I only have a few birthday traditions that I do every year, and one that I’ve been doing for years now is my dinner at Truxton’s with my friend (and birthday twin) Joanna. We’ve been doing this dinner for over a decade now, and even though things have changed over time, we still celebrate with their birthday deal.
The deal was a free entree and dessert when we started doing our birthday dinners. That allowed us to have a totally free dinner and we basically tipped what the cost of the dinner would have been. After a few years, the deal changed to $20 off your meal, which was $40 for us since we both had $20 to spend. We have tried to do a free dinner with that deal, but it became more of a hassle to try to figure it out. So now, we just get an appetizer to share, an entree for each of us, and a dessert to share. It’s not free, but it’s pretty cheap. And we can both tip $20 (which is almost the amount of the cost of the dinner) and feel like we are getting a great deal.
The original restaurant is over by LAX, so that’s where we started going for the birthday deal. But once they opened a location in Santa Monica, we switched to there because it was easier for both of us to get to. And that was our plan again this year. For whatever reason, I felt the need to look at the menu the day we were supposed to go and I’m so glad that I did. Because there was an issue with the lease for the Santa Monica location and it had to close shortly after we were there last year. If I hadn’t looked, we would have driven there for dinner and had no idea that wasn’t an option anymore. So I let Joanna know that we would have to switch back to the location by LAX. And going forward, we might adjust our tradition to be a lunch or brunch because it was crazy for both of us to get there with traffic.
But the traffic was worth it so we could have our birthday meal. And even though I know we both try to meet up more often than our birthday and cheesecake traditions, we are both busy and never seem to be able to plan a lot of other hangouts. So having these traditions something we make sure we do our best to keep up really helps us have regular hangouts/check-ins with each other.
We both knew what we wanted to eat quickly, so we were able to put in our order and focus more on our catch-up. And as it’s been the last several times, most of what we discussed was about our dating lives and our condos. And Joanna gave me some great ideas for the closet in my bedroom which I have been wanting to change up, so I’m glad we had our random chat as always.
And since the focus was on catching up, I also didn’t think too much about taking photos of our food. But I did get a photo of the dessert we split. We had this apple tart in the past and it’s always been good. And the waiter knew that it was both of our birthdays because we let him know in advance about us using the birthday deal, so he put 2 candles in it for us! I think this was the only birthday thing I had with a candle in it this year. It was really the perfect way to end the meal.
Because we went to a different location this time, our dinner was a bit later than normal so we were done later than I was planning. But we did this dinner on a night when I didn’t have to be up too early the next morning so it was ok. And it was worth it to get our birthday dinner. I think both of us would do whatever we can in order to make this dinner happen. Even during the height of the pandemic, we still found a way to have our dinner together even if we were eating in a park instead of the restaurant.
I’m seriously so lucky that we’ve kept this tradition going for as long as we have and that we both see it as such a great way for us to maintain our friendship even with our crazy schedules!
Posted onAugust 28, 2023|Comments Off on Another Short Workout Week (or At Least I Was Feeling Better)
This past week of workouts was an odd one for me. Fortunately, my pain and nausea were getting better throughout the week for me. I was still affected quite a bit at the beginning of the week, but I also didn’t have a workout on Monday. I was scheduled to take a class and was ready to go, but classes that morning were canceled because of the tropical storm. I totally understand why they did that and it’s more important to keep people safe. I thought about maybe trying to do a workout after work, which I did for years, but I just didn’t feel like doing a later workout. Also, when I used to work out after work, I was done with work much earlier in the day. If I did an after-work workout now, it would be at 7pm instead of 4pm. So I just skipped the day and that was ok.
Tuesday’s workout was a bit tough because of how I was feeling, but it was much better than the week before. I also think I was a little less prepared for the workout since I had an extra day off. I can feel it in my body when I take an extra day away from my workouts. It’s not like I am suddenly out of shape, but it just seems like some things are a bit tougher for me and I just don’t feel as strong as normal.
