Tag Archives: health and wellness

Giving myself a break

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I haven’t worked out in a week. Yes, I’m on holidays. Yes, I give myself some slack on holidays and don’t expect to work out as often as I usually do… but I haven’t missed 3 days in a row in years and years, and so this is very unusual for me.

That said, I’m not going to beat myself up about taking this break. I’ll get a couple workouts in over the next week, and I’ll be back on track next week when I’m home. I think a lot about habits, I like maintaining streaks, and I am usually really hard on myself when I miss two days, much less a full seven.

So what’s different now? I think it’s knowing that this break won’t change what I do going forward. I have the confidence that not only will I get back to my routine, I also won’t make this a habit on holidays either. This has been an anomaly, not a new pattern. Knowing this allows me to be kinder to myself than I normally am. I’d say that has to be one of the first real benefits of retirement that I’ve noticed. Feels good.

Weighing on me

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It has been almost 6 weeks since I did the Everest the Crunch challenge. I was about 3-4 pounds lighter than my regular weight when I started it and I lost almost 7 pounds over the 2 days. I also lost my appetite during that time. Other than overall fatigue, getting food into me at the top of the crunch was the hardest part of the event. And I haven’t regained my appetite since.

Then I went on an 8 day hike of the West Coast Trail, and I can tell that the past 6 weeks have taken a bit of a toll on my body. I’m the lightest weight I’ve been in over 4 years. I recently took a body scan at my gym and my body fat percentage was 11%. I’ll note that this was after a workout, which tends to lower the result, but quite frankly that’s too low.

If I was a high performance athlete training for an event, that would be great, but walking around day-to-day at under 15% isn’t really ideal in my eyes… and being about 10 pounds lighter than my usual weight is not where I want to be. But I’m also not walking around hungry or feeling exhausted, so while this isn’t ideal, I also don’t think this is detrimental.

That said, my goal starting retirement was to bulk and add 10 pounds and instead I went completely the other way. I’m not going to lie, that’s weighing on me. It tells me that if I’m not in the gym 5-6 days a week, my body wants to drop weight. And now I’m heading out on a 3+ week holiday where I’m not going to have access to a gym for most of it, and I’m going to be eating out a lot. I want to add weight, but not burger and fries kinda weight.

My goal over this holiday is to not miss a meal, make healthy choices, and not think about stepping on a scale until I return. I’ll reevaluate my goals in November when I’ll finally have time to establish a retirement routine. Until then I just need to let go of where I am and where I want to be with regard to my weight.

*Note: I feel like a bit of an ass talking about accidentally losing 10 pounds when I know many people struggle to lose weight, but I’ve been there too. I was 20 pounds heavier than I am now and it took me 2.5 years to get to my current weight and another 4.5 to add 10 (desired) pounds. My experience has been that adding muscle is as hard or harder to do than losing fat, and watching myself lose 4.5 years of hard work is very discouraging. We are all on our own health journeys, I hope sharing mine doesn’t create unnecessary compressions in anyone else’s mind.

If it hurts…

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I had sciatic pain from about December to March. It got bad enough that my doctor requested a pain specialist appointment for me, and I had it yesterday. Despite the fact that I’m no longer in pain, I kept the appointment so that I can learn more about my disc issues and maybe figure out some preventative measures to ensure I don’t end up in 4 months of pain again.

Have you ever seen that joke where a patient is talking to a doctor and says, “Doctor, when I poke right here, it hurts.” And the doctor replies, “Well then don’t poke there.” That’s essentially the advice I got.

The specialist said that I’m getting old, (it wasn’t intended as an insult, he told me we are the same age), and that the wear-and-tear that my back shows is typical for active people my age. He then said that of course I should stay active and keep doing what I’m doing. Then came the punchline: “If you do something and it hurts, then stop doing it.”

That’s what I waited months to hear. He told me that he used to do a lot of running until he had a knee replaced and now he walks. I asked him if I should stop using a weighted vest to workout, something I was doing before the pain, but haven’t tried since. His response you can guess, “Try it. If it hurts, stop.”

“But if it hurts, the pain might come back for a while.”

“Oh yeah, it could be two to three months.”

It ended with him joking that he could write me a note to give to my wife to get out of doing dishes for a while. I wasn’t amused.

I don’t know exactly what I was looking for, but it wasn’t this. I suppose I’ll just keep doing my physio exercises, keep going to the gym, and if something hurts, I guess I just stop doing that thing.

Recovery time

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I’m so frustrated dealing with injury recovery. I feel like I’m living my life in recovery mode.

Sciatic pain: 4 months of limited cardio, stopped my weekend walks for 5 weeks, and while now pain free, I am still coming back slowly so as not to trigger it again.

Golfer’s elbow: Ongoing. It reminds my that it’s still there every few days.

