Posted onAugust 31, 2022|Comments Off on Ending Some Pain and Starting Other Pain (or At Least I’m Stocked Up)
I was just starting to feel better after dealing with monthly pain and nausea at the beginning of this week. The type of pain I feel each month is very specific pain and it’s not like any other pain that I feel. I might be lucky that I only deal with that pain for part of the month every month, but unfortunately, I pretty much deal with pain on a daily basis in other ways.
Even though my hip pain is so much better than it was before I had my hip surgery, I’m still in at least a little bit of pain every day. Some days the pain is more like a dull pressure and that’s really easy for me to deal with and I don’t worry about managing it. Other days, I worry that this could be the start of things needing to be operated on again because the pain is so severe. I’m lucky that I have been dealing with this pain for over a decade so I have some great tools I can use to manage it. I don’t always take medication as the first option because I know that doesn’t always work and often I have to be really on top of scheduling when I can take things. I have different stretches that can help and usually that will take the edge off of things. I also have some over-the-counter things I can use.
Because pain is a daily part of my life, when I’m dealing with pain every month I can try some of the methods I use for my hip pain. It doesn’t always work, but it’s good to have options. And when I have other random pain that comes up, I usually have some good ideas of what I can use and try.
And as the monthly pain was easing up at the beginning of the week, I did something to my lower back or hip and it’s pretty painful. I’ve dealt with this before and it’s likely some sort of pulled muscle or spasm. I know it’s different from my hip pain because joint pain and muscle pain feel very different to me. It doesn’t mean it’s not painful, it’s just a different type of pain. But pain is pain and I’m lucky that I’ve been working through pain for so long so I’m pretty prepared.
I am still going to my workouts, but I just have to be careful and make sure that nothing I’m doing will make me hurt worse. I’m good about paying attention to my body when it comes to pain, so this isn’t too tough for me to do. And while I’m working, I’ve been using different pain creams and heat pads to help make sure that sitting for several hours won’t cause more pain. So far, it’s only been a few days of dealing with this new back pain and I know it will probably take a few more days before it’s gone. But I’m hoping that it continues to ease through the next few days so it won’t be as severe.
But if it sticks around longer or is severe longer, I do know I’m prepared for this. If I have to take some painkillers, I have options because of what I take for my hip. Even though my hip pain is joint pain, dealing with it can cause muscle pain on the other side when I’m compensating for things so I do have a lot of over-the-counter muscle pain options. The plug-in heat pad I use for cramps is the perfect size to have against the back of my chair and I can plug it in at my desk and not worry about it losing the heat.
It does suck that I had a new pain start just as another type of pain ended, but at least I know I’m prepared to deal with this and it will pass. This is temporary and I know I can tolerate it. And hopefully, soon enough I will only have my normal pain to deal with and I can feel much better than I do now.
Posted onAugust 30, 2022|Comments Off on Really Having A Lazy Weekend (or I Guess Sometimes Bad Days Can Be Helpful)
My weekends have been busy but not busy since I moved. I’m usually doing something for my new place over the weekend. I might be organizing things, trying to unpack things that I have still in boxes, cleaning, or doing some shopping for things that I still want. Because I work Monday-Saturday, my weekends are more like a day and a half off each week, so I don’t always have all the time to do what I want to do. But sometimes it also feels like I don’t do much each weekend since I don’t see a lot of results from my work. It’s weird to feel like I’m so busy and I don’t have time, yet it seems like I didn’t do much when I’m preparing for another work week.
I don’t feel like I’ve had a really lazy weekend recently because of all the random busy work I’ve been doing, but this past weekend I was forced into having a lazy weekend. I was really feeling nauseous and in a lot of pain over the weekend so a lot of the things I wanted to get done were put off. I had a full list of errands that I wanted to run, but I had to limit it just to getting groceries for the coming week and everything else will just have to be done at another time.
So for my time after work on Saturday and most of Sunday, I was laying around my house. I did make it out to the grocery store on Sunday, but that’s the only thing I worried about doing. The rest of the time, I only did things I felt like doing and wanted to do. That really felt like a luxury and I think I needed this reset weekend. Most of the time, I was either in bed or on my couch reading. I got through multiple books this weekend which was really fun. I now have Kindle Unlimited, so my to be read list continues to grow and I got to work through some of the books I’ve been wanting to read. I watched a little tv, but I’ve been noticing that I’m not watching as much tv as I used to, especially when there aren’t new shows to be watching. I don’t usually watch reruns, and I don’t watch a lot of tv just randomly. I tend to watch things that I planned on watching or already recorded on my DVR.
