Monthly Archives: October 2022

Another Week And More Weird Workouts (or I Think This Was Hell Week Prep In Multiple Ways)

Posted on October 17, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Week And More Weird Workouts (or I Think This Was Hell Week Prep In Multiple Ways)

I have had so many weeks where my workouts were affected by various medical issues. I’m starting to be used to it, but it’s always a surprise for me and what ends up affecting what I can and can’t do. But as always, I pushed through all my workouts this past week. But I think this past week of workouts was also harder to get us ready for Hell Week.

Monday’s workout was a first for me. I’ve never had to leave class early, but this time I knew I would have to. I had my appointment with the doctor in bariatric medicine that morning, and I had meant to change what time I was going to work out. But by the time I remember I needed to do that, it was too late. And it ended up working out ok because if I had done the later class, I would have still been at my appointment since it took so long.

Since I was going to leave early, I only did the cardio and rowing portions of the workout. It wasn’t ideal to skip the floor, but that’s how it worked out so I could get home in time to shower before I had to leave for my appointment. I was still having some hip/back pain, but it was much better than how it was at the end of the week before.

Cardio was pretty simple. We had rounds of a 2 1/2-minute push pace followed by a 90-second base pace. I did use the new resistance levels for all of my cardio work and it’s starting to feel more normal to me. It’s still a challenge, but it doesn’t feel like I’m struggling quite as much. And we ended cardio with a 30-second all-out.

For the rowing, everything was a stroke drill and we were supposed to keep our stroke rate pretty low. We had 3 different stroke drills with 3 different exercises and we repeated each drill and exercise 3 times. We had 20-stroke drills with side hops, 15-stroke drills with front and back hops, and 10-stroke drills with high knees. The exercises were a bit tough on my hips, but I just went slowly and took breaks in the middle of them when I needed to. And as soon as I finished my last round of the 10-stroke drills, I had to leave class so I could get home. Just like when I’m dealing with pain and nausea, I know some workout is better than no workout. But I don’t want to have to leave a class in the middle again if I can help it.

Tuesday was a really tough workout. It was the first day after taking the new medication, and I had some side effects from it. I’m going to be taking steps to help make sure that doesn’t affect my workout too much (like drinking a little juice before working out to get some sugar in me), but I didn’t do that before this workout since I didn’t know. But also, it seemed like everyone was saying this workout was really hard so it wasn’t just me.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. For blocks 1 and 3, we started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace. And we ended those blocks with a 1-minute base pace at an incline/high resistance level to make it feel like an all-out. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had all 30-second base pace intervals but the incline/resistance level increased every 30 seconds. I was mainly using the same resistance levels that I’ve been using the past few weeks, but I did make sure the highest level I used was higher than my new all-out one.

For rowing, we had the same thing for blocks 1 and 3 and similar things for blocks 2 and 4. For blocks 1 and 3, we had a 3 1/2-minute row for distance. That was a long row, and it was harder than normal because I could tell my blood sugar was dropping. I did take breaks during the rowing and they were a bit longer than I usually take for pain because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t make myself sick. But I have gotten pretty good and being aware of my body and how I’m feeling so I did ok. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had 30-second intervals with different exercises. For block 2, we had halos and squats with the medicine ball. And for block 4, we had overhead presses and squat jacks with the medicine ball.

And on the floor, we had one long block with different mini-blocks. For each mini-block, we did the exercises twice before doing the next one. We had bird dog low rows and mountain climbers, single-arm tricep extensions and bench hop overs, and plank low rows and squats. When the workout was done, I just got through the second round of the last mini-block.

I was doing better on Wednesday. I still didn’t have a chance to have something to drink before my workout, but I think the side effects were affecting me less than the day before. So I wasn’t quite as worried about how drops in blood sugar might hit me.

For cardio, we were on our own with some distance challenges. We had rounds on the treadmill/bike and then after getting to each distance we had squats. I made it to the 3rd distance in the challenge, which seems to be about how everyone else did as well. I used my new push pace resistance level for all the cardio work.

On the rower, we were timed for everything. We had 3 blocks and each block was different. In the first block, we had rounds of a 1-minute push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. In the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. And in the third block, we just had 30-second all-out rows. I did try to get my rowing wattage up for the all-out rows compared to the push rows, but they weren’t getting as high as I know I can get them.

And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first two blocks had 2 exercises each and the last block had one exercise. The first block had bicep curls on the straps and lateral lunges. The second block had incline chest fly with weights and sit-up to stand with shoulder presses. I couldn’t do the sit-up to stand because it was bothering my hips, so I focused on doing the shoulder presses instead. And the last block had single-leg squats using the straps, but I did them as regular squats. But since we used the straps for support for those, I was able to get much deeper into my squats than I normally can.

I think Thursday was probably my best day this past week. I did buy some juice so I could drink something with a little sugar before working out. It helped me feel better, but that could also be because I might be getting used to this new medication. But I think for at least a little while, I’m going to make sure I drink something before working out just in case.

For cardio, we had a pretty simple workout but it was tough! We had 3 rounds of a 3-minute push pace followed by a 2-minute base pace. Doing a 3-minute push pace isn’t unusual, but doing so many of them in a workout isn’t something we normally do. And since I have increased my push pace level, that added even more to it.

