gwennefarrell

Well, it looks like on top of my new volunteer gig that I will be starting in November (walking dogs for local seniors) I am picking up a new client. This one came a bit out of the blue but a friend gave a charity (involved in the labour movement) my name as a potential bookkeeper. I have now sent them my proposal and am just waiting for their Board to approve me. I’m pretty sure it will go through as I looked at who was on the Board and the vast majority of them know me. What this means though is I’m going to have to stop doing any additional volunteer work as my time is going to be pretty much maxed out.

There was a great article in the local daily paper today about why BMI may become irrelevant. It started with a discussion with an orthopedic surgeon who talked about how the standard is not to do surgery on people with a BMI (Body Mass Index which measures your weight compared to your height, a standard since 1972) over 40 (extremely obese). The surgeon felt that this is not a proper measure and other experts acknowledge that BMI does not take into account the overall health of an individual nor does the protocol look at the risk in conjunction with the pain and immobility the patient might be experiencing. This particular surgeon was willing to perform surgeries on persons with a high BMI as long as the risk assessment merited the surgery.

The article went on to discuss how BMI does not take into account other important health factors such as where fat is located, cholesterol levels, blood fat levels, etc all of which are indicators of metabolization levels. Instead, some experts feel that with all of these things doctors should start looking at the WHR. WHR is waist to hip ration (studies have shown carrying more belly fat puts you at higher risk for diabetes and heart disease to name a few) which is simply waist size divided by hip size. The recommendation is for the ratio to be 0.90 or less in men and 0.85 or less in women. While the article acknowledged it is unlikely BMI is going away anywhere soon as it is so entrenched in the medical system, doctors are encouraged to look at other measurements to determine overall health.

While I enjoyed reading this article at the end I thought great, another thing for my paranoid mind to obsess about. Even though I am struggling to lose the pounds I have gained since my husband retired (yes, I still like to blame him) my weight is pretty good and my BMI shows my weight as normal. As I started worrying about this I decided to calculate my WHR and turns out it is in the low risk category. Ok, apparently it is actually one less thing to worry about.

This morning I left the house a bit early. I am still just really doing power walking hoping that my ankle is enjoying less hard impact workouts but I am making sure to keep my heart rate well into the zone. I got about 1/2 a block from home and realized my reading glasses were on top of my head. Usually I have a pretty good routine which means they are always left with my iPad but because my sister and husband have gone up to the trailer I was a bit out of the routine this morning as I had to do things like look after the dogs. Anyways, I debated turning around and taking them home but thought hey wait, if I keep them I can actually read things on my Fitbit such as heart rate as I am walking. That actually worked out well.

Tomorrow it is going to rain and I couldn’t be happier. We haven’t had rain in 3 months which for the Metro Vancouver area is a complete anomaly. Normally by October it is not just getting chilly at night but it is also raining most days. Hell, at this point I haven’t even had to turn on my furnace (quick note, please ensure you have all your gas appliances serviced this month if you haven’t already done so). But our beautiful scenery is starting to really pay the price. Instead of seeing an array of colours, right now pretty much everything is turning brown or yellow. Our foliage is used to being in a rainforest not a desert.

If you have been following me you know I hate running in the rain and getting wet and miserable. The alternative of course is using the dreaded treadmill and you know I really don’t enjoy that. But, this time I am actually looking forward to running in the rain. Somehow, I have really missed it. Ok, I acknowledge that enjoying it will likely be very short lived yet for now I say bring it on!

So let it rain. Bring back our greenery, get our lawns out of dormancy, let me wear all my moisture wicking outfits and rain jackets. And anyone reading this just wait until I complain next month about it raining too much!

Today I was out for an early morning walk and I thought wow, this weather is great. It was the perfect temperature for a brisk 5k walk. But then I realized, it is soon coming to an end. As of Friday the weather will be turning colder and we are expecting rain. Ok, I admit the rain is not a bad thing as we haven’t had any real precipitation in months and we are in a drought. Still, I’ve got at least a couple days to enjoy what has become our very extended summer before fall arrives.

Yesterday I tried my first run since I hurt my ankle. I decided I needed to start off light because I know protecting that ankle until it is fully recovered is important. So off I went and at about the 3k mark it was starting to twinge a bit. I know I could have pushed it more but I want to be back running 10k and I would rather get there without doing any further damage. I finished off the workout with a brisk 3k walk including up a hill. Of course since it was Monday it meant I was leading my seniors’ walk so I got in some good distance and lots of training zone minutes.

