One Thing Leads to Another

Went down to the Mobile Blood Bank for its three monthly visit to get rid of some excess blood. Ran into the our local Swimming Pool Manager who was also there. He has been taking some swimming club kids into Raymond Terrace to train a couple of evenings each week. Raymond Terrace has a heated pool. As he had a spare seat he encouraged me to join them because he uses the opportunity to hop in and do a few laps.

And so along I went the next evening to see how it would go. The place was very popular with lots of people and their children in the indoor pool and quite a few coming and going in the outdoor pool as well as the local squad training.

We stood around for the first hour making the kids go through their paces i.e. about 2-3 KM of various styles. Then we joined them to do 20 laps or one Kilometre. The difference between swimming in a 25 metre pool and a 50 metre pool is huge. It is a long way to the other end.

We cheated though by using Fins (flippers). They make a huge difference not only in speed but in the amount of energy used. Which begs the question as to why bother since the entire reason for being there is to burn up fat and build muscle.

On this occasion we had differing reasons. he is carrying an injury i.e. torn muscle. and I didn't want to overdo the exercise after just giving blood.

But still we did something and it looks as if I'll make it a regular twice weekly event to keep fit over Winter. Jean goes to Zumba on one of those nights but she might join us for the other. Although getting back late in the evening is difficult if we both do it as animals need feeding and meals need prepping. We'll see.

But back to giving blood for a moment. There was a conversation going on in the Blood Truck about who gives blood. In our area it is mostly just us old regulars and very few young members of the community. While in Newcastle there is a high proportion of young people and some busting to do so and really getting excited when they become eligible at 16. The good news for us oldies is they have extended the age limit to 81 which gives me a few more years.

Mushrooms, Fitness Update

Luck was with us this week in the Mushroom experiment. We found (in one store) Swiss Brown, Oyster and Portobello mushrooms all in small economical packets. Enough in each container to taste test and to also place a couple in our coffee grounds to see if we could propagate them.

A layer of coffee grounds in the jar, hand shredded pieces of mushroom in a pile in the centre, surround and cover with more grounds. Grounds to be moist but not so they ooze moisture when squeezed. Loose lid to allow breathing. Keep moist.

On the second last day of our manic swimming fitness program at the local pool the manage and my swimming partner made a very stunning statement:

"I was playing with my grand children over Easter and I found I had this amazing amount of energy. I was able to run about with them all day. This last three weeks has really made a difference"

So there you have it, final scientific proof that fitness is good for you.

Of course that didn't take away the pain from the four 30 second laps. Out of curiosity I wore the heart rate monitor today. The chest strap also made a good excuse as to why my lap times were a bit off. After the fourth 30 second lap (just made it) it took a few breaths before I could lift my arm to check the rate. Only 151 bpm. That indicates I still had some fuel left in the tank and was bludging. Oh well, last day tomorrow. Will really give it a hard time. Hopefully won't need an ambulance.

Fitter, Faster and less Fat

The daily routine of attending the local swimming pool continues. Usually now about 1 pm as that suits the pool manager. Now that Jean is back from Benalla we both go down. There was one day when I went down with Jean at 8am and then back again at 1 pm but that was just too much.

With the pool closing for the season in a few days we are all motivated to get in those last few sessions. I'm sure if it was the beginning of the season we would not be that enthusiastic.

Jean does her bit separately. But she is no slouch getting 40 laps (1 kilometre) completed. The pool guy and I vary our routine from day to day. Sometimes it starts with a slow 10 laps to warm up other times it is 20 laps turning on 40 seconds. This is an indication our fitness has improved as we would normally do those laps on 45 seconds. Just that little more pressure to work harder.

Today we did three 100 metre laps on 2 minutes 30 seconds after doing 20 laps on 40 seconds. This seems reasonable but it isn't. The body doesn't accommodate the change in distance as it should. Four laps make up 100 metres. At a steady pace it only takes about 2 minutes and 5 seconds to finish the four laps. A rest of 25 seconds and then off again. This next 100 metres takes a little longer and the rest time is shorter. The last 100 metres is fine until the last lap when it all catches up with you. I say it's fine because you know it is the last 100 metres and a little adrenaline flows. But there is not enough oxygen. You are pulling harder as this is the last lap and a bit of a race. To get more air the head is lifting higher to suck in longer. The arms and legs lack energy. There is the fight of the mind over the body. It never seems to get easier.