For cardio, we started with a 250-meter row and then had bicep curls with a medicine ball. We then did a 200-meter row and bicep curls and reduced the row by 50 meters each time. And once we did a 100-meter row, we then repeated that row again and the exercise changed to lunges as we increased the row by 50 meters each time. I only did one round with the increasing rows, but I also know that I took longer getting on and off the rower than I normally do.

And on the floor, we started with a stability circuit. We had balance shoulder presses, balance deadlifts, and bird dogs with toe taps. After those, we had similar exercises where we focused on strength. We had kneeling shoulder presses, single-arm deadlifts, and side plank leg lifts. For the balance exercises, I couldn’t really do them as balance things, but I tried to find ways to challenge myself where I could.

As much as I want to hope that this week will be easier for me, I know it won’t. I’m already dealing with pain and nausea, so that will be part of what challenges me. And I don’t know if I’ll have any of the other issues I’ve been dealing with kicking in again too. But I’m just going to keep going, and I’m making sure that I’m ready for Hell Week when it starts soon!

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Default ThumbnailHell Week Prep (or The First Part Of My Workout Week) Default ThumbnailAlmost Having A Second Hell Week (or Just Pushing Through) Default ThumbnailA Very Weird Workout Week (or Food Poisoning And Holiday Workouts) Default ThumbnailFeeling More Back To Normal (or A Good Week Of Hell Week Prep) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Weekday Workouts (or A Week Of Painful Workouts) Default ThumbnailJust A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress)

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An Unexpected Friend Hangout (or More Proof I Need To Be More Social)

Posted on October 14, 2022 | Comments Off on An Unexpected Friend Hangout (or More Proof I Need To Be More Social)

I’ve written about how I’ve become much less social compared to how I was before. I know a lot of that is because of the pandemic and my hesitation to feel like things are normal again so I’m not really going out the way I did. But also, a lot of events that I used to go to still aren’t back yet. But besides not going out as much, I don’t have as many friends who live in LA as I did before. A lot of my friends moved in the past 2 years. All of them had reasons they wanted to move and they all are thriving in their new cities. But that doesn’t make me miss them less. And as so many people know, it’s really hard to make new friends as an adult. And even harder when you aren’t going out much and meeting new people.

Even though my friends aren’t all local anymore, I do make efforts to maintain those friendships. I’m lucky that those friends are the type of friends that you can just text each other random stuff for a while but when you have time for a phone call or a hangout, things pick back up exactly where they left off and there’s no awkwardness. Those are the truest type of friends to me. Those relationships are strong enough that they don’t need regular maintenance. And I think because of how things have gone over the past few years, most of the friendships that I still have are that type of friends whether they live in LA or not.

But of course, I miss seeing my friends that I was used to seeing on a regular basis who don’t live here anymore. I haven’t been able to see most of them because everyone is busy. But I always hope that either they will be back in LA for some reason or I will have a chance to travel to where they are so I can see them again. What has happened has been random chance visits from friends because they are in town and need a place to stay. That happened over the summer when a friend needed a place to stay for a night when they were here for a wedding. And I got another random overnight guest earlier this week.

I hadn’t seen my friend Dani since she surprised me for my birthday last year. I miss our Disney days and going to musicals with her, but I know that she’s been loving her new city. And we keep in pretty regular contact via text so we both know what’s going on in each other’s lives. And the other night, she texted me to see if she could crash at my place that night. She was flying and had a layover at LAX, but due to delays, she didn’t make her connecting flight and the airline wasn’t paying for a hotel. She didn’t mind that I only had an air mattress and not an actual bed for her to stay in, so I told her that I’d love to get to see her and let her stay here.

It was the best unplanned hangout. She got here really late and we both had to be up really early the next morning, but we still got a few hours of hangout time in. It was so awesome to get to catch up in person instead of via text. We’ve both had a lot of changes happen in our lives, but I think we both have grown in really great ways. And she had only seen my condo in photos and videos, so I wanted to give her the tour. I haven’t been able to show off my place to too many of my friends, and I love how everyone agrees that it’s the perfect place for me and it really feels like it’s my home. And Dani has done renovations before too, so I had asked her a lot of questions while the work was being done and I was so happy to show her how everything turned out.

I wish that she and I could have had more time to hang out, but we both needed to get sleep before getting up early the next morning. And I will be up where she is located next month when I’m doing some family stuff, so there’s a chance we will get to see each other again then. I’m not sure of my schedule yet when I’m there, but I’m hoping there will be enough free time to meet up somewhere to continue catching up.

It is always nice when I make plans with friends and have something to look forward to. But it’s just as nice when getting to see my friends is a surprise and happens with no planning. I’m just lucky any time I get to see friends, especially those who have moved away, and I am always grateful for whatever time I can have with them.

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Getting Through A Few More Doctor Appointments (or Hoping For Some Positive Outcomes)

Posted on October 13, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Through A Few More Doctor Appointments (or Hoping For Some Positive Outcomes)

I continued with my numerous doctor appointments this week. I had one in-person appointment and one phone appointment so far this week. And this weekend I think I will have some medical testing done. Like I said in my other post, I have a lot of appointments this month and they just happened to pile up. But I’m working on getting through them one by one. But they are all for good reasons and I’m hoping that through all these appointments I will have some plans for how things are going to move forward for me.

My first appointment this week was my in-person appointment. This was with someone in bariatric medicine, which was through a referral from my therapist. There are a few new medications that can help with weight loss, even though they are used off-label, and I wanted to learn more about them. My therapist couldn’t go over those with me since they weren’t her expertise, but she knew that bariatric medicine would be able to do that.

