Pentagenarians & Beyond 1/09

T

Traildoggie

Cathlete
Good morning. starting this saturday night. hope to be on a hike early sunday morning.
yesterday I did a spin, cycle sweat premix. miss the countdown timer but I can do it, although without seeing remaining time I won't push as hard as when I can see what time is left.
 
Good morning. Today I did my weekly Jane Adams Gentle Yoga Morning Energy practice for 18 minutes. Our weather is gray and cool with more rain on the way. Not the kind of day that makes me want to do anything.

Valerie, thanks for starting us off this week. Great with the Cycle Sweat premix.

Hello to Judy, Diane Sue, and Cathy. Have a wonderful day everyone.
 
The drama that is my life. Got Derek back to campus Friday. There was an accident on the Mackinac Bridge that shut it down for over an hour but cleared before we got there. Then we had to reroute for another accident. Ended up staying an extra day because there was no snow forecast for Sunday. Got about an hour from bridge and the blowing snow got worse and it started lightly snowing, got rerouted for an accident onto such fun, not really plowed, back roads. Then the whiteout got really bad once I got back on 2 and got turned around from a big accident. Came back about 3 miles to the little town of Brevort which has one motel open and got myself a room. It has been snowing for over an hour before it finally showed up on radar. And they will not plow the highway (2 lane) in the stretch by the dunes till it stops. This stretch goes along Lake Michigan. She gave me the room for $60. Basic Mom and Pop place no wifi, just a TV that’s probably pretty limited, but I don’t watch much anyway.

On the plus, I did Boxing hiit Express this morning. First workout since Monday. On the downside I’m supposed to start STS tomorrow morning.

there is actual snow predicted tonight and into tomorrow afternoon, so we’ll see how far i get.
 
We did the hike as planned today, two hours. this is the one we see porpoises, as we did today. you only see glimpses of them but is a goal. first sunny day in a while. In the mountains the snow has been ridiculous. we have accumulated 20 feet so far, so much in the last week that all the east-west passes have been closed since thursday. highway passes are not very high in elevation so a lot more snow falls in higher terrain, and then avalanches down onto the roadway. we get a LOT of snow here.
I-90 finally re-opened this morning. I-5 was closed for a short time too , and even I -84 in the columbia river gorge was locked down. the snow started out light and fluffy back when I was raving about xc skiing, but turned to heavy wet concrete and then to rain creating extremely dangerous conditions. avalanches and landslides everywhere. there are no other alternatives except to fly if you can get to an airport. Glad we were not traveling right now. a lot of grocery stores had pretty empty shelves.
cathy as you well know, a boat load of snow can derail even the best plans. the pass closest to us is still not open and probably won't until tuesday. something very 'special" about this storm. not a lot of accidents connected to it but mainly because so much snow came so fast that roads got closed before 2 dozen people had a chance to spin out and crash. turned out the interstate hwy pass didnt open until this evening.

got on the scale this morning and darn! gained between 3-4 pounds. since vacation. I have been careful but not possible to be as active with this awful weather. thought I was doing enough, have been eating decently. I do not care for the new WW program. I never eat anywhere near all the points and am gaining. sigh. I can gain weight on distilled water and carrot sticks. back on the even more straight and narrow.
 
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I'm in Mackinaw City on the south end of the bridge. This is a tourist town, with a very small population of year round residents. At the Holiday Inn Express. After 3 bad nights sleep and the roads for the first few hours south looking bad, I got a room. I just didn't feel like my energy level was good enough to try it. At this point, if the roads clear tomorrow, I'm only four hours from home and I don't need to checkout till 11, so things will have even more time to get better and hopefully, I'll get a decent nights sleep. Have to search down an actual restaurant for supper, I had something I could microwave for lunch. A handful of places are open. No fast food, which is fine, because the last two day my meals have been way too high in sodium! You couldn't pay me to step on a scale right now.

NMU has cancelled classes today and tomorrow and will be virtual the rest of the week so they can get in the supply of KN95 masks they had ordered for students.

Dang just saw that they've closed a section of M-28, the way I usually go for bad roads, whiteouts. That stretch at normal speed is about a 45 minute drive. And that's not even the stretch that goes bad the most.

Valerie that's so cool that you saw porpoises even if it is from a distance!
 