So that's 32 laps completed. A pause as air is gulped and the heart eases towards semi normal. Now starts the worst part of the daily training. The test of fitness is the 4 laps we do every day right near the end. They have to be done at 30 second intervals. Lap 1 is a breeze at 25 seconds. Lap 2 is 28 seconds. Lap 3 with a mighty effort squeezes in at 29 seconds, just barely time to turn. Lap 4 is the final test and the killer lap. The push off at the deep end is always sluggish as there is almost no energy. The lungs are screaming for air and exhaling under water eases the pressure a bit but as you surface you're gasping for more air. The clock is running and despite every effort to maintain some style it's near impossible. Gasping for air and trying to pull as hard as possible to get to the end before the 30 seconds has expired. Once the wall is in sight there is some motivation to pull a bit harder squeezing in a few mouthfuls of air. Just on 30 seconds. Two weeks ago the last lap always took 33 seconds. So that means a 10% improvement. Does that mean in style, motivation or fitness? Don't know.

But the goal is 40 laps and we have only done 36. Jean has finished her 40 laps and gone to the showers. Once the breathing is back to normal and the tingling in the extremities subsided we embark on two sets of two laps. Sprint to the deep end. The goal is as close to 20 seconds as possible for me and as close to 15 seconds as possible for the pool guy. We get a breather at the end of the first lap of the set and a slow crawl back before repeating the sequence.

My previous best time is 20 seconds and his is 16. But not today. 22 and 19 is the best we do with two attempts. Not every day is perfect.

Saturday

There was a lot planned for today. Not having to go across the river to move cattle returned a couple of hours to the time wallet and jumping out of bed at 5 am didn't hurt one little bit.

A trip to Raymond Terrace was needed. Library books to return and some to collect, some financial transactions needed to be done face to face at the building society and a some shopping was in order.

Kitchen cleaned and chores all done by 7.30 and off to town. Having failed to adhere to any fast days this week it seemed like a good time to fit in at least one.

Back home by 10.30 to put everything away and have a cup of tea while doing this. Then it was back to shed construction. By 2 pm (and still no food) three sides were assembled and out on the construction site set aside. Being a lightweight shed made from what appears to be the silver material found in cigarette packets a little bracing against the southerly winds was completed as well as some tent pegging around the base.

Still no food but time to go to the pool. The pool guy is a sadist. As we touched the wall on the last of the 35 second laps ( a bracket of 6)  i.e. completing the 34th lap of the day and having gone all out to race that last lap he shouts out "two more". Facing certain death I thrashed my way up and back one more time. A brief respite and then 4 more laps but on 30 seconds. Recovery and a cup of tea and chat followed. Good feeling that the heart didn't cease functioning. I'm sure all the accumulated fat has now abraded off the walls because of the massive blood flow required to deliver oxygen to the muscles.

Back home and strangely not feeling hungry it felt like a good idea  to continue on the shed. A little more bracing went in and the last two fixed panels for the front. That leaves only the roof and door.

A very healthy meal that night with lots of water and just a little wine. Some steamed baby choko with Olive Oil, salt and pepper then a lightly fried compote of Bitter Melon, Shallot and Bok Choi with Fish Sauce and followed by an omelette with Sweet Potato as a base and sprinkled heavily with chopped Radicchio. Finally a treat of yogurt, Almonds and honey. A cup of Dandelion brew with a piece of homemade chocolate and off to bed. Reading failed and sleep took priority.

Still at the Pool

That is 6 continuous days at the pool. Although we are sitting on 40 laps and plan to stay there we aren't counting the 5 or so extra laps that I'm doing while waiting for the pool guy to change into his costume. Only need to survive another week and the pool closes.

The 6th day started with a solo Yoga session at home. The body was a bit stiff and sore from the flogging it's getting. All that stretching helped but I've hit a mental wall. apart from moving cows across the river the heart wasn't in to starting the planned projects for the day. Instead a book that was in progress was finished in time to feed the chickens and head off down to the pool. Worse still it was supposed to be a fast day and that didn't happen. But at least all that was consumed was a hearty leftover salad from last night.