For cardio, we had a mystery road challenge. This meant that things were a bit random for cardio. Normally, there is a bit of a pattern we follow during a workout or we know that we will have a recovery after an all-out. But for the mystery road, we jumped around with whether we were doing a base, push, or all-out and the intervals were ranging from 15 seconds to a minute. This is probably more like what doing cardio outside is like because you can randomly go faster or slower and don’t always have nice intervals unless you are timing yourself. I did my best with all the efforts, but I know I was pedaling a bit slowly throughout the entire thing.
On the rower, we started with a 250-meter row. After the row, we had quick feet. Then we did another 250-meter row followed by switch feet. And then another 250-meter row followed by high knees. Then the row went down by 50 meters and we repeated each distance 3 times doing one of the 3 exercises between each row. The goal was to have the same wattage or time for each row of the same distance. I wasn’t really able to get the same time for each row because of the breaks I had to take, but I was very close to the same wattage each time so that was something I was proud of.
On the floor, we had one long block. We had our regular exercises, but when cardio was in their all-out, we stopped those exercises and did lunges or squat jumps. The regular exercises were walkouts to push-ups, step-ups, single-arm high rows, and plank dips. Because of my nausea, I used the bench to do my walkouts and push-ups. I also split those exercises up so I did just the walkouts first followed by just the push-ups. I had the bench on the lower setting for my step-ups so I could do those too. Even with the modifications I had to do, I think the floor block was the best part of my workout for me.
I was feeling much more like myself on Wednesday. I still had some nausea, but I could tell it was from medication and not my cycle, so it affects me differently. I don’t know how to explain the different types of nausea I experience, but I can tell when I have one or the other (or when I have them both at the same time). I treat both types the same way, but I know that medication nausea can sometimes be easier to deal with during workouts for whatever reason.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that focused on push paces and base paces. We started with a 2-minute push pace and a 45-second base pace. We alternated between push and base paces. But the push paces got shorter and increased in incline/resistance level each time. The base paces stayed at 45 seconds each. And we ended with a 30-second all-out at an incline at the end of each block. I did the resistance levels that I should have been doing for each of the push paces, which made them a lot more challenging. But when we have challenges like these, I try to focus on that challenge instead of how fast I pedal to keep the variety in my workouts.
On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. Each block had the same pattern. We started with a 400-meter row and then had an exercise. Then it was a 300-meter row followed by an exercise. That pattern continued through the block. In the first block, we were supposed to do lunges with rotations using a medicine ball, but I just did regular lunges. And in the second block, we had halos using a medicine ball, which I was able to do.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 3 exercises. The first block had split stance deadlifts, rows on the straps, and tricep extensions using weights. The second block had squat reach to rotations on the straps, squats to presses, and bear plank low rows. I had to modify the bear planks to be regular planks, but that’s not bad for me with all the modifications I feel like I usually have to do.
I was feeling even better on Thursday. I was glad to be over feeling nauseous and back to normal. And I was ready to push myself a bit more than I did earlier in the week to make up for how I was feeling and also only getting in 3 workouts for the week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was 2 rounds of a 2-minute push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block was the same pattern except the push paces were 90 seconds and the base paces were 45-seconds. The longer push paces were a good challenge for me to work with the slightly higher resistance level I use for those and try to get more used to them. I know that it won’t be long before I should increase the resistance levels I use on the bike, and making my push pace level feel easier is a big part of doing that.
The rowing was one long block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by high knees. Then we did that again with a 400-meter row and a 200-meter row with high knees. After completing those 3 rows, you went through all 3 rows again but did butt kicks instead of high knees. I was a lot slower on the rower than I thought I could be, so I was just getting ready to do the second 400-meter row when the block was over. I wasn’t paying attention to the time since it was a single block, but I think that getting on and off the rower took up a lot of my time so I didn’t have as much rowing time.
