The past couple of months, I've been walking consistently with the
Long Beach Area Walking Club at Signal Hill every Saturday morning at 7 a.m. I
started using my weighted backpack again, the first time with a 15 pound
barbell plate. I've been doing this to slow me down and equalize my pace with
the rest of the group because I was getting bored and lonely walking alone up
front. The following week, I added an extra 5 pounds and that made a huge
difference in the intensity of the walk. In short, the extra 5 pounds kicked my
butt and I even got chicked on the way up Stanley St. hill by two ladies.
Nobody has ever passed me going uphill, ever.
What do the weights do exactly other than slow me down? They help me
resist the temptation to run so I don't injure myself, while still getting a
workout intensity similar to running. As an added benefit, I can socialize with
the other walkers by matching their pace.
So it got me thinking about getting one of those weighted vests again
but every time I shop around for it, the cost deters me from getting one. You
will not find a 20 pound weighted vest for less than $40, and that's money I
can't spare while being jobless. One of the people I walk with, Paul, suggested
sand and more particularly, wet sand which is very dense and heavy, instead of
the barbell plates which I'm afraid might rip my backpack any day soon. I
pondered this for a few weeks not knowing how much a bag of sand might cost at
a building supplies store. I checked out the Home Depot website and it showed a
50 pound bag of all-purpose sand for $2.44. So a few days ago, I finally went
to Home Depot and was surprised to see how many types of sand there was other
than the all-purpose type. Well, I picked up the cheapest one even though it
was more than I needed because it didn't come any smaller. I'm planning on
replacing the weight plates with sand as soon as I can find a separate bag to
divide it and to find a way to accurately measure 20 pounds, which I hope will
fit in the backpack and adhere to its shape in contrast to the weight plates
which bounce around while I'm walking.
Fearing that my backpack was about to rip due to the weight plates, I
have been walking without it the past two weeks. I've been able to do some
short jogs again (after injuring my left thigh trying to run full stride) and
besides I found somebody with the walking group who could keep up with my pace.
On the first day of March when rainstorms were hitting the Los Angeles/Long
Beach area, I monitored the weather forecast and upon awakening that Saturday
morning seeing no rain, I decided to show up at Signal Hill, not knowing who
else was going to be there. The girl who was able to keep up with me wasn't
there and I was relieved to see another walker who braved the weather. Well we
lucked out because the rain, wind, and thunder didn't come till afternoon. The
significant thing that happened on this walk was that I was able to jog uphill
and downhill for 55 minutes non-stop, and that was the most I have done in the
past several months, which was mostly on flat terrain. My initial plan was 30
minutes, but I kept adding 5 more minutes until I figured 55 minutes was
enough. The rest of the way, I walked and jogged until I completed an hour and
a half. At least I found a good excuse for running so slowly: going uphill,
then using recovery as an excuse for running slowly downhill. Also I figured, if Obama and Biden can jog that slowly around the White House, I could do as well up and down hills.
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