Middle age, or Pi's fitness thread

[pumpkinpi]

It depends on how you define it, but by one analysis I am very close to middle age. The median age in the US according to the national census is 37.5. I have less than seven months to go!

But boy, I don't feel like (statistically) half my life is behind me! Despite all the sicknesses I've had recently and my chronic conditions, in some senses I am a very healthy person. Yesterday I had a biometric health screening at work, which gauged my height, weight, bmi, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose.

The nurse told me I had the best levels she has seen--and the actual lowest total cholesterol she has ever seen: 136.

So, I guess I am doing something right! I haven't done any regular exercise (more than 6 weeks worth) since I got pregnant with Buster, 4.5 years ago. But taking care of the kids, my sometimes strenuous job, and being generally mobile must work for me. However, I know I can do better. I have very little endurance. I get winded walking up two flights of stairs at work carrying my heavy computer. But I am fixing that. I've started bike riding, which feels more of a pleasure than exercise! Except when going up big hills, I hardly feel like I'm exerting myself until I finish up my ride.

As far as good goes, I can do so much better. MrPi and I try to get veggies in at every meal we cook, but we eat out a lot. I don't really go healthy when at a restaurant--a lot of pizza, burgers, fries. And I have such a sweet tooth. I eat way too much candy.

I weigh a bit more than I would like, but my body fat percentage is just fine. I'm not exercising to lose weight--I do it to keep fit and tone up. I know I will have to work to keep my weight and bmi at the current level as I age, but I think I'm off to a good start with that.

[geonuc]

Excellent.

[SciFiFisher]

I have decided that middle age is more of a fluid marker.

[FZR1KG]

I have decided that middle age is more of a fluid marker.

They have adult diapers for that.

[geonuc]

I have decided that middle age is more of a fluid marker.

They have adult diapers for that.

LOL

[code monkey]

middle age is 10 yrs older than you are.

[OldCM]

When you get to be my age, you realize that your have passed the "middle" of your life, and on the downhil slide.

[pumpkinpi]

Day 2 of biking to work!
Yesterday was a trial run. I have a work vehicle that I needed to drive and it is parked not at work, but about 1.5 miles from my house. So I biked to that garage.

Today I did the full run. It's not very far--3.7 miles. But it seems shorter on bike than in the car! I don't think I'll do it every day because I'm pretty sweaty now, and it was only 60 degrees. I share an office so I don't want to offend my office mates on those warm summer mornings.....

[gethen]

When you get to be my age, you realize that your have passed the "middle" of your life, and on the downhil slide.

Can't figure out why people say we're over the hill when everything you do feels like you're going uphill.

[Swift]

I thought the line was "Hill?? What hill? Did we go over some hill? I don't remember that."

[Rommie]

See I've noticed on the biking front the difference between why the Dutch are successful when it comes to promoting cycling (in part) versus Americans is because when it gets too warm Americans worry about showing up at work sweaty; in Holland they just say "so? everyone is!" and have showers somewhere in the building for those who got too sweaty on the way in. Granted the number of days you can work up a sweat when cycling in is quite minimal.

I just realized I had no idea how far my cycle ride to work is, just that it takes about a half hour, so I looked it up- 4.3 miles. No hills though.

[pumpkinpi]

Oh, I think I made a mistake biking today....it's before noon and already 93 degrees!

No, I'll be ok. I only have to bike a little more than 2 miles from work. I used the option of driving to a park and ride, so I can reduce the length of the ride on heat advisory days, and avoid the 45 degree (I swear) hill near the end of my ride.
Ok, it's not quite 45 degrees. But it is worse than it looks in the picture. Keep in mind the whole 1.5 miles leading up to that have already been on a slight incline so I've gotten no relief. And there is even more slight incline for quite a distance after that.

[Rommie]

Yeah but going home must be awesome on that hill!

75 F and sunny right now in NL, which is really nice. And frankly reminds me why it's probably good it doesn't get much warmer around here with a half hour cycle ride in either direction...

[pumpkinpi]

Stamina problems....
Since about mid-August it's been getting harder to ride my bike. Regular hills that have been a bit of a challenge are much harder now. Sometimes I have to stop and catch my breath and walk my bike.
I've been riding it about 2-3 times per week in that time period.

Last Friday I thought I had figured it out. Around mid-August I lowered my bike seat. My lower back would get sore after a while, I thought because I was crouching over too much. But I made the connection that it started getting challenging about when I lowered the seat. I haven't ridden it again with the seat back up so I can't test the theory.

But I'm not so concerned that's the whole problem. I've already been out of breath twice today. Once was after a quick but short walk and then climbing up a couple flights of stairs. The other was after climbing three flights of stairs with a 10lb beast of a laptop on my back.

Now, I'm not going to pretend I'm in the best of shape. Until starting to bike, I haven't done any regular exercise in almost 5 years, since I first got pregnant. And it's not super regular now, only 2-3 times a week since about June. I'm not overweight, though. At the top of the healthy range for my height, but still ok. And I have in the past gotten winded while carrying a heavy load up stairs. But this seems like it's getting worse.

Otherwise, I feel just fine! I have enough energy for everything I've always done, like being able to keep up with the kids. I'm sleeping well. I'm not the healthiest eater, but my diet hasn't changed.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I do need to schedule a checkup with my doctor so I can address this then. I'm not one for making internet diagnoses, but any input in advance I could bring to the appointment for discussion would be appreciated.

[geonuc]

Winded by three flights of stairs? That probably isn't good, whatever is causing it.

