Monthly Archives: April 2010

Sara – rain, rain, go away!

It’s been very stormy here – for 3 days now – I’m hoping for better weather tomorrow.

However, our weather earlier last week was lovely and I rode the bus to the bike shop to pick up my bike – then I rode my bike home – WHEW!  A bit harder than the ride down, and by the time I was wheeling the bike up the last big hill, I was quite tired.  My leg muscles were somewhat recovered last night & do feel much better today.  I can tell I need to ride this bike at least twice a week to get those muscles in shape…

it was a good week for flowering trees!

A photo from one of my earlier walks…the trees were fantastic!

Week of April 19-25:

Mon. 111359 (1982 aerobic) – my aerobic count is lowered when I keep stopping for photos…

Tues.  5509 (3722 aerobic) – forgot my pedometer for half of this day so this should probably be 2-3000 more…

Wed. 10394 (5372 aerobic)

Thurs. 12049 (6426 aerobic)

Fri. 11551 (2104 aerobic) – many of the nonaerobic steps were wheeling my bike – & of course pedometer doesn’t count pedaling…

Sat. 4665 (2130 LS aerobic) – rain, exhausted, but did do a bit of LS anyway

Sun. 7108 (3946 LS aerobic) – more rain, legs still a bit tired.

GOOD news is that I did watch my food more carefully & managed to get into one pair of summer jeans.  I need to keep at this though since those were my “fatter” jeans…thanks for all the encouragement!  Lynn, I will have to check out that website…

Now off to an afternoon mass – Anointing of the Sick – volunteers bring people from the nursing homes to be anointed at mass.  Lots of singing for our small choir of retired folks, while the anointing is going on…

I may have to comment later but it’s nice to see everyone “springing forward…”

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Filed under Biking, Brisk walking

Claude – readjusting to exercise other than walking

When in England, except for the few minutes every morning to get my body into movement, which I baptized “stretching” a long time ago, movements that I basically do while still in bed, all I did was walk, walk, walk. I found that I like my newly-found routines.
AND I have realized that they are rather productive too.
Take my arms reinforcement routine, for example. One of the side effects is that when I was in London, and my bathroom had one of those showers that splashes all over the place, except over your body, I took baths. Last year, what I did, was only fill the bottow of the tub because when it was full, I just couldn’t heave my body out.
Now, thanks to squats and arm reinforcement, getting myself out of a bathtub is just a breeze!
This may seem like nothing, but it made my life “en voyage” much easier.

Monday: 10mn stretching, 15,364 steps
Tuesday: 10mn stretching, 16,774 steps



I love Covent Garden, too bad it’s so noisy!

Wednesday: 10mn stretching, 5 squats, 10 knee things, abs 4×10 + 3×10, 15mn arms reinforcement, 7,250 steps
Thursday: 10mn stretching, 5 squats, 10 knee things, abs 4×10, 15mn arms reinforcement, 47 mn cardio, 15020 steps
Friday: 10mn stretching, 10 knee things, 20mn cardio (LS 2miles), 14,205 steps
Saturday: 10mn stretching, 10 knee things, 20mn cardio (LS 2miles), abs: 4X10 reps, 3X10 reps, 15mn arms reinforcement, 5,231 steps
Sunday: 10mn stretching, abs: 5×10 reps, 3X10 reps, 10x knee thing, 25mn cardio walk, 10,034 steps

If you’re wondering what “knee things” are, it’s some sort of contraption that I use to reinforce the muscles that are just above the knee inside the thighs and protect your knees from hurting (not a photo of my thighs and knees 😉 )

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Filed under abs, Aerobic pace walking, Brisk walking, Pedometer, Stretching, Walking, Weight Lifting

Lia – too many excuses

No rest for the wicked… actually, the last two weeks have been very rough; son was stranded in southern Italy due to the volcano, my daughter arrived back from Grenada in time, but came up with a very mysterious persisting illness that has kept us up at nights and the doctors puzzled. IknowIknow, too many excuses… so, here it is:

Week before last

Monday: no excercise

Tuesday: 20 min. walking

Wednesday: 1 hour walking

Thursday: 50 min. walking

Friday: 70 min. walking

Saturday: 80 min. walking

Sunday: no exercise

Last week

Monday to Wednesday no exercise

Thursday: 30 min. walking

Friday: 45 min. walking

Saturday: 50 min. walking

Sunday: 70 min. walking

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Lynn–finishing out the week

Not much to report since I just posted on Wednesday but I want to get back on a weekend posting schedule.

