My fitness goal for this week was to get my steps in. So far I’ve beaten my 6,000 step goal each day. Last week, as I was getting into the swing of things, I relied on getting my walking in during a big burst of activity. It didn’t go so well.

The daily step totals are looking good:

Now I’ve figured out how to spread my walking throughout the day. This might seem simple. I have no requirement to walk during my day other than to move between my desk, coffeemaker, and bathroom.¹ I actually need to stop what I’m doing and go outside.

It doesn’t help that I can get lost in a project and the hours will just zoom by. So I’ve been using the inactivity alert on my Jawbone UP24. If I’m still, it will buzz me every 45 minutes. Thankfully it doesn’t count typing as an activity, so I’ll get a buzz at the keyboard. This reminder keeps me from sitting for too long in one session.

I also changed my attitude about my daily walks. I used to think of them as this big thing that I need to do each day. I was going out and making a loop around the condo complex and neighboring shopping center. There were several spots where I had to dodge cars turning off of a busy street. My route made the walk a chore.²

So I changed my route. I’m staying inside the complex now. There are quite a few walking paths, and I’ve found an “around the outside” path that is just about a half mile. It’s also about 10 feet from my front door. This makes for a peaceful walk and I never set foot on asphalt. I’m even avoiding the traffic inside the complex. Without the threat of death-by-distracted-driver I can enjoy my podcasts and just walk.

The relative safety of the walking path coupled with its location make it much easier to go for multiple walks during the day—which I have been doing. You can see the results above.

1. In that order, several times per day. ↩
2. The treadmill was no better. I consider walking on to be drudgery. ↩