Fitness.

Almost Like New.

Another discussion that some may find to be TMI. Please feel free to skip this entry if you get squeamish.

I’m sitting at the kitchen table ready to head to bed as soon as I get ready to do so. Today was a fairly good day; the surgery went well, everyone at the hospital was friendly and thankfully, the doctor didn’t have to insert what’s known as a Supra Pubic Catheter. I had not one, not two, not three, but four strictures, or clumps of scar tissue, that had to be removed. The pictures of the surgery show my urethra to now be clean as whistle and I am wearing a regular catheter for the next 10 days. I’ll be able to take it out the day before my birthday.

That will be a nice birthday present.

After carrying around nearly 900 ml of fluid in my bladder for who knows how long, I feel great not having that “I have to pee” feeling on a constant basis. Things are flowing through the catheter and with the help of some pain medicine, I’m feeling alright. In fact, I’m pretty sure I feel better than I did at this stage of the game back when I had the same procedure in 2005. It could be because I know what to expect, but I’m doing alright. A little groggy but in good spirits.

Earl was kind enough to take a couple of photos (with my consent, and maybe I suggested it for posterity’s sake), before and after the surgery. I don’t think I look too bad.

3 July 2015 by J.P. Fitness. 2

Outside.

For the first time in 2015, I am able to sit on our front steps and write a blog entry without fear of frost bite, sleet, snow, hail or other weather calamity. It’s a good feeling.

With the weather being less than stellar over the past month or so, I’ve been walking every morning in an effort to get ready for cycling season. The snow banks are slowly receding and we see a little more of our lawn every day.

They’re predicting that tonight’s low is going to be relatively sane for this time of the year (in the low 40s), so I’m determined to go on my first bike ride of the year tomorrow morning before work. My bike is in great shape, I’ll have my clothes readied before bed tonight so I will have very little in the way of excuses not to ride.

I’m looking forward to getting this spring thing in motion.

Prep.

I recently signed to ride my bike in this year’s Tour de Cure. Last year I rode the 62 mile, or 100 km (metric-century) ride. This year I decided to push myself a little harder and signed up for the 100 mile ride. The event takes place in June. If you’re interested in contributing a donation to my ride, please feel free to visit my Tour de Cure Personal Page.

While I have been riding my stationary bike in the basement on an intermittent basis this winter, I feel like the experience does little in the way of getting me ready for a season of road cycling. Since the weather started to creep back into normal ranges this week, I started my pre-workday walk. I spend 45 to 60 minutes walking the roads of our neighborhood. It was 15ºF this morning when I went out; I bundled up and still found the walk to be enjoyable.

Once the snow is gone and the roads are relatively debris free, I plan on riding my bike before work as I have done in years past. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve ridden a 100-mile ride in a day and quite honestly I’m really looking forward to the experience. Most importanly, it’s all for a great cause. I’m planning on this ride being just one of many longer road trips on my bike this year. My plan for the nice weather is that if I’m not flying an airplane, I’m riding my bike.

With the weather finally getting somewhere in the direction of spring, I have started spending more time outdoors. I have a bad habit of staying cooped up in the house, especially since I work from home, and it does me a world of good to see some sunshine and a change of scenery throughout the day. For today’s lunch hour I’m sitting in the Jeep armed with an unsweetened tea from Dunkin’ Donuts, just as I would do if I was working at the office.

Unlike the office experience, the view here is a little bit better. Instead of staring at a shopping center parking lot, I’m able to enjoy the likes of the Barge Canal, which is just starting to show signs of thawing.

It’s a great day to be lunching in the Jeep.

10 March 2015 by J.P. Fitness. 0

Walk.

The jump to Daylight Saving Time is partially motivated to remind the American populace that spring is here. To celebrate this non-fact, I decided to go for a walk this morning, no matter what the weather. It ended up being 22ºF when I awoke this morning, so I bundled up and went on my usual walk. My desired route is a 3 mile trek and though it was a little chilly, it was still enjoyable.

The only drawback of this morning’s walk was that it’s not spring. It’s still winter, despite what the clock says.

8 March 2015 by J.P. Fitness. 0

Sunshine.

Even though it’s 19 degrees Fahrenheit today, I had a pressing need to get outside and get some fresh air. January can be a tough month for me if I don’t experience enough sunshine during the month. Living in Upstate New York puts me at a disadvantage.

I decided to bundle up in my ski jacket and get out there and walk. I was fumbling with my phone and forgot to smile.

