more thoughts about my health

This past weekend I spent some time with my dear friend Dana.  As usual, we found a lot of things to talk about and I didn't get home until pretty late.

One of the topics was about (my) health.  We talked about an attempt we made a couple years ago for our group to become more health conscious.  This was called Healthy Pigs, because it was during the Year of the Pig.  The group met approximately once a month, pot luck style, and everyone was supposed to bring a healthy dish, or a healthier version of dishes we always had.  For instance, Lawrence made a version of his almond jello with lower calorie ingredients.  We each set goals-- mine was to lose 20 lbs. for the year, which I actually achieved.

Unfortunately, not everyone took their goals seriously, and although the dishes individually were healthier, the quantities were too much.  The meetings became less frequent, and within a couple of months in the next cycle (now renamed The Rats That Roared, in honor of The Year of the Rat), we gave up.  And I quickly regained the 20 lbs. and more.

We've started talking about resurrecting this effort in some form.  Let's see how it goes.

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The biggest problem I have with plain old exercising is that it's boring.  Although I may be able to coax myself into going to a gym, the repetition is mind-numbing.  If the accomplishment is measured by the number of repetitions, I will quickly lose interest.  I admire the folks who can read magazines while on the exercise equipment-- although I'm reasonably coordinated, my reading comprehension would be pretty low while I'm pedalling away.

So, having said that, last week I started going to Sun's fitness center again, twice a week for now.  Elliptical, I'm only good for 15 minutes.  I can probably go a little longer, but I don't want to go too hard just starting out.  The bigger problem is I'm having trouble regulating my heart rate.  At my age, the workout max is ~145bpm, but mine has gone to ~165 for minutes at a time.  (My resting heart rate is actually pretty good, in the low 60s.)

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The reason I like participating in sports like tennis and volleyball is that it's interactive and somewhat unpredictable.  Even if you don't have the same amount of ability, you still have a chance if you can out-think and out-wit your opponents.  Ping pong is more enjoyable than a treadmill, and can be quite a workout.  I'll play just about anything that involves a ball and a stick.  The problem with sports is getting enough friends together on a regular basis.  Over the years, as more and more friends got married and started families, their availability became a lower and lower priority.

There are other physical activities I enjoy, like snow skiing.  But this one is more about the scenery and less about the physical exertion.  I much more enjoy fast gliding than I do the bumps.  It's a lot of work jumping around moguls, and getting up after falling (which for me happens often when navigating bumps).  Not too many of my friends can take off a weekend anymore (that family priority thing again), although last season a bunch of the families took a ski trip together, many of the same families that I went camping with a couple of weekends ago.

Some alternatives I'll probably consider are hiking and biking.  There are lots of local biking and hiking trails. 

My brother-in-law Jaime started biking not long ago, and he looks great, trimmer than before.  He's gone a bit hard-core, though-- he's been doing some long road courses.  He has espoused its virtues to me, and has even said he'd deliver a bicycle to me if I wanted.  My friends Frances and Cliff (used to?) go off-road biking and have invited me in the past.

Even "urban hiking" is ok, as long as it's not just me.  The good thing is that, unless you're doing a really strenuous walk/hike, you can have a fairly stimulating (for the mind) conversation at the same time.

To bring this full circle, I think Dana tricked me.  She lives in The City, pretty close to restaurants and Chinatown.  We walked to dinner, but walked back and forth along a few blocks under the premise of choosing where to go.  I think she knew where she wanted to eat on the first or second time, but got me to walk maybe an extra quarter mile while we considered our options.