Teris major (the muscle behind the deltoid on my right shoulder): No idea how I injured it, but it stops me from getting a good night’s sleep, and has forced me to take it easy on all kinds of exercises to avoid pain.

My buddy is coaching me on keeping the weights I do down and focusing on good technique. I’m actually listening rather than being a stubborn fool who just pushes through pain like I’ve done for decades. But, dang, this is mentally tougher than actually pushing myself.

I’ve spent my athletic life being the underdog. I was the smallest kid being picked last on teams until Grade 10. Playing water polo and having the most inefficient swim stroke made me one of the slowest players in the pool… who had to work harder than anyone, with less rest, on every swim set.

I got accustomed to pushing hard to compensate for my shortcomings. What I lacked in talent I made up for with heart and effort. I learned how to push myself… hard! And now I know that this is not the way forward. Now I have to be smarter than to push through pain and injury. I need to be ok with showing up and doing the work that will protect me from future injuries rather than bring them on.

It’s so much easier to say than to do.

If I’m honest, this sucks. A few days ago I mentioned that I’d like to go one week injury free, I concluded in that post,

I’m reminded of the quote, ‘Choose your hard.’

When I’m sedentary my back aches. When I’m working out, different muscles choose to ache. Well, I guess I just have to choose my ache. Yet I’m actually not joking when I say, when I beg, can I please get one week ache free, just to know what that’s like.”

Being constantly in recovery mode is not the kind of hard I want, but it’s the kind of hard I have to face right now. Progress currently isn’t getting better or stronger, it’s not losing ground while I let my body heal. The trick is not to injure anything else in the process.

…and rest!

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The one area of my life that most needs fixing is sleep. While I don’t dwell on the numbers, (that would stress me out), my Garmin watch averages my score at 48/100 over the last 4 weeks. That is by no means something to be proud of, especially when half of that time was when I was on holidays.

I have a few strategies in mind to improve this, but I’m also keenly aware that worrying about my score is not a way to improve it. Still, if there is an area of my life that I know can improve my health and longevity, better sleep is probably my highest priority.

Another related area is rest between workouts. My discipline and dedication to fitness has not necessarily been all positive. After all, it was extended rest (with accompanying massages and physiotherapy) that finally rid me of months of sciatic pain down my leg. Then I came fully back into working out and today I could feel my pecs, my lats, my triceps, my quads, and my hamstrings, which are all a little sore. Yes, it’s a good kind of ‘I worked these muscles well’ sore, but that’s a lot to feel all at once. So today I rest.

After writing this, and before bed, I’ll meditate and stretch. I need to remember that giving my muscles a rest is as important as giving both body and mind a rest during sleep. It doesn’t matter if I’m working different muscle groups on different days, I still need to put full gaps in between workout days.

I thought I was being smart, not yet going back to weekly sprints to work on my Max VO2, and giving my legs and back a little longer to recover. This week I was also working with slightly lighter weights, not getting near my maximum weight on any sets. But my body still told me that I’d done more than enough. That said, 6 months ago I would have made this a cardio day instead of a full rest day. Maybe I’m learning.

Maybe I’ll go beyond listening a little more closely to my body, giving it needed rest when it tells me. Maybe I’ll integrate rest as a regular part of my routine. Thats my new plan. It starts today with a stretch and meditation to end a very mellow and exercise-less day.

Persistent and annoying

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Three Sundays ago, at the start of the March break, I felt a cough coming on. The timing was awful since I was hopping on a plane to visit my mom & sister the next day. I spent 10 days away and had the cough the entire time. I’ve been home for 5 nights now and the cough still persists. The good news is that I did see my doctor and it’s not in my lungs. The bad news is that I coughed a lot last night and this isn’t going away.

There are a couple things that I find extremely frustrating. First, I’ve really been taking care of myself, and yet I still catch this annoying cough. My stress at work has been low, I exercise and eat well, and I supplement with vitamins and minerals. I understand that you can be healthy and still get a cough or cold, but I don’t usually have them hold on for so long.

The other frustrating thing is that I’ve been dealing with sciatic pain in my leg since December. It was finally receding a couple days before this cough hit me, and is completely gone now. Don’t get me wrong, this is great news after months of annoying pain that altered my everyday living. The annoying part is that I’m finally pain free, and I’ve coughed every day since.

I feel like I haven’t had a healthy day yet this year… and it’s already April tomorrow! I’m trying to stay positive, but I’m tired of this. Tired of sleeping poorly, tired of coughing fits, tired of throat lozenges kept stuck in my cheek, tired of people looking at me like I’m going to get them sick. Feeling unhealthy has been both persistent and annoying, and I’m really looking forward to feeling healthy again.