Cathy porpoises are common at this spot. Trail is called the porpoise point trail! It goes down. Lose to the water but porpoises are not “obvious” they dive up and down do you just see their back arch out of the water. Saw seals too. We’ve seen sea lions there and in the right season water birds but things are sparse during winter. Porpoises are likely once you know what to look for.

Hope you find a restaurant. The freezer case selection at small town groceries is probably not great.
 
Today I did All Out Low Impact HiiT, no disc cardio premix. My time was 33 minutes with 228 calories burned. Average heart rate was 129 and maximum heart rate was 153. I had an appointment with the Gyn to go over my bone density results, something that shouldn’t have taken a lot of time. Unfortunately that was not the case due to a long wait in the treatment room. I was a little annoyed although I realize that it was unavoidable.

Cathy, your trip is really turning into a saga. Continue to be cautious and take your time.

Valerie, I’m sorry that you don’t like the new WW Personal Points program. I am having good results with it. I even lost 3 pounds during the holidays with all of the splurging and different types of foods that I had. The focus on non-starchy vegetables makes a big difference for me. They keep me satisfied and I am eating what I want but in smaller portions. You might take a look at your zero points food list to see what’s causing your gain. It might just be the vacation and eating out more.

Hi to Judy and Diane Sue.
 
carolyn I think I see the problem. I have been enjoying the kale salad. it has sliced almonds and fresh grated parm in it along with olive oil. its hard to get exact measurements since its more 'to taste" than most things. I lowered the oil WAY down from the original, but its more caloric than my usual lettuce salad. also eating a small piece of apple sharlottka every night. I finished it last night so no more of that for now. I made plain pound dropper cheesecake this morning.
weather has been too nasty for outdoor riding. half hour to hour spinning is not the same as a several hour outdoor ride. I can handle an hour of indoor work, but outside I happily go much longer without noticing the time. I noticed my rings feel snugger than they did so weighed in this morning. back to austerity. I've been eating vast amounts of vegies but my butt can gain weight from broccoli and cauliflower and I am always hungry.

Did 15min on the elliptical, 100 knee pushs ups, Ice ab workouts, muscle meltdown biceps, and a shoulder workout . kind of an odd mixture. kept getting interrupted but ended up being a good weight workout. I was going to do rev'd up rumble but never did.
 
Saturday I did a 45 minute Peloton ride and 3 of the XTrain 100 rep challenges, triceps, shoulder raises and scarecrows. Sunday I did a 30 minute Peloton ride and yesterday was a rest day. We ordered a new Bronco Sport in September and it just arrived at the dealership. We will be picking it up later this week or early next week. This will be Chris's car and if I like it I will get one next year. We've been driving Escapes for years so this will be a change.
It's been very cold here, with windchills below zero. The rest of the week doesn't look much better.

Valerie-I looked up the pound dropper cheesecake and it looks good. I'm going to make one soon.

Carolyn-Great job with All Out Low Impact HiiT.

Cathy-Hope the rest of your trip goes well.

Hi to Diane Sue
 
Judy, I need (want)something sweet after dinner. I put some kind of fruit on the cheesecake. I use that or n’ice cream made with frozen bananas. I’m not crazy about the sweetener used. Artificial ones taste funny to me but it’s reasonably ok. I don’t use them much. There is none in n’ice cream but it’s cold for frozen desserts!
congrats on the new car!
 
Today I did XTrain Burn Sets Chest, Back, and Shoulders. My time was 61 minutes with 255 calories burned. Average heart rate was 110 and maximum heart rate was 154.

Judy, nice job with the Peloton rides and 100 Rep Challenges. That’s great that your new Bronco came in.

Valerie, I use Greek yogurt for desserts too. This week I used a half cup of Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp of soft low fat cream cheese, and 1 Tbsp Lemon curd to make a topping for cranberry gingerbread. This was instead of whipped cream. I also use olive oil in the vinaigrette salad dressing that I eat daily. I use my regular recipe but I use water for part of the olive oil. With the kale salad I’m generous with the olive oil because it helps to soften the kale and add flavor. I have learned that I can’t eat much of anything that’s highly processed. That kind of food keeps me from losing weight. You will figure out what works best for you, but you should not be hungry all of the time!

