gwennefarrell

This afternoon we are watching Spirited, the Apple TV holiday movie with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. This is after we spent the morning doing a deep clean of our kitchen (prepping for the upcoming holiday season). After we were finally done cleaning I thought I might as well put my laundry on to get it done during the movie. Since I was wearing my workout clothes and wanted them washed I decided I might as well put on my Xmas jammies. Why not as we are watching Spirited. My husband was not impressed and decided since I am already into the holiday season he might as well drag out the Xmas trees (yes we have 2). It took all of my ability to convince him we were not putting up the trees yet.

Yesterday I got to try my new treadmill for the first time. As I mentioned the other day it is very different from the old one and comes with 12 pre-set programs. My goal was that over the next 2 weeks I would get up to level 12 by simply moving up to the next program each day, on paper the speeds all seem pretty easy. First thing yesterday morning I started out on level 1 and I set it for 1 hour which gave me 20 three minute segments. I thought it was pretty easy, as a matter of fact the slower segments were too slow for me. Absolutely I should move up to the next level.

I did my 2nd walk after lunch yesterday. Yep, went up to level 2 because hey, I’m fit so this shouldn’t be a problem. I was going along doing pretty well when bam! I’m in the middle 3rd of the workout and the speed jumped up significantly. It was too slow for a jog but way faster than I am used to walking. Moreover, instead of just doing 1 segment at that speed it would do 2, give a 1 segment slight slow down, then back at it again. By time I got through that 3rd I was sweating away and thinking maybe I was a little ambitious thinking I could get through all the levels in 2 weeks. I finished up and realized that was the best workout I had done in weeks (I still haven’t been running as that pesky ankle is not quite ready yet though very close).

There was still a 3rd walk to be done yesterday and I realized there was no way I could do another walk at level 2. However, I didn’t really like the idea of doing level 1 again as it was too easy. So, I opted to do a combination of the pre-set program level 1 with manual control of the speed. That just simply meant when the segment speed dropped too low for me I would bump it up to a speed that was lower than the top speed in this level but higher than their easy segment speed. I got a much better workout than I had on the 1st walk without overdoing it.

Today I got back on the treadmill and thought I might as well do level 2 again so that I can build up. It was a little better today than yesterday but still tough. While normally Saturdays I only do 1 workout I decided to add in a 2nd one doing level 1 but again bumping up the speed when I felt it was too easy. Overall I was happy with the amount of zone minutes I got in and quite frankly I feel pretty good.

I should note, I do really like the new treadmill. It is more high-tech than the old one (probably because it is 20 years newer) and I have to say it is more comfortable and feels more stable. I think I’ll be happy using especially on cold and wet days though it will never replace walking/running outside.

I tried a new workout this morning, Zumba. I don’t know why I decided to try this since yesterday I had done an awesome workout video and had marked it as my favourite. But no, I had to push and try something different just in case there was something even better. Let me assure you, this was not a better workout. Yesterday’s had great cardio, was easy to follow and I felt so good when I was done. Today it was back to being an uncoordinated buffoon. Ok, time to stop experimenting and when needed use the workout that I really enjoyed.

So why was I doing a workout video today? Well, turns out even thought I had received an email saying my new treadmill would arrive yesterday, it did not. Then early this morning I got a text saying it was on a FedEx truck out of Delta and I was excited. Then I realized I still didn’t know when it was going to arrive. I went out for a walk after lunch and when I got home I had a text saying the treadmill had been delivered so I raced down to the garage where my husband and brother were just finishing up the assembly. Oooohhh, it is so shiny and new and way beyond what the old one was.

I diligently read the owner’s manual (which is very obviously translated from another language because some of the instructions are a struggle to understand) to learn about what the treadmill is capable of and I am thrilled. I then went down and started checking things out. First, I was able to enter my personal data into the system, gender, height, weight and was happy it still calculated my BMI in the normal range. I then figured out how to operate a manual program with me just setting a speed and time for a workout but I figure that may be boring. I then checked out the pretty knew digital screen to see all of the information that it was going to show me and I am very happy with everything.