Because of how I was feeling, it wasn’t the most relaxing weekend. I did have to deal with all the symptoms I was feeling and I tried to make sure I was taking care of myself. And there was plenty of time that I was just laying down with my eyes closed and waiting to let the nausea or the pain pass. But I was lucky and the bad moments really weren’t that much of my weekend and I was able to just enjoy the time I spent being lazy at home. And even with how I was feeling some of the time, it did feel like a bit of a reset weekend. And that’s not something I feel like I have really done in a while.
I have done resets for part of my weekend. Most weekends, my Sundays are all about getting ready for the week and getting groceries, doing laundry, and cleaning. But doing all the things I need to do to get ready for my week can feel tiring and like I never had a break. Because I really didn’t do much this past weekend (including not doing my usual Sunday cleaning), I got to have a bit of a mental reset instead of just getting my house and things reset for the week. And that almost felt like a bit of a splurge.
I know having a mental reset like this isn’t something I can do every weekend. I just don’t have enough time in my limited time off each week to take this much time to things that aren’t productive. But I think that I really needed this time this past weekend. I feel a lot better going into this week than I have for a while. I’m not necessarily feeling physically better, but I know that will come soon. But at least feeling bad physically allowed me to feel a bit better mentally.
Posted onAugust 29, 2022|Comments Off on Getting Through Another Bad Week (or Just Trying My Best)
I knew going into this past week of workouts that it would be a tough week. I never know how bad it might be, and it was pretty bad. It wasn’t the worst I’ve felt, but there were moments when it was getting close to that.
Monday’s workout had some parts that were easier on me and how I was feeling and some parts felt like they were extra challenging. So I just tried to push when I could and go easy when I needed to.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. For the first block, we had 2-minute push pace intervals and 1-minute base pace intervals. For the push paces, we went up by 1% for the incline each time. And the second block we had 1-minute all-outs and 1-minute recoveries. And for the all-outs, we did the same as the first block with increasing the incline (or resistance level) each time. I did use my new base pace and I did do the increases we were supposed to do even though it felt a lot harder than what it normally feels like.
For the rower, we were timed with the treadmills for both blocks. When the treadmills were in a push pace or an all-out, we had a row for the same amount of time. Then when they were in a base pace or a recovery, we had exercises off of the rower. In the first block, it was supposed to be forward and back shuffles and in the second block, it was supposed to be side hops. I tried the shuffles in the first block for the first time, and I knew that I couldn’t do it. It was making me even more nauseous and by the time I could start rowing again the rowing time was over halfway over. So I did squats instead in both blocks. It’s not the best modification, but it was one that worked.
The floor was a bit better for me. In both blocks, we only had 2 exercises. In the first block, we had lunges and low rows with weights. The low rows were supposed to be in a modified plank, but I did them standing to not add to my nausea. And in the second block, we had single-arm chest presses and hip bridges. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make any modifications in the second block so I felt better about my workout at the end.
My nausea was a little less extreme on Wednesday, but the pain from cramps was a lot worse so I think the workout was equally as tough. I still had to push when I could but also take a lot of rest when I needed to let the pain subside.
For each section of the room, we had one long block and one short block. For cardio, the long block had 3 parts to it. For each part, we had a base pace, base-to-push pace, push pace, and all-out. I did use my new base pace, but because of the increases we used, my base-to-push pace was the same as my push pace. First, we did each of those sections for 1-minute each. Then we did them for 45-seconds each. And finally, we did them for 30-seconds each. And between each of those sections, we only had 30-seconds to recover. And in the shorter block, we had 30-second intervals of a base pace, base-to-push pace, push pace, push to all-out, and all-out.
On the rower, for the longer block, we started with a 200-meter row. After the row, we had rainbows with a medicine ball. We repeated this pattern with a 150-meter and 100-meter row. Then we repeated the 3 rows again but we had overhead tricep presses with the medicine ball. For the shorter block, we worked along with the treadmills with 30-second intervals. I was proud of myself for getting through all the rows in the first block without needing to stop due to pain. But in the second block with the long row, I did need some rest.
On the floor, for the first block, we had 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had regular lunges and lunges using the straps. And the second mini-block had single-arm high rows with weights and low rows on the straps. And in the second block, because it was such a short block we only had one exercise. We had kneeling single-arm shoulder presses. I didn’t go too heavy with the weights on the floor, but I tried. But the pain was getting really bad while I was on the floor and I didn’t get through too many rounds because of the breaks I needed to take.