And on the floor, the exercises we had were done as back-to-back sets. We had 2 exercises that we were supposed to do without resting in between them. And we were supposed to do each set of exercises twice before moving on to the next set. We had chest presses and split squats (which I modify to be lunges), hammer curls and single-arm hip hinge swings, and chest flys and speed skaters. The chest presses, hammer curls, and chest flys were done on the bench that was set on an incline which makes those exercises feel different than when you do them on a flat bench. I especially felt the difference when doing the hammer curls and it made those a lot harder even though I wasn’t using a heavier weight than normal. But just like everything else, it was a good challenge and I allowed myself to take my time to keep my form looking good.
I usually feel frustrated when my workout week isn’t what I expected, like when I don’t get in the 4 workouts I planned to do. But I think that this time it worked out well for me. I didn’t work out on the day that I was feeling my worst this week and just got to have minimal pain and nausea issues. And that missing workout motivated me to really push myself at the end of the week and try a lot harder, which I think I needed. Hopefully, this week will be a bit more normal for me with no missed classes and feeling like myself. And maybe I’ll be able to challenge myself even more.
Posted onAugust 23, 2023|Comments Off on A Hurriquake (or Checking Some Of My Emergency Prep)
This past Sunday and Monday, LA was told to prepare for a tropical storm to hit the area. Most of us called it a hurricane since it was a hurricane that would be getting downgraded as it made it to land, and I think calling it a hurricane was more memorable. In my area, we were told to prepare for heavy rain, strong winds, and possible power outages. I’m not used to being warned about a natural disaster like this since earthquakes are surprises, so getting ready for it was weird.
I do have an emergency kit because I know that earthquakes and fires are possibilities. I bought a pre-made kit because it had so many things that I knew I would need, but I have added to it too because there are specifics that wouldn’t be included. I bought the kit a while ago, and I hadn’t gone through things recently, so I took this time to double-check things. And I noticed that my emergency water supply wasn’t in the best condition (I have a case of water, and the bottles were getting crunched and don’t look as full as they did before), so I will be getting new water to store soon. But I noticed this issue after I had gone out to the store to get food for the weekend, so I wasn’t going to have it available if I needed it Sunday and Monday.
So I probably over-prepared for things. I filled all my reusable water bottles with drinking water since my fridge water wouldn’t work if the power went out. I know I could always drink sink water, but I might as well have filtered water ready for me. And even though I didn’t think we would lose water, it was recommended to fill your bathtub with water so you could use it if needed. I did that just in case but I figured that was more than I needed to do. And of course, I made sure all my devices were fully charged so I would have my phone and Kindle available to use.
On Sunday, I was very lucky to not have any power outages the entire day. I kept my phone charged just in case there was one, but my power stayed on. I know some of my friends didn’t have power all day, so I was grateful to have power and stay comfortable. I spent the day just being lazy and reading since I wasn’t going to go outside. The rain was really coming down at times, so I knew it wouldn’t be smart to go out and drive anywhere. And I was prepared to be home and stay home.
Even though we’ve had quite a bit of rain so far this year, this was more rain in a short period of time than any time I could remember. On Sunday evening, I looked into my backyard and noticed a lot of puddles that were getting big enough that it was coming up on my patio. It wasn’t close to my door, but it was more than I thought I’d see. Fortunately, the next morning, the puddles had all been absorbed into the ground and there was no flooding at my place.
And on Sunday, while I was just sitting around and reading, I got an alert on my phone about an earthquake. I signed up for alerts through USGS that is supposed to alert you a few seconds before an earthquake so you could get somewhere safe. It’s never alerted me before an earthquake before, so I wondered if maybe this was another alert after it happened and I just didn’t feel it. But about 10 seconds after the alert on my phone, the shaking started. It wasn’t that strong of an earthquake, but that was because the epicenter wasn’t that close to me. And I think everyone in LA had the same reaction of thinking how crazy it was that we had an earthquake in the middle of a tropical storm.
