Let's Post our Daily Exercise

octogirl

Have been having some back spasms and pain off and on since I got back from Boston, which have kept me from swimming (and walking is pretty much off the table until knee surgery)...I assume it is from sitting in an airplane for five hours (has happened before). Which is not good news since I get back on a plane tomorrow for five hours! Oh well, I am determined to get some exercise once I get to my happy place (Hawaii); even if it is just rolling in the surf!

Today my exercise will be doing laundry, packing, watering and tending to the back garden.....

Octogirl

badger

Ah, Ocean City MD. Been there and have a memory of a restaurant on a dock, with brown butcher paper for a tablecloth, and never-ending baskets of steaming blue crabs piled in the middle of the table.

Wonderful that exercise cheers us up. I know it works for me. Endorphins, yes, but also accomplishment.

My SIL in Houston is expecting two to three FEET of rain thru Weds. ((Texas))

Peregrine, love the pic of reading to Murphy and Ruth sorry about crabby old Henry.

TH, I loved my scale all week but not stepping on it this morning. Took mom to Olive Garden last night and had portobello mushroom ravioli in sun-dried tomato sauce, with salad, breadstick, and a beer. Gym today.

octogirl

yes, ((Texas))...I grew up in Houston (no family there now though), and Galveston was my happy place in those days: we'd spend hours on the beach..then go to a restaurant on a dock where the seagulls would come and steal food right off your plate if you let them.....Keeping that area of the world in my thoughts...

Brutersmom

Badger Sounds like Philips crab house in the old days. Now it is an expensive restaurant. There is a place like that now about 1/2 way between Ocean City Maryland and Rehobeth in Dewey beach called the light house. We got here around 4:00. Until we got unload is was after 5:30. We swam in the indoor pool for about 1/2 hour and the walked from 12th street to the amusement section about 2 miles round trip. Then went to dinner. My daughter and I both had crazy busy weeks the last 2 weeks so we are just beginning to unwind. We are staying on the boardwalk this year near 12th street. Never did this before. Have a view of the ocean from the balcony.

Brightness456

I helped my son move some things yesterday in preparation of moving next month. I was careful to only lift the lighter things, but still my breast ached yesterday in a way it hasn't, even just after my surgery. It scared me so I still managed to get in 10,000 steps but never raised my heart rate enough to count as cardio, just short walks throughout the day.

This morning I plan to put on a tight sports bra and go for a walk, but I'll have to be careful not to make myself hurt more. This is such scary stuff.

I also didn't eat as healthy as I should have the past two days due to social obligations, so I'll get back on track today. I guess because my breast is hurting a bit, my spirits are back down a little. Hopefully a nice cool morning walk will help.

I hope everyone has a lovely, health day!

ruthbru

Yes, your body will definitely tell you when you overdo, Brightness.

I took two shorter walks yesterday, as body was not happy about the brisk hour plus walk the day before. Last night we went to ArtSpark (arts park). A number of years ago a local business burned to the ground so there was a big vacant lot, which happened to be across the street from the local Arts Center. They have done lots of fund raising and have created a lovely park and gathering space right down town. This weekend they had their grand opening events; food, music, contests, story telling etc. etc. Here are a few pictures, the grasses you see in the forground of the first picture are native wild prairie grasses & that is what the sculptures represent as well.

Claire_in_Seattle

Wonderful use of space, Ruth! 

I am laying low this weekend as got hit by something which has meant that I need to stay "close to home". I slept at least 18 hours between yesterday and this morning. Still not very lively, but will drag myself out for a walk in a few. At least I am mostly caught up with work.

I will get back on track with cycling next weekend. But also make sure I get enough rest so I am prepared to hit the ground running for September.

One bit of fun news. I have a neighbor who is going through radiation for cancer of the lady parts. They had told her that she would be wheelchair-bound by now from the effects of the radiation. She did a 5k Bubble Run/walk with her grandson yesterday (he was really hurt in a car crash). My contributions were to encourage her to keep exercising and fortunately, my recommendation that she try Bag Balm on her sore skin proved to be the magic bullet. She has one more week, and should be just fine.