A later start than normal at the pool because one of the schools was in finishing up for the year. After a few threats of violence the pool guy was shamed into the pool. His retaliation was another program of punishing laps. Most of the program is not so bad as we have gained some endurance. However, towards the end when the body is getting tired he slips in laps with 5 seconds shaved off making it just that much harder with less rest time at each end.

The most dreaded sequence is the laps on 30 seconds. These are saved for the end of training when you are at the weakest. We had to do 4 today. The first lap is easy because there has been a couple of minutes rest after the 35 second laps. It only takes 25 seconds to get to the end and 5 seconds rest allows a few deep breaths. The second lap is a lot weaker. Not only are the muscles feeling worked but the heart rate is up and there doesn't seem to be any spare oxygen. Then try swimming 25 meters with a cramp in progress when you are already exhausted. One leg is out of action dragging like an anchor and to get forward progress the arms have to do extra work. 31 seconds to get the 3rd lap over with then turn and try to get the last lap completed in 29 seconds still with a cramp. Stroke rate goes up but the body isn't very happy. 2 seconds late at the end. The cramp is gone but that's no help when you've finished.

There was the offer of a cup of restorative tea but that has to be declined because it's late and milk has to be collected before milking finishes.

All this exercise should help me stay healthy and live longer. But do I want to live longer under these conditions?

The rain keeps coming

Beginning to become annoying this rain. They say you should never complain but there is still some washing on the line and just as it begins to get dry another shower hits.

We moved the cattle on HHF into one of our front paddocks which now had some good growth. Just so they wouldn't pig out we fed them their sprouted grain and some Lucerne. They seem very happy with green grass even whinging Warren was quiet.

After knocking over the early morning chores of feeding whoever needed feeding and opening pens for chickens and ducks we performed another Yoga session which seems to make us both feel better. Being a fast day we got ourselves busy after a green tea to take the mind off food.

Jean went across the river to harrow some paddocks. I thought it would be too wet but surprisingly the RTV left no tracks on the river paddocks when I was feeding the cows earlier that morning. Nothing like good alluvial soil. She arrived home soaking wet. apparently a heavy shower caught her by surprise while she was negotiating some paddocks which needed gates opened and closed as the harrows were brought across from the other side of the property.

The last of the grapes needed pressing today. Three batches of Tannat. One grown on HHF and two purchased batches only being different by the yeasts used. The first batch was very powerful but drinkable straight out of the press as was our very small home grown batch. Should develop well. But the real standout was the batch using VR21 yeast. What an amazing difference. So good in fact that two glasses were put aside to have with tonight's meal. This process of leaving the wine on skins for a minimum of 22 days does amazing things. A 50/50 mix of American Oak and French Oak chips went into the demijohns. This should really round off the wine.

Our tiny harvest of 3.8 KG needed the baby press.

Working in the Cave with clean floors is pleasant. Very annoying whenever wine splashes on to it. We have even been taking off our boots whenever we enter. That's the trouble with tidiness.

Being a fast day and having done yoga in the morning we decided to really punish ourselves and finish the day in the pool with light workout. It turned out that light was all we could do. At 4pm the pool had a lot of activity of the 5 lanes 2 were taken up with swimming club training. A third had someone doing laps and that left us to share the remaining two with the Learn to Swim class. Still all was not lost we completed our High Intensity Training session first with 3 x 30 second sessions and then went on to Aquarobics. The only bit we skipped was the swimming. Back home to dinner pre and wine making. A good day.

And it Continues to Rain

Another day of rain. Not heavy just a steady drizzle from time to time, but it keeps coming back. Another 16 mm overnight. After a prolonged dry spell farmers say "We need 3 inches to give it a good soak". We have now just passed the 3" mark.

The plan was to wash the Cave floor gradually over the next week, but in the absence of something else to do in the wet it proceeded to get done today. Washed a section, then when it dried moved a bit of stuff about and washed another section. I've found that the scrubbing brush is adequate but that a big handful of steel wool is even better. Especially getting crushed grape berries off.

I'm only using a little cloudy Ammonia in the scrubbing water and just plain water and a rag to wipe up the mess. Slow and steady progress and by late afternoon it was all done. Not under any moveable objects close to the wall or too close to the edges where the visitors (termites) might be put off by the smell as I didn't want to disturb the little visitors at this time. Once they have left home I'll get in and do the remainder of the floor.

