Extreme Opposites - First, the Wall of Heat

 

 The trip to Hertford Camping and Caravan Site was challenging for a number of reasons.

First came the heat, which was at its worst (29 degrees) on Wednesday. I arrived just after 1pm on Tuesday, and the sun was still climbing. I made the mistake of setting up fully before having lunch. By the time I'd hooked up the EHU cable, pinned out the groundsheet, and put up the Skadu, I was feeling sick. I forgot to put the roof up, to get air into the van and had to take the Skadu down again to do it.

There was extra shade courtesy of one of the many trees, but, even so, I felt too sick too eat much. Part of my problem was dehydration and I was more concerned with drinking. I was glad I had cut, washed, and packed some lettuce. All I wanted was a little salad and some fruit.

I knew then that I had done too much and needed to rehydrate and rest. 

Alf had been out with The Dog Pack earlier in the day. He slept on his bed for the 35 minute journey. When we arrived, he slept on. He was tired and the heat was getting to him.

Later in the trip, he discovered that the coolest place was underneath the van - particularly the spot where I'd opened the waste water tank tap. The sink was refusing to drain, so I thought the tank might be full. It wasn't, but there was enough sink water in it to make the grass underneath the van very damp and cool.

I sat in the shade of the Skadu during the afternoon and drank almost all my supply of lime juice and tonic water. I began to feel a little better but decided not to push my luck.

I had decaf tea after lunch, avoided all strenuous activities, and waited until the sun began to drop before walking Alf. We didn't walk for long. I had palpitations and was feeling wobbly and sick again.

I was moored beside another Small camper that had a Skadu over the rear door. Dee was using long poles at the back to provide more usable space under the awning.

Alf and I had a quick exploration of our section of the campsite. There was an amenities block (showers, loos, dishwashing room, laundry etc) nearby, but no rubbish bins. The resident wildlife had vandalised those that had been placed around the site, so the main bins were quite a distance away at Reception.

I searched the amenities block for the NHS Covid code to scan in the app. I didn't find it, but did find an interesting piece of history. In 2001, the CCC celebrated its centenary by planting 100 trees on various campsites. One of the chosen sites was Hertford.

The Small Motorhome group was pitched on one side of the trees, beside the amenities block.

I watched the temperature cooling inside the van, dropping off to sleep with the rear door open, at about 8pm. The van was benefitting from the shade of the Skadu and one of those 100 trees.

When I woke, it was still 23 degrees but was time to close and lock the door. I set the side windows open, with a towel thrown over the pane for extra shade. Flyscreens prevented an incursion of bugs, but allowed the meagre breeze to blow through.

The view from the Port side of Levant II - here be rabbits.

It was a humid, sticky night; one in which I woke frequently for a trip to the loo, thanks to all the liquid I'd consumed. I was dreading the following day, which was forecast to be even hotter. My plans for joining the group's activities were put on hold until I saw what the weather would bring.

Somewhere,

 something incredible is waiting to be known. ~ Carl Sagan

Boxing exercises with partner

For me, the 'something incredible' was discovering that I'm quite good at 'boxing', at least I'm quite good at the exercises that the tutor introduced into the weekly Well-Being Workout (categorised as a muscular conditioning and toning class) at the Nuffield gym. We paired off and were put through routines of one partner punching the target on the other partner's focus pads. As the pace increased and the punching routines were teamed with sprinting (or in my case, walking quickly) to the other end of the room), it became clear that this was quite an effective cardio-workout with upper-arm/shoulder strength.

The remainder of the 45 minute class included core work with and without fitness ball. Bridge, superman, pushups and cobra curl etc.

Bridge without ball

Bridge using ball

'Superman' without ball

'Superman' with ball

Cobra curl

Pushups with ball

Quite a strenuous workout was followed by tea and toast before the first of the 4,  hour-long full body massage MWNN had bought  for my birthday. I think I need a massage to recover from the massage.

Tell my knees that

the way up and the way down are one and the same. ~ Heraclitus

Section 1 of 3 of the staircase up

The way up from the dining block at Farncombe Estate was hard on the leg muscles and killing on the lungs so I took the long and winding road way instead.










