Author: Chris Brown (Page 31 of 41)

Norwegian Elkhound mix - Lucky — Lucky posing October 2008

The Power of Pets – Missing Lucky Dog

May 25, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Regular readers may have noticed that I have missed posting lately. I guess the main reason is that there has been a loss at my house. I’ve really been missing our 14-year-old dog Lucky, since he has passed away May 14.

Lucky posing October 2008

Obviously the loss of a pet doesn’t compare to the loss of a human loved one, but to deny those emotions doesn’t make them go away. If you’re not a dog lover, you may want to skip this post and check out some of our other ones.

Lucky with Jean at Bow Wow Beach years ago

You probably recognize Lady, but I’m not sure I’ve put any photos of Lucky on Becoming Elli because he really hasn’t come on a lot of walks during the last few months. I used to do many many walks with Lucky. He loved getting the miles in and only seemed to get tired in the heat, I think because of his double coat.

Lucky on the left, Lady on the right.

We got him at just a few weeks old when the mother dog abandoned the litter. He had his own independent personality. Lucky loved chasing a tennis ball, swimming at the dog park and chewing on a good bone.

Lucky and Kingsley

Obviously he was a mixed breed, and although I think his mother was part German Shepherd, he seemed like he was mostly Norwegian Elkhound.

Lucky at age three (right) with Jean in May of 2008.

Like most pets, he definitely become part of the family. All of my pets seem to really wiggle their way into my heart and I talk to them like they are people.

Lucky and Lady at Christmas time a few years ago. I took them for a walk downtown and logged just over 5 miles that day. It was unseasonably warm for December.

I think Lady and the two cats, Kingsley and Sasha, have gotten so much more attention since Lucky is gone. He required quite a bit of care the last few months.

This is supposed to be me, dressed as Kingsley for a Saturday Smile – illustration credit Bitmoji.

While Lady doesn’t appear to be missing Lucky, I can’t claim to know what is in her mind. I believe she is enjoying the added attention and dog walks.

Lucky on the towpath in the fall. I remember this day because it was a 6 mile walk and I was amazed when I looked at my tracker when we got home.

Walking with a dog really takes my mind off of the time and effort it takes to get exercise.

The other day, during one of our recent walks, I figured out that Lady is my age in dog years! I’m doing my best to enjoy being with her and getting more walks. Good-bye Lucky dog…

Becoming a Triathlete After Retirement – Linda Brooks

May 14, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Linda started running in 2011 and has a group of friends that call themselves the 50+ Posse. She gets up early in the morning to workout.

Around 2015 she started bicycling. She was active in the Slow Roll bicycling group in Cleveland that meets every Monday at different locations to ride through the city for about ten miles. It is good for beginner bike riders because the group rides slowly. Other cities also have Slow Roll bicycle clubs.

Linda retired in December 2015 and started swim lessons in January. She progressed quickly and was swimming the length of pool by May. By winter, she had already logged in 100 swimming miles. Now she swims for two hours, once she’s in the pool.

She is very real in sharing her story about becoming a triathlete after retirement.

Although she has had lupus for 16 years, she doesn’t “claim it.” Linda changed her diet to avoid foods the doctors said would trigger joint pain, took the medications that they prescribed for her and became very active.

Her first triathlon experience was in January 2018 at the Twilight Tri in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. She enjoys indoor cycling at the Cycle Bar in Hudson.

Motto for the biking groups that she belongs to is “No One Left Behind.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Black Girls Do Bike https://www.blackgirlsdobike.com/
Slow Roll Cleveland http://slowrollcleveland.com
Black Girls Run https://blackgirlsrun.com/
Member of Cleveland Triathlon Club. Trains with them. https://www.clevetriclub.com/
She uses the runkeeper phone app: https://runkeeper.com/
The Great Ride https://www.wqed.org/ride movie about the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail and the C & O bicycle trail that features members of the Black Girls Do Bike group.
Maps and info about Bike riding in NE Ohio, Cleveland and Akron : http://www.bikecleveland.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Bike-CLE-spreads_bleed-no-marks.pdf
NE Ohio Bike trails: https://www.ohiobikeways.net/neregionlist.htm Akron: https://www.ohiobikeways.net/akron.htm
Cleveland: https://www.ohiobikeways.net/cleveland.htm

Step by Step – Taking the Stairs

May 11, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Do you take the stairs or the elevator? The thing I like about stair workouts is that the act of climbing stairs is so practical. What I don’t like, well the huffing and puffing when I haven’t been doing it.

