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Old 10-31-2018, 09:35 AM   #41
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I never have nor ever will nor ever want to run a marathon. Committed to fitness but not that. ....
Agreed. Keeping fit is good, but IMO, marathon level of 'fitness' is abuse that might be doing more harm than good.

I wonder if there is a good study regarding marathon runners, that would account for the fact that people with problems would need to drop out. So running a marathon might be more of a selection rather than a cause/effect indicator.

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Old 10-31-2018, 10:01 AM   #42
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In my case, a marathon had long been on my bucket list. I did innumerable 10-Ks while younger, but nothing longer.

Finally got the nerve to try a marathon at 58 and was able to finish (not very fast, but I did it).

Then I did two more in the next few years before giving up and switching to half marathons. I still do them occasionally (two this year at 72), but probably not many more.

OTOH, DW is still actively doing half marathons as a walker. That's an entirely different thing, where she takes about 3.5 hours to do a half and enjoys chatting with others all along the course. We have a local guy in his 70s who has done hundreds of them, despite two artificial knees.

I think as long as you don't stress yourself too much by trying for speed, these are an excellent fitness regimen.
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Old 10-31-2018, 10:05 AM   #43
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Crosswords, Sudoku, Kenken and Solitaire. The latter is a phone app that allows you to select from random hands or winning ones. The winning ones have statistics for other players and I strive to get into the top ten as far as number of moves to complete is concerned. You can also see how the machine would complete the hand but oddly enough, it's not always the best (i.e. fewest moves) solution.
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Old 10-31-2018, 10:15 AM   #44
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Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
Agreed. Keeping fit is good, but IMO, marathon level of 'fitness' is abuse that might be doing more harm than good.

I wonder if there is a good study regarding marathon runners, that would account for the fact that people with problems would need to drop out. So running a marathon might be more of a selection rather than a cause/effect indicator.

-ERD50
My own unscientific observations and readings (none of which I have at my fingertips to cite now) is that somewhere around 10K/10M/half marathon fitness is the sweet spot, if running is your choice of exercise. Beyond that, I wouldn't call it abuse, but you are doing it for reasons other than fitness. Mild abuse, maybe, since you're working the body harder than needed; but not everyone's joints wear down from running like some claim.

I used to run "2-5"...2-5 miles at a time, 2 to 5 times a week. It kept me reasonably fit, but didn't keep my weight down enough. I jumped from that running to training for a marathon, dropped 20 pounds, and felt a lot more healthy. Since I didn't do the half distance, I can't say for sure what that would've done for me. Another thing I've heard is that the healthiest thing to do is train for a marathon, but don't run it, because the training is (should be) done at shorter distances, or slower pace.

Interestingly, when you hear about people dying in marathons, most of the time you'll find it's actually a half-marathon they die in. Part of that is the sheer number of halfers vs. full, but it's a higher % too. I remember this came up a couple years ago.

My theory is that most people will train seriously for a full, but maybe not so much for a half. Also, a full marathon is generally run at conversational pace, while a half is not, so your heart beat is higher and if you have an undetected condition it may be more likely to be triggered. And there's the selection thing, most people do run a few halfs first, and if they've gotten past that safely, they probably don't have such a condition.

I really like running and doing marathons or longer, but I would never say that others should for health reasons. I only encourage and help people who have shown an interest.
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Old 10-31-2018, 11:36 AM   #45
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re: crossword puzzles

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Me too. And that the cultural references are getting more slanted towards millennials than boomers.
It's true! That, plus the NYT puzzles (the only one I do) now have tricky things like multiple letters in a single square. At first that really annoyed me, and it still does a bit, but now that I know to consider these 'tricks' as possible solutions I've accepted them as just a new 'feature'.

