<p>I believe that. Other than the fact that it’s cold and windy, the mountain I hiked in the snow was definitely easier than hiking it in the summer. All the rocks are buried so the walking is much easier.</p>
<p>With the snow, I can go hiking again. We had so much melting and freezing that the mountain trails had all turned to glare ice. Now they’ll be packed snow. Probably won’t even need snowshoes by next weekend. I’m thinking of taking advantage of good forecasts to hike a mountain late the week. Something short and sweet. It’s cold to be out in it for 5 hours.</p>
<p>Today’s hike was just rolling terrain. Nothing grueling.</p>
<p>No snacks today. Just a thermos of nice hot coffee that I drank at the halfway mark while standing on the point out in the lake. I also had my water tube from my backpack (what a great invention) My usual hiking snacks are apples and nuts (cashews or almonds). But, it’s too cold for apples in the winter and I’m trying to avoid buying a big container of nuts that I will wolf down. Although, if I go on a longer hike this week, I’ll probably get some almonds.</p>
<p>Here’s the Good Morning America segment this morning on their stroll up Mt Washington. Gotta tip my hat to those ladies. That’s a hard 5 miles and 4000 feet of elevation gain.</p>
<p>5 miles yesterday, 1440 calories, 34% carbs. I have trouble keeping the carbs down on the weekends - need more low carb foods. Did a lot of sleeping yesterday - I hope that I’m not coming down with something. My daughter couldn’t get up yesterday and has been sleeping for about 18 hours now. No fever, aches, pains or respiratory symptoms. Just really, really tired. I noticed that some of my respiratory symptoms have come back.</p>
<p>I’m trying to beat the freezing rain to the office. I may have some more cleanup work to do later today.</p>
<p>Busy weekend; congrats on the good race result, Deborah! Glad everyone survived the snow. Really something to see. Nice walk/run in the park with sabadog Saturday, then went to the gym for a weights circuit and elliptical. 5 miles of walking with sabadog on Sunday. Started some chicken tortilla soup in the crockpot this morning; bought whole wheat tortillas so will make some homemade chips to go along for tonight. </p>
<p>Saturday:<br>
Cals 981
Fat 57 g
Carbs 64 g
Fiber 18 g
Protein 64 g
Sugars 32 g</p>
<p>Sunday:
Cals 943
Fat 47 g
Carbs 77 g
Fiber 17 g
Protein 62 g
Sugars 8 g</p>
<p>This is interesting–I went to my doctor for an unrelated problem and thought I’d ask about having cholesterol blood work done. Everyone should know their numbers, right?? Esp. at age pretty-close-to-60.</p>
<p>He showed me a computer program that illustrates what a low risk for heart attack I have. No family history, low weight, low BP (though it’s slowly rising). He said there is no benefit to knowing my “numbers” and talked me out of it! </p>
<p>He said if I were male it would be different…there is a 12% higher risk for males w/high cholesterol. Females is only 3%. </p>
<p>He’s probably right. Although I would be shocked if he didn’t run a basic blood lipid profile as part of your annual physical. The basic test is part of the standard insurance company annual physical checklist, I think.</p>
<p>If everything is fine, I doubt that the insurance company will pay for additional testing. You have to have a “diagnosis” of a risk factor first. Actually, I’d probably be thankful to find a doctor that didn’t hang his hat on cholesterol numbers, despite the pharma marketing effort to elevated them to the end and and be all.</p>
<p>There is zero evidence that statin cholesterol-lowering drugs do anything for women, so even if he found “high cholesterol” the only thing he could really tell you is lose weight and exercise. The exceptions to this would be some pretty rare genetic disorders – inherited ultra-high cholesterol. But, if that were in your family, you’d have a bunch of relatives who died of heart attacks in their 30s and 40s.</p>
<p>35 min run on treadmill at the gym. There was a young woman there with a personal trainer. They walked warm-up laps around the treadmills and ellipticals. I was happy when she stepped onto a treadmill because I was beginning to feel like an invisible lasso was being tied around me, lol.</p>
<p>He talked me out of the basic blood lipid test. I have no clue what my numbers are. I suspect they are low…but it would be nice to know. I would be receptive to advice to “exercise more” if that were his advice, but based on his treatment of my H (who does have high cholesterol, or did, before the statins) this doctor relies on drugs, not weight loss/exercise.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I’m fine, and anyway, ignorance is bliss! :D</p>
<p>Ignorance is bliss when it comes to over-diagnosed stuff like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. Once that diagnosis goes on your medical record, it’s there to stay.</p>
<p>If you are just curious, you can get your own cholesterol test. The VAP test is a pretty comprehensive cholesterol test (better than the standard versions the docs use) for $79 at the walk-in testing labs that have sprung up to do maternity testing, drug testing for employers, etc.</p>
<p>Interesteddad, we were joking around about broad jumping awhile back. I jumped 6’6" today. I thought that was pretty good. It is a poor jump for a 21 year old, but we are not 21. I think the record for somebody our age is about 9’6".</p>
<p>I was going to get my own blood test today actually, but
I did not want to wait until 10 to get it. Sometime in the future, I want take it.</p>
<p>Completed week 4, day 1 of c25k with the first five minute running segments. Yay, I can do it. Added on some more walking with H for a total of 5.5 miles today. I also added in some squats, pushups, and a few other light arm weight exercises.</p>
I was wondering if you ran today and how it went.</p>