This is one of the Termite baits. You can see they have built a protective edge around the foil which means they are eating it. Lovely!

What is a bit of a shock is how dirty and discoloured the floor had been. Not that I managed to get it pristine this time round but it is so clean that when the light is turned on it is extremely bright in the room. The floor was originally painted with a pale yellow cement paint and now that the stains are removed there is a certain lightness.

So clean

Yesterday's writings mentioned Core Strength training. Well today just for something different we did Yoga. It's a DVD that we have been using for years by Gary Bromely. Just about the right level of difficulty for us, easy to follow and an excellent mix of stretches. We enjoyed it having not done a session for while and felt great afterward. Something special about doing Yoga first up in the morning before starting the day.

Things pottered on nicely all day. A batch of Fetta started and finished and another batch of chocolate using our newly created recipe of 3 Coconut Oil, 1 Honey and 7 Cocoa. Jean has taken a fancy to just plain chocolate that is moulded flat and quite thin i.e. less than 5 mm. It has a great texture and the thinness lets it melt nicely in the mouth. And the good bit is that it is full of Cocoa and a small piece is filling.

Rain

The forecast was for 5-10 mm but for the 24 hours to 9am Friday morning we had 30mm and then by 9 am Saturday morning another 32 mm and it drizzled all day. As usual we missed the opportunity to trim edges and mow lawns earlier in the week and now the grass has run away and the ground too soggy to navigate. By the time it is dry enough in a couple of days it should be a nice height. Just when we were getting used to it being excessively dry and getting out of the habit of maintaining the lawn. What little hand mowing we did perform went into making compost. No drama, this growth will produce some excellent mulch for the gardens and around the fruit trees. Always a bright side.

The milk collection was left until this morning. Jean said I should find two smiling dairy farmers. I had to remind them but they dutifully stood side by side and put on broad grins.

We ventured into Raymond Terrace to pick up a garden fork. We have one really good one made from high tensile steel which never bends and it is getting a bit tatty. The prongs have worn down and are needle sharp. There is a second one we recycled from my mother's estate but it is mild steel and any excessive force bends the prongs. The Aldi version said high tensile and a little testing in the shop looked promising and so at $9 it found a home.

Rather than go to the pool so late in the day we dusted off a book on Core Strength Training and followed the instructions. Five minutes of aerobic activity on the exercise bike. Stretches for about 20 minutes and then performed all the Core Strength exercises once just to get the hang of it. It didn't feel like we were doing much but by the end of an hour of grunting, groaning and laughing we were pretty sweaty. An hour later we were feeling a bit sore as well. Just as well we didn't perform the 6-8 repetitions. At least we made a start.

Why do this? Jean ran the tape measure over us this morning and we hopped onto scales. She has a beautiful BMI of 23 which is easy when you are 6'1". I on the other hand bowl up with a BMI of 29 - not good. Shorter and obviously fatter around the middle. One way to address this is work on the middle bit i.e. Core strength. Just clip a few inches off and the BMI starts to look a bit more respectable. Since she raised the issue we will now both suffer while I address my inadequacy.

Well the wine making moves along. The press needed dismantling and cleaning and the Beurre Bosc Perry had slowed to a trickling bubble and was ready for racking. No 15 litre demijohns remaining and so dipped into the stock of 5's filling three plus a 750 ml.

A wet day is a good day to address the cleaning of the Cave. And so it started with knee pads, a scrubbing brush and a bucket of ammonia water. Hands and knees just like in Upstairs Downstairs only I just did a small section. The plan is to do a little each day. It does look a lot better.

Harvesting Pumpkins, Water Trough and Exercise

Today we went through the vine patch on our hill and harvested any pumpkins that were ready. About a dozen had either animal damage or sun damage. These we chopped up for the cattle who were very appreciative.

We now have good Winter supply of Muscat de Provence and an exceptional supply of local Dry Pumpkin.

We moved our three cattle into a new paddock this morning after their feed of sprouted oats and a biscuit of Lucerne. It didn't take long for them to demolish what little green feed was about. There is still quite a bit of rough feed in that paddock to keep them occupied for a couple of weeks. The supplementary feeding is keeping them in good shape.

