an expensive day

Last night I did a last chance workout on the hills of Fountain Hill to burn off some weight. I walked up Bishopthorpe, Findlay, Benner, Bergen and Fredrick. The shocking part was that each hill registered the same on the Fitbit 8 or 9. Those hills are not created equal! Especially Frederick which registered 8. All in all I got 56
for the whole day. My goal is 25.

In anticipation of the weigh in, I weighed myself at home this morning: 224. Yikes! I broke the rule about not going back to another set of 10 after I was out. Not good.

At the weigh in I was 222. AND I gained inches. Except in my waist.

I broke my sunglasses when I fell at the recycle center. All the kings horses and all the kings men could not put those glasses back together again. And it was time to make an appointment. Today was the day. Bonnie joined me. Apparently I have had the same basic style of frame since the bronze age. It was time for a change. (What I really want is to be rich so I could have several pairs!)

The exam went well—none of the evil eye diseases are present. Thank goodness. Do not want to do that needle in the eye or drop thing forever like my sister. And my vision really didn't change so I could have saved the $100 on the exam. Oh well. Two new pairs of glasses set me back a little more than a grand. Ouch. Of course we picked the second most expensive frames in the store. I always do.

Afterwards Bonnie and I went to Full Of Crepe for breakfast. Bonnie's was gluten free (vegan also available). They didn't come on a plate. They are street style and come in a paper and cardboard cone that you peel. Yummy but very messy.  Since we were there at 10:30 it wasn't busy. The chef said when the students get back lunch rush starts about 11.

The crepes were huge. It had three different berries, mascarpone cheese and lemon curd.  You can choose sweet or savory and even make your own.

After lunch I walked with Betsy. Since Barb arrives today Bonnie's family stayed home. We did the typical 3 miles in her surburban 'hood.

Then I went to Patient First for BP meds. My doctor is MIA and I have no refills left. When I first started this adventure I went to a Dr. Jones at the doc-in-the-box.  4-5 years later she has landed at Patient First. Their website said she'd be on duty at 3. It's right by Betsy's.

I weighed 224 there. And my BMI is 33. My blood pressure was 126/65. Whooo Hoo. She also gave me the mamogram / dolonoscopy / ect lecture. Patient First is like a little hospital. They do blood, RX, xrays, the whole 9 yards. They are also sick expensive—$148. And that's without my RX. Yowza.  Need to find a regular doctor....again.

Tomorrow is the Moon Walk. Still on the fence about going. I posted the problem on FB. Clearly nobody cares. Only 2 people gave me feedback.

Regardless, Lydia and I will be doing one of the Bethlehem Volkssport walks tomorrow.

the week so far

Monday kicked off with a walk with Bonnie. Since the heat wave broke, we did about 3.5 miles around her neighborhood. Lots of hills to burn and extra calorie or two. When we got back to her place she made smoothies for breakfast—sweeten coconut milk, strawberries, bananas, protein power and something else. They were thick like milkshakes and delicious. Alas, I can't have another until September. Today I started the diet for Preventions sugar cravings diet test panel.I also bought dumbbells for the program.

Tuesday, was doctor day. It was totally uneventful. She didn't complain about my weight, blood pressure, numbers, nothing. It was oddly refreshing. My weight was 228.5. Last Wednesday it was 225.5. Three pounds in one week? I doubt it.

Lydia came after work for supper, then we walked Big A. After giving him to Pat, we hopped in her car and went to Emmaus. We did her Passport To Fitness rubbings at South Mountain Park and the Wildlands Conservancy. The path on South Mountain was about 1.5 miles round trip. I'm thinking the Flood Plain Trail at the Wildlands was just over a mile. Half mile with the dog. We probably got in 3 miles. We probably would have walked longer at the Wildlands, but it was getting dark.

I decided to try the exercises for the program at 10 pm at night. Not a wise idea.  I woke up Wednesday with aching shoulders, neck and knee. My knee still hurts, but it is better.

Wednesday, my colleague and I walked downtown for lunch. It's restaurant week. My last supper, so to speak before this wacky diet. I had a 1/2 fried artichoke sandwich and a salad. Have you ever had fried artichokes? OMG. Good thing I had to walk back up that hill.

After dinner I headed down to ArtsQuest for the Musikfest 30th Anniversary volunteer photo. There are 24 original volunteers left. They gave us the blue shirts there for the photo. Then we had to give them back. They forgot to embroider 30th anniversary on them. Oops. Sitting on the right is Mary Pongraz. She was my teacher at Broughal back in the 60s. I was the only one there that called her Miss Pongraz. Mary just doesn't sound right.