Thursday 4/22–short walk after work–dinner out w/ friends

Friday 4/23–nothing–movie and dinner after work

Saturday 4/24–40 minute walk, with a friend, not sure of distance–moderate to brisk pace

Nothing yet today (early afternoon)–will report on today in next week’s post.

I managed to get at least 1/2 hour of exercise on 5 days this past week–not too bad–but would like to increase the time to 45 minutes.

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Lynn-love the spring weather

Sorry to be slow in posting–no excuse other than time passing quickly. The toe is completely recovered but I’ve had some low back pain–think it’s due to worn down orthotics. I called my orthotics maker for an appointment and got a message saying the phone was out of service. Panic! His office is in a town about 15 miles from where I work so I enlisted a friend to go out on her lunch break and drive by to see if he is still in business (it’s been a couple of years since I last got the orthotics adjusted)–he is in business, thank heavens, and I have an appointment. Amazing how our feet affect our bodies.

Spring is really bursting around here–lots of color and lush growth. Love it!

Last week–Monday and Tuesday I had things going on after work, so minimal exercise.

Wednesday 4/14–walked 30 minutes briskly

Thursday 4/15–walked 20 minutes and yard work

Friday 4/16–walked 30 – 35 minutes briskly

Saturday–low back pain, no exercise

Sunday–20 minute walk, stretching/strength workout

Monday 4/19–Got the lawn mower out for the first time this season–Mowed front and side lawn–about 25 minutes–gets my heart rate speeded up quite nicely

Tuesday 4/20–Mowed back lawn–30 minutes

Wednesday (today)–walked 30 minutes

It’s late and I’m very sleepy so I’ll post comments on Sara’s and Claude’s posts tomorrow.

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Sara – same old same old…stepping on…

From my same old neighborhood in State College, PA…

Pleased with my steps but not with my weight…I made the mistake of going shopping & visiting a fitting room.  Hence I am now writing down everything I eat, and determined to fit into summer clothing soon…sooooooon…I hope…

A very cold-ish week last week but today was beautiful and I took this photo…

one of the many flowering trees we have now

Week of April 12-18:

Mon. 6836 (1845 aerobic)

Tues. 13399 (7810 aerobic)

Wed. 13001 (6217 aerobic)

Thurs. 8132 (5234 aerobic)

Fri. 15989 (2481 aerobic) – contradancing accounted for much of this…

Sat. 10342 (zero aerobic, hm, I forget why this was…)

Sun. 11027 (7230 aerobic)

Leslie got short shrift last week because I was just more wanting to get outside in spite of chilly temps…but I got back to her yesterday and truly felt it in my legs and arms.  She’s so gooooood…

Will let you know how the new food record affects my intake.  Claude, you’ll be happy to know I started a personal google calendar with all that stuff on it…will see if it makes my posting easier…  🙂

Happy walking, everyone!  Looking forward to hearing from Lia and Lynn!

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Claude – walking herself silly in London

Why, oh why, do my feet hurt so much more here than they do at home? Probably because I stay out much longer and have fewer opportunities to get some rest. I feel guilty complaining like this when I am so lucky to be getting around and having wonderful weather too!
Here are my week’s steps. Not much else, since I’ve been in London, just steps.

Monday: 10mn stretching, abs (4×10) (3×10),15mn arms reinforcement, 10 knee muscle reps, 33mn aerobic, 8015 steps
Tuesday: 10mn stretching,15mn arms reinforcement, one-hour stretching class
Wednesday: departure for London: 10 mn stretching, 14,752 steps
Thursday: 10mn stretching, 13, 572 steps
Friday: 10mn stretching, 9,543 steps



Not sure this has much to do with microsoft, although this is what it advertises, but I sort of thought it was adequate for my purpose 😉

Saturday: 10mn stretching 14,532 steps,
Sunday: 10mn stretching, 13,720 steps

On Sunday morning, my pedometer battery gave up on me. So I appropriated Elly’s steps and added mine when I managed to have my battery replaced. Incidentally, Elly and Leo both have the same pedometer as me, but somehow, even though we walked to the same places and did the same stuff, I was always the one who had fewer steps and Leo had the most, which infuriated both Elly and myself. If anyone can provide an explanation, I’d love to have one!
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Filed under Brisk walking, Pedometer, Stretching

Sara – hitting my stride!

