2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

TwibbleDee

I don't hear slacks used as much even around here anymore.  It might be fading out in favor of "dress pants" or "office pants".

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

New hiking boots ordered - but for My Intended and therefore on his coupons  

We did our first 5-mile proper hike today, 3 others planned Tues, Thurs, Fri, and longer ones next week. Having gone over it in detail for a fortnight or more, M.I. hadn't thought to tell me his walking shoes are not even a tiny bit waterproof...! So poor thing, he was in thin socks and wet shoes from the start. 
So I have ordered him a pair of Merrells, and he should have those, and have worn them in, for next week when we do four days of longer hikes...

(He goes back to working from home p/t after that, so I forced him to agree to these two weeks of four-days-of-hiking in order to get him properly fit again after his surgery. He keeps insisting he's fit, but then is incredibly tired when he does do something, and has to admit to it, so these hikes should properly build some fitness and stamina. We're not fell-running - this morning we did 6.2 miles in just under three miles - but it should make a real difference to his sleep pattern and to his general health - and to mine!! I have hopes of getting my BMI down below 35 (it's been 35 or above for years and years) in the next fortnight, and by the Nw Year I would love to have it below 30... 
I think of it as doing my bit to support the NHS, ie doing what I can do to not-need them! I can walk, I can eat less sugar, those things help the NHS a lot more than banging a saucepan ever did...)

Me too.  I may have to grit my teeth in the morning to go for a run, but I'd rather do it and take responsibility for the things I can change/fix about my body.  The biggest threat to our health as we get older is frailty due to the loss of muscle mass and loss of physical fitness. 

I've been doing the "Couch to 5K" since July, repeating some weeks until I've felt like I've conquered them.  I took last week off, because I was feeling crap all week, so started on Week 4 for the third time this morning. ( I also repeated Week 3 four times. I guess I'm really on week 10.)  Today, I can finally say that I felt a difference as I ran, no struggling with the running sections. I always feel better, later in the day, too.

- Pip

Baileys_Babe

My Grandma used to use slacks to mean trousers worn by women, very casual, not jeans nor jogging trousers. She would wear them around the house and garden, but not when she had visitors or going out.

Laura_Elsewhere

Baileys_Babe said:

My Grandma used to use slacks to mean trousers worn by women, very casual, not jeans nor jogging trousers. She would wear them around the house and garden, but not when she had visitors or going out.

Yes, that's how my Nana used the word - I don't think I've ever heard anyone younger use it!

Fascinating how words get changed and altered in use across the world.... @PipneyJane, how long til you sorted out shallots and spring onions?!?! (In Australia, they are each used to mean the other one...)

PipneyJane

Laura_Elsewhere said:

Baileys_Babe said:

My Grandma used to use slacks to mean trousers worn by women, very casual, not jeans nor jogging trousers. She would wear them around the house and garden, but not when she had visitors or going out.

Yes, that's how my Nana used the word - I don't think I've ever heard anyone younger use it!

Fascinating how words get changed and altered in use across the world.... @PipneyJane, how long til you sorted out shallots and spring onions?!?! (In Australia, they are each used to mean the other one...)

God knows, @Laura_Elsewhere, although I definitely come from a “spring onion” state not a shallot one.  I’m not sure shallots (as the British know them), are grown in Australia.

- Pip

PollyWollyDoodle

Pip, very impressed with your Couch25K progress. I was up to Week 3 before I tore the ligaments in my ankle in May, five months later it’s still painful but I would really like to try again. I have gone back to swimming and weirdly the Covid stuff is helping.  I have to book, and then I feel guilty if I don’t go so it’s making me drag myself out of bed in the mornings.  

I’m very aware, from years of volunteering with older people, that mobility is absolutely key to enjoying a fulfilling and happy old age. I know a 93 year old who was still going out shopping on the bus every day until lockdown. 

TwibbleDee

I said I was going to run yesterday, and the boss asked me if I was working on fitness. Nope, going to run errands. If I try to actually run, I fall over with a sprained ankle. To be fair, that has also happened when I walked, stepped off a curb, or stood still on a flat surface. I think I’ve managed to get it strong enough to get past that point now. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@TwibbleDee, we could make great training partners, obviously - My Intended didn't realise how literally I meant it when I told him I was accident-prone and clumsy until he was walking along a completely flat level pavement in Brisbane with me and I went full-length on the ground having tripped over nothing whatsoever...!  

Cherryfudge

TwibbleDee said:

I said I was going to run yesterday, and the boss asked me if I was working on fitness. Nope, going to run errands.

I like that!

I'm a C25K fan: I started at age 53 to lose some weight for a wedding and for the first time in my life actually ran successfully. That said, I'm the world's slowest runner, having had to slow down and shorten my stride to keep enough reserves to do the full sessions. However I've really got the bug. I had to stop for a while after an accident (nothing to do with running) but I've got back to it and I'm working towards being able to do 10K again.

Now I need to find something for upper body strength.

PipneyJane

Just a heads up, if anyone wants really warm walking boots, Celtic Sheepskin are selling their sheepskin lined walking boots again.  It's been about 5 years since they last did them.  They aren't cheap but I've had mine for 10 years, wear them to the football at least a dozen times a year and they look like new.  I paid £135; their current price is £165.  Worth every penny and every coupon.   I just hope that, when mine wear out, they're still selling them.  

Cherryfudge said:

TwibbleDee said:

I said I was going to run yesterday, and the boss asked me if I was working on fitness. Nope, going to run errands.

I like that!

I'm a C25K fan: I started at age 53 to lose some weight for a wedding and for the first time in my life actually ran successfully. That said, I'm the world's slowest runner, having had to slow down and shorten my stride to keep enough reserves to do the full sessions. However I've really got the bug. I had to stop for a while after an accident (nothing to do with running) but I've got back to it and I'm working towards being able to do 10K again.

Now I need to find something for upper body strength.

You and me, both, @Cherryfudge. If it helps, a couple of times a year, L!dl sell their strength bands, which come complete with a workout sheet.  You get three different bands with different levels of resistance in each pack.  They aren't expensive (<£15) and are as good as using free weights.  I just need to get into the habit of using them on my non-running mornings.  Not sure when they'll next be on sale; I think the last time was May.

There is something amazing about asking your body to do an action - run, leap, whatever - and it doing so comfortably, with strength in reserve.  Summer last year (or, maybe, the year before), we were nearly late for a Late Evening Prom Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.  (Got stuck in traffic.) Had to run the whole way from where we parked up, including up 4 flights of stairs.  Just felt like I was flying.  Got to our seats in the nick of time.  (There's no interval in a late evening prom and they don't let you into the auditorium once the performers are ready to start.)

I want more of that feeling.

- Pip