Getting old is no fun

[Dan Espen]

Interesting comments.

Yes, starting off healthy is a huge advantage.

I still recommend running. Mainly because you are outside covering ground, and if you're walking 3.8 miles, who knows you might be able to run a half mile. At the end, you'll have pumped up your muscles with blood, and accelerated all your bodily functions like heart, lungs, blood flow.

Unless walking makes you breath hard, I think you should speed up.

I wouldn't run more than a 2 miles at a time. Running is too rough on the body (knees, feet). Find something else if you want more exercise.

You'll do more good and it won't take so long.

Of course, my opinion, but I feel like it worked for me. A while back I was just walking because my feet hurt. Graduated to running, got back into lifting, currently on a 3 year swimming binge.

[Dan Espen]

Good point.

With straight, really good exercise like weight lifting, the exercise itself will feel punishing. Not good.

Things like running have some payoff, you're outside seeing scenery go by but it's still hard. Can't say why I find swimming so much fun. I like perfecting strokes and turns.

I've always found increasing muscle mass or tone a delayed pleasure. You have to balance short term pain against long term rewards. I imagine there is some point in old age where you stop getting stronger but I haven't reached it yet.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Some days I think the same. I'd like to eliminate the steps. Eventually I may get a new knee but my wife won't be getting a new heart.

[Don Y]

Neighbor from my youth put a new roof on his home (including carrying all the squares up the ladder on his back) -- when he was *81*.

[Don Y]

A good bit of thinking re: those sorts of "issues" went into choosing this place. House layout, weather, size of yard, bathroom layouts, etc.

And, I've been subtly scheduling the larger "maintenance" issues (new roof, paint job, felling trees, etc.) with an eye towards "how long can I postpone these things yet still be able to tackle them myself -- so the *next* iteration will be well past the point where I *must* hire it out".

[Don Y]

I don't find anything "pleasurable" about exercising (walking). I don't find anything pleasurable about flu shots, either! :>

Rather, I see this as part of being responsible (to myself). Like "eating your vegetables" (instead of JUST the iced cream).

So, I try to "con" myself into rationalizing the JOB performed by the exercise. E.g., it's 2.4 miles (IIRC) to the local library branch "via the back trails" (longer in a vehicle). So, rather than spending

10-12 minutes driving that distance, parking the car, etc. I will walk there (40 minutes -- it's uphill). The 5 or 10 minutes I spend there gives me a chance to rest up, a bit (as well as rehydrate -- I tend not to carry water with me... bad!) before making the walk back home.

So, 80 minutes to cover 4.8 miles -- instead of the 56 minutes that I would have put in normally for the 3.8 miles. But, it has only "cost" me 56-60 minutes (discounting the time it would have taken me to drive it!). Feels like I "got a bargain"... :<

It's a comparable distance to the post office (walk to mail a letter; stop by the grocery store and buy a few items for the trip back).

Even my MD's office (3 miles each way).

The tough walks are when it's raining (I still go!).

You don't *have* to -- but, when you later complain about THIS ache and THAT pain...

[gfretwell]

Some of us old geezers are still pretty spry. I put the chambers in my septic tank field, shoveled in 3 yards of gravel and another 4 yards of fill about 2 months ago.

[Micky]

The odds on that are not bad. Only between 1/2 and 3/4 of those who have ever lived have died. So your odds of dying are between 1/2 and

3/4.

I think I got 20 or 25 year shingles when I re-roofed my house about

10 years ago. This means I'll have to reroof again when I'm 80 . If' I'd thought to get the 30 year shingles, I'd probably be out of here before then.

[Micky]

Wow.

I was upside down under the dash two days ago, a warm day, to disconnect the key-in switch, to stop the darn buzzing, and that night, my side hurt a lot. Still hurt last night. Never happened before, and I coudlnt' even find the switch.

LOL

[Micky]

My good friend is 79 years old and was in great shape until 2 weeks ago (5 years ago he was still carrying around, erecting, and climbing a 20 foot fiberglass extension ladeer.) His father lived to 93, his mother almost 100, wore high heels until she was 93.

But in the snow he stopped to help someone push his car out. Hurt his shoulder, but still went to work for two days. Pain bad, doctor said rotator cuff damaged. Physical therapy did something and now his neck and back hurts. Saw him today, after the chiropractor, he could barely walk, drooling from some pain medicine.

All from the car which belonged to a stranger.

[Micky]

I was 68 and one day walking down the stairs, my left leg kept bending, collapsing, and I had to hold on to the railing with my right hand to avoid falling to the left. I made my way down the whole flight of stairs like this, and then I rested at the bottom for a minute.

Then I was fine, and 8 months later, it hasn't shown up again.

[Don Y]

I always liked the sensation of gliding through the water then doing a flip at the end and headed back the other way.

But, you need a LONG pool (olympic size) to not end up spending all your time turning! Here, that means a public pool

Swimming, for me, also had the same advantage of walking: that it becomes mindless and you can free your mind to think about other things while your body keeps up the rhythm. You can even (almost!) "turn off your eyes" in each case to free up that much more of your consciousness.

