Weekly Avon Walk Update
Every week I’m going to provide a quick update on how my Avon Walk training is going. If you’d like to see my full training calendar, check it out here or on the left sidebar of my blog. The calendar shows the recommended training plan found on the Avon website going forward. As I complete workouts, I will update the calendar with what I actually did. So if you look at a previous date, it will show what I did that day.
I’ve decided that to prevent myself from getting bored with just walking, I’m going to mix things up a bit. I’m going to stick to the endurance walks on the weekends. Those will be key to training my body to be able to handle ~40 miles in two days. The rest of the weeks consists of 2 shorter, faster walks and 2 cross training days. The two shorter walks are primarily for cardiovascular training, so I’ll either do walking as recommended or other cardio training (I really enjoy the elliptical). For the cross training, I plan to do a class at the gym or weight training. This will help strengthen my core so that my body can handle the long walk.
Also, our gym is a 0.4 mile walk from our house. I’m not going to count that in my total mileage. I look at it as a warm up and cool down. I can’t wait until it’s warm enough out for me to start walking outside instead of on a treadmill!
Miles walked last week: 6.8
Minutes doing cardio: 70
Minutes doing cross training or weight lifting: 0
Thoughts on training so far: I’ve been reading that some people get blisters easily and others don’t. I must fall into the first category. I’ve already had 2 blisters this week. One on each foot but in different places. I’m definitely going to learn a lot about how to prevent and treat blisters over the next few months!
Total $$ raised: $550
Thanks to everyone who has donated so far! If you’d like to donate to support my walk, you can make a donation on my Avon Walk page. If you donate at least $5 by the end of January, you will be entered to win a very cute tote.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
My last huge successful meal is the crown roast from Bon Apetite magazine. I almost canceled making it when I found out how much it cost, but ended up making it anyway. I’m glad I did, everybody loved it!
I Tweeted your giveaway!
My last hugely successful meal was sundried tomato and artichoke stuffed chicken breasts for 60you people! I have never cooked for that many people at once but with the help of my Mom we pulled it off! 🙂
My last hugely successful meal was pad Thai for friends.
Thanksgiving
I’d have to say my Christmas Eve meal. Yummy pork tenderloin, baked cauliflower and my grandma’s spinach that was all on the table within 20 minutes of my planned dinner time. I’d call that a success!
The last hugely successful meal I executed was actually a cookie swap party. I asked people who RSVP’d to bring only a dozen cookies. Everyone brought so much more and brought snacks, too. I was so worried there wouldn’t be enough, I made too much just in case. Instead I had to have one guest make sure no one left without a good supply. And we helped each other set up trays for relatives in nursing homes, nursing home staff.
The spirit of the holidays was incredible and brought a bunch of strangers so much closer. (We’re all snowbirds in a campground in Mississippi)
I made slow roasted pork chops with apples and onions, scalloped potatoes and I baked Italian bread. So simple yet delicious!
I am a vegetarian, but I made Christmas dinner for our family and successfully made the ham. Everyone loved it, thank goodness! 🙂
Thanksgiving! Gluten free thanksgiving to be more specific 🙂