Decompression time

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First day back from my holiday started great. Woke up, met my buddy and went to the gym for the first time in 12 days. Had a great workout then he treated me to breakfast at his place. Then I had a couple appointments. I met my new doctor for the first time (my previous one is retiring), and I had a physio appointment.

And that made for a full day. Besides that I had a very long nap, and listened to my book. I then watched a bit of tv with my wife. All-in-all a great day. What really made it feel good was just having the time to flake out after a busy morning. No agenda, nothing pressing, no hurry, no worries. Just a good dose of decompression time.

Tomorrow I’ll do the Coquitlam Crunch walk after taking a month off. I hadn’t missed a month since my buddy and I started doing this in January 2021. But my lower back/discs has settled down and I’m not getting any nerve pain down my leg anymore. I’ve done a few completely painless walks, including one that had a bit of a climb during my holiday and so I think I’m ready, and my physio thinks so too.

It wasn’t just today that was about decompression time, it had been almost two weeks of it, and I’m feeling really good. It’s taken me 58 years to figure it out, but a little down time isn’t just good for the mind, it’s good for the body too.

Understanding my limits

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I’m dealing with a form of sciatica down my leg that is triggered from standing up. I spent the majority of my adult life avoiding sitting, and now it’s sitting that gives me relief. I’m also dealing with golfer’s elbow, which is easy to aggravate in the gym, but doesn’t usually bother me in my day-to-day activities.

I know the golfer’s elbow has lingered because I use it a bit too much in my workouts and I don’t always stop when it bugs me… in other words, I don’t really know my limits for what I can do with my elbow, until I do too much.

My leg is keeping me humble. I’m really being careful and that’s because I’m tired of this pain lingering. I’ve stopped walking on the treadmill and I ride a low seated stationary bike for my cardio, I am avoiding leg exercises for now, and I’m choosing to sit every chance I get. And of course I’m actually doing the physio exercises I’ve been given… every day!

Still, I’ve now gone to a doctor and I have painkillers to help me reduce the leg pain. My challenge now is to still understand my limits and not try to do too much just because the pain isn’t as bad. It’s hard to do this, despite the fact that I need to be smart and patient. I’m just stubborn, and always feel like limits need to be pushed all the time. I need to remember that there is only a small gap between stubborn and stupid.

More rest

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I’m going to physiotherapy. I’m going to massage therapy. I’m doing my stretches and exercises. And I’m still dealing with leg pain that gets triggered from standing. Until a week ago I could just sit for 5 minutes and the pain would fade. I could walk on the treadmill or up/downhill, and even run, and felt no pain… but after 3-5 minutes standing in the shower, shaving & brushing my teeth, or making food, the pain returned.

For the last week and a half, the pain has crept into activities where I’m mobile and moving, and then has been slow to subside, even when I sit.

So, I’ll keep doing my stretches, keep going to physio and massage, and even seek more medical help. What I’m also going to do is give my legs more rest. I’ve been pushing hard, I’ve seen amazing gains… but my body is telling me that it needs a break. I’m going to go easy on my legs, and give this issue some time to heal.

Maintaining balance

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I’ve written about finding balance many times before, and I think that in our busy lives finding balance of time is one of the most challenging things to figure out. Between work, family, leisure, and health, there is never enough time in the day. Today, I’m thinking about a different kind of balance, physical balance.

A few weeks ago on one of my Coquitlam Crunch walks I slipped on a small icy section. It was careless because it was my second trip past this area, and I had noticed the ice the first time, then walked right through that section blissfully unaware the second time. I took most of the fall on my hand, my wrist was a bit swollen and very sore for a couple days, and only recently I haven’t noticed it at all. I was lucky not to have broken my wrist.

As we get older, falls become one of the biggest threats to our wellbeing. I have to wonder if I was 15 years younger, would that ice have caused me to fall, or would I have been able to regain my balance? Also, would my situational awareness have been sharper, since I should have already been aware that section was slippery?

Either way, I fell, and had the potential to do a lot more damage than I did. A few months ago I was regularly working on my balance. One thing I was doing was balancing on one leg with my eyes closed. I was getting better at it and then asked both my daughters to try and they had no issues doing it longer than I could. This is something that definitely decreases with age, and I want to add improving my balance back to my stretching routine.

My dad passed away at 79. At that time he was already shuffling around, unable to go up or down stairs without holding the rail and going one step at a time. My in-laws are in their 90’s and were far more mobile than my dad was at 79, but I can also see their struggles with balance now.

Physical balance is so critical to a healthy lifespan, and it’s something that is easy to take for granted until you no longer have it. And falls can be a quick way to hinder how well you can balance in the future, or at the very least they can disrupt your healthy routines with an injury. Yes, strength trading helps a lot, as does cardio training… but I think exercising specifically to maintain balance is something I need to pay a bit more attention to.