I was a bit nervous going into that appointment. Maybe it’s just me, but I have always thought of bariatric medicine as weight loss surgery. And I knew that I was not interested in doing that. There are a lot of reasons why I don’t want surgery, and I didn’t want a doctor trying to convince me otherwise. I know that surgery is usually the option with the best results, but it just wasn’t something I was willing to do.

Fortunately, my appointment went a lot better than I expected. I really liked the doctor that I met with and she did discuss the various options with me, including surgical ones. But once I said that I was not interested in surgical options, she didn’t discuss it further. We went over the history of my weight, various diets I’ve attempted, and my eating disorder. She was very clear that nothing she could help me with would help with my eating disorder, and I knew that. I take Vyvanse to help with that, but I think my history of dieting and other weight-related issues has really messed with my metabolism. I can have what should be perfect food days for multiple days in a row and I won’t see any weight loss. There should be at least a little weight loss when I know I’m not overeating. Or when I’m sick and not really able to eat, I don’t lose weight when I know most people do. So I wanted to find a tool that might be able to help my body lose some weight while I do the rest of the work myself.

Going into my appointment, I specifically wanted to discuss a few different medications that all were essentially the same thing but with different dosages or protocols. The one downside to these is that they are all injectable medications and I really hated that idea. But I think my desire to see if this would work was higher than my fear so I was willing to try it. And after going over my medical history and other information, the doctor agreed that one of these injectable options could be something that helps me. It’s not a guarantee, but I at least want to try it.

So I was prescribed the medication and then had to be taught how to use the injectable pen. It’s similar to what an EpiPen looks like, but there are multiple doses in each one so I had to learn how to select the correct dose and change out the needle. This is something I will need to inject once a week, and I started the same day I saw the doctor. I was terrified to do it, but I watched all the instructional videos and did it while laying down on my bed in case I passed out. And I was shocked that I didn’t pass out! I was shaking pretty badly before and after the shot, but I think that was just nerves and nothing else to worry about.

I hope that each injection is as easy as this first one was. I won’t have my next one until next week, so at least I have time between each one. And because of how this medication can affect you when you start it, you start with a dosage that is below the therapeutic dose. So I might not notice results for a little while as I build up to the dose that is supposed to work.

My second appointment this week was my phone appointment with a general medicine doctor. This was to get a referral to orthopedics because of the pain I’ve experienced recently. I’m feeling much better now, but I also know it’s better to get checked out since it’s been several years since I’ve seen anyone in orthopedics. I didn’t know if this phone appointment would be all I needed for the referral, but the doctor I spoke to could see my history of working with different doctors in orthopedics as well as the notes that I will likely need more surgeries. So she put in my referral without asking too much or needing me to come in to see her first. And I’ve already spoken to orthopedics and I’ll be seeing them in about a month. I think just making sure I’m ok and having a new game plan will be smart since I know I will need additional surgeries at some point.

And the other things I have to get done are medical tests related to the appointments I had this week. I need to do some blood work for the doctor I saw in bariatric medicine just to have some baseline information since this new medication has some rare side effects and it’s important to have a bit of monitoring around that. And I also need to do a general x-ray of my hips to prepare for my appointment with orthopedics next month. I know that in the past, my hip issues are not seen on x-rays, but that’s the process when you start with a new doctor. And after my appointment, they might order an MRI since that’s how they can really check how things are. I don’t have to do either of those tests immediately, but I would like to get them out of the way so that’s why I’m trying to get them done this weekend.

Over the next 4 weeks, I have 3 more appointments. I don’t know if I’ll have more than that, especially with how quickly appointments piled up already, but at least I’m getting all this done so I can make sure that I’m doing the things I need to do for myself and I’m as healthy as I can be. And hopefully, this new medication will help me with losing weight, and when I see the new doctor in orthopedics I will have a good plan figured out for my next steps.

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Another Theater Sunday (or Supporting A Friend)

Posted on October 12, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Theater Sunday (or Supporting A Friend)

Most of the time, when I’m going to see a show I’m going to see something in a large theater at the Pantages or the Dolby. I have seen shows at other theaters, including some small theaters, but that’s not too often for me. I saw more shows in small black box theaters when I was younger, especially while I was still doing sketch and improv. I frequently would go to shows that my friends were doing on nights I wasn’t in a show and then they would see my shows on their off nights. But I just haven’t really seen a lot of independent theater lately. Some of that is because my friends aren’t doing as much theater like that, and some of it has been that I haven’t had a chance to.

My friend Marie was in an amazing show over the summer called “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Divorce”, and I really wanted to go and see it. But with a lot of my crazy schedule stuff plus various injuries and illnesses, I never made it to the theater. I knew that Marie understood, but I felt so bad that I never made it. So when she emailed me to let me know that the show was extending its run and starting up again, I was so excited that I could go and see it! And that’s exactly what I got to do this past Sunday.

The show was in a cute little theater in the theater district in Hollywood. I’ve seen a few shows in theaters near there before, and they are great places to see independent theater and new shows. This was a new show and it had gotten some great reviews. And when I got there, I saw that my friend Andy happened to be going to the show that afternoon as well. I was expecting to sit alone at the show, and I was glad that I had a friend that I could sit with. And since it was open seating, we got to sit in the front row together.