 

Section 1 of 3 of the staircase down

The way down was quick and easy but it put the right knee back to where it was a year ago, and the left knee swelled in sympathy.

New training routine

Physio, Vicky, and Coach, Cleo decided that I should move to the next level of training in the rehabilitation of  my knee. The new routine involves more 'core' work and less time on the machines. In fact, I can do most of the exercises (apart from the warm-up) at home, even the ones using a fitness ball. I can't replicate the BOSU (think  inflated beach ball cut in half with flat base but still extremely wobbly).

Dead bug exercise

• Warm Up - bike 10 mins.
• Squats - 2x15
• Static lunges - 2x15
• Bridge position (on ball) 2x12
• Superman 2x12
• Dead Bug (on back) 2x12
• BOSU - balance on one leg - hold position as long as possible
• BOSU - squats 2x12
• BOSU - static squats 2x12

All these are designed to retrain damaged receptors that resulted in repeated injury. The beauty of them is that I can take the schedule away with me and do most of the exercises anywhere there is a clean, flat, floor surface.

Wellbeing Workout

 

I had a wonderful session at the gym yesterday. There was me, the Instructor,  a trainee instructor, an exercise mat, and a fitness ball. 45 minutes of various exercises, with and without the ball, and I felt as though I was really making progress with my leg muscles, balance, and core strength.

The Instructor, Andy, was very attuned to my needs and pushed me just enough to keep the repetitions going without causing pain or discomfort.

All this was free, part of the membership benefits of Nuffield Health and Fitness Club. I'll definitely be fitting a Wellbeing Workout into my weekly schedule, though I recognise that I won't have the Instructor to myself in subsequent weeks.

Recovering fitness

is going well

Letchworth Nuffield Club Pool

Three days a week sees me heading for the Health and Fitness Club. I'm ringing the changes between pool and gym - aiming for a total of 30 minutes work-out in the gymn to strengthen the gluteuss maximus with some bike work and repeats on the leg press. Upping the weights on the leg press as that muscle gets stronger.

Yesterday was a great session. I arrived early for the pool (it was full to bursting at 12.15) so watched the medals rolling in at Eton Dorney while eating a banana and drinking an Innocent Smoothie. I waited an hour for the pool to clear, but it didn't. I got in at about 13.20 and did 20 minutes alternating breastroke, backstroke, and mongrel (breastroke arms, crawl kick) for 25 minutes.

After a shower, I dried off and changed into gymn kit. My trainers felt much tighter than usual and by the time I'd gone upstairs and done a few minutes on the bike, my little toes were screaming. I wonder how much feet should swell while swimming (if at all). I decided to call it quits and headed downstairs to wait for MWNN to pick me up.

While waiting, I watched  Ben Ainslie racing a very agressively tactical penultimate round of the Finn Class. The sheer strength and skill was evident as Ainslie battled to force the Dane into third place to ensure that GB was in a strong position going into the medal race on Sunday.

I'm in awe of the talent and effort that Team GB are demonstrating in these Olympics.

The Daughter was right

She said that knee problems were often caused by weak bum muscles. According to the new Physio at the Health and Fitness Club, I have a muscle imbalance in the right leg - caused by the battering said leg has experienced since the first fall from a tricycle as a toddler.

Nike Ladies Team Lite

In preparation for the Physio's prescription of gym work to rectify the problem, I bought a pair of trainers (80% discount) online. Again The Daughter was spot-on with her recommendation of a light-soled pair with none of the bells and whistles needed for running.

I had hoped that the trainers would arrive before I left for the gym on Monday but they were late (arriving ten minutes after I left the house at 12.30, despite leaving the delivery depot (about 2 hours away)  at 6.15am.) The parcel contained a pair of Nike Ladies Team Lite, and a surprise Sports' Direct mug that holds about a gallon, making the trainers look smaller than they are (UK size 12)

The trainers fit perfectly and are very comfortable. I shall be in the gym, rather than the pool, for the rest of the week. Next week, I have a session with my swimming coach to see how I can accommodate the need for 'no knee rotation' during my swimming sessions (breast stroke).