Being cautious, today was a walk and not a run. I got in the 5k first thing and I know I’ll get another 5k in this afternoon because I plan to walk home after doing some volunteer work. I make sure when I walk that I get my heartrate up to keep my cardio fitness in a good place. I admit sometimes that is hard because I am pretty fit so I have to walk at a pretty good clip to get my heart pumping. Still, I have committed to getting workouts in at least 6 days a week.

The important thing is that I have recognized that I need to build back up rather than pushing myself. I hope that if I keep alternating running and walking then I’ll be strong enough in the next week or so to do a full 6k run and then it is going back to training hard at running. I’ll get there but most importantly I will get there safely.

Today here in BC it is local elections meaning we elect our mayor and council. I am the financial agent for the incumbent mayor as well as for a council candidate. It has been a lot of work over the last month or so but it will be worth it if they get elected. Here’s hoping for a good result tonight.

Yesterday I decided to walk along the promenade. This is something I haven’t done in over a month. My husband offered to join me and suggested we take our corgi, Scottie. During the summer dogs are banned from the promenade but from October until the end of March they are welcome (on a leash of course). Now because Scottie is a COVID puppy, we had problems socializing her with other dogs when she was young and she can become quite scared when she encounters other dogs (she will aggressively bark at them but if they come near her she screams in terror). We have done a lot of work at keeping her calm around other dogs so we thought we’d give it a try.

We met at the beach (I walked, he drove) and got Scottie on the promenade and she was in her happy place. There we so many new sights, sounds and smells she was just about giddy. I tell you there is nothing better than seeing your dog so happy that they look like they are smiling and that is what happened with Scottie. Yes, there was a couple of encounters with other dogs (that being they were too close to her) but most of the time we were proactive enough to keep her calm.

After we all walked together for awhile my husband and I agreed I should walk ahead of him and the dog as he wanted to do a leisurely stroll while I wanted a workout. I walked to the end of the promenade and met up with him and Scottie about 1/2 way along the trip back. We walked together for a bit then off I went again. About 3 blocks from the end of the promenade I could hear little footsteps running up behind me. I turned around and there was Scottie with the biggest grin I have ever seen. Apparently she had managed to get out of her harness and once free she just took off running. Fortunately she ran straight to me so I was able to grab her.

The bottom line is I missed the promenade and walking it yesterday watching my Scottie so happy made it my best walk ever.

So my ankle is slowly getting better. I had twisted it when dismounting my bike in Mexico (no, tequila was not involved) and while it never was bruised nor has been swollen, it has been sore. I’m finding in the mornings it is stiff and sore the 1st few blocks of my walk and then it feels fine. I am hoping come Monday I’ll be able to do a gentle run.

Yesterday I went to leave for my walk at 6am and after hearing the temperature thought I need to layer up a bit. So, on top of my usual running jacket (which is very thin material), I added a hoodie. I also had the forethought of adding a set of gloves just in case and I was glad that I did. Even though I was walking a pretty good clip it was a bit chilly. My face bore most of the cold but it wasn’t really until my last few blocks that I felt I was warming up. I did several other walks during the day and all of them I had on a jacket (though I ditched the gloves). I thought well, fall is finally here.

This morning I did the same layers of clothing because it was about the same temperature as yesterday. However, about a 1/3 of the way into the walk the gloves came off. Then just past the 1/2 way mark I had to remove the hoodie as I was sweating. It seems that unlike yesterday today it was warming up pretty quickly. By time I made it home I definitely was quite warm.

I’m not getting the weather we are going through right now. The fact that it is the 13th of October and we are expecting to get temperatures into the 20’s today is pretty astounding. The problem I am finding is I have no idea how to dress for my workouts. I figure all I can do is layer the clothing and hope for the best. At least I am not having to pull out the toque yet but I am sure I will get to that eventually.

The bottom line is I just need to adjust for the weather conditions each day and do what I can to stay as comfortable as possible.

I have to say it was hard leaving the condo in Mexico this time. We had been there for 3 1/2 weeks and the weather was beautiful. Moreover, this trip we spent more time with our friends than we have in the past. The downside to this is that we tended to eat out more than planned. The upside is we now can say we have a pretty good social network at the condo and we are already planning for New Year’s Eve.

