Posted onMay 3, 2022|Comments Off on I Really Did Give Myself An Easy Monthly Challenge (or This Month Will Possibly Be Easy As Well)
For my monthly challenge in April, I set it to be something that I had no choice but to accomplish. The challenge was to be completely out of my old place by the end of the month. Because the last month of my lease was April, I had to be out by the end of the month. Of course, I wanted it to be a bit easier than just rushing at the end of the month to get it done. And most of my things were out about a week before the end of the month. I did have a few last things I had to move or give away within the last few days, but on the last day of April, I did turn in my keys and officially said goodbye to my old home for the last time.
I know it was an easy challenge for me to set, but I wanted to make it an easy one since I was preparing for the month to be stressful and didn’t want to add any extra stress that I could avoid. Of course, I wasn’t fully prepared for how stressful moving would be. So I’m extra grateful that the challenge I set for April didn’t add to that stress and make things worse for me.
And my challenge this month is also connected to moving and hopefully will be a bit of an easy one as well. My challenge for May is to get most of my things out of boxes or into consolidated boxes. I know it won’t be possible to get everything out of the boxes by the end of the month because I still need to buy some furniture that will hold my things. And right now, I’m pulling a temporary hold on buying more stuff due to some things in the condo still needing to be worked on (more about that coming later). So things like my books will need to stay in boxes for a bit longer.
But I can get a lot of things out of boxes by the end of this month. And for what I can’t get out of boxes, I can get into boxes for each section of my house. For example, right now in my office, I have about 5 boxes with different things in them. Some of the boxes have things that won’t be going into my office and some of the things going into my office are in boxes in other parts of the condo. So if I could get all my office stuff into a few boxes in my office, that will make things easier when I do have the pieces I need to put things away.
Even though I got rid of a lot of things while I was packing up my house, I’m sure I will find things in these boxes that I might not want to keep. So organizing what is not put away will also help me make sure I don’t keep things just to have them. But I don’t think there will be too much that I find that I need to get rid of. It will be more about planning where I want to put things now that I have so much more space. So things that I had to put in one place because it’s the only place they fit before could be put somewhere else now that I have some options. Decorating this new space should be a fun process and I’m finally getting close to enjoying that part of my new home.
I would love it if most of the boxes were out of my condo by the end of the month, but I don’t know how possible that will be. So I just want to see how much I can get it down to and how much I can organize all the things that I haven’t put away just yet. And hopefully by doing that, I will feel even more at home by the end of May.
Posted onMay 2, 2022|Comments Off on I’m Really Tired Of Workout Weeks In Pain (or At Least There Were More Good Days Than Bad Days This Time)
Because I knew during this past week of workouts I should be pretty much done moving stuff from my house to the condo, I assumed it would be a good week. For the most part I was right, but of course, life always has plot twists.
Monday’s workout was one that I did not do in the beginning half of the month. Just like I have felt for a lot of this month, I was a bit sore from doing some moving things, but at least I was feeling better than I had the week before.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 3 1/2-minute push pace and then had a 1-minute base pace. We then had a 3-minute and 2 1/2-minute push paces with 1-minute base paces after each. And we ended with a 1-minute push pace and a 1-minute all-out. The longer push paces were tough, especially with only 1-minute base paces after. So I had to be a bit more mindful of how I was feeling during the push paces to make sure I could get back to my base and not need to rest or do what is usually my recovery speed on the bike.
On the rower, we had 2 blocks. For the first block, we had rounds of 300-meter rows with squat jacks after each row. We weren’t supposed to reset the rower while working and we noted our distance at the end of the block. In the second block, we did our rows times with the treadmill with a 2 1/2-minute push, 1-minute base, 1-minute push, and 1-minute all-out. And the goal was to beat the distance from the first block in the second block. We also were supposed to focus on strength rows and keep the stroke rate between 22 and 24 for the entire time.
And on the floor, we really only had 1 block but we had a 2-minute finisher at the end. In the block, we had lateral step-ups (I did lunges instead), roll-outs on the straps, single-arm low rows with weights, and plank step-outs. And for the finisher, we had 1 minute of bicycle crunches and 1 minute of holding a plank. I was pretty shakey during the plank, but I tried to just keep adjusting between being on my toes and knees so I could at least maintain some sort of a plank for the entire minute.
Wednesday’s workout was another new one for me. And it was a really tough day. I was recovering from food poisoning (or whatever else I had) so I was pretty weak and I know I was dehydrated. But I wanted to go and try to do whatever I could do because that would be better than doing nothing. But I was frustrated with how I was feeling because I really was hoping that this would be a good week for me.
For cardio, we had an interesting workout. It started with a 3-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out. Then we had 3 minutes of recovering and going back to a base pace before another 30-second all-out. We repeated that pattern with the 3 minutes to recover and get to a base pace before an all-out for a total of 3 times. Those 3 minutes were both recovery and base, which I don’t think we have ever done before. So we really had to focus on how long we would recover since we weren’t told when to be back at a base pace. I tried to keep my recovery time to about a minute each time and then really try to be at a base pace. I know I didn’t always do that because of feeling weak, but I at least tried.