Drop-in Tai Chi

yesterday was useful. We spent the hour on warm-up exercises that allowed me to pinpoint where my problem lies - with the right knee-cap. My knee turns inward when standing with feet parallel. This places great stress on the knee and strain on the hamstring when turning the hips from side to side. 'Walking Tai Chi' also indicates that there is something amiss as the right foot cannot take all the weight when the left foot is 'rolling the virtual pencil' as it moves forward.

A weekly drop-in means that no one has to commit to paying for a term's classes. It's very much a pay-as-you-go which suits most people.

Walking - a modern leisure activity

Why do we walk? More often than not, it's not to get from A to B as part of our daily business. We walk for pleasure,  exercise, to 'get some fresh air', explore the surrounding countryside, and a variety of other reasons.

Not so long ago, in the area where I now live, walking was the way of getting from one place to another for ordinary people. The town has many 'satellite' villages and, over the centuries, a network of footpaths and byways developed - the major route crossing the area being the Icknield Way.

click through for larger version

We are blessed with a huge choice of walking for health routes that criss-cross and circle the towns and villages in this part of North Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

To mark the beginning of Spring (though it felt more like the beginning of Summer), MWNN and I had an 'exploratory' walk around Ickleford yesterday. We were without a map and relied on the markers and signposts to navigate our way around a circular 3.5km walk, beginning and ending at Ickleford Sports Centre.




At the end of this delightful walk, we dropped into the Plume of Feathers, a real unmucked-about-with pub that serves a good selection of real ales and some rather good bar food. Ron was allowed join us to share the ham from my ham-and-salad-on-wholemeal sandwich and a few of MWNN's side-serving of chips.

Better safe than sorry

Bottoming involves thorough cleaning of everything!

I don't exacly like doing housework. I don't mind doing the laundry and, sometimes, when there's something good on TV, ironing. But housework  seems such a waste of effort - all that cleaning and scrubbing, vacuuming and dusting, sorting and tidying - and then it all needs doing again in a few days time.

The only time I feel like giving the house a good bottoming' is when MWNN is away and there's nothing else to do to stop me dying of boredom.

Recent housework plans were scuppered by a sudden attack of what I later discovered was Vertigo, on Sunday night. The event was similar to the time MWNN and I crossed the Irish Sea by ferry in a force nine. I knew I suffered from seasickness, MWNN denied he did. We both woke up in the middle of the night and immediately started throwing up - The Daughter (about two at the time, was immune and thought it was great fun to be on a ship pitching and rolling at anchor outside Dublin harbour.) Sunday night was like that - waking up in the middle of the night and immediately throwing up - regularly - for almost three hours. The nausea was accompanied by a room which refused to stay still. It whirled around at fantastic speed whenever I opened my eyes. My eyes joined in the whirling.

When the shivering and sweating began, I decided to call the emergency NHS service. I reasoned I might be having a stroke or something that would cause me to faint. As I was alone in the house, no one would know. The triage nurse sent my details to the on-call duty doctor and told me to sit up and wait for the call. I must have dozed off because the duty doctor's call woke me. After several questions and medical history details, she decided it was probably vertigo - caused by an inbalance in the ears.

By then, the vertigo had stopped (so had the vomittting) but I was still feeling nauseous and very shook. The ducty doctor gave me the number for direct contact with my GP's out-of-hours service and told me to ring if things worsened. If there was pain, I was to dial 999.

I'm really glad I contacted NHS Direct. I was reassured by both the nurse and duty doctor and dozed for the remainder of the night. It could have been a stroke. Indeed, I learned later the following week that my neighbour's father had a similar experience (but with paralysis of face and hand) and didn't contact a doctor for 24 hours. He's in hospital - he did have a stroke and it wasn't attended to fast enough.

Fitness routine

Last week, my PT took me through the torture recovery and strengthening routines she's devised for my gym sessions.

I want to get my knee functioning properly again before I go back to the swim sessions. I also asked her for some upper body exercises to strengthen my arms, which have always been a bit weak.

