Keep on Moving Club: December 2017

[agate]

Average pedometer reading for November: 1005 steps, averaged for 29 days

A new low but there have been special circumstances. I'll try to increase my steps.

[Virginia]

I think it is very, very good Agate!

[Sunshine]

I think those are good numbers Agate!

[Sunshine]

I swam 600 Yards today, 21 minutes. ‘Twas 80° outside and sunny.

[Virginia]

I went to two grocery stores today. Was in 30s. Maybe high 30s then, but I think it is low 30s now.

[stillstANNding]

I walked 4 blocks twice. I got my hair done in the neighborhood.

ANN

[agate]

I've latched onto yet another pedometer, this one combined with a wrist watch. It's also supposed to monitor your heart rate. So far it doesn't work as a pedometer. Within seconds of being turned on, it racked up 184 steps for me, when I'd taken about 5. I'm going to try once again, after changing its sensitivity setting, and if it's still not working any better than that, it will be consigned to the realm of backup wristwatches and used if my regular watch gives out.

It was a freebie anyway.

Today I did a load of laundry, including a scarf I had just made, but it had to be blocked. So I spent at least half an hour standing and blocking it on my ironing board, putting pins all along its edges to hold it in place and measuring it as I went. I also took the trash to the dumpster.

I did my 40 foot lifts with the weights and did my 10 arm stretches with the exercise band, as well as the usual exercises in the morning (which take 1 minute) and there will be more tonight (lasting all of 10-15 minutes).

[Sunshine]

Chocolate for Agate, Ann, and Virginia :)

Was supposed to surf this morning, but there is lightning and hellacious downpours. Rain is no deterrent, but lightning is a no go. Except there was that one memorable time two years ago....nuff said :)

[Howie]

I'm ready for a good story BBS, let's hear it!

[Sunshine]

Well, 3 of us senior women hit the beach in the summer when huge storms pop up quickly. It was just after sunrise. There was lightning pretty close by, you could see the bolt hit about a half mile off the shore. The lighting was eerie. No one was there.

It had just finished raining and the ocean was just gorgeous. After a rain, the ocean sometimes glasses over, with no ripple on the wave. Just these perfect thigh to waist high rolling waves. Dream waves.

We knew we should run to the car due to lightening. That’s what a logical person would do. But we were stoked out of our minds with the perfection.

I had driven 45 minutes. So, Insaid, “Lets just take one wave and then run to the cars.”

So, we exchanged information on where our phones were, our car keys, our insurance card and next of kin.

And paddled out. OMG it was ethereal and worth death. I still remember it. The ride was jut perfect, the energy of the wave merged with our souls as we just blissed out.

And a miracle occurred. The storm rapidly moved out to sea. So we kept surfing.

[Sunshine]

The second and final lightning story will come soon. It too had a happy ending.

[Virginia]

Lots of chocolate for Agate, who does her exercises everyday!

Lots for Ann, who can walk a total of 8 blocks!

None for me because I did not walk enough!

[Sunshine]

I did my 6 lb arm lifting weights per Strong women Stay Young. Neuro said it can help with infusion , that is, make it less likely to have vein problems leading to a port. Who knows, but it can’t hurt.

Just did not feel like swimming in a poorly heated pool today with 59F air.

[Sunshine]

I decided to give swimming a try today. It was cold outside, 58° and windy but it was very sunny. The pool temperature was only 79°. I wore a 2 mm neoprene outfit for warmth. The swimming itself was not cold and I swim 50 yards short of a quarter-mile, 13 minutes. I decided not to do anymore swimming because I knew I needed reserve in order to deal with the cold.

I didn’t anticipate how cold it would feel after I got wet. I was shivering so hard and I felt like throwing up. And I can’t move very fast, so it was quite a while before I got into the locker room which is not heated, but it is warmer than outdoors. Showers are also lukewarm.

On the way over I almost turned around and went back home. I accidentally had forgotten my asthma puffer so I had to go back Home to get it anyway. I had one of those inner dialogue‘s where I told myself it was very brave to put on neoprene and even think about swimming and that it made me a brave person. That was my way of not going back. Then I thought well I can be at least brave enough to drive over to the pool and see what it was like. The air felt warmer there because of the sunshine and I decided to give it a try.

So when I was swimming, I went through the same internal dialogue. It’s like having a Constant nagging coach!

Maybe for now on I will not go swimming when the temperature is below 63, or I will have to wear warmer neoprene suit next time and see if that helps. It was all kind of scary because I was worried that my muscles would lock up from the cold and SPS...So I can’t decide whether I was being brave, or whether I was being reckless! Maybe both.

[agate]

That doesn't sound like a good experience to me. It's miserable to be so cold.

I like living on the first floor where I have a patio because I can poke my head out the door and see what it feels like outside before deciding if I want to go out with my trash or wait a while. Sometimes it's so chilly that even just a couple of minutes out there in it makes me feel chilled for a couple of days. We have to keep an eye on the external temperature and change our plans sometimes, I guess.

I have a thermometer that gives the outdoor temperature, and I look at it often, but it's not the same as actually getting a little taste of the weather outside. You don't get the effect of the wind if you just look at a thermometer. If the wind out there goes right through me, I try to stay in.