Originally Posted by
2manybikes
Nice
Are you walking more due to your DVT episode?
Not entirely.
I started walking more in 2003, before the Paris-Brest-Paris because one of the tips I read was that many of the riders spend the day before the start of the PBP walking in Paris, and if they aren't used to walking that much, they can be rather sore when they start the PBP. Plus I heard that cycling on its own wasn't necessarily good for the bones. Walking, running, weightlifting etc. were recommended in addition to cycling. So I figured I'd better get walking!
Then in about 2007, I started making a point of walking at least 15 km/week. It helped that I had to park my car about 2 km from the university 4 days a week for a couple semesters ... that alone gave me 16 km/week. And one semester I moved into the city where I had a fairly lengthy walk to and from the train station. So I just got used to walking.
As you know, in 2009 I developed DVT (a genetic situation I will have to deal with for the rest of my life) and again it was recommended that I walk lots. Not too long after, we moved into the town where I worked and I started walking to and from work 3 km/day 5 days a week.
These days, I take the bus into the city where I work, but I walk part of my commute, walk at lunch, and walk between uni and work ... or on a day like today when I have a late lecture, I walk to one of the main roads where I can catch my bus home. That's about 1.7 km with a good, steep climb at the end.
I'd like to commute by bicycle, but there are a number of difficulties involved in that, so I figured I would at least keep active during the day by lots of brisk walking and climbing stairs. Good for the circulation, good for the bones, and good for the muscles too.
It's winter here, and so in the evenings we've been riding our trainers (Rowan's on rollers) + lifting weights sometimes, or going to the gym to run and row sometimes, or walking down to the beach and back on rest days. Plus longer, more challenging rides on weekends.
But last week, I got a bit of food poisoning the previous weekend, and was barely recovering from that when I had a rather frightening allergic reaction to a short course of antibiotics I was put on for another issue. So, my week was mainly walking ... which was a bit of a struggle. No energy to do much else.
Fortunately this week I feel so much better and we're back on the trainers again!