The 28 day rain forecast is not promising. The only rain expected is in the next 2-3 days. After that it is a dry March. We are in a good position with feed for our three. The oats we are sprouting are in plentiful supply and we have enough Lucerne for about 180 days.

The new paddock they entered is serviced by a small dam. Well it isn't really a dam just a depression in the ground where some road base was harvested. It has about 50 mm of muddy water covering the base. Rather than force them to drink that we installed a small trough connected to our extensive network of piping.

The trough was on hand left over from another project and there were plenty of spare connectors and pipework. It wasn't long before the trough was working nicely in a shady spot.

This morning we popped down to the pool for aerobic, anaerobic and some muscle strengthening exercises.

Because we were late the Learn to Swim classes had started tying up one end of the pool. Skipping the laps we did the Aquarobic exercises for lower and upper back, legs and finally arms. Some of these we increased the times from 30 seconds to 60 seconds to make up for laps.

Finally we performed our HIT. The High Intensity Training we follow is normal 20 seconds  of jogging on the spot while punching under water. Jean does her punching with a closed fist while I increase resistance with open palms. We rest for a couple of minutes just jogging slowly then repeat the sequence three more times. There is a lot of material on the web about HIT and there are numerous forms of it.

Anyway the point of this mention was we decided to both increase the time from 20 seconds to 30 seconds as well as add a fourth repetition. All well so far.

Later that morning after watering our newly planted seedlings and feeding the cattle across the river we both felt knackered. A repose on the bed was the outcome and it was mid afternoon before we had enough stamina to carry on.

So was it the Aquarobics or the HIT. It certainly wasn't the laps. We have felt a little this way in the  past after particularly big sessions at the pool and just assumed it was the combination of all three and the build up over several days. A rest day tomorrow and then the plan is to drop the HIT and only perform Aquarobics and laps on that day and monitor the outcome.

One thing we did notice was our bodies felt hot all day as if the metabolic rate was working over time.

Survivalism, Preparedness or just Planning - Part 2

Health

What are we doing about staying healthy and out of the doctors surgery. Are we controlling our weight, eating the right food. It doesn't matter which diet you go on as long as it helps keeping your weight respectable, your body healthy AND can you stick to it for the rest of your life. There are plenty of options: Paleo, Atkins, CSIRO, 5:2, Mediterranean, Weston A Price etc. Each one offers something different. Their common denominator is getting you off eating rubbish.

Pre-packaged, pre-processed foods with a list of ingredients so long it has to be in a font size of 4 are definitely a mistake to take orally.
Remember that if you stick too much food in your gob some of it will stay with you. A little restraint is needed.

The best food is the stuff you grow yourself, pick fresh and prepare into a meal - all the time. Healthy eating is having a garden no matter how small. The more you cook from scratch the better at it you become, the easier it is and the more enjoyable.

Don't make excuses. If you can find time to breath you can find time to grow and prepare meals. What is more important, a healthy life or something else you had in mind to do rather than grow and prepare food. Get off Twitter, stop checking your email more than once each day, stop texting, get off Google and don't look at Facebook every 30 minutes. Your time will be consumed by the most inane comments or searches rather than focusing on health. The internet is a great tool. Exercise moderation.

The mobile phone must be one of the greatest productivity killers for the average person. Constantly checking for messages, taking calls in the middle of doing something else and phoning home from the supermarket to see if someone wanted the Frosties or the Coco Pops. Write a list or do without and don't buy sugared breakfast cereals which is pretty much all of them. And turn the bloody thing off when you're working.

I won't even mention television.

And staying slim by keeping your calorie intake low does not guarantee you immunity.

Exercise is mandatory. You need strong bones, muscle tone and a functioning mind is aided by exercise. A variety of exercise to cover muscle building and aerobic activity is necessary. And it gets worse here. You have to keep increasing the exercise as you get fitter. Yep, sorry about that but its your choice, make an effort or not you only get back what you put into it. That 30 minutes a day for three days each week they try and sell is not the end point. It is the starting point because they don't know how unfit you are can't have you doing a fetlock or dropping dead. Heavy breathing and perspiration are good signs.