By contrast, I found diving to be very intense -- demainding lots of attention.

I'd still prefer having a clone who could spend the TIME exercising (and, somehow, transfer its benefits to me!)

[Terry Coombs]

I'm not quite there yet , but hope to be spry enough to still be ridin' the Harley at that age . Just turned 64 last week , and I have no serious health issues . That's probably due mostly to quitting smoking 11 years ago ... I do have my share of aches and pains , mostly from a dissipated youth - which I still haven't outgrown . I figger that I'll be able to keep doin' as long as I keep doin' , if that makes any sense . My next task in this construction project is to dig holes to pour footings for support columns for the kitchen . I got a new shovel today just for this task ...

[Don Y]

And, he was 100% convinced of it for the first 103 feet...

[Don Y]

My office is set up as three "tables" in a large "U" shape. All of my computers are located *under* the tables (on the floor) with monitors, keyboards, mice and other I/O devices cluttering the top.

This is great -- cuz it gives me that much more surface to use for these devices, books, note pads, etc.

However, with each passing year, I find it harder to service the machines! The machines are about 3 feet from anything that connects to them (because the table is about 3 feet off the floor!). So, there's not a lot of slack in the cords that run up to the top of the table!

As a result, I can't really pull the machines out (forward) to work on them -- the cables effectively lock them in place. And, to get at the connections on the back of each means crawling UNDER the tables and poking around behind them (without moving them).

Of course, that means crawling OVER any other equipment that is located alongside! (other computers, printers, UPS's, etc.)

I don't think about any of this -- UNTIL I'm halfway under the table wondering why my body no longer "bends that way"! :<

[clare]

Kinda the same thing here - I've got knee hip and back pain and my lungs aren't real good - but I can still walk or bike a good distance if I take my time or use the "cheater bike" to help me on hills etc - but the wife has a bad heart valve that may or may not get replaced in the next couple years. Sure glad I live in Canada and not the USA on that count...

[Dan Espen]

Agreed.

Bummer. In town we have an aquatic club. Indoor swimming all year round. There's a big health club with a pool nearby too. Both have Olympic sized pools.

In my youth I spent most of my time in the pool diving. I was on a team at the Y then at HS.

Now I think I did too much diving and should have worked at swimming more. Today it's hard to find a place with a diving board.

I keep reading about how a muscle growing pill is in the works.

[Dan Espen]

Years ago I bought one of these:

You have to leave enough slack in the wiring to be able to move the stand.

[Don Y]

We have similar places. And, local "parks" (e.g., there's such a pool a mile from here, as the crow flies). I'm just not keen on having to share with kids with dirty diapers, etc.

[I don't let folks swim in my toilet, either! :> ]

For me, it was just a requirement in Boy Scouts (the "Swimming" and "Lifesaving" merit badges). It's an ... "interesting"... experience to *fly* upwards without fear of the fact that you *will* come crashing down (into *water*).

I never saw swimming as exercise (aerobic) but, rather, relaxing (get into the pool and "soak", glide through the water, etc.). E.g., much prefer side/back/breast to crawl -- they let you "coast" for a while and feel like you're floating/gliding; crawl always felt like you couldn't stop... like flapping your wings lest you fall out of the sky!

I want just enough strength to handle the basics of living. I don't need to impress anyone with the fact that I can lift/press N pounds.

I am more concerned with maintaining dexterity/range of motion. And, keenly aware of the prevalence of essential tremor and parkinsonian tremor as age increases. I've relied on fine motor control for most of my career; the potential for losing it (or compromising it) is... "disturbing". :<

[Don Y]

I have to walk a fine line regarding outdoor exercise.

I have *lots* of seasonal allergies. And, live in a place where *something* is ALWAYS in bloom. The pollen charts just show one species peaking -- then giving way to another, etc. -- all year 'round!

So, my lungs are often struggling to purge these inhaled "irritants" (apparently, folks with allergies are predisposed to things like asthma).

On top of this, I'm always trying to find the sweet spot regarding outdoor conditions: I'm not keen on walking when the Sun is high and it's 110F! I'll be *in* the sun for that entire time (esp if I'm walking to library, post office, etc.). And, not keen on having to carry water to stay hydrated (No fanny pack, thankyouverymuch!).

At the other extreme, if the air is too cool (and terribly DRY), it irritates my lungs. I feel like I want to scratch them for relief.

So, this leaves me with a narrow window to hit -- that I have to mesh with my sleep/wake/work cycle. I.e., if I'm asleep at the best time to walk...

If I miss that window, I *drive* the mile to the local park and walk their indoor track (no advantage to walking their OUTDOOR track!). But, this is INCREDIBLY boring!

Around and around and around and around and...

Also kind of embarassing as I tend to walk much faster than the other folks on the track. Especially those that are STRUGGLING to walk at all! So, I'm constantly overtaking them: "Excuse me", "Coming around on your left", etc.