Staying the Course -- November 9, 2020

[Superman]

Sorry to steal your thunder, Superbob! Big week at the Fortress of Solitude!

It’s here! It’s here! It’s really here! Due to long lead times and a lack of patience on our part, we had to order well in advance of the Holidays. But our Tread arrived this weekend. All was not smooth. We had a no call / no show on Thursday, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. The excuse we were given was scheduling. They didn’t have the proper crew due to the weight of the product and they were supposed to have three people. I called Peloton support, who got involved right away. Refunded part of the delivery fee and got it set for Saturday. So how many show up? Two people. I think the no show was just a screw up and they came up with an excuse.

The guys that did show up left a lingering scent of smoke in the basement that has since dissipated. Anyway, with the level of service and communication, the mental debate of whether or not to tip two delivery guys making well over $20 an hour (I’ve seen the companies hiring ads) was easily settled in my mind. Call me what you will. In the end it’s here and a very solid piece of equipment with an awesome slatted thick rubber running surface. Not a thin belt. Going to test it out today. I had a spin challenge I was working on so had to do that yesterday.

Unrelated. We added to the family! Got us a pandemic puppy! A little black Cavapoo with a white streak from her chin to her chest. Our current pup is seven. She’s going to take a little warming up. She loves other dogs outside, but this is her turf and she’s not so sure. Kids are having a ball with her. She’ll be about 12 lbs fully grown, so same as our current pup.

 

[Superbob]

Man, Superman, not stealing my thunder at all! -- I love the positive week's starter!

Congrats on finally getting shipment of the tread -- I'm sure it will be a fine addition to your gym. And hey a new puppy -- there are few more joyous news bulletins than that. I rescued my current walking dog, Ellie, when she was seven (by estimate of the rescue people). I figure she's close to 13 now, and really starting to slow down. She's exceeded the average life expectancy of a retriever, so I have thought occasionally, what will I do if/when we lose her? Rescue another senior or get a puppy? What I'll probably do is bawl like a baby for 6 months before doing anything -- they just steal your emotional heart. But your post has brought the joy of puppyhood to mind.

I also have a happy report from today: When I finally accepted that, yes, I did have a dangerously large aortic aneurysm needing surgery, I dropped out of best exercise class I've ever had -- that was in mid-2019. Then came surgery and recovery -- and then cardiac rehab in early 2020, when the incisional hernia suddenly appeared. I went back to core-fit class for a few sessions, but the hernia so high up the sternum area freaked me out, and my cardio wanted me to wait for a CT-Scan in September before deciding what to do.....

Soooo, long story less long: This morning I FINALLY went back to my seniors' core fitness class, following the advice of my prospective hernia surgeon that "exercise is good as long as it doesn't hurt" -- no pain, in other words. (Wish I had gotten a consult with him months ago.) Though I am still down 25 pounds since the surgery, I found from the hour's class that I definitely had de-conditioned. I did most of the moves with modifications, so no pain, but I concluded that I am not in the shape I was in pre-surgery, when I had had 3 years of this wonderful class on my exercise ledgers. So, I am back, and it feels wonderful. Likely will have the hernia procedure early in 2021 but surgeon says after healing, should be a full go for resumption of exercise again.

So now you've heard from the two Supers, guys, so let's hear what y'all are doing this week!

Cheers,
Superbob

 

[rich01]

I hate exercise. I'm bored within the first 2 minutes.

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours cutting grass and today about an hour to finish up, then about 1 hour of leaf blowing, then painted part of the brick wall where the paint was getting worn, painted part of the well pump house, and watered the grass I planted a couple of weeks ago.

I also had to do a lot of cleanup from all the branches that got broken off when Zeta came through a couple of weeks ago. The constant bending over wears me out more than anything else does.

I decided I'd rather have a bunch of outdoor projects to do than do planned exercise. Just cutting the grass I walk about 20 miles/week, plus it gives me an upper body workout as well.