She is enjoying proving her medical team wrong 

Off for a walk, and perhaps finally eat something other than soup. - Claire 

badger

Short walks are great. It's how I started. Agree with above, so important to listen to your body!

Case in point, I napped yesterday instead of going to the gym. It was the better choice.

However, hit the gym this morning. Burned 518 calories in 75 mins-45 treadmill and 30 weights.

Treadmill worked out to Side A of "Walking Tunes" [Temptations, Celine Dion, Julia Fordham, Don Henley, Gloria Estefan, Maria Carey & ZZ Top]. I can see when Miami Sound Machine was playing (hint: purple) and when I stepped off the treadmill to go lift.

Copied this text from the box my HR monitor came in. Posting it for your info and mine.

Blue-Easy: 59% and less of Max HR. Warm Up, Very Moderate. This is an easy and comfortable zone to be maintained. You should not have any difficulty in holding a conversation. This is a typical zone for walking or for warming up.

Green-Light: 60-69% of Max HR. Weight Control, Fitness, Feeling Good. This zone is perfect to transition to higher levels of activity and also for active recovery cooldown. Should still be able to maintain a conversation.

Yellow-Moderate: 70-79% of Max HR. Aerobic, Endurance, Moving/Grooving. Perfect for steady state endurance runs or biking and general exercise. Yellow is GREAT. The more the better. You should feel a major change in your breathing pattern, from light to deeper.

Orange-Intense: 80-89% of max HR. Extreme Aerobic, Intervals. Talking is typically at a minimum. Concentration on the activity is the most predominant. Perfect for interval training. The effort is not sustainable, but can be maintained for brief periods of time.

Purple-Vigorous: 90+% of Max HR. Focused; Race Pace. No interest in talking. This is typically an All Out Effort. A small percentage of time in this zone is suggested. Significant effort is required.

badger

TwoHobbies

Badger, that's pretty cool to see your intensity. Something like that might help me stay in the fat burning zone. I tend to overdo. My favorite treadmill song is Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" Perfect pace and keeps me going!

I waited too long to exercise yesterday. Started out with the dog and it started sprinkling immediately so I was only able to go 12 minutes. Luckily today I got to the lake and walked 45 minutes.

Watching the hurricane news now.

Wonderland

Hi Everybody. Just finished catching up on all the posts. Welcome all the new ladies!

Ruth: so sorry about your precious Henry. You both gave each other comfort for all those years.

Badger: by your chart, it looks like you're doing exactly what you should be doing!

Brightness: hope you hear this week. The waiting is awful. I had to wait 3 weeks for my biopsy report. What I didn't know is that my tissue was sent to 3 different hospitals path. departments for assistance. It ended with Dr. Paul Rosen in NY. He wrote Rosen's Breast Pathology which is considered the gold standard reference book for bc pathology. It's common for pathologists to ask for assistance in other institutions and maybe that is what is happening with you.

Nats: your canoe trip looks like it was so much fun!

Falconer: (((Hug)))

Claire: hope you start feeling better.

My thoughts are with everyone in the hurricane's harm.

Walked/ran this evening.

Brightness456

Good morning everyone. My MO should call today. When I met with her last week she said my tumor was smaller than expected, so they were going back to review the original sample from the biopsy (done at another hospital) because they suspected it may have been smaller, but surrounded by a cyst, so at least I've been waiting for a potentially much better outcome. Prayers and positive thoughts are most welcome if you have the time.

I took short walks yesterday and put some more things in boxes, but was careful not to lift anything. I wonder if the pain in my breast is from internal healing? Anyway, today I have more packing to do. I'm hoping to get out and walk in nature later. I miss strenuous hikes and riding my bike. I want to feel like me again.

