Tralfaz

Category: Health

For health or healthcare related posts

  • A passion rekindled: Cycling

    Off and on throughout my life I have been more or less a serious cyclist. From my first used Schwinn Stingray (I wish I still had that bike) to my current road bike, I have at times been engrossed with the sport, pushing myself to the extreme, and at times I have backed off, not riding much at all.

    I am now going through a phase where I am increasing my cycling, and I am enjoying it. I am currently comfortable doing 25 – 30 mile rides. We have it pretty flat, but I know where to find some good hills that are challenging but not too brutal. Waiting for the weather to cool off a bit for that.

    One thing that has changed is the electronics that you can use. Phones with GPS’s and cool apps for tracking your ride abound, and really help you track your progress. Way back, I remember my first Cateye cycle computer (I still have one) and logging my rides on a paper notebook. Now I use my iPhone, and one of the awesome apps to track and monitor my progress. Added a heart rate monitor, and I now track my cardio (important for a heart attack survivor).  I will be adding a speed and cadence sensor, again, to help optimize my conditioning.

    So much fun.  If you have Strava, follow me on the journey

    Definitely on an upswing. The passion is growing.

  • Fitness Update – Long Absense

    Early in August, I had my 30th high school reunion. It was a blast, but I made a decision to not worry about my calories that week.

    I came back to a foot that bugged me and kept me from any serious exercise. I was careful about what I ate, but I didn’t track it meticulously. Some splurges, some good days, some less good.

    I have been dreading the scale, but this morning I stepped on it in preparation for “getting back in the groove” and was pleasantly surprised that I weigh the same as I did before the reunion trip. Woo hoo, I didn’t backslide too much.

    Now to get back on the plan. 20#’s to go.

  • Odd exercise observations

    I have been getting back into regular cycling to get back into some semblance of shape (other than pear). I have become pretty comfortable riding 25+ miles on Saturday and Sunday, and to and from work a couple times a week (~ 21 miles round trip).

    Yesterday, I wanted to try a new route. I knew it would be longer than my 25+ miles, but not how much. Turns out that the canals to Elliot Road, then east on Elliot to Mountain, then back down to Pecos and back home was about 34.3 miles total. About 8 miles (or 1/3) more than my “usual” ride. Not a problem right?

    Ugh, I was wiped out. I literally spent the day in a coma and rehydrating (I consumed about a gallon and a half of liquids during the ride – 2 hours 8 minutes, and as much through the afternoon.) Today, my legs are jelly, and the thought of riding in tomorrow is not appealing at all.

    In my youth, I would often double my distance with little or no ill effects. As I approach 50, that is no longer true, and I am suffering mightily for it.

    Ah well.

  • Modest Ambitions

    The foot injury is getting better, but alas it is still pretty painful. I am pretty sure that it is a pulled or torn ligament in the top (the one for the big toe).

    I am cutting back on the vitamin I, and still resting and icing it. But I know that I am going to be going easy on it for the foreseeable future. Thus, no exercise, and that makes for a sad panda.

    My goals for the next two weeks are going to be to get this healed, and to not destroy my diet. Of course, with the trip next week and the reunion I am probably going to blow my calorie budget. So much for holding it constant with exercise.

    C’est la vie.

  • Fitness in the Desert-Hydration

    I grew up in the SF bay area, a place with very mild climate. Yes, we got a couple of triple digit days a year, but in general the humidity was mild, it never got too hot or too cold, and I never really worried about hydration.

    When I got to Arizona, it became a significant concern. I wasn’t going to let the climate curtail my activities, but suddenly, hydration became a huge deal. Even in the winter time when the temperatures are very pleasant, the humidity is so low that water is just wicked out of your body at phenomenal rates. In the summer, when the temperatures are in triple digits for three months, humidity is in the 20’s, you really need to be careful.

    Water is important, but unless you are exercising for only a brief time, you need something that will help replace your electrolytes. I am definitely one of those who puts more salt out in their sweat, so anytime I am out for more than a half hour I have to rely on supplement.