One of the great things the new treadmill has is 12 pre-programmed workouts. These workouts start out as fairly easy and then increase up to the most difficult level. Each program has 20 sections of varying speeds and all start with a warm up and cool down. All I have to do is set the length of the workout. I determined what I needed to do set the time for 1 hour and have decided I am going to work through all 12 of the programs over the next 2 weeks. Since I am back to walking close to 3 hours per day by time I get to level 12 I will be up close to my peak fitness level. I do think tomorrow I’ll get through both levels 1 and 2 since in looking at the speeds they are pretty easy but I think that will give me a chance to get to know my new treadmill better.

I am so looking forward to using the new treadmill tomorrow as I have really been missing my early long walk the past week. Now I am all primed to get back at it.

This morning I tried a new workout video. While it was a little less cardio than what I would have liked, it was probably the most fun out of all the ones I have tried. I liked it because they warned what the next steps would be and taught you them at 1/2 speed before doing the full moves. As tomorrow is likely the last morning I need to do a video workout (the new treadmill arrives sometime tomorrow so note that Thursday’s blog will be all about the new toy) and I think I will do that one again.

Today was my bi-weekly volunteer gig where I facilitate a caregivers’ support group. These sessions have at times been brutal as I recognize how difficult it must be for so many of these people dealing with their partners who have dementia. But it has also been a huge learning opportunity for me as to what dementia can look like and how it can be handled. More importantly, what resources are available.

What I have learned about dementia is there is no normal. Often times one of the participants will say, my partner did this, is that normal. Well, it is normal for them. Yes there are certain traits that tend to appear with many forms of dementia but it is so individualized. I also learned that sometimes dementia is used as a catchall phrase. It actually is an umbrella term for the loss of cognitive functioning – thinking, remembering and reasoning. There are many forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal, Lewy Body, Vascular and mixed dementia which is a combination of two or more forms of dementia. Each has its own causes such as different protein buildups in the brain. However, it seems to me that most people touched by any of these just simply refer to it as dementia.

While obtaining help in caring for people with dementia can have its own challenges, help is out there. But what I have learned from my group is that they are so reluctant to use all of the help available. I think this is often because they feel the need to take care of their loved one as they know them better with everyone else. The problem is the person suffering from dementia needs to be registered in the system so that if there is suddenly an issue they are not delayed by the intake process. And, I think people need to be encouraged with the idea that accepting help is ok and takes nothing away from your committed support.

Today was probably one of the best sessions I have facilitated for this group. As always there were several heavy topics that were discussed and at the beginning of the session many emotions were basically analyzed. But then something happened, the discussion turned really light. For about 20 minutes at the end the talk was about walking pets, COVID weight gain, cracking jokes at ourselves and finally to cooking appliances. Seriously, there was a big discussion on the merits of the air fryer. This was the first time in any session I have been involved in that everyone seemed to walk out with a smile and saying how good they felt. Made me feel like I had just made a difference.

I went to an excellent event this morning. It was a volunteer appreciation event hosted by the seniors’ organization that I volunteer with. Not only did they provide an excellent meal, fun games, gifts and thank you’s but they also made sure every volunteer in attendance won a door prize. It really was a nice time.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new treadmill but I had to find something to do for my early morning routine that did not involve walking outside when it is below zero. I did some research on the internet and found all sorts of workouts on YouTube. They seem to have a large variety of styles, fitness levels and duration. Since our tv’s are all airplay compatible it is easy enough to cast the videos. I figured this might be a good way to get in some cross training.

I did my first one on Thursday and I decided I would try a 30 minute one. Yes, it was a decent workout but I found it a bit too much high impact. Moreover, there was far too much deep knee bending for my arthritic knee to handle. Today I decided to go in a different direction, a dance workout. Again I went with the 30 minute one to start with. I did find they didn’t spend enough effort on teaching the moves so I often felt like an uncoordinated buffoon but it was an awesome workout. By time it was over I was sweating like crazy. I also give them credit for the excellent cool down at the end.

