Category: Healthy Living

A Saturday Walk

Carl Setzer

Today’s lovely rainy morning makes me glad I spent so much time outside yesterday. Walked quite a bit around Lynnwood. My FitBit motivates me to exercise. Dropping a few pounds really encouraged me to go further. For a suburb, Lynnwood is remarkably walkable. Not like downtown Edmonds, but still. Crossing 99 is a little nerve-wracking, as everyone there is in such a hurry that common sense and compassion fail. Anyways, walking in Lynnwood’s challenge: the bigger time-commitment.

I walked over to Scriber Lake park. As it’s been rainy, I expected to see Yoda pop out crying “slimy mud-hole? My home this is! ” Ok, some of the trail was a little squishy, but it was mainly fine. This time of year, make sure you have non-leaky shoes.

I wandered from there up to Edmonds Community College, then over to Lynndale. On the whole walk, I saw three land-use signs up. One at the ancient Taco Bell, (of late a taco shack) next to Ed’s Surplus. Sadly, didn’t like too closely to see what’s going in. Then one at the old Ballys. Looks like a church is building there. And then the college is getting ready to build a science, engineering and technology building. Lots of growth coming. That didn’t count all the road work projects.

There are things I notice while walking that I otherwise missed. Too much hurry and we miss detail, and it’s these details that build connection to ‘place’. Hence why I love walking and bicycling to explore, to understand. The weight loss helps, too.

New Year’s Weekend

Carl Setzer

It was a pretty calm weekend. Didn’t even hit the gym much, but that wasn’t too bad. Was feeling worn out, so clearly needed rest.

Did make it to REI’s garage sale, scoring some great gear at killer prices. But not much, as the past month had been had a heap of extra expense. In particular, found a bike jacket that I’m tempted to wear everywhere. I have no qualm with uber-bike-nerd status.

Makes me look forward to riding in 2015. I plan on greatly increasing my mileage this year. I’ll map out a more specific goal soon. I also want to ride a few organized rides. I haven’t thought it through much deeper than that.  Now, just wondering if I’ll hit the Chilly Hilly next month.

Also looking forward to the year’sSeattle Bike Expo. Centurylink field should provide a nice, more easily accessible venue. Parking shall be a hoot, but us cyclists, especially the hardcore, will be fine. Plenty of bike racks, I’m sure.

There are a few other outside goals I’m entertaining. Getting some good hikes in really excites me. Ice Caves again, perhaps another trip up to Lake 22, but only looking at day hikes right now. These will be summer based. At least good weather focused.

So, 2015 week be an outside-centric year. How more awesome can you get! See you outside!

Thinking fitness

Carl Setzer

Fitness is a key part of my life. Now, I’m as vain as anyone, but that didn’t push me enough. About a year ago the long term issues of being chronically overweight became very clear. Getting winded by a single flight of stairs, seeing friends deal with the painful effects of diabetes, and the continued tightening of my clothes; all this frightened me. And the motivation birthed.

I’ve focused mostly on fitness apps and food trackers. Between eating less and significantly upping my exercise, I’ve been able to shave off nearly 30 pounds from my heaviest, and 20 in the few months since I became serious. This makes me proud, though I realize I’m only just getting started.

I have another 10-15 pounds more to lose to reach a healthy weight. Yet I’ve been stuck at my current weight for a few weeks. My workouts haven’t been as rigorous, but not a huge drop. The great weakness, though, is diet. I’ve lowered the quantities of food, but not changed the quality. Tracking my food shows a diet high in fats, salts and sugars, and low on nutrients. So, quality:  my next major focus. Time to be more thoughtful with my eating. Balancing out my diet should push me to the next stage.

Riding the Snoqualmie Valley Trail

Carl Setzer

Friends texted us Friday evening. We’d discussed riding the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, part of my want-to-ride list for ages.

