We are exactly one month since we did our Provincial election. My role in this has been that of the Financial Agent for one of our candidates. Yes, it now seems every time we have some sort of election I end up the financial agent. This time though I was doing a lot of the work from our condo in Mexico. Still, having enough experience now means it is not that much of a challenge. Today I happily learned that our books will not have to be audited which is awesome. Now if I can just get the last bill submitted then I can file all my elections reports.
First winter storm of the season (yes I know it is still fall) is about to land. As a matter of fact in some cities in Metro Vancouver last night they had snow. But the one about to come through is being called a bomb cyclone. That means we are about to get hit with massive winds and lots of rain (I see the treadmill being used tomorrow). It will also bring on a bit of a cold front with the temperature feeling like close to zero.
I’ve been watching the weather and plan on doing what I can to be able to continue walking outdoors. I have picked up some leggings to where underneath my sweatpants. I have added more layers under my jacket. I have been wearing a toque for a while. I also have pulled out the heavy duty gloves and likely will start adding hand warmers to them. Finally today I even put on a small neck gaiter (note to self, need a much bigger, warmer one). I have even started wearing thicker socks to keep my feet warm.
But we are prepared in other ways. While normally the windows in our bathrooms are cracked open a small amount as there are no exhaust fans in them, those have been closed to avoid really cold air being blown in. I have checked the batteries in our lanterns and all is good. We always ensure we have non-perishables stored away though we are lucky that we have a gas stove allowing us to cook during a power failure. And everything else that needs to be battened down has been. Overall I think we are ready.
So, bracing ourselves for the weather ensures we are as prepared as possible to endure a bomb cyclone. The only thing I don’t have the ability to prepare for is if the storm is raging and the power is out tomorrow morning. That would mean no outdoor walking nor treadmilling. It actually might also mean I simply roll over and go back to sleep.
Yesterday I did my normal 10km walk at 7am and quickly realized it was quite chilly. Now I do tend to layer clothing this time of year so had on a long sleeved t-shirt followed by a fleece pullover and then my reflective jacket. I also had on gloves and my reflective toque. However, I just had on my normal walking pants and my legs got pretty cold quickly. And so seeing that it was going to be really brisk this morning I want and bought a pair of leggings (which were on sale quite cheap) and this morning set off wearing those under a pair of sweatpants. Boy was I glad I did that because it was at freezing level. I also changed out my gloves from being a light pair of magic gloves to a thick pair. While my face was still pretty cold the rest of me was good.
Yesterday I got to the gym and realized that I had what felt like a stich on my left side. I figure it was likely because I had slept in an awkward position. Despite the slight pain I still managed to get through the class and actually pushed myself a bit. But then I got to thinking about it and realized I often have some sort of pain particularly in my joints. Don’t get me wrong, I have lived with having pain in my bad knee for more than 3 decades. Then of course is the spinal stenosis which manifests in my shoulders. And now I have that whole ankle issue happening. But there are different aches and pains going on.
Today was Power Hour which is one of my favourite classes. At one point we were doing high pulls and I all of a sudden recognized that my left elbow hurt when I did that movement (I switched to shoulder presses). In thinking of it I acknowledged that this wasn’t the first time I had felt that pain. As a matter of fact I sometimes feel pain in most of my joints. I’m not sure with this one if it is tendonitis or maybe more arthritis (I know I have arthritis in the bad knee as well as in my shoulders). But then it hit me, I’m actually getting old.
As of last Sunday I am 14 months away from turning 60. I guess I have to deal with the fact that I am heading towards being a senior soon. Whoa, not sure how that happened. But knowing that I am not 18 anymore I realize that I am likely just having the normal aches and pains that come with aging. Are they going to stop me from doing what I am doing? Hell no! I truly believe that if I keep moving it will stave off even worse pain. Moreover, I like the idea of being a super fit senior.