Claire, what's bag balm? I'll need radiation for sure and it scares me (as does everything else about this disease). I stopped reading the scariest stories here. I'm trying to mentally convince myself I'll be one who floats gracefully through treatment with no SEs. Positive thinking and all that...

ruthbru

Brightness, the reason for the delay sounds very promising. When you know it's something you are going to need to do, do NOT go on the 'worst case scenario' threads. For what it's worth, radiation was the easiest part of the whole thing for me, I could actually FEEL my energy returning (I did chemo first, so was actually very happy to be at the radiation phase). I did my last zap on a Thursday morning, went to a college visitation with DS (who was going to be a senior in high school that year) in a different town, and started school (and Arimidex) myself the following Monday.....zooming right into a busy year.

I walked a couple times yesterday, will do the same today. I'm having lunch going to a fun baby shower at 5:00. My favorite Zumba & POUND teacher is having a baby boy in October & this is the last week she is teaching class before then.....so everyone is going to wear blue, bring balloons etc. and surprise her at class. I will go for the surprise but not do the workout because I swore to my doctor I wouldn't workout until after my 6 week checkup (which is in one week, one day, and 3 hours, 10:30 September 5th......not that I'm counting or anything!!!!).

Claire_in_Seattle

Brightness....Bag Balm is a veterinary product designed to soothe chapped cow's udders and sore teats. However, I think more tins are sold to soothe human skin problems, because after all, skin is skin. It's widely available, and I suspect Amazon has it. I used to supplement the aloe gel they recommended, and all I know is that I got no worse than a bit brown with minor peeling.

As did Ruth, I felt my energy return during radiation and remember the day I noticed I was power walking down 1st Avenue in Seattle. Of course, that might have had something to do with being on my way to the wine bar. I did have a bit of an energy dip towards the end of Week 4, but was able to cycle a 45 mile event route 4 days following (but not the 66 mile) and did the Seattle-to-Portland within 6 weeks. The theme here is that I kept moving throughout the entire experience.

It sounds like most of the surgery experience is behind you, Ruth and can't wait for the "all clear".

One more funny story with radiation. About half way through, I noticed that the breast that was getting radiation looked better than the other one, so started putting cream on that one too. I still use cream on both. (But don't rub in for one hour a day as Mae West claimed to do!)

You should be able to ride your bike, Brightness. I remember asking my surgeon at the 10 day check (and I had much more extensive surgery than you did), if it was OK. And she said "yes". I was thrilled when I got on and all was fine. But even four days after surgery, I was power walking. It was either doing the 3 mile walk around Green Lake, or pacing in my apartment because I needed to burn energy. I decided that my downstairs neighbors would be happier if I did the walk. 

Good luck! - Claire 

ruthbru

Mary and her backyard bears? Claire and her bike adventures?

tessu

Hi everybody Here I go again, starting from really awful shape, trying once again to get into a habit of regular exercise. I miss having my dog who always kept me moving. Anyway, I had my fourth SPS class today, and I think I am finally getting the hang of it --- at first I couldn't understand how the odd moves could be any benefit, and felt it was a waste of an hour I could have been doing something that felt more like exercise. (SPS stands for Spiral Stabilization and the it is another way to strengthen the muscles that support the spine, complementary to the Pilates that I yes have kept up with this year.) Maybe it won't be a waste of time after all, because for once I felt my body was stretching where the instructor said it should. (The instructors have been encouraging me to start this all summer...)I am having so much trouble lately with balance during the on-one-leg positions in this and in Pilates (and on stairs) that the instructor commented, but as I'm not having headaches, I'm going to just wait and ask my oncologist at next month's check-up.

Anyway, hope everybody here is having a good day

Wonderland

Brightness: Sounds promising! I also had radiation. Mine was during June and July. I had been walking/running pretty regularly but half way through radiation the weather turned very hot and humid. My energy was zipped by the heat so I stopped walking and rested instead. Lots of long naps! I also used something like Bag Balm on my radiated breast. Much needed and very soothing.

Ruth: That's nice your class is giving your instructor a surprise baby shower.

tessu: I have not heard of SPS. It must be working for you!

Walked/ran my 5k this afternoon. Cooler (thank goodness) but also humid.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by this horrific storm.

ruthbru

Baby Shower.....one token male & two who didn't follow the 'wear blue' instructions, maybe they know more than the ultrasound readers!