Lots of 2 x 12 repeats on the machines for exercising the legs and then even more 2 x 12 on different machines for the arms. With my legs, I'm starting with 15kg weights, but for the arms, I can't manage more than 10kg (and in some cases even less than that) at the moment.

All this preceded by 1000m 'warm-up' on the rowing machine at 30 strokes per minute. The whole routine, including rests, should take about an hour. 

I'm aiming for 3 times a week for gym sessions. This should be easier to achieve than 3 swim sessions as I can use the gym at any time, whereas, if I want a lane to myself, I have to be in the pool between 12.30 and 1pm.

New regime begins on our return from Southwold.

The Lost Practice of Resting

one day every week.

I miss Sundays as they used to be when I was younger - when the shops were shut and only emergency and essential service workers were required to work (usually on a rota system)

Rest is important for our health (physical and mental), productivity (personal and social/economic), and (religious leaders would argue), our souls.

"The hectic pace is causing damage to our quality of life. We are destroying every sense of our being (body, mind, and soul). There is a reason we run faster and work harder only to fall farther behind - our lives have become too full and too out of balance. Somewhere along the way, we lost the essential practice of concentrated rest. We would be wise to reclaim the ancient, lost practice of resting one day each week.

Nobody who is alive is immune from the trials of life. By starting the discipline today of concentrated rest, you will build up reserves for when the unexpected emergencies of life strike… and rest is no longer an option."

Start today - set aside one day on which you will rest - no routine activities, housework, shopping, paying bills, responding to emails and other daily chores. Concentrate instead on those things which give you pleasure or relaxation.

Regain the balance in your life.

Mother was right

about lemon tea. When I had a cold as a child, she made fresh lemon tea that was always served in a large coffee pot that was put on the hearth to keep warm.

I developed a sore throat three days after MWNN arrived home, bringing with him a dose of the nasties.

Good thing I'd already had the flu jab and stocked up on lemon tea - this one from Dr Stuart's range of herbal and fruit tea. Its main ingredients are elderflower ( a natural immune system booster) and lemons (used by generations of mothers to ease winter cold and flu symptoms).

Ingredients

Elder flowers 31%, lemongrass 25%, rosehip 24%, lemonpeels 10%, lemon balm 5%, natural lemon flavour.

Health MOT

Had a health MOT at my Health and Fitness Club on Monday morning. I reckoned I'd have a LOT of work to do to get back to my previous (rather good) rating. So it came as a pleasant surprise to hear that my aerobic measure was excellent and all the others were within normal parameters (no action needed). I'd like to lose a little weight (weighed in at 57kg fully clothed) and get back to my 54-55kg target.

The blood machine wasn't working so I don't have a glucose or cholestrol score. I'm booked in for blood tests on Sunday morning.  I know my cholesterol is always 'borderline high' but my GP isn't worried by it and is treating the BP which was a creditable 122/78 in 'white coat' conditions. I'm interested to see what the glucose levels are after months of eating what I fancied while ill (not a lot, but mounds of fruit and fruit juice as well as the odd sticky bun).

One niggling problem remains - my right knee. Gary, the sports' phsyio was more interested in the cause and treatment of the hamstring pain, which he sorted out nicely, and made only passing reference to exercises for the knee should it remain painful. It has! Exercise seems to be making it worse. I was relieved when my Sports' MOT person (Chloe) said that the knee was swollen in two places much more than the left. I've always had swellings around both knees and put it down to all the the horse-riding I did in my youth. Chloe is qualified to give sports' massage and she refered me to the Sports' Physio at the Health Club (9.30am appointment today) as well as booking me in for a massage at 11am.

I've already had a month's free membership for meeting the targets of my first MOT but there was a special offer available for anyone having an  MOT (free every 3 months to members) in September and I opted for a session with a personal trainer (Chloe) to help work out a fitness regime in the gym to build upper body strength and strengthen the knee muscles. In the meantime, I have to take swimming gently as breastroke is notorious for causing/aggravating knee problems. I shall have to be very careful for the rest of this week and beyond as my own 'personal trainer', MWNN is back in France sorting out boaty problems that could (most probably would) affect the water-tightness of the boat over the winter.

