July 7, 2009

Lia – back on my feet

Was under the weather with an infection the last while, but feeling back on my feet again.  Been out for 20-30 minutes of walking the last 4 days.  Hoping to keep this us this week. There are a lot of social events going on in our lives presently, so if I can do at least 20 minutes per day, I’ll be as happy as pie.

Hope you are all enjoying a good week.

July 7, 2009

Sandy – huge apologies

Hello everyone. After such a long absence I feel it was most impolite of me not to have tried to explain sooner. Anyway, I had a bit of time in the doldrums and didn’t feel like any sort of blogging – and I didn’t want to share that kind of depression either.

However, I made a (re)start on my blog recently and, although I’ve not even worn my pedometer or thought much about exercise  I felt I had to come and offer my apologies.

I can’t promise to get back to reporting my efforts (or lack of them!) but as I’m definitely feelng better now I’m not ruling it out.

All good wishes to all of you.

bisous

July 6, 2009

Sara – not quite the steps of last week, but some variety…

And I’m also posting a bit early – trying to get back on a Monday schedule.  Maybe it will help me remember my Monday Fosamax pill – which I forgot today.  :-(

Tues. June 30 – 10867 steps (7204 aerobic), 321 calories, 12 minutes on the bike.

Wed. July 1 – 6843 steps (1925 aerobic), 201 calories, 12 minutes biking.  These last 2 weeks I worked up to doing 2 minutes at a time on the bike, with a half-minute rest before the next segment.

Thurs. July 2 – no biking – oh well – 7816 steps (1983 aerobic), 212 calories.

Fri. July 3 – 9375 steps (4577 aerobic), 271 calories.

Sat. July 4 – 11024 steps (5547 aerobic), 319 calories.  Picnic – snacked but didn’t REALLY pig…

Sun. July 5 – 8714 steps (1992 aerobic), 255 calories.  Spent 2 1/2 hours digging weeds in my neighbor’s garden – she finds it too much since she is pushing 80 so I help when I can.  Some of these weeds were HUGE…I hate to do Roundup but had to try it…

And today I plan to do more digging!  Plus go to salsa dancing tonight.  I have lucked out & found someone who is willing to try the late night salsa with me on Wed. (10 PM to 2 AM but we will probably not last that long!).   So I need to refresh my skills.

Ok, here’s the MUCH more pleasant hill -

IMG_3248

A quarter of the way up the hill

A quarter of the way up the hill

Halfway there - path is twisty as well as shady!

Halfway there - path is twisty as well as shady!

Now I can see the top!  Ahhhhh...

Now I can see the top! Ahhhhh...

It really is a lovely hill path, you can see the seasons change up close.  And in the summer at the end of a hot walk, its shade is so welcome.

Happy walking, mates!

July 4, 2009

Claude – another very hot week!

It’s been one of those summer weeks of sitting and sweating! Lots of walking too, although not much brisk walking obviously.

decaying lattice work

One more week and I’ll be a free woman again!

Here are my steps for June 27th to July 3rd

Saturday, 11,750 steps, one-hour Feldenkrais lesson, 20mn brisk walking, went to air-conditioned Grand Palais where I enjoyed the air-conditioning and found Andy Warhol rather boring, I must admit.
Sunday, just running food errands, 5,552 steps
Monday, 13,500 steps
Tuesday, 14,500 steps
Wednesday, 10,000 steps
Thursday, 12,645 steps
Friday, 12,514 steps

July 3, 2009

Naomi-Steps, coast to coast 6/22 to 7/2

Tweendom is a word I’ve recently invented to describe my current state.  Nothing to do with “tweens,” those between teenage and childhood.  No, mine is about languishing in the unfocused world where decisions by others determine my daily life.  Leaves me particularly unmotivated.

Being with family in Portland was great:  as if I had a job again–things to do, purpose, and a lot of fun.  Now I wait– for, a bank to give our buyer a loan.  Next, for our co-op’s board to shine on our buyer.  Finally there will be a closing, keys turned over to buyer, mover driving our stuff across country.  Meanwhile, it’s a real push to do anything–even begin discarding stuff.

