January thaw?

The bitter cold weather is done for a while, so now it will be dirty snow iced with freezing rain.

• I signed up for notifications from the local school system and received one today around 5AM, as school was delayed by two hours.
• The temps and wind speed were predicted to be even all day, so I took the dogs for a walk this morning.
• But first, I did a half hour of yin stretches. Pleasantly surprised I was not as stiff as I feared, but now my hips hurt.
• Since school was not cancelled, Feldenkrais class was not cancelled either. It was my idea to have this class in the daytime and I worried we would not have enough, but all four of us were there - me, my SO, a work friend, and my neighbor across the street. We all had different reasons for being there, but all experienced something new and interesting.
• Then off to Menard's as they are having their 11% rebate sale right now. I had a list, found almost everything on it. Unfortunately, the humidifier filter I brought home is the wrong size, necessitating a return.
• I managed to knit the required rows on the baby blanket. Only 4 more 4-row repeats to go before the final border. I could be done this week!
• More Call the Midwife.
• I listen to audio books from LibraVox.org as a sleep aid and have fallen in love with David Clarke's reading voice. I've been trying to listen to The Three Muskateers and David Copperfield, but am not enjoying the readers.

Red (again)

Last night I barely made it to 9:30 before abandoning efforts to stay awake, that's how tired I was. And even though I overate "supper", I skipped my usual bedtime snack of Cheerios and a banana, so I think I was not completely over the top calorie-wise. I was able to foist the kalpudding off on my daughter and her family, so that is at least out of the house.

• Laundry day. Vacuuming day. Clean my gross bathroom day. And de-cobweb the bedroom day.
• My vacuum cleaner needs to be serviced. It's making funny noises but only after I turn it off. Amusing anecdote: Once upon a time I took my vacuum cleaner to the vac shop to be serviced. The vac guy asked me when I had last had it serviced. Blank look from me. Big sigh from him. When I went to pick it up, I could not find the claim ticket. Vac guy asked me what kind of vacuum cleaner it was. Blue? Another big sigh from him. "Canister or upright?" Oh! Upright! At least I knew the answer to that one.
• The weather was more amenable today by noon, around 13 degrees and no wind to speak of. So the dogs took me on a decent walk for a change. Later this week the temps are supposed to be in the 40's, with rain. Not sure which is worse.
• While my SO was working, he managed to get in 20 minutes or so of yoga each day. After he retired (about 12 years ago), that discipline fell by the wayside except for when we attended senior yoga classes together. Now he is getting back into his old routine. I'm trying to figure out a way to do the same, maybe rotate short yoga sessions with shoulder exercises or something. I have the daily walking pretty much down, but my upper body is ridiculously weak. Not that I'm actually doing anything about it today besides thinking about it.
• Knitting: the usual baby blanket quota. I was going to purchase another skein of yarn today, but decided to put that off until next Tuesday when I'll be out-and-about for other reasons.
• Spinning: I have been resisting the temptation to purchase an antique-looking spinning wheel from Rekindle. I have no room for it plus it needs work and I don't need to get into the spinning wheel flipping business. HOWEVER, I am giving serious consideration to purchasing a traveling wheel, one that folds up and is portable. Mine does not fold up and is awkward to transport.
• Back to reading Future Home of the Living God. Not sure if I am going to finish it - it's just not grabbing me.
• Tonight my SO and I went to see an excellent, excellent production of "Red", which is about Mark Rothko near the end of his career. Almost everything I know about art I learned from or through my SO.

Interval training for walkers

Once upon a time, I averaged four miles an hour when I walked. This was based on a treadmill's calculation, but from experience, this seemed accurate. I even maintained this pace when shopping at the mall, embarrassing my then teenage children. It's not cool to walk briskly.

Then I aged. And picked up some sedentary hobbies. And grew lazy and complacent. Enter my Fitbit and RunKeeper, an app on my phone that tracks my outdoor exercise. Between the two, the fantasy that I was exercising enough was dispelled. The FitBit ticks off my steps, while RunKeeper coughs up all kinds of data, including miles/hour. The news was, four miles an hour was ancient history.

The NYTimes recently published an article headlined "1 Minute of All-Out Exercise May Have Benefits of 45 Minutes of Moderate Exertion". As a retiree, one would think I had all the time in the world to exercise, but I don't. There are just too many other (more fun) things to do than slog around the neighborhood for an hour a day. So this article caught my attention.

While athletes have used interval training to improve performance, there were no scientific studies to support this practice. The NYTimes article described a study that not only supported interval training but also demonstrated that short bursts of intense exercise have benefits comparable to longer workouts. Hmmm.

I bought an elliptical trainer a while back. This was shortly before my month of illness, which interrupted my post-purchase motivation. Consequently, as is common with exercise equipment, the elliptical has been rather neglected.

After reading that NYTimes article, though, I started jumping on the machine and going hell-bent for leather, for (less than) a minute at a time. I don't do this every day, but often enough, apparently. Today, while walking the nabe (and perhaps spurred on by imminent rainfall), I neared the four mph mark for the first time in years. And my hips did not hurt while doing so.

I wouldn't recommend one-minute intervals of intense exercise as one's only activity. I will still walk, preferably outside, and do yoga and, if it ever snows again in these parts, cross country ski. But those bursts feel like they make a difference and are boosting my overall fitness. Not a bad cost/benefit ratio.