And so I will just keep doing the moaning, groaning and creaking every time I get up. I will also keep going to my fitness classes and walking because those are the things that tend to make me feel good.
We’ve had horrible weather the past few mornings. Of course that means I had to use the treadmill. I did about 1 hour 15 minutes on it yesterday and as usual hated it. Today it was an hour and then I thought maybe try the recumbent bike. And so I tried that which of course meant using a whole new set of muscles. That was really not the problem, it was it is just as boring as using the treadmill. Sigh, I hate it when we are in the rainy season.
This past week grief has been everywhere. It started with recognizing that it has been 5 months since my brother passed away. That in itself is hard enough as I still miss him. Then Saturday we went to a gathering for our neighbour’s father who ironically had the same 1st name as my brother. We didn’t know him well but since we adore his son and his family there was no way we would miss it. 2 days later that same neighbour let us know that at the Remembrance Day ceremonies the Legion called out my brother’s name as someone that was lost this year. To top it all off a former co-worker passed away.
So you would think that would be enough to deal with but no, there was more. Tuesday I received a text that a former BC Premier, John Horgan, had passed away that morning. John was an extremely popular premier and many people in BC are mourning his loss. But for me it went deeper than that. John and I worked together on many issues within the energy industry when he was the official Energy Critic. We became good friends and so his passing at age 65 was just another hit for the week.
Again I thought I was done but fate would have just one more to pile on. It wasn’t that someone else had passed rather it was a memory on FaceBook that 10 years ago today my sister found her partner dead in his apartment after having suffered a heart attack during the night. Her partner was actually a friend of mine before they got together and my heart broke when we lost him Sadly that reminder just added on to the weight of the grief I was feeling this week.
But, it’s ok. We are taking my sister out for a drink this afternoon and we will take a moment and celebrate all of them. I am not letting all of this get to me today, instead I am going to remember the good times with each of them because really it is time to just take in the fond memories.
Ok, time for this week’s goal because I crushed last week’s goal. Yes, an average of 3 hours of workouts each day. So what to do this week? Frankly I have been lax in my fibre intake so this week my goal is to increase it by at least 25%. Let’s see how that goes.
So Monday is Remembrance Day here in Canada and I realized that for me it is time to do some reflection. Moreover today was the remembrance for my neighbour’s Dad. I’m going to start with that. Our heart broke when we learned our friend’s Dad had passed having been through this so recently. It was such an amazing open house today with great food and wine. The speech our neighbour did to remember his Dad made me have tears in my eyes. Ironically, our neighbour’s Dad had the same name as my brother so each time we toasted it was to the Drews.
Monday is Remembrance Day which has always been a big deal to my family because our Dad was a WW II veteran. Normally we would all go celebrate at the local Legion with a bunch of our friends. But this year we have decided it is time to make new memories. We will not be going to the Legion but rather some local craft beer places. We will spend the day remembering those that we have lost but more importantly what Dad did for our country.
And so this year we will remember all of those we have lost this year as well as in the past. I’ll end this on saying, thanks Dad, because of you I have the freedoms I have this now.
As I was leaving the gym yesterday the instructor told everyone if they were as down as she was over Tuesday night they should take a page out of my book and go for a long walk (I did do this and it didn’t help all that much). She also suggested we all do a self care day and stay off of social media. And so for the first time in I don’t know how long I intentionally avoided both FB and X. You know, I am kind of glad I did. As an added bonus I sat on the couch reading a book after dinner which is something I haven’t done at home for a long time.
Tuesday I was out doing a walk to a community service office where I do my Caregivers’ Support Group sessions. On my way I was at an intersection with traffic lights and entered the crosswalk when the white lighted walking symbol came on. I noticed as I was crossing a large group of children (I’d say 8 or 9 years old) coming towards me. As I stepped up on to the curb on the opposite side I looked up and the hand flashing signal was now on and it showed 11 seconds remaining. Much to my astonishment the teacher leading the first group of children led them into the crosswalk anyways. Then a second teacher led her group into the crosswalk when there was only 6 seconds remaining. Not all of the children managed to get to the other side of the crosswalk before the traffic lights changed.
