Month: May 2022

May 2022 weight loss report: Up 0.1 pounds

Sad trombone.

In terms of actual weight loss, the month was a wash, with a negligible increase of 0.1 pounds–basically the difference of leaning harder or more gently on the scale. More notably, Fitbit believes I have amassed a pound of fat over the last month, despite the minimal weight gain and my overall fat percentage went up, too. Not good!

I did do a bit of snacking, which was bad, but never gained traction for the entire month. Twice I dipped below 173 pounds, but never carried any momentum after doing so. I climbed over 175 a few times, so maybe I should be glad I ended up breaking even by the end. Still disappointing. But I have no one to blame but myself!

And so my quest to hit 160 pounds by the start of June–tomorrow–ends a full 13.5 pounds short. Only emergency magic liposuction can help me hit that goal now.

Instead, I will vow to swear off snacking in June and aim for a more modest loss of five pounds by the end of the month. Will I be reporting a weigh-in of 168.5 pounds in 30 days? We shall see!

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2022: 180.6 pounds
Current: 173.5 pounds

Year to date: Down 7.1 pounds

May 1: 173.4 pounds
May 31: 173.5 pounds (up 0.1pounds)

Body fat:

January 1: 23.2% (42.1 pounds of fat)
April 30: 21.3% (37 pounds of fat--down 5.1 pounds)

Treadmill workout 149: Look ma, no hands

After reading that holding onto the hand grips during a treadmill walkout is a Bad Thing (because it takes a lot of work off your legs) and while also feeling lazy today about going out for a run, I decided to try a treadmill workout hands-free. Good news: I didn’t fall off!

I set the speed to the usual 6.5 (pace of 9:13/km) but set the incline to 3 instead of 5 to see how that would go. It definitely felt weird to not be holding on, but in the end it turned out I really didn’t need to. I’ve been needlessly wimping out this entire time! I went for 30 minutes rather than the usual 45ish, so next time I will go longer and may bump the incline back up to 5 to see how that goes, then I’ll be able to see a true direct comparison between holding out/easy mode and testing just how coordinated I really am on top of moving objects.

No issues during the workout. Note the increased BPM. It’s like I really was working harder! The pace was slower because I could not count on the steely grip of my hands saving me from going splat.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 3 (down from 5)

Pace: 9:01/km (8:43/km)
Time: 30:03 (44:09)
Distance: 3.33 km (5.06 km)
Calories burned: 252 (332)
BPM: 126 (121)

Making your point a little too effectively by accident

I got this in an email today and find it amusing.

When I clicked the broken image link, I was disappointed to find that the article was not advocating a return to rotary phones, but rather how neat it is to use a pen with a notebook. And yes, it’s great, until you want to find something you wrote somewhere in the middle of the 200 pages of notes you’ve scribbled incoherently. And if you keep your paper notes meticulously indexed and organized, YOU ARE A VERY WEIRD PERSON. Not bad, just weird.

Tower of Doom

I am not sure how I feel about all the mega towers going up around Metro Vancouver, but mostly I think I don’t like these giant concrete monoliths.

So when I took a photo of one at Lougheed Town Centre, I took the liberty of changing the sky, adding lightning and changing the lighting (using Luminar AI) to give it a kind of Mt. Doom quality. But it needs more lava or something.

And here it is in handy before and after format!

Run 678: Showers, sun, slugs and a coyote

I decided to do a run in the morning to try to beat predicted showers in the afternoon. It almost worked!

I headed out around 10 a.m. and did a Classic™ Brunette River trail run, starting as soon as I got there. I did mix it up slightly by opting to just run out the last km instead of going partway up the trail and turning back to try to end where I started. This meant a longer walk back at the end, which is no biggie.

Overall I think the run went well. I managed a pace of 6:05/km, which is perfectly decent considering I’m still deliberately keeping things going at a more measured pace until I get more runs in. I didn’t experience any cramps or other issues, nor did I have that “OH MY GOD WHEN IS THIS GOING TO END?!” feeling at any point. It was fine. And my BPM was still nicely low, only slightly higher than the 2K run, woo.

Given the showers yesterday, there were a generous number of slugs that required dodging and my plan to avoid rain today worked for the first 3.5 km, at which point the sky opened up and it poured…for about five minutes. Then it stopped and the sun came out. Even this was fine. It’s just nice to be outside running again.

The coyote I saw in Lower Hume Park. It was trotting along pretty casually across the field and toward the parking lot (which was empty due to the weather). The casualness is probably not a good thing. I took a photo but since I wasn’t that close, it looks like one of those typically terrible photos of Bigfoot. Or a chupacabra, which several of the guys in Discord claimed it must be.

