The Fit Nation

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https://ift.tt/q0yBR7K Karen has recovered well enough that I felt comfortable leaving her for a few hours and going on a group ride. Also, she is back to driving so I new she wouldn’t be getting cabin fever in the house while I was gone. I took my e-bike in case she did have to contact me so I could get home quicker in a pinch. It was great to be back with my Tuesday group. We did a bit over 30 miles with a decent amount of climbing. It was a nice day, not too hot until near the end of the ride. Dropping Into Paradise Valley Climbing The Hill to Uvas Reservoir Rest Stop At Uvas Reservoir Parking Lot . The Reservoir is still pretty full for this late in the dry season.

https://ift.tt/1VMRg4H Yesterday I went on my first longer ride in a couple of weeks. Karen is getting better so I feel confident in leaving her for longer times as long as she can reach me on my phone if needed. I had a very nice outing out and back on the Coyote Creek Trail at a brisk but comfortable pace. The trail was busier than it’s usually been lately probably because it was a cooler day. The goats are back doing their grass grooming job

https://ift.tt/V8eGlXT This is the title of an inspiring book I recently read by Joe Stumpf. http://www.Amazon.com/books Joe, who was 54 at the time, was the oldest man to successfully get through the legendary Kokoru training put on by retired Navy Seal Mark Divine and his Sealfit organization. This training simulates some of the hardest parts of “hell week” at Navy Seal’s Bud/S training . Sealfit and Kokuru help prepare candidates who want to go through Bud/S, but it can also be undergone by civilians who want to give themselves a major challenge. Joe was very successful in business (training real estate agents), and wealthy with a nice house in a beautiful area. But while he enjoyed this superficial success, he was feeling unfulfilled, and the book is the story of how he turned that around and found meaning in his life by going through the Sealfit academy, a rigorous 3-week training program, then the mind-boggling 50-hour challenge that is Kokoru training (Kokuru means “hear...

https://ift.tt/T5d3pJZ That is certainly an eye-catching title for inspiration for healthy aging! This is from the book Climbing Trees at 112: Real Life Inspirations for the Over 65s , by  Vernon Coleman. http://www.Amazon.com/books The book is full of stories of people (famous and not-famous) who did inspiring things after the age of 65, ranging all the way to the cover story of a 112-year-old man. It’s just a little 63-page book but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It helped pass the time while my wife was in the hospital.

https://ift.tt/1asR6AL My caregiving duties have meant I squeeze in rides whenever I can and stay relatively local so I’m not far away if Karen needs something. Yesterday I was able to sneak away for an hour while she was napping, and it was very relaxing and enjoyable. Views of the East-side foothills on the way to San Martin One of my alpaca buddies at a ranch in San Martin Another Alpaca in a different pen. I don’t know why they are separated. Maybe they might bicker?

https://ift.tt/b8Zi6jV https://peterattiamd.com/hydration-in-the-elderly/ Peter Attia’s blog recently had an interesting article on the importance of hydrating well as we age. Research shows our thirst response becomes less reliable and we may not automatically drink enough based on thirst alone. So it is important to remember to hydrate more often. There is an opposite problem called hyponatremia , however, which can occur in people who drink a lot of fluid and also sweat a lot, but do not take in enough sodium. So it’s also important to watch your sodium intake, especially when exercising in the heat. This was first discovered by Professor Tim Noakes (reference here ). It especially became a problem as more amateur athletes were doing events like marathons. This can make people sweat for several hours. Guidelines at the time were to drink on a schedule even when not thirsty, but adequate sodium intake was not emphasized enough. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/sports/2019/11/...

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https://ift.tt/DEPywJh Over the past 12 years or so My wonderful wife Karen has had occasion to be my caregiver while I was bouncing back from multiple surgeries and illnesses, including hip replacements, heart valve replacement, rotator cuff surgery, and an inner ear problem. From last Wednesday on I unexpectedly had the opportunity to pay her back. She has been having some orthopedic issues, it appears she has radiculopathy which irritates nerves where they are exiting the spine, both in the lumbar and cervical regions. This was causing her pain in her right arm and leg. She got referred to PT for this, which helped a lot. But her GP also prescribed a fairly strong anti-inflammatory. As another piece of background, she is on a high dose (80 mg) of atorvastatin (generic for Lipitor), and has been for about 20 years because her cholesterol had gone quite high. Her GP back then suspected she had familial hypercholesterolemia, That dose has been controlling her cholesterol well so she’...

https://ift.tt/6OyWVbc http://www.restore353therapies.com/blog/mindful-running A review article in healthnews covered the typical health benefits that have been seen for everyone who practices mindfulness. It also discussed ways in which it specifically contributes to athletic performance. There are good references to some scientific studies supporting this: General Benefits: Current Sports Medicine Reports.  Mindfulness in Athletes. Benefits for Athletes: NIH News In Health.  Mindfulness for Your Health. I know from personal experience how it helps performance in endurance sports. People deal with the discomfort of performing endurance activities in two ways: associative and dissociative thinking (see here for a review of this for running). Associative thinking is about the activity itself. Dissociative is thinking about something else to distract you from the activity. Research has shown that associative leads to better performance. That has been my personal ...

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https://ift.tt/8o3g5q9 https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/06/mindfulness-your-health I found these on newstracklive . There is also a good summary there in addition to the quotes, of meditation, mindfulness, and their benefits, including findings from neuroscience. “The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.” – Thich Nhat Hanh “Meditation is the journey from sound to silence, from movement to stillness, from a limited identity to unlimited space.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar “The real meditation is how you live your life.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn “Be where you are; otherwise, you will miss your life.” – Buddha “Mindfulness is the awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn “Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse “Don’t let the past steal your present.” – Terri Guillemets “Be present in all things and thankful f...

https://ift.tt/Sdun9CU I just read the biography of the Stoltman brothers, Luke and Tim, two big strong men from the small town of Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands. I have been a fan of strongman (and strongwoman) competitions, the most famous of which is World’s Strongest Man, for decades. Events like this showcase the incredible strength and agility of these athletes. I was delighted when the Stoltman brothers burst on the scene a few years ago, adding their personalities to this fun cast of characters. Older brother Luke has since won Europe’s Strongest Man and made it to the finals of World’s Strongest Man several times, while Tom has so far won World’s Strongest Man twice. What I did not know is that Tom overcame Autism to achieve what he has, with help from Luke and other members of his family. The brothers also lost their beloved mother in 2016. This is a moving story of overcoming adversity and lifting each other up.

https://ift.tt/ZREkpVF It’s been pretty hot here the past few weeks but yesterday our natural air conditioner turned back on and the high was a pleasant 76 F (24.4 C). That’s because we had fog in the morning from the marine layer moving in off the Pacific. Even after it burns off this keeps the temperature from getting too high. I had a cool, foggy, and enjoyable morning ride, and the fog was just lifting at the end. This was an easy-paced ride as I had gone for a longer and harder ride with my group on Tuesday. El Toro is now visible as the fog is lifting.