Category Archives: Let’s Get Healthy
Let’s Get Healthy: Day Six (AKA Oh, I Definitely Have a Cold)
So I woke up at 7 AM with a little furry face in mine asking if I could please open the bedroom door so that she could go get breakfast? Yes, your majesty.
After that, sleep was an unattainable dream so I got up and did the usual chores for a Sunday morning, feeling unpleasantly warm (yesterday I was freezing, today I was broiling, and the thermostat read the same temps) and being in that weird interstitial area where you’re tired but not tired enough to go to sleep, but you don’t want to do anything, but you don’t want to not do anything either?
At 12:30 PM I gave up, tag-teamed Ramón, and went back to bed. Apart from a few bathroom interludes I proceeded to sleep until 6:30 PM, which tells me yeah, I’m sick. The weather didn’t help (I’m currently in the middle of that square to the left, so that tells you what’s overhead). Nonetheless, I got my ass on the treadmill and managed to crank out five minutes. Once I post this I will get back on and do another five minutes, and keep doing that until I’ve hit all thirty minutes. Despite the cold malaise, my legs are finally starting to feel a bit stronger — the knees still hurt, but I think that’s more due to atmospheric moisture than anything I’m doing.
Writing wise, I didn’t do much yet today, but I’m going to swill some Coke Zero and see if that supercharges the writing center enough to crank out a chapter. In associated news the re-release of Stealing Dmitri is selling quite well, and I think it’s finding its intended audience this time. Now I just have to finish King of Blades and get that out, whee!
Let’s Get Healthy: Day Five (AKA I Think I Have a Cold)
Runny nose, cough, sore throat, congestion, and a general feeling of malaise. Those are some of the official symptoms of a cold, and I have all of them. And considering that I’m taking Claritin AND nasal steroids, there’s no way my nose should be running like this unless I have a cold.
Still got in the thirty minutes of walking, though. Ever extended the first session to fifteen minutes because I didn’t feel like stopping. And I think it’s having an effect — we had a short but hellacious thunderstorm here earlier, and while glancing out the back window to estimate how hard the wind was blowing I spotted one of the potted plants in the back yard merrily bobbing away in the pool. Since the plant was still floating and I happen to really LIKE it (it’s a combo of yellow lantana, orange firecracker plant and red geraniums) I dashed out in the middle of the storm, ignoring the tiny chunks of hail coming down, and fished the pot and the saucer thingy out of the pool, much to the cats’ amazement.
It didn’t hit me until I got back inside and was busily stripping and toweling off that I’d been able to get into a semi-crouch with no real pain in order to retrieve the plant. So hey, apparently I’ve got that going for me.
Let’s Get Healthy: Day Four (AKA Sweatin’ Like An Oldie)
I wish I was one of those lucky individuals who only emitted a reasonable amount of perspiration, enough to give them a healthy glow and make them look like they just stepped off the cover of a fitness magazine. Instead I’m, well, me, whose hair can get so soaked with sweat after a hat trick of ten minutes on the treadmill/vacuuming the living room/taking out garbage and recycling that I could literally wring out a tablespoon of salty water from my ponytail if I really wanted to.
And isn’t that an image that you’ve always needed in your mind?
Anyway, I did three rounds of walking today as well as a handful of chores, some writing, and a very necessary trip to Starbucks for my editor who broke her ankle ten days ago and desperately needed to get out of the house for awhile. I think it’s getting a little easier to walk, by which I mean I wasn’t glancing down at the timer every three seconds to check how much longer I had to go. Hey, I’ll take any improvement, no matter how incremental.
I’m also starting to think that some of my joint pain may be caused by — and I’m totally serious about this — allergies. Today, frex, my knees and ankles were far more sore than they should have been, and then my elbows, wrists and fingers started aching while I was trying to pick up some food for dinner. It doesn’t help that it’s been rather hot and incredibly humid here in the clavicle of Texas, and we’re supposed to get rain tomorrow night so the old bod might be reacting to that. BUT in the middle of basically asking my body, “What the hell’s wrong NOW, dude?” I remembered that, oh, wait, I didn’t take a 24-hour Claritin this morning.
