The Power of Walking - Part One

The Three Priorities: My daily life is focused by three priorities: Involvement with Family, Artistic Work, and Personal Health. If I'm able to act on one or more of these priorities, I take note of the fact and choose to be satisfied with my day. If I don't engage in any of the three priorities, I feel frustrated and know why.

Personal Health: The Power of Walking

          Four years ago today, in 2007, I began a walking regimen that lasted through December of that year. It was the longest and most productive regimen of any period before or since then. Six months before that, my left knee inexplicably collapsed while I was walking in the house, and I was still coming out of a recovery that required me to wear a knee brace and learn how to climb a flight of stairs in a whole new way. I believed that walking would strengthen my knees. There were, however, other reasons I needed to walk at an aerobic pace. My blood pressure had been elevated for years, my cholesterol levels were too high, and my heart had occasional arrhythmias. I had also begun to take some special nutraceuticals and noticed a few dramatic physical and emotional improvements. Optimism grew, which made me declare to myself and others that I wanted to live a healthy one hundred years. I was convinced that I could live another adult lifetime.

          My walks in May started at a moderate, two-mile-an-hour pace. But, I limited my walks to less than an hour for a few weeks. My body responded with pain in my knees, hips, and leg muscles, and my endurance was…well, less than optimum. By May’s end, according to my exercise log, I had progressed from 1.5 miles in fifty minutes to 2.5 miles in fifty minutes. Two weeks later I began to combine walking with jogging, which enabled me to cover 2 miles in thirty-five minutes, an aerobic pace. My weight was down to 155 pounds, a drop from a high of 170 pounds a year earlier. Many of the pains I had experienced early in May were worked out and my recovery time from the exercise was ten minutes. My knees were getting stronger. My heart arrhythmias ended, and my blood pressure began to fall. I continued to push myself and experiment with the rhythm and ratio of the walk/jog. I walked an average of three days a week. On August 14 I wrote, “Broke new ground today. Walked three miles in 57 minutes, which are 19 minute miles. Felt good afterwards.” I continued to push, and on October 20, I broke all personal records when I walk/jogged 3 miles in forty-eight minutes – sixteen-minute miles. But I had become preoccupied with other concerns and began to walk less frequently. My last logged walking day that year was November 19. I walked 2 eighteen-minute miles. My weight bottomed out at 150 pounds. For five months, I had physically and mentally disciplined myself for the first time and seen encouraging results. Then my determined effort slacked off. Each summer since then I have had small successes, but haven’t been able to repeat the feat of 2007.

          The power of walking manifested in my experience isn’t, however, an exemplary epitome. The inspirational model is that of a man I observed walking ten years before my attempt in 2007.   – to be continued in the next post.