Coyote? Dog? Chupacabra?
Run 678
Average pace: 6:05/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 10:20 a.m.
Distance: 5:05 km
Time: 30:45
Weather: Cloudy, showers
Temp: 12ºC
Humidity: 68%
Wind: light
BPM: 151
Weight: 174.5
Total distance to date: 4990 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (105 km)

Walk 69: A walk in two parts (again)

Today I did a slightly silly thing.

I walked to Costco.

Why is this slightly silly? Mainly because when people shop at a place like Costco, they are buying enough stuff to fill a skid and this requires some form of motorized transport to get home. Walking will only allow you to carry a couple of 10 kg jars of pickles, tops.

Still, I made the four km journey on foot, did my shopping, then filled my backpack and two grocery bags (no pickles), putting the heaviest stuff in the backpack. Then I did something that was also slightly sillier still.

I walked back home carrying all this stuff. At about the halfway point I stopped to adjust the straps on my backpack, because the weight of the items felt like it was trying to pull my shoulders off. Adjusting it so the backpack sat higher fixed this nicely. I’ll admit that trekking up the multiple flights of stairs in Hume Park was interesting, but I have enough stamina now to do these things without stopping. I did stop again, though, to rest my hands. The bag handles were digging into my flesh. I think this is because they don’t really expect you to normally carry heavy bags on 45-minute walks.

Also, I totally beat the rain. It was cloudy but warm when I went, and a few hours later our unfun soggy spring resumed its unfun soggy spring ways.

Stats, split in two for double the fun:

Walk 69, Part 1
Average pace: 9:42/km
Location: Brunette River trail and beyond
Distance: 4.13 km
Time: 40:06
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 16ºC
Humidity: 60%
Wind: light
BPM: 106
Weight: 173.8 pounds
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12
Total distance to date: 512.77 km

And the exact same route, in reverse, but with a thousand kilograms of bulk products from Costco along for the walk. Note the pace, calorie burn and BPM have risen accordingly.

Walk 69, Part 2
Average pace: 10:50/km
Location: Brunette River trail and beyond
Distance: 4.17 km
Time: 45:13
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 18ºC
Humidity: 50%
Wind: light
BPM: 111
Weight: 173.8 pounds
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12
Total distance to date: 516.94 km

Run 677: A short one

This was a short 2K run sandwiched between two walks. I was originally going to do a 5K today but my legs advised against it, so I said, “Okay, legs, you win this time!” Then I ran 2K on the river trail because it was nice out, and I figured 2K is short enough to not make the legs go, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I SAID NO RUNNING!”

I actually tried pulling back a bit around the midway point, then thought it’s only 2 km, do I really need to rein myself in? So I did, but only a little. The run was fine, no issues. As it was the river trail and a fair bit less than 5K, I managed to break the 6:00/km barrier. It’s still nice to do that, even with caveats.

Stats:

Run 677
Average pace: 5:56/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Start: 2:01 p.m.
Distance: 2:04 km
Time: 12:06
Weather: Sunny with some high cloud
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 68%
Wind: light
BPM: 148
Weight: 173.5
Total distance to date: 4985 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (100 km)

Walk 68: A walk in two parts

I wasn’t ready to do a full run today but wanted to do something official-ish, so I did the following:

  • Walked 4K on the river trail
  • Ran 2K back
  • Walked the remaining 2K home

So 6 km of walking and two of running. I am splitting the stats for the walk into two parts, and the run itself will be a run post. More stats = more fun! Woo.

After a shower in the morning (the rain kind, not the one you have in a bath tub or shower stall), the sun came out, so the weather was thoroughly pleasant for the outings. My right hip was feeling stiff but after about half a km or so it limbered up and was fine after that.

Stats:

Walk 68, Part 1
Average pace: 9:22/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 4.05 km
Time: 37:58
Weather: Sunny, some clouds
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 68%
Wind: light
BPM: 108
Weight: 173.5 pounds
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12
Total distance to date: 506.56 km

For some reason, the weather didn’t record for the second walk, so let’s just pretend it was identical!

Walk 68, Part 2
Average pace: 8:39/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 2.08 km
Time: 18:00
Weather: Sunny, some clouds
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 68%
Wind: light
BPM: 125
Weight: 173.5 pounds
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12
Total distance to date: 508.64 km

Apple: Mucking up your music since 2001

Oh, Apple. How do you manage to take something that works and break it in such wonderful ways?

The other day I went for a run and decided to listen to the Jon and Vangelis album The Friends of Mr. Cairo. I had previously downloaded it from Apple Music onto my iPhone (the downloaded part is important–this saves me bandwidth because I don’t need to stream the music over cell while I’m out running). I had listened to the album on runs before, and had no issues.

This time I noticed something different.

The previous night, I had added two other Jon and Vangelis albums on my Mac–added, but not downloaded. These were faithfully reproduced (but not downloaded–as expected) on my iPhone’s Music app. All good so far.

