Pentagenarians & Beyond: W/B 7/29

fox2star

Cathlete
Good morning all,

I plan on doing the upper body pre-mix from High Reps today ( thanks Lynda!). Just need to get a little more caffine in me first. ;)

Valerie, we put on the speedometer ( which the bike shop guy calls a "computer", and I it works well, just testing I went 12.5 mph on the street at my house. It's fun. You know how much I like to keep track of things. :D. I would love to do STS again, but can;t face those long workouts right now. I like to keep it under 45 minutes.

Lovely day here today, cooler, low humidity. A perfect summer day. Maybe we will take the bikes out later, do a nice ride, maybe even put the rack on and go to a better trail. we'll see how DH feels after I do my workout.

Take care,
 
Hi Deb and any later posters--

I did 5 miles with Leslie (75 min.). She's all alone on this one, so it's not quite so bad. She has no one to cackle and shriek with. I will be happy to leave her after I'm through with my week of just walking. Not sure though how strenuous to get with this knee, though.

Deb, I really like the upper body split on High Reps. I also intend to try the upper body split on the STS total body. It's even shorter.

I am now working on what will be a gallery talk about art work inspired by Plath's poems. It's really hard, though, because the artists are so different from one another. I'm going to talk with someone from the museum here about how to handle it.

Anyone watching the Olympics?
 
Hi,

we went on the Buffalo Garden Walk, beautiful gardens in city homes, all tucked and and done wonderfully. These are all different, some with ponds, some with statuary, even a Harry Potter one, with herbs etc that were used to make potions. Makes me not want to look at mine, and all the work we could be doing. Sighs....oh well.

Lynda, ( decided to start using your name, not sure why, maybe because everyone else uses real names. )..anyway I did do the High Reps upper body pre-mix and it was pretty good. I didn't like all the push ups. but what else can you do for chest without a bench? she did some flies so that was ok. The core work is tough too. Will try STS TB next time.

I am going to try to add the Compound Leg part from To the Max on to my C25K runs as a leg workout, combined with the treadmill it should cover it, also it has some upper body moves with it. I am reducing my workouts to 4 times a week, with 2 nights of late dog training, I can't get up the following mornings.

Going to my cousins for dinner, hope everyone is having a good weekend.
 
Good morning...

we did a bike ride yesterday about 23 miles on the road, not a trail. it's a generally not crowded road but was a busy because of a one day art festival.
today we did a hike. not a lot of mileage but tough because it's very brushy, muddy and slippery and still (!! ) very snowy. probably 4 miles RT. we walked along the ridge at the top but it was fogged in mostly. no rain, just fog. no reason to walk a long distance when we couldn't see much of anything. probably at least 10 feet of snow left up there. some years are tougher than others. warm moist air comes inoff the ocean, hits the snowpack, and clouds form.

Deb, we have a couple cycle computers, small ones. one style stays on our bikes, the other one is prone to coming off so we don't leave that one on the bike when we're driving. things can bounce off so if it's loose at all, keep it in the car and stick it on when you get where you're riding.

Lynda, I think I always went for the real name and I don't remember why, maybe I don't know what "garance" represents. a character from literature?
 
Good morning,

We had a lovely dinner at my counsin's house last night. I think the iced tea she gave me was not decafe, and I was awake for a long time, I think I went to sleep after 1:00...so tired today and it's our late night with dog class. Ugh...

Valerie, I told DH about the bike computers and how they can fall off, he said ours wouldn't we have those red eye ones?

Lynda, will you be doing the talk at a particular gallery? How is your leg that had the treatment? was this the same one with your knee problem?

Will check back later..
 
One of ours has a bracket mounted on the bar, the computer slides in and out. it's about 1.5 in square. It's the one on DH's mt bike. I don't have one. we take it off when we drive somewhere and keep it in the car. the road bikes have devices that are more secure. those stay put. it's a few yrs old so when replace it, will look for one that is more secure. I don't remember what brand it is, I keep thinking cateye?
I just wanted you to look & make sure they were secure. of course, this is coming from someone whose entire bike fell off the rack on the freeway!! that was a lesson.... you can't put bike racks on cars with rear spoilers.... a lesson we learned the hard way. it was my bike that hit the asphalt too. amazingly it lost part of a pedal but otherwise was OK. fortunately the guy behind us stopped and blocked traffic so we could run back and get it. between the wind and the vibration we are careful about extras on the bikes.

so many people are not bothered by caffeine, I don't trust anyone to pay attention. I used to drink coffee all day and it didn't bother me, but not anymore. one night os klost sleep affects me badly.

we are trying to watch the olympics. so far, timing and recording hasn't worked. a lot of events are too boring to watch. I appreciate they areall incredibly fine athletes and have trained intensely for years but.... watching rowing or long distance biking is pretty boring. we try to record evening coverage to play back and FF thru the endless commercials and personal info. so far neither recorder has worked, one bad disk. one no reason. when we got back yesterday we were watching live water polo? yipes. NOT interesting....these big hunky male athletes in teensy trunks were wearing head gear that what looked like baby bonnets, complete with a tie under the chin. never heard of that sport before. we wanted to catch some swimming and gymnastics but have missed most of both so far. team volleyball is good but beach volleyball? not interesting.