I’m very glad that things weren’t worse with both natural disasters. And it was a good reminder for me to make a schedule to check my emergency supplies on a regular basis. I probably will start tracking when I buy things that need to be replaced or noting expiration dates (like on the spare contact lenses I have in my emergency bag). I also think I want to store things better so they are easier to get to and I won’t accidentally crush things like I did with the case of water. I know it shouldn’t take a natural disaster to make sure I have everything in order and ready in case I need it, but if that’s what it took for me to be better about staying on top of things, that works for me.
I’ve been so lucky recently with having so many good workout weeks. Even when I was expecting things to be tough with pain and nausea, it hasn’t been as bad as it normally is so the bad weeks are more like not good weeks. This has spoiled me and I think I also got a bit lazy with tracking when my bad weeks could be popping up. And unfortunately, this past week was a bad week for me. I should have expected it, but it really did surprise me a bit when it happened and I wasn’t as prepared as I usually am.
Monday wasn’t too bad, but I was starting to feel a bit off. I wasn’t having too much pain, but I was feeling a little uneasy and queasy, which is usually a sign that some bad nausea is coming. I didn’t let that feeling hold me back too much since I knew that this could mean this would be my only decent workout of the week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, which was the longer block, we had rounds of a 1-minute push pace, 30-second all-out, and 1-minute recovery. And in the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 1-minute recovery. I really enjoyed both cardio blocks and they weren’t too bad for me since they were shorter efforts. And I got to work on trying to pedal faster for my all-outs with the resistance level I’ve been using.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by step-out squats. We did that once. Then we had a 400-meter row followed by side-to-side hops and step-out squats, and did that twice. Then we had a 200-meter row with good mornings, side-to-side hops, and step-out squats. We were supposed to do that last thing 4 times, but I only made it through one before the block was done. It wasn’t my best rowing block, but far from my worst.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was the longer one and we had 6 exercises total for the block. But we started by just doing the first 2 exercises and then starting over again and doing 3 of the exercises. We kept building upon the exercises each round. We had goblet squats, kneeling shoulder presses, bridge hold pullovers, side plank hip dips, and hyper extensions. Some of the exercises were supposed to be on the BOSU, but I modified a few of them to be on the floor so I could do the exercise. But I was happy with how I did. The second block was a core blast, but I had to modify the exercises so I could do them. So for the last few minutes, I alternated between sit-ups and bicycle crunches. That was tough enough for my core to be on fire at the end of the workout.
On Tuesday, I was starting to feel a lot worse. I wasn’t in a lot of pain, but I was extremely nauseous. And I realized that morning I was out of my anti-nausea meds and had to request a refill because I was out of refills. That put me in a bit of a bad mood because I knew those meds would help me feel better and I didn’t have that option. So I just had to do what I could.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, we had specific distances to get to, and when we got to the distance we were supposed to increase our incline/resistance level. I was pedaling really slowly, so I didn’t get that far and didn’t increase the resistance level that much. I was actually a bit surprised at how badly I was doing with the bike because even on my bad days it’s not usually that bad. In the second block, we were doing a similar thing, but we started at the top incline/resistance level we got to in the first block and decreased it each time we got to the distance. I did do a bit better in the second block and had more time at my base resistance level at the end.
On the rower, the first block started with 2 rounds of lunges and then tricep extensions with a medicine ball. After those 2 rounds, then we got on the rower and rowed until the block was done. My rowing was slow, but I think I was doing better on the rower than on the bike. The second block started with rowing the distance we got in the first block and then getting off the rower to do 2 rounds of squats to reach and bicep curls with the medicine ball. After those exercises, we got back on the rower and rowed until the block was done. I did get my distance and exercises done with a little time left to do a bit more rowing.
On the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block was a mini-band block. We had lateral walks, hammer curls, and knee tucks. I did pretty decent with this first block. Even with the knee tucks, which are usually a huge struggle for me, I managed to do them with some rest in the middle of the reps. The second block was a timed block with 45 seconds of active time and 20 seconds of rest. We had deadlifts, chest presses, step-ups, and v-ups. I had to do lunges for the step-ups, but that was the only real modification I had to make. I was happy with how this workout ended considering how horrible I felt going into it.