The challenge I find at the condo is I tend to get off my routine. I always start out with the best intentions but the longer I stay there the more I let things slip. It starts with getting up later each day. Then, the workouts start to get shorter. Next the food starts to get less healthy (trust me I ate more bacon on that trip than I normally do all year). In my defence I was better at healthy breakfasts than other meals. Then the snacking starts. Sigh, 3 1/2 weeks just gave me too much time to falter.

Yesterday I stuck with my resolve to get back to my routine. I diligently got up at 5 am and started my day with a healthy breakfast (oh and finally proper milk in my tea). I’m still recovering from an ankle injury so opted to hold off running for another week. However, that did not stop me from doing a brisk 5k walk first thing. Later I walked to the meeting point for the weekly walk with the seniors. I managed to accomplish 20,000+ steps and meet all my zone minutes.

Today I started out the same with a good breakfast (first time in a month I have had oatmeal) after having gotten up at 5am. This was followed by another brisk walk where I really kept my heart rate in a good zone. Later today I plan to do another 5k walk as I head uptown to vote in the advance polls. On top of that I have 2 more healthy meals planned and am avoiding any snacking.

In order to get myself back into my routine I knew I needed a plan. So, I started out by sitting down and planning my week. This included determining how I could ensure my workouts fit into my calendar as well as doing some meal planning. I’m pretty confident by time I get through this week I will be back to being focused and determined to keep myself healthy.

I don’t feel bad about falling out of my routine. The important thing is being back on track and staying there for a while.

Well, it must be getting close to time to head home because we have started the condo cleaning. Ok, I admit we spread this out over a few days because we don’t like to do much that takes us away from poolside. Today it is all the bed linen being washed. Tomorrow we vacuum and wash all the floors as well as deep clean the kitchen (seriously, the whole thing won’t even take an hour). Saturday before we leave we do the bathrooms. Sigh, it’s not the cleaning that bothers me but rather that it means we are going home.

One thing I am not good at is relaxing. I’m pretty sure that is why I do so much volunteer work and always have to have something to do. Since my husband retired he is constantly on me about how I should just sit back and take a break. Unfortunately that is just not in my nature. I like being busy and to constantly be doing something. I think it is because of so many years of being so dedicated to my work and putting that above all else that I feel the need to keep going all the time. I’m not sure that I will ever be able to completely shrug that mentality off but I am making progress.

Here at the condo I have really tried to relax. Ok, I have done some work for a client and I’ve been working on the local election campaign but given I have been here 3 weeks the amount of time I have spent on those things is pretty minimal. Instead, I have just tried to relax. That means I have spent a lot of time by the pool, on the beach or just catching up on movies. This is so out of my usual comfort zone but as my husband likes to remind me that was the point of buying our Mexican getaway.

I do have to admit that taking some time to relax has had a positive effect on me. My resting heart rate has gone down and I am sleeping so much better. As a matter of fact today I actually slept later than I have in years. I of course am looking at all of this as simply recharging my batteries because I know come Monday I will be back at it and going like crazy. My husband keeps trying to tell me that I should try to be this relaxed at home but seriously, that will likely never happen.

So yes, this has been a good trip for me and I can’t wait to come back here for New Year’s. Sadly, I did get a bit lazy so it may be a tough start getting back to my normal routine next week but I know I can do it.

Please note, there will not be a post on Saturday as that is our travel day and my iPads will be packed away. Having said that, I wish all of my Canadian followers a happy Thanksgiving!

We now have things set up at our condo in Mexico so that we can watch Canadian TV stations. That means each morning when we get up we watch our favourite news broadcast. That has let us track the weather the metro Vancouver area has been experiencing since we have been away. I have to say it is no where near as much fun to be in Mexico when you can’t call home and brag about the beautiful weather when home is having a wonderful fall heatwave. The only good thing about it is the weather will still be nice when we arrive home on Saturday.

As usual while we have been in Playa del Carmen the weather has been hot, usually high 30’s everyday with the low only going to mid 20’s at night. As I have said in the past, I sweat so as you can imagine being in this kind of heat and humidity I am soaked all the time. Throw in several hot flashes during the day and you can only imagining how bad things can be for me. Trust me when I say I tend to take things like a handheld fan and some sort of cloth wherever I go. This trip a new thing happened, I actually developed heat blisters on my lips!