Thursday’s workout was one that I had done earlier in the month. And this might have been the worst I felt all week, but again I just did what I could and tried my best.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a 1-minute push pace, 30-second all-out, and 1-minute recovery and we repeated that pattern 3 times. And the second block was the same idea except the push pace was 30-seconds instead of 1-minute. I used my new base pace but was pedaling pretty slowly throughout both blocks.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with an 800-meter row and then we had squats and lunges. The row went down by 200-meters each time and we repeated the pattern. I had to take a lot of breaks during the rowing, so I only got through the 800 and 600-meter rows. I hated how little I was able to do, but I just reminded myself that I tried.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses with weights, push-ups, and side plank hip dips. And the second block had lunges, squats, and back extensions. I switched out the back extensions for bird dogs because of my nausea. And most of the exercises were supposed to be done with the Bosu, but I did them on the floor without it. It wasn’t my best workout, but it was better than doing nothing.
I wasn’t really doing better on Friday, but I think I tolerated things a bit better so that helped to make the workout better than Thursday’s. We had 2 blocks at each section of the room, but we switched between blocks so we did 1 block at each section first before doing another lap around the room, which helped to split things up nicely.
The first block for cardio had push pace and base pace intervals. All the base paces were 1-minute and the push pace started at 30-seconds and increased by 30-seconds each time. And we ended with a 30-second all-out. The second block was similar, but the push paces started at 90-seconds and went down by 30-seconds each time. Again, I was using my new base pace (I don’t know if I’ll go back down to the old one now) and just pedaled slower than normal to make things easier for me.
On the rower, both blocks were all about stroke drills where we had to do 15 strokes on the rower and try to keep the wattage the same the entire time. Between each row in the first block, we had squat front presses and between each row in the second block, we had lunges.
And on the floor, things were a bit more challenging for me. The first block had chest presses with weights and plank jacks to push-ups. The plank jacks to push-ups were so difficult because it’s always hard for me to be face down for exercises when I’m nauseous. I split the exercises up and just did as many reps as I could at a time. And the second block was challenging for my hips and balance. We had weighted step-downs on the bench and step-ups to knee raises on the bench. I wouldn’t have been able to do either of these with the old type of benches, but because the new ones get lower to the ground, I’ve been trying to do them more and more. They are still difficult for me, but I have noticed improvements in my balance each time we do them.
I’m happy I did what I could, but I’m ready to have a good week again. But this week, my workout schedule is going to be a bit different because the studio will be closed part of the week when Orangetheory films a commercial there! I’m still figuring out which days I’ll be going, and I’m looking at possibly changing up my workout schedule again because some of my coaches are changing which days they are there. But for this coming week, I know it might still be a bit of a bad week, so I’m hoping I will still just do my best and maybe I’ll be able to surprise myself.
Posted onAugust 26, 2022|Comments Off on Still Finding Little Ways To Upgrade (or Figuring Out What I Want To Save For)
At the start of the pandemic, I bought a lot of new things. I think a lot of people did that, probably because there wasn’t a lot to do when everyone was staying home and a lot of people were out of work. Some of the things I bought were things I needed because I was staying home, such as stuff to work out at home. And some things I bought because I wanted to upgrade the place I was living in. I got things to organize my kitchen better, new decorations because I was bored looking at the same walls all the time, and other little upgrades of things that I didn’t need but wanted.
And when I moved, I didn’t take all of those upgraded things with me since many things were bought specifically for my old place. I didn’t need any of the kitchen organizers I got because I have 4 or 5 times the storage space in my kitchen and the organizers I’m looking at are different dimensions. I upgraded my curtains and bedding, and those wouldn’t fit into my new room. I did bring all my workout stuff with me, but they are currently in my closet since I’m not using them.
But there have been some things on my list that I wanted to upgrade for a while that I never got around to at the beginning of the pandemic. And when I found out about a year ago that I would need to find a new place, I stopped focusing on finding those things since I wanted to see what my living situation would be like. Most of these things I put on hold were for my kitchen. I’ve been wanting to get new dishes and new pots and pans for quite a while. But I also didn’t want to just get anything and not make sure it was the right thing or something I loved. I also had wanted to get new silverware, but I lucked out and found a new set that I loved right when I was planning on moving, so I didn’t bring my old ones with me in the move and just had the new ones. But I haven’t been as lucky with everything I wanted to find.