I was really feeling horrible on Wednesday. And I felt even worse when I found out it was a partner workout. I don’t mind partner workouts, but when I’m feeling bad I don’t like them because I feel bad for the person I’m paired up with. I usually ask to be the odd man out if we have an uneven number of people in the class, but that wasn’t the case for this workout. But I was lucky because the person I was partnered with was ok with us kind of doing things on our own because she wasn’t feeling great either. And this partner workout didn’t really depend on us tagging each other out, so it worked out for us. Also, for this partner workout, we were always working in the same section of the room, so we were side-by-side instead of depending on each other to rotate around the room. So we had blocks like a normal workout, but we were supposed to work together.
For cardio, the way it was supposed to work was the active partner was doing a specific distance as a push pace and the other partner was in a base pace. And they just switched back and forth. In the second block, there was the added challenge of working with inclines too. My partner and I kind of did this as it was supposed to be, but since I was on the bike and she was on the treadmill, we weren’t the best at tagging each other so we just did the distance and did our own little base pace breaks.
On the rower, the first partner block had the active partner doing a 250-meter row and the other partner doing a base row. The second block was the same idea but it was a stroke drill instead of a distance. And we had an all-out a the very end. This time, my partner and I just did our own things and didn’t worry about the partner aspect of it. I just tried to row as much as I could, but I took a lot of breaks for my nausea to pass.
And on the floor, the blocks had exercises for the active partner and one exercise for the other partner to do. But again, my partner and I just did our own things so we each just worked through all the exercises on our own. I was really grateful we were in agreement with doing the workout this way so neither of us was feeling pressured to go faster than we could. The first block had squats, hip hinge swings, and cross back lunges. The second block had reciprocating rows and bicycle presses. And the last block had clean to front squats and side plank rotations. I did my best with all the exercises, but I was moving pretty slowly and had to go lighter with the weights than I would have liked to. But I did it.
Thursday was probably my roughest day, and it wasn’t great that I was doing so poorly this morning because it was also a benchmark class. It was supposed to be the 1-mile benchmark (or 4 miles on the bike). I usually love challenging myself with benchmarks, and I’ve had some really nice improvements with this one. But I knew this would not be the day to be even close to a PR. I just had to get through the workout the best I could.
For cardio, we were just focused on the benchmark. I set the resistance level on the bike to be just below my normal base pace level to try to pedal as fast as I could. I knew I was not going to go as fast as I did the last few times, but I was hoping I would get at least a bit close to some of my past times. But this benchmark did not go well for me. I really struggled to keep going and my pedaling was slower than what I normally do in a regular class. I knew I wasn’t going to be close to the time I was hoping for. And when I was done, I was over 2 minutes slower than my worst attempt in the past. Because I knew this wasn’t really a great benchmark and I was dealing with other circumstances, I didn’t track it in the Orangetheory tracker. I didn’t need to have this to try to do better in the future. I normally wouldn’t skip tracking, even if I did poorly, but this was so much worse than I expected and it didn’t even feel like I was doing a benchmark.
On the rower, we were supposed to start with a 600-meter row followed by crisscross jacks and butt kicks. Then repeat the pattern and decrease the row by 100 meters each time. I knew I couldn’t really do the exercises, so I spent those 14 minutes just rowing as much as I could and taking breaks when I needed to. I really don’t like modifying the workout as much as this, but I knew that’s how I needed to manage this workout with how I was feeling. I wasn’t rowing that fast, but I tried to be consistent with my efforts when I was rowing and managed to keep the wattage pretty steady.
On the floor, we had one block and we were supposed to focus on going slowly and taking our time with each exercise, so I liked that. We had single-arm reverse flys, chest flys, step-downs, and single-leg deadlifts to knee raises. I had to do lunges instead of the step-downs and hold on to the wall for the deadlifts to knee raises, but those are normal modifications for me. And because we were supposed to take our time with the exercises, I didn’t feel too bad about how slowly I did each one and just focused on making sure I wasn’t doing anything that would aggravate my nausea. It wasn’t the best way to end the week, but I was glad I made it through.