Despite the uncoordinated buffoon feeling I really did enjoy the workout. It was kind of fun and I felt great afterwards. I think on Monday I am going to try a 45 minute dance workout. Who knows, when the new treadmill arrives maybe I’ll replace one of my daily walks with a dance workout.

Yet another cold morning in Metro Vancouver. My husband and I bundled up in our red plaid jackets and did the same with the dogs. The problem is the Corgi really doesn’t like her jacket and when I tried to get her to head outside she put her brakes on (trust me, for a dog her size she is incredibly strong). Once I had bribed her to head out we got to the street and brakes back on. Finally my husband got her going and on our walk we met our neighbour out walking her black lab mix who the Corgi loves. After a bit of play time between the dogs the neighbour commented on how cute we all were in our red plaid jackets. I realized that sadly we had become those type of pet owners that dress their dogs like their humans.

Tuesday my husband had worked for quite a while trying to get my treadmill back on track. He thought it was from the belts being loose so those were all tightened. He assured me the treadmill was working as he walked on it for a bit and he is heavier than I am. I got on the treadmill first thing yesterday morning and I got in about 10 steps before it quit. I reset it a few times and the same kept happening so I realized the end had come. After 2 decades, many of the years being used as a clothing rack, the treadmill would have to be replaced. I should note that over the last nearly 2 1/2 years that treadmill had put in a lot of hard work walking and running up to 15 km’s per day. It had certainly done its job.

So time to find a new treadmill that I could get fairly quickly. I had found one on sale at Best Buy which I thought would do the trick but it was still a pretty significant price. My husband decided we needed to shop around so we headed out to several places where we thought we might find what I needed. The first place was an outlet store and it had a treadmill for $460 which my husband thought was a decent price. However, I explained to him that the platform was too short so it would not be good for me to run on. We looked at a couple other places without any success.

The next step was scoping out Amazon to see if they had any to offer at a decent price. Trust me when I say I looked at dozens of potential treadmills but I had to make sure the platform was long enough, that it could be delivered within a week and that there were reviews I could look at to determine if it would be a good fit. I thought I had found one that would work but when I looked at the reviews it noted that while it worked fairly well for walking or light jogging it was not good for running or heavy duty walking. Well that nixed that one. After many hours guess what? I went back to the original one I had found at Best Buy and ordered it. I found the same brand and model on Amazon but it was $10 more and wouldn’t be delivered for several week.s

I received an email this morning that the new treadmill had been shipped and it should be here by next Wednesday. In the meantime I am walking outside weather permitting and when the weather isn’t great I have found some online cardio workouts that I will do to keep me going until the treadmill arrives.

Finally, I wanted to say goodbye to my old friend the dreaded treadmill. Thanks for helping me get healthy and fit, you may rest now.

Today did not start well. I went to do my morning walk on the treadmill because it was absolutely freezing out. Unfortunately the treadmill seemed to feel it needed a break and would stop every few minutes. After about the 5th time this happened I gave up. Instead, when it got lighter out I took the dogs for a walk. It was actually kind of cute because I had on my red plaid heavy coat and they had on their red plaid sweaters. Yes, I now wear clothing that matches my dogs’ clothing.

Here in the Metro Vancouver area the weater has gone from one extreme to another really quickly. Up until the middle of October we were still seeing temperatures in the 20’s each day. Then, we went to the torrential rain as the temperatures went more into the average level for this time of year. However, this week we have gone to freezing temperatures and even some snow. It was so bad yesterday morning (the wind making things worse) that my walking group opted to go for coffee rather than doing our walk. All of this is potentially taking away my motivation for working out because it means using the treadmill which you know I hate and besides, it is becoming really unreliable.

So, I have come up with a new strategy. I have always done my most intense workout first thing in the morning. That usually means running or lately at least a brisk walk. I realized looking at the weather for this week that I needed to make some adjustments to the order of my workouts. Yes, the weather is going to be cold this week but it is going to be clear. I decided the best solution would be to start with a treadmill walk first thing and then after lunch when it is the warmest out I could go for a run. That will keep me at the zone minutes I want to do each day but I won’t be horribly uncomfortable taking away any excuse not to do a good cardio workout.