I was disgusted by those teachers. Leading those children into a risky situation is just not acceptable. Not only were they putting them in danger but they were also teaching them that this kind of behaviour is ok. Needless to say I have sent an email to the school advising them of what happened. I should note there were two other groups but their teachers correctly opted to wait for the next light before crossing.
Pedestrian safety is not just about keeping yourself safe from drivers who are distracted or who ignore the rules, it is also about pedestrians obeying the rules. Having said that, let’s review what the signals on crosswalks indicate. 1) the white lighted walking symbol means it is safe to enter the crosswalk. Actually it is the only symbol that allows you to do so. 2) the red flashing hand with the seconds counting down indicates it is not safe to enter the crosswalk and the seconds indicate how long those already in the intersection have to finish crossing. 3) the solid red hand is clear, DO NOT ENTER the crosswalk. These are simple signals designed to keep pedestrians safe but also to allow those turning right on a green light to be able to do so.
So when you are out walking think about your responsibility when using a crosswalk and for god’s sake, obey the signals.
Yesterday when I got up at 4am the weather was terrible. I headed off to the gym as usual but when I was coming back home I swear the wind and rain were even worse. Of course being Monday it is walk day with the seniors. However, I took the stance that given all the debris flying around it simply was not safe to walk which trust me the seniors all agreed to immediately. Still got my daily hour workout in which of course is this week’s goal.
So today was a new class at the gym. Normally on Tuesdays we do a strength and mobility class (we do the same on Wednesdays just with a different instructor). Last week the Tuesday instructor announced she was shaking things up and going to more of a bootcamp style class. While I like the strength and mobility classes, bootcamp classes tend to have more cardio which I really like. I was actually looking forward to trying this class and I am happy to report it lived up to my expectations.
The new name for the Tuesday 5:30am class is Reboot (Rebecca’s Bootcamp). While this was not a step class we did make good use of the step platforms. In total we did 3 rounds of a a group of exercises. You would do the group for 40 seconds with a 10 second rest and repeat this 3 times. Then in between round 1 and 2 and then again between 2 and 3 it was a 2 minute cardio set. What I liked about today was each group had an intense focus on a group of muscles. The leg section was amazing with many squats being done using the step platforms. The group with arms allowed me to challenge myself and instead of doing triceps kickbacks I instead did full on triceps dips from the bench. Let me assure you that the 3rd time doing those and my triceps were screaming. And finally was the core section which I always find the most challenging.
Now don’t get me wrong, most of the instructors in whatever class I attend ensures you work all your muscles. I think this one was different to me because there were several new exercises thrown into the mix and the significant use of the step platform.
Overall I really enjoyed this change and I can’t wait to see what we are going to do next week.
Yesterday I had no choice, I had to walk on the treadmill. It was pouring rain and was cold most of the day. I know I can’t do 2 consecutive hours on that boring piece of equipment so I split it up into 2-1 hour walks and hated every minute of it. After that I opted to give up for the day (ok I was able to get in another 1/2 hour walk when the weather cleared later in the afternoon) though then felt bad because my goal this week was an average of 3 hours of walking each day Monday to Friday. However, when I added up the hours I had actually achieved that goal and will get in another 3 hours today.
I’ve come to realize that I need to go back to setting weekly goals for myself. To me this really helps keep me focused on where I want to be. I seem to stay on track much better when I have something that I want to achieve. I want to feel my own sense of accomplishment when I have done what I set out to do. Sure I could just set a goal every day but I find that less challenging, I want something i have to complete for the full 7 days.
Now there is a downside to this, I have a tendency to beat myself up if I miss achieving a goal. I often let it get into my head that I have failed. To avoid this I try to set goals that are realistic but challenging. Knowing what my schedule is like for the next few weeks I have to tailor my goals to not put so much mental pressure on myself that I get stressed. I really was good at doing this for about 9 months when I started at the fitness centre but somehow I let it slide.
