[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Kelt

NYCfem, if your resting HR is 120, go to a hospital!

Jeez, mine is was 61 this morning, 64 now. I think “normal” is somewhere around 50/70.

Will your new Fitbit do elevation so you can see how many flights you do on this new job?

Gemme, the regular pedometers work great, it’s only been recently that I’ve used this other stuff just because I have it. My Grandfather had a mechanical one that clipped onto the arch inside of his shoe and had a lever that had to just barely clear the ground so that stepping down on it would count a step. I used the kind you are talking about and even put my mother on one. No real need for all these other bells and whistles for a data set.

You can walk three strides normally and take the average, do that three times, average again and use your stride length to determine mileage if you’re interested in that.

Your job is a good one for staying in shape, but I know you’ve gotten satisfaction from the gym before. Try a few sessions and see if it sparks back up for you.

My check in says yesterday for the day was 21918 steps, 8.7mi with the beach portion taking 3hr. Today for the day so far is 18631 steps, 7.3 mi, with the beach at 2h45m. I ran out of day, the sun set!

With all the resting HR talk, I turned to my friend, Google. She says:

The normal resting heart rate for adults over the age of 10 years, including older adults, is between 60 and 100 beats per minute (bpm). Highly trained athletes may have a resting heart rate below 60 bpm, sometimes reaching 40 bpm. The resting heart rate can vary within this normal range.

They suggest to check it after waking while you are still in bed but it's too late for me to do that since I've been up before the sun but I got a count of 77 and that's with me sitting quietly in a chair and being as out of shape as I ever have been. Normally, it's much lower.

Counting strides on my own wouldn't work. I'd lose count and sometimes I have to walk next to very tall and/or long-legged people so 2.5 of my strides is one to theirs and I have to change my gait to keep up with those folks.

I'll see if this ugly pink thing works and, if not, will just go grab something easy from the Mart of Wally.

Well, I went! I hated it for most of the time but I went. I got up about a quarter after 5, said hi to the babies, had a banana (I remembered to buy some yesterday!) and off I went. It was busier than I expected but weekdays usually are.

There are 3 regular ellipticals and that's my jam since it works the whole body and I can really control how much I stress my body. I want to ease back into things. It's been 4-5 MONTHS since I regularly went. These old bones need some loving to get moving!

So, only one was available when I arrived and it was in the middle. Two older gentlemen were on the others. The guy on the right side of me, no problem. The guy on the left, problem. Big problem for me. He was a breather. You know, one of those folks that exhales really forcefully. I hate that sound. It's not Lamaze, buddy, and you're not in labor. Tone it down! He stayed for 2/3 of my workout and half of that time was me staring holes into his reflection in the glass in front of us. He also coughed a lot and basically spewed his saliva and germs all over the piece of equipment. This is why I wipe down the machine BEFORE I get on it as well as when I get off of it. You never know who's been distributing their DNA and germies all over everything.

One thing that helped me not completely lose my mind was that a younger woman came in and took the treadmill catty corner to my left and on the other side of the heavy breather. She appeared fit but when she started running, she stomped on that belt like she was a Clydsedale. I felt better about myself because I do the SAME THING. I am not light-footed by any imagination so it was nice to see/hear someone much smaller and fitter than I sounded the same as me. Win! Also, I noticed a slight unconscious upping of my effort once she started running. I can be competitive in the gym if I'm not careful but I let it go to see where it would take me and, happily, it wasn't too bad. I just found myself moving a little faster and falling in time with her foot strokes, like a bass drum. Win win!

So, obvs I made it to the gym and I was glad...at the end...to have done so but it wasn't easy making it through. The last 10 minutes were the best because I didn't have Igor on my left and by then a handsome fellow had saddled up on my right so there was straight eye candy as well. I'm a sucker for dark hair and light eyes.

I could have been his mother.



So, as we all know, machines are only as good as their last calibration and I think the machine last time was a little loosey goosey with the caloric burn but I felt that I really and truly earned the count on today's elliptical so I'm very happy with the turn of events in the end.

All in all, it said I murdered 275 calories, sashayed my way 1.88 miles through the Yosemite Valley and it only took me 35 minutes to do so.