I did my usual warmer weather walking routine, where I walk about 4000 steps in 20 minutes. The walk is up the hill from the house, around the nearby corner and then I backtrack and come back down the hill.

There was only one close call as I walked along the dirt covered shoulder of the road. A woman oversteered the curve up the hill and scared me enough to make me jump into the little snowbank. I glared at her.

The sunshine did wonders for my spirit and put me in a better mood. I miss being outside. It’s time to start braving the cold, look forward to spring and start getting fresh air again whenever I can.

20 January 2015 by J.P. Fitness. Ponderings and Musings 1

Pressure.

So I checked my blood pressure the other day and it was at 118/81. This is a heck of a lot better than the beginning of the year when I was 156/98. I think there’s quite a few contributing factors to the lowering of my blood pressure, including the new position at work I started in April, my love of flying, my increase in exercise and probably the blood pressure medicine. I have been prescribed Norvasc 5 mg daily.

The Norvasc makes me feel like crap. I have a constant headache, I feel heavy and my neck and shoulder muscles constantly feel tight. I took Norvasc in the early ’00s for a year and while it did lower my blood pressure, I also gained 20 pounds. I’ve gained 8 lbs since starting Norvasc again. Last time I stopped taking the medicine and my weight went back to where it should be and the headaches stopped. I’m going to check with my physician about stopping the medicine again.

I hate the idea of being dependent on a medication. Some will tell me that it comes with the territory when we age, but there’s a part of me that hopes that’s not completely true, because I really don’t want to have my body chemistry altered if it doesn’t really need to be. There’s a hippy-dippy granola type in me at times that believes that if we eat right, maintain regular exercise and live a reasonable lifestyle, our body will find the balance that it strives to obtain. I’m not a huge fan of pharmaceuticals anyway, they lost me when they started advertising on television.

I’m going to carefully monitor my blood pressure for the next few weeks and see if I can maintain these lower numbers and then see about getting off the medicine. I know that once I’m prescription free I’ll feel much better.

7 July 2014 by J.P. Fitness. Ponderings and Musings 0

Routine.

I�ve been pretty lazy for the past month or so. I haven�t been riding my bike as much as I usually do at this time of year and my body is feeling the effects of that. Sleeping in until I need to go downstairs for work has pretty much been my norm. While I have enjoyed the extra sleep, I have to admit that I haven�t liked the way I�ve physically felt during the day as a result of not doing some sort of exercise in the morning.

This morning I decided to change this.

After riding in the �Tour de Cure� at the beginning of the month, I discovered that the rear tire on my bike wouldn�t hold air overnight. It�d be fine for a short ride; I could go 10-15 miles and it�d be fine when I got back to the house, but I wasn�t comfortable with the fact that the next morning the tire would be completely flat so last night I decided to do something about it. Now, I�ve changed tires on the side of the road at least a dozen times, but I just could not get the tire back on the rim last night. A quick trip to Bikes and Boards, where they changed the tire in less than five minutes and I was ready to get back to my old routine this morning.

Even though I was working from home, I set the alarm for 5:45 a.m., did a quick check of my email and then I went for an 18 mile ride (in 80 minutes). The sky had that look of impending rain, but Mother Nature held off. The ride was enjoyable and more importantly, I felt amazing upon arriving home.

It�s all a matter of routine for me.�

My challenge for tomorrow is to maintain the routine again and to resist the urge to sleep in until work time. �I�m going to do it, but it�s going to be a challenge.

I�m looking forward to how I feel at this time tomorrow.�

24 June 2014 by J.P. Fitness. 0

Pistachios.

So I�ve been trying to tame my sweet tooth and staying away from sugary snacks. Granted, I just started this effort yesterday, but I have been successful for the past 28 hours or so, so I think I�m onto something. Still feeling hungry but not wanting to have a cookie or a muffin, I opted to give pistachios another try.

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I love pistachios. There�s a little bit of work involved with getting to the sweetish nutty goodness but I find they are an excellent snack for the workday. The caveat to this is that I must keep the portions under control. I can�t have a whole bag nearby, I need to portion out a 1/4 cup for the day and then store the rest in a time-locked, fireproof, tamperproof safe.

Ok, that might be a little extreme, but not by much.

I first started eating pistachios at my previous job. Munching and crunching helped keep the stress of dealing with customers all day at bay. In fact, that approach probably contributed to the 20 pounds I gained while working there – stress plus non-stop eating equals jolly with love handles.

I�ve eaten my allotment of pistachios for the day and I feel quite satisfied. I�m not gnawing on my desk or anything. Not even with syrup.

