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Falling
Just before Christmas, I got a new tube for my bike after it sat on the patio for most of last year. It was mostly a matter of procrastination that kept me from taking care of it. First I was travelling and then it was winter when I came home and the weather wasn’t great for riding. By December, I’d started to get an itch to ride again and so we took the tire into the shop and had the tube changed. I noticed a few days later there was no cap on the tube and rode to the shop to get one for it. I’d only taken shorter rides so far and this was my longest ride since I started back again. It all went well enough and I got to the shop and got a new cap. I also booked the bike in for a service. It did go the better part of a year without use so I suspect there’s stuff to adjust and oil and whatever else needs doing. I had actually left home with the idea I would drop it off without considering I need to book ahead of time. Anyway, it’s going in tomorrow to be serviced and I will either walk home or take a bus or perhaps a bit of both.
I stopped into the shopping centre afterwards to look for something and then stopped into one of my favorite tea shops to get a drink. I had taken a cool bag with two different reusable cups, depending on the shop I visited. One is plastic and has the logo for the shop where I ended up. The other one is generic and is made of glass. After I got my drink I started on my way home and put the drink in the basket with the bag. All was going well on the way home as I made my way towards the pathway next to the highway. I stopped at the corner of a busy road and a quiet side street to wait for traffic to clear so I could cross the road to the sidewalk on the opposite side. I’m not sure what happened while I waited but suddenly the balance of the bike started to tip over and I felt things happen in slow motion as I landed on the ground, fortunately, more on the side street. A vehicle stopped and a lady got out to check on me. She helped me up and I was okay for the most part. Just a bit shaken. My first thought as I was landing was that I was going to lose most, it not all, of my drink. Surprisingly it was fine and nothing much spilled. It wasn’t until later I thought of the glass cup inside my bag. That was also fine. As for myself, I had a bit of a graze on both my hands and my left knee but felt okay. After thanking the lady for her assistance, I walked across the side road into a little park to have a bit of a break and drink my tea. Then I got back on and went home. I was pleased to be able to increase the load on the gears so I could travel faster and got home more quickly than with the low gear settings. The only issue was the friction on my hands was uncomfortable for much of the ride. Once home I had a shower and cleaned up the slight wounds and was able to relax.
Things got a bit sore over the next couple of days. Not painfully sore but enough to be uncomfortable. I did go to pilates on Friday morning and later to the gym. My shoulders were quite sore that night. Not sure if it was due to exercise or injury or maybe a bit of both. There’s still some soreness in my left shoulder where I landed but it’s not terrible. Also, my knee is a bit bruised but not terribly so. I’ve just been taking it a bit easier before I have to take my bike in tomorrow. I’m hoping it’s not as windy as expected tomorrow as I hate riding in strong winds. Still, it will be warm so shouldn’t be too bad Also I’m hoping nothing got knocked out of whack when the bike fell. It all happened so slowly that I doubt anything was likely to be damaged. After all, I basically fell while at a standstill.
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Just like that…
And nine months have passed this year. Wow! It already seems like an age ago I returned from my US trip.
Things are going okay in this part of the world. It’s supposed to be spring but after about a week of really lovely weather, the temperatures dropped and it’s been rather chilly most days. Today there was a chance of rain but I don’t think any fell around here. Now it’s just cool and windy and feels more like winter. The tell-tell sign of spring is the massive amount of pollen flying about. A week ago, the Scientist suffered terribly after he got out with the line trimmer to cut some of the long grass in the backyard. I was trying to follow along and do the mowing after him. Between the two of us, we got a lot accomplished. But he was in misery by that evening and suffered for a day or two afterwards. We still have a lot of work to do out there but it’s enough to be able to sit in that corner of the yard and enjoy the sun in the late afternoon.
