Its Amazing How You Can Feel!

I use my 30 minutes (walking to work) to listen to radio plays on my MP3 player. In the UK the BBC Radio 4 station has 3 or 4 plays every week. These generally last 30-60 minutes, so I have plenty to choose from.

I just like the time away from everything. 30 minutes of wandering thoughts is an excellent restorative.

I like to read...(on treadmill/elliptical). It's so easy to lose myself in a book... makes exercise FLY by!

This is how i started-- just walking. I find making yourself go outside more motivating and easier to get your goals going up.

i started by picking a direction, any direction, and walking as hard as i could for just 15 minutes... by doing so, i ENSURED that i really had to walk at least 30 minutes because once youve started, you really have no choice but to finish just to get back home.

in only 3 months, ive moved from doing that, and being totally drained and hurting at the begining struggling to keep a 3 mph pace , to laughing off 4-5 miles holding now a 4.3 mph pace.

i recomend NOOM, on android phone platforms while walking as it will let you play your music, and at intervals give you updates on Miles walked, miles per hour, and calories burned... (the calories burned is probably suspect but it DOES also have the ability to hook up to the polar HRM via bluetooth for total accuracy) i find that simply having it track how fast im going motivating to me, lets me know when im letting off a little too much and when i need to pick up the pace

Awesome! Thanks for the Android Tip... Im gonna try it!:happy:

It also has a calorie counter option and a few other features that are there... i dont use them, the calorie counter application is a pure joke compared to MFP.. Endomondo is also good, but unless they updated it recently, the free version did not have the "status updates" that i like so much, it would only update you at set intervals like 1 mile or so, plus no update on MPH, altho, it would display it on screen the entire time, but id rather just have it call it off to me so i can focus on the sights rather than my phone.

When I don't have other workouts planned, I go for a lunchtime walk. I work in Central London in an overly heated office. During my walk I see fabulous architecture - Smithfield Market, St Paul's Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, the Tower of London, the near-complete Shard... you name it.

More importantly, as I cross any bridge over the Thames, I see the sky open up horizon to horizon. Even this time of year the colour changes from slate grey to deep cerulean blue depending on the weather.

There's also a surprising amount of wildlife - today I saw squirrels in St Paul's courtyard and a pied wagtail on the bridge.

Beat that for a cure for the Winter Blues!

I'm SO jealous of your walk. London is such a gorgeous city. I loved just walking around and getting lost...