Today will be my first day on this new schedule. I’ll be heading out around 12:30pm and according to my weather app it should be hovering around 0 which with the sun out should make for a nice run. I’ll let you know how it goes.

This week was a good week for workouts. I did about 3 hours for 5 days and today taking it down a notch to work on recovery I did 1 1/2 hours. I feel pretty good as I have met most of my goals each day. The only problem is that the treadmill is slowly dying and I really need to start looking in to replacing it. My only hesitation is the cost of buying a decent new one.

Today I went to the Celebration of Life for my Mom’s 1st cousin, Johnny Weston. Now this might seem an odd topic on health and fitness but I don’t think it is. Seriously, this was one of the best services I have ever been to the reason being, it was all about a kind, caring, honest gentleman. He was also the last of that generation of the Weston cousins and at 89 outlived them all. Every speech done at the COL just kept referring to him as a gentleman, and he truly was. That is how I have always thought of him, just kind and caring. That came through so much with the tributes from his children, grandson and nephew. All of them talked about how he touched the lives of so many people and always with a kind heart. I still remember the loving speech he gave at my Mom’s COL and how everyone in the room knew it was from the heart.

So how does this fit in with my journey? Well, a comment was made how Johnny always wanted to leave the world a better place. He wanted to help those who needed it. He wanted to surround his family with love and support (which he absolutely did). He wanted to be remembered as a good man. Seriously, that is what I strive for. I know I did it through my work as a union activist and even more so now as a dedicated volunteer for several organizations. But the bar I saw today is set so high I don’t know if I can ever achieve the status that he did. Still I want to think I can.

And so my gentleman cousin, go in peace. Know that you impacted so many people in a positive way. Know that so many of us want to be remembered in the same light you were. But most of all, find Ruthie, Mom, Doug and Chris and have the biggest cousin party ever imaginable.

So far this week I have had several good days of workouts. I am back to doing many walks each day and moreover, I realized my core exercises had kind of dropped off the radar so I have started including them into my daily routine again. I have to admit I am feeling pretty good about myself and I will be happy if I can do 5 days of multiple walks this week. I know Saturday I won’t get as much in as I am attending a Celebration of Light for a family member, however, I figure if I hit 90 km this week I will call it a success.

Only a couple weeks ago we were still experiencing summer like weather with temperatures still in the 20’s. Now, the mornings are barely making it past zero and it is about to get worse. Add to that we are about to have another atmospheric river starting today so my treadmill is also getting a work out. It’s not that I won’t go out in the cold, I just won’t go out in the cold when it is raining or, as it likely will be the beginning of next week, snowing (I’ve already reminded my seniors’ walking group that the rule is no walking when it is snowing regardless of the amount). So, time to get myself prepped to deal with the winter and not lose momentum.

I make sure that I am well equipped for the cold. I do this because just the thought of months of having to walk on the treadmill simply because it is cold makes me want to give up. Instead I make sure I am dressed so that I can be comfortable. It’s no different than trying to walk/run in the summer in that I wear clothing that will fit the climate. For the cold weather I tend to wear t-shirts for my workout combined with light weight exercise pants. I then layer up with my light weight, moisture wicking running jacket over which I wear my heavier running jacket (if I get too warm the outer jacket gets taken off and wrapped around my waist). I also add a toque and gloves to finish off the ensemble both of which can be removed and stuffed in a pocket if I start over heating. All of these items help to allow me to continue to be outdoors as much as possible but not freeze my butt off.

There is a new item that I am trying this year, a running vest. Now this is the first time I will be trying this but I often notice during colder weather that runners tend to wear a long sleeved shirt (of in my case my light weight running jacket) cover by a vest. I decided I am going to give that I try next week to see if that keeps me warm enough. If nothing else it will make me look kind of stylish.

Please note, I may not be posting on Saturday due to the COL that I am attending as I have a feeling it will be a long day of visiting relative many of whom we have not seen in nearly 3 years. If I get a chance I will post but don’t expect to see anything.