And now, I’m feeling much more settled and I have a better idea of the things I need and want. It’s probably better that I didn’t get things before I moved because I can plan out better. For example, there are some baking pans and dishes I was looking at before, and I found a new set just the other day that would fit in much better into my space that I never would have gotten at my old place because there would have been no room to store them. If I’m looking at pots and pans, I can take the measurements of my drawers and find a set that will fit in perfectly. For the dishes I will eventually buy, I can find a set that goes along with the colors of my condo instead of what colors I had at my old place. I think when I finally get some of these new things, it will feel like a big refresh of the space and I know it will be a huge upgrade since some of the things I have now aren’t in the best condition.
Of course, everything costs money, and if I’m going to invest in nice things that will cost more than if I just got something cheap that I didn’t care about. But I don’t want just buy whatever I can find on sale or for cheap. Even though some of the things I have now aren’t perfect, I can manage. Some of my dishes are chipped and can’t go through the dishwasher, so I just handwash those items and put the rest in the dishwasher. It’s not perfect, but it works. And it is giving me time to save up so I can get some very nice things and continue to upgrade my amazing home.
Posted onAugust 25, 2022|Comments Off on Sometimes Work Is Just Funny (or Having Some Crazy Customer Stories)
I have worked in some form of customer service for most of my adult life. Sometimes it’s a side version of customer service like when I worked as a tour guide for a movie studio or I was a helper at a children’s art studio. But I have almost always worked with customers directly and have been the person to whom their compliments or complaints are directed at.
Sometimes there are some stories that are amazing and I will never forget them. Once I answered a call from a customer who was at the dinner theater show that past weekend and had a heart attack during the show. One of the actors knew CPR and started it immediately while someone else called 911. Because that actor started CPR so quickly, the customer was able to be revived and they were able to have a necessary operation and they were going to be ok. They called in because they wanted to thank the actor that saved their life. I will never forget that call and being able to share that message with the owner of that location.
Obviously, it’s better when you get compliments but sometimes the complaints are so crazy that they just make your day. I remember in a job years ago where a customer claimed that when they installed something over a decade before, it killed their cat and they were promised free service for life. They paid every month and said they believed they would be refunded when they canceled. They really were trying to convince me that they paid thousands of dollars over a decade even though they believed they were supposed to never pay and that they would be refunded. That is one of those stories that I will always share when people ask me about crazy customers.
At another job, a customer was trying to be refunded for something that was non-refundable. We’ve heard dozens of excuses, but what this customer did made me feel disgusted once we figured out what happened. He said that his child was shot and he needed to be refunded to have the money back. I don’t know if he got his money back or not, but a higher-up let us all know not to engage with this customer again as it was discovered they lied about the shooting and they might not even have a kid.
I don’t work directly with customers as much as I used to. I only have direct customer contact at my dinner theater job now since my social media job is more about data entry and systems and I don’t directly answer customers. So I don’t have as many crazy customer stories as I used to, but I still get them from time to time. And we had another one this week.
Without going into too many details, there was a group at the dinner theater that was not happy because they felt like our show was trying to stop their fun. But the way they were having fun was by using water guns on the actors. The actors asked them to stop or they would need to leave. To me, I couldn’t imagine going to a show and using a water gun on a performer to get them wet. I have no clue if anyone who wasn’t an actor got wet, but I would think it would be possible. And if I was at a show where I dressed up and someone got me wet, I’d be upset. So the entire situation doesn’t really make sense to me. But I think most of us had a laugh because we do have a policy of no weapons allowed at the show and now we feel like we need to add a section about no water guns as well.
Even with the crazy customer situations I’ve been in, I know I’m lucky compared to some people who work in customer service. The negative stories are so rare compared to the positive stories or the boring situations (like just needing to help a customer find something on a website). And most of the time, I have not worked in a location where I am face to face with customers or they can come to see us directly. I’ve had one situation at my old ticket sales job where someone came to the location to try to find us as they were unhappy with a policy, but that’s the only time I can remember something like that happening.
Sometimes, you just need crazy situations to add some variety to your work day, especially if the days blend together. And I think I will always appreciate the crazy stories that make me smile even if they might be a bit stressful at the moment helping the customer.
Posted onAugust 24, 2022|Comments Off on Feeling The Need To Travel Again (or I Really Haven’t Left LA In A While)
Growing up, I used to travel pretty regularly. We would go to Tahoe in the winter for a week or two and then again in the summer. My parents usually planned a big summer trip for us each year as well. Sometimes we did a driving trip where we went to a bunch of states and national parks. Sometimes it was a trip out of the country on a big adventure. And a few times a year, we would go down to San Diego to see my grandparents. I didn’t travel as much once I was in high school, since missing school was harder. So I didn’t always go to Tahoe the entire time my family was there, but I still had big family trips each summer.