A few months ago I unearthed a book of "100 Most Difficult NYT Crosswords" published in the late 1980's, under then-editor Eugene Maleska. Most of them I hadn't done, so I set out to do one a day to finish the book. I found they were generally much easier than today's NYT's crosswords, or at least the clues seemed more straightforward. I found myself looking forward to going back to the seemingly 'trickier' contemporary crosswords.
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Old 10-31-2018, 11:41 AM   #46
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There's evidence that learning/practicing another language also helps build new neural pathways and keep the brain sharp. I plan to keep improving my French and perhaps revive my Spanish, and at some point learn some Chinese.
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Old 10-31-2018, 11:48 AM   #47
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I play chess online as well as work on chess tactics/endgame puzzles. I try to lift weights 3-4x a week, and walk ~30 minutes every day. I also play guitar every day, learning new songs, solos etc.

Not doing any of the above for any reason other than I enjoy them
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Old 10-31-2018, 12:16 PM   #48
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There's evidence that learning/practicing another language also helps build new neural pathways and keep the brain sharp. I plan to keep improving my French and perhaps revive my Spanish, and at some point learn some Chinese.
If you want a real challenge, I read not too long ago that Icelandic is the most difficult language to learn.
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Old 10-31-2018, 12:44 PM   #49
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This plus workout for 40 minutes or walk 4 miles most days.
I'm trying! I was doing 45 minutes on the treadmill at 70% MHR daily plus 3x weight lifting and step circuit until 2 months ago, when I had to stop to recover from a nasty chest cold / bronchitis / sinus infection. I'm almost able to start going back in the next few days. It's astonishing, really, to see the difference in my physical shape (meaning the actual dimensions of my abdomen, chest, shoulders, etc), my aches and pains (or not), and my mood between working out and not. I think I have become a convert.
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Old 11-01-2018, 01:47 PM   #50
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If you want a real challenge, I read not too long ago that Icelandic is the most difficult language to learn.


Ha! I was there this spring for three days. Have also heard it's difficult. At least we already can pronounce the "th" sound. Only three modern languages have that, apparently.
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Old 11-01-2018, 01:56 PM   #51
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Ha! I was there this spring for three days. Have also heard it's difficult. At least we already can pronounce the "th" sound. Only three modern languages have that, apparently.
If you need some inspiration:

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Old 11-01-2018, 02:24 PM   #52
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Maintenance of 3 rental buildings, 7 tenants, my mom's house, my mom, my own house, my 3 vehicles, my garden, planning, purchasing, creation, aging and bottling of 160 gallons of wine, and keeping up with DW, the 2 grown children and 3 grandkids. Knights of Columbus, MEMMA, Reelection committee member of political candidate/former cow*rker.

Don't have time for crossword puzzles, or other puzzles, however, I did extremely well playing WORD on my phone for 8 months, when I fire retired.
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Old 11-01-2018, 03:33 PM   #53
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Flying into different airports for Angel Flight. Nothing will keep you as sharp as landing at an unfamiliar airport or one where there is commercial traffic.
Based on what I can see from your travels, this is, for sure, a challenge that will help 'til you get into your mid nineties...
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Old 11-01-2018, 06:46 PM   #54
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My own unscientific observations and readings (none of which I have at my fingertips to cite now) is that somewhere around 10K/10M/half marathon fitness is the sweet spot, if running is your choice of exercise. Beyond that, I wouldn't call it abuse, but you are doing it for reasons other than fitness. Mild abuse, maybe, since you're working the body harder than needed; but not everyone's joints wear down from running like some claim.

I used to run "2-5"...2-5 miles at a time, 2 to 5 times a week. It kept me reasonably fit, but didn't keep my weight down enough. I jumped from that running to training for a marathon, dropped 20 pounds, and felt a lot more healthy. Since I didn't do the half distance, I can't say for sure what that would've done for me. Another thing I've heard is that the healthiest thing to do is train for a marathon, but don't run it, because the training is (should be) done at shorter distances, or slower pace.