It’s easy to feel like you’re making progress when there are stairs that make you huff and puff. And then a few weeks/months later, you notice that it doesn’t even effect you at all to go up the stairs.

When I was actively trying to lose weight, I felt a huge “non-scale” victory when I realized that I just had run up some stairs without even thinking about it or realizing that I ran up them.

Some friends of mine went on a major hike last summer to the White Mountains on the Appalachian Trail. Some of them practiced on these stairs in the Cleveland Metroparks that over look the Rocky River.

There are several reasons why a stair workout is a good idea:

Stairs are good for you
You can build up to them
Stairs or steps are everywhere
Stairs work the glutes, hamstrings and calves.
They provide a great feeling of accomplishment
It’s natural workout, not something that you don’t do in real life

Things to be cautious about:

If you wear eyeglasses with progressive bifocals, try not to look down when you walk down
It’s fair to use the hand rail, in fact a good idea. You don’t want a “quick trip” down or up!
Your heart will really start to beat quickly. On the way up, it’s okay to pause on a landing to catch your breath.
It’s a good idea to step aside, if someone is behind you to let them pass.
Don’t try to do it all at once, better to build up your stamina over time.

From age 35 to 50 I was definitely an elevator taker. I often looked for an elevator. If there was no elevator, my attitude was “oh boy, here we go!”(not in a good way.) It wasn’t until I turned 50 and decided I was going to get into shape that I embraced the stairs.

At first when I turned 50, I decided to get started on the Stairmaster at the gym. That didn’t last long. I found it was too boring and too much effort to get dressed in my workout clothes, drive to the gym and then only be able to accomplish 5 minutes or so on the Stairmaster. Of course, I put it on the highest level. Not the best idea.

I found better success by using stairs right near me.

Taking the three flights of stairs everyday in my office building became part of my new routine. I would park in the spot farthest away from the door and then take the 3 flights up to the office. If I was going to use the restroom, I’d go to the first floor and walk back up to the office. At lunch I’d do another set or two. Soon I was doing about 15 flights a day.

I got the idea because I used to regularly do 12 floors in college. The Kent State library was the tallest building around at 177 feet. Every day I’d walk by the library several times between classes and my dorm. After a while, I’d just walk in and do the stairs. After a while, I could do all 12 floors. Not a big deal in my late teens and early 20’s. I found that it was a great stress relief.

Of course, I’m not always near a tall building, but one set of stairs still works. I live in a one story house and the laundry is in the basement. My FitBit has a 10 floor goal. Okay, I’ll agree that is a lot of laundry to do each day, but I have found that just loading the washer is one, switching to dryer is two and bringing up from the basement is three. So, if I turn around and go up and down two more times for each one trip, I can just about get my goal pretty easily. Plus clean the cat box each morning which is also in the basement. And boom, I’ve got my 10 stair steps.

Where are stairs near you? Do you use them to do a “natural” work out?

Sampling a Pilates Exercise Class

May 4, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

I recently had a trial class here in my town, at a relatively new exercise studio called Club Pilates.

While over the years, I have taken a few Pilates classes at the health and fitness center where I’ve belonged almost continuously since 1994, it’s hard to pass up a free class to check out something new.

Regular readers may remember my CycleBar experience and Jill’s workout at this Pilates studio when it had just opened.

Sample Class
I got a ticket to a sample class during one of the community expo/showcases held locally. The Club Pilates runs a special 30 minute sample class for a group of people who have expressed interest. There were 8 people in the class, including me.

