gwennefarrell

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.

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.