I've had a nice but busy couple of days interspersed with periods of sheer exasperation. Sunday the Husband, Stepdaughter and myself drove up to Cambridge to see the Stepson who is a second year student reading History at the University. Usually we use the park and ride system, parking the car on the outskirts of the city and taking a bus to the center - a very efficient way of visiting Cambridge, the majority of which was, of course, built before the arrival of motor cars. It is, therefore, next to impossible to park in the city. However we discovered that the park and ride system doesn't work on a Sunday and so we were forced to drive into the city and after driving around for ages we finally found a car park above a brand new shopping complex, the only problem being that the car park closes at 6.00 pm, thus restricting our time in Cambridge. Fortunately we knew that the Stepson had to go to a Formal in the evening so we were not too disappointed at the reduction of the time spent with him.
We had a good day together having lunch at Browns, the restaurant to go to at Cambridge for families visiting their undergraduate sons and daughters. They serve very good English food in generous portions - the starter was as big as a main course in many restaurants so by the time we'd had three courses plus wine and coffee I was absolutely stuffed. It was worth it though. Then we went back to the Stepson's room for a couple of hours. It's a fair size room and all his College's accommodation is in a very good part of the city: if they had been in private ownership they would go for a very fair price. We got back and out of the car park exactly at 6.00pm, talk about by the skin of our teeth.
The Husband gave me an iPod and I spent the rest of Sunday evening and most of Monday trying to get it to appear in iTunes. I had to update the iTunes software and install and reinstall the iPod software several times and fiddle around with them and the computer for hours. Most frustrating. It finally downloaded some things at 10.00 pm on Monday evening. This morning I Downloaded more, although it takes a bit of fiddling to get it to work.
The Husbands immediate reaction, when I originally mentioned that I'd like an iPod was to think it wouldn't be of any real value. However he did give me one. Then when I played some of the first pieces of music I downloaded onto it he was clearly liked the quality of sound from it. It ended up with him plugging the iPod into his (incredibly good and expensive) hi-fi system and he was impressed with the results. He also bought some cables to connect the iPod to the smaller systems in the kitchen and study. It has excellent sound, though it looks odd to see the tiny box plugged into a large hi-fi system and the huge volume of sound coming out. Anyway I wanted it so I could listen to Audio books as the varifocals I wear make it impossible to read in bed. It will also be something to listen to on the train, when visiting my mother. Or in the gym (the trainer has now increased my session to an hour. I am still sore from the first new session I did on Monday.)
8 comments:
You had good luck for your trip to Cambridge. Wonderful! Do you use ear buds with your iPod? If so, are they comfortable? (I'm checking for future reference.)
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Yes, we were lucky in many ways with our trip to Cambridge. The weather was cold but dry, we did manage to find somewhere to park, a good meal and, more importantly, a good family day.
Eye buds are provided with the iPod but I find them uncomfortable to use. They bleed a fair amount of sound too. The Husband says that the company spends all the money on the machine and just adds ther cheapest earphones they can get away with. Luckily there was a spare set of ear phones in the house which work perfectly with the iPod and so I'm just using them instead.
The IPod is well worth getting. )They aren't just useful for pop/rock music.)
I've been considering an iPOD, but whatever delivers the sound to my ears must be comfortable. My ears are sensitive (both to pressure on the external parts and to sounds on the internal parts!) I think it would be great to be able to listen to march music while out walking about the neighborhood! Thanks for the info.
I failed to comment on your work with your personal trainer. If you can spare the time, I would like to know more about the sorts of things s/he has you do. I have paid for three sessions (they are what I consider to be pretty darned expensive--US$37.50/session), but haven't yet started. My exercise partner talked me into it. She has been working with a trainer (on our "off" days) for a couple of weeks and her daughter-in-law has been doing so for a few months--but--their whole family are profligate spenders. It is well that they can afford to be so--lol.
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CopCar,
I've been musing on how to respond to your question for some days now, days in which I've also been fighting a very bad attack of my spastic colon (it doesn't happen very often but when it does I'm out of it), two concerts (Prunella Scales in an evening with Queen Victoria and (separately of course) the Glenn Miller Orchestra (did I mention I am a Big Band fiend)) as well as dealing with the expiry of my Internet protection subscription (that took a whole day to sort out).