 

I remember when this skirt had one tshirt on it. What is amazing is thirty years later it still fits. As a graphic designer I see the evolution of the logo.

I left The Steel and headed over to the D&L for the Wednesday Walking Workshop. 

Over the weekend they were trimming the trees on the canal path. To me, it looked like a tornado blew thru and destroyed everything. Glad to see the PPL tree trimmers prune just as badly in the forest. One of the workers was killed when he cut the line and they closed the path for a couple days. My hope is that is why nothing is cleaned up. The canal is dammed with fallen branches. I could have cried. There is no shade on the path, but the power lines are free. I don't like the trade off.

We walked from The Wooden Match to the Minsi Trail Bridge and back. When we got to the Minsi we climbed the stairs and came back down. On the way back, we used resistant bands. I was drenched by the time I got back.

Michele, the walking coach, is the workout coach  for the Sugar Cravings Program. After the workout, she went over the exercises with me, and showed me adaptions. Hope I remember them all. Maybe I'll try them tonight. Should have had someone videotape it.

The rain is back, so I'll be doing a Leslie walk tonight.

Tomorrow Bonnie, Pat from the Liberty Bell Wanderers, and I are going to test the new South Bethlehem 10k walk. It will be my first official trail design. If it goes well, and the board approves, paperwork will be submitted to have it sanctioned by the AVA.

Remember the weights from above? Wednesday 225.5, Tuesday 228.5, tonight 224.5. WTF?

Oh, if that isn't enough, sometimes this week I earned my 1000 mile badge on FitBit! 

zumba night

I haven't been there since the beginning of the term. And I'll only get to go twice—this week and next—but it's better than nothing. (And then during spring break!)

While I was gone it switched from regular Zumba to Zumba Toning. The toning is only about 20 minutes. You begin with the warm up, move to regular Zumba, then tone, then Zumba, then cool down.

I borrowed Zumba sticks—one pound weights. They have sand or something in them so they make noise. Like a rain stick. About half the class had them. The others had other weights. They also have 2.5 pound ones.

It was kind of fun. And a lot slower than the old class (yes!) and less foot work. Thank heaven for that. I did more than 50%.

The class is held at the Epic Center, the old Ft. Hill American Legion. When I was there the last time, the stairs in the back were still old, narrow, and a little creepy. As the Epic people remodel bit-by-bit, they have replaced the scary stairs. Yeah!

It was odd not walking. It's maybe 5 blocks. But I'm not walking on Broadway alone in the dark. That's just crazy.

torture class, week four

My colleague picked me up at 6:15, and as I got in her car, she said "I don't want to go to torture class". So we walked instead.

Zumba tonight. Maybe. Depends on how hot it is.

week three

No inspirational messages this week. But I am inspired. Only 2 more to go, and I might not go to the last one. It depends. I have to take Angel and Bug to Philly that day. We’ll see.

She changed the torture this week. We did a lot of work with the resistance bands that I actually didn’t mind. A lot more work on the floor which I did not mind.

For example do three push-ups then kick your legs out. Say what? I did three, and stayed in a plank for about a minute than sat on my mat. We also lay on our back, which for me was easier. I didn’t need to hold my bulk up.

I really hate the popcorn aspect of the class. Up, down, up down. I might get more out of it if we stayed upright on down for 10 minutes at a time.

I might achieve my goal of doing half by the end of this. If not I’ll get close.

When I got back to the office, I ended up moving boxes for an hour. Plus standing all day. Wednesday was a high impact day. Bet I burned three or four calories.

torture, week two

In this mornings email I found this inspirational message from our torturer, I mean instructor. It reminds me of the stuff Lyd posts on her Bari Page on FB. As a graphic designer I must note that it needs contrast. Just saying.

The workout was exactly like last week. I might have done a hair more of the standing work, but did little on the floor work. Although I did manage 3 half-assed push ups in each set. Then I held a plank and crashed to the ground.

Like last week, my knees hurt. This week because of the planks my wrists hurt. And my shoulders. Not enough to take the Aleve. I have to be in serious pain to kill my liver.

We're going to finish this class but not take another, unless it's different. And really for beginners. We'll go back to walking the stadium stairs and maybe go into the gym for some weights or cardio. I actually kind-of like the weights. But not enough to buy some. Besides, I wouldn't use them if I did.

Yesterday on my way to the Wawa I saw a sign at the old American Legion. Zumba 6-7 pm on Weds. nights. Now when I did Zumba before I hated it. But this is four blocks from my house. I can walk, at least till summer is over. I have no excuse. Maybe I can get Lyd and Bonnie, after she heals from this latest surgery, to join me. Maybe I'll even go tonight. Seeing the people in my ’hood, I should not be the heaviest one there. This will clearly not be a class of Jillian's.

