Dodging cars while walking on icy roads: that’s gotta burn some more calories than just walking 😉

The “pain” aspect for me is generally two things: weak joints, and lack of muscle tone. I’ve more or less learned to avoid the third thing that used to always do me in: over-doing it. My lack of muscle exacerbates the joint problems. But I am getting better at minimizing the joint issues. I spent several months earlier in 2009 walking on the treadmill using “barefoot” shoes, and that built up my ankles and heel tendons sufficiently that I don’t have as many foot problems.

As for deploying new gear to distract myself- well, it is always constrained by Irene’s reaction. Generally she’s pretty good about tolerating my geeky need to over-complicate things and spend money on silly stuff. My current “dream” is to have two smallish (e.g. 12″) LCD panels at our two main torture…er, exercise devices, and to rig something up using a Slingbox or similar for remote connectivity to the DVR and AppleTV… I’m not sure yet. Shelving, then TVs (not directly related, but those are my priorities), then fancy electronics. We already have basic cable in that room…

Currently I’m happy if I can get thirty to forty minutes of exercise twice a week with a target heart rate of about 60-70% of maximum. I regularly don’t get that much, but perhaps with the right motivation I can get close. I still think the “re-create ancient predatory megafauna” idea would probably be the most effective…