This week was a vacation with my family at the beach in North Carolina. Each day I tried to make sure that I got at least my 75 minutes of some sort of activity each day. It was definitely different being away from home! This past week I did a variety of exercises...
Typically we don't think about sleep, or the quality of sleep when we talk about being fit and strong, but obviously sleep is critical for health and fitness. Not having good quality sleep at night will just about guarantee a cranky day for me. Everything seems like a chore when I'm tired. I am the type of person who falls asleep quickly but sometimes can't stay asleep. It seemed to start for me in my 30's, after children were born, but became more difficult to manage after I turned 50. Since then, I've read several books about it and have gathered lots of helpful ideas on how to improve the quality of sleep. I imagine there are other fit, strong women over 50 who also struggle with this,...
Running after injury is a challenge. Since I've been working on getting back into running shape after having a year of aches and pains in my ankle and hip, I thought I'd give you an update. I've finished week 8 on my Couch to 5K app, with only one more week to go. I'm no longer doing a walk/run training but instead am running for an extended period of time. For my most recent run, I ran for 28 minutes and other than slowing down to adjust my music, I managed to do it. The app takes me to running for 30 minutes so I guess we know where week 9 ends up. It was a challenge, especially because I ran on a rather hilly course. Lots...
Download | Play in New Window Please Subscribe: Apple Podcasts (iTunes) | Google Podcasts | Android-Google Play | Stitcher | Player FM | Castbox | Tunein | Spotify | RSS In episode 34 of the Fit, Strong Women Over 50 podcast for the Becoming Elli community, Jill and Chris discuss a variety of ways for improving health. Improving Health There's more to becoming like Elli than we like to think. It's not just eat vegetables and get 10,000 steps a day. Jill and Chris cover some of the other aspects of being fit and strong. They discuss: their training this spring problems that arise with sleep and how to avoid them the importance of including Omega 3 fats in the diet their progress on the Becoming Elli 2019 veggie challenge. Training Chris and Jill discuss how they’re training for progress into summer and how they’re dealing with or avoiding injuries. Biking,...
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. [caption id="attachment_3111" align="aligncenter" width="448"] Lucky posing October 2008[/caption] 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.[caption id="attachment_3113" align="aligncenter" width="448"] Lucky with Jean at Bow Wow Beach years ago[/caption] You probably recognize Lady, but I'm not sure I've put any photos of Lucky on Becoming Elli because he...
In episode 33, Jill and Chris talk with Linda Brooks, about becoming a triathlete after retirement. Linda became active after she retired from her work as a medical transcriptionist and now regularly swims, bikes and runs. Download | Play in New Window Please Subscribe: Apple Podcasts (iTunes) | Google Podcasts | Android-Google Play | Stitcher | Player FM | Castbox | Tunein | Spotify | RSS 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...
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...
Regardless of where you are in your fitness journey, it’s a good idea to track your fitness progress. It can make you feel proud of your accomplishments or make you realize that maybe taking that month off wasn’t such a hot idea. You may feel like you just know where you are but I think most of us don’t realize how we’re actually doing. This is where it pays off to track your fitness progress. Take Measurements. I've discussed the value of measurements before. I really like being able to see how I'm doing. I have a journal where I track my weight. I also include my measurements every few weeks. It’s a good idea to get a measuring tape and measure your waist, hips and maybe your...
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...
Let’s talk about some of the ups and downs of fitness past 50. A few things happened this week that made me feel good and then not so good. There were definitely some ups and downs of fitness this week. Ups and Downs of Fitness First, I signed up for a small group training class at my gym. The seven-week class starts and ends with measurements so we can track our progress. The measurements included weight, body fat percentage (oh, it’s been a rough year!), blood pressure, and actual body measurements. You know, the measuring tape around your chest, abdomen, waist, hips, thighs, and upper arm. Not really a good time. This was followed by a brief physical test. We did inclined push ups. Inclined means we rested...