In nine days it will be Game Fanatic’s birthday. He is 28 this year which seems so old. But then it really has been that long since he was born. I’ve been in Australia that many years now and even that seems a long time ago. It used to be I felt like everything before I came here was a lifetime ago. Now I guess it’s more like two lifetimes ago? :D
I’ve been in a period of difficulty with my exercise. I’d been in a regular habit for a few weeks and it was all going well. But then something stops things working and now I am trying to regain a habit. I am still exercising but not getting to the gym as often. I’ve spent more time walking the dogs and a little bit trying to run short distances. It’s more a challenge than anything and I doubt I will ever do more than run for a couple of minutes at a time. But it’s an interesting shift in activity. I also haven’t gone to a pilates class in a while. I still have clinical pilates with the physiotherapist every second week. But I haven’t attended the class through my fitness center at all recently. This is one of those habits that broke, mostly because I found it really difficult to do the pilates on Thursday night and follow with clinical pilates the following morning.
Relating to the dog walks, we had to take one to the vet recently and when she was weighed, she had lost at least 1kg since her last visit. So the short walks we do with her are helping with the weight, which should also help with her arthritis.
I got a new iPhone when they were released last month. My old one was three years old so it was time. Or maybe it’s more like I was fed up with a couple of issues on it that I hoped would be better now. The issues haven’t been resolved the way I hoped but I think there was no chance of getting the resolution I wanted. So far I am really liking the new phone. The case is one thing that I’m getting used it. It’s a clear case to show off the lovely dark purple of the phone. But the material it’s made of doesn’t feel quite right in my hands. I will be getting a different case to use when I’m cycling and I feel sure that will feel more comfortable because I have already had a case like it for the older phone. The camera on this has major improvements but I must admit I haven’t used it all that much yet. I suspect I find it a bit overwhelming as it’s far more powerful. I remember the first phone I got that had a camera and it was supposed to be really good. But it wasn’t any good at all. This one is quite wonderful and I could even get super high resolution if I wanted. I have plans to upgrade the watch sometime soon too.
I had an MRI done on my liver a few weeks ago. I have continued to have deranged liver function tests and nothing has been determined to be a reasonable cause. The numbers aren’t that terrible but there are three that have been out of range the last several tests. I had a CT scan early this year that said my liver looked just fine and there was no mention of the fatty liver that showed on earlier ultrasound scans. Of course, my liver function tests looked really good too at the time. The MRI is supposed to check into that but I haven’t got my results yet. By the time the test was done and the results came through, my doctor was away on leave. I have an appointment next week to discuss the results. I’m not really that worried about it but I am curious if anything shows up.
Our deranged smart light continues to cause trouble. The Scientist got rid of something that might have been causing a conflict but it continues to occur. This past night it was the worst ever. Normally after a number of times turning it off, it will remain off. I woke up several times in the night and every time the light was back on. It even continued into the morning, which I don’t think has happened before. We actually have two different types of smart lighting so our next effort will likely mean we remove the current bulb and use one from the other type. That has a couple of downsides but it would be doable.
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More on Fitter
There was one point I meant to include in my last post. Normally my diet and exercise fall off the tracks a bit during the winter. I think this is the first time in many years that I have managed to maintain a reasonable amount of exercise through the season. So yay to me! The weather is already shifting towards spring and I am already in a good place. And that makes me kind of happy. :)
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Fitter
Yesterday I went to the gym and did a “session” on the recumbent bike. I’d done it before but I found it was a bit of a struggle at times. This time, I must have been having a good day because it felt like very little effort at all. I think I also have built up a bit of muscle from doing these sessions and maybe I am just that bit stronger? Anyway, it was a good feeling to be so improved. Except I came back feeling like I hadn’t really done any exercise and it felt like I cheated. LOL
The recumbent bike is easier than the upright but I have been doing the harder workouts there too. I will feel more accomplished once I can complete a beginner workout with the beginner settings. At the moment I find it too hard to maintain for long so I decided to adjust the settings to make it do-able.
I feel like I have settled into a routine with my exercise lately. My goal is to do two weight sessions a week and that’s happening pretty regularly. I do one on the weekend and one during the week. On Tuesdays I have tai chi and fan/sword practice for 1.5 hours. On Thursday evenings I go to a pilates class. The other days I do cardio exercise, which is when I tend to use the bikes and treadmill. There are rowing machines but I haven’t used those for quite a while now.