Monday I did my errands on foot. It was bright and sunny. I was five blocks form my house, a black cloud appeared, and a downpour occurred. I was a drown rat.

the 10th circle of Hell

The Divine Comedy written by Dante, is a 14th century epic poem about the Christian afterlife. I thought about it while I was at the gym today with the tears streaming down my face. I was certain I had entered the tenth circle of Hell. I was equally certain that Dante only mentioned nine. Nevertheless it gives me an excuse to use an Italian fresco in a walking blog and that's always a good thing.

I arrived for orientation at 11 sharp. But I forgot my ID card, so I had to go back to the adjunct office to get it. So we might have started at 11:10. I was taken back to the young man for my orientation. I think his name was Josh. It doesn't matter. He was barely old enough to have facial hair. I'm guessing he's one of the Colleges athletes.

He pulled out a goldenrod sheet of paper and took me thru the quick circuit. (Seated leg press, leg extension, leg curl, pulldown, chest press, shoulder press, biceps curl, triceps press, back extension, ab machine) Never asked my name, what my fitness goal was, nothing. He demoed each machine. I tried  it, and we went on to the next. I immediately forgot what he said about the prior machine. 10 minutes later we were done. He asked if I wanted the goldenrod paper. I said hell yes.  And then I was released into a gym alone. It wasn't pretty.

Instructions on the goldenrod paper. 1) Warm up with 5-10 minutes of light aerobic activity and mild flexibilty exercises. We only covered weight machines. So I thought I'd try the elliptical. Heard it was easy. After staring at it for a while I figured out how to make it work....sort of. I got it going and I was quickly zooming at 5mph and was ready for takeoff I managed to get it to stop, but then it erased everyhting I had already done from the monitor. Total time, maybe 2.5 minutes

So maybe that wasn't a good idea. Maybe I can get the treadmill to work. Turn that on and start walking. It's barely moving. I couldn't get it to go more than .25 miles per hour. Meanwhile around me people are running. Not a good sign. Should have went home then and there. But I was stupid and didn't.

2) Use a complete range of motion with each exercise to fully develop range strength and flexiblilty.  3) Never hold your breath while training. (Always a good rule of thumb. Makes life possible.) Try to exhale while exerting the muscles and inhale when return in to the starting position. (You're kidding right? This is one reason I can't do yoga. The whole controlling breathing thing drives me crazy.)

4) Move slower, never faster, if in doubt about the speed of movement. 5) Select a  resistance of weight that allows you to complete: Beginner: 12-15 repetitions. Form should be smooth and steady thru the full range of motion. If the min. number of reps is not achieved, the weight is too heavy. If the max can be exceeded, then the weight is too light. (Swell. How about giving me some starting point and then work from there. The machines are all set at 250 pounds and 100 pound 18-year-old girls are lifting them.)

6) Rest a min of 48 hrs and not more than 96 hrs between workouts. End of instructions.

So I went to the "seated leg press". My knee was supposed to line up with this gizmo and it didn't. I couldn't get the seat to move. I pulled, pushed, went up and down and left and right. Nothing. It worked fine when he did it. I tried it without moving the seat it hurt my knee.

It got worse from there. I could never find the right machine and walked around the gym trying to find them. Such a waste of time. I did manage to get one adjusted, but that's it. By the middle point the tears were streaming down my face and I was getting more and more frustrated. Everything hurt, I could never find the right weight, it was always to light or too heavy. Finally I was finished. Thank goodness. I was sweating like a pig and I didn't do much.

I decided to give the elipitcal a second shot. I picked one with the tv on. ESPN. Left it on  figuring ou the tv can wait for another day. Turned it on and got it moving and realized I was going backward. It said I was going 3.2 MPH which is about what I walk on the streets, but in 5 minutes I was exhausted but pushed on.

Then I had an epiphany. And it wasn't pretty. I thought all this walking and stair climbing I was doing had me in decent shape, cardio-wise. I have apparently been kidding myself. I'm not in any better shape than the Lazy-Boy potato that lives with me. That was quite a kick in the ass.

So for now, I'll go back but only to do the elliptical. (They don't have a stairmaster.) I only did 10 minutes today at 3.2 MPH. My first goal is 30 minutes. Then I'll up the speed and difficulty.

I'll save my money so that when I return to a gym for weight training, I can have a month or two with a personal trainer. I'll kill myself with those damn machines without one.

(Image from Wikipedia) Artist: Domenico di Michelino "Dante and his Poem", 1465, fresco, Florence Cathedral. Maybe someday I'll actually get to visit it.