The show is a one-act play without an intermission. Without giving away too much, it’s the story of 3 couples ready to get a divorce and have to see a mediator in order to complete the process. The stories of each couple are explored and explained with a few different flashback segments. And there are some really funny moments as well as some really touching and heartwarming moments. I guess it would be considered more of a drama, but because of the comedy in it as well it wasn’t a very heavy show. And I feel like it ended on a really nice note as well.

Of course, I loved getting to see Marie in a show. I haven’t been able to see her in a show in a long time, and most of the shows I have seen her in have been standup performances. Getting to see her in a play is very different and I was so proud of how amazing she was! I’m glad I got a second chance to see this show because missing it would have been a loss for me.

The show is running through November 20th and has performances on Saturdays and Sundays. If you are in LA and would like to see it (which I really recommend), you can get tickets online and use the code “friends” for a nice discount!

I’m so glad I had this opportunity to support a friend performing and doing the thing they love so much. This isn’t something I get to do that often, and it was a good reminder of how awesome it is to see independent theater and the passion of everyone involved in a show.

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A Month Full Of Doctor Appointments (or I Guess This Is A Health-Focused Month)

Posted on October 11, 2022 | Comments Off on A Month Full Of Doctor Appointments (or I Guess This Is A Health-Focused Month)

For most of my adult life, I have tried to spread out doctor appointments so I had them throughout the year and not bunched up together. For once-a-year appointments, I know they say to make them around your birthday so you don’t forget, but I would do various holidays to remember to schedule them. It’s rare that I have a lot of appointments at all once unless they are all for the same issue. For example, when I had blood work for my MRI one week, my MRI the next week, and my follow-up appointment the week after. Even during the pandemic, I’ve been trying to keep things spread out when I have the option to do so.

But for some reason, this month is going to be filled with various doctor appointments. Some of these were scheduled already, some are ones I have been waiting for a referral for, and some are ones that I realized I needed to do and just scheduled as quickly as possible. And last week, I kicked off a month of appointments with one that I tried to schedule as quickly as I could. And that was to get my eyes checked.

The last time I got my eyes checked, it was at the beginning of the pandemic. It was right after everything in LA had shut down, but I still had my appointment to go to. It was very weird and eerie because I knew we were supposed to be staying home, but I also needed this appointment because I was out of contact lenses and couldn’t get more without seeing a doctor. If I didn’t need to go for that reason, I would have stayed home. And I remember how everything just seemed off. There weren’t cars on the road because people were staying home. I’m used to seeing a ton of people in the waiting room and there was nobody there. Everyone was being hypervigilant and I was worried that being out for that appointment was maybe too risky.

That appointment was over 2 years ago, and contact prescriptions are only good for 2 years at a time. So when I realized I was almost out of contact lenses again, I knew it was time to schedule my next appointment. I know that I probably should be a bit better about trying to go 2 years apart instead of something like 2 years and 6 months, but I also know that these appointments are mainly to confirm my vision hasn’t changed. Of course, it’s important to have other eye health checked out, but the appointments I schedule are mainly vision checks.

Even though the pandemic is very different now than it was in March 2020, a lot of what I experienced at this appointment was the same. I scheduled it to be very early so I could go before work and not be late to log in. There weren’t too many cars on the road and there was nobody else in the waiting room. But I think the lack of patients in the waiting room was more about how early my appointment was and not because people aren’t going in for their appointments.

I expected my vision to be the same and for there to be nothing much to discuss with the doctor, and I was right. I did have a little trouble with the vision test because wearing a mask while doing it meant the little lenses in the machine would fog up quite a bit. I was having to wipe them off every time I looked through them to say if version one or two was better for me. It wasn’t too annoying because the doctor and I both were laughing a bit about how ridiculous it was. It did make the appointment take longer, but not by much.

When the eye exam was done, I went to order new contacts and I got a spare pair of contacts that were a different brand because I had told the doctor that I was wearing my last pair. I didn’t intend to let things get like that, but I didn’t realize I was out of contacts until I put in my last pair. I thought I had another box left and panicked a bit when I realized I was wrong. But at least now I have some backup ones I can use if necessary. But the ones I ordered should be arriving in another week or two.

I’m glad this appointment went well. Some of the other appointments I have coming up this month are a bit more stressful or I’m worried about how things will go. I know everything will be ok, but I still get stressed about the possibility of finding out something weird at an appointment. But at least for this first one this month, it was very routine and easy and I’m hoping this is a trend that will continue throughout the month.

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PRs and Pain (or Another Up and Down Workout Week)

Posted on October 10, 2022 | Comments Off on PRs and Pain (or Another Up and Down Workout Week)

I had a mixed workout week this past week. I had some really great things and some not-so-great things happening. But fortunately, I decided to focus more on the positive things and I think that was reflected in my workouts.

For Monday’s workout, we had a lot of power work, so it was a good day for me to push myself. I felt so much more like myself, but I still have some work to do to build my strength again. But I still challenged myself where I could.

For cardio, the first block was very short with a 45-second push pace, 30-second base pace, 30-second push pace, 45-second base pace, and 30-second all-out. Because those two push paces were the only ones we had for the workout, I increased my resistance level on the bike to be one higher for those. In the second block, all we had were all-outs and recoveries. We had 2 rounds of a 1-minute all-out, 2 rounds of a 45-second all-out, and 2 rounds of a 30-second all-out. And as the all-outs got shorter, the recoveries got longer. I probably could have pushed myself a bit more in the all-outs and maybe I should have worked on increasing my all-out resistance level, but I’m trying to limit how much I push myself so I don’t overdo things.