Facility Set Up
The facility location is in shopping plaza. The exercise room is set behind the front desk and has a wall with curtains to separate the waiting area from the work out area. You put your personal items in open faced wooden cubbies that are located up in the front. Because a curtain separates the front from the workout area, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on them, so I ended up keeping my phone and keys with me in the work out room.

Each personalized station is set up for one person. And I believe that there were 12 stations in the club.

Instructor
Our instructor was a former ballet dancer, who was in terrific shape. Unlike many group exercise instructors, he had us do the exercises very slowly so he could monitor and correct our form.

He explained what the benefits to the body Pilates provided and discussed ways to modify the exercises to be more or less difficult depending on each of our fitness level and experience with Pilates type exercises. Because it was only a sample class, he was going easy on us.

Equipment
There was lots of very new equipment in top condition. If I wasn’t familiar with it, I might have been intimidated. Among the items at each station was a Pilates reformer machine, bosu, TRX straps with several places to hook them, circle, a small stability ball and a Pilates chair.
The only piece that was new to me was the Pilates chair which looks a bit like a padded bench with springs. They had the bosus sitting on top of the chairs and I didn’t get a great photo of them, but click through on this link to see what they look like and how they work.

They insisted you wear socks with non-skid treads or they would let you buy some from them. I noticed two people wearing some Sky Zone trampoline park socks. I had looked for some of those in the bottom of my sock drawer, but couldn’t find my pair from the time I tried Sky Zone.

Exercises
While the majority of the exercises involved putting your foot in a strap and manipulating the spring under the equipment, many of the exercises were similar to ones that I’ve done in my gym.

Plank – with elbows on the bosu
One foot on the bosu, knee up, balance by touching the wall
Bridge – lying on my back with arms at the sides
Sit on the padded Pilates stool, bend sideways at the hips and press down the spring loaded bar with my hand
The ballet move where you stand and Plié slowly. It’s definitely NOT a squat.

Evidently ballet dancers have issues with squats and prefer the Plié where the dancer stands with the heels together and the toes pointing out, then and bends at the knees.

Individual Training Room
After the sample group class, we were ushered into the back to see the individual personal training area and equipment. There are sales person explained the different membership programs, pricing, requirements and time frames.

I remember she said that they gave a discount to veterans, those in the armed services and to first responders. I thought “Wow, very generous!”

Then one of the women in my class piped up and wanted to know about doctors and nurses as well, “Don’t forget about us!” I don’t know why, but that was a turn off to me. I guess you could make a case for a lot of other professions as well.

During the hour that we were there, that is the only thing that I can remember that any of the other people who didn’t work there actually said. It was a very quiet group.

The biggest positive is the equipment. It looks super brand new like it has never been touched. I believe that the facility opened in September 2018, so it still is very new.

The biggest negative to me is the lack of interaction between the other people. Even though it was a group class, during class it was obvious that there isn’t the joking around. It was very serious and not as much fun.

While I guess I shouldn’t judge the place on how the participants act. Maybe that is how you act during Pilates. However to me if working out isn’t something that I look forward to, I’m not going to do it.

Perhaps I’ll give Pilates another try sometime in the future. Right now it didn’t have the attraction to me compared to so many other types of exercise. How about you? Do you love Pilates? What do you love about it?

Snap Peas – Veggie Challenge

April 29, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Snap Peas are crunchy and delicious. Although the peas are inside, you can eat the pea pod as well.

I think their name comes from the way you prepare them. It doesn’t take much. You snap the stem off and pull the thread like fiber that runs down the side of the pea pod to prepare them. I also cut them into four pieces or so to make their size more like a bite size and match the rest of the salad.

I put them in my potluck salad and they added a perfect crunchy texture.

Here’s what is in the salad:

Celery
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Blueberries
Yellow peppers
Cucumbers
Olives
Snap peas

Dressing: Olive oil, cider vinegar, and lemon juice. I don’t usually measure carefully, but put enough into the bowl to coat the vegetables without drowning them!

Salt and pepper to taste. I think having it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours made it absorb more of the dressing. The beauty of this potluck salad is that you don’t have to worry about refrigerating it and things going bad. It makes a great salad to put out on the table for the afternoon buffet at a potluck.

