 3.75 (goal was 4 and I was just too tired to finish). So, Week 1 tally - I was just short of 30 miles on Week 1 and burned over 4500....Whoa! Mentally, I was feeling good and, physically, meh. I had some mild soreness, but nothing too bad.
Week 2 - I decided to go for broke. On 9/22, I decided to set a goal of walking 500 miles at my desk by the end of the year and tracking it on my exercise app, RunKeeper. I walked a total of 40.05 miles at around 1.8 mph and over a 5% incline on average and burned just shy of 7000 calories all while getting plenty of work completed. In fact, i was feeling more productive on treadmill and feeling really great about myself. No runs this week.
Week 3 - Only 4 days on treadmill this week and just over 30 miles. Traveling to OH to see in-laws. I accidentally out in an 8 mile run at 9:00 min/mile pace in Toledo when I became lost on my run. Ran entire time, but was in a lot of pain when I was finished. I should have ran slower, but I don't know how. Tally - 31.5 miles and 5076 calories.
Week 4 - Almost 1 month in! 40.75 miles and 6888 calories! Woohoo!. I actually did a 4.59 mile run at a 8:32 pace with 359 feet in elevation gain and actually felt reasonably good while doing it. Can't wait until next week.
Week 5 - 39.63 miles and 6118 calories at desk plus ran two 4 mile runs and a 10k! Mentally, I am starting to cross over to addicted. Every week now, I want to beat what I did last week.
Week 6 - Only 3 1/2 days in and I have walked 25.23 miles and ran a 10k in less than 52 minutes. I really couldn't be happier in my accomplishment.
Today (10/23/14) - 864 calories burned before 8 am (2.2 mph at 10% incline)! This is about the max as far as being able to type and actually work. And forget it if you want to be on a call at this exercise level. All I know is, if someone told me I would be doing that at any point in my life outside training for a race, I'd tell them they are crazy. I am starting to feel VERY good physically. I actually look forward to working on my treadmill desk every day. My clothes, specifically jeans and shorts, are not fitting as well. Although I can't visibly see a difference in my waistline, my clothes certainly tell a different story.
What I've learned in 5 1/2 weeks: It's not as hard or monumental as you think. I find that work days go by much faster than before. A good portion of the day, I don't even realize I am walking and other times I notice it very much due to my sweat sheen. I like it both ways and can't wait to see how things improve over next few months.
I am really pushing limits of what you can do physically and still get work completed. So, maybe you are 100 lbs overweight, you can do this, albeit start slow and set realistic goals. Your healthy and metabolism will thank you no matter what condition you are in. You got this!
I built the desk from scraps in the garage and was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. It only took about an hour to make. Not fancy, but large enough for a great workspace and non-intrusive enough that I still had access to a large walking belt surface. Time to get to work!
Week 1 - Well, the first day was fairly non-eventful. I walked 5 miles at about a 1.5 mph pace and 3% incline and burned a little over 700 calories. It felt good emotionally, if not physically. Day 2, about the same - 5.7 miles and about 800 calories. Then 6.93 and 7.32 miles. I also put in two runs at 2.6 miles and 3.75 (goal was 4 and I was just too tired to finish). So, Week 1 tally - I was just short of 30 miles on Week 1 and burned over 4500....Whoa! Mentally, I was feeling good and, physically, meh. I had some mild soreness, but nothing too bad.
Week 2 - I decided to go for broke. On 9/22, I decided to set a goal of walking 500 miles at my desk by the end of the year and tracking it on my exercise app, RunKeeper. I walked a total of 40.05 miles at around 1.8 mph and over a 5% incline on average and burned just shy of 7000 calories all while getting plenty of work completed. In fact, i was feeling more productive on treadmill and feeling really great about myself. No runs this week.
Week 3 - Only 4 days on treadmill this week and just over 30 miles. Traveling to OH to see in-laws. I accidentally out in an 8 mile run at 9:00 min/mile pace in Toledo when I became lost on my run. Ran entire time, but was in a lot of pain when I was finished. I should have ran slower, but I don't know how. Tally - 31.5 miles and 5076 calories.
Week 4 - Almost 1 month in! 40.75 miles and 6888 calories! Woohoo!. I actually did a 4.59 mile run at a 8:32 pace with 359 feet in elevation gain and actually felt reasonably good while doing it. Can't wait until next week.
Week 5 - 39.63 miles and 6118 calories at desk plus ran two 4 mile runs and a 10k! Mentally, I am starting to cross over to addicted. Every week now, I want to beat what I did last week.
Week 6 - Only 3 1/2 days in and I have walked 25.23 miles and ran a 10k in less than 52 minutes. I really couldn't be happier in my accomplishment.
Today (10/23/14) - 864 calories burned before 8 am (2.2 mph at 10% incline)! This is about the max as far as being able to type and actually work. And forget it if you want to be on a call at this exercise level. All I know is, if someone told me I would be doing that at any point in my life outside training for a race, I'd tell them they are crazy. I am starting to feel VERY good physically. I actually look forward to working on my treadmill desk every day. My clothes, specifically jeans and shorts, are not fitting as well. Although I can't visibly see a difference in my waistline, my clothes certainly tell a different story.
What I've learned in 5 1/2 weeks: It's not as hard or monumental as you think. I find that work days go by much faster than before. A good portion of the day, I don't even realize I am walking and other times I notice it very much due to my sweat sheen. I like it both ways and can't wait to see how things improve over next few months.
I am really pushing limits of what you can do physically and still get work completed. So, maybe you are 100 lbs overweight, you can do this, albeit start slow and set realistic goals. Your healthy and metabolism will thank you no matter what condition you are in. You got this!
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