Claude – two lousy weeks

Two weeks ago, I mentioned bladder infection. Well, guess what! Just when I had the feeling everything was back to normal, it came back with a vengeance. I went to the doctor’s who prescribed antibiotics. Some three or four days into the antibiotics prescribed for 7 days, my right knee started to be extremely painful. I couldn’t get up after sitting for five minutes, couldn’t go up the stairs or down the stairs and generally felt miserable. Of course, serious walking was out of the question.

I tried to avoid going back to the doctor’s as long as I could, which was a mistake, since when I made an appointment, my usual doctor was on her vacation and I had to deal with someone who turned out to be quite obnoxious and not helpful at all. He prescribed medicine that I knew I didn’t tolerate well, and when I mentioned it, said that he had no other solution and basically treated me like I was some sort of hypochondriac, which after two weeks of pain and complaining I was ready to believe I was!

After a couple of days of taking the medication, my face was swollen and I felt generally unwell and stopped it. Made an appointment with another doctor (charming), who prescribed a different medication.

Meanwhile, I had to travel to Normandy to check out on a leak that had destroyed part of my bedroom there, take photos of clothes that were full of mould and get rid of them, etc.

The only nice (if windy) day while I was in Normandy

All this to tell you that I did manage some strength exercise, mainly working on reinforcing the muscles in my thighs, since those are supposed to support your knees. Also arms reinforcement, but definitely almost never reaching my 10,000 steps goal during all that period.
Depressing.
But hopefully, I have now the situation back to normal or almost, am leaving Thursday for a trip to Berlin with my friend Barbara who is one of the great people I met through flickr.
I doubt that I’ll be posting next week as we’ll be walking the streets of Berlin, but don’t let it hinder you from posting 😀

Lynn–no change

My goodness, this is getting boring! Had an MRI, am waiting for my appt on Sept. 7th. Knee feels a teeny bit better, thanks to lots of ibuprofen (but my stomach is beginning to protest, so that is not a long term solution), but is still painful with any amount of walking. Still doing leg lifts and stretches but physical therapist is reluctant to recommend any other sort of exercise until we know what’s going on. I probably won’t post again until after the appt on the 7th.

However, on the positive side–it’s a beautiful day here. Hope you are all well and staying active.

Lia- Doing fine

Well, I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been a diligent walker…

Monday: 1 hour walking

Tuesday: 10,483 steps

Wednesday: 2 hours 15 min. walking (tried to use my pedometer, but it stopped counting at 7,000 steps and then counted backwards to 5,000, at which pointed I resisted the urge to throw it in the garbage)

Thursday: 25 min. walking, but 5 hours standing and working in the charity shop

Friday: 15 min. walking

Saturday: 1 hour 15 min. walking

Sunday: neit

Monday: 9,221 steps

Tuesday: 11,628 steps

Wednesday: nothing much worth mentioning

Thursday: 6,973 steps

Friday: 20 minutes walking

Saturday: 13,748 steps (the half of which were while carrying moving cartons and potted plants while helping a friend move to a new apartment. Also a lot of those steps were going up and down stairs to her third floor apartment.)

Sunday: plan to recover from today’s move!

P.S. There have been two or three occasions when my pedometer has started counting backwards. Once happened when I was riding my bicycle. Have any of you had this problem before?

Lynn–Still waiting

My knee still hurts a lot when I walk.

I went for an orthopedic appointment this past Thursday but didn’t learn much. Xrays showed that I have some arthritis in my knees but it’s not severe–so why does my knee hurt so much all of a sudden?  I got  a few minutes with a nurse practitioner who just wanted to give me a cortisone shot and usher me out the door–no real explanation or exploration of what was going on, no inclination to answer questions or talk about long term treatment/prevention of recurrence, etc.

I asserted myself and in the end got a referral for an MRI and no cortisone shot. It may well be that cortisone is the best treatment but I want it to be a decision based on more than a quick glance at an xray. I also decided I didn’t want to continue working with that particular orthopedic practice and have made an appointment to see a physician at a practice affiliated with a teaching hospital in Boston–hopefully that will give me clearer answers–but I need to wait 2 more weeks.

OK–that’s my rant for the day.

Only exercise continues to be my leg lifts and stretches. I found a gym near where I work that has 2 “endless pools” which are basically like treadmills for swimmers–a small pool where you swim in place against a current. It’s about as tedious as a walking treadmill–but it is convenient, I would pay just a small fee to use the pool, the water is kept fairly warm, and I don’t need to join the gym–so I’m going to try that out next week.

Meanwhile, my cat is taking advantage of increased lap availability (although it’s tricky to work at my laptop with a fat cat curled on top of me). 🙂

Claude – rainy week in Paris

I’ve had a difficult week as I started a bladder infection, which I thought was better, it came back with a vengeance and I had to go to the doctor’s last Friday. So I’m a bit late in posting.