On the rower, we had a 14-minute row. Honestly, this was brutal for me. I think this would be difficult no matter how I was feeling, but this day it was even worse. I knew I couldn’t row the entire time, so I just rowed and rested when I needed to. I know that I didn’t do great and my end distance was much lower than it should have been. But I also know that I didn’t give up and I was really trying.
And on the floor, we had one long block that has 2 parts to it. The first part was only done once. We had low rows on the straps, tricep extensions on the straps, and single-leg airplanes (which are similar to single-leg deadlifts so I did them while balancing on the wall). After doing those once, we moved on to the rest of the workout. For the rest of the time except for the last 30-seconds, we had alternative hip hinge rows with weights, overhead tricep extensions with weights, and deadlifts. We were supposed to go heavy with the weights and I did go heavy for my rows and deadlifts. They weren’t the heaviest I’ve ever used for those exercises, but they were heavier than what I normally use. And for the last 30 seconds, we had a v-up hold. That was really tough for me with my hips, but I kept my knees bent which does help. And when I fell out of the hold I just got back into it.
By Thursday, I was still feeling a bit weak and I know I was dehydrated but I was doing better than I was on Wednesday. And it’s a good thing I was doing better because this workout was a benchmark challenge day. It was the 12-minute distance challenge, which I’ve done a few times before. I still haven’t gotten back to my pre-pandemic PR, but I have been getting closer. I knew that because of how I felt I wouldn’t be getting a PR, but I just wanted to see what I would be able to do.
Since it was a 3 group class and the challenge was 12 minutes long, the challenge took up almost the entire block. We did start with a 1-minute warm-up and 1-minute recovery before we all reset the machines to start the challenge. I kept my resistance level at my base pace level and tried to do intervals with pedaling faster for a bit and then going a bit slower to recovery. I did need to take some breaks to drink water, but I really didn’t take that many. And when we were done, I actually tied my distance from my last attempt which was much better than I expected!
On the rower, we started with a 400-meter row and did lunges after that. We continued to alternate between rowing and lunges but we decreased the row by 50 meters each time. The row wasn’t supposed to be too hard since people who started on the rower would be doing the row before the benchmark, and I was glad that it wasn’t too hard so I could feel like I could do it.
And the floor was also a bit easier since 2 groups in the class would do it before the benchmark. We had one long block with 3 mini-blocks of 2 exercises each in it. We did each mini-block 2 times before moving to the next one. We had mini-band walkouts and squats to leg lifts, lunges to plank walkouts, and step downs and toe taps. For the step downs, I was able to lower the bench so I could try to do them instead of doing a different exercise. I still went really slow and had to take time to find my balance, but I’m glad I went for it.
Friday’s workout was a repeat class I had done in the first half of the month. I will say, I do like this format with repeating workouts so I can compare how I did a few weeks ago to now. I might not have a ton of improvement, but I do notice where things are better for me or where I was able to push myself a bit more. And this class had an extra bonus. One of the coaches that I have known since almost when I started at Orangetheory but who I hadn’t seen in years was taking class! It was so awesome to get to see him again and I was so happy to have a little random mini-reunion!
For this workout, we had 2 blocks for cardio with hill intervals. Everything except the all-outs were 1-minute long. For each block we had 3 rounds of a 1-minute hill and then 1-minute with no incline but they were all at base pace. And the hill/resistance level increased each time. But the first block was a slightly higher hill so the second block was a little easier. And after 3 rounds of the intervals, we had a 30-second all-out at the end. The hills were mostly at resistance levels that are higher than what I usually use, but since I’ve had to do that a lot recently, it was a bit easier. It’s still really tough, but I can see how I might need to increase the levels I use soon.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with 2 rounds of a 400-meter row with lateral hops and high knees after each row. Then we had an 800-meter row, which ended up being the last thing that I got to do in the block. I was feeling a lot better and I think I’m almost fully recovered, but my rowing is always the part of the workout where I feel I have the most setbacks and hardest time getting back to where I was.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had push-ups, squats, bicep curls, and pull-ups on the straps (which I did as high and low rows on the straps). And the second block had chest presses and squat jumps (which I did as squats with calf raises). I did my push-ups as reverse push-ups so I made sure my chest touched the floor, which makes them harder. And I did try to go heavy with the weights for my chest press.
I’ve now done a full month with my workouts being on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday becuase of my move; and I think I’m going to stick with this for a bit longer. There is a week coming up where I will have to adjust things based on my schedule, but I am liking having all my workouts done during the week and not feeling like I’m using up so much of my Saturdays with a later workout. If the workout was a little earlier (or I didn’t work on Saturdays), maybe I would feel different. I know I was going back and forth with doing all weekday workouts and I’m glad I was almost forced into it for this month so I could really see how I feel about them.
And hopefully this coming week will have even less pain during my workouts and I can really feel like it’s a normal workout week again.
A Few Delays With My Monthly Challenge (or This Month, I Will Be Moving)