On the rower, the first block was matched with cardio so we had the push rows and base rows. And for the second block, we had 500-meter rows with squats between each row. This was to prepare for the 500-meter row benchmark, which I’m not expecting to do too great on. But I proved to myself that I could do the row without stopping and that was going to be my main goal.

And on the floor, we had one long block with 3 mini-blocks in it. And we were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on to the next one. The first mini-block had mountain climbers and superman extensions. They were both supposed to be on the Bosu, but I did the mountain climbers without it. The second mini-block had goblet squats and sumo squats, and both were with weights. And the last mini-block had hip dips and bridge pullovers. Again, both of those exercises were supposed to be with the Bosu, but I did the hip dips on the floor instead.

Tuesday’s workout was a benchmark day and we had the 500-meter row. That is a really weird distance to do because it’s not a sprint like the 100-meter row and it’s not something you have to be careful about pushing yourself with like the 2000-meter row. It’s a mix of making sure you push hard but also not burning out in the beginning. And my only goal for this benchmark was to not need breaks during the row.

First, I had a short block with cardio since I was in the second group to go to the rowers. That short block was rounds of a short push pace followed by a 30-second walking recovery. We weren’t supposed to go too hard since we wanted to save our energy for the row.

Next was the benchmark row. We had more time than we needed to get it done, so we had extra time to warm up or get ready. But I just wanted to get started because I wasn’t expecting too much. We see a lot of information on the screens of the rower, and one thing we can see is our 500-meter split time. I noticed pretty quickly that my split time was a lot lower than I expected and it might be possible for me to get a PR. But I knew that if I went too hard then, I wouldn’t be able to maintain what I was doing. So I tried to keep everything steady and just keep going. Once I noticed I had less than 100 meters to go, I just went for it knowing that I was going to feel very exhausted when I was done. And somehow I got a new PR! This was less than a second faster than my last PR, but the last one was before the pandemic so this felt like a huge victory!

Next, we had a short block on the floor which wasn’t too intense since some people had the floor before the row. We had hip bridges, high rows on the straps, and torso rotations.

Then we went through all sections of the room again for longer blocks. For cardio, we started with rounds of a 1-minute all-out and 45-second recovery. Then we had rounds with 45-second all-outs and 30-second all-outs. I didn’t do any increases with my all-outs since I was exhausted after the benchmark. On the rower, we started with a 350-meter row followed by lunges. And each time we got back to the rower we decreased the row by 50 meters. And on the floor, we had lunges, plank pull-throughs, chest fly with weights, and side planks. Again, I was feeling how hard I worked for the benchmark and my floor work wasn’t too great. But I was feeling amazing after getting a new PR!

On Wednesday, I was feeling a bit sore but I thought it was due to how hard I went in the row benchmark combined with sitting for so many hours at work after. I know now that this was my back or hip pain coming back. But I didn’t know that at the time so I still tried to push myself.

For cardio, we were supposed to have a distance challenge and then exercises after each distance for the first block. But the exercises we had were both things that I knew I couldn’t do, plus I know getting on and off the bike can be tough when I’m sore, so I decided to just focus on doing my work on the bike. This isn’t ideal, but it’s one of the rare modifications I do from time to time. We had decreasing distances for cardio and we were supposed to increase either incline or speed each time. I just increased my resistance level on the bike for each distance and made sure I had a bit of recovery between each one to make up for not having the time off the bike with the exercises. And in the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 45-second recovery. Because I have been trying to challenge myself, I did increase my resistance level for the all-outs.

On the rower, the first two blocks were the same. We had rounds of a 30-second push row followed by a 45-second base row. And the goal in the second block was to beat the distance from the first block. And in the last block, we had 30-second all-out rows and then 45 seconds to do 10 squats. Any extra time we had in those 45 seconds was to recover and catch our breath.

And on the floor, everything was timed with 30-second and 45-second intervals. In the first block, we had either calf raises or squat jacks for 30 seconds and hand-release push-ups for 45 seconds. In the second block, we had lunges for 30 seconds and v-ups for 45 seconds. And in the last block, we had burpees for 30 seconds and plank jacks for 45 seconds. For that last block, I did use the bench for my hands to make things a bit easier for me.

On Thursday, my back/hip pain was worse, but it still wasn’t as bad as it had been the month before. So I had to be a bit easier on myself again, but I’m glad I was still able to do better than I had last month.

For cardio, we had mixes of push paces to all-outs and all-outs that were before and after recoveries. I continued to use the higher resistance levels for both my push pace and all-outs, and I’m proud of myself for doing that since I hadn’t increased them in a while. I’m hoping I can still continue to do that, but just proving it to myself was a big thing. The push paces and all-outs ranged from 30-seconds to 1-minute, and the recoveries matched the all-outs.

On the rower, we started with a 3-minute row. I did have to take a few breaks during this row, but I really tried to push myself to not take those breaks. After the row, we had squats. Next was a 90-second row and we were supposed to get at least half the distance of the 3-minute row. And then we had a 45-second row where we were supposed to get half the distance of the 90-second row. I might not have done great for each distance compared to normal, but I did always beat half my distance from the row before.

