11-14-14

Good fitness week. Lunch  runs on monday and wednesday, yoga tuesday and thursday. The run days were nice fall days, temp in the 50s with pleasant sunshine. Times were 42 minutes on monday with a partner and 38 on wednesday, solo. Didn't push hard either day, just enjoyed being out.
The yoga days were equally good. Tuesday was marred slightly by an audible fart that no one in the room acknowledged, at least to my face. Nevertheless, I felt good and believe my general flexibility and balance to be significantly improved over the past year. Thursday was similarly positive and I noticed that instead of wishing the difficult poses could be over, I am enjoying them in the moment. Big change from the early days where I hung in more out of duty than enjoyment. It can be addictive and I think I am hooked.

11-2-14

Sunday hike on the Oak and Mountain Loop  trails of Nescopeck State Park in PA. Just shy of 6 miles. Walk the Oak trail to the loop, circle the loop and take Oak back to the car. The first Oak leg is steeply downhill. First leg of the loop is fairly flat but then it runs into a long steep uphill that comprises about 7 steep sections with less steep breathcatchers in between. After reaching the summit of Nescopeck Mtn, the trail goes downhill and intersects the Oak again for the climb out. I was up for a demanding hike since I have had a tough time sticking to the workout schedule lately. The hike didn't disappoint. It was in the 30s, gray and windy, an appealing kind of threatening. The hills coaxed out a good sweat and my lungs got the work they needed. Downside: between Tate and me we picked of about 15 ticks. Think we got them all.

Maybe a stretch to call it a fitness issue, but...

Prostate. That it manufactures semen is a good thing, but the fact that 50% of men over 50 and an increasing percentage each decade suffer from BPH (enlarged prostate) is not. Getting up 4 or 5 times a night to pee and suffering the embarrassment of a urinary blitzkrieg (either whip it out or piss your pants) is tough. They say that if nothing else kills you, prostate cancer will. But BPH can steal a lot of a man's enthusiasm for living before merciful death.

So I have it. I have tried cranberry juice, cider vinegar, low fat diet, saw palmetto, to no avail. Recently on a 14 hour flight from Tokyo I must have hit the plane's head once an hour. They get disgusting  on a long flight in any case, but I didn't need to experience it that frequently.

Driven by desperation, I dug deeper for a solution and found Pygeum. An extract from an African tree called African plum or Stinkwood. Not finding it at the local pharmacy, but Amazon has it. It works. I am sleeping several hours between bladder fillings, no emergencies. I mean I can't pee in a straight line again, but I am comfortable and functional.

I don't know if this fits the MO of this blog or not. But damn, I had to say something. Good discipline, respect for your body and determination can positively impact your health and fitness, but something you can't control can undermine it all. Pygeum is helping me and complementing my  fitness regimen. Thank you Jesus and Amazon.com.

10-14-14

Home from Singapore for 12 days and finally slept through the night for the first time last night. Talk about having your system screwed up. Feeling damn good today though. First week back made yoga twice. Took out the kinks from the long flights. Over the weekend managed a five mile walk with the bride on Sunday looking for photo ops of fall colors. 200 photos later, she is happy and has a "100 like" presentation on Facebook. That seems to be some sort of milestone and measure of human value. Did the 3 mile lunch loop on monday with my work group and a solid yoga session today. All in all, I think I am holding my fitness level. Anything but decline...

10/5/2014

Breaking wood.  5.5 hours of splitting and stacking firewood.  Some rounds were 24" in diameter.  Rather like lifting Atlas stones.  I'm good with it.  Though I am looking forward to the Mancub coming home for Fall break next weekend.  I hope he helps the "old guy."  

10/1/2014

I have been in Singapore all week. After a 30 hour fly and drive ordeal to get here, I have managed to get to the gym 3 times this week. Each workout was 30 minutes on the treadmill at 5% grade and 7 km per hour speed (yes, metric system here), followed by air squats, bicycles, pushups and curls. I haven't slept very well and the workouts got my engine going in the morning, although probably caused a fade in the pm. In general, I'm satisfied with what could have been a very sluggish week. Heading to the airport at 4 am for another marathon trip home. Anticipation...