Gotta admit I love, love, love this salad! And I think I know why: it has all the taste sensations! Bitter – salty – savory – sweet – sour… Plus zesty, zippy, crunchy, and the blueberries even added a little bit of creamy.

Next time I will consider adding some protein with maybe tuna, walnuts or quinoa.

Tap Into Your True Strength with Tammy Wise Podcast

April 23, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

In episode 32 Jill and Chris interview Tammy Wise, a Mind-Body Fitness Expert. A Broadway dancer turned Tao minister, Tammy describes how you can tap into your true strength.

In today’s Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, we discuss:

Your core supports all the bones and muscles in the top of body and bottom of body.
Your brain recalls the details of your story, but it doesn’t have the emotional memory. That’s found in your body. Soft tissue holds the emotional memory.
Tension and strength have the very same root. While tension is energy that’s stagnant, strength is energy that’s in flow. Strength is connecting to the goal. Tension stands between you and the goal.
Releasing tension builds strength in mind and body. Her strength training method uses alignment, emotional release and outside resistance to reorganize and focus your strength
Body Logos means the body’s divine wisdom
Eating in balance. She prefers to eat several small meals throughout the day.
Peasant bread: dark flour, whole grains

“I’ve made it my personal mission to help people understand–and experience–what real strength feels like. And it’s not the result of bench-pressing a ton of weight or running endless miles. It’s about alignment, and a power that comes from your mind and body being in the same place at the same time.” Tammy Wise

Gift for listeners: Free video on how to release pressure. Go to bodylogos.com, scroll to bottom, and click on graphic at bottom of screen for free video.

Contact Info and Links:

Website and blog: www.bodylogos.com
Book: The Art of Strength: Sculpt the Body Train the Mind is available on BodyLogos website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
Email: mindthebody@bodylogos.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BodyLogos
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy_bodylogos/

Vegetables on Easter for the Veggie Challenge

April 21, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

While I love vegetables, I wasn’t sure I wanted to try something very new for the Easter holiday.

Loyal readers of the Becoming Elli website may recognize my tried and true Roasted Vegetables:

Wash and slice vegetables
Lightly coat with Olive Oil
Roast in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes
Turn at least once
Arrange on platter

I also made my favorite potluck salad with lots of raw vegetables. I love how colorful this looks on the Easter buffet.

Chop vegetables into similar sized pieces:

Onion
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Sweet Peppers (red, yellow, orange)
Celery
Carrot
Cauliflower
Broccoli

I added one can of Garbanzo Beans AKA Chick Peas for a little protein in the salad.

Mix together into a large bowl and add the spices and dressing.

Spices: salt, pepper, parsley and basil

Dressing:

olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Lemon juice

I like to make this the night before so the dressing and spice has overnight to soak into the vegetables.
In the morning, stir several times to recoat all the vegetables. Put into a colorful serving bowl.

We celebrated Easter with the extended family on Saturday as a combination birthday party. My Mom turns 88 years old this week! There were 29 family members (including 8 great grandchildren) and 3 dogs! Very fun and hectic.

Getting Inspired by Other Older Women

April 20, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

When I read a story about a woman who is in the second half of life, who is knocking it out of the park, I get inspired!

I don’t about you, but I can’t do what I did when I was younger… but I can do different things now! And finding out about other older women who are working to become fit and strong is a big motivation.

When Jill and I first started Becoming Elli, we were inspired by Elli, the Norse Goddess of Aging, who beat Thor in a wrestling match. Aging is a funny thing. A lot of people complain about it. My 88 year old mom says, “It’s better than the alternative.” I am motivated by women who embrace it.

