My HR Charge is very finicky. I took it on the trek with me – I took it off every day after hiking was done and kept it off until the next morning, so miraculously it was charged for the entire trip. But it won’t completely sync to my computer. I wrote down the numbers every night, but I was very curious what my heart rate was when I was climbing up those steep slopes.
I should also mention the food on the hike (since this is also a diet and nutrition discussion, too). I don’t know how the chef did it, but he cooked a wide variety of food at camp every meal. There were loads of carbs – potatoes, pasta and rice often served together at one meal. I wasn’t dieting since I needed the energy, but I did try to restrain myself and not eat every carb every night. Every meal started with an appetizer (for example, molded mashed potatoes wrapped around mashed avocado) and soup, and the main course included a huge plate of pasta and/or rice and/or quinoa, a potato dish, a meat dish, mixed vegetables, a “pizza” of either potatoes or vegetables, and bread. The last night he managed to bake a cake. We also took a cooking class while we were there, and the chef told us that Peruvians often serve pasta, rice and potatoes at every meal.
This morning I ran a very very slow 6.2 miles – heat and lack of sleep slowed me down, I’m sure.
Nice trip, Fireandrain. It amazing that your Fitbit stayed charged that long.
Bunsen–hope your hip is feeling better. Good not to have seen the big needle!
Sabaray–I admire how you are progressing in Pilates. It is challenging. I am really going to make an effort to find a class here at vacation place town. Hard to believe but there are 4 places that offer Pilates in the summer. I am not a fan of the mat classes, but maybe that means I need it!
CB3: Cellulitis is gone–shin no longer red. Antibiotic done. Happy it cleared up.
MOWC: Hope you D and SIL enjoy Croatia. It’s a beautiful country. My folks were born there (Split).
Still opening vacation place and lugging furniture outside and cleaning like crazy. Promised H I’d go with him this afternoon to the transfer station (aka dump) which has free mulch and top soil (I keep telling my self all the loading and shoveling is great exercise). Will see if I get active minutes on the Fitbit Charge HR!! I still haven’t really figured out how the Fitbit calculates active minutes.
Signed up for restorative yoga tonight–looking forward to it because it is the teacher who led the yoga retreat I went on in Panama.
Bromfield- so glad the cellulitis is gone. Excellent.
Bromfield, I find mat very challenging. I take a “power” mat class once a week that really pushes me to the limit. I also do a private session and a reformer class during the week to help with the mat class. Using the equipment really helps me understand how the movement should feel and gives me some extra stability to focus on that movement. It has really helped with my flexibility and stability - plus, my core and upper body is really strong now! I love my studio and that just makes a huge difference. My trainer is BASI certified - I’ve taken instruction from trainers experienced in “The Method” (which I understand to be classic Pilates) and Balanced Body - there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the way work is presented, but I’m really glad I found a new studio and stuck with it!
Glad you are better, Bromfield.
I love restorative classes!
Great news, Brimfield. So happy your drug worked. I dread the day when bugs evolve to the point when most antibiotics will be useless. Sadly, antibiotic research is not “sexy” enough to invest in.
Fireandrain, love your trip report, especially the cuisine description. My friend went on a REI hike, and she also reported that the guides made the most amazing camp food she has ever eaten.
Thanks, sabaray. Yup, that’s the kind of stuff I was talking about. The drug mentioned in the article is half a century old… Wash your hands religiously, everyone. And wash your produce. 
That’s a scary article, sabaray.
Glad you’re all healed up Bromfield. Welcome back fireandrain.
On the good news front, my friend who had open heart surgery is recovering well and should be out of the cardiac icu tonight.
And my Sturdy Girls Race a Team training partner took second place in her division in the Volkswagen Masters Nationals road race and won her division in the Criterium event. There will be no living with her now that she is a Nationals Champion :). Tomorrow, she is racing the Time Trial on a brand new TT bike she bought that’s fast just standing still. Keeping my fingers crossed for her. The only problem with all her successes is that now she will have the creds to insist that I be her domestique and pull her up all the hills. But come to think of it, she was doing that anyway.
Michael, good to hear about your friend. Speedy recovery!
Well, I repeated the experiment: vacuuming the entire house only gets me 200 or so Fitbit steps! Life is so unfair. Vacuuming is stupid. Hip is hanging in there.
That’s good news, Michael!
Glad the hip is hanging in there, Bunsen. Vacuuming IS stupid. I let my husband do it.
I guess you can have shoes made by robots or, according to some folks, enslaved children in 3rd world countries!
Wore my Altra Paradigms for a couple of miles on the dreadmill tonight. I really like them and don’t know why I don’t reach for them more often.
Glad to hear about your hip Bunsen!
It is an interesting concept - almost like JIT on-demand production closer to where the buyers are. A factory is planned in the US and in the UK, too. Nike is going to open its own robotic shoe factory, too, I assume, in the US to minimize shipping and delays.
I threw out my very first pair of Hokas, finally, with a bagfull of other crap. Have been using them as garden shoes, but they became too ugly even for the garden. It pains me to have to replace shoes with almost perfect uppers… so I retire them to the garage.
If anyone needs a new pair, REI has 20% off of one regular and one discounted item - that applies to shoes, too.
The corticosteroid that was injected is a slow release formulation (rats, I forgot to ask what kind!), so typically it takes a few days for it to start working, and then it would work for a few weeks. I was told that the first two days could be bad because of the muscles trying to repair the needle “channel”'and because the drug could precipitate - no issues so far. Day 7-10 should be indicative of whether the hip joint is the culprit or whether the pain is radiating from somewhere else, like the spine (goodness, hope not!), because according to the doc, a lot of hip pain cases are not hip related. One good thing about electronic medical records is that the doc could pull up my old images done for other purposes, like the infamous CT scan I had for a kidney abscess, and compare them with the new stuff. Very, very cool to be able to see my guts 
Another beautiful track night. 8x400s @75.
Thinking of getting some Hokas. Has anyone purchased any of the Hoka trail shoes. I’m thinking if I do any LD it will be on trails or crushed limestone paths. Is the Hoka trail a better choice for an all around shoe vs the Hoka road shoes?
The Hoka Stinson works well for road and trail. People I know who do long trail ultras like the trail shoes, but they are pretty clunky. Look at the reviews o. Roadrunnersports and Holabird and see what you think.
I guess I’m technically a pronator. Is the Stinson still a good choice?
Another question! I see a lot of women’s size Stinson’s at a much lower price than the men’s. Are women’s running shoe sizes different then men? I’m guessing the construction isn’t that much of a difference vs. the men’s? I know I won’t be buying Fuschia Pink.