Except the first song, “I’ll Find My Way Home” was no longer part of The Friends of Mr. Cairo. It was now part of another album, but only listed by itself. The two albums are:

  • The Friends of Mr. Cairo (Remastered) — the one that previously had all the songs from the album, but was now missing “I’ll Find My Way Home”
  • The Friends of Mr. Cairo (2016 Remaster) — which only has “I’ll Find My Way Home” and nothing else

Yes, by adding these other albums, the Apple Music app apparently tried to fix something that was not broken and now has split the single album across two separate albums, apparently pulling from two different versions or just two of the same but with slightly different names. For my run, I had to create a playlist just to play the actual album in order. I guess that helped warm up my fingers. I named the playlist in a crude, but I think fair, manner:

To fix this I had to delete both copies from my iPhone, then download the 2016 remaster, except the first time it only grabbed one song (this isn’t even the downloaded part, just getting the actual list of songs), the second time it grabbed two and the third time, by some miracle, it grabbed all seven tracks and downloaded them without setting my phone on fire.

Now to see if this actually stays in place or if Apple’s secret and evil gnome magic will start splitting it up into multiple albums again.

I could have been eating a cookie instead of doing all this. A yummy cookie.

Bad Apple.

Checking out (of the news)

The news these days is generally bad.

To wit:

  • Global warming continues apace and not a whole lot is being down by governments to slow it down sufficiently to give us time to adapt
  • Related to the above, there is a growing sense among some in the public of, “Well, it’s gonna happen, anyway, why sacrifice or make changes now? It’s too late!”
  • Russia invaded Ukraine in February and the conflict has been bloody and filled with atrocities and war crimes on the Russian side. This has had ripple effects on the global economy
  • Speaking of the global economy, the combination of the pandemic and mysterious other things which economic experts often never seem to fully explain, has lead to, among other things:
    • Shortages of various products, everything from certain types of food to electronics
    • Inflation. It’s back, baby!
    • Profiteering thanks to unfettered capitalism allowing companies to raise prices under the cover of “inflation” to make even more profits off of everyone else
  • The pandemic continues, with cases rising in some places and the sixth wave (or second Omicron wave, as some call it) subsiding. The “good” news here is most pandemic restrictions are gone, so people are basically left to fend for themselves in most settings. Also, most people think either the pandemic is over or the worst is behind us, so yay?
  • Mass shootings continue apace (another one today in the U.S. Thoughts and prayers).
  • The slide away from democracy continuing in the U.S., along with what will undoubtedly be fun side effects for Canada
  • TikTok. Yes, just TikTok.

There is good news, too, of course, even if you sometimes have to look for it. Here’s one I found on the CBC News site (from yesterday) about Angela Lansbury receiving a special Tony Award. Lansbury is an absolute delight and still active at 96.

But generally, it is bad. And the bad stuff always gets promoted over the good, for various reasons.

I subscribed to the Next Draft newsletter by Dave Pell. He’s a good writer, covers the stuff you’d expect to be covered, and does it with both observations both witty and cogent. But today as I was reading about the brutal Chinese treatment of the Uyghur minority, 61% (that’s over 42 million people) of Trump voters apparently believing the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and other maladies of the world, I scrolled down to the bottom of the newsletter and hit the unsubscribe link.

I’m not going to avoid the news, but I am going to keep a tighter control on how and where I view it. Part of that I’ve already started: Checking the news is no longer part of my morning routine. I do it later in the afternoon. I figure if the world suddenly starts to end, I’ll probably find out, anyway.

I feel better already.

Walk 67: Stretching out

I decided that I’d keep the running to a minimum today to let my leg muscles further recover–I plan on running tomorrow after a couple of days off. Instead, I ran intermittently, but did a longer route, stretching out to just over 8 km (the previous walk was 7.5 km by comparison). I also ran uphill (but not both ways in the snow).

I also hit a mile (kilometer?) stone today by passing the 500 km mark on these walks. That’s a decent amount of hoofing it, I’d say.

The uphill parts were the usual bit on Fader Street, but also the long incline that connects Upper and Lower Hume Park. I actually managed to get to just where it starts to level off without collapsing into a puddle of goo.

Here’s a map of the new route, which takes me down alongside the off-leash area in Hume Park and then out past Cariboo Road to the train tracks, where I turn around and repeat the route in reverse (but not by actually walking backward). I was so close to Costco I could almost smell the 50 kg jars of mayonnaise.

Stats:

Walk 67
Average pace: 8:44/km
Location: Brunette River trail
Distance: 8.11 km
Time: 70:52
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 14ºC
Humidity: 66%
Wind: light
BPM: 117
Weight: 175.2 pounds
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12
Total distance to date: 502.51 km