I started a new morning programme with strength exercise from SparkPeople and rather like that it makes a change.

One of the things I find difficult with exercise is monotony and in a way, you always go back to the same stuff. So between Leslie Sansone, taking walks outside, the elliptic and the stuff I find at SparkPeople, I do get variety
Here’s my record for the week from August 9 2010 to August 15 2010

Monday:15mn flexibility ex, 2x15reps single leg squats with chair, 2x15reps wall pushups, 2x15reps boxer, abs 3×20 reps crunches, 3×20 reps reverse crunches, 40mn cardio walking, 11800steps
Tuesday: 15mn flexibility exercise, arms reinforcement: 5×60, cardio 36mn on elliptic, 10 squats, 2×10 thighmaster, 12423 steps
Wednesday: 15mn flexibility ex, 2x15reps single leg squats with chair, 2x15reps wall pushups, 2x15reps boxer, abs 2×20 reps crunches, 2×20 reps reverse crunches, 25mn cardio on elliptic, 10000 steps
Thursday: 15mn flexibility, arms reinforcement: 5×60 reps, 15 squats, 2×10 thighmaster, 40mn cardio on elliptic, 5mn stretching, one-hour Feldenkrais class, 11812 steps
Friday:15mn flexibility, 14000 steps, 10mn cardio
Saturday: 15mn flexibility ex, 2x15reps single leg squats with chair, 2x15reps wall pushups, 2x15reps boxer, abs 2×20 reps crunches, 2×20 reps reverse crunches, 28mn cardiowalk, 10600 steps
Sunday: 15mn flexibility, arms reinforcement: 5×60 reps, 15 squats, LS 3 miles, 35mn cardio, 5mn stretching, 10116steps

Sara – Back to work, and it’s ok…

Hi, folks, I now have a system for recording to go along with my sparkpeople recording so should be easier.

Back to work big time.  Hymns for Year A need to be chosen – I’ve done 4 months, 6 months to go.  If I do this now I can make decisions about choir anthems for the year too which makes life much easier later on.  It is probably my last Year A since hopefully 3 years from now I will be retired!  🙂

Lost one more pound this week, despite being a slug on the weekend – probably  mostly thanks to 5 miles of intense Leslie yesterday.  It’s always hard for me not to pig out right after I have lost some weight – I didn’t but it was a bit of a struggle!

One thing about the Leslie DVDs, I can see how the lateral motion could stress out a knee, if you weren’t used to it and got a bit too enthusiastic.  I love the results of it though – my butt has never looked better!  🙂

August 11-17
Wed. 10864 steps (6739 aerobic, 2 mi. LS, 1.02 outside miles, 46 cardio mins.)
Thurs. 7845 steps (3951 aerobic, 2 mi. LS, 29 cardio min.)
Fri. 12112 steps (4489 aerobic, 3 mi. LS, 38 cardio min.)
Sat. 2388 steps (no aerobic – no excuse)
Sun. 1226 steps (forgot pedometer – but no aerobic really)
Mon. 8076 steps (5241 aerobic, 3 LS intense miles, 38 cardio min.) 1 of these miles used hand weights but you could add them anywhere in her workouts.
Tues. 13292 steps (8619 aerobic, 5 LS “advanced” miles, 66 cardio min.)  3 of these miles used strength training aids.
Wed. weigh-in Aug. 18 – 141 lbs.

I can feel the stress hovering in the wings but it’s not here yet.  Once I start scheduling people, it will get crazier.  Forewarned is forearmed…

I do think the Leslie has more effect than just plain walking.  Although I plan a long walk today if weather cooperates!  I miss being outside…

Best wishes, everybody, especially to Lynn and her knee.  I will post again on strength training when I have something to say…

Nancy – A slow week

Not as active this last week. Tuesday my mother-in-law had surgery for cataracts so we spent the day with her.  Her right eye went as well as the  left eye; she should be seeing without glasses — except for reading. Wednesday was Sam and my 20th anniversary and we hung out together before going to a very nice dinner. Thursday and Friday I had a mild flu but did a bit of walking on Thursday. I didn’t get as much gardening done this week because of a birthday picnic on Sunday but I have more photos.  It feels great to have finished all the weeding before September. It will be possible to get the lilacs and rhododendrons trimmed this year. The forsythia also needs to be cut back severely; this plant would take over the world if given a chance. I’m considering removing the four plants we have but they have such beautiful yellow flowers very early in spring that it is hard to remove them.  Also the neighbor’s evergreen hedge was damaged last October by an early, very wet snow storm. The dead branches need to be cut back.  Anyway, I wasn’t very regular but today was a good day.

Thursday: walking, 4.39 km (2.73 miles) – 1 hour,  8,330 steps

Saturday, gardening, 4 hours

Monday: cycling, 9.2 km (5.7 miles) – 32 minutes; walking,  3.51 km (2.2 m) – 51 minutes; Stairs, 5 flights —- 10,789 steps!