Popped one, and an hour later I feel fine. Go figure.
Let’s Get Healthy! (AKA Run Fat Writer, Run!)
Hoo boy. So I’m sitting here writing this on my laptop while sweat is dripping merrily off my face and hair and rolling into my t-shirt, and my knees, calves, and ankles are throbbing like the rhythm of the samba on a hot Rio night. Why am I so drenched (not to mention throbbing), you ask?
I walked for ten minutes on the treadmill.
Yes, it was just ten minutes. Yes, it was just walking. Yes, I’m sweatier than a social media baron in front of a Congressional committee. Did I mention that I’ve already done ten treadmilling minutes today, and I’ll do one more bout before showering and bed tonight?
Audience: “Um … why?”
I’m so glad you asked. See, one of the problems of my job is that it tends to be seriously sedentary, which is not good for your average 52-year-old human, especially when that human also has a couple of metabolic disorders and a lot of extra weight. It also makes it difficult to do things like sleep (because my knees and heels are hurting like a stone bitch. You have no idea what I’d do right now for a decent night’s sleep — I would cheerfully shank Keanu Reeves if it meant I wouldn’t wake up every hour with my knees on fire). I’d also like to start traveling again at some point, and enjoy myself without dreading walking around these new and exciting places. In order to do that, however, I know full well what I have to do — I have to get off my ass and rebuild the nice leg muscles that support all these increasingly old joints, not to mention develop a faint glimmer of stamina.
In order to achieve this, I’m doing what the medical profession has been recommending for some years now — I’m walking for thirty minutes every day. Not really fast — I think I’m doing about 1.5 MPH, so that’s along the lines of a slow stroll. But it’s consistent and enough to get my heart pumping and blood circulating through all those big-ass muscles in my legs. I started this on Tuesday, which makes today Day Three, and boy I can tell. Tuesday night, I was in fucking agony and couldn’t sleep until I came downstairs and took my last two Midol and 500 mgs of CBD oil. Wednesday night I got smart and took some new Midol and a dose of Green Lotus before I went to bed. Slept remarkably well that night, only waking up a few times to pee. I’m hoping the same thing will happen tonight, and I eventually get to the point where I don’t have to dose myself with painkillers just to get some sleep.
“Yeah, yeah, we get it. You’re walking for health reasons and so that you don’t have to shiv Keanu. Why are you walking in ten minute chunks?”
Because a friend suggested it. Turns out that you don’t have to walk for 30 minutes consecutively — you can break it up and still get all the benefits of walking. And okay, I could walk for 30 minutes consecutively at the moment but I would not be happy at the end of it, and the thought of doing it over and over again every day until the end of time would make me cry.
So I’m breaking it up into bite-sized chunks; I put in my headphones and listen to Pod is My Copilot while I slog along the treadmill for ten minutes. The cats think I’m absolutely insane, by the way, but that may be because I’m laughing hysterically with Taffy, Taylor, and Rodan as I plod (seriously, check them out — they’re incredibly entertaining). And crazy as it sounds, this works. Even I can fit in ten minutes around writing or doing chores, and when I sit back down to work the brain is full of oxygenated blood. Even better, I seem to be more willing to dive back into the WIP. And anything that put words on the page is A-OK with me.
By the way, I don’t know if I’m losing any weight doing this — I’m not really focusing on that, to be honest. The goal is to build my leg muscles and stamina back up. If I shed some pounds, great, but I’m more interested in being able to sleep through the night and walk around nice places like New Orleans without wanting to shoot myself.
And like I said, it’s only Day Three. I’ll check back in on Day Ten and let you know how I’m doing (unless y’all want me to do a daily report — I can do that if there’s any interest).
Nicola Cameron Writes 