18 March 2014 by J.P. Fitness. 0

Move.

So this morning I weighed myself and verified that I have gained 10 pounds since my trip to Minneapolis in mid-November. I’m not surprised at my weight gain, after all, there’s been plenty of holiday meals, other celebrations and a trip to Disney. Couple this with a lack of outdoor activity and my basic hatred of the gym during these wonderful winter months and it all adds up. A while ago I would have been sad about this but today I’m just more determined. On the bright side, it’s only a third of what I originally lost.

The thing is, I’m over what I consider my personal tipping point. When I’m above a certain weight my blood pressure tends to go up and I can just feel it. I need to get below that point and get back into a healthier place. Instead of freaking out and drop-kicking the scale, I did a couple of things today to get my mind back to where it belongs:

1. I’m standing at my home-office desk again. Sitting in a chair all day is awful on the human body. I don’t believe we were really designed for this and this is one of the reasons that I am feeling sluggish.

2. I’m headed back to the chiropractor today. I’ve had some schedule collisions with my regular chiropractor appointments and it’s been five weeks since my last visit. I need to get back on that regular schedule. Some debate the merits of chiropractic care, but I know that when I go to the chiropractor on a regular basis I always feel better. I have a cold for the first time in a couple of years and I think part of that is because I haven’t been to the chiropractor recently.

3. I recently passed my FAA Class 3 Medical Exam, which certifies me as being healthy enough to fly an airplane with a private pilots’ certificate. That is great, but the truth of the matter is that I want to be more than a private pilot, I want to be a Certified Flight Instructor someday, and in order to do that I’ll need to pass an FAA Class 2 Medical Exam. When I went in for my exam on Friday, I was worried about my blood pressure readings, which actually increased my blood pressure. The FAA requirements are actually quite liberal (my doctor would yell at me for having a higher blood pressure if I was well within the FAA requirements, which is at least 155/95) and to think that I needed to calm down to get my blood pressure below that liberal threshold kind of scares me. As I mentioned before, my blood pressure tends to creep up with my weight, so I need to get my weight down to naturally pull my blood pressure down.

4. Most importantly, I need to move. When I work from home I ride my stationary bike at least twice a day. While it’s movement, I don’t think it’s doing much for me, despite what the calorie indicator says. So today I went outside and walked, despite the snow roads and the cold temperatures. I walked my summertime route this morning and I felt fantastic afterwards.

It was most refreshing.

5. I started concentrating on eating *sensible* calories instead of just eating calories. I’ve been keeping track of my calories right along with the MyFitnessPal app, but the fact of the matter is, sometimes it’s eating the right calories that actually counts. So that’s where my focus is again.

I’m not hysterical and I’m not really disappointed in my recent weight gain. I’m sure I can lose the extra weight and then some just by getting back on track again.

Now, if I just had a magic way to make the weather cooperate!

25 February 2014 by J.P. Fitness. Ponderings and Musings 0

Move.

So this morning Earl was up before sunrise so he could head off to the Hudson Valley for a business meeting. I woke up with him and took a look at the weather: it was clear and the sky was gorgeous, but it was cold at 38ºF. When it’s that cold it’s a little too chilly for cycling. I have gone on bike rides when it’s been that cold but I haven’t enjoyed the experience.

Besides, the warm blankets were feeling extra awesome this morning.

Since I had slept like a rock* and I was feeling great, albeit all comfy, I knew I had to get myself out of bed and do something that resembled exercise in lieu of my planned bike ride. I didn’t really have time to head to the gym and back before work so I opted to go for a walk instead.

I bundled myself up with sweat pants and a couple of layers of shirts and ended up walking for about 45 minutes this morning. The sunrise was beautiful, the air was crisp and though it was chilly, it wasn’t bad walking (versus having the breeze from cycling in my face). It was a wonderful experience and I feel like my day got off to a good start.

I need to remember this more often. While staying in bed snuggled up in the blankets is perfectly fine for the moment, and I will certainly opt for that from time to time, in the context of the entire day, getting a bit of exercise to get things going is certainly worthwhile.

Tomorrow’s forecast won’t be as autumn like so I’ll probably ride again in the morning. But this morning’s walk was certainly enjoyable.

6 September 2013 by J.P. Fitness. Fun and Games Dept 2

Fitness.

Almost Like New.

Outside.

Prep.

Walk.

Sunshine.

Pressure.

Routine.

Pistachios.

Move.

Move.

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