Every day I am inspired by reading articles, listening to podcasts and watching videos about real-life, older women who are doing amazing things like these:

Joan Benoit Samuelson, 61 years old, ran the Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the challenging 26.2 mile course in only 3 hours, 4 minutes! When her time is adjusted for her age using the age-graded calculator, she actually won the Boston Marathon this year! She uses the power of story to motivate herself, and set her goal to run “40 minutes slower than 40 years ago” when she won with a finish of 2:35:15 in 1979. She mentioned she did a lot of cross training with Nordic skiing to improve fitness and strengthen her upper body without too much pounding on her legs.
Ernestine Shepherd, age 81, who started working out and exercising at a gym at age 56. Fulfilling a promise she made to her sister right before her sister passed away from a brain aneurysm, Ernestine achieved the world record as the oldest competitive body builder. She is a personal trainer and remembers the mantra from her sister, “Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined.”
Julia Hawkins, 102 years old, who took up competitive running at 100 and competitive cycling at 75 years old. Her children are in their 60’s and 70’s. She does a lot of work in her garden and runs inside when she hears the telephone ring.

What’s their secret? It’s hard to say, but in my opinion, they look forward, not back. They set little goals, then bigger goals. They stay active. They do what they can, when they can.

Exercising with other people is social. Competing helps to set goals. Trying new things helps me to not compare myself with what I did when I was younger. Becoming inspired by other older women makes me feel hopeful and motivated.

How about you? What motivates you? Do you know of another older woman who is doing something that inspires you? Let us know by sending an email: Chris@becomingelli.com or by posting on our social media!

Spring Running Events

April 13, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Spring has sprung! It’s getting warmer everyday here in Northeastern Ohio and I’m reminded that there are lots of spring running events and races.

Getting ready for spring running events by hiking

Jill and I took a hike along Daffodil Trail with my dog, Lady.

Jill wrote about her adventures in the annual Hop for Hope 5K run. Later this month I will be working a water station at the 6 mile marker for the Cleveland 10 Miler and, depending on my ankle and the weather, I will hopefully be competing again in the Raccoon Run.

If you’re looking for a race or running event near you, check out the Let’s Do This website to find something fun in your area.

Running and Staying Healthy with Wendy Rivard

April 9, 2019 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

In episode 31, Jill and Chris talked with Wendy Rivard about her fitness journey.

Wendy has been a runner for most of her adult life. She is a pediatric nurse practitioner for a large medical practice in Chicago. Besides running, she does a lot of yoga, strength trains at a Cross Fit box, enjoys boot camps, water skiing, stand up paddle boarding, and kayaking.

She started running to help deal with anxiety in her 20’s, and continued running to help with other life challenges: infertility in her 30’s, stress of grad school in her 40’s, and now in her “old age”, she continues to run to help her stay healthy.

In 2014, she achieved a personal record of 4 hours 17 minutes at the Chicago Marathon at age 52 using a low mileage training plan with lots of cross training. Her bucket list marathon was Big Sur which she completed in 2016.

Her most recent half marathon was in Mobile Alabama in January, home of the original mardi gras. She met up with several bloggers and ran through the beautiful neighborhoods with the live oak with moss hanging down over the streets. The finish line featured women wearing the southern belle dresses with hoop skirts greeting the runners with their finishers’ medals. Red beans and rice was served with a dixieland jazz band party after the race.

She writes about her journey at the Taking the Long Way Home and has made many running friends online and in person through the blog.

We discussed:

Her cross training as well as events like the indoor relay, Ragnar, half marathons and marathons.
The benefits of the therapeutic massage and how it differs from a regular massage. Other recommendations for recovery.
Loves the Ink n Burn clothing because of the wild colors and the pockets. She was a brand ambassador. https://www.inknburn.com/ladies/
Her diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis two years ago and how she is learning to live with it and refuses to let this disease defeat her.

“It’s not the running that hurts the joints, it’s the arthritis.” She has cut back on some running but has added more strength training to support the muscles around the joints.

How to contact Wendy Rivard:
Find her at www.takinglongwayhome.com
Instagram

Also mentioned in the podcast:

Marcia from Marcia’s Healthy Slice
Holly from Ho Ho Runs
Deana Kastor: Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory
Kathrine Switzer: Marathon Woman
Jill ran the Hop for Hope 5K
Veggie Challenge: Beets and watercress