IMG_5741

We parked and set out from Loutsis Park in Carnation. One side note: Apple’s map/Siri got us near Loutsis, but to a different park .3 miles away. Google Maps was able to get us the rest of the way. The ride was, well, mostly half uphill, with the ride back being down. MapMyFitness does a create job of mapping out the ride, providing all the great geeky details like splits and elevation gain. Here are these details from this ride.

It’s really a nice trail for this kind of ride. Well packed gravel, and, though solidly up-hill, a gentle grade (to be expected from converted train tracks). For us, this was perfect: our group had a significant range of age and skill: ages 6 to early 50s. My son, with one of his friends, rode ahead with me while the rest of our crew adopted a more leisurely pace. I felt proud of my son’s pace and endurance. More good rides ahead for us!

Not much wildlife to be seen, but I’m certain that was mostly a function of the time of day. There are placards warning you how to react to bear and cougar sightings. I kept my eyes open as I’ve never seen either in the wild and would actually like to do so. As there weren’t too many other users, the likelihood of seeing something was a lot higher. Yet we didn’t see much. A hawk or turkey vulture, Stellar’s Jays, and not much else. I thought I saw a coyote, but it was far enough away that it might well have been a dog. Who knows?

My favorite “thing”. This quirky thing: a tsunami evacuation sign in the mountains?

Not what I was expecting to see.
Not what I was expecting to see.

If you look closely at the top of the sign, you’ll see the world “Tolt River Dam Failure”. This is the dam that had folks worried a few years back. The incongruity caught my attention, though.

Summing up: this is a trail I want to ride again.

Resolutions and Such

Carl Setzer

Just read a Timbuk2 ad which I found quite clever, and a bit thought provoking.

“Resolutions are typically about things you don’t really want to do”.

timbuck2

Gives me pause, for I find it rather true. The whole notion of resolutions seem to be about things I “should” be doing, or doing better. Rarely have I heard a resolutions about things we love. Perhaps the best resolution, at least the most productive and inspiring one, should be a resolution to do more things I truly love. Or, if you prefer to focus on the negative, resolve to do less things that suck.

Resolving to focus more on the things I love, the things that give me joy, and take the energy away from those things with maximum suck-a-tude? Ok, I guess there’s some joyless tasks we all must do, but give that less energy/less time? That I can rally behind.

Cheers!

Event this weekend @ Lynnwood Convention Center : Celebration of Food

Carl Setzer

Just read over at My Edmonds News about this weekend’s “Celebration of Food” festival.

Sadly, I’ve yet to step foot inside the Lynnwood Convention Center. I guess I need to check out their calendar of events more often (read: >0 times).

Anyway, combine the local nature of this with a celebration of food, and this is one I really shouldn’t miss. I’ll plan to head over.

More details about the event at Edmonds Community College and at the Food Revolution Snohomish County’s Facebook page.

And, lastly, a video with some additional background.

Hope to see you there!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o_ekgj9m_w]

Fitness

Carl Setzer

Many years ago now, I was a pretty hardcore fitness buff. The past few months have seen me reconnect with that part of me. Besides taekwondo, I’ve been focusing on time in the gym. Mostly on weight machines and cycling (stationary bikes). The focus on building up my core fitness before I shift to more aggressive pursuits.

My gym of choice: Vision Quest in Edmonds. I love the town, and it’s a decent gym. I wish they’d get new stationary bikes, but that’s another post.

The only beef  right now: weekend hours. For me, it would be great to come in before 7:00 am on Saturday and Sunday. Now, I understand business and that they can’t build around one person’s needs. Can’t stop a guy from wishing, however. And it does make 24 Hour Fitness more attractive. With a LA fitness opening up close by, that might change things, too. However, I love to support the local guy, the home team. So, we’ll see, I guess.

As we move solidly into spring, I look forward to more outdoor stuff. A big one: taking my family on several hikes (Wallace Falls, along with others). And that, too, is another blog post.