19 June 2020

My Apple Watch likes me to do at least 30min of exercise a day. In the couple of years that I’ve worn the watch though, it and I rarely agree about what constitutes exercise. I would like to assume that a good brisk walk with the dog would register highly in the exercise category, but the watch seems to think that if the dog stops to pee or sniff, it’s the equivalent of me reclining on the couch with a coffee and a plate of biscuits.

Anyway – I actively monitor how much exercise I register during the day – mainly to achieve the holy grail of ‘closing the rings’, which is Apple Watch lingo for achieving the correct amount of activity and exercise during the day.

I bring this up because I noticed this morning that I have a very detailed knowledge of how long my morning dog walks take.

There are a variety of set paths we can take on the morning dog walk, a whole gamut of routes available to me, from a bunch of ‘around the block’ options and a set river path. The late morning or afternoon river walks are a different option totally, and allow a lot more freedom of walking expression. But morning walks are primarily for exercise and dog-draining purposes.

Our morning options are:

The fast block – 10 min (this is the emergency block, when someone is coming over or you have to be out early – enough of a walk to drain the dog but not much more!)

Small block – 18min (there are two building sites to check progress on during this walk)

Medium block – 23 min (different two building sites to admire)

Large block – 25 min (building sites as per medium block but an added building site on this one)

XL block – 32 min (walk past large school so depending on the time of the day there could be lots of pats for the dog, or near misses from massive 4wd vehicles driven by harassed parents desperate to offload their beloved offspring)

River – 36 min, plus extra time if there’s nice photo opportunities, plus a bit more time for coffee stop on way home. I generally need to allow 45min just in case (scenery includes birds, lakes, river, joggers, dog walkers ++, chatty people, rubbish trucks, reflections on the water, and of course the holy grail along the river are dolphins 🐬)

But our walk along the river doesn’t seem to last that long!  I never get back from the river walk thinking I’ve done exercise! There are the same number of pee and sniff stops, but instead of staring at the dog thinking “good grief how long does it take to do a poo, for crying out loud! My watch is going to think I’ve stopped off for a massage!!!”, I tend to stand with poo bag in hand quietly waiting on the arrival of the log, and admire some reflections of a swan gliding quietly past.

And I tend not to worry about what my watch thinks about river walks. Strange, that.

Life is more bearable with some pretty scenery to admire.