By Megan Wilcox, APR, ThedaCare Media and Public Relations
You would think training for an athletic event would make it easy to hit 10,000 steps every day. That’s not necessarily the case.
“My running stride is much longer than my average; I thought I would have more steps from my runs, but that’s Ok,” says Chad Doran of WLUK who is training for the Fox Cities Half-Marathon in September. “The challenge makes running more fun because it gives me another goal to think about. I pay way too much attention to how many steps I take every day, but even when I don’t run I do all right.”
Chad, who is participating in the Pedometer Challenge sponsored by ThedaCare and ThedaCare Orthopedic Care runs anywhere from 3 to 6 miles and aims for three runs a week, and then adding an extra run every other week by the end of May. He also looks then to begin adding a mile each week to his “longer” run.
Getting in his runs was more difficult when the Challenge began back in early February. As the Challenge enters its final week, getting in those runs – and the recommended 10,000 daily steps – has gotten easier.
Emily Matesic of WBAY is training for the Cellcom Half-Marathon next month and notices on the days she doesn’t have runs planned that her daily step total plummets.
“Most days, my job isn’t very active. I spend a lot of time driving to stories and then sitting and writing them,” she says. “I need a treadmill desk.”
Kari Cassidy, manager of marketing and communications for the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, is preparing for an upcoming race: the Door County Half-Marathon this Saturday in Fish Creek.
For Judy Steffes of WTCH in Shawano, who is training for a 1,700-mile bike ride that will take her from Nova Scotia to West Bend and raise money for Alzheimer’s, it’s miles – not steps – that she pays attention, too.
“The pedometer does measure activity on the bike – it’s less than you expect – but I like bicycling so much I could be on the bike the whole day so my total easily climbs over the recommended 10,000 daily steps,” she says.
When the weather tops 40 degrees, Judy is outside riding her bike, usually 15 to 20 miles a day with her rides hitting the 80 to 100 mile mark on the weekends.
She’s also trying to do 10,000 military-style push-ups to earn a match for a $10,000 donation she received for her ride so she also does weight training and work on her core.
“The pedometer does not work so much on push-ups,” says Judy, who has so far gotten in nearly 5,000 push-ups and is confident of hitting her mark before her ride begins in June.
