28 September 2019

This is my new obsession...closing all the activity rings on my watch. There's one for burning a certain number of exercise calories, one for exercise minutes, and one for...standing up.

Yeah, I dunno about that one. It wants me to get up 12 times a day and walk for a grand total of one minute. I mean, I get why, but the reminder always comes when I'm eyeballs deep into something, usually work, and I get all twitchy if I don't do it.

Getting the exercise calories burned has been no issue. One 45 minute bike ride, and I'm there.

But the frustrating one is the exercise minutes. That 45 minute bike ride only gets me 15-16 exercise minutes. Today I mowed the lawn (twice, because it was long enough that it looked stupid until I redid it) in a one hour time frame, and it credited me with 6 whole minutes.

The only thing that seems to give me minute-for-minute is getting on an indoor cycle. Last night and tonight I hopped on my Flex bike for 30 minutes, and racked up 30 minutes for the effort...which was, honestly, less effort than a regular bike ride or even mowing the lawn.

But I closed those damned rings.

Okay, I have not closed the Stand ring yet today. One more time and I'll have nailed that sucker.

I was on the fence for a long time about getting this watch, but I have to admit, it has definitely been motivating. I'm a get-a-streak-going kind of person (1633 days on MyFitnessPal, woohoo!) and I can see myself trying to build on one. One week will lead to one month which will lead to two, then six, then FORKIT I'M GOING FOR A YEAR.

Yeah, I dunno about that, but it'll sure as hell be in the back of my head.

And yay for roomy baskets.

I stopped at the UPS store, expecting two smallish padded envelopes, but there was a surprise box.

This is why I wanted a grocery-hauler type bike. It's heavy and slow, but it's fun and I can shop without having to drive.

Which is good, because the check engine light in my car is on, and I'm not driving it until it gets checked out.

I'm a weenie.

I don't remember where I stumbled upon this image--probably Reddit--but I saved it and shared it because it's so freaking true.

You know when riding became my joy?

When I stopped thinking of it as a workout. As exercise that I had to do in order to eat the food that I really enjoyed. I found something that was FUN, and it's something I can do without a lot of pain, and why the hell should it be anything other than play?

Remember being a kid and going outside to play, which often meant riding your bike?

That's what it should be.

I refuse to feel guilty for my weekly OMG PIZZA cravings. I refuse to use what should be fun as a punishment for indulging in it.


Find the thing you really like and just go outside and play. Or go inside and play. Sure, watch what you eat and drink, make sure you move every day, but dammit, PLAY.

Except dodgeball. Only sick farks like dodgeball ;)

26 September 2019

Okay. I got all excited about doing the 3 Day this year, but now I am not as excited, because there's a good chance I won't be able to go. And we can thank my farked up body for it.

As expected, I got the maybe-you-shouldn't-participate email. Last time, my doc shrugged it off and said I was smart enough to figure it out, and since the Spouse Thingy was walking with me, it was fine.

This time...aside from the fact that he's not walking with me this year, because Things came up and he couldn't ask for that time off, my medical situation has changed. Participating in the walk no longer entails just managing diabetes insipidus and all the electrolyte issues that go with it when you're sweating like a mofo and probably not drinking as much as is ideal, and it no longer just entails dealing with chronic pain.

It now deals with managing those things alongside stage 3 kidney disease.

Walking 60 miles, even when parsed over three days, requires sucking down a lot of sodium, a lot of water, and trying to balance them. I don't always get it right (Atlanta 2011, anyone? Or San Diego 2014? And maybe even 2015, but they kinda blur together now.) Nearly everything offered is necessarily salt-laden, and they push sports drinks--half of what you drink is, ideally water but the other half is Gatorade--and pounding all that down and not getting my hydration right is a recipe for disaster.

Whatever is going on with my kidneys isn't making things easier.

I'm sure there will be SOME painkillers there...

I can no longer take NSAIDS. When you have chronic pain, those are damn near necessary on a 3 Day.

I'm still waiting to hear back from my doc. The 3 Day is like, "Well, you might want to rethink it, but we won't ban you." Which I appreciate; they're looking out for their own liability, and it's a subtle way of telling me that if I participate, it's my own damned fault if something happens. But I'm gonna be honest: if my endocrinologist says no, even though she can't stop me, I won't go.

I'd like to keep my kidneys.

So I'm suspending my fundraising until I know, and hopefully I'll know soon. But I needed to put this out there, since quite a few of you have already donated.

If I don't walk, I will ride.

You'll still get 60 miles out of me, but it'll be on the bike, where I can control the environment, and it'll be on a couple of days where the Spouse Thingy can function as my sweep. He can follow, enforce breaks, enforce food, and keep me from doing something stupid.

If my doc says yes, I'll wind up doing a last-minute fundraising push. And she might say yes with caveats: limited miles, limited number of hours at a time, and I'll do what she says.

This cause matters to me, but staying healthy matters more.

But cross your fingers for yes.