Another fun Halloween has passed. Our household all got dressed up and instead of the kids coming to the door for their treats we were outside on the front lawn with a propane fire going to keep us warm. This was great as it meant I didn’t have to climb up and down the stairs all night. Most of the adult neighbours gathered at our end of the street once their kids had collected all of their candy and while the adults chatted the kids were in the garage next door watching a movie. We saw lots of great costumes and of course my favourites are always the younger kids who look so adorable.

I’m sure you noticed that I went offline for a bit last week. My husband and I decided to head to our trailer for one last trip this year. Of course, the weather was terrible with massive amounts of rain most of the time. Because the resort where we have our trailer is near the mountains we tend to get far more rain than what we see at home. Given the weather I decided I was going to do nothing. Well, not quite true as I did get out for a walk on one morning when it wasn’t pouring out.

Really, I did nothing. For me this is the unlikeliest of scenarios because I always seem to be doing something. Not this time, I took 3 full days and just relaxed. I actually got to watch some TV and several movies. Seriously, I usually only watch about 5 hours of TV during an entire week and I watched more than that each day at the trailer. I admit the downside of this was giving me more time to obsess with reading Twitter but that was to be expected.

I have been crazy busy since I got back from Mexico. First it was dealing with the local election after which I had to start working on the ridiculous number of financial reports I am going to have to file with Elections BC. For that I have to make sure everything is balanced down to the last penny (which it is). Add on top of that completing work for an existing client as well as setting things up for the new client all while working out several hours a day and doing volunteer work and I think I was just exhausted. So, doing nothing for the first time in a couple years actually felt right for me and I feel better for having done it. Yesterday I was back at it at full speed and am doing the same today. Thinking about it I realize that it probably gave me more strength to keep working hard.

Oh, and unlike all the other times I spend at the trailer I didn’t do any of the cooking. To me that just demonstrates that I literally did nothing.

Well, the rain definitely arrived, especially over the last couple days. Yesterday I got up and it was just pouring out. The problem (or so I thought) was that I didn’t have my treadmill properly set up. It wasn’t until later when I commented on it to my husband, he advised he had already done that for me knowing I was going to need to start using it soon. It was still ok since I did a good walk with my seniors’ group so still hit my goals.

Today was another treadmill day. I got up, had breakfast and headed to the garage. The first problem I encountered was that I couldn’t figure out how to pair my earbuds to my iPad (I always watch something on my iPad when I am using the treadmill). I went back to using my AirPods (I find sometimes they slip out of my ears when I am doing a heavy workout so I prefer the earbuds which are meant for runners) and about 5 minutes into my warm up the treadmill stopped. Seriously, it just stopped mid stride. I could hear the motor running but the platform was not moving. Dammit, there went my walk.

I have to say this is not the first time this treadmill has done this. Usually if you turn the power off and leave it for a bit it will work again. It did that today and a few hours later I was able to get a walk done. The problem is it makes me quite leery about using it so when I did do my walk I held on to one of the rails just in case (trust me you don’t want to be running and have the treadmill suddenly stop). Now I do have to admit, my best estimate is that this treadmill is about 20 years old and spent many years operating as a clothing rack. We have certainly gotten our money’s worth out of it in the past few years and I realize it might be coming to its end of life.

I started doing some casual looking to see prices for a new treadmill. I decided I want to improve the capability that the next one will have compared to the current one. For example, I want one that offers automatic incline, that has programable workouts and offers a longer running platform. Boy was I shocked at the first few I saw. I looked a little further and found a few that would be ok and that were affordable but I’m not sure I want something that is just ok. I’ve decided to look at this as investing in my future fitness, what is going to make me keep doing this work for as long as possible. Yes, I will have to lay out some money but maybe it will be one of the best investments that I can make for my future. Maybe, this is just going to be the cost of staying healthy.

I guess it is a good thing I picked up a new client yesterday. Hopefully with this ongoing work I can justify the money I am going to be spending soon.