Once I moved to LA, I didn’t do as much travel since I was occupied with college. I did go back to the Bay Area or to Tahoe sometimes. And I did little random road trips to Palm Dessert, San Diego, or Las Vegas. And after I was done with college, I cut back on traveling even more. I have done a few random trips here and there, but outside of traveling to be with family, I didn’t always travel every year.
And I’m aware that I’m coming from a place of privilege and most people don’t have opportunities to travel. Either they can’t miss work or they don’t have the extra money to spend, so if they go on a trip, it’s either something they have saved up for a long time or done locally or inexpensively. And for a lot of my adult life, unless my family was helping me with paying for a trip, that was the same situation for me. But even if I was just getting out of LA to see family, I usually went somewhere every year or every other year.
But since Thanksgiving 2019, the furthest I’ve been from LA has been Santa Barbara. That’s about a 90-minute drive each way, so it’s not super close but also not really that far either. I wasn’t going to travel during the pandemic, although I did think about driving to be with my parents in Tahoe (I wasn’t going to fly). But it made more sense for me to stay in LA since during 2020 there was so much uncertainty with work and I didn’t want to have to rush back home for some reason. And I wasn’t going to travel somewhere else since I was basically trying to avoid other people. I know that things are better now, but I just haven’t had the chance to travel.
But I’m feeling more and more of an urge to plan a trip. I don’t have anywhere to go or anyone to travel with, but I just want to have some sort of an adventure that isn’t in my bubble here. I am still worried about Covid and other things, but as I’ve watched more and more of my friends and family go on really great vacations, I’d like to have one too. And I think I’m in such a routine or rut that I could use something that would break me out of it. I know exactly what I’ll be doing every day and it’s pretty much the same pattern every week. I could use some variety, and having a vacation would totally change things up.
I don’t exactly have the money saved for a big trip, but I am doing better financially than I have before. My expenses are similar to what they were before, but I’m making more money than I was even earlier this year. I don’t have vacation days or paid time off right now, but because of some changes with the main job I have, I know that there will be a policy for that soon. Once I know what the PTO policy is like and how many days I might have already (I don’t know if we will all start at 0 or if they will count them back to when we all started working), then maybe I will start seeing if I can find a friend to travel with. I still don’t think I’d like to travel alone, even though I know a lot of my friends have done that for the first time recently and loved it. But I would rather have someone to go on adventures with so I don’t feel isolated while traveling.
I have no idea when I’ll be able to get out of LA for a trip that I plan. I know that as of right now, I will be headed up to Oregon in November to do an early Thanksgiving with family, so at least that will be something. But I want to plan something that is more about exploring the world and hopefully getting to see a place I have never been to before.
Posted onAugust 23, 2022|Comments Off on Thinking Back On 21 Years In LA (or Feeling A Bit Sentimental)
I just celebrated my LA anniversary. I’ve lived in LA for 21 years now. I know that isn’t a milestone year, but I still think it’s crazy how many years I’ve lived here when in my mind it does feel like I lived in the Bay Area longer. I know that isn’t true, but maybe it’s because my LA life has been a bit split up between being in college, different apartments, and different phases of my life.
Even though I’ve lived here for so long, I haven’t lived in that many places. When I moved to LA, I lived in my freshman dorm at LMU. The summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I sublet an apartment that I shared with 3 roommates. I was also in a dorm for my sophomore year, and during winter break that year I lived with my great aunt and uncle because I had things I needed to do in LA and the dorms were closed for the break. After my sophomore year, I moved into my first apartment and was only there for a year. Then I moved to my next apartment with a roommate and was there for my last semester of college (I graduated a semester early). After 6 years and a bunch of roommates, I moved into the house that I just moved out of. And now I’m in my condo.
I look at the time I was in the dorms and my first apartment as a totally different part of my life. Even my second apartment was a bit less like I was living in LA at times and more like an extension of college. Even though I was only in college for about 6 months in that apartment and then had 5 1/2 years after college, it still felt connected to being a student. My last place really felt like the first grown-up place I lived in. And of course, being in my condo now is a new and exciting phase of life. I did feel settled in LA while living in my last place, but being in a place that I own is an entirely different level.