For the weights workout I had one of the trainers update my list of exercises for a longer session. But I found it got a bit too long so that I was at the gym for nearly two hours. I’ve now managed to shift a couple of those exercises to my workout two and hopefully it will be more balanced.
On the treadmill I have mostly been doing interval work where I walk for a while and then I either walk really fast or do a bit of a jog. I was trying this fairly often and found I could manage with the breathing and heart rate. My feet and knees are a bit trickier to handle so I have cut back on that.
In addition to that I have been attempting to take the dogs for a walk much more often. One of the dogs is overweight and has arthritis so getting her walking is definitely an improvement. I can’t say I get that much exercise from walks with her. But the other dog moves quickly so I can get a good half hour in with him. So it’s good news for all of us. :)
I also started back to clinical pilates every fortnight and so every second Friday I have that class in the morning. Last week I had some tough exercises and I was so sore afterwards.
Overall I feel much fitter and balanced than I have in a while. I also have allowed for rest days when my muscles are particularly sore and that’s okay.
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Same but different
I think it was in the middle of last year I suddenly developed pain in my hips and glutes area. It was painful enough to take painkillers and I went to see my physiotherapist, who worked out I had gluteal tendinopathy. I’d never had it before and never heard of it either. She set me on a course of exercises and saw me a couple of times along with ongoing clinical pilates classes. It got better and I wanted to make sure I kept the muscles in good shape. A month or two later I had joined the gym and was improving my fitness so I thought that would be the end of it.
Fast forward several months to this weekend when I developed a similar pain on both sides that became worse on the left again. Again I had to take painkillers when it was particularly bad. After a few days I realised this was the same thing I had before. I went to see my physiotherapist this morning and I was right. Except this time the problem is I have overdone things and my muscles were quite tight. She did dry needling on both sides and then massaged it. The massage was quite painful on the left side. I have to lay off cardio exercises that work the lower body for several days. But I’m free to do as many pilates classes as I like. And I have several home exercises to do, some of which I had already started on.
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This and that
COVID numbers are rising here but still not quite exploding. We had 31 cases a couple of days ago but have been hanging in the 20s each day otherwise. But thanks to these higher numbers, there have been some changes to requirements for isolation with and without symptoms here. Also, the isolation upon returning to the state is now down to seven days, which is a good thing.
In my work situation as a support worker, there are two other people I work with to support one client. Recently one of them had travelled to an eastern state and is back but having to quarantine. The other one got a promotion and started training this week. So I had been left to cover for both this week and next. It’s quite disruptive for the client and also a burden for me as the only support worker available. The changes on isolation mean I should be unburdened with most of the hours by Sunday, assuming no COVID symptoms come up. A new worker is going to be introduced soon and we are hopeful for a good fit with the client. That makes this week a bit easier to get through.
My travel plans are feeling more and more solid with the upcoming changes. I won’t be too surprised if we are properly open by the time I return in May. I just have to avoid getting the virus throughout.
I got into the pool for the first time in months a few days ago and it went really well. The only issue was limited time as the pool and gym close at 5 pm on weekend days. I had gone to the gym for half an hour and then the pool but had a few hiccups along the way. First of all, I couldn’t open the locker (it’s digital and I might have mistyped the code I wanted). It took ages to find someone to help me with that. Then upon getting my items, the lockers in the pool area mostly wouldn’t lock even though they haven’t been there are long as those in the gym area. The actual swimming was good and I managed to get in 22 laps in the limited time. I was shifting between freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke and felt pretty comfortable throughout.
We are in the middle of a brief chill in the midst of summer heat. A couple of days ago it was super hot but yesterday and today have been significantly cooler, especially with the strong breeze. From tomorrow it should be shifting closer to normal for a while.