Even with how poorly I did in several of the workouts this past week, I still am proud of myself with how I did. I listened to my body and made sure I didn’t do things that made the situation worse for me. This week might be another tough week for me, but I’ll just have to see how I feel each day going into class. Hopefully, but the end of the week I’m feeling a bit more normal, but if not, then the week after should be better. It’s an annoying part of my life that these bad weeks affect things so much, but I always make it through and it makes the good weeks even better.
Posted onAugust 16, 2023|Comments Off on Back To Back Doctor Appointments (or Still Having Easy Check-Ups)
Even though it seems like I always have doctor appointments on my calendar, I’ve been very lucky that they usually are very routine and easy. I have several ongoing conditions that I’m trying to manage, and they seem to be a lot more stable now than they have been in the past. This is what I’ve been trying to achieve, so it’s nice to manage things tolerably instead of figuring out what to do next. But even with things being stable and manageable, I still have regular check-ups with my doctors to make sure nothing has changed.
And I had 2 of these check-up appointments recently just to make sure everything is fine. Fortunately, both appointments went as easily as I assumed they would.
First, I had an appointment with my dermatologist. These appointments have been pretty easy for a while now. My autoimmune condition has been more stable than ever and I really don’t have to think about it that often anymore. Occasionally, I do have a bad flare-up, but they are less frequent and usually not as many at one time. When I had my appointment, I did have a bad flare-up, but it was only a single location and a single flare-up. In the past, it could be multiple flare-ups at one time and in different locations on my body. When that was happening, the pain took a lot of my focus each day. With how my flare-ups have been lately, I only think about them if I position my body in a way to trigger the pain. It’s such a nice change compared to what I had been dealing with for so many years.
One of the medications I’ve been on to manage it for the past few months may or may not be working because typically it takes about 6 months to see if it’s helping. So hopefully, by my next appointment, I’ll have a better idea if it’s working and if I want to stay on it. It doesn’t really have any side effects so it’s not hurting me to stay on it to test it out. If at my next appointment, I don’t think it’s helping, I might go off of it just so I don’t take an extra medication that I have to pay for each month. But I’m trying to stay optimistic and thinking that I’ll see some positive results when I go back again. And because things are so stable, I don’t have to go back to my dermatologist for 6 months this time. Of course, if something comes up I can make an appointment sooner, but this is a longer time between appointments than I have had in the past.
And a few days after my dermatologist, I had my check-in with my therapist. Again, these appointments have been very simple and easy for a while. They are even easier than most appointments since I can continue to do them as video appointments. That makes it so much easier to fit into my schedule and they take significantly less time now that I don’t have to drive to the medical office and wait in the waiting room. I’m glad this is still an option for me and it should continue to be that way since my therapist used to see me in person and we haven’t always had virtual appointments.
This appointment was very similar to the last several therapist check-ins. She wanted to make sure that I’m still doing ok with my medication and that nothing much has changed with my mental health. The only thing we had to discuss was how I had to stop taking my medication for a bit because there was a shortage and I couldn’t get a refill. That’s not something that can be predicted, so it could happen again. But I’m hoping it won’t because I noticed a significant difference in how I was feeling when I had to stop taking it.
Other than discussing that, there wasn’t much talked about with my therapist which was what I expected. And just like with my dermatologist, my next check-in will be in 6 months so I have a bit of time before my next appointment.
It took time to get to a place where these appointments could be so easy and everything under control. I’m so grateful that I have gotten to this place because it wasn’t straightforward and it took trial and error. And I know that this isn’t necessarily what it will always be like and things can change and I could struggle to get to this stability again. But I’m just going to enjoy that things are like this for now and remain hopeful that when I have both of these appointments again in about 6 months that I will still be in the same place.