Hi, everyone!  I broke two records this week – one for # of steps and another for bicycling and walking in the same day which I have never even tried to do before!  More below.  Weather has been great which certainly helped.  Also I had only one rehearsal to conduct…

Week of April 5-11

Mon. 9013  (5117 aerobic)

Tues. 6579 – this was my choir day – did not manage any aerobic steps

Wed. 18794 (9724 aerobic) – my personal Guinness record!  It was a long walk to the store & back, plus 2 rather energetic Leslie miles, plus chores carrying things up & down stairs.  !!!

Thurs. 13702 (9315 aerobic) – more Leslie accounts for the aerobic – plus this time I did 3 circuits of the rather large block that I live on.

Fri. 6510 (951 aerobic) – car errands today & a bit tired!

Sat. 12827 (6618 aerobic)

Sun. 12298 (6319 aerobic) & a 50-minute bike ride/walk – walking the bike up the steeper hills & coasting down!  My bike has needed servicing for 5 years so I walked/rode it to the shop.  None of this registered aerobic.  Believe it or not, after the ride I still felt fine & was ready to do my regular walking (somewhat different muscles).  This would NEVER have been possible, even a year ago.  Thanks to Elder Exercise!

But then I was ready to sit down, like this little girl…

"gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying"

AND one more bit of nice news – my friend Diane (just turned 50) is overweight and needs to walk for her health, but has been procrastinating about it.  This last week, she started!  She walked every day but one.  Starting small is working for her, thinking “at least 5 minutes,” and then if she does more, that’s fine.  She feels better already!  🙂

Have a wonderful springy week, everyone!

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Claude – a good exercise week

Last week was fine in terms of weather since we hardly had any rain. But we are still having really chilly spells and you never know what to wear when you go out. Most particularly if you get out early in the morning. I can’t believe how much I walked this week and I’m pretty pleased with the rest of the exercising too.
My doctor confirmed that my cholesterol count was, -in his words- perfect!
As of this Wednesday, I’ll be in London for a week, and will meet some of my very dear flickr friends.

Week from April 5th to April 11th

Monday: 10mn stretching, 15mn arms reinforcement, (Abs 4X10 +2×10), LS-3 miles, 35mn aerobic, 13,498 steps

Tuesday: 10mn stretching, LS-3 miles, 30mn aerobic, one-hour Feldenkrais class, 15,667 steps

Wednesday: 10mn stretching, abs (4×10) (3×10),15mn arms reinforcement,3-miles LS, 30mn cardio, 11,295 steps

Thursday: 10mn stretching, abs (4×10) (3×10),15mn arms reinforcement, 10 squats, 46mn aerobic, 11,141 steps



Taken yesterday as the Paris Marathon was running along the Right Bank of the Seine

Friday: one-hour stretching class, 15mn arms reinforcement, 10 reps knee muscle, 37 mn aerobic, 10,707 steps

Saturday: 10mn stretching, abs (4×10) (3×10),15mn arms reinforcement, 10 knee muscle reps, 35mn aerobic, LS-3miles, 10,958 steps

Sunday: 10mn stretching, 25mn aerobic, 11,000 steps
        

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Filed under Aerobic pace walking, Brisk walking, cholesterol, Feldenkrais class, Pedometer, Stretching

Lynn–time flies by

I continued to deal with the sore toe this week. Finally went to the doctor–she didn’t think it was broken, just sprained, but it has limited my exercise a bit. However, it is getting better.

Monday 4/5–2 short walks–total of about 25 minutes

Tuesday 4/6–25 minute walk, moderate pace

Wed 4/7–Writing group after work–no exercise

Thursday 4/8–No aerobic exercise but did stretching/strength work for legs and back

Friday 4/9–no exercise

Saturday–2 mile walk–didn’t track time, moderate pace.

Sunday–short walk this morning–plan to go out again this afternoon.

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