 

[MartinF]

It rained here over the weekend!
Walked the small 9-hole golf course today and shot a 40 (par is 29 so I'm not that good). Did get 2 birdies and a par and only lost 1 ball.
Back down to 170 lbs. That's a good weight for me.
Back to standard time so now it's dark when we meet for running/walking at 6PM. Soon my drive time both directions will be in the dark.

 

[Superman]

@rich01

All kinds of activity is good, so whatever works. I’m amazed by the number of people that hire out their yard work these days. Good for them creating jobs if they have the resources. We still do the walk behind here as well. I spent this last weekend crawling all over the roof doing Christmas lights. Beautiful weather for it. Discovered that whatever exercise I’ve been doing didn’t prepare me for all day squats on the roof trying to brace myself in position to not fall! Sore butt the next day!

That said, there are, of course, benefits to real hard, boring cardio work. For me, aside from weight control, my resting pulse has come down several bpm since getting a routine going. For a little pain, the ticker gets a nice break the rest of the time.

If you like comedy, look up Ivan Decker - The Gym. Great bit on exercise. He keeps it clean as well.

@MartinF

Good old “Seasonal Effective Disorder” as we call it. During the summer, no problem starting something at 8:00 at night. Winter, 5:30, it’s dark out, time to call it a day!

 

[epstns]

Hi, everyone! Just thought I would pop in to say hello to my first online family. (I now have a second one at one of the cancer forums.)

I’m so glad to see things still going along here. You all are walking tributes to the idea that there is truly life after valve surgery.

Covid has shut down nearly all of our organized activities here. Both of the senior centers we frequent have been closed entirely, one “until further notice” and the other simply closed forever. Our indoor/outdoor Bocce league has suspended play for the winter, although we did get out to play over the summer - with social distancing, masks and hand sanitizer. All of my wife’s classes have been canceled and all of my club meetings have been suspended. The only social outlet that has managed to continue has been my group of high school buddies. We used to meet and go out to dinner every month or so. Since there is nowhere to go, and we really shouldn’t even if there was somewhere remaining open, we have transitioned to a bi-weekly online cocktail hour. Sit at home and bring your own cocktail of choice. So, even the OF’s (old farts) can make use of technology. . .

I’ve tried to keep up my physical activity as well as possible, within the new restrictions posed by Covid. I have had to drastically cut back my workout time at the fitness centers, so I do my free-weights, floor exercises and body-weight exercises at home. I do a standard routine of dumbbell curls (15 lbs., 50 reps), shrugs/deadlifts (same 15 lbs, 50 reps), push-ups, crunches, leg lifts, etc. for maybe 30-40 minutes. Then I head out to the club to do my cardio — usually 15 minutes on an Arc Trainer (elliptical on steroids) and another 15 minutes on a treadmill. That’s the AM routine. Then, most days, I take an after-dinner walk for anywhere between 2 and 5 miles. Not sure what winter will do to the outdoor part, but will do my best to keep with it.

This daily routine, combined with healthy home cooked meals (DW, thank you!) has allowed me to lose those last 8-10 pesky pounds of “Old-Timer” weight. Eating at home has probably helped reduce my sodium intake, too, as well as having reduced snacking. I am now in my target weight range (5’8” tall, small frame, 145-150 lbs.) and feel better than I have in many a month. Hopefully, I can remain “in training” over the winter.

Again, I am happy to see the group Stayin‘ the Course. I’ll try to be a bit more diligent about my participation here, too.

 

[Superbob]

So glad that you popped in to Staying the Course, Steve, along with other members of our merry band. Makes me feel good that we've kept STC going as a place we can gather and share thoughts whenever we want. You vividly describe the impact Covid has had on our daily lives and ability to socialize. It is encouraging to know that with extra effort and precautions, our gyms/fitness clubs can continue to be there for our benefit. On my return yesterday, I wore a mask to our very large class workout room where there were markers for social distancing (not hard to achieve with only 7 of us there). (Masks came off for the class.) And every piece of equipment was carefully sanitized before and after, with all of us pitching in. With reports of a vaccine that may be 90% effective, maybe we can think of this scourge coming to an end (or at least abating) sometime in 2021.

