Archaeologist-PA

Well, I just turned 34! Birthdays aren't such a big deal as you get older. However, a declining metabolism can be. Mine must be slowing down, as I've had a difficult time losing weight in the past few months using techniques that were previously successful. Granted, I don't have a lot to lose, but I am definately not at my ideal weight! I always joke about wanting to be like the folks in the 'Ensure' commercials (physically active silver-haired retirees white-water rafting and whatnot), so I figured it would be best to start sooner rather than later. With this in mind, I decided to sign up for a walking marathon training plan a few weeks ago. Prevention magazine ran a feature on this, and offers a free training plan as well as tips, message forums, etc. through their website - http://www.prevention.com/marathoncentral/ Here is another link on marathon walking for anyone that might be interested in also giving this a try - http://www.marathonwalking.com/

Thankfully my husband has agreed to train with me. Here's how it works: at the end of a 26-week program, we should be able to walk a full marathon (26.3 miles). The training starts out pretty easy - 20 minute walks during the week broken up by days of 30-minute crosstraining, long walks on Saturdays, followed by an easier walk on Sunday and a day of rest on Monday. Within a few weeks, the daily walks increase in length and the Saturday endurance walks progress to 9, 10, 11 miles and up. My job has me putting in a lot of hiking during the workday, and this regimen will be on top of that. Hopefully between the two, I'll find myself getting in the best shape I've been in years. In the past few weeks I've lost 5 lbs.

Updates to come!