Have any of you found a listing that tells time/events will be shown? we don't get all the channels that are carrying coverage so have been sticking with NBC. but yesterday it said gymnastics and we got the baby bonnets instead. we left it on while doing other things but finally turned it off.

DH is getting another knee injection so I'll be doing some kind of workout here.

had our first cauliflower and green beans last night. yummy. home grown is so good!
 
Hi Deb, Josie, Joan, and Valerie--

This morning I did the upper body premix on High Reps (39 min.).

Garance is the name of the female character in Les Infants du Paradis (Children of Paradise), a film made in France during the German occupation by Carne and Prevert. I love the film, the character, played by Arletty. I taught it many times as a "theatrical" film, dependent on dialogue, characters who grow and change, good acting, etc.

Deb, the gallery is part of the art museum at Indiana University in Bloomington, and the exhibition is related to the 50 year celebration of Plath's Ariel poems. The principal artist is Linda Adele Goodine, who has a series of photographs based on Plath's bee poems. The exhibition may move to a gallery in Portland in February, so I might be invited to talk there as well.

Deb, the ultrasound I had the day after the vein closure showed that the vein was indeed closed, so blood should stop going down to pool in the lower veins. I suppose it takes awhile to see any big difference. I am wearing a compression stocking for two weeks, and then I have a follow-up appointment on 9/20. Saw the orthopedic surgeon today. Made another appointment for early December to talk about the possibility of knee replacement in the early spring. He doesn't like patients to make decisions so soon after a trauma. Did not recommend any injections because of my reaction to Synvisc--they are all the same stuff, just different manufacturers. I read recently that the length of time to metabolize caffeine increases with age, and after 60, it can take up to 10 hours. So, I basically don't have any caffeine after noon.

I watched the women's gymnastics last night, and the American girls are really incredible. I couldn't believe some of those vaults. One girl looked like she was flying. No bloopers, either, on the balance beam. The men's swimming relay last night was also exciting, although the Americans came in second this time. I watched the beach volleyball doubles of Misty May-Trainer (sp?) and her partner against the Aussie team on Saturday night, and it was really exciting. Not sure what's on tonight.

Back to work here.
 
we think we got last night's olympics recorded and will watch it tonight. hopefully all systems worked this time. I love gymnastics. I enjoy swimming, track and field. not too big on team sports.

there was a story in Time mag re a training routine. I would guess this is typical, and some do more, some less. probably dependent on sport. a guy who lives and trains in colorado springs at altitude: starts day with a 5000 meter swim . a break, then runs 10-12 miles. lunch. then pedaling 200-240 miles on a bike . plus a couple hours of weights and stretching. 6 days a week. holy cow. can you imagine? every day, for years?

Lynda, I was thinking that might be the case since it all sounds like slight variations on the same basic compound, some natural some synthetic. DH had his second shot today and is hoping it at least helps in time to rebuild. more later.
 
Good morning,

Another crappy night, not sure what is going on right now. I never have great nights, but at least for a while I have been getting some straight sleeping in. Not last night. This week is gong to be a tough one, we have a physical inventory at our warehouse, 21,000 pieces to count, and hopefully match to our system's inventory..wish me luck..

Valerie, sadly, nothing in the Olympics interests me. I have never really watched any of it. I am impressed by the athletes, and all the training they do, just don't like watching it. Our bike computers are those cateye ones. whatever that means. DH doesn't think they would fall off, but I bet the first time we put the bikes on the car rack, he takes them off.

Lynda, I checked the CBS TV site to see about Dogs in the City and I guess they have not announced/decided yet if it was renewed for another season. :( I really hope it is, I like the show a lot. Let me know if you see anything about it.

Time to get ready to go, have a great day!
 
finally some Olympics to watch! good thing DH can run the recorder, I have no clue how it works. we record about 5 hours of coverage and play back in 1.5 hrs. so many commercials and other garbage! I don't want to hear interviews with athletes, just leave them alone. all that stress.... I would not expect any great speeches anyway.
Deb I didn't mean to make you worry about the cateye! our road bike ones are solid. just wanted you to check to be sure. 21,000 piecs to match. that's worse than making the checkbook balance!.
I've been sleeping well lately. if I wake up and think I might not go back tomsleep I take a benadryl and one advil. working well.
the gymnastics were great. I wish the coverage showed more of the other countries athletes especially gymnastics. they showed a few others, china, england. the american team... wow. the vaults and tumbling were amazing. the balance beam too. wow. on the downside, can you imagine the joint issues many will have as they age? what a pounding.