Wonderland

Which one is your instructor, Ruth? I don't see a baby bump.

ruthbru

The cute dark haired one in the middle who is wearing flip flops in the picture. She is due in mid-October!!!!!

Wonderland

I see her now. She is cute!

badger

tessu, welcome back. :-) My balance is awful. I think chemo messed with the little hairs in my inner ear.

Hit the gym after work. Burned 328 cal in 45 mins on the treadmill. TY David Bowie for the purple spike!

BLTs for supper with fresh-picked tomatoes (first of the season, they were late this year due to cool nights).

Falconer

Hi Tessu, hope you stick to your new exercise plan. If not, naps are good for rebooting!

Badger, which David Bowie song did that? Ch-ch-ch-changes? Lol. Looks like you hit the top!

Ruth and Wonder, I wondered the same thing, who was the pregnant one? I zoomed in and saw her belly button. I had to laugh; after DIEP my bb looks the same! It's an outie, and just today, I was wearing a similar shirt to your instructor and caught sight of myself; dang! I looked like that. When I go back to work next week I'll have to check my clothes carefully. Wouldn't want the 8th graders to think I'm having baby #4.

ruthbru

Hi Tessu, today is Day #1........start now

Haha, Falconer, you don't want to start rumors in the 8th grade! I saw one of the kids I had last year when I did the long term sub gig and she said, "Be sure you sub in the 8th grade this year!" So I thought that was pretty cool......

Brightness456

Still no answers on my pathology report. I'm having a pretty big pity party. I ended up walking in my neighborhood after it got dark because I feel like hiding out. Maybe I'll get good news today (it's the middle of the night right now). I want to walk in the morning, but I'm so worried about getting a call from MO when I'm out and won't be able to write stuff down. This is really weighing on me. I ended up eating way too many chocolates last night. I'm sure that's part of the reason I can't sleep.

I'll commit here in writing to cleaning up my eating and getting some exercise today. The slippery slope of stress behaviors will not win this time.

Thanks for letting me whine. I have to act happy and positive in real life to make everyone else feel secure.

Peregrinelady

I don't understand whyit is taking so long! I got mine back in three days. It wasn't a final report, but was enough to tell me my stage, at least. Hope you find out tomorrow!

Peregrinelady

Ruthbru, pretty amazing to be the cool sub in 8th grade! Held interviews today for a spec. ed. teacher. Hard to find someone qualified. It is a difficult job with all the paperwork. Walked yesterday, but not today. Already too busy with school. I have to get an exercise routine that will work through the school year.

Heidihill

badger, that´s a lot more gradations than fitbit. Do you check your HR while working out or after? The other day I almost had an accident on my bike trying to check my HR.

ruthbru, envious of your new Quality of Life enhancing infrastructure (physical and cultural).

claire, hope you feel better soon.

brightness and peregrine, motivating oneself is a never-ending thing. so keep reading this thread. 

yesterday was day one for me as I downloaded a new app called freeletics and did an "easy" bodyweight workout (athena, for anyone interested) which kicked my butt, I thought, but I never reached my peak heart rate. I wonder what´s with that. I guess pain is not necessarily correlated with beats per minute. Now I downloaded freeletics running which I will try out today before salsa tonight.

badger

Falconer, the Bowie tunes were "John, I'm Only Dancing" leading into "Suffragette City".

HeidiHill, the HR monitor is live on the big screens so I can see how I'm doing in real time. I get the report via e-mail at the end when I'm done working out. The company that provides the product to the club is Accurofit. The HR monitor is on a band I wear around my chest. It's logo'd with the gym's name and I'm badger on the big screen LOL. Here's their website. https://www.accurofit.com/

((Brightness)) hope you hear soon, the wait is maddening!!

Peregrinelady

Thanks, Heidi. You and everyone here have been my inspiration. I can honestly say that when I am exercising is the only time I really feel healthy and cancer free. One more interview today, then working in classroom. Official first day back for teachers is tomorrow. Bye, bye summer.