So what do I do to mitigate all of this? Firstly, I do not step foot outside without being seriously coated in sunscreen. If you remember from a previous blog, most people do not wear anywhere near enough sunscreen. Not me, I coat every potentially exposed inch of skin with a thick coating. Secondly, if I am out in the sun for any length of time I tend to wear a large brimmed hat to keep the sun off my face. Thirdly, since we try to only turn on the air conditioning at night (due to the high cost of electricity) I have taken to using a small electric fan to help keep me cool. As for the heat blisters, that probably is my own fault as normally I travel with Chapstick which I would have used as soon as my lips started drying out. Unfortunately I didn’t bring any and had a terrible time finding any in the grocery stores here. Lesson learned, I won’t leave home without Chapstick again.

You have to wonder if I don’t do well with heat why I would want to come to Mexico. The answer is pretty simple, I love it here as much as I love my city by the sea at home. Home we have the ocean and the mountains while here we have palm trees and a pool steps away. To me, some discomfort is all worth it. Oh and the trade off is also not having to deal with months of rain and sometimes even snow.

Yep, I’ll just keep finding ways to deal with the heat and humidity.

So today I did some work for one of my clients. I wanted to get the initial analysis done so that I could refer it back to the client for any additional information. Yes, I managed to accomplish what I wanted but I was so wrapped up in what I was doing I completely forgot to have lunch. Fortunately just before 2pm my husband checked in with me to see if I wanted something to eat. Good thing he was paying attention.

This past week I haven’t been feeling 100%. I was getting more congested but I thought, it is probably allergies from all the time I’ve been spending outdoors. Yesterday I felt a little worse and my throat seemed a bit sore. I realized I just wasn’t able to figure out if it was allergies, a slight cold or worst case, COVID. I still do all I can to keep my COVID risk as low as possible such as always wearing a mask in indoor spaces, washing my hands (ok, sometimes a bit obsessively) and keeping my distance from others but who knows with this illness.

I am fully vaccinated. As a matter of fact I have had 4 shots and the State of Washington has invited me to get the bivariant booster which I plan to do. I also truly believe it is likely that I have had COVID since both my siblings who live with us tested positive during the past year (several months apart). But still I hear of lots of people in similar situations who have avoided COVID for the past 2 1/2 years and still it caught up with them.

As part of our attempts to help protect others we have collected numerous rapid test kits. For myself I was tested several times while my sister was in the convalescent home. And of course we have brought numerous test kits with us to Mexico just in case. So yesterday, I did a COVID test and it was negative. I’ll do it again in a few days just to be on the safe side. Knowing whether I have COVID isn’t for my peace of mind but rather it would let me know that I should avoid risking our friends here in Mexico.

Despite the fact that the COVID travel mandates have been lifted as of today, we are going to still follow them. We fully plan to still complete the Arrive Canada App (this was never onerous to do), mask up in airports and on the plane and continue to social distance. None of these actions are about us but rather those we may come in contact with. To me that is what being a responsible citizen all boils down to.

It is yet another beautiful day here in Playa del Carmen with temperatures once again reaching the high 30’s. However, I am a bit disappointed. Usually when we are here we get to laugh at the weather back home but not this time. We have been checking the weather in Metro Vancouver and it is still summer like. Seriously? It’s the end of September and there are record breaking temperatures. Takes all the fun out of calling home and bragging about the weather here. I have no doubt though that the weather at home will change when we get back there.

I often find when I go to our trailer during the summer season that I tend to eat things I shouldn’t. For example, there is usually a lot more carbs consumed than what I normally eat. But it is different when we come to the condo in Mexico for many reasons. One reason is that we try to keep it as just like being at home and eat in as much as possible. That is not to say we don’t go out for meals, we do but even then we try to keep our meals healthy. Ok, I admit the other day I had a hot dog stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon but that was an anomaly (really who could resist such a thing).

The other reason we tend to be able to keep a healthy meal plan here is the availability of fresh fruits and veggies. Just as an example, strawberries. These are the same ones we can get at home but the difference here is these are fresh picked so they taste so much better than the imported ones we get at home. And trust me when I say they are much cheaper here. On top of that is the awesome seafood we can get here. We feasted on 2 meals of jumbo prawns that cost about $20. We buy huge sea scallops and amazing fresh fish. Seafood so easy to find down here and is less expensive than at home meaning we would be crazy not to indulge in that.

I will note that while we get some amazing fresh veggies here (the brussel sprouts are to die for) the corn is terrible. We have tried fresh corn a couple time but it is not the same type of corn that we get at home. Instead it tends to be really starchy and dry and quite frankly I find it inedible. Fortunately there are many other options to make sure our meals include awesome veggies.