I called back appliance repair.... it's been a week since they checked my DW. the parts, a board and a relay switch, are backordered by bosch until aug 6. then several more days to fed ex. thank goodness I have a workaround. a pain heating water (stove or micro) but it works. I run the tap til hot, add severla cups of almost boiling water. run an express cycle. it's enough to clean everything before the water cools down. by morning they're even fairly dry. I'm not set up to hand wash dishes.

Lynda, thanks for the info on your screen name. I think it's interesting the names people invent for themselves.
what is the expected timeline for your leg? will the improvements be mainly appearance or will your legs simply feel better? I've heard people say that their legs felt fatigued and achy all the time from the veins in addition to them not looking great. my family has bad veins but I guess I missed inheriting the tendencey. I remember my grandmother having hers done a long time ago. my mother never did anything with hers. my sister has problems. they were all extremely inactive which didn't help the problem. I have not, to this point.
Sounds like a good orthopedic doctor, not rushing you into something that can't be undone. you're able to do some significant workouts, and things may look less urgent after several months of no problems.
 
Hi Deb, Josie, Joan, and Valerie--

This morning I did 4 fast miles with Leslie (58 min.).

Deb, I noticed that Dogs in the City was gone, too. I was hoping for a few more episodes. Ugh--that does not sound like fun doing inventory and hoping the figures line up. I don't know what you are counting, though. I would probably be dreaming about counting if I had to do this.

Valerie, my primary care physician just said to go for it on the vein closure because it's such a simple procedure these days. My legs don't really bother me, but I do like the idea of having some of the unsightly veins around my ankles disappear. One of my sisters had her legs "stripped." I would never do that, because it seemed like a really painful procedure. I just DVR things, which is so much simpler than trying to set up the VCR for recording like we did in the old days. Does your cable company offer DVR for high-def? If it did, maybe you could switch and record everything you want with the tap on a button.

I watched the men's gymnastics last night and the American men just seemed to psych themselves out--one flub after another. One fellow looked like he was going to cry--the African-American kid with the beautiful face. Not sure what is on tonight. More swimming maybe.
 
Talking about vein 'stripping".... that was what my grandmother had done. she was pretty tough and never complained. she was old enough ( born in 1880)where all her children except my mother were born at home, no anesthetic, no help. my mother was born in a hospital of sorts, but was a premie, so they sent her home expecting her to die. but she didn't. she was born when grandmother was quite old, over 40.
that also brought back a memory of "old" cataract surgery. there was a family friend who had it done, this must have been in the 50's. he was immobilized on his back, without moving his head, for what I remember as about 2 weeks. in the hospital. How things have changed!

DH set up the TV/DVD player/speaker system to his liking and not what the cable people wanted to do. it's not simple. I have no idea how it works, and sometimes neither does he. we have another "set up" in the basement exercise room. plays both VHS tapes and DVDs. we have a lot of old movies on VHS and the ones that will copy to DVD have been done, but many won't copy. both systems use 2 remotes..... sometimes it's just not worth asking. he goes down there and plays until he gets it to work, but like with the olympics, it took three tries to get it to record.
we are always a day late this way. we'll see mens gymnastics tonight since it was on last night. by then all the newspaper/internet info it's not much for surprises.

forgotm to say, I ordered XTrain. can't go wrong for that price.
 
Last edited:
Good morning,

It's Wednesday, over the hump!

I slept a lot better last night, woke up a couple of times but went back to sleep quickly. DH did the 3:15 dog run. I wonder if this dog will ever sleep through the night. She's good for about 6 hours.

Valerie, bummer about the DW, but at least you have a "work around".

Lynda, Dogs in the City had a season finale, which is how they described the last show. I didn't realize it had not been decided whether to renew. I hope they do. Finally one show I like on TV ( besides DWTS, and that one is getting old), and they may not have it again. I should see if I can find out what the ratings were like. Not that I know anything about ratings :). So if you get XTrain, you can get it without the bike DVD. I think you should get it, it's like a mini STS, which is why I am excited about it.

Inventory starts today..the product is high end suitcases, all styles, colors, sizes etc. But they are not hard to count, just that we have 21,000 of them.

Off I go!
 
Hi Deb, Josie, and Valerie--

This morning I did the upper body premix on High Reps (39 min.). I'm puzzled as to why this doesn't include the back.

I checked my DVR list, and I think I must have the finale for Dogs in the City. I agree, Deb, DWTS is really getting a bit old. Now they are bringing back "stars" from previous seasons--many that I don't care to see again, especially Bristol Palin who strikes me as a non-star, and the one who lost all the weight--cannot even remember her name, probably because I don't like her. Good lord, how did you end up with 21,000 suitcases??

