Ok, today let's talk about fitness, economy, and conservation ... all at once. According to this article in Science News Online, there is a correlation between urban sprawl and obesity. People living in population-dense areas tend to have walking/ cycling access to a wide variety of amenities, as well as easy access to public transit (which necessitates walking to and from stations, etc). One of the prime factors in predicting obesity has always been extensive reliance on automobiles.
Now admittedly, much of this is anecdotal. The correlation is hard to prove scientifically, yet individuals claim to do more walking in built-up areas; in fact, I'd bet many of us would agree intuitively with this correlation, or have personally lived the experience. Having grown up in a small town, I know what it is like to rely on the car to do ANYTHING... you even had to drive 30 minutes to get to a gym! (Now I walk 30 minutes to get to a gym). Even when I go back to visit, I feel pretty much stranded and isolated because I don't own a car and must rely on others to drive me around. Nothing threatens independence so directly as that!
Another point I have been thinking about is that my perception of distance has changed as I have become more active. I walk everywhere and more recently, jog everywhere. I measure distance in how long it would take me to get somewhere on my own two feet... any place less than 30 minutes away is "close" (work, gym, library, UO pool, Tim H's on Laurier, the mall). Any place less than 60 minutes away merits consideration of the bus, but in good weather I'll usually opt for foot travel (my bike shop, Carleton U, the dentist, Gatineau Park). Once you "know the route" it becomes shorter with familiarity ... quite a phenomenon actually. When I was a teenager in my little commuter town, a 15-minute walk was considered "exercise".
It was nice to hit the gym tonight, great for stress relief. I did a 30-min warmup on the elliptical with some 1-1 intervals at 70-80% resistance, then headed to the treadmill, getting into a nice groove during my run. I began at a relaxed 6.0-6.5 mph and moved to 6.8 to get my second wind. (This is my last month of Base and I'm working on getting 6.8 mph to be my marathon pace - sustainable at Zone 2 forever). Well finally I saw some results, because I was still flying after 5 miles.
The regular gym-rat next to me (nice enough this time) exclaimed, "Don't you have a lot of energy!" and then, "Weren't you just doing cardio over there?"
I pondered this for a second (still running of course).
"Yeah".
He raised his brows to his hairline and whistled.
I then pushed the pace to 7.1.
Breakfast: 2 cups coffee, 1 cup chocolate milk $0.76
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich, 1 cup yogurt, apple $1.27
Dinner: 1 bowl pasta, tofu, mushrooms & tomato sauce $0.98
Snack: Granola bar (free! Thanks Paul), instant coffee $0.14
Other: 2 cups OJ with 3/4 scoop whey protein, multivitamin, Ca/ D, glucosamine $1.53
Day 25 Total: $4.67
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