    My top hydration product I use is Accelerade. It is a mixture of carbs, electrolytes, and protein. This combination really helps keep me going for longer rides. I typically mix it a little weak. The amount for a pint, mixed into 24 or 32 ounces is about perfect. However, I can’t just have accelerade, even mixed weak.  I have to have water with me as well. With this combo, I can easily go for 3 or 4 hours even in 110F temperatures. The one down side is that it causes me to retain water like crazy. After a day of riding or hiking, I will actually gain 3 pounds or so of water weight.

    When I am less aggressive in my exercise, I use a product called Nuun. These are tablets that you add to a pint of water. Mildly flavored, it has no carbohydrates, and a good mix of electrolytes. This is good for medium exertion efforts, my lunchtime jogs, mid distance walks, and when I cycle to and from the office. We discovered this product when we were preparing to hike the grand canyon. Space and weight were crucial considerations. We saw these little tubes full of hydration tablets and just popped them in our basket. Fast forward three years, and I rediscovered them, and am now a religious user.

    One product that I prefer not to use is Gatorade. It really has too much sugar in it for while I am exercising, and it is too heavy when I am recovering.  I just don’t like it.

    As a sufferer of coronary artery disease, I try to keep a low sodium diet. That works when I am not exercising, but when I exercise I quickly get the symptoms of hyponatremia, and that is far more dangerous than having too much sodium.  So I walk a fine line in balance, monitor my weight, and my blood pressure daily to understand where I am (and of course, I take lots of medicine)

    All part of life in the desert.

  • The itch. It will pass

    Out on the bicycle today, putting in my usual punishing 26 mile loop, I got to thinking how much I miss off road cycling. Alas, with my health concerns, I can’t get back on a motocross bike and roost like I used to, but I can get back on a mountain bike.

    I have had mountain bikes in the past, first a Diamondback Ascent EX (which came with the shittiest wheels EVER, replaced them with wheelsmiths, and they were bulletproof), and much later a Pretty reasonable Specialized Stumpjumper Comp M2.

    After moving to Arizona, I got out of the habit of off road bicycling. Yes, Fantasy Island in Tucson was a pretty good set of trails, but the mountains and hiking were much bigger calls to me.

    Now that I am in Phoenix, and the hiking is less close at hand, the desire to get back onto a mountain bike is tempting.

    My last ride, the SJ Comp I bought back in 1998, and rode the hell out of it. I lived in the San Jose area, and there were tons of great trails, not far from where I lived that were surprisingly bereft of other riders. I put a lot of miles on that bike. But, in the move last year, I sold it.

    A while back we walked into a local bike store, and as always, I drooled over the mountain bikes. My, a lot has changed since 1998. Good suspension, better brakes (disc brakes) and 29″ wheels are all cool, and drool-worthy.

    Alas, I will probably be able to resist this urge. I would have to drive the bike out to good trails, and if I am going to do that, I will probably just hike.

    But it is fun to dream.

  • Product Review: Road ID

    I have always been an “outdoors” exercise aficionado, and I continue to get out on my bicycle, hiking, or jogging. When I was young, I never gave a thought to what would happen if I got seriously hurt. I guess I could have carried my ID (drivers license, health insurance card), but it never happened.

    A good way to carry your critical information with you
    A good way to carry your critical information with you

    Then, three years ago, I had the big one. A heart attack. Suddenly, I began to worry about what would happen if I had a repeat while I was out cycling, or jogging.

    I now always wear a Road ID. The first one I had was the simple version, with as much of the pertinent health history as I could fit, but recently I went the Wrist ID elite, and got the subscription that allows me to have my extended health record available to first responders.

    Getting it setup is easy, and the service provides both an internet lookup, as well as a 24 hour call center. First responders can use the code and PIN on the back of my ID, and get quick access to my records.

    Entering your records is painless, and you can decide what you will share with first responders, and what you will keep private.

    I also keep in my wallet a summary of my records, and my medications, but I rarely have my wallet with me when I am out pounding the pavement.

    Highly recommended, especially if you have health issues that might affect how the emergency crew responds to an event.

