Enough Steps?

"Health experts" recommend 10,000 steps a day for good health, or the equivalent of roughly 5 miles. I'm sure I'm not getting nearly that much considering that I live in an area where you need to drive to get anywhere. The dog park isn't that far, but the dearth of sidewalks or even a decent shoulder precludes such a venture, especially with two skittish pups who don't listen very well. En route to the park today, I came across road flares and then a puzzling two-car collision. Neither occupant appeared injured and both were out of their vehicles. 

A girl holding a small dog stood next to her black sedan with a big dent in the front passenger door. Her car was oddly perpendicular to the flow of traffic. A middle-aged man seemed more distraught and his car had more damage: the front driver fender. I'm trying to recreate the accident in my head, but find it difficult to picture how this happened. Luckily I get waved through and the dogs don't miss any park time, unlike one of their friends who got turned around because of all the emergency vehicles later blocking the road. When it's time to return home, the site is pristine except for the stub of extinguished road flares.

I don't walk around the dog park as much as I used to, mainly because there's a lot of wet leaves now on the steep hillside. Wet leaves are notoriously slippery and I don't need any more excuses for knees, ankles, hips and lower back. I feel okay today though. Yesterday, I had the worst stomach cramping all day and all I could blame was the instant oatmeal I ate with the addition of dried cherries. I've eaten this brand of oatmeal before. I've eaten these dried cherries before. Today, I have a bowl of regular (not instant) oatmeal with an egg, dried cherries and a splash of maple syrup. No tummy troubles. Weird.

Today, I actually check to see how many steps the elliptical thinks I've taken after 35 minutes. There is a website that will calculate steps to miles and vice versa depending on how tall you are, whether you are male or female, and how fast you are moving. Apparently, you take a lot more steps to accomplish two and a half miles if you are walking slowly compared to jogging quickly. The difference between a fast walk and a jog (5751 vs 5592) is a difference of 1 mph. 

I'm apparently moving between a jog and a run at 5466 steps for 2.8 miles. I add the steps my phone tells me that I've logged so far today. (It doesn't know anything about the elliptical.) It says 4,017 steps or an additional 1.4 miles, which gets me closer to 10,000. I'm good with 9,483 steps but I can't do 2.8 miles on the elliptical every day, as much as I'd like to. I just can't do it. Maybe because I don't get enough sleep. Or maybe because there are so many other things to do... Crunches felt fine. I'm a tad sore in the shoulders, abs, and quads, which is puzzling. However, I did manage to finally move past a dozen pull-ups so I'm happy.

24 Sept 2021
Sunny Friday

Precor elliptical
Program 1
Time: 30 min (4658 Steps) + 5 min cd (5466)
Distance: 2.41 / 2.80
Cal: 309
HR: 77, 137-185

Crunches legs straight up 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat/Camel stretch 15x
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Child’s Pose 10s
Cobra Pose 30s
Push-Ups 25
Mild Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Air Squats 25

HGPU 14