Posted onAugust 14, 2023|Comments Off on Birthday Week Workouts (or Celebrating Each Class)
This past week of workouts was another good one for me. Not only was it my birthday week, but I was feeling really great. I’ve said several times that I really think it’s awesome that I turned 40, but I think seeing how strong I am in my workouts really has helped with that feeling. I can see how different my body and my strength are compared to when I turned 30. And I got to experience that feeling several times in this past week of workouts.
Monday’s workout was a lot of strength and endurance. I tried to push myself where I could, but I’m still balancing out how much I can push myself without making my hips hurt too much from also going out to walk and picket. But I’m getting pretty good and sensing when I’m pushing just a bit too much.
For cardio, each block focused on push paces and base paces. The push paces started longer without incline and as they got shorter, we added incline and resistance levels. And the all-outs for each block also used incline/resistance. None of the resistance levels got too high, but I was still using higher levels than I normally do for my push paces, so I tried to keep pedaling as fast as I do without the extra resistance level.
For rowing, we had 2 blocks that both started with a 400-meter row that decreased by 100 meters each round. And between each round, we had a medicine ball exercise. In the first block, we had lunges with rotations. And in the second block, we had halos. Because of my balance issues, I really can’t do rotations with lunges. So I alternated doing lunges between one set of rows and then rotations with the medicine ball between the next rows. I figured that was the best solution for me.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had single-leg deadlifts, single-arm reach to rotations on the straps, and tricep extensions. The second block had rows on the straps, squat to presses, and plank low rows. I was happy that I was able to do these exercises with very few modifications so I could maximize my time on the floor. As hard as it is for me to see progress on the floor because I don’t change the weights I use too often, I do like to see how much easier some exercises become for me to do over time.
Tuesday’s workout was the last workout of my 30s and I felt like that was something to celebrate. I don’t usually get really sentimental around birthdays, but this time I did. And I really was reflecting on how much I accomplished with my workouts in my 30s and what that really did to make me the person I am today. It sounds a bit cheesy, but that’s how I was feeling during the workout.
For cardio, we had long push paces and shorter base paces. This was a lot of endurance work to fit in with this month being marathon month so those participating in it could get as much distance as they could in the workout. I was using my usual push pace and base pace resistance levels and was just enjoying how normal and chill that felt. It was still a challenge for me, but it was also nice to realize that my body could do that and I wasn’t struggling all the time.
On the rower, we had one long rowing block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by 20 high knees. I had to do the high knees as marching in place, but I did them. Then we did a 400-meter and 200-meter row with high knees before going back up the pattern and switching the exercise to butt kicks. I did all the rows with high knees and the 200-meter row with butt kicks. I was working on the 400-meter row when the block ended, but that was further in the block than I thought I would get.
And on the floor, we had back-to-back sets. We had 2 exercises we were supposed to do without resting between each one. And we did each set twice before moving on to the next one. We had chest presses and split squats (which are more like lunges for me), hammer curls and single-arm hip hinge swings, and chest flys and speed skaters. Besides modifying the split squats, I was able to do the rest of the exercises without modifications. Because of the weights that were available after others picked what they used, I did go a bit lighter with the hammer curls, but I added a few extra reps to make up for that.
Wednesday’s workout was my birthday class, and my coach said happy birthday to me as soon as I walked inside the lobby. They also wrote happy birthday on the brag board, and I took a photo with my coach before class started so I could get a non-sweaty photo to remember spending a milestone birthday at Orangetheory.
I’m also excited to see when we have rowing benchmarks how I do because I am in a new age group. For cardio benchmarks, this won’t really be a factor since my benchmarks are listed in the bike section and that’s not split by age group. But it would be cool if I could make the leaderboard a few times for rowing now that I’m in the 40-49 group instead of the 30-39 group!
