Introducing Boomer the Otter

 

 

     Hello, Folks. My name is BOOMER! It stands for Brave Optimistic Otter Mum Enjoys Running.

Why and Otter, you might ask? Don't think I am totally kooky, but I was told 25 years ago by a Native American friend that my totem animal was the otter. If that were not enough, they were already my favorite animals before he even mentioned that. I am a mother of eight kids ages 25 to 12. Their various friends or significant others tend to hang out at our home, so it can be kind of crazy at times around these parts. Some have nicknamed me Molly Weasley because I remind them of that particular Harry Potter character. It fits too, given the fact that I knit, I "adopt" people who come into my life as a result of being my kids' friends, and if anyone messes with my children, they had better be ready for this Otter Mum to turn into Mamma Bear! The purpose of this blog is keeping track of my efforts at enjoying a healthy lifestyle. No Mamma Bear involved... Just Boomer the Otter.  

 



    
     Every year since 2000, I have kept track of my distance over the entire year by mapping my mileage on a map of Interstate 90 starting in Seattle and traveling all the way to the East coast to the other end of 90 in Boston. Some years were better than others, mileage wise. In 2001, after the birth of my twins, it actually took me a full two years to go the 3100 or so miles that this Interstate covers.

     I work-out every day of the week except for Sunday, because I spend that day going to church with my family and enjoying a "reset" day of rest and refocusing. That leaves me with 313 days in the year when I get to exercise and tally up miles for this map trip.

     If I were to plant a little map marker on the above map of Interstate 90, it would be between Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass, at exit #31, exactly 28.63 miles from my starting line at Safeco Field in downtown Seattle. How did I tally up 28.63 miles in two days so far?

     Yesterday, my exercise routine consisted of:

• 35 minutes of Abs and Lower Body training
• 50 minutes of walking and running intervals that amounted to 3.75 miles (average speed of 4.5 all told). Running intervals were 4 minutes long and jogging intervals were 3 minutes long. I am returning to running slowly after dealing with patellar tendinitis. Plan is to slowly increase the length of the running intervals and decrease the length of the walking intervals until I am able to run long distances again.
• 50 minutes hill biking that amounted only to 10 miles because of the harder difficulty of riding hills. Average speed for that one was 12 mph.

     Today, my exercise routine consisted of:

• 30 minutes of Vinyasa Yoga
• 60 minutes on the treadmill running inclines and walking flats, for a total of 3.88 miles. That was a good heart workout and those hills were killers, hence the lower average speed of 3.88 mph. I'd have gone a lot faster if I had walked the hills and run the flats, I can tell you that!
• 44 minutes on the bike that amounted to 11 miles, so an average overall speed of 15 mph.

     Tomorrow, I am planning a lighter day due to scheduling making it hard to get much more than twelve miles in. We shall see!