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Monday, August 20, 2012

"Walking to Mordor" Challenge

At the end of May, I started a five-week conditioning class at school, and since then I've been working really hard to get in shape for the first time in my life. I've been doing weight training, a lot of cardio, and have been doing my best to eat healthy and drink plenty of water.

I recently discovered Steve Kamb's Nerd Fitness blog, where he had a post about a walking challenge called "Walking to Mordor," on July 23. He found out (from this site, which also has the distances walked for the other characters) how many miles Frodo and Sam walked from Hobbiton to Mount Doom (1779), how many miles they walked from Minas Tirith back to Hobbiton (1625), and how many Sam walked to Grey Haven and back (467), for a total of 3,871 miles. The goal in his challenge is to reach Mount Doom in one year's time, which is an average of 4.87 miles per day (for 365 days). Then, you can make the additional challenge of traveling back to Hobbiton, etc, if you wish to do so.

Steve also has a nice article on why the excuse of not having time to exercise doesn't work, for which he was inspired by an article in the Wall Street Journal. While I don't agree with all of Steve's workout suggestions (like working out on an empty stomach-however, the idea with that is to do no more than a thirty minute workout, which doesn't work with my two and a half hour total workout), he has some really fun articles on all kinds of things, like an explanation of what body fat percentage is, and how to workout in a hotel room.

This is a fun way to get motivated about staying active, as you can accomplish smaller goals of reaching Rivendell, Lothlorien, etc. In the article, Steve talks about how important it is to stay active, citing such articles as NBC's on how exercise can add three years to your lifespan. He invites everyone to join in the fun with an online document in which you can submit your progress on how many miles you've completed. You can download the document to keep track of your miles on your own, if you wish. It has helpful functions programmed in that automatically calculate total miles for you. (I've noticed on the document that there's a mistake, in that the round-trip to the Grey Havens and back is not covered, so there are some miles missing. I fixed it in my own document.)

Here's what my doc looks like currently:
(Note how the miles automatically started counting in the next leg of the journey once I hit the 458 to Rivendell. I love the girl that programmed this!)

And here's how I keep track of my weekly mileage:


For myself, I've decided to follow this challenge with the cardio that I do; up until now, I've just been doing cycling and a little on the elliptical, so that's what my miles are in, but this upcoming week I'm starting a running program since I may not have access to a bike once in France; therefore, my miles will be tracked on whatever type of cardio I'm doing (which, naturally, will be harder with running than with biking)! I'm going to go ahead and start my calculations with the first of June, when I started my workouts in my Conditioning class, and therefore make my goal to get to Mount Doom on June 1st, 2013! After that, I'll have a goal to either get back to Hobbiton in one year, or get back to Hobbiton and go to the Grey Havens and back in one year (it just depends on how my average looks!).

My Goal Destination:
(Who wants to photoshop a picture of me jumping up and down into this picture when I get there? heehee:))



My Workout

My workout week consists of four days of weight training a week, with two days of upper body and two days of lower body, and cardio following. In addition, I try to do cardio an additional two days a week, leaving Sundays to rest.

On my weight training days, I do about 45 minutes of weight training, 45 minutes of core work and stretching, and 20-60 minutes of cardio. I got my weight training routine from the coach that taught my Conditioning class at school (which I will gladly share with you if you wish).

For cardio, I do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on the stationary bike for thirty minutes on my upper body days and Steady Pace Training on the stationary bike for twenty minutes on my lower body days, followed by additional time on the bike or on the elliptical (for cross-training). My goal is to always do an hour of cardio total, but there are times when I don't do any of the elliptical because I'm too tired. On my cardio-only days, I try to do thirty minutes each on the stationary bike and the elliptical, both at low intensity.

This week, I am starting my own running program based on this beginner's running program, followed by this advanced beginner's running program; I've already discovered that at least the first three weeks are too easy for me, so I'll have to take a day or two to figure out where to start exactly, and then I'll adapt my own program with the above programs as rough guides; and then perhaps I will train for some races after that! Therefore, when I'm in France, I'll continue with my running program, and hopefully add in some cross training with other sports. As for my weight training, I will probably have to change things up since I don't think I'll have access to a gym; we'll see how that goes!

Here are some figures:

1779 miles in 313 days (taking out one day of rest/wk)= 5.68 miles/day OR 34.2miles/wk

(The distance back to Hobbiton)
1625 miles in 313 days= 5.19 miles/day OR 31.25miles/wk

(2092 is the distance back to Hobbiton plus the trip to the Grey Havens and back)
2092 miles in 313 days= 6.68 miles/day OR 40.23miles/wk

My progress thus far:
459.24 Total Miles
6.86/day Average Miles (My lowest average, during the week that I moved, was 2.91. My very first week's average was 4.57, and I've been increasing that average almost every week since.)

**CUE THE MUSIC**
I've reached Rivendell!!! This is a 458 mile mark! WOO!

Next, I'm off to Lothlorien!

If you join in on this cardio challenge and keep me updated, I'll give you a shout-out every time I do my updates!

I'll update my status each time I reach a new location in my journey!
Will you join me?


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