ElderExercise

It’s been a good week…

Sunday: 40 minute walk

Monday: 45 minute walk, 75 sit ups

Tuesday: 30 minute walk, 60 sit ups

Wednesday: 20 minute walk

Thursday: 20 minute walk, 1 hour jazz class

Friday: 20 minute walk, 75 sit ups

Saturday: 20 minute walk, 3 hour Salsa class

As a warning, this week is going to be more quiet, since the workload is big.

Well, the head line sums it up. I had a very social week with dinner engagements after work 3 nights. And work was quite busy as well with a deadline looming and a couple of lunch meetings. However, I did record my less than stellar exercise results on a calendar so I have a record of what I did not do!

Sunday 11/15–had that head cold and napped rather than exercising
Monday–worked at home and went for 1/2 hour walk mid-day
Tuesday–short (10 min) walk mid-day
Wednesday–short, slow preoccupied walk mid-day–had planned a longer walk at noon but had a last minute lunch meeting scheduled
Thursday & Friday–nothing
Saturday–friends visiting, long walk in the woods at slow to moderate pace (we were too busy talking to pick up the pace)
Sunday 11/22–1/2 hour walk, moderate pace but some hills

I need to leave soon but will return later to read new posts and comment.

Have I lost my edge in the ElderExercise world because I’m having too much fun?  Maybe.  It’s also the ongoing changes–moving, more time with extended family, a new place to explore, and–this is a hard bump to overcome–too much time in the car.   Don’t miss all those NYC subway stairs but they did work for exercise plus the walking to and from.

Stopped carrying pedometer because it was clear 5,000 steps/day were not happening.  So why beat myself up?  However, I am moving on in a different way.  As my waistline has spread noticeably in last 2 1/2 months, I feel the pressure of doing more while I can still make a difference in readjusting the body.

Since mid-October, I’ve had six sessions with the resident trainer; we work on stretching and balance exercise.  Each time I end with 10 minutes or so on the Treadmill at 3.9 and a bit of incline.  When I finish this, it’s off to do some more.  There’s another machine there (will take a picture) that is used standing to work on stamina, I think.  Makes me huff ‘n puff after five minutes.

Friday, the 13th, took a long walk with a woman I’ve met who likes the idea of regular walking partners.  We did about 7,000 steps together from our place on the hill to the waterfront.  By the end of the day had done 11,000!  Decided that I’d carry pedometer when I know that there’s the possibility of distance travel on foot.  Still hope to use mass transit more.

Tomorrow I stick my toe in the warm pool here for “Gentle Aquatics Class.”  How many years has it been since I pulled on a bathing suit, even more years since connecting with that dreadful chlorine.  But am holding my nose, so to speak, and joining the other ladies here to partake.

New physician has put me and spouse on a 12 week Vitamin D regimen–50,000 mg/once a week, then 400 mg after that.  Seems to work and a big change from nothing!  But we are in cloudy land in Portland, so it’s particularly important.

And so it goes.  No promises about future posting other than I will try to appear more frequently.  And I always talk about the site and make the case for collaborative exercise support.  Thanks to Claude and all of you who hang in there.

Hi, everyone – it’s been an uphill struggle this week – too many funerals, too much planning/paperwork.  Both are draining.  I’m adding a link to my Posterous blog which features an inspiring 103-year-old lady – hope you can access it.  I hope I can still create if I live this long!

A portrait of Eva Zeisel’s life and current work as she turns 102 years old. By Jeremy Bales

And now for the steps:

Wed. Nov. 11 – 2002 (0 aerobic).  A very blah day.  I forget why, even!

Thurs. Nov. 12 – 4949 (1976).

Fri. Nov. 13 – 11303 (0 aerobic).  I took a LOT of photos on this walk!

Sat. Nov. 14 – 10778 (6174).  YES!

Sun. Nov. 15 – 5576 (1890)

Mon. Nov. 16 – 6809 (0).

Tues. Nov. 17 – 8148 (6112) – kids played musical chairs at the end of rehearsal – fun!

I did make it to the gym twice this week – that accounts for some of the aerobic steps.  It always feels good when I do the elliptical and then do my stretching/abs/weights things afterward – but I’m out of the habit!  Hoping to build the habit into my routine somehow – at least a couple days a week.

Looking forward to continuing here – and I’ll set Wednesday as my posting day – looks like that will work fairly well.

Happy exercising!  And I am SO looking forward to next week, with NO rehearsals to conduct…I’m dancing!

I’m still in and committed to regular posting/commenting.

Last Sunday I spent time doing more yard work–seems endless at this time of year w/ gardens to put to bed.

