<p>Good morning, and thanks to all for your comments and suggestions re: equipment/workout etc.
In essence, it seems like my decade-old belief that they just can get “all in one” machines right and that I’m better off with simple tools remains in tact ;)</p>
<p>IntDad, thanks for the gym setup outline. I’m going to work on that and watch some of those videos to get a feel for it. </p>
<p>I do think before I go off half cocked this time I will get a physical therapist to come out a few times and give me some tips on the best approach. With facet joint syndrome, it’s weird and tricky, because they’re tiny joints at the front of the spine. Five of mine have bone growths/spurs in the channel. When one locks, you end up out of alignment (once as long as a year) and it starts the ligaments/nerves/spasms until it’s very painful to walk at all. Chiro doesn’t help, actually exacerbates. Walking seems to help keep me loose and has unlocked them before. The real solution is to have the spurs removed, but my osteopathic surgeon said it’s super invasive and if I could manage without they’d likely invent something more effective soon. That was 10 years ago…I should check again – but then again, hate to muck with the bod when it’s been behaving! ;)</p>
<p>The hill(s) yesterday were not alive with the sound of music…more like the abject panting and occasional explicative of yours truly as she discovered just exactly what snow shoeing uphill with deep snow cover and ergo unbroken path is about. So in essence, until yesterday, I’ve been doing what amounts to a mere simulation of “real” snowshoeing, by comparison I only made it half my distance in a half hour…at half my speed. But I sure burned every bit as much and more!</p>
<p>In other news, a few of you from the 2013 thread know already that my h, a sedentary, stubborn, lovely and shall we say, portly man was recently teetering on the brink of being dx’d with type 2 diabetes – blood came back at 126 which is the official number. That prompted me to start easing into better meal prep and perhaps lead by example, and he’s lost about 11 lbs to date.</p>
<p>He had to go back for more tests yesterday and his blood glucose came back this time at 106 – a full 20 dialed down – just from two weeks of slight diet mod and losing some weight. Great motivation for doing this work – just thought I’d share ;)</p>
<p>My exercise today will consist of lifting heavy shovelfuls of heavy snow and tossing them away from the path and the driveway. We moved only last october and haven’t yet contracted w/ anyone to plow our driveway – so it’s just going to be us and our shovels. This could take awhile. The snow is over a foot deep-- to let the dogs out this morning, I had to use the front storm door to push the snow aside. The snow is up to the dogs’ backsides.</p>
<p>VeryHappy, we used to have to shovel a spot for one of our dogs; he couldn’t figure out where he was supposed to go when it snowed! I hope the snow has stopped for you. </p>
<p>KMC, great work for you and H. No better example of how diet and exercise can directly impact one’s health.</p>
<p>Spent 35 minutes shoveling. I had on CW-X Insulator-X under TechWick Heavyweight under a pair of jeans and a Pro-Combat shirt under TechWick Heavyweight Top under Columbia fleece under LL Bean down coat. I was wearing too much up top and was getting hot. The bottoms were perfect though. Just out in sneakers - doing a couple of clearings last night meant no need for boots.</p>
<p>Such good news about your H, KCM! There’s nothing like some concrete results to keep up the motivation. I love your snowshoeing story. I will think of that when I start week four of the C25K with the longer running periods. I’ve never tried snowshoes, and it’s unlikely–unless there’s an equivalent “shoe” for deep sand–that I’ll get to try in the near future. </p>
<p>You who have survived the snow storm may think I’m nuts, but I wish I could be there for this first morning or two in the aftermath, just to see the world in white and take advantage of the positives–the winter skiing and hiking.</p>
<p>I did an hour’s worth of shoveling; then three young teenagers came by with shovels and
I paid them $25 each to do the driveway, clear the cars off, etc. Well worth it, in my book. The three of them worked for over an hour. If it had just been me, it would have taken all day!</p>
<p>I ditched the LL Bean Down and just went with TechWick, PowerStretch Hoody and Columbia fleece and it was still too hot. It’s about 18 degrees out right now - pretty amazing how little it takes to keep warm when you’re exerting yourself. The one advantage to boots is that your feet don’t freeze though as the nubs keep you above the ground.</p>
<p>I called the YMCAs and there was no answer on the phone.</p>
<p>3.28 miles today. It was 36 degrees here, which is very cold for us, so I finally got to use my new winter running beanie that I got for Christmas. I dragged myself up the last big hill, but I didn’t have to walk.</p>
<p>I am loving my new Altra shoes. Right now, they are the only ones I can run in that don’t cause some tendon or bursa to start hurting. I might sign up for a 5k next Saturday, but not to race exactly, more of a “hey, I’ve got the day off and there’s a race nearby so why not”</p>
<p>2 hours 45 minutes of shoveling. Wow. I spoke too soon last night. We got a lot of snow. The arrangement here makes for tough shoveling. Everyone has a back deck, then a line of cars, so to dig the cars out and clear the decks, everyone has to move the snow out the length of the cars. Shovel by shovel, from the deck, down the steps, and along the car. The only exercise I plan for the rest of the day is fluffing the pillows on the sofa. That’s quite a little workout.</p>
<p>I was dressed just about right. Power Fleece over baselayer top/bottom, with rain pants and GoreTex shell to block the wind and stay dry. 18 degrees and blowing. The drifts between the cars were knee deep, so definitely needed boots.</p>
<p>Oh, I almost forgot. The Good Morning America weekend crew (anchor and weather anchor) climbed Mt. Washington in the snow last week and filmed it for a feature on the show tomorrow morning (Sunday). I’ve got my DVR set because I’m sure as heck not getting up at 7AM to watch it!</p>
<p>I imagine all the hiking that you did this year probably prepared you well for a lot of shoveling.</p>
<p>I prefer to go out for 30-45 minutes at a time and come back in to warm up. I’ll head back out in about 25 minutes to work on the roof. It’s a good workout for the upper arms and core.</p>
<p>That would be my preference, too. But, here it’s a communal effort with all the neighbors out shovelling until it’s done. I can’t really go back in while the lady next door is still at it. I came in once to grab a refill on my coffee and my iPod. Nothing like some good Parliament funk to put a little zip in the snow shoveling! I am officially wore out now, though.</p>
<p>The weather was pretty good this morning, cool but no rain. I didn’t even need to wear my fleece beanie. I did wear my gloves, though. This 5K was fun, but there were <em>a lot</em> of people and it got congested at points. Still, my time was a PR, and that was without being able to do much of a sprint at the end due to the volume of people. Pace under 10:30. A good start, too. What more could a girl ask for?</p>
<p>mathmom, I’m going to break out the snow shoes tomorrow, I think. Nobody can get their cars out here. We piled mountains of snow in front of all the cars and the plow guy hasn’t been back since 8:30 this morning. So, in effect, we all shovelled ourselves in! That’s OK. I’m toast from shoveling. That is seriously hard work.</p>
I only made it half my distance in a half hour…at half my speed. But I sure burned every bit as much and more!</p>
A good start, too. What more could a girl ask for?</p>![http://cdn.marmot.com/sites/marmot.com/files/imagecache/product_full/product_images/10320_1451.jpg]top[/url](http://cdn.marmot.com/sites/marmot.com/files/imagecache/product_full/product_images/10320_1451.jpg%5Dtop%5B/url){kind=link}
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