If you asked anyone what my first DailyKos diary would be, they'd tell you it would be a call to action about a progressive campaign, or an oration in which I call upon the Republican party to give itself a Viking funeral. But that's not to be.
Instead, this will be a simple and basic diary chronicling the single greatest purchase I've ever made in my life. A treadmill desk.
I've been using a standing desk for about the last year, and I'd been loving it. I was more engaged with work, productive, and was really enjoying a more physical engagement with my work. The major problem that I had was the feeling of all the blood in my body pooling in my legs. Nothing really medically wrong, just an unpleasant feeling. Bouncing on your toes only went so far.
About two months ago, I was reading Mashable, and saw them reviewing a treadmill desk. I thought it was insane for a second, "How could anyone type while walking? That's stupid."
Then I started working from home for Daily Kos. I'm a classic extrovert, and so sitting at home was driving me a little nuts. Even though I got to assist in the smackdown of idiotic Republicans (see, I couldn't resist), it wasn't enough to keep me up and going. So I figured I'd spring for the treadmill desk, and go for it.
On Monday, August 6th, it arrived. Two (big) boxes weighing in at about 120lbs apiece. I managed to haul them up the spiral staircase to my home office.
Setup was simple, easy, and involved no tools beyond the socket wrench and allen wrench that came with the unit. 12 bolts later, the desk was standing.
I've been keeping a quick log of daily hours and miles walked (started adding in calories at various points):
20 minutes (.2 miles)
Feeling slight heart rate increase, and definitely noticing improved posture over standing desk
Tried going above .5 MPH, totally failed at working. Slightly afraid of tripping and falling down the stairs, so we'll need to work on that.
30 minutes (.34 miles)
Breaking for lunch, no noticeable tiredness, definitely more alert. Must remember to have water.
Back on, have discovered minor detail, there's no automagic upload process for tracking mileage.
OK, back to the block.
Reset the clock for the afternoon
38 minutes (.67 miles)
Definitely starting to feel the impact on my feet, going to need better running shoes to walk in (my existing ones kinda stink)
1 hour 1.07 miles
Taking a break, definitely need lots of water. After burning 192 calories and updating salesforce...this is kind of amazing. time for a break
2 hours (1.71 miles)
Still going strong, sent a lot of email, updated salesforce a lot. Seem to still be productive. Definitely noticing some crankiness in my knees. Tomorrow there will be purchase of new running shoes.
Two bottles of water into the day, even though I'm not sweating, I'm definitely feeling it. Probably getting ready to chill out. Maybe I'll watch some olympics livestream while watching later.
3 hours 11 minutes (2.7 miles)
Ok, I'm tired. stayed focused and on point all day. But this is probably my limit for now. I've been going at .9 mph for a while and seem to be able to stabilize around that. Well, back to it tomorrow.
Day 2
1:23, 1.28 miles
Hips are a little sore from yesterday, odd pacing I think, and I'm just not used to the right stride. I've been messing around with speeds, to see what works, and honestly .9-1.1 mph seems to be a little better than really slow. There's less rocking back and forth.
3:35 minutes (688 calories) 3.9 miles
So that was a day. I'm now tired, my hips hurt, and I'm sweating a bit. But that was awesome.
Day 3.
Had to start slow, planning on stretching during each day, and at the end to keep my hips from feeling so tight.
I think it has something to do with the unnaturally slow gait while walking. It actually got better yesterday while I was going faster, but we'll see.
Took a few breaks during the day, but actually tried pumping up the speed for chunks of it.
3 hours 4.43 miles
Typing was slightly more difficult above 1.4mph, but it seems to have leveled out my gait, which simplified other things, and made my hips hurt less.
That, or the stretching just worked.
Overall, very high energy level, feeling productive still, even with the slight soreness lingering, and the building "ow" in my feet.
NB: going above 1.5mph leads to sweating over time, so probably not great for an office environment, but the home office can handle it just fine.
Back on for a quick bit after dinner.
4 hours, 6.25 miles 900 calories.
this is getting kind of addictive. I'll admit, the after dinner shift was for some netflix, but still, totally fun.
So that brings us to the end of Wednesday night. I'm getting back on in the morning, and really looking forward to it. I love my job, and now I even love my desk.
-@mckennamiller
