Tag Archives: exercise

The Common Cold

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I’m getting over a cold this weekend. The illness itself only lasted about four days, but the lead up to getting cold symptoms was a week and a half. I blame MS and maybe hormones.

I realized several years ago that I would inevitably have low energy periods each month. I experienced flu-like symptoms (fatigue and muscle aches) without the upper respiratory distress. Every time I made plans to start a regular fitness regime, I would feel not well enough to get started.  Now that I know I have MS, it all makes sense.

You see, the period when I’m coming down with a cold is slightly worse for me than for people who don’t have an autoimmune disease. I’m just guessing. I haven’t done a study. I missed a few days of work last week because it seemed prudent not to overtax myself. I didn’t get a lot of exercise either. I feared that overdoing it could lead to a flare-up.

The only way I can get in better shape when I’m faced with these monthly energy fluctuations is to not skip workouts when I’m feeling good, and do what I can during my less than 100% periods. I’m considering getting in a little strength training every day with some cardio built in. I keep talking about it, but not making a plan. The trick is not to use the lack of a plan as an excuse to doing nothing.

Today, I’m recovering. Tomorrow should be better. I might do some hooping.

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The Opposite Direction

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bigmansculpture

Jake sat in the grass at the foot of the great statue. He didn’t know what the statue signified, but he was drawn to it for some reason. Every day at lunchtime he would leave his office on the 15th floor of the shiny blue building, walk across the courtyard, and take a seat beneath the stone giant. Jake would lay out a hand towel on the grass and then place his sandwich, chips, and soda on top of it. Some days, today included, Julia, from the 12th floor, would sit with him and eat her bagel and cream cheese. They would discuss the doings on the 15th and 12th floors. Jake managed the A-L accounts, and Julia handled M-Z. The conversations were not at all interesting.

They sat and ate until Julia abruptly stood up and pulled Jake to his feet. His sandwich dropped to the ground, and he looked at it forlornly. Julia swiftly kicked the sandwich away and looked pleadingly into Jake’s eyes. He understood her request and answered with a nod. The pair then ducked under the statue’s parted legs and strode away in the opposite direction of the office building. They did not look back.

A response to Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner, Week 3. 199 words~

 

Stretch

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I guess this is another MS  post. It’s what’s going on with me after all. Let’s call it a vocabulary lesson.

Spasticity refers to feelings of stiffness and a wide range of involuntary muscle spasms (sustained muscle contractions or sudden movements). It is one of the more common symptoms of MS. Spasticity may be as mild as the feeling of tightness of muscles or may be so severe as to produce painful, uncontrollable spasms of extremities, usually of the legs. Spasticity may also produce feelings of pain or tightness in and around joints, and can cause low back pain. Although spasticity can occur in any limb, it is much more common in the legs.  (more here.. . from National MS Society.)

Stretching is key in dealing with spasticity. Yesterday I hardly stretched at all. I can’t let that happen.

It doesn’t always have to be structured, although having a few routines to do would ensure that I don’t miss any important muscle groups. Stretching helps me focus and relax, so it’s good for stress management. My only difficulty is keeping Riley from walking all over me while I’m sprawled on the floor.

Photo of Chihuahua/Boston Terrier mix.

Riley wants to help me stretch.

A Strange Alphabet or Nonsensical Thursday

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I was going to try the writing exercise where your first sentence starts with the letter “A,” and then the next starts with “B,” etc. I started and stopped, because what I was writing seemed stupid. And then this happened. Maybe I’ll be able to do something with some of this nonsense.

After a few drinks, I get a little sleepy.
Believe what I say in these drunken times,                                                                                                             because I speak the truth.

Do you ever feel proud of yourself one day and then ashamed the next?

Colors are brighter at first but they soon merge into gray.
Don't melt your crayons together to make this happen.

I have been feeling ambitious these days. I continued to fill out my grad school application. I want to be recognized as a someone not a no-one.

Elephants are gray, but they remember everything.
Forgetting is sometimes the best thing you can do.

I overslept this morning because I didn’t set my alarm. Sometimes I think that I just don’t care. But then I get up and I do care. I try as I can.

Great writers start writing when the sun comes up;                                                                                                     faeries make coffee when they start to falter.
Holding onto sanity is a writer's chief objective.

My trying comes in fits and starts. My mind is…

Islands are surrounded by water.
Jokes are contrived by the insecure.

My mind is trapped in my body, and my body is what I know to be me.

Killing time might be considered sinful.
Love is good when you can see it.

This is the first day of August. I can’t believe the summer is closing so rapidly. I can’t take another winter, but I’ve said the same thing before.

Melodies speak to us.
Never stop listening.

When this is over, I will make a visual thing to show.

Over and over she repeats and repeats.
Pain, it seems, is no deterrent.