This week’s goal is realistic, at least 1 hour of exercise every day. I’m starting with this one because I have gotten a little complacent about Sundays. It started happening in Mexico but then stuck around so that last Sunday when the alarm rang I just turned it off and went back to sleep. Let me assure you 6 days a week I do my fitness classes and then walking so Sunday I give myself a bit of a break but I need to do something.
And so tomorrow, which is when I consider the week starting, whatever time I get up (likely early because of the time change) I am going to head out for an hour walk. I also think but putting my weekly goals here you can also hold me accountable to them.
Yet again this morning I nearly got mowed down in an intersection. Some guy just rolled right on through the stop sign despite me being in the intersection. Now ironically later on while it had become lighter out and I was walking on the promenade a lady stopped me to say how no one could possibly miss me with the clothing I was wearing. You see, I had on my bright yellow reflective running jacket and a bright orange reflective toque. And yet, that fellow couldn’t see me at a well lit intersection. Hmm, I hope that extra 3 seconds he gained was worth it.
I have to give the instructors at my fitness centre credit. Please remember that I go there 6 days each week for some sort of fitness class. I do strength and mobility, bootcamp, circuit and whatever else they have on offer. I admit a lot of the exercises are the same. For example, bicep curls happen in pretty much every class. Some sort of tricep kick back will happen and I know that every time we are doing some form of a sit up. But you know, these ladies are so good at mixing it all up and keeping it interesting.
For example, strength and mobility yesterday was all Halloween themed. It was also a lot of fun because you got to work with a partner. I really liked the ‘pumpkin toss’ where we had to throw a medicine ball at each other. Today it was 10/31 (you know, Oct 31st for Halloween). There were 10 exercises and in each one you had to do 31 reps. Yes, that meant I did 31 consecutive burpees as well as 31 consecutive pushups. I have to say I thought it was a lot of fun.
The one thing I can always say is these classes are interesting. I think that is really important because I know if they become routine and boring I likely would stop attending. Instead I enter the fitness centre each day anxious to look at the white board to see what is in store for me. I am really excited that next Tuesday the instructor has told us she is really changing things up so I can’t wait to take that class.
So to all of them, thanks for keeping it interesting.
So yesterday I was at the gym and decided that if I really am back to being committed to my health and fitness then it is time to toss away my fears and get to work. It started with doing snatches which is where you bend down with a heavy weight and pull it up along the front of the body and using power from you legs you ‘snatch’ it up in the air until your arm is straight. Despite just having come off more than six weeks of only using 10lb weights I thought screw it and grabbed a 20lb weight. Then it was time to do burpees (too difficult to explain so if you don’t know what they are please google them). Usually I do these using a bench so that I am not going right down to the ground but I reminded myself commitment time and so for the first time I did full on burpees! Actually I did 21 of them. The only thing that had been holding me back was fear of failure, guess that is no longer and issue.
Today was the caregivers’ support group that I help facilitate. It was quite a rough one today as one of the participants is going through a really tough time. It was so obvious that they are more than just anxious, they are under a huge amount of stress. Of course the group immediately tried to support this person in any way they could and we are looking at finding some resources so that they get some more help.
One of the topics that came up as part of the discussion was how stress doesn’t just impact you mind but also your body. I know I did post about this quite a while ago but I think it is worth mentioning again. I can remember before I became educated about stress thinking like many of my co-workers, that if someone went off on ‘stress’ leave they must be faking it or that they were weak. Now to those I kind of comments I say BS!!!! I worked extremely hard to rebrand the notion of ‘stress’ leave to what it actually is, sick leave due to stress related illness. Trust me it was an uphill battle to convince people that stress can be a physical illness and regardless about what you think about someone it is very real. I truly hope with some of the courses I facilitated that I was able to remove some of the stigma around this illness and I know I have continued to work on the perspective of people who still look at this type of sick leave with distain.