Another reason why I have hesitated to respond is that I am far from being an expert at the whole question of exercising and personally I dislike reading so-called "experts" on a subject who clearly know very little about what they are talking about. So with that "health warning" up front let me tell you what little I know.
EWhen I started I spent about an hour with my trainer. He told me that exercising only once a week was useless - you needed to spend a minimum of 2-3 sessions per week for several weeks to make any progress with improving your health and fitness.
When I started I had a session which took me approx 30 minutes to do. I should have started with 6 mins on the stationery bicycle but as I disliked it I spent the time on a treadmill (3.5 km/ph). Then a session on a machine where you "bicycle" with your arms followed by three different machines which helped me to lift weights - one using my arms, one using my feet and one "rowing" my arms and lifting weights at the same time - on all three machines I did two sets of 10 repeats. Then a floor exercise to work on my abdominal muscles and finishing with another 6 minutes on a treadmill, this time working on an incline.
You will notice that I described all these in the past tense. I am now doing what was described by my trainer as a 50 minute session. This is 5 minutes on a machine where I am "running in the air" (his description). 6 minutes on the stationery bicycle (he got me on it eventually). 10 minutes on the treadmill at a fast speed (to me anyway - 5 km/ph) and at an incline. Then the sessions on the three weight machines only 2 lots of 15 repeats. This is followed by a machine again lifting weights to work on my abdominal muscles and then 5 minutes on the rowing machine. After that little lot I am exhausted, totally. (I have described the trainer as a sadist. LOL)
Generally I enjoy doing the exercise sessions. The Husband says that he can see a real difference in my general demeanor since I have started, too. I think though that the trainer is right - you do need to keep on doing it. Just once,twice or three times will not do much for you in the long run. I am lucky that my GP referred me to the programme and that it is therefore not costing me a fortune (£2.80 per session). Is there any chance you can find a gym in your neck of the woods which is not too expensive, so you can try it out. You do need access to a trainer though - if only to show you how to use the machines and to advise you on how much to do on each (and when to increase what you do)?
Oh, I forgot to mention that when I started I was very unfit. From what you have mentioned about walking I suspect that you are much fitter than I am, and ever will be. Having said that the asthma is not affecting me nearly as much since I have started at the gym.
Val--Thanks for filling me in on what you've been doing with your trainer. I agree that the cost of using a trainer is reasonable, in your case. I'm just sorry that it is a medical "necessity" for you.
I don't know about being "much fitter", but I suspect that there is a difference in our current levels of fitness. I have been doing something for fitness since 1955--usually walking. I first joined a fitness center in 1983, at which I took an aerobics class 2 or 3 times each week, followed by working out with the weights machines, and capped off with a little bout of swimming (at which I'm not very good). Most of the time since 1983, I've belonged to a health center of some sort and/or have had a strong walking program going. Of course, at times, I've lapsed for a few months or a couple of years! Never have I used a trainer--and I wouldn't now if it weren't for my exercise partner's goading.
There are a number of gyms/fitness centers in the area (I belong to three--two of which are free because of my being a retiree of the aircraft company that owns them). The two free gyms are too far away for me to use (the nearer one is 10 miles). The one that I pay for is within 2 miles of the house and is the only one available that is nearer to our house than the free one that is 10 miles away.
It sounds like your program is somewhat similar to the program that I've been following without a trainer (warm up on the treadmill or an elliptical trainer before hitting the weights machines). I'll have to let you know how my program changes as a result of my three sessions with a trainer.
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Having seen the new post on your blog it's clear you've started that exercise session. I hope you enjoyed it - and that it hasn't made you too stiff.
Thanks, Val. Yes, it was enjoyable; but, I'm not too keen on the way "they" are trying to convert all of the floor work to work with/on a phys(iological) ball. I bought a ball, but there are only a couple of things that I intend to use it on. Mostly, I'll stick with the floor work. As to being too stiff, amazingly enough, I am less sore today than yesterday; so, I came out all right.
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