Keep moving

After a brief period of hibernation, something (pants too tight?) got me out and about this winter. Almost every morning, I go for a long walk, outside, regardless of the weather, which recently has been schizophrenic. Some days are springlike, others bitterly cold, but so far, none have been absolute deal breakers. The trick is to hit the road early, before the wind picks up. Then even 2 degrees (F) is tolerable, provided one dresses for the weather one has, not the weather one wants.

Product plug: This winter I invested in some wonderful long underwear, purchased from Vermont Country Store. The dual-layer set has cotton on the inside and a merino/cotton/nylon blend on the outside. They provide a yummy level of comfort even in the coldest weather.

I confess to being a calorie counter again. My calorie counting app (MyFitnessPal) is linked to my Fitbit and to Runkeeper. When I exercise, I earn extra calories, which is surprisingly motivating. I still consume a bit too much, so the weight loss has been disappointingly glacier. However, I have lost some inches, so while my pants are still too tight, they are now less so.

I have my usual solo routes around the neighborhood, but sometimes I enlist the help of others. My SO and I have been mall walking twice a week, in the afternoon. We have found that, by ourselves, we can barely stand one circuit, but with company, two laps pass quickly. Then we reward ourselves with iced Americanos at Barnes and Noble.

I am not above inviting my daughter and granddaughter along for a hike in the woods. I also purchased an eliptical machine, to exercise those muscles that are neglected because I live in a ranch-style house (no stairs). My granddaughter can pedal circles around me on that thing. Even on a playground, she goes non-stop at full speed while I trail along, trying just to keep an eye on her. The energy of a five-year-old is inspiring... me to take a nap.

The best thing about getting the bulk of my 10k steps in early is I can make an ass dent in the couch for the rest of the day, while I knit or read or watch TV, without (too much) guilt.

Hope springs eternal

It's that time of year again, when this old girl's thoughts turn to resolutions. It seems I make the same resolutions every year: lose weight, exercise more, keep up with the housework, etc. This year is no different. In fact, looking back at an entry I made a year ago, the resolution list looks suspiciously familiar. Only this year, I started/restarted a bit early.

When I work at work (instead of at home), I sit near the actuaries. Some of them have started what has become a semi-regular tradition, of challenging each other to lose weight. Being actuaries, they have a method and a strategy whereby one can earn points, keeping track of it all on a spreadsheet. Some of them actually have lost weight, and a subset of them have also kept the weight off. They kindly invited my co-worker and me to join the current wave (are they saying I look fat?!?) Since there was a financial penalty involved if one did not reach one's goals, I decided I could not afford it. My co-worker, however, is participating, and after hearing him comment that, while he has not lost weight, he has dropped two belt notches, my curiousity was peaked.

So, about six weeks ago I asked him about it, and basically the strategy is one earns points by dieting and/or exercising, every day. The dieting guidelines are a bit stringent, so while he has been watching what he eats, he has been concentrating more on exercise. And it shows. Given that my exercise routine has become non-existent in the past year or so, thanks to some hip-shoulder-wrist problems, I decided the least I could do is go for a walk outside everyday.

And since the weather has been surprisingly cooperative, I have been able to do just that. And in case it isn't, an exercycle has found its way from my daughter's house to mine. Not only do the walks make me feel better physically, they elevate my mood a significant amount. And, to give myself a little incentive, I have an appointment for a physical in about three weeks, with a new doctor.

My weight has crept up about 15 pounds over the past year or so, so I am hoping to reverse that trend, with baby steps.

What are your hopes for the new year?

A Yoga Yogi

I have scoliosis and weak sacroiliac joints. (That's where the pelvic girdle and the spine come together, more or less). I also have a sedentary job and hobbies. Several years ago, my back got so bad that standing in front of the stove long enough to scramble an egg had become excruciating. I was on the verge of giving my my house and yard to move into a condo. But first, I talked my doctor into sending me to physical therapy. PT saved my lifestyle, if not my life.

But PT wasn't much help when it came to yard work. Following the mower around the lawn had become exhausting. Then my daughter picked me for her power walking partner and that area of my life improved as well.

Then the weather turned crappy. Daughter and I joined a yoga studio as a replacement to walking. That was the best thing I ever did for myself (and her! She has scoliosis, too, only worse.) It is a year later and we both still go, still enjoy, still like yoga.

It helps that most of the yoga classes at this studio are drop-in. With our membership, we can go to all the classes we want, and not just yoga. I have been to the Yoga Basics, Core Yoga, and Restorative Yoga classes. Last year I started out going two or three times a week, slacked off to once a week during the summer, and now am building back up to two or three.

Yoga has improved my overall strength and flexibility without (much) soreness; the deep breathing prevents the build up of lactic acid in the muscles. It's never boring or repetitious. And since it requires a certain amount of concentration, for that one hour, the rest of the world disappears from my consciousness.

I haven't lost any weight doing yoga (because of that eating thing), but I definitely feel better. Gardening and housework are easier (not that I do much of the latter) and I have more stamina.

There are forms of yoga that are aerobic, but I haven't tried them for fear of collapsing in a sobbing heap halfway through the class, so I still need to do something to tax my heart and respiratory system. I toy with this idea, but I'm not much of a runner.

Others have noticed my improved posture and energy and vibe. I even inspired a couple of my friends to take up yoga themselves. I hope their experience duplicates mine. I can't imagine not doing it. (Famous last words!)