I’ve not been a dutiful blogger.  Since I knew we’d make this move, been thinking about the changes that might bring about.  Claude’s decision to close a chapter makes much sense to me; clearly she’s given thought to her new direction.  For me, the decision has to do with the shape of my life in a very different environment–family,  the city itself, and the retirement community.

My little spiral notebook is almost at its last page of recording steps, et al, since I began on February 29, 2008.  I weighed 141 pds and did 25 minutes on the treadmill.  Now I seem to keep at 139.5, walk regularly, have not stepped on a treadmill in months.  My meals are smaller though I definitely need more chocolate-control.

June 22 – 5,729 steps

June 23 – 7,480

June 24 – 2,663

June 25 – 3,895 (flying back to New York)

June 26 – 4, 915

June 27 – 6,803

June 28 – 4,611

June 29 – 3,384

June 30 – 5,795

July 1 – 4,585

July 2 -5938

Thank you all for signing onto and staying with ElderExercise; it’s been a very important for me. If you are up for it, I’d like to continue.

Update:  Sara’s hilly vista leads me to add my urban ones of two of the flights of stairs to the 125th Street subway station.  These are from the street to the turnstile, followed by another to the train platform.IMG_4787IMG_4790

June 30, 2009

Sara – a cloudy day today – not much walking probably.

Bonjour, tout le monde, j’etudie mon francais (Claude, I wonder if a symbols page is available as an add-on to Firefox?  this just occurred to me…) et je parle a moi-meme plus souvent.  Bien sur, je me comprends toujours, parce que mes phrases sont tres simples… :-)

And now for the steps!  Volleyball, non plus – they are now playing on a sand court & last week it was really hot.  Also I think some did get tired of my ineptitude.  I may try it again in a few weeks…

Mon. June 22 – 9570 steps (5460 aerobic), 251 calories, 8 minutes on bike.

Tues. June 23 – 11671 steps (4881 aerobic), 333 cal., 8 min. bike.

Wed. June 24 – 10916 steps (5128 aerobic), 295 cal., 10 min. bike.

Thurs. June 25 – 16423 steps (6491 aerobic), 477 cal.  Too tired to bike, wonder why?

Fri. June 26 – 6914 steps (1899 aerobic), 209 cal.  I was happy I did not just collapse today…

Sat. June 27 – 10356 steps (6560 aerobic), 293 cal.

Sun. June 28 – c. 7000 steps (2232 aerobic) since I forgot to wear pedometer in the AM at church.  156 cal., 12 min. bike.

Mon. June 29 – 10252 steps (6945 aerobic), 311 cal.  12 minutes on bike, and I stepped up the length of time before resting from 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes.  Doesn’t sound like much but I felt good about it!

Ok, let’s see if I can post a photo of my hill(s)…

I walk down this hill more often than up it...

I walk down this hill more often than up it...

TA DA!  The hill you see in the distance gives you some idea of how steep this hill is.  I usually have to stop halfway when walking up, sometimes two times, for a breather.  But doing the biking is helping me with this!

People DO bicycle up this hill.  I have much admiration for them but do not even want to think about doing that myself…

Now that I’ve figured out where to find these photos, I will post the journey up the other hill next week.  Happy walking!  Best wishes to all,  Sara

June 28, 2009

Claude – warm and stuffy week

I feel like I spend my time complainin8,000 steps, one-hour Feldenkrais classg about the weather! Couldn’t someone tell whoever organises all this or should I say disorganises it that average temperature like 25°C, with rain at night would just be perfect?
Today is particularly hot and stuffy, but as it is Sunday, I won’t complain too much as I have mostly been resting.
I still have two more weeks to go on the Jury Duty and am really looking forward to the end of endless hours of sitting and holding my bladder :D
Anyway, here’s my week from June 20, 2009 to June 26, 2009

Saturday: 8,000 steps, one-hour Feldenkrais class
Sunday: rest, rest and only rest! And how I enjoyed that!
Monday: 12, 082 steps, 20mn brisk walking, 10mn stretching
Tuesday: 9,637 steps, 10mn stretching
Wednesday: 9,500 steps, 5mn stretching, 20 mn brisk walking
Thursday: 9,245 steps, 20mn brisk walking, 10 mn stretching
Friday: 11,250 steps, 20 mn brisk walking

And with this, I’m off to take a shower!