And as I’ve said this so many times, I had no idea that this is what my life would be like when I was younger. Even just a year ago, I had no idea what my living situation would be like or what type of place I would be moving into. As much as I try to plan for the future, I have had so many curveballs and surprises so I can’t always plan what things will be like. But I have been lucky and most of those curveballs and surprises have been positive or have led to positive things. I didn’t feel like having my landlord sell my place would be necessarily positive, but it was one of the best things for me. So when things seem to be not looking so great, I do try to be patient and hope for the best since things do tend to turn out ok.
I still can’t believe that when I moved to LA, I had just turned 18 and while I had hoped I would stay in LA as an adult I was just happy to be there for college. Now, I’m only a year away from being 40 and I have built such a crazy and cool life here. I can’t imagine what things will be like for me in another 21 years. I also know that I have no idea what things will be like in just another year. So much can change so quickly. But as my history of the last 21 years has shown, it can change in some incredible ways that will help me continue to live the best life that I can in the city that I truly love living in.
Posted onAugust 22, 2022|Comments Off on A Mixed Workout Week (or Preparing To Have A Bad Week Again)
This past week, I wasn’t doing too great with my workouts. I thought the beginning of the week would start off well, but I had other medical issues come up that made those workouts harder. And then, I started to have to deal with nausea. So while I was hoping at least the beginning of the week would start off well, it really didn’t.
I was feeling a bit weak going into Monday’s workout. My gallbladder attack was on Sunday, and even though it wasn’t the worst attack I’ve had, I was still recovering from the pain and a few other symptoms. I probably should have taken some pain medication before my workout because my body was sore from being tensed up during the attack, but I didn’t think of that until I was already in class.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks and did the same pattern each time. We had a 2-minute base pace at an incline, a 1-minute push pace at the same incline, and a 1-minute all-out. Because of the incline we were at, the base pace was at the resistance level I would normally use for my push pace, so I kept it there for those first 3 minutes and just pedaled faster for the push pace. And for the all-out, I did go up to my normal resistance level. We had that same block 3 times and we were supposed to try to get better each time. But I think I probably did about the same effort each time because as I tried to push myself I was also getting tired so they canceled each other out.
On the rower, we had 1 long block. We had 2 rounds of a 300-meter row, 2 rounds of a 200-meter row, and 2 rounds of a 100-meter row. The idea was to get to each distance with the fewest number of strokes each time. To do that, you have to pause at the front and back of the rower and really explode from your legs. I’m not great at explosive power, but I have built up core strength so I can do better with the pauses. And between each row, we had lunges that were supposed to be with a medicine ball, but I did regular lunges.
And on the floor, we also had 1 block. We had 4 exercises and we were supposed to do each one twice before moving on to the next one. For all the exercises, we had the mini-bands around our legs and they were drop sets so we did 8 reps with a very heavy weight and then immediately go into as many reps as we can with a lighter weight. We had upright high rows, deadlifts, low rows, and front squats. I went heavier than I can remember with my deadlifts, and that was a real challenge for me. And for the front squats, I really needed to keep my hands free for balance because I was having a tough time with the mini-band on my legs so I did those without weights. But considering how I was feeling going into class, I was very happy with the work that I was able to do.
On Wednesday, I was feeling a bit better but it was also the start of having nausea. I tried to not let it affect me too much, but there were a few moments when it got a bit more severe and I just had to let it pass. But fortunately, this was right when the nausea was starting, so it wasn’t as bad as it can get.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 3-minute base pace. Since the base pace was so long, the idea was to work on increasing your base pace speed. Since my speed can be a big variable on the bike, I decided to increase the resistance level by one. So my base pace was between what my normal base and push paces are set at. That did add a challenge, but it wasn’t too different so it was manageable. We repeated the pattern with the 90-second push pace and 3-minute base pace a total of 3 times before we ended with a 1-minute all-out.
On the rower, it was all about doing 300-meter rows. I was surprised at how well I did with the rowing since I usually struggle a lot on the rower when I’m nauseous. I only had to take a break during the row once. Between each row, we had either front presses or calf raises with a medicine ball.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had single-arm shoulder presses, squats to shrugs, and lunges. And the second block had chest presses, sumo squats, and lunges. I did go heavier with my sumo squats since I know I could probably go heavier than I think I can. Sometimes the bigger struggle is picking up the weight, and not using it in the exercise. But I tried and I’m glad I pushed myself a bit more on the floor to prove that I could do it.
