Getting old sucks, might as well have a nice bike
I’ve been planning this post for a long time, then a couple weeks ago the NYT posted this article about how Zone 2 isn’t magic. It was all the push I needed… Because it is kind of right, but also mostly wrong. I think the author doesn’t understand how this works, but it’s possible that they dumbed it down so much that it only appears that way because the article is intended…
I am unfortunate to have had multiple surgeries, both in general and on my back. I am also unfortunate in that both of the recoveries from my lumbar microdiscectomies didn’t quite go to plan. I’m not going to repeat how I got to the place where I needed a second microdiscectomy. Or technically, a revision microdiscectomy and hemilaminectomy. I only say that to provide context; getting old sucks, but the alternative is…
A few months ago I posted about getting lumbar microdiscectomy to deal with an L5/S1 disc herniation. This is a review of my experience. Unfortunately, it did not go well. To be clear, this is not an indictment of this surgical technique. I know people who have had excellent results with the procedure, and there’s a very good chance that I will be lining up again for a second go, but next…
I’m going to say it started seven or eight years ago, but the more I think about it the more I suspect that the issues with my lower back began quite a bit longer ago than that. But that’s when it hit the place where I couldn’t ignore it anymore, so let’s roll with it. And by “couldn’t ignore” I mean crippling pain. It hurt to walk on uneven surfaces, I couldn’t…
If you needed another reason to feel good about all those hours you spend pushing the pedals, pounding the pavement, or even swimming. Let’s bask in the finding in this study, which looked at the relationship between COVID-19 outcomes and levels of physical activity.…
A few years ago, my rapidly upward trending cholesterol and high blood pressure scared me into pursuing a Plant Biased (or based, or… something very close to Vegan) diet. Which had an immediate, and positive impact. Can’t say that I was surprised by that, turning off the red meat and cheese tap has a well documented impact on those naughty numbers. When I started it, the intent was to try it for…
Anecdotally, I have absolutely noticed a decline in motivation and performance after a course of antibiotics. Although, in each of these cases there has also been a reason why I was taking the antibiotics. Usually because I crashed my bike and needed them to prevent or fight off an infection. For that reason, I’ve never really thought about the potential that antibiotics were exacerbating the problem – until last night when I…
I have lots of opinions. Some of them are well-founded, other’s a bit more fluid ;). I do try to keep on top of the important ones, with the idea that as the best available information changes, it might be necessary to change my opinion as well. This is not shaping up to be one of those cases. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t think that Keto is a great diet for…
~18 months ago, I changed my diet dramatically. The biggest challenge was mostly the social aspect of shared eating experiences. Which, was very easy during the pandemic because I do 95% of the meal prep in our family, but as the world opened up, that has become more of a challenge. Now that travel and more restaurants are on the table, there are lots of places where there simply aren’t any decent…
Not going to deny that there might be some confirmation bias on my part, but I’ve been really pleased with the changes I made to my diet last year. That’s not to say there aren’t trade-offs involved, mostly around inconvenience, but there’s no arguing that from a personal health perspective I’m much better off. Of course it’s impossible for me to say to what degree the fitness improvements I’ve made over the…