Last night my worries were whether I can keep up with a core fitness class, even a senior one. I felt the impact of having deconditioned to the extent that I could not fall asleep last night til 330 a.m. or so. Old body feels aches and pains more than usual this morning, I turn 79 tomorrow, a big number. Start to wonder if I need to dial down my exercise program -- maybe to Silver Sneakers or chair yoga. Perhaps though what I need to do is not let my ego get in the way and to dial down -- modify -- in this great core fitness class, and just gradually work back into shape. It is hard to not keep up with what all the regular classmates are doing, but that is probably what I need to do.

Superman recommended the exercise humor of Ivan Decker. So I found this on YouTube. Hilarious! And wow can I identify after trying to keep up in exercise class yesterday after being away so long.

 

[rich01]

What's your thoughts on the Covid vaccine? Do you plan on getting it as soon as it's available?

I have mixed feelings. Part of me says get it because I'm not getting any younger and there are things I want to do. The other part of says at my age, side effects could be very serious.

I'm hoping as more information is released, the answer will be obvious.

 

[Superbob]

What's your thoughts on the Covid vaccine? Do you plan on getting it as soon as it's available?

I have mixed feelings. Part of me says get it because I'm not getting any younger and there are things I want to do. The other part of says at my age, side effects could be very serious.

I'm hoping as more information is released, the answer will be obvious.

I would be inclined to take the vaccine. As I understand it, though, more information remains to be released on safety,and I certainly would want to review the research.

 

[epstns]

I would be inclined to take it. . . AFTER I have had a chance to read the research and evaluate the efficacy and side effects reported from it. I, too, feel that there is still far too much left that I want to do to give up any time doubting a vaccine. I trust the system, just as I have in my choice of heart treatment and cancer treatment.

 

[AmyBL]

Hi folks! On a heart valve FB page, someone wrote that their cardiologist said he didn’t recommend the vaccine for people like us, at this time. My guess is that because it is so new, and we don’t have a great deal of experience with it but I don’t know for certain.
Have any of you communicated directly with your docs yet?

 

[rich01]

This is an older Staying the Course thread, but since we talked about Covid-19 and the vaccine, I will add my comment here.

This is my brief analysis of the data provided by Moderna and Pfizer regarding their vaccines. I think I did this correctly, but please correct if I am wrong.

The likelihood of testing positive on a PCR test is between .03% (Moderna) and .06% (Pfizer) for those who received a vaccine.

For those in the control group, who didn't get the vaccine, the likelihood of testing positive on a PCR test is between .6% (Moderna) and .7% (Pfizer), both considerably less than 1 in 100.

Testing positive on a PCR test doesn't even mean a person has Covid-19, but that a detectable amount of either active or inactive Sars-cov2 virus was identified.

Percent testing positive on PCR test.​

Company	Vaccinated	Not Vaccinated (control)
Moderna	.03%	.6%
Pfizer	.06%	.7%

Correction: Changed PCI to PCR.

 

[tom in MO]

Hi folks! On a heart valve FB page, someone wrote that their cardiologist said he didn’t recommend the vaccine for people like us, at this time. My guess is that because it is so new, and we don’t have a great deal of experience with it but I don’t know for certain.
Have any of you communicated directly with your docs yet?

Too early for me to be thinking of a vaccine. They could have been told that because they have a lot of other comorbidities that cardio didn't want to discuss. By the time a vaccine will be available for me, they'd have tested it on a few 100 million people around the world already.

 

[rich01]

Too early for me to be thinking of a vaccine. They could have been told that because they have a lot of other comorbidities that cardio didn't want to discuss. By the time a vaccine will be available for me, they'd have tested it on a few 100 million people around the world already.

I think in the US we will reach 20% of the population who has been infected with Sars-cov2. Probably another 20% have natural immunity. When we reach 100 million vaccinated in US, that puts the total either vaccinated or with some level of immunity at over 70% of the population.

What we don't know is how long immunity lasts either from the vaccine or from having Covid-19. I have read there is a very real possibility the vaccines might have to be repeated, possibly as often as every 4-6 months. Hopefully, that will not be the case.

 

[dornole]

Haven’t discussed. Got the flu shot as usual ,,.