<p>Bromfield–get back into things gently! </p>
<p>Lovely spring-like day today…sun shining…so I went for a long walk. About a mile from the house I went down a road I don’t usually walk on…and remembered why. It’s got a huge hill down and another huge one back up! So that was close to a mile of incline. Anyway, it was a really nice walk & better than being indoors. :)</p>
<p>Ohiopublic:</p>
<p>Here’s the [Altra</a> lacing](<a href=“http://www.altrazerodrop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaticContentView?langId=-1&storeId=15151&catalogId=18952&pageTitle=Alternate+Lacing&pageName=AlternateLacing]Altra”>http://www.altrazerodrop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaticContentView?langId=-1&storeId=15151&catalogId=18952&pageTitle=Alternate+Lacing&pageName=AlternateLacing). I’ve seen that, and several variations on hiking sites. I haven’t tried it because I just don’t buy any shoes that are tight in that region. It would work, however. I just hate to get into trying to made a shoe that’s too tight fit with lose lacing because then the top of the foot is not locking the foot in place and it really limits being able to go to thicker socks on occasion. When I first started walking to lose weight, I got numbness at the base of my toes. It’s called Morton’s Neuroma and caused by footwear that squeezes the toes together. The combination of buying wide shoes with SuperFeet inserts solved that problem on day one and every day since, so I don’t want to rock the boat.</p>
<p>Second issue is my only real geezer deformity. I have a [dorsal</a> bunion](<a href=“http://www.footdoc.ca/www.FootDoc.ca/Website%20Stiff%20Big%20Toe%20Joint.htm]dorsal”>STIFF BIG TOE JOINT) on the top of my big toe joint. Pressure there drives me nuts. The lacing system would definitely help with that, but it’s not an issue if the shoes are wide enough. On top of that, I basically have a size 10 foot (overall) with size 8 toes! So, any shoe that fits my foot is going to be a little long. When I went for an “expert” fitting at a running store, the “expert” measured my foot, brought out the recommended size (I was chuckling) and I couldn’t even get my foot down into the shoe! I wore these new Brooks around the house for several hours last night and they fit great.</p>
<p>Counting Down:</p>
<p>Congratuations. I love 5 pound parties. As long as you are eating 1200 - 1500 calories a day, your weight loss probably isn’t too fast. But, hey, it’s always easy to find a little more to eat if you want to slow it down!</p>
<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>Your dedication to that streak, in the face of all odds, is remarkable! :)</p>
<p>BROMFIELD:</p>
<p>You’ll bounce back quickly. Those occasional breaks, even when caused by sickness, probably have some recuperative benefit.</p>
<p>MUSICMOM:</p>
<p>Ooooh. A perfect walking route! A mile long hill will get everything burning. I’m going out tomorrow for a walk in the snow (mud?) up a 2 mile hill and back. I hear ya on getting outside this time of year. It’s a pain to get all bundled up and deal with the cold, but it is so refreshing after being cooped up in the house.</p>
<p>There are wide options out there and it’s most comfortable to just get something wide enough to begin with. Leather shoes will break in over time, but finding 4E or 6E shoes means that you don’t have the painful break-in period.</p>
<p>I just stick with New Balance as they go up to 6E.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wow. That’s a wide shoe! New Balance is the king of wide running shoes. It seems to be a bit of a specialty for Brooks, too. This new pair is easily the best fitting sneaker I’ve had on my foot in 20 years.</p>
<p>Alas, it rules out finding shoe bargains at TJ MAXX. They never have wide widths.</p>
<p>The right shoes mean a whole lot! Blew a ton of money on the Brooks’ site, got 3 pairs of my favorites, that should last me a whole year. The new Pure line looks suspicious. I think I will grab a pair at Nordie’s, and if it works for me, great, if it does not - that will be my first ever return of a worn shoe or any other item to Nordie.</p>
<p>I have the Pure Flow 2s but haven’t worn them yet. I also have the Pure Drift (the newest shoe) and wore it for a short run. It’s very minimalist and felt really good. </p>
<p>As for my streak- it will end at some point due to sickness or injury, but today didn’t need to be that day. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.</p>
<p>NM, I had heard of the Fitbit but didn’t actually know what it was. Once I knew you had one, I had to go check it out and of course I want one now. I would be particularly interested in the sleep cycle. </p>
<p>CD, great job on the weightloss!</p>
<p>All of the athletic shoes for our family have been purchased from the New Balance Factory Outlet for the last 18 years because of the fit issue. We looked for shoes for our son when he reached about 8 and he complained about everything. We visited about 15 shoe stores. Then we found stuff that fit at the New Balance Factory Outlet in Brighton and they were fairly inexpensive too. The thing is that you have to take what they have at the time - sometimes there isn’t anything in our sizes - but when there is, I stock up. I like to have 1-2 years worth of tennis and running shoes in the basement so that I don’t run out. We could use a few more pairs right now. I might buy some at the Merrimack Premium Outlets. Prices are about $10 more but it would save me a trip to Boston.</p>
<p>I solved the snoring problem years ago:</p>
<p>[Sure</a> fire snoring solution](<a href=“http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/super-leight]Sure”>http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/super-leight)</p>
<p>Started a new exercise class today…totally embarrassed!! I cannot seem to do lunges at all, or at least, I cannot seem to get up once I get down! I did my lunges empty handed - the rest of the class were using 7.5 lb weights. (I should add that I was definitely old enough to be everyone else’s mother). I did buy an exercise ball on my way home. Any advice on gaining strength in my legs quick? Like before the next class???</p>