Hello to Cathy and Diane Sue.
 
I add a little olive oil salt and a squeeze of lemon several hours ahead and let sit at room temp. I’m not fussy about how soft it is. DH is the cranky one. Some types of kale soften more easily than others, the flat leaf kale is faster than the curly ones. dinosaur kale is fastest. I use 1/2 TB of regular vinaigrette on my normal lettuce salad, but the kale salad is probably closer to 1 TB of oil.

I have trouble distinguishing between hunger and appetite. I wake up at night hungry many times, but usually a sign I'm losing weight. If I'm not hungry, I'm gaining. it's very hard to hit the sweet spot in the middle where I stay the same. I haven't weighed often lately. since vacation I gained 3-4 pounds. I had been stable until then. a lot of it is the lack of outdoor exercise.
I was loving the apple sharlottka , has no added fats. eggs. apples. flour. sugar. I make it last for 12 slices too. I was putting a little honey on my yogurt so off the list. I switched to a tablespoon of granola with fruit on yogurt instead. I can indulge in those things if I'm getting a couple hours of exercise a day, but not with only an hour.
Judy the cheesecake recipe is flexible on amount of yogurt. I used a whole tub of chobani greek non fat. think it was 56 ounces. I use Fage brand sometimes but my favorite is the Costco Greek nonfat. I used a springform pan. no crust. sugar free vanilla pudding and the sugar sub the recipe recommends. I forget the name. there are other flavors possible. lemon, pumpkin, chocolate. I will try pumpkin next. this looks like 10-12 servings.
 
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Made it home around 4:00. Only had one 7-8 miles stretch that was really bad. First couple hours the driving lane was okay, passing lane not so much, then the driving lane dried up and finally the last 1hr 45min everything was clear and dry and I could finally put the cruise on and go 75! That's the normal speed limit for most of the trip. It was crazy windy here all day though and while my car is not at all high profile, it was being pushed around the entire way! Winds are supposed to die down now and we're actually going above freezing by a bit tomorrow. Then back down. Last few days, everywhere I've been has had windchills below zero. I also found and bookmarked the television station where the area with weather radar is out, so in the future I can watch their weather forecast and know for real what the situation will be. I redid my calendar and I'll start my STS rotation next week. I'll just do random stuff the rest of this week. Tomorrow is DH's birthday, so I made it back to wrap his presents. I had told him that if I didn't he could just open the packages that came the other day. LOL Not getting on a scale till at least Sunday. Need to get all this sodium out of my body and get a few days of good eating in. I ended up with a veggie burger and kettle chips last night. Only ate a few of the latter and brought the rest home for DH. The town I was in is a tourist hotspot and has millions of visitors in the summer as it's the bigger of the two sites for ferries to Mackinac Island and Fort Michilimackinac is there. I generally stay on the north end of the bridge because it's more of a town and less of a trap, but the Holiday Inn there is closed for the winter and I wanted to use my membership. The year round population is tiny and there are only nine restaurants open in winter, no grocery store at all, and 6 of the nine are bars, breweries or saloons. LOL

Valerie great job with the mix of things you did yesterday. It is an interesting mixture!

Judy nice job with the Peloton workouts and the XTrain 100 Rep Challenges! I've never done much with those. I hope the new Bronco workouts out well for you.

Carolyn great job with Xtrain Burnsets!
 
Ended up on the elliptical yesterday before dinner for 30 minutes at level 9 and 10. I watched a DVD from strong sweaty that I never did. it is a total body one but I watched the Upper only premix. I got soured on that series when the disk I planned to use the most had an overly loud sound track. even with turned off music off it is still noticeable in the background. I use the spin DVD some and now tried this one. it seemed Ok. weights were challenging. Not sure I will ever do 15 lb overhead presses! 10's are fine, 12's ok depending... but 15's? I don't think so. especially since all the other moves were 12-16 reps and pretty heavy too. but it's giant sets. I like those. maybe today with less weight.