I’ve posted some more pictures of my gardens. It has been a bit dry and some of the plants, e.g., bleeding hearts, Jacob’s ladder and some of the ferns are done for the year so they are looking a bit brown.

Who ever it was that suggested the walkmeter on the iPhone, you had a wonderful suggestion.  I love it. It is satisfying the gadget person in me; it makes graphs of the elevation changes along with a street map of your path, etc.!

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Lynn–much the same

Well, the knee is still sore, despite several visits to a physical therapist and PT-prescribed exercises, ice, rest, etc. So, no exercise other than the various leg lifts and stretches I’ve done for PT. This enforced break from exercise makes me realize just how much exercise has become a valued part of my life–even if I’m not always putting in as many miles as I’d like to.

The PT last week got me, briefly, on a stationary bike but it hurt my knee. I’m seeing the PT again on Tuesday and I’ll ask about trying the bike again. I asked about swimming–and the PT said it was worth a try–but I’m reluctant to spend the money on a gym membership if I do indeed end up needing some kind of surgery, where swimming might be out for a period of time. I have an orthopedic evaluation next Thursday so hopefully I’ll know a bit more by next weekend.

Sara – groan, work beginning in earnest…

I’d better post now, while I have a moment – work should have cranked up already but I’ve been procrastinating!

Bad news is, I was sick for several days – nothing serious but this virus did hit me rather hard.  I’ve been back to normal for a couple of days now.  Good news is, I lost weight!  142 lbs. at yesterday’s weigh-in.  Go figure – it’s true I didn’t want to eat much while sick, but I also didn’t exercise at all as you can see.  However, I think the regular Leslie mile in AM must have had some cumulative impact.

So here’s the scoop!

August 3-10
Wed. 9543 steps (5868 aerobic, 3 LS miles, 42 cardio minutes)
Thurs. 10145 steps (7535 aerobic, 3 LS miles, 1.01 outside mile, 52 cardio min.)
Fri. 7194 steps (3581 aerobic, 1.44 outside miles, 27 cardio min.) – getting sick
Sat. 902 steps – really sick
Sun. 2081 steps – still sick
Mon. 3397 steps – a bit better but no energy
Tues. 8988 steps (5359 aerobic, 1.44 outside mi., 1 LS mile, 44 cardio min.)
Wed. weigh-in August 11 – 142 lbs. woo hoo!

I’m keeping track of the small amount of strength training I do on sparkpeople – there isn’t really enough to report now – so unless I get into a regular routine I won’t record it here.  Maybe that will happen as the new work year progresses – maybe not – I’m fairly happy with the balanced workout I get from the Leslie Sansone DVDs & will just hope to keep that up.  I discovered yesterday that my neighbor tries to do 3 fast miles every evening (she’s 10 years younger than me & she really moves!) so I may try to join her for some of that.

Have a great week, everyone, and welcome, Nancy!

Nancy – Getting Started Is Slow

I’ve begun to exercise a bit more regularly but I need to get better at writing things down and then uploading what I’ve done.  Here’s my list of activities for the last 2+ weeks. Walking and gardening have been my primary activities but I have managed to walk up the stairs to my fifth floor office.  The gardening is rather strenuous because of the moving of plants and the moving of mulch – 150 lbs (68 kg) on Saturday and 200 lbs (60 kg) on Saturday. (Actually this is an underestimate of the weight because the mulch was wet from the several thunder storms we had last week.) Last weekend a dozen or so plants were moved to new locations in hope that they will do better.  I’ve uploaded some photos of my yard.  I’ve been working at decreasing the amount of lawn and increasing my flower, herb and vegetable gardens for the last 12 years.  Sunday the last of the heavy weeding was finished.

Day                     Date                Exercise       Distance        Time

Tuesday                   7/20                        walking            0.38 miles           8 minutes

Thursday                 7/22                        walking            1.83 miles            50 minutes

Monday                   7/26                        walking            1 mile                    24 minutes

Monday                   7/26                        stairs                  5 flights

Tuesday                   7/27                        walking            2.5 miles             48 minutes

Wednesday             7/28                       walking            1 mile                   22  minutes

Wednesday             7/28                       stairs                 5 flights

Thursday                 7/29                        walking            1 mile                   25 minutes

Saturday                  7/31                        gardening                                       5 hours

Sunday                     8/1                          gardening                                       5 hours

Monday                   8/2                          walking            1 miles                  26 minutes

Tuesday                   8/3                          walking            1.6 miles              34 minutes

Tuesday                   8/3                           stairs                   5 flights

Wednesday             8/4                          walking            1 mile                   22 minutes

Thursday                 8/5                           walking            1.4 miles             27 minutes

Friday                       8/6                           stairs                  5 flights

Saturday                   8/7                          gardening                                       5 hours

Sunday                      8/8                         gardening                                       6 hours

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