On the floor, we had one buy-in exercise and then we had mini-blocks. The buy-in exercise was double twist crunches, which was tough for me to do. But I did them slowly and was able to get them done. Then we did each mini-block twice before moving on to the next one. We had leg lifts with the straps and lateral lunges, and I did my best with the leg lifts with the pain I had. Next was high plank to push-up holds and suitcase squats. And finally, we had squats to Y-raises and reverse fly with weights. And for the last minute, we had around-the-world raises which were supposed to be kneeling but I did as a standing exercise.

I’m so glad that I did have some good wins this past week with my PR and working on increasing the resistance levels on the bike. But it’s unfortunate that my pain was kicking in again and making things not as great toward the end of the week. I have a feeling the pain will continue to be a factor this week, but I’m trying to stretch as much as I can in the hope that I can reduce the pain even a little bit. And I am hoping I can see a doctor soon to get some confirmation about what is going on because it is worrisome that this pain returned so quickly. But I have worked through pain so many times in my life and I will just continue to do so, both in my regular life and in my workouts.

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Default ThumbnailA Much Better Workout Week (or At Least This Time My Pain Was From Working Out) Default ThumbnailPRs and Pain (or A Very Up And Down Week) Default ThumbnailAnother Painful Workout Week (or Swapping One Pain For Another) Default ThumbnailThis Is The Workout Week I Expected (or I Knew It Would Be A Bad Week) Default ThumbnailA Good Workout Week (or Only Dealing With Old Issues) Default ThumbnailA Good, Strong Workout Week (or I Really Love Feeling Like Myself)

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A Recurrence Of Pain (or I’m Not Sure If I Should Worry Now)

Posted on October 7, 2022 | Comments Off on A Recurrence Of Pain (or I’m Not Sure If I Should Worry Now)

The back pain I was dealing with last month was pretty awful. I’ve had back pain from time to time, but it was nothing like what I dealt with recently. The scariest moments for me were when I realized the pain was preventing me from being able to turn in my sleep and I would wake up in pain because I was moving in my sleep. I’ve only experienced that one time before and it was right after my hip surgery. That feeling of not being able to move terrified me back then and I still remember how helpless I felt. So having a similar feeling to that scared me as well.

The pain was more severe than any other time I had dealt with back pain and it lasted longer. I really started to worry that it was more about my hip than my back and that I might need to see a doctor. Fortunately, the pain was getting better over time even though it took a lot longer than I would have liked. But it felt like it was finally gone last week. I was still being cautious and careful because I didn’t know if the issue was still there even if the pain was gone. And I didn’t want to injure myself again if that was the case. Even though I’m used to dealing with pain, this was more than I’m used to and I didn’t want to experience it again.

And unfortunately, since Wednesday evening I’ve been dealing with very similar back pain again. As of right now, it hasn’t been as severe as it was before. And I’m doing all the same pain management things that I did last time. I have no clue if it will get worse and feel like it did last time or if it’s just going to be another slow process to get better. And I also don’t know if this is technically a new injury or if I aggravated the old one. I don’t know if those really matter that much, but my guess is that I aggravated the old one. I had a crazy workout on Tuesday and then that evening I went out to a place that had very uncomfortable seating where my legs dangled. And I know when I can’t rest my feet properly, it can bother my hip. So by having those two things back to back, I think I would have been shocked if I didn’t have a little pain. But I wasn’t expecting something like this.

I am worried that this isn’t my back and it’s really my hip, but I’m trying to be optimistic. I guess I will need to wait and see if this pain gets better over the next few weeks or if it doesn’t have much change. If it stays the same, then I might need to schedule an appointment to try to get a referral to orthopedics again. I know that the timeline for me to get my hip replacements done was to be at least when I’m 40. And even if that still feels a million years away, in reality, it is less than a year away for me. This pain is on the side that wasn’t operated on yet, so I haven’t really experienced what a slow uptick in pain is like yet. The side that was operated on wasn’t in pain one moment and I was in extreme pain the next. It was a very different process and maybe this is what things are like when it’s not drastic like that.

I’m trying to not keep thinking of the worst-case scenarios, but it’s hard to not think of them when I know that my body has a lot of issues that still need to be fixed. And I’ve almost hit the goal of when my orthopedic surgeon wanted me to wait to have the surgeries he knew I would need one day. But I’m just going to take this one day at a time again and hope that the pain decreases a bit each day so I don’t have to think about making plans for some sort of medical intervention. And hopefully, it’s just bad luck that I had this happen two months in a row and after I get over the pain this time, I won’t have to worry about it again for quite some time.

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Default ThumbnailEnding Some Pain and Starting Other Pain (or At Least I’m Stocked Up) Default ThumbnailFiguring Out My Pain (or Staying Calm While Stressing Out) Default ThumbnailPain Distracts From Other Pain (or The Rain Isn’t Too Bad This Time) Default ThumbnailJust Some New Pain (or I Guess This Is A Sign Of Getting Old) Default ThumbnailDoubling Up On Pain (or Physical and Mental Pain Together) Default ThumbnailFeeling New Aches And Pains (or Working On More Pain Management)

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Continuing With Regular Union Service (or Starting To Think Of More Ideas)

Posted on October 6, 2022 | Comments Off on Continuing With Regular Union Service (or Starting To Think Of More Ideas)

I had another LA Local Communications meeting for SAG-AFTRA this week. I know I always say how grateful I am that this committee has regular meetings because I haven’t been able to be a part of a lot of other union things that I am used to doing. So having these happening every month or so has been nice and something that I can look forward to so I can continue to feel connected with my union.