While on the subject of health there is the matter of medical prescriptions. How many people never question what they are prescribed. Asking why and what are the alternatives and where is the evidence and seek a second opinion. It is so easy to take a pill and not examine the underlying cause. And with pill taking it is so so easy not to make any life style changes. Once you start on the pills it is a hard road back.

Being healthy gives you a chance to cope with life's adversities be they physical, mental or emotional.

Part 3 the final part will cover Wealth,  Evaluation and Resources

Exercise - Progression

Things are advancing well. Slowly we are adding more laps to our warm up routine each day from 12 to 14 yesterday and 16 today followed by Aquarobics.

The Aquarobics is:

4 leg exercises for each leg for 30 seconds each.
6 arm exercises for each arm for 30 seconds each.
7 lower back exercises for 30 seconds each.

The HIT (High Intensity Training) has been three 20 second sessions of running and punching out with the hands under the water as fast as possible. Yesterday we went further. The 20 seconds went to 25 seconds and instead of a series of three went increased to four. The rest period in between depends. Usually its about a minute or two to get the breath back but if one of us is wearing the heart rate monitor we wait until the rate drops to 100 before performing the next interval.

Each interval pushes the heart rate higher e.g. first interval following the normal aquarobic program the rate starts about 85-90 and goes to 130, the second interval it goes from 100 to 140+, the third sequence 100 to 150+ and also for the fourth interval. Jean must be fitter (or she is bludging) because her heart went to a maximum of 141 on the last session.

There are 8 stretches covering the legs, back, arms and neck to finish off. This is roughly about 40 minutes in the water - at 23 C today. The fingers get a bit numb at that temperature.

This is a good work out.

Sourdough Pizza, Sourdough Biscuits, Diet and Exercise

On a roll today. Rather than use the remaining sourdough material leftover from the pasta making for more  pasta we decided to give pizza a go. And it worked fine. The topping on one of the two pizzas was the leftover Marinara from the pasta dish plus onions, mushrooms, olives, preserved capsicum and cheese i.e. leftover pieces of Havarti, Cheddar and Provolone were grated over the top. The base of sourdough was rolled out very thin and fitted to a pizza tray and baked for 15 minutes to harden it a little then the topping was added. The crust tastes a little different from the traditional pizza base but it is after all sourdough.

There was a little bit of dough still remaining which was rolled out very thinly and had some Caraway seeds added then cut into strips about 30 mm wide and baked until crisp. A perfect base for some Camembert or Colby that was in the fridge.

The morning started with a punishing round of Aquarobics. It was cold out and it was cold in and we remained cold all day. Probably the combination of fasting and exercise. Anyway the pizza and wine warmed us. As long as you have something to look forward to each day all is well.

There was a recent podcast from the ABC's The Health Report covering aspects of diet and exercise. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/the-lifestyle-challenge/4953496

It was extremely interesting. Our take on it was that it is irrelevant which diet you undertake be it Paleo, Atkins, CSIRO, Low Glycaemic, 5:2 Fast etc. It is more important to adhere to one that works for you and that you are happy to stick with because that is the secret. You need to stay with it indefinitely. There are no easy solutions. Calories are calories and the only way to lose weight or prevent long term weight gain is to restrict/reduce your calories. Making sure your food is fresh and balanced is a must. None of the faddy stuff like eating only Apples for weeks on end. The goal is to keep the body healthy as well as keep the weight down. A balanced diet of fresh unprocessed food with good variety and not too much of it.

Exercise will not help you lose weight unless you get into training of Olympic proportions. Exercise is to keep you fit and healthy. A balance of Aerobic activity and muscle building activity. Some exercise is better than none of course. BUT... be aware that to really obtain and maintain fitness you must improve on your performance all the time. If you walk around the block each day you will have to walk around faster next week or go around twice or something else. And that was the good news.

The Mulberry tree is producing masses of fruit and we are having some with yogurt each night. A few years ago we made a batch of jam using just the fruit and no sugar and we still have some left. We are not fans of making jam with sugar preferring to eat the fresh fruit. Because of the variety of fruit trees, vines etc we are rarely without some form of fresh fruit. The Citrus are still hanging there and we have some of those each day as well.

The new baby chickens are doing well.

One little baby peeking out

Two braver babies feeding