I’ve recently begun listening to audiobooks instead of music while at the gym. This helps me finish listening much faster than before. I currently have two books out from the library, one of which is in high demand. It only became available last night but I began listening today so I can finish it in the two weeks that it’s available. I had already started the other one but it’s not in such demand and I may be able to just renew it once it is due. I will just keep watch to make sure nobody requests it in the meantime. I can easily return to it once the other book is finished.
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Ill-fated bicycle ride
After having a good bike ride recently I decided I’d try for another one yesterday instead of going to the gym. It wasn’t extreme heat yesterday but it was hot and I left home just after 4:30 pm with hopes it would be cooling off soon. The first thing I noticed was the ride wasn’t as easy as the last time. But I pushed on and lowered gears to make things easier. Things were going okay for a while but then the heat started to get to me and instead of continuing to my usual turnaround place, I took a short break to drink some water and stopped once more along the way. I was mostly feeling okay but as I approached the ramp onto the overpass, I realised it was going to be a huge struggle to reach the top. It just happens the path has an offshoot that goes under the bridge so I headed that way to find a stopping place in the shade. One thing I didn’t know is part of that path now shows a sign not to enter as though moving onto a one-way street. Except this was the pathway. I continued anyway because I was desperate to get out of the sun for a while. I did find a small shady area and stopped. I finished my first bottle of water and sat on the path where there were fewer ants around. When my heart rate finally returned to some normality, I started off again.
This is where things got rather tricky. I didn’t have the energy to ride very fast so I kept to as slow a pace as possible. But then I noticed my back tire wasn’t feeling right and it soon became clear the air I’d pumped it up with had gone out and I was riding on the rim of the wheel. I pumped it up and it was wobbly for a while before deflating again. This was a terrible place to be stranded as there was no access to the path for several kilometers. I got off and walked the bike for a long while and then called the Scientist. It took a while for me to communicate where I was. It was noisy from the highway next to me and my pronunciation may not have been clear to him. We finally connected and it was clearer where I was headed. There is one street that crosses with the highway and intersects with the bike pathway so that was my target for us both. I carried on walking my bike and got there about ten minutes later. Part of the pathway was shaded there so I got off and waited. I was nearly finished with my second water bottle at this point.
I knew my bike wasn’t going to fit in the car so my plan had been to lock up my bike near my location with intentions of returning the next day. The Scientist, however, was too concerned it would be stolen and decided he would walk the bike home. I was about 4.5 km from home via the bike path at this point. I took the car and returned home where I showered and rehydrated with V8 juice I had in the fridge. I wasn’t quite sure how well that would work but figured it was better than just water. It seems to have been fine and I started to feel better after a little while.
Meanwhile, the Scientist opted to walk the bike along the road he’d travelled to reach me instead of along the pathway I’d been on. It was quieter there and there was some shade for part of that way (although I’m not sure that was his consideration). He ran into issues closer to home that required a lengthy detour. In the end, he’d walked 8+ kilometers and was about to drop once home. Also, his leg was battered from the bike pedal hitting it regularly along the way. He’d already done his own exercise not much earlier so I can’t imagine his exhaustion.
I guess it might be a while until I ride again. I can get another tube easily but I’m concerned about the wheel being damaged from riding on a flat tire. That said, I will have to replace the tube in order to get it to the shop.
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Assorted
The premier of our state just did his daily update and there were nine cases of covid. It seems all were related to previous clusters. So far the numbers haven’t exploded but it still seems likely to happen at some point. While I haven’t been avoiding going out, I haven’t been spending as much time in more crowded locations. The press conference also outlined the plan to deal with high case numbers when we reach that point. That is still a long way off but obviously could change at any time. I also noticed that rapid antigen tests are now available locally and must be in demand because my pharmacy has a sign saying they don’t have any. The Scientist ordered some tests a couple of weeks ago but they haven’t arrived yet.
I’ve been attending a pilates class at a local leisure center for the past few weeks and I feel like it’s really helping with core muscles. Meanwhile, in the gym, I’ve been avoiding those exercises and doing more cardio and more weight machines. Still, my muscle mass hasn’t changed from several months ago even though I can feel changes in arms and glutes, etc.