Interestingly, when you hear about people dying in marathons, most of the time you'll find it's actually a half-marathon they die in. Part of that is the sheer number of halfers vs. full, but it's a higher % too. I remember this came up a couple years ago.

My theory is that most people will train seriously for a full, but maybe not so much for a half. Also, a full marathon is generally run at conversational pace, while a half is not, so your heart beat is higher and if you have an undetected condition it may be more likely to be triggered. And there's the selection thing, most people do run a few halfs first, and if they've gotten past that safely, they probably don't have such a condition.

I really like running and doing marathons or longer, but I would never say that others should for health reasons. I only encourage and help people who have shown an interest.
I'm a "2-5"er. On 10/28 ran a 5k in 21:57. I do it to keep my gut smaller.
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Old 11-28-2018, 06:44 AM   #55
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Yes, I do the Washington Post crosswords and various puzzles at BrainBashers - Puzzles and Brain Teasers
I played Kakurasu daily for a year or so, and put my times in a spreadsheet with the thought to see if my times were holding or getting worse, but I got bored with it and the interface was bad for catching up on missed days, so I stopped and switch around which games I play.
I found a new one at BrainBashers I really like. I don't know if it's fairly new, or if I just missed it. MathemaGrids: BrainBashers - Daily MathemaGrids

Sometimes I can knock a puzzle out in under 5 minutes, once in awhile under a minute. Sometimes I have to get pencil and paper out and map out all of the combinations, and even start trying them to eliminate which ones fail until I narrow a cell or two to a number. You can get up to 3 cells pre-filled, which helps when learning, or if you just don't want to spend the time, but I like to challenge myself with 0 hints. There's a satisfaction to solving them quickly but I really enjoy the complex ones too.
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Old 11-28-2018, 07:18 AM   #56
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....the healthiest thing to do is train for a marathon, but don't run it, because the training is (should be) done at shorter distances, or slower pace.
I only ever ran one marathon, (Feb 1984 in Jeddah, before my knees quit), but when we began training for it, those among us who'd never done one followed the lead of the guys who had.......first time out I'm thinking to myself "C'mon let's get GOING!"
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Old 11-28-2018, 07:32 AM   #57
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Play solitaire on my phone often. Read a lot, which has led to a part time paying gig for proofreading novels. I find that when I'm proofreading I'm paying more attention to sentence structure and proper word usage than just reading for fun. Perfect gig for an introvert!
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Old 11-28-2018, 07:48 AM   #58
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Exercise, card games (solitaire, spades, texas holdem), reading. I am also a tech nerd so I still build/upgrade my PCs, write programs in various languages, and play with open source software.

Lately several of my nieces and nephews have asked for tutoring help for high school and college math subjects, so refreshing my past knowledge to help them has also been a benefit.
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Old 11-28-2018, 09:24 AM   #59
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I play several games on my iPad - Hearts, backgammon, sudoku, Yahtzee - and also do online puzzles (thanks W2R!). DH and I also play Rummikub, Sequence, Mexican Train, cards. I also mentor students at our local university and sometimes attend interesting and educational events there. Also I sometimes attend free events sponsored by firms I have relationships with on interesting topics. And I read various things.
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Old 12-09-2018, 12:04 PM   #60
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I found a new one at BrainBashers I really like. I don't know if it's fairly new, or if I just missed it. MathemaGrids: BrainBashers - Daily MathemaGrids

Sometimes I can knock a puzzle out in under 5 minutes, once in awhile under a minute. Sometimes I have to get pencil and paper out and map out all of the combinations, and even start trying them to eliminate which ones fail until I narrow a cell or two to a number. You can get up to 3 cells pre-filled, which helps when learning, or if you just don't want to spend the time, but I like to challenge myself with 0 hints. There's a satisfaction to solving them quickly but I really enjoy the complex ones too.

Thanks for pointing this out. I've been trying these for the last week and they're a fun way to wake up in the morning. With no hints I seem to need 1.5 - 5 minutes for most of these.
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