Monday and Tuesday I had things going on after work, which always presents a challenge.

Monday I walked 15 minutes before work and about 10 minutes before lunch.

Tuesday I did a quick, short walk at noon.

Wednesday was a holiday–spent about an hour once again doing yard work.

Thursday I did a 10 minutes walk before work, a 15 minute walk at lunch, 5 minutes after work and then did some stretching/yoga work.

Friday I did 15 minutes walk before work and 15-20 minutes in the middle of the afternoon.

Saturday and today I’ve been laying low with a head cold.

This coming week will once again be challenging w/ after work commitments 3 nights–but I do seem to have been successful so far in shifting the bulk of my walking exercise into before work/before lunch slots. Luckily the weather has been good and the weather report is for clear mild days all of next week.

Just re-posting the contents of the About page on this blog, the only couple of rules we have here.

This cooperative support exercise blog is meant to help those who register, achieve their goals, however small or big those goals are.
As this is blog is for elder women, one should be at least 50 to qualify and be invited. You can send a note to elderexerciseATgmailDOTcom, should you want to apply.

The blog is public, but only members can post and comment.

Joining ElderExercise means that you are ready and willing to post regularly about your progress and to comment on other members’ posts.

I am staying and I understand that I have to post regularly about my progress and comment on other members’ posts.

It’s been far too long. Sorry.

Yet, I have been doing exercises and even managed to start a weekly jazz dance course, which is proving to be a lot of fun. The last twenty minutes of the course is spent doing exercises to train the stomach, back, and bum muscles. This proves somewhat difficult since I am sorely lacking in that department (ha!).

The rest of my week is spent trying to get at least a 20 minute walk in daily, which I am doing quite well at. If the weather allows it, or if I am feeling very tenacious, I walk up to 40 minutes or so. In the last three weeks, I’ve managed to do do a longer walk 5 times.

I also try to do 60-70 sit ups before I take my daily shower. I was doing just fine with this, until this last week, when I suddenly let it drop like a hot potato. Will try to get back to doing this.

The one thing that I did about three weeks ago, was to attend a Lady-Dance workshop. It was a Salsa workshop that went on for three hours. The instructor, a Cuban woman, is probably somewhere in her late 40ies, but she looks as vital, sexy, and energetic, as a twenty year old. She managed to keep us wiggling our hips and shuffling our feet.  If all goes well, I’ll be attending her next workshop this coming Saturday.

Hi, everyone,  I just thought I would share a book I stumbled on at Amazon…oddly enough it was listed on a list for the Kindle, but is not published for Kindle!  At any rate, 3 5-star reviews for…

Exercise Beats Depression!

This book is written by a physical therapist.  Obviously it espouses no particular system, but the reviewers seem to have found it helpful.  Maybe as we enter the “indoor potentially depressive holiday” season, some fresh input would be useful!

And now I confess it, I have not been to the gym today…but tomorrow will be a fresh start!  It seems that Wed. is becoming my “let-down” day in all respects…my equivalent of most people’s Sundays…

Thurs. Nov. 5 – 11312 (6861)

Fri. Nov. 6 – 10043 (2446)

Sat. Nov. 7 – 10739 (7338)

Sun. Nov. 8 – 8358 (1806)

Mon. Nov. 9 – 6302 (2914)

Tues. Nov. 10 – 4494 (0) – I went out with singles club friends for a sybaritic dinner of shellfish soup, lamb, asparagus, and strawberry crepes with ice cream!

Today my step count is quite low, I fell asleep on the sofa, but have enjoyed malingering.  It was much too windy to walk outside (wind discourages me more than light rain!).

Excelsior!  I’m going to try to post regularly on Wednesdays, it seems to work better than the weekend.

I was sort of expecting to have to comment on all of your posts after three weeks’ absence and just found four, out of which only one actually described exercise done.
My last three weeks have been spent mostly in coaches, planes and trains, so I don’t have much exercise to account for.
I stretched for five minutes every day and did whatever walking was possible, but the state of roads didn’t allow for accurate pedometer recording. I realised that, when my pedometer marked 12,000 steps after five hours spent on the coach .
But I am back to recording my steps on my google calendar.

I have the feeling that most of the time, ElderExercise has becomes a place to moan and whine about what we haven’t been able to do. So maybe we should just give it up. It has helped me establish a routine. My routine is stretching and Feldenkrais time on the one hand and steps on the other hands. I record it on my Google calendar and don’t really need to come here and spend time copying and pasting from the calendar if there are only two of us doing it. We might as well share a Google calendar.

I think it would be a good idea if we each of us had a look at our goals page to take stock and decide if we want to keep going, or if we’d rather stop.
What do you think?