This has gone on long enough.

Questions are actually answers aren't they?

This thing must end soon.

Right and wrong sometimes live in the same space.

I’ve had my fun and now it’s time…

So sorry that this was what it was.
Tomorrow will be slightly different.
Understand that I just wanted to write something.

I really didn’t feel like writing, but here is something I have written.

Vacations are for the rich, and vacation starts with a V.
Why couldn't I have tried harder?
Xenial's definition is something to do with hospitality.

I’m glad this is over.

You should agree with this next one.
Zebras are kind of like striped horses.
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A Zebra’s butt

A Plan for This Week

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I’ve got a plan for this week. I’m trying to make the muscle spasms in my legs stop by increasing my exercise time, and adding a magnesium supplement. If things don’t improve I’ll have to go to the doctor and see if she wants to test me for MS. I’m really scared that I might have MS. If I do, I could handle it, but I want to be able to dance the way I used to.

I’ve been religiously doing physical therapy exercises that I’ve found on the Internet, and it is making a difference. I really do believe that I probably don’t have MS. I don’t want to have to get an MRI of my brain to prove it though.

Here’s this week’s plan (all of these are for every day unless otherwise noted):

1) 30 minutes on the treadmill
2) PT exercises
3) Practice DDBD Gen Con choreography
4) Use the Ab Glider 3 times this week (if the thing gets assembled)
5) Stay hydrated
6) Take magnesium supplement
7) Eat fruits and veggies
8) Manage stress with deep breathing and positive thinking

I feel like I’m broken; I want to be fixed.

The RDA of magnesium for females over 31 is 320 mg/day. Here’s some more info from WebMD.

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Health and Heredity and Habits

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I’m like my father in many ways, and not like him in many ways too. We both like taking photographs, listening to audiobooks, eating chocolate, watching British television, and learning. I look like him, although not as much as I did when I was little. As I got older I began to look more like a combination of my father and my mother. I did not inherit my dad’s affinity for math. If I had, I’m sure I’d be a successful computer programmer today. I’ve found that math problems can bring me to the verge of a panic attack.

Dad turned 77 in April and he has some health problems that I don’t want to inherit. I just turned 42, and I know it’s time to start taking better care of myself so that I won’t run into the kinds of problems he’s having when I’m in my 60s and 70s.

It’s all about healthy habits. I believe that if your healthy habits outnumber your less healthy ones, you can come out ahead. I try and keep up with the latest research on nutrition and fitness. I don’t read scholarly journals, but I do obtain information from credible sources like WebMD, The Nutrition Diva, and The American Council on Exercise (ACE). I’ve started filing away useful health and fitness information on Pinterest pin boards. I’ve got one called Fit ‘n Happy, that features some workout routines, and exercises you can do using elastic bands. I really want to start making better use of my elastic bands since I know strength training is key to aging well.

Fit 'n Happy Pinterest Board

Fit ‘n Happy Pinterest Board

My other health-related pin board, Eat Your Veggies, contains recipes for preparing vegetables. The dream is that one day I will prop my iPad on the kitchen counter and make some of these dishes.  I might have done this once, I need to do it more often.  I’ve also been using Evernote Food to collect healthy recipes. Sometimes I think it’s more about the technology than anything else.

Eat Your Veggies pin board

Eat Your Veggies pin board

I’ll talk more about this in another post. Maybe I’ll report that I’ve developed a new healthy habit.

Shape

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I’m falling out of shape. I’m 41 (gosh I hate to admit that), and my body needs me to put more work into than it used to. I used to exercise quite a lot, most days after work in fact, but now I’ve got my dad to go see and my puppy to tangle with. The puppy wants to play with me when I get on the floor to stretch etc. I could do exercise videos more often when I had sole access to the tv and no puppy, but life is what it is.

So my next idea is to get it in when I can. I’ve done sets of girl push-ups, and leg lifts before work the last few days so that’s good. The thing is, I need to create a program for myself. I need to write or type something up and follow it religiously. That shouldn’t be difficult for me. I know what exercises to do and I know how to do them correctly. I just need to do it, do it, do it.

I got contacted by a representative for the SlimKicker fitness app. She wants me to do a review of it. That’s a nifty milestone in my blogging life! The app will be coming out early next year and I look forward to using it and seeing what it can do for me. Check out their website if you please.

While I’ll getting my body in shape, I’ll be trying to shape up my career. Here’s the plan:

1. Keep blogging
2. Keep curating (I’ve been stepping up my Pinterest activity of late).
3. Start reading instructional technology books and blog about them
4. Do well at my current real job

Not enough hours!!! Then there’s NaNoWriMo. I’m not sure if I can actually do it.

I’m going to ask the universe again for my millions of dollars. I know those dollars are out there just waiting to fall into my purse.

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