Watched the women gymnasts last night. The American team was spot-on and won the gold. Too bad the men were so out of it. Not sure what's on tonight. If nothing special, I will play some of my saved programs. They are piling up.

I still don't know whether to buy the new series.
 
I bought the new series. including obviously, the bike disk. I did sts disk #15 last night. It's hard but I enjoy it. I drink 3 large bottles of water in an hour doing it.

We did a hike today, kind of impromptu, and it was fabulous. we haven't hit it right all season but it was lovely today. gorgeous, clear blue with puffy clouds. some snow but big areas with lovely wildflowers. about 6-7 miles RT just the right length to not be a 'grunt'. huge vista of mt baker and the other peaks. a picture postcard day if there ever was one. both DH and I fell on our butts coming back down, steep and slippery in spots. totally worth it, kind of a long drive.

our olympics coverage did not record again. apparently the disks will delete what's recorded but will not record over the empty space. I so wanted to see the womens gynnastics but missed it. we got about 45 mine of locaL news and commercials and then the 6 hr disk 'ran out" recording. nowhere does it say it won't record over empty space .....it goes thru a big procedure to "delete". why else would you delete unless you wanted to reuse? sometimes I don't get it.

Deb, I concur. how did you end up with 21,000 suitcases?? anyone with the surname "Palin" will not get my view, ever. I can't think of anyone else I never want to see again MORE than SP. her daughter, daughters boyfriend, baby, other children, husband, etc. never.
 
Good morning,

Long day yesterday, counting, verifying, counting, verifying etc etc. As for having 21,000 suitcases, our warehouse does the US distribution for a company called Rimowa. They make very high end suitcases, unique looking, great colors etc. Their headquarters is in Germany, but they also make a lot of them in Canada. We keep a large inventory for them here in the US and ship orders from here to all kinds of large department stores, boutique luggage shops.. Then 2 agility classes last night in a training hall with no AC...I was dripping in sweat.

Lynda, I wondered the same thing about that pre-mix...no back exercises. Here is someone else questioning it:
http://cathe.com/forum/f95/high-reps-ub-premix-290013/
Not like Cathe to miss something like that.

Valerie, I agree on Bristol Palin and the soap opera saga that we had to endure. Kind of liked SP, until then. Not sure who to blame in all that, them or the media that thinks we want to hear or know all that garbage. Plus she was a brat on DWTS, something her mother should have kept her off of.

I would usually say, "2 more days until the weekend", but I think I will be working at least Saturday...

Take care,
 
Last edited:
saw another night's olympics, the womens team final I guess, FANTASTIC. Wow. US women were fabulous. two of the girls( somehow they seem too young to be women) look somewhat alike and I keep getting them mixed up. hard to see some of the russians stumble.. they look sad and scared, like they'll be off to siberia if they don't win. the synchronized diving was interesting too. swimming good too. being a fairly crummy swimmer, I'm in awe that they are so graceful and can move so quickly. all swimmers seem to have tremendous range of motion in their shoulders.

read a very interesting article about china, their athletes and how they train. it was a calculated strategy to focus on sports they felt were under-emphasized, where they calculated they could win many golds. events with women with many weight categories like womens weight lifting. the athletes are picked young, removed from their families, and live at training camps where that is all they do is eat, sleep, train "for the country". women especially, because it's easy for families to give them up because they are basically a liability to rural parents. it's "just a job" for most of them. that was repeated many times. it seemed so joyless and sad but perhaps for many it's their only opportunity to get away from a life of growing cabbages their entire lives.

I made an error in the athlete training earlier in this thread. the guy rode 240 miles a week , not per day. after I thought about it I re-checked... just didn't seem possible. still, a tough day, every day.

off to yoga...
 
Hi Deb and Valerie--

This morning I did 4 fast miles with Leslie (60 min.). Next week I will try to do something more challenging. Can't take much more of her shrieking.

Still enjoying the Olympics. My DVR list is growing and growing. Tonight I must record Project Runway. Don't know if you watch that, Deb, but last week was the candy challenge. One fellow made a gorgeous strapless sheath by glueing crushed hard candies to muslin, and used whip licorice to create a surface design. It looked like it was gem-studded. Bristol Palin now has her own reality show. Wonder what her ratings are (snicker).

The Chinese badminton players screwed themselves this year by throwing matches to avoid playing their own teams. I was also interested to see that the Chinese women didn't really do all that well this time around on the gymnastics--probably because they were suspected of passing off 9 year old girls as qualified last time. Sounds like track and field could be a real washout because of the weather in London.
 
Deb, thanks for that link. Tomorrow I will do the upperbody first premix and then shift to the cooldown.
 

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top