[SciFiFisher]

Stamina is impacted by a variety of factors. Shortness of breath can be a stamina issue or it could be something else.

Stamina is impacted by things like cardiovascular health, weight, age, and fitness levels. It's sort of a synergistic effect. If you are older, less fit, slightly heavier, and you have cardiovascular challenges then you may get a marked decrease in stamina.

To be sure it's a stamina issue (mostly) try a mini stress test. Perform a moderately hard activity until you feel like you are out of breath. If you want to be more scientific do this activity for 5 to 10 minutes. Take your pulse. if it is somewhere around 100-110 you are probably in decent shape. Then time how long it takes for you to feel as if you are no longer breathless. within 1-2 minutes you should be completely recovered. take your pulse rate again. If it is somewhere around 60-90 then it probably is simply just a stamina thing.

A good fast way to check your pulse. Using the hand you wear your watch on; place the tips of the first and second fingers on the wrist of the other hand just below the base of the thumb. Do this while holding the hand palm upwards. If you are just below the base of the thumb you can feel a pulse. Count how many beats you feel in a 6 second interval and multiply by 10.

A general rule of thumb is that a moderately hard activity should increase you heart rate to around 110 with 1 to 5 minutes. And you should recover within 2 minutes.

Next lets talk about breathing and breathlessness:

light activity: you can have a conversation. Pretty much uninterrupted
medium activity: you can converse in short word groups.
Hard activity: you cannot really talk and workout

when you are out of breath which one of these does it most nearly resemble? If you are breathing like it is hard when you are doing light activity then it may be stamina or it may be something else. If you are dong light activity and breathing hard and your heart rate is 120 or greater I would get a check up.

[cid]

I thought the line was "Hill?? What hill? Did we go over some hill? I don't remember that."

"Where are we going? Why are we in this handbasket? And why are we picking up speed?"

[SciFiFisher]

I thought the line was "Hill?? What hill? Did we go over some hill? I don't remember that."

"Where are we going? Why are we in this handbasket? And why are we picking up speed?"

You are going in to be put down by the dogcatcher. You allegedly bit someone. And the evil person peddling the bicycle is trying to outrun a twister. Satisfied?

[pumpkinpi]

Daddy to the rescue! Along with raising the seat, he also pumped up the tires, and now the ride is back to normal. I had been pumping the tires myself, but apparently not enough.

Not to say I'm not still concerned about the issue of stamina. If I were in better shape, the recent rides wouldn't have been so exhausting. But I'm relieved that the increase in difficulty was a mechanical issue, and not something going wrong with me.

[Swift]

Daddy to the rescue!

Does "daddy" refer to your father or your husband?

[pumpkinpi]

Daddy to the rescue!

Does "daddy" refer to your father or your husband?

My father.

Every time I ride my bike to work it's like a little victory for me. Twice this week in temps hovering around freezing. Feels great!

[pumpkinpi]

Well, I just completed my 12 week challenge of Exercising at least 3 times per week. Most of the sessions were part of a "Post natal bootcamp" DVD series I bought after Russter was born. It slowly ramps up longer and longer interval and core training over 12 weeks.

My reward is a Peter Gabriel CD set, Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours. In 2010 he released an album of covers. Last year he released a compilation of the people whom he covered singing his songs. I saw it came out back in January, and made myself wait until I finished my challenge to get it.

Now I have to figure out how to stay motivated. It was tired. At least half of my sessions were at 8:30 or even 9:00 at night, after Russter went to bed. That was tough. I don't know if I'll be able to exercise that late without some extra motivation. But the good news is, my final exercise session was riding my new bike to work! Now that the now is gone, I hope to do it pretty often. I can rely on that for cardio and work in a couple short toning sessions when I can.

I was hoping to ride again today, but it was 28 with 20+ mph winds and a windchill of 15 this morning. There will be plenty of milder days coming up, so I'll wait for those.

[SciFiFisher]

What motivates you? For example, would putting $1 in a jar for every work out you complete and saving those dollars for something meaningful (to you) work for you?

Of course, I have good news and bad news. If you are working, taking care of Buster and Russter, and playing wife to Mr Pi part of the reason for being hard to motivate is that you are EXHAUSTED!!

That was the bad news. The good news is that in about 4 years the kids will be easier to take care of. and you might have a little more time to actually devote to exercise without feeling like you are exhausted.

[pumpkinpi]

Ugh. I thought it was supposed to be warmer today, but the windchill was 7 this morning! So no biking today. Tomorrow--snow. Hopefully I'll get some in Thursday/Friday. I just have to coordinate my load correctly. I have to bring a big heavy laptop home for use Friday, which I won't take on the bike.

I've decided I'm not going to challenge myself for a reward. I'm going to live by the rule of not going three days without exercising. I've been able to find a half hour three times a week for 12 weeks, so unless I am sick I should be able to fit that in when I need to on my 3rd day. Which will be tonight! The "reward" will be not disappointing myself.

[geonuc]

Ugh. I thought it was supposed to be warmer today, but the windchill was 7 this morning! So no biking today. Tomorrow--snow. Hopefully I'll get some in Thursday/Friday. I just have to coordinate my load correctly. I have to bring a big heavy laptop home for use Friday, which I won't take on the bike.

I've decided I'm not going to challenge myself for a reward. I'm going to live by the rule of not going three days without exercising. I've been able to find a half hour three times a week for 12 weeks, so unless I am sick I should be able to fit that in when I need to on my 3rd day. Which will be tonight! The "reward" will be not disappointing myself.

Potato chips are good as a reward, too.