Here is the reality, stress manifests itself in many different ways. In one of the courses I used to facilitate we would post a large outline of a body on the wall. We would then give participants coloured stickers and ask them to place them on the body in places they feel impacted when they are under stress. It was quite eye opening for many of them to see that stress is felt all over the body whether that be in tense/sore muscles, headaches, nerve pain or even nausea. Very few people in those courses really talked about stress in terms of mental impact (though that is of course also true) but rather they realized it can absolutely be a physical illness.
6 years ago when I was going through a very difficult time in my life dealing with both my siblings in ICU’s in critical condition, a friend convinced me to go see a doctor to make sure I was ok. The doctor ran a bunch of blood work and even ordered an ECG. While I acknowledge that this was also how I was diagnosed as diabetic what truly frightened me was all sorts of other abnormal results. Fortunately this doctor had known me and my family for years so when we went through the results he calmly explained to me the ones that were likely being impacted my the massive amount of stress that I was under. Apparently he was right since 3 months later everything but my blood glucose was back to normal.
The bottom line is stress will take a serious toll on your body. I realize that my method of obsessive walking may not be for everyone but there are other things you can do to manage your own stress. Really, you can exercise, read a book, listen to music, talk to a friend, hell some people tell me they find cooking lowers their stress. But find something that we allow you mind and body to turn away from your stress even for a short period. The results are so worth it.
This past week at 2 gym classes it has been brutal on my abs. We have done some pretty intense ab workouts and I have really been feeling it. So today, the instructor decided to torture me (ok, I acknowledge she had no idea my abs were sore). At the end of the class she had us do a new form of Bring Sally Up, you laid on the mat and every time they said bring Sally up you had to raise your legs then for bring Sally down you did leg drops (bring you legs down but you don’t let your feet hit the floor). Of course while doing this you have to maintain you core which means keeping your back flat on the ground. By the end of that exercise my abs were absolutely on fire! Good thing I am not doing a class tomorrow.
I was listening to the weather forecast for the weekend and realized there was very little chance that I would be out walking 1st thing this morning (read 5am). I kept my fingers crossed but when I got up at 4am I could hear the rain pounding down. Damn, I thought, I’m going to have to hit the treadmill. Now we had prepared for this because our garage is in a bit of mess right now owing partly because of stuff loaned to our recent election campaign that has not been properly put away yet. As well, all the cushions off of patio furniture were on the treadmill (because I really do prefer it to be a storage space). I had also asked my husband to set up our ExPat TV box on the TV in the garage so that I could watch something good while walking on the treadmill.
Why do I hate the treadmill so much? Because it is boring! I so much prefer being outdoors, taking in the sights and listening to a good book. There is nothing better than walking along our promenade people, dog and various bird watching while I am getting my steps in. On the treadmill you are just plodding along in place with nothing in your view changing. Ok, it helps if I can find a good distraction on the TV but unfortunately my husband forgot to hook up the ExPat TV and our Ruko on that TV decided not to work. My only option was to listen to a book and sadly the one I currently have on the go is really not that interesting. On top of all of that the treadmill only likes doing one hour at a time so I couldn’t get my 2 hour walk in before the gym. Dammit, I hate that thing.
Things were looking up by time I got home from the fitness centre, it had stopped raining so I got in an hour walk outdoors which made me happy. But here’s the reality, it is that time of year when the weather is turning south which means I am just going to have to be prepared to reorganize my schedule to get 2 hours in on the treadmill if necessary. Not ideal but as much as I hate that thing it will help me keep going until the end of December when I go back to Mexico. It’s only for a couple months and I will whenever possible get my walks in outdoors.
So, I’ve got it in my head that I am back on the dreaded treadmill if need be. Hopefully that need won’t be too much.
gwennefarrell 