Thousands of Lights and Thousands of Steps at Garden Lights

All the steps!

Last year we were rained out on the last night of Garden Lights at The Atlanta Botanical Gardens. This year it was a beautiful night to explore the lights! I was excited about the lights but I have to admit I was even more excited to see how many steps I could complete.

Parking

We paid waaaay too much for parking. If you time it correctly you can get $10 parking onsite. Parking clears out in waves, when we drove by it was full, by the time we walked back the lot was open again. You can try and find street parking but this event draws a pretty big crowd, street parking is scarce. But, I'm not too mad, the walk from the lot started our night out with +2K bonus steps.

Walking the Garden 

The light displays were gorgeous, my 2 favorites were the "Ice Goddess" and the "Orchestral Orbs".  The "Orchestral Orbs" were synchronized to all of my favorite holiday songs. I could have sat and watched the Orbs all night long.

Orchestral Orbs and Skyline Photos

The garden seems huge. Every turn we take I want to double back and make sure I haven't missed anything. There are trains, a smore's station, music, and moving lights. So much to take in.

The Ice Goddess, Festive Drinks, and Group Photo

Mom and Anthony sipped on hot chocolate, I went a lil more festive with the "Rudolph": champagne with a splash of cranberry and fresh cranberry garnish. That kept me warm the rest of the night. 

+2K steps to Garden, +3K steps through Garden, +2K steps to the car

Fitgeek Features

• Beautiful lights
• 90 minutes of leisure activity
• Fun with family
• More than 7K total steps

We saw thousands of beautiful lights and we logged thousands of steps in the process. A great way to combine family time, the holidays, and some physical activity. 

What is your favorite way to mix fitness and the holidays?

Health and Happiness,

L

Stuff I Love: Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor

This is my newest toy.  Last year my FT1 battery finally died, right at the end of my Thanksgiving Half Marathon, and rather than replace it, I decided it was time to upgrade.  Hello Polar FT7!!!

The FT1 was a great starter monitor.  it has one touch button and tracks your max heart rate and allows you to program your heart rate range.  It allows you a recent workout recall but does not have long term data memory storage.

Why I LOVE my FT7

Heart Rate Ranges:  I have the ability to set my target Heart Rate Zone and I get a visual reminder where my heart rate is throughout my session.  Visual fat burn(low intensity) and fitness zone markers.  Fat burn on the FT7 is anything les than the HR required to get into your cardio conditioning zone (60% to 90% THRR).

Coded Monitor: Less cross talk between my monitor and other devices.  i used to run into the problem of picking up someone else's heart rate on my receiver with the old device.  This happens a lot less often with the new device.  also the newer monitor devices use a cloth strap so they are much more comfortable than the old school hard plastic polar.

Calorie Track:  This was my main motivator for buying the device.  Sure there are formulas to estimate your caloric burn, but they rely heavily on your heart rate.  So if your heart rate or the intensity you are working continually varies it makes it hard to calculate the calories you burn.  you can enter your age, weight, sex, and height, for the most accurate calorie tracking.

Data Storage: The FT7 can hold up to 99 files!  As well as weekly training data.  This way you can have a record of all your workouts within a given micro cycle (4 to 6 week training session)

Data Transfer:  This is the feature I am looking forward to investing in next.  The FT7 has a transfer device.  With the polar flow link you can upload all your data to polarpersonaltrainer.com and get a visual depiction of how your workouts have progressed.

Are you currently using a device to track your workout?
What kind of device do you use?
What do you love about it?

Post to the comment section

Health and Happiness

L