A "Death" In The Family, and Health Update

Today was the last test at the Army Wellness Center. I did my VO2 Max. You walk/run on a treadmill for 6-11 minutes, wearing the silly mask and a heart rate monitor, until you reach 85% of your maximum heart rate. This is an accurate estimate – that is, not exact science, but better than other methods of guessing.

Your results are your cardio-respiratory fitness number. I got a 37.6 this time, but had a 41.5 last time. So my cardio healthy has gone down a bit. I also weigh more, and haven’t been doing as steady of a cardio workout. Excuses aside, I can get this back up there. 38.6 is the dividing line between “good” and “excellent.” I want to be excellent. Let’s work on that.

I also did some simple tests for strength and flexibility. First was the hang strength. You just squeeze this large device that measures your force applied. For back strength, you stand on a square that looks like a scale, hold a handle in both hands, and pull up. And flexibility is the dreaded sit-and-reach from grade school PE. Only this time, there was no set number to reach for, you just reach as far as you can.

I got a nice print-out of all my results, and comparisons to previous results that were in the system.

Now all that’s left is to meet with a dietician. I have MyFitnessPal set up and it’s working pretty well. So far. I did not do yesterday’s workout. I ran in the morning (sorta, with pup) and REALLY didn’t want to work out in the afternoon. I did do a half hour yoga session and felt better after that.  I did work out this morning, since today was some squats and a run.

That’s my other news. My phone died. I got his by a rain storm about half-way around the 3 mile track. I was SOAKED. Like, completely. I took my shirt off and wrung it out before getting in the car. Pup was not with me, or my car would still smell like wet dog. Phone was in my armband, which was also quite soaked. My music played the whole time, but I couldn’t swipe to unlock. I figured it was just my wet hands on a wet armband. In the car, I still couldn’t swipe. I tried drying it off with a tissue, but that didn’t do much.

So in the rice it went, soon as I got home. It sat in rice for 7 hours. After my test, I ran a couple errands and was near the Verizon store. In trying the phone, a piece of rice got stuck in the plug in. The Verizon girl got the rice out, but wasn’t able to save the phone. Ugh. She pronounced it dead and told me how to file a claim online. I pay the extra $10 a month for insurance on the phone, but this is my first time using it.

Did you know there’s a deductible? It’s probably different depending on what phone you have. Well for an iPhone 5c, it’s $170. Right now, I’m very glad I used an upgrade-trade-in combo to get this phone, because I had to pay to replace it when it died.

Don’t ask J about it. He might pop a blood vessel.

I’ll update on this again when I get to see a dietician. Until then, I can be found in the usual places. If you use MyFitnessPal, my username is char362. Look me up.