  • Guilty pleasure: Real Mayonnaise

    Heaven in a jar
    Heaven in a jar

    I have been using the reduced fat mayo for as long as I can remember. I really haven’t felt that I was missing out on anything (except a lot of fat and calories).

    Then a few weeks ago, I made a new recipe of potato salad (Thanks to Marie Porter of Celebration Generation), that explicitly said “Full Fat Mayo”, so I bought jar of Best Foods Mayonnaise.

    I forgot how awesome it is. Last week I made tuna salad, and OH MY GOD, does it just taste better with real mayo. Same with my turkey sandwiches that I usually take for lunch.

    When this jar is empty, I will go back to the reduced fat, blah mayo, but I will remember fondly the creamy goodness of the real deal.

  • Fitness then and now

    Back in 2003/2004 I lost a ton of weight. I went from a peak of about 265#’s to ~185#’s where I stabilized for a long time. I did it the old fashion way, by eating less and exercising more. I counted calories, targeting ~ 1,400 a day (give or take). I started exercising in a gym (because I was really out of shape, it seemed the safest way to get serious), but graduated to running and cycling (even completing a 100km fundraising event that summer).

    While I kept at that low weight for a long time, the following year we took a two week vacation in France, and I packed on a few pounds (don’t judge me, the food was OUTSTANDING).  Then I turned 40 (and 45) and the weight was harder to take off.  Just cutting my calorie intake wasn’t enough. Throw in plantar fasciitis and it wasn’t possible to do my daily exercise ritual anymore.

    Fast forward until now.  I got back up to 232#’s in early 2013, and I wasn’t happy. I decided to get serious about it. Fortunately, there are lots of tools available today that were just not an option in 2003.

    Perfect Diet Tracker – Byoni Systems. A great program that helps you set goals, and track your intake. It has an amazing database that users contribute to, and in the event that something is not there, it is trivial to add it to the database from the nutritional label. I can also enter in my exercise, so that I keep a running tally. Setting goals is easy (and it will warn you if you are being too aggressive, or losing weight too fast), and takes the guesswork out of the process. It is reasonably priced, and it is cross platform, so I use it on my mac as well as my work PC to track while I am on the road (it also has a Linux version too). It syncs with Dropbox, so my data is wherever I am at.

    Runkeeper – Application on the iPhone. I started using the Nike application, but it was buggy and crashed a lot.  A friend recommended RunKeeper, and I haven’t looked back. It has all the exercise types listed, and tracks your progress cleanly. It also integrates with a heart rate monitor so I can accurately track my cardio work. I use it for walking, hiking, and biking. There is a great website that you can use to review and track your workouts. It shares automatically with Facebook and Twitter. For what I use it for, it is free, but there is a paid version that will help you train for things like Marathons.

    BlueWazoo Heart Rate Monitor – A chest strap with a blue tooth sender unit, it pairs with my iPhone and RunKeeper app. Instead of just tracking speed, distance, and elevation, this option adds a real time tracking of my heartrate. Something I am concerned about being a victim of coronary artery disease.

    Excel – I take my blood pressure daily, and track it in an excel spreadsheet.  I also daily track my weight (I weigh myself first thing in the morning, and measure my blood pressure before I drink coffee. Excel is a great tool for this, as it lets me graph the results in a variety of ways that are useful to me.

    The world has changed, and the technology has made the exercise portion of fitness and the nutritional tracking to be more exact, and relevant to the process.

    To date I have lost 22#’s in 2.5 months. A good pace, and I am satisfied.  About 20 more to go.

  • Diet Update

    One of the hazards of dieting, and the process of losing weight is the inevitable plateaus that you will encounter. They are frustrating as hell. You know that you are not going overboard on the calories, and you are doing your exercise, but the needle doesn’t budge.

    I had been stalled at 214#’s for almost 2 weeks. It was frustrating, particularly because I picked up the intensity of my exercising, doing more and longer bicycle rides. Hell, even my tracking program was telling me that something was broken.

    Fortunately, I broke through that plateau, and am now down to 212#’s. That marks a milestone. Since I started in mid April, 9 weeks ago (roughly), I am down 20#’s.  I am almost half way to my goal. Woo hoo!