One of the support workers who share support for my client has been promoted to a coordinator position. This opens up several more hours per week with him and I’ve taken on Tuesday hours. I chose this day in order to provide an opportunity to attend a special exercise class on a regular basis. The changes in support workers are going to be disruptive for a while but I hope he is able to settle in for the longer term. This does create another day where he may be unsupported while I’m away though. The extra hours will nice after losing so many hours from my other client. I don’t want to take on too many with this client, though, because he’s a family friend and I want to keep a decent balance between work and personal life.
We had several days with milder weather but that has now ended and we’re back to another heatwave. We haven’t had any rain so far this year but that is pretty typical for this time of year.
I got out onto my bike almost two weeks ago and it went quite well. The last time I went out I had quite a struggle to go very far. This time I didn’t struggle at all and managed what might have been a normal ride back in the time I was riding regularly. This was a nice surprise. I will admit to being tempted to go farther than planned because I was feeling well enough. Common sense did prevail and I stuck to a normal distance in the end.
I got a message from my doctor’s office that I needed to come in to discuss some results. I was only there on Monday so I assume some of the tests took longer to be processed. There were two tests from earlier that had been repeated so I suspect this might have been one or both of them. I got an appointment with yet another gp that I’ve never seen since she has the earlier available time on Tuesday.
Yesterday I stopped at a local park to eat a sandwich I’d gotten from the nearby bakery. While there, a black swan approached the side of the pond/small lake where I was sitting and seemed quite interesting in making contact. I took several photos, even approaching the swan and taking an overhead shot. I’ve been to this park before but never had any of the creatures approach me. It was pretty neat.
I started playing the Wordle game that has taken the internet by storm lately and I’m enjoying my daily dose. What I like about it is it’s just a single game that takes a couple to a few minutes and won’t be a major time sucker. It works much like the old Mastermind game but it’s for five-letter words. You get six tries and I’ve been able to solve each puzzle so far. I do it really curious how so many people need to share their results each day. And it’s weird how so many people get so annoyed by that. I personally don’t do it but I have no concerns about others. I just find it strange they need to share so much.
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Stuff
I am still keeping up with exercise to some degree. That isn’t translating to any weight loss as yet and it also isn’t translating to increased muscle mass. I am a bit stuck on that part because I know I have built up muscle but to stay the same that would mean I’d have to lose muscle somewhere else and I don’t think that’s happening. That said, I am not sure how much stock to take in the scales that do all these fancy computations on the body. I am finding it’s been a struggle to get through exercise sessions lately. Usually, I will start feeling better after going for a while and the rest comes more easily. Not the case recently though.
I don’t think I mentioned here yet that my dad went home just before Thanksgiving and is doing okay. It seems he is suffering a bit of confusion since the second stroke but other issues don’t seem to have changed a lot. I did speak with him a few days ago and had a slightly longer conversation. Still quite brief but he was able to get more out on that occasion.
Game Fanatic has been trying to get hold of a Playstation 5 for some time and the pickings have been limited since its release whenever it was. Then EB Games said they had some available for pre-order last month and I rushed there to get an order in to find out they had sold out. I was put on a waitlist in case more units arrived than predicted. These units were supposed to come fairly soon after the orders were taken but I didn’t hear anything further. So I stopped in one day last week to check on the status. It turns out they were still working on calling people about orders and I was able to collect mine after all. So Game Fanatic now has the monster-sized machine which blocks our tv and was able to add a couple of items to his limited Christmas list.
The Scientist hasn’t had any real holiday from work in ages. I don’t count the time taken off when he had surgery earlier this year. As of tomorrow, he’s off until early January. Here’s hoping the time off allows him to recharge a bit for next year. Also, the Scientist had a birthday last week and he’s now started his last year of his 50s. I took him out for lunch at a Thai/fusion restaurant where they had robots to deliver meals to tables and it was a good meal. Then we went to Holey Moley to do mini mini-golf and a game of bowling, both of which were lots of fun for us.