Incidentally, I am stopping Blogging in Paris, and am moving onto something else. Last post at Blogging in Paris will tell you about it.

June 22, 2009

Sara – getting back in the swing of things…

Hi, everyone, somehow I missed posting…hmmm, must have been the gardening I did, plus getting ready for the choir party…then this week I finished the schedules for the entire summer, a big load off my mind.   One more week of cleanup work with my helper here – then she leaves for Ireland and I can play!   :-)

Wed. June 10 – 10106 steps (1678 aerobic), 305 calories.  Volleyball – I did manage to serve the ball over the net a couple of times in succession – but I am truly not very good.  Wondering if I should continue trying…

Thurs. June 11 – 5387 steps (1953 aerobic), 147 calories.

Fri. June 12, 8982 steps (3763 aerobic), 264 calories.

Sat. June 13 – 6318 steps, 159 calories – no aerobic but I did a lot of digging & planting in the garden.

Sun. June 14 – 7009 steps (1630 aerobic), 203 calories.  Choir party, a real pig-out!

Mon. June 15 – 6012 steps (1129 aerobic) – forgot my pedometer for part of this day – some gardening – 159 calories.

Tues. June 16 – 6335 steps, 181 calories.

Wed. June 17 – 3834 steps, 93 calories – slug day.

Thurs. June 18 – 5167 steps, 142 calories.

Fri. June 19 – 8980 steps (2428 aerobic), 267 calories.

Sat. June 20 – 10285 steps (4852 aerobic), 294 calories.

Sun. June 21 – 4885 steps, 121 calories.  Housecleaning, some garden cleanup.

I’ve started using my neighbor Mickey’s stationary bike – but usually only for 6 minutes – and I have to rest every minute for a half-minute, what a wuss!  But I notice this is helping my stamina on the proverbial hills.  Gotta get those hill photos in here…

I’ve been frustrated because my laptop died – I don’t like using my desktop, so I procrastinate – my boss has to decide whether to repair or replace my laptop and I don’t know which it will be – am definitely hoping for replacement!

So that’s the news from Central PA, where things are at least slowing down, work-wise.  Nice to hear from you, Lia and Naomi and Holly (Holly?), and I’m wondering what ever happened to Sandy, and how she is doing?   Claude, do you know?

Happy walking and I wish you all lovely sunny days with nice temperatures and NO RAIN!

June 21, 2009

Claude – an afternoon off!

What a week! For the first time in all those weeks, I had a whole afternoon off. And took advantage of it! I went to see a great exhibition at Grand Palais: One picture may hide another.
On the walking front, it’s been a pretty good week too.
So here goes:
From Saturday June 13th to Friday June 19th
Saturday: 10,000 steps, one-hour Feldenkrais class
Sunday: ran a few errands, 5,000 steps
Monday: 12082 steps, 20mn brisk walking, 10mn stretching
Tuesday: 9,637 steps, 10mn stretching, 20mn brisk walking
Wednesday: 10,000steps, 20mn brisk walking
Thursday: 9,000 steps, 15mn brisk walking, 10mn streching
Friday: 11,100 steps, 15mn brisk walking

The thing I find most difficult is regulating my food intake. Most of us jurors bring cookies that we eat during the numerous waiting moments when we are stuck inside with not much to do, and I am resisting less and less… But you can’t fight on all fronts, I guess. It’ll be difficult to get back to a healthy routine I’m afraid. But we’ll see
Three more weeks to go! Chin up!

June 17, 2009

Lia – Times are good

We have had relatively good weather this week in comparison to Claude who seems to have gotten our weather that came originally from the dark and damp Siberian coast (just kidding). My new insoles, while not perfect, do let me walk longer distances.

The Last Week

Tuesday: 40 minutes walking

Wednesday: 30 minutes walking

Thursday: 40 minutes walking

Friday: 20 minutes walking

Saturday: 20 minutes walking, 10 minutes stretching

Sunday: 40 minutes walking

Monday: 50 minutes walking

Tuesday: 30 walking

Wednesday: today, should be a long day with lot of walking (at least 60 minutes)