Our last meeting was more of a presentation regarding the union archives. I really enjoyed that meeting and learning about something I really had no idea about with the union before. I hope that in the future, the committee has more presentations like that because I know there are so many things I don’t know about. But this meeting was more of a regular meeting and had agenda items that we typically have.

Most of the committee meetings go over the most recent newsletters and what articles were included in them. And there are always updates on things we went over before and the status of different projects and requests. And after that, we go over the different articles that are in process of being completed. I haven’t written anything yet, but I have suggested several articles and one is being worked on by the staff. I’m ok with not writing the ones I suggested because they do involve things that the staff has better access to so they will have an easier time completing them.

I feel like one of my main responsibilities on this committee is helping to think of newsletter articles and ideas since that is one of the big things we are in charge of. And even though I have suggested a few in the past, many of them were not right for what we are supposed to do (for example, they would be better for the national newsletter and not the local one). But for the past few meetings, I haven’t had any new article ideas to suggest. I know that’s ok and we have a lot of articles in the works right now, but I also want to feel like I’m involved with this committee and an active participant. And the biggest thing I can do would be to have more ideas.

I was thinking about the articles in the works during the meetings and trying to see what might be missing or if something would spark an idea in my head. Unfortunately, during the meeting, I didn’t have any new ideas that I could suggest. I was pretty quiet for this meeting, which is common for me since I also am working at the same time as in Zoom. But I do wish I had something I could really contribute to the group.

When the meeting was done, we set our next meeting date. It’s about a month away, so that gives me a lot of time to keep thinking of article ideas. I’m hoping that something will hit me so I can present ideas at the November meeting. I know I can’t force inspiration or anything, but I can make a more conscious effort to look at what I see in the acting world and what might be helpful for other members to be aware of.

Maybe that will work, or maybe it will take being in the next meeting and hearing someone else’s ideas for me to feel inspired. But I really am setting a goal to try harder with being an active committee member outside of attending the meetings and hopefully when I am in the meeting next month, I will have more to contribute than I have before.

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Default ThumbnailContinuing With My Union Committee Service (or I’m Still So Grateful These Are Done Over Zoom) Default ThumbnailGetting Some More Union Education (or Having A Lesson During A Committee Meeting) Default ThumbnailUnion Committee Work (or Continuing To Be More and More Involved In My Union) Default ThumbnailMaking Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule) Default ThumbnailFirst Union Meeting In A While (or Feeling Informed Again) Default ThumbnailMissing Some Union Meetings (or Even Virtual Meetings Don’t Guarantee I Can Go)

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Starting To Get Annoyed With My Hair (or I Wish This Didn’t Bother Me As Much)

Posted on October 5, 2022 | Comments Off on Starting To Get Annoyed With My Hair (or I Wish This Didn’t Bother Me As Much)

I got my hair done last week since I was due for at least a root touch-up. I’m trying to be good about going every 6-8 weeks for my hair since I know that is ideal. And I wanted to time my hair with seeing my family in just over a month. So going last week will make it exactly 6 weeks until the day I’m hoping to get it done next. I think that worked out perfectly.

My hair has been an interesting journey over my lifetime. I used to have insanely thick hair and it felt unmanageable at times. Then I started to lose my hair when I was 14 and that was another journey to go on. I was lucky then because my hair was so thick that you didn’t see the bald spots unless I had my hair back. And my hair did grow back after a few months, so that first experience with alopecia wasn’t too bad. But I have been mindful of the fact that I get bald spots since then and I knew from that point that I could experience other types of hair loss as well.

I got my first few gray hairs when I was in my early 20s, but there were really only a few and it didn’t bother me too much since they weren’t that obvious. But also in my 20s, I noticed my hair getting much thinner. The individual strands were getting thinner and I had less hair overall on my head. I wasn’t experiencing as many bald spots or as frequently, but this new type of hair loss almost felt worse.

I try to be careful with what I do to my hair so I don’t damage it more. I rarely use heat on my hair. I don’t love airdrying it, but I know that’s the better option for me. So I normally let it air dry and put it back in a clip, so I don’t notice how frizzy it is. I’m careful with what products I use and try to make sure any hair ties I use don’t have any metal parts so they don’t rip out my hair. But even with all the things I do to protect my hair as much as I can, it’s not getting any better.

I know that having my hair go gray isn’t due to any of my own actions. Some people go gray earlier than others and it can be at very different rates. I only had a few gray hairs for a long time before it seems like I noticed a ton of my hair had gone gray. And I can’t tell now if it’s getting worse or not, but it’s a significant amount of my hair. I do love the idea of letting my hair go natural and not caring, but I think it almost needs to be grayer than it is now.

And what I think makes my gray hair stand out more is that my hair is getting even thinner. I can see my scalp a lot when I have my hair down. I miss feeling like I had fuller hair and now it makes me sad when I see how scraggly it can look at times. That’s another reason why I tend to wear my hair up in a clip. When I put it back like that, I can usually make the front look a bit better.