Thursday’s workout was a 2 group class, so we had 23 minutes for cardio and 23 minutes for the rower and floor. I was still dealing with nausea, so having such a long time on the bike was a challenge, but the entire workout was set up to be a good challenge.
For cardio, we had a single 23-minute distance challenge. You could keep your speed the same for the entire thing, but there were 3 times throughout the challenge where we were encouraged to go a bit faster for about 90-seconds. Because it was such a long challenge, we were told to be at our base pace or a little above our base pace. Since I had just done a challenge with using one resistance level higher on the bike for my base pace the day before, I did that again. I also increased my push pace for the 3 short intervals where we were supposed to push ourselves. It wasn’t an easy challenge, and it was harder being nauseous while doing it. But I was really proud of myself for what I did and how I did push myself to do a bit more than what I thought I could do.
And for the second half of class, we alternated between floor and row blocks. We had 3 of each of them. For all of the blocks on the floor, we had the same exercises. We had sumo deadlifts, wood choppers, bicep curls, and bird dogs to push-ups. Every time we got back to the floor, we picked up where we left off. And on the rower, we were rowing while cardio was in their push intervals and we just rowed for those 90-seconds each time. I struggled a bit on the floor with the push-ups, but again I was proud of myself for what I was able to do considering how I felt.
Friday was probably one of the toughest days for me since it was the worst day of nausea. I knew it wouldn’t be a great workout and I would just do what I could. But it’s always frustrating when I feel like that.
The two cardio blocks were very similar. We alternated between a push pace at an incline and a base pace without an incline. And again, I tried to use my potential new base pace. I haven’t increased what my push or all-out paces should be just yet, so I didn’t challenge myself much harder outside of my base paces. At the end of each block, we had an all-out at an incline, which was 2 resistance levels higher than what my normal all-out is.
We also had 2 blocks on the rower and it was all about 400-meter rows. In the first block, between each row, we had squat presses and tricep extensions with a medicine ball. And in the second block, we had bicep curls and shoulder presses with the medicine ball between each row. My rows were pretty slow and I had to take a lot of breaks during them, so I didn’t get that much done in each of the blocks.
On the floor, I ended up doing a lot of modifications between my hip issues and dealing with nausea. In the first block, we had lunges, chest fly with weights, and push-ups. There were 2 types of lunges, but I can only do one type of lunges so I did squats to replace one of the lunges. And sometimes I modify push-ups to be on the bench, but this time I did chest presses instead since they work the same muscles. In the second block, we had lateral lunges, skater lunges, sit-ups with rotations, and sprinter sit-ups. I did bicycle crunches instead of sprinter sit-ups, but that was the only modification I had to make for that second block. I know I did the best that I could in this workout, but I hate when I finish a workout and feel like I should have done more. But I also know there was nothing else I could have done with how I was feeling.
And I’m mentally preparing myself for this week. It might not be as horrible as some of my bad weeks are, but it can be and I know I need to be ok with that. Hopefully, I’m preparing myself more than I need to so it won’t be as bad and I will feel better about myself and my efforts when I’m writing my workout recap next week!
Posted onAugust 19, 2022|Comments Off on Still Trying To Find Free Time (or Not Having Time Or Energy To Do Things I Want)
I know that everyone has struggles with time management and finding free time. But for a while, I was doing ok with figuring out my schedule because my work hours weren’t normal business hours. When I was done with work at 3pm, even though sometimes I was too tired to do much after work, I had a lot more time to add things to my schedule. Even with working on Saturdays, I knew I always had Sundays and Mondays free as well as every afternoon. And I often would plan things on Mondays since I was always free then and I didn’t have to worry about anything else that might come up that day.
But now, I’m working longer hours and I have more work days. My only day each week without work is Sundays. This has been this way for about a year now, but I’m still getting adjusted to it. And it is surprising that being done with work only 2 or 3 hours later makes such a huge difference. When I’m done with work, the afternoon is over. And I do have things as soon as work is done either 2 or 3 days a week. So my weeknights aren’t that free until sometimes after 7pm. And if I have gotten up before 6 in the morning to work out and then am not done until after 7 in the evening, I really have no energy to do anything else that day.
I have wanted to have more fun things in my life. I want to feel like I have the time to make plans or see friends. And I want to look into acting classes again. But because of my full schedule, I am really struggling to find when I can add those things in. And when I do have the time to add them in, I don’t have the energy. I know I need to have energy if I want to get back into acting classes. If I’m going to spend money on a class, I want to take full advantage of it.
