For well over a year now I’ve been using a toss-a-coin app to help determine my walking route. This is the ‘T’ post for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.
Walking has been my main form of exercise for a few years now. I played netball for a number of years as a child and then teenager. Indoor netball was something I did for a few years when my children were younger. I also participated in Pilates for a few years. At times I would add skipping or using exercise DVD’s to my routines. However, walking is what I’ve done most consistently.
For a number of years I had a set walking route but it would be easy to make excuses not to walk. I thought that it could be more challenging to walk a few different routes. Then I remembered the coin hikes we used to do occasionally as Girl Guides.
A coin hike is where you go for a walk but toss a coin at each corner to determine which way to go. I thought this could be a could way to determine my route but didn’t really want to stop and toss a coin at every corner.
When I searched coin toss apps on my phone I found a few. The one I have used lets you choose the currency of your coin. As I’m Australian I’ve chosen the Australian Dollar. Once the app is open you can click on the screen to toss the coin or simply move the phone to toss the coin. Unfortunately as you walk with the app open the coin keeps tossing.
When I first started to use the app to determine my walking route I would store about 5 tosses in my head and then stop at the appropriate corner to press for the next 5 directions. Now I do most of the determining at home as I know most of the streets in my area. I think about the route in my head as I use the app. Usually I walk for about half an hour before heading home. The boundaries to my walking area are 4 major roads in the area which I don’t cross making it quite a large rectangular area that I could potentially walk in.
When I use the app I say heads = left & tails = right. At a crossroads I toss twice so heads, heads = left; head, tails = straight ahead; tails heads = straight ahead and tails, tails = right.
Watch the video below to see me on a walk explaining a little bit about how I choose my route:
I have found that using a toss-a-coin app to determine my walking route has kept me motivated to keep walking, much more than walking the same route everyday. I’ve also gotten to know more of my neighbourhood streets as I walk down streets that I wouldn’t normally drive down. Also, I’ve found out where all the shortcut walking paths go between 2 streets. Our area (well most of Brisbane) is quite hilly so this way I also walk up hills that I wouldn’t normally walk up. Also I’m not walking up or down hills; or on the road, path or grass at the same part of my walk each day. This means my body doesn’t get as used to the same patterns. I enjoy the variation in my walks and not knowing what I’m going to see each day.
One downside is that I don’t really get to talk to the same people each day. Although I do say “hello” as I pass someone I don’t often see the same people each day. I also walk at slightly different times which is another reason for not seeing the same people.
What sort of exercise do you do? How do you stay motivated?
What fun way to take a walk.