<p>If you have problems doing a particular exercise, just do them at home until you get better at them. If you can’t get up by yourself, put a chair next to you or do them next to an object so that you can use your arms to assist your to decrease the overall resistance.</p>
<p>It is surprising how well the body improves fitness or strength in response to stress. And also surprising how fast the body loses it.</p>
<p>sabaray…will let you know how accurate the sleep tracking is. It is based on movement during the night so if you were a restless sleeper I don’t know how accurate it would be. I want to do a little more testing/tracking. It is basically a super duper pedometer that connects wirelessly to your phone/laptop/pc and records your steps and miles, how many stairs you climbed, calories burned based on weight and there is a food log area that I haven’t tried yet. I do better when I have a goal or new toy so this is it! Stay tuned for a review after I’ve used it for a week.</p>
<p>idad…Ha! I have used earplugs for years. Still hear him! I can hear him when he is upstairs and I am downstairs! He has snored since he was a teen and was 6’4" and 165 lbs so it isn’t his weight. Had nose surgery twice and didn’t fix it. He won’t do the sleep testing.</p>
<p>KSM:</p>
<p>Congratulations on starting an exercise class.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad. You should have seen me trying to do lunges at 250 pounds. Yikes. As it turns out, the lunge is actually a very advanced version of a split leg exercise, although many trainers don’t realize that. There is absolutely no shame in not being able to do lunges. 90 pounds and three years after starting to exercise, I am just now to the point where I feel like I can really do solid walking lunges.</p>
<p>My very first program had lunges and I simply could not do them. Period. So, what I did – and it turns out, this is what the top trainers do to get people started properly – is stationary split squats. Just stand one foot out in front, and go down without moving your feet, then come back up. Don’t even bother with stepping forwards or backwards. Just go as far down as is comfortable and then back up. Leave your feet in the same place for all the reps. Over time, you want to get to the point where you can lightly touch the back knee to the ground at the bottom, but that could take weeks, months, years. Whatever… it’s the journey that counts! I wouldn’t even bother with lunges until you can get good depth on stationary split squats. I do them with a foam pad or folded towel under my back knee so that I can touch down without whacking my knee on a hard floor.</p>
<p>If even that is too hard (and it will be for some of us), then you can “deload” it even further by holding onto a railing next to you. Or better yet, hang on a TRX strap to support some weight. Those will help if balance is an issue.</p>
<p>The reason lunges are harder is that you have to de-accelerate your weight as you step forward or backward into the lunge. That adds an additional challenge (more load to stop a moving object) and places a pretty big demand on hip stability. No way that any of us have that kind of hip stabilty just starting an exercise program. Patience is really the key, especially for us geezers. I suspect that most young whippersnapper trainers have no clue how challenging these exercises are at first.</p>
<p>Here’s a pretty good instruction video on the split squat. His tip to keep the weight on the heel of the front foot is really good Ideally you should always be able to wiggle the front toes.</p>
<p><a href=“Split Squat - YouTube”>Split Squat - YouTube;
<p>
</p>
<p>I think I qualify under your comment… but I think I do know how challenging they are! 
But then again, I spend a lot of time learning Mike Boyle and Gray Cook stuff… two of the best!</p>
<p>I always wondered how many miles you walked at a trade show. I just read that a writer at gizmodo wearing the fitbit one tracked an estimated 7.1 miles at CES, the show that I’m at in Vegas. The miles sound right but the fitbit said that translates to 3040 calories which is way too high. I’m wondering if the fitbit is very accurate on calories burned?</p>
<p>I am always skeptical of anything that claims to measure calories burned. If I’m working hard, I’m burning calories. NM, look forward to your full review!</p>
<p>^^I ran 4.2 miles today. My Garmin watch said I burned 502 calories.</p>
<p>Stretching video, glutes and pushups this morning.</p>
<p>Ran 4.25 miles this evening, late. I was quite busy at work today and got home at 8:35.</p>
<p>I slipped on the driveway going to the trunk to get my bags but I didn’t fall. That’s the problem with coming home in the dark. You don’t see the black ice.</p>
<p>Absolute minimum today. One set of HOPS challenge. Resting up…</p>
<p>I’m going to try winter mountain hiking tomorrow and I really don’t know what to expect. It’s an abbreviated version of a hike I’ve done twice before. Instead of a 5.5 mile loop over two mountains, I’m doing two miles up to the first peak and back down. The trail pretty moderate. No rock ledges that I recall (it’s the ladder climb, but I’ll take the bypass). It’s a hike the Over-50 group did a couple of weeks ago in the snow. Without fresh snow and on a fairly popular trail, I suspect that it’ll just be hiking boots and [url=<a href=“http://www.kahtoola.com/images/product_landing_microspikes_new.jpg]MicroSpikes[/url”>http://www.kahtoola.com/images/product_landing_microspikes_new.jpg]MicroSpikes[/url</a>], but I’ll probably lash the snow shoes to my pack just in case. I’ll set a turn-around time limit and, if I haven’t made it to the top, just head back down.</p>
![http://www.kahtoola.com/images/product_landing_microspikes_new.jpg]MicroSpikes[/url](http://www.kahtoola.com/images/product_landing_microspikes_new.jpg%5DMicroSpikes%5B/url){kind=link}