Cathy I can remember going to mackinac island when I was a little kid. the bridge. horse drawn wagons? my father loved engineered things, like the locks at Sault ste marie. ( doubt that's spelled right). at the time it was not very built up, seemed remote. however I was little. we didn't travel much. my grandmother lived with us so she came along. cumbersome. 2 kids and 3 adults. my jerk brother hadn't been born yet. she sat on her butt in the back seat and couldn't walk much. she was probably about 70 at the time. it was striking how "old" people were by age 70 in the 1950's. I'm surprised no one has developed into a xc ski area, snow biking, that kind of thing? for s year round revenue and visitors. I remember going downhill skiing somewhere there, like Iron Mountain? that all gets iffy if the snow pack isn't reliable every year.
 
Today I did KCM’s Cardio Quick Fix. That was 26 minutes and 192 calories burned. Average heart rate was 133 and maximum heart rate was 151. I had my virtual WW meeting today. The Coach/Leader has been out with Covid for the past 15 days and substitutes are doing her meetings. She is fully vaccinated and boosted and I am hopeful that she will be better soon.

Cathy, I glad to know that you made it home safely. That was a very difficult trip.

Valerie, Total Body Giant Sets is a great workout. I remember that you avoided the series because of the music. Ramped Up Upper Body is also good, but that might be the one that you didn’t like.

Waving hello to Judy and Diane Sue.
 
that's correct. music on "ramped" is really really loud! I didn't notice the same thing with Total Body. I remember I contacted CS because I thought I had a defective disk. then I got annoyed because the spin dvd didnt have a countdown timer, so I never used the series much. going to give it a try but lighten up the weights.

really scary how the virus has spread to such a vast number of people. hospitals are overwhelmed! even if its not as severe a variant, the sheer numbers of infected is stunning.

although I couldn't find any this morning, this is a flour tortilla I really like. Mission whole wheat carb balance. the medium size, about 8" is only 2 WW points I like them a lot. that's half what most other whole wheat tortillas run. Not sure if Mission is a national brand? the tortillas come in a much bigger and also a too small size. I'm making chicken fajitas tonight. if you like tortillas, these are good and low point. sometimes I'd stand in front of the tortilla section trying to decide but these are my favorite now.
 
Valerie, I have used the Mission tortillas and like them. My first choice is Ole Xtreme Wellness which I think is a local brand for us. I use that brand or the Mission for my sweet potato and black bean enchiladas.
 
This morning I did XTrain Legs, Standing plus Ball premix. That was 40 minutes with 134 calories burned. Average heart rate was 106 and maximum heart rate was 132. My legs were trembling after I finished! I went to the grocery store this morning and was happy to get everything that I needed. The shelves are a little bare in some sections and we have snow in the forecast for the weekend. People tend to go crazy in the stores when they hear that “s” word.

Have a wonderful afternoon everyone.
 
I did stacked upper body yesterday. Will get to strong and sweaty soon.
We are cutting down a huge tree and limbing it etc. huge amount of work. When I went to help I saw an owl in the trees but it flew. I moved downhill after it in the trees. I can’t believe it but I found it. Got DH to come look and then. Climbed back up to our house and got the phone and got pics. He was still there . He is gorgeous! It was a great gray owl! They are huge. They are uncommon here ! It was a huge find!!
 
Yesterday I did IMAX 3 intervals. Nothing today as I shopped. Thinking I'll do the total body workouts from Boss Bands tomorrow and then try the Warrior Kickboxing 2 that Cathe did Live yesterday on Saturday. Need to get back in the swing of things.

Wow Valerie a Great Gray Owl! I've only seen one. We got married on Mackinac Island and we were out hiking the next morning and it was sitting on a fencepost. We watched it for a long time, and it's the only one I've ever seen. Because it's pretty isolated there's really not an ability to have a ton of people on the island in the winter. If the ice bridge forms people go over on snowmobiles. If it doesn't the residents have to hope that the ferry manages to keep running once a day, since they pretty much have to go off the island for everything. There are a few places open all winter, and a couple hotels open up for a couple weeks around Christmas, but the ability to get enough supplies for a lot of extra people really isn't there. It's a like like Mackinaw City which has 800 year round residents and over a million visitors. The island gets around the same number of visitors, but has a couple hundred less residents. There are a number of ski resorts in Michigan and the ski jump is in Iron Mountain. Great job with Stacked Upper Body and other workouts! I can manage 12lbs for shoulder presses if the pace and reps are reasonable, 15's aren't happening!

Carolyn great job with XTrain Legs!
 
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