Revised Schedule

Danesfield Spa pool

I don't normally start my fitness routine until after we return from our Autumn cruise. As there will be no autumn cruise this year, I've reactivated my membership of the Nuffield Health and Fitness Club and begin work on re-building my fitness and stamina levels next week.

I found it quite hard to be hit by sciatica before I'd fully recovered from the effects of the pleurisy. It made perfect sense when the physio explained how weeks of inactivity had caused the muscles in that damaged leg to stiffen and that the demands made on it during the standing Qigong sessions resulted in the pain from a pinched sciatic nerve (probably pinched during coughing spasms). It made perfect sense but didn't make accepting the setback any easier.

The physio assures me that swimming is probably the best  form of exercise I can take (along with the back exercises to strenghthen the muscles around the nerve itself.)


Looking forward to feeling better again.

Counting blessings

The slow road to recovery is coming along nicely - already, my resting pulse rate is dropping and is down to a creditable 68-76 BP is fine too 116/72 most days. I've just started new BP meds and need to monitor it closely. So far, there's little difference from the old readings. I have another doctor's appointment at the end of the month to see how things are going,

We live in a beautiful part of the world. Despite recent unsettling events in London and other cities, I still feel fairly safe when out and about ('though I have to admit re-thinking the non-ownership of a GSD). On Sunday, we walked in the local 'rec' and admired the old roses in front of the Railway Cottages which face the open space. Many were in need of 'dead heading' like my Red Hat Lady Rose.

 Red Hat Lady Rose

When we returned home, I got out the secateurs and pruned the Red Hat Lady. Some of the clusters of rose heads contained one or two that weren't 'over the top' -  they were perfect for the dining room table.  The scent is heavenly. MWNN says the scent says 'Rush' to him.

Slow road to recovery

MWNN is managing the road to my recovery. Throughout the last three weeks he's been 'chief cook and bottle washer' (as well as washer-toad, nurse, and butler) in the house. Now that I'm no longer sleeping most of the day, he's scheduling in some exercise (weather permitting).

Monday's trip was a little further afield than usual. He drove me to Pryor's Wood (renowned for its display of bluebells in Spring.) It was quite cloudy and I found the wood a little dark and foreboding. The sound of 'wind in the willows' brought 'the wild wood' to mind.

Ron enjoyed the 15 minute stroll. He explored and followed lots of interesting scent trails while marking numerous trees so that he could lead us to the car when we turned back. He met a young labrador who was 'on lead' to stop him doing what Ron had just done - splashing through muddy puddles.

The one disappointment of the outing was the sight of the large clearing (a natural hollow) being used as a rubbish dump.

Spa Day

Afternoon Tea overlooking the Thames.

I had a midweek Spa Break at Danesfield House bought for me as a Christmas gift. What a good idea, I thought, to book the break for the day before the Tai Chi Retreat (All Saints could be said to be on the way home) at the end of the month. A day of pampering followed by five days' retreat with some gentle exercise and relaxation.

Just what the doctor ordered. (No, he didn't, but he'd approve, of that I'm certain.)

and breathe

It's week three (or possibly four, I've lost count) of the boomerang virus-from-hell that gave me a dose of pleurisywithbronchitis and I'm feeling as weak as a kitten.

I'm also going stir crazy (there's only so much reading and daytime TV I can stand) and have pain in my right arm from too much knitting. Time to do something about regaining a bit of fitness and mobility. Time for some breathing and a spot of gentle Tai Chi  warm-up exercises every day.






I am so glad that I booked a place on the Red Dragon Retreat this year. It's the last time it will be held at All Saints Pastora Centre. I signed up knowing that I wasn't in tip-top condition and the Tutor is prepared for my opting in and out of sessions depending on how I'm feeling.

I've dug out the teaching DVD and will work  my way through the Form during the next few weeks.I'm looking forward to doing the Sword Form again, too.


Here's a video of the Man himself demonstrating the Sword Form


 and Part 3 of the Short Form

Snuggling in bed with

a nice cup of tea

and lots and lots of pills.