Radically Retired

Category: Fitness

  • The Hammer Lane

    The Hammer Lane

    Many years ago, when I hopped in for a semi trip with hubs, he explained the USA interstate highway system to me.

    He also explained what the drivers in their unique CB radio lingo were referring to in terms of the lanes on the highway through cities.

    The left lane next to centre was the “hammer lane”, meaning that you had to hammer down (accelerate) in order to pass.

    The right lane next to centre (excluding exit lanes) was called the “granny lane”, because this is where the slow traffic should be.

    The centre lane was appropriately, the “sandwich lane”.

    Our indoor track has three lanes, but they operate opposite to the highway. Our hammer lane is to the right of centre and granny lane is to the left.

    The gal in the hammer lane in my feature photo had just passed me.

    This gentleman was correctly in the granny lane

    I’m usually a sandwich lane kinda gal, unless someone’s speed has them in the wrong lane. Then, I’m hammer lane all the way.

    And then there are those who don’t play by the rules of the road and take up all three lanes at a less than normal pace.

    They looked like they were capable of walking faster

    As I come up behind groups like this, I call out “passing”, and the person on the right moves to centre.

    Next time I’m going to call out, “hammer lane”.

  • Trade-Offs

    Trade-Offs

    Due to freezing rain and icy streets and sidewalks, this past week and most of the next week aren’t conducive to outdoor walks.

    We’re very fortunate to have an excellent sports facility nearby that features an indoor track.

    Despite it being nearby, I’m driving over there to do my daily power walking.

    My feature photo is the view of the Legacy Park paths from the second floor walking track windows.

    I did some editing to clean up the photo and add a touch of drama to the overcast sky.

    Here’s the original:

    The paths are more apparent in the original and it also gives a better sense of the height it was shot from.

    Sometimes there are trade-offs in post processing, just as there are tradeoffs for walking indoors vs out.

    The trade-offs are both positive and negative. I prefer to focus on the positives
  • In My Mind’s Eye

    In My Mind’s Eye

    On yesterday morning’s power walk, there wasn’t a breath of wind, which resulted in stunning mirror reflections on the river.

    Because I didn’t want to slow my pace, I didn’t take the time to adjust the exposure on my iPhone camera before I took the shot.

    The result was a slightly more washed out photo than what I had hoped for.

    Our province’s motto is “Land of Living Skies”, so my goal in many of the landscape images I capture here at home is to honour that motto.

    In addition to not taking the time to adjust the exposure, I didn’t wait until there were no vehicles passing by. I don’t mind vehicles in a landscape photo that showcases reflections on water, but only if the vehicles themselves are also in the reflection.

    A bit of post processing brought the photo to how I envisioned the scene. I first removed the cars using the eraser in my phone’s native photos app. I then took the photo into the Lightroom mobile app for minor adjustments to exposure and colours. I added a wee bit of vignette at the end to draw more light to the main subject. Within less than five minutes of simple editing, I was able to achieve what was in my mind’s eye for this scene from yesterday morning (feature photo).

    In some instances, I edit out telephone and power lines. This time, the lines were also a detail in the perfect reflection so I left them in.

    Here’s the original.

  • Happiest Places

    Happiest Places

    After walking the same six streets over and over again in our south Texas park for the past six months, I’m loving being back to our walking/biking/hiking trails here at home in Sask, Canada.

    There’s just something about the trees getting ready to leaf out, the fresh air, the river, the variety of trails, and the familiarity of home that makes my morning walks here at home so peaceful, meaningful, enjoyable, and special.

    The winding trails are always inviting
    Bridges over the Souris River are plentiful and varied in design
    Our city does a great job of path management and maintenance
    The river views from the many bridges are always peaceful and grounding
    One of the many bridges on this trail – one day I’ll make a post about all of them
    You always wonder what’s around the next bend

    Do you have a place that’s your happiest?

  • Positives for the Win

    Positives for the Win

    Yesterday morning, I looked out my balcony door and saw that the snowfall from the previous day was completely gone. I donned my winter coat and enjoyed my first outdoor walk since we arrived back home.

    At just above freezing, it was a chilly morning. In spite of that, the air was clean and fresh, and after a couple of city blocks to get to the river boardwalk, I realized that I had bundled up a bit too warm. Now I know what to wear when I head out for my walk today.

    After walking up and down the same streets of a south Texas RV Park all winter, the riverside walk was most welcome, and even though the water will be muddy for a while yet, the ice is completely gone.

    On my way to the boardwalk, I ran into two gals from my hometown who I’ve known all of my life. Yes, it slowed my average power walk pace, but our 30+ minute visit catching up was fun and enjoyable.

    Each and every negative had a positive side that was stronger. Don’t you love it when that happens?

  • A Fitness Refocus

    A Fitness Refocus

    My next challenge for ChatGPT was to develop a new exercise program for me.

    Because I’d been power walking for over eight years, I think my body had become accustomed to it, so it wasn’t as efficient anymore in terms of maintaining fitness.

    It seemed my metabolism had stalled out.

    I entered my issues, my age, and my goals. Before too long, I had a program that I could live with.

    I’ve now switched from power walking to the Japanese walking method and have added strength training.

    ChatGPT outlined everything in detail, and so far, it’s going well.

    The Japanese walking method takes half the time of the power walking (30 mins vs an hour), but it definitely feels more intense. The frequency is five days per week with slower and/or longer walks or a rest on the other two days.

    The strength training is mild and done via light weights, resistance bands, and calisthenics. Right now the frequency is 3x per week.

    Today is day 10 and I’m already noticing improvements in terms of energy and how much better my clothes are fitting.