I know that part of me not having energy is because I’m not getting enough sleep. But getting enough sleep also would limit my free time after work. If I was making sure I was in bed by 10pm, I couldn’t be in a class that was from 7-10pm like so many are. As much as I would like to sleep in a little later, if I did my workouts after work then there goes any free time I might have. In some ways, this feels like a no-win situation.
But I know that’s not true. There are ways to work this out and figure out how to add in more time so that I can do what I want. But I just have to be much more careful with when I have things scheduled. I might have to decide to not keep all the obligations that I have right now. I don’t know what I would drop or stop doing, so I haven’t tried to do that yet. Maybe I just want to do too much. I don’t know.
I know that I’ve had time management issues plenty of times in the past. I do always work it out eventually, but while I’m in the middle of it, it can feel like there are no solutions. And I should be grateful that even if I’m working more hours than I would like, I am working and I’m in a better work situation than I have been in before. But life is always a balance so when I’m doing better with work, I might not be doing as well with other things in my life. So I just need to work on that balance some more and hopefully I will come up with a good solution for myself soon.
Posted onAugust 18, 2022|Comments Off on An Almost Free Dinner (or Continuing The Birthday Tradition)
I haven’t done a lot for my birthday this year and I don’t know if I’ll be doing much else. As I said before, I’m ok not celebrating as much as I used to, especially with how busy I’ve been with work and other things. But I do still like to celebrate and continue traditions when I can. And the tradition I look forward to the most is going to Truxton’s with my birthday twin, Joanna. We aren’t exactly sure how long we’ve been doing this, but we know it’s been at least 11 years, which is a pretty long time. And while we rarely can do our dinner on our actual birthday, we get it done within our birthday month.
2 years ago, we ordered take-out and had our dinner as a picnic since that was the safest way for us to have a meal. Last year, we were able to return to the restaurant and eat there. And this year, we continued with having dinner at the restaurant. If either of us felt uneasy about doing that, I know we could have done a picnic again. But I’m glad that eating there was an option for us. And because we went on a random weeknight, there was almost nobody else there so that helped us feel like things were a bit safer.
As we have done since the birthday deal changed to a dollar amount and not just a free entree and free dessert, we knew we’d order an appetizer to split, entrees for each of us, and a dessert to split. In the past, our meals have been completely free. And if we only ordered entrees we could have done that. But it’s ok that it’s not free anymore because we still get a total of $40 off of our bill, which is usually almost the entire thing.
We knew we wanted to have monkey bread to start, so we ordered that and ate it while we looked at the menu to figure out what else we wanted for dinner.
And once we ordered the rest of our meal, it was time for our catch-up chat. We had seen each other a few months ago when she helped me put together my bed. So there wasn’t as much to catch up on as there normally is when we get together for dinner. But we both had updates on our lives and our homes. When she was helping me with the bed, the renovation wasn’t done so I updated her on that. And she’s also going to do a renovation on her place so she updated me on that progress with planning everything and picking out what she wants. And as always, we had some gossip about dating and other random things that have been going on in our lives.
For our dinners, I had a burger and she had nachos. We’ve only had delicious meals at Truxton’s and we both really enjoyed our meals. But since we knew we’d be having dessert, we tried to save some room and not fill up too much.
We do like to give our server a heads up that we are using their birthday club coupons since sometimes they have to do the bill a different way (lately, they split the bill and then apply one coupon to each half to let us use both). So when our dessert was brought out, they put candles on it and sang Happy Birthday to us!
We got a new dessert, and I think we picked the perfect thing! It was a lemon cake with strawberry sorbet on top. It wasn’t too heavy, which we needed after a big meal, and it was so flavorful! I’m glad that’s what we picked because I think some of our favorite desserts would have been just too much for us.
Our meal wasn’t free, but it was pretty much under $10 for each of us so we could leave a really big tip. What we’ve been doing lately is tipping $20 each since that’s what our coupons take off the bill. So we spend the same amount we would have without the coupons, but that also allows us to leave a nice tip for our server and hopefully make their day a bit better. I love that we have always paid it forward because I know sometimes people who get a discounted meal tip on the discounted amount. We like to make up for that.
We were both really full after dinner, but it was worth it. This is one of the best birthday traditions and I think my birthday wouldn’t have felt complete without it. And since I rarely go out for dinner these days, it feels like a real treat.
I’m not sure if Joanna and I will be able to hang out again before our traditional cheesecake outing around the new year, but even if we don’t see each other until then we know we will have another great catch-up when we have our next meal!
Needing To Take Care Of Myself (or Not Ignoring All Pain)