We still don’t have any definite dates on our borders opening here in WA but it feels like it’s getting close to reality now. I have been playing around with dates for travel for next year and it seems like it might be okay in the second quarter barring any delays from newer variants.
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Not fully functional
That’s kind of how I am feeling today but I know it will pass. The past few days I have had to really push to do exercise and I must admit I didn’t feel better afterwards either. I got a new workout routine on Monday, having gone a full eight weeks going to the gym already. This one uses the machines less and requires more abdominal work, which I hope will improve my core muscle groups, which have been really weak since having kids. I’ve noticed my foot/toes are handling activity a lot better now than they did before. The exception is when I am doing yoga moves that require me to be on my toes. I suspect that may just be painful activity when the toes are stretched like that. Anyway, I have started walking a lot more than I have been and have even gone on short hikes in the hills, which I hope to continue through the warmer months.
I had a bunch of blood tests recently and went for a follow-up to discover I have low iron stores. There’s been a gradual decline over the past couple of years. My last test was borderline normal but it dropped quite a bit over three months. Since I am post-menopausal, the usual reasons don’t apply so I’m going in to have a gastroscopy and colonoscopy later this month to check for any internal issues. It’s been several years since my first colonoscopy so I guess that’s okay. Not looking forward to the prep for it, of course. I have been put on iron supplements but they are wreaking havoc with my digestive system. I am trying to eat more red meat but it’s a struggle since I don’t have much appetite for it on a regular basis. I came up with the idea of having small amounts more often and seeing if that works for me. I will also see about switching to a gentler iron supplement since I am not even taking the current one daily and I am having a lot of issues. Tonight I made a stir fry with potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, and a spinach/kale mix along with some stir fry beef and that worked okay for me.
I’ve been feeling what I call draggy the past few days. I’m not sure if that’s due to low iron or something else since I wasn’t feeling like that much before I was told about the iron deficiency. I also learned that I shouldn’t have iron and calcium together either as it affect iron absorption.
My liver tests haven’t been consistent lately so I also had an ultrasound which I imagine will show fatty liver disease, which was there before. I’m hoping it’s not so bad as the last one in 2016. I’m due to have repeat blood tests plus a panel of liver and celiac and other tests at the end of the month so it will be interesting to see how things go. I did find that after two months of exercise I had not only gained weight but my muscle mass hadn’t changed at all. I am sure I have more muscle in some areas so it doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m not that fussed about the slight weight increase and it actually has dropped in the past few days.
After a pretty mild October, we’re getting some warmer weather now but it’s not constant. We go to eat at the food trucks on Monday nights and it’s not been all that comfortable since the first week when we had some lovely warm weather. We even missed a couple of weeks, one of them due to wet and chilly weather. Tomorrow’s forecast is quite positive so I am looking forward to it.
A Lego store opened in Perth about ten days ago so we had to make a first visit. I was expecting really long lines and big crowds but it turned out to be reasonable when we went. But there wasn’t a lot of merchandise still available by the time we got in on day four. We only had to wait for about 15-20 minutes to get in and it was fine in-store. It was worse finding parking at the shopping center, which has mostly doubled in size very recently. I found I didn’t recognise much there and it took a while to find the area of the original structure. I suspect we’ll be visiting there more often once the excitement over new stores dies down (lots of new shops just opened, enough that there was an electronic sign advising there was an “event” ahead on the road.)
I had been considering an upgrade to my Apple watch but finally decided to wait another year. My watch is working fine and although there are features I’d like, I don’t know if it’s enough to upgrade yet. Assuming the iPhone gets a couple of features I want next year, I will update both watch and phone.
Our state finally has a plan for opening up to the world set so I have a more likely chance of going home for a visit next year. No definite dates but our premier is waiting for vaccination rates to reach 90% before we open up properly. Once that happens, I think it might be doable, if things like travel insurance will provide sufficient coverage. I’d really like to get home to see my family, especially my dad. He’s doing okay but has had a couple of scares lately and his blood pressure is definitely not under control.
There’s surely some other stuff I meant to write about but I can’t recall all of it lately. So hopefully I will update again soon.