I have looked into getting a hair topper and I’m still considering it because I know that will help both the thinning and gray roots. If I have a topper on top of my regular hair, my gray roots won’t be showing through it. I know that I will still see gray hair when if I’m not wearing the topper, but I can feel more confident when I’m in public.

I know this is very superficial and it doesn’t matter if my hair is falling out or going gray, but it bothers me. It’s not an aging thing, it’s just something that doesn’t make me feel like myself. And I miss the days when I wasn’t worried about these things. Before my hair got as gray as it is now, I remember being pretty lazy about getting my hair done because my roots weren’t as bad as they are now. I remember not stressing out about what my hairline looks like and wondering if I need to put some powder on my scalp so it’s not so obvious. I used to be so carefree about my hair and now it’s something that I really worry about. And I do wish I didn’t care, but I do. I’m not sure why it’s such a thing for me, nobody has ever said anything weird about my hair when it wasn’t looking the best. But it really is a thing for me when I have a bad hair day. I don’t avoid seeing people or anything, but my confidence is much lower when I don’t think my hair looks good.

At least getting my hair done last week helped with me not being down about having gray roots since they are all covered up. But the thinning hair will always be an issue for me. While my hair was being cut, I tried to not look in the mirror since I know sometimes when it’s being clipped up to separate sections, it can look even thinner than it is. So I just zoned out a bit and only looked when it was done. And it does look great. I think my hair always looks amazing after it’s done, and then a few weeks later I start seeing my roots come in again and the cycle of my feelings about my hair continues.

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Resets And New Adventures (or Always Working To Improve My Life)

Posted on October 4, 2022 | Comments Off on Resets And New Adventures (or Always Working To Improve My Life)

Happy October! I feel like I say this every month, but it seems like time is flying by so quickly! I feel like we just started September and now it’s over. And I know before I know it, it will be the new year. I think having this feeling is one of the reasons I’m glad I set monthly challenges for myself. It gives me something to focus on accomplishing so the time just doesn’t slip by.

For September, my challenge was to do daily resets of my home. I had noticed that I was putting things off and saying to myself that I could just do it in the morning. But of course, I never did it the next day and some tasks were just not getting done in a timely manner. And because my condo is much bigger than my last place, it was easier to not see the mess that might have been left. For example, I could leave things in the sink and not see them compared to before when if I left something in the sink it basically made the sink unusable. And it was easy to use the excuse that I was still figuring out where I want things to be to not put away something I might have used. So I wanted to try to reset my home as much as I could each day so I felt like I started fresh in the morning.

I wasn’t perfect at all and there were still plenty of days when I wasn’t putting away all my dishes or leaving things for the next day. But I did make a much more conscious effort to be better about this. I also worked harder on finding places for some of my things. I’m still working on a list of things I need to get more organized, like ways I can organize under my kitchen and bathroom sink. And I know once I get those things it will be a little easier. But even without being perfect, I did notice a difference in how I felt in the morning when things weren’t still needing to be done and it felt like I was starting from neutral in the morning.

After working last month on getting a good reset system down in my home so I could feel like each day was a new day, for October I want to mix things up a bit more in my life. This month, I want to make an effort to try to do some new things or get out of the rut that I’m currently dealing with. I have a pretty set routine for weekdays. I go to the gym in the morning, work all day, and then after work I’m usually just sitting at home and trying to relax from my day. I feel like I’m a bit stuck since each week goes by and I don’t have a lot of variety in my life. I try to do things on weekends, but I work on Saturdays and on Sundays, I’m normally getting ready for the next week.

I feel like before the pandemic, I wasn’t in quite as bad of a rut. I know I was not doing as much as I could, but there is a big difference between being done with work at 3pm versus 5 or 6pm. When I was done at 3, I felt like I still had my afternoon and evening ahead of me and I could go out and do something. There were plenty of times I went to Disneyland after work since I had the afternoon free. But now, once I’m done with work I want to get dinner figured out and before I know it, it’s time to go to bed since I get up so early. There are a few wasted hours in my evening when I’m not doing much that I could take advantage of. And even though I try to go to bed early, I usually don’t. So I might as well go out with friends or something that keeps me out a bit later than to be up too late because I was scrolling on social media.

This goal is easier said than done. So many of my friends have moved away so I am working on rebuilding friendships that may have become acquaintanceships. I’m trying to ask more friends about meeting up for dinner or something simple like that to just get out of the house. But I’m hoping if I ask my friends if they want to go out and do something specific versus just asking if they are free and then trying to figure out something to do, hopefully, I will be able to make more plans and I’ll find things I like to do that I haven’t done in a while. Maybe I’ll find a new routine that adds a bit more social time to my week.

Having a routine isn’t bad, as long as it’s something you are having fun with. But now, I’m not having as much fun with my weekly routine and it feels like a rut, so I want to work on getting out of it and start enjoying my life again.

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Default ThumbnailJust Enjoying My Boring Routine (or Still Working On Adding More Back To My Life) Default ThumbnailBeing Organized and Stylish (or Working On Getting Into A Post-Pandemic Life) Default ThumbnailWorking On A Work/Life Balance (or Almost Repeating A Recent Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailStill Working On Creating Better Habits (or Getting More Prepared For “Normal” Life Again) Default ThumbnailA Little Of My Old Life and A Little Of My New Life (or Yet Another Thing To Balance) Default ThumbnailWorking On My Inner Badass (or How Spinning Fit In Perfectly With My Life Yesterday)

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