For cardio, we had 3 blocks that each had 4 different 1-minute push paces and all the push paces used inclines. In the first block, the inclines increased by 2% each minute. In the second block, the inclines increased by 1% every minute. And in the last block, the inclines increased by 0.5% each minute. For the first 2 blocks, I did change the resistance level to the correct amount each minute. But the resistance levels are in whole numbers, so I can’t increase by 0.5%. So for that block, I repeated the second block and increased them by 1 every minute.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block started with a distance row. Then we had lunges off the rower before rowing for distance until the block ended. The goal was to get at least the same distance for each block. The first block started with a 200-meter row, the second block started with a 150-meter row, and the last block started with a 150-meter row. I was pretty close to the same distance for each block, so I was pretty happy with that.
And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks but they were different from what we normally do. Each block focused on a single exercise. We had a minute to do a specific number of reps and any time at the end of that minute could be used to rest. We repeated that 4 times in each block to make the blocks 4 minutes long. The first block was 12 reps of a goblet squat each time, the second block was 12 reps of a reverse grip low row each time, and the last block was 8 reps of a deadlift each time. We also had the option to do more reps if we felt like it wasn’t enough or to do a plank hold at the end of the last minute. I did the plank hold for the extra time in the last minute for each block which was tough enough for me. It was a challenge, but I felt like it was a great way to start things as a 40-year-old.
Thursday’s class had a bit more of a focus on power, which felt different from the other workouts we’ve had so far this month. It still had a lot of opportunities for people to get mileage for the marathon challenge, but it was all about all-outs for cardio.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with 2 rounds of a 1-minute all-out followed by a 1-minute recovery. Then we continued the pattern of an all-out with a 1-minute recovery after, but the all-outs got shorter every other time. So we had 2 rounds of 50-second all-outs, 2 rounds of 40-second all-outs, 2 rounds of 30-second all-outs, and we ended with just one 20-second all-out. I used my normal resistance level for all-outs on the bike, but I tried to pedal faster for the second time we had a certain all-out time. I didn’t get that much faster, but it was a little extra which I think counts a lot.
We also had 1 block for rowing. It was similar to what we had on Tuesday, but there were a few differences. This time, the rows were 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, and 400 meters. After the first 3 rows, we were supposed to do a squat hold bicep curl with a medicine ball, but I was having a tough morning with my hips so I just did the bicep curl with the medicine ball. And for the last 3 rows, we were supposed to do a squat hold tricep extension, and again I just did the exercise without the squat. I was working on the last 400-meter row went the block ended, so again I got pretty far in the exercises which I was happy about.
And on the floor, again it was a single block. We had drop sets this time, which is always a good challenge. But we also had single-side exercises this time which added to the drop set challenge. So we did a heavy weight on the right side, light weight on the right side, heavy weight on the left side, and light weight for the left side for each exercise. The exercises we had were goblet lunges, single-arm low rows, and single-arm shoulder presses. I can’t do goblet lunges, so I did regular lunges with no weight and goblet squats separately. It was like the lunges counted as one weight and the squats as another. It’s not exactly what we were supposed to do, but it was the best thing I could do with modifying things the way I needed them to be. And I did make an effort to try to use heavier weights than normal for the heavy weights to make sure I pushed myself. It was hard and I was pretty low with the rep count, but that’s how things should be for drop sets since I got a lot more reps done with the lighter weight.
I don’t think I could have asked for a better week of workouts for my birthday week. I was feeling good and strong, which is always a sign of a good week for me. I had the chance to challenge myself but I wasn’t struggling or getting frustrated. And I felt like a badass as always, which is the best way to turn 40!
I’m 40 today! I’ve said it before, but I’m not that worried about being 40. I know it’s something everyone says, but age really is just a number. Nothing has changed about me because yesterday I was 39 and today I’m 40. I also think that where past generations were at 40 is very different from where my generation is at 40. And a lot of my friends are older than me, so I have a lot of examples of what a 40-year-old could be like. Some of them at 40 were married with kids and others had similar lifestyles to what I have right now. And I’m lucky that none of my friends or family pressured me to feel like I had to be at a certain phase of life at any age.
I also have said before that my 30s were so much better than my 20s, and I think that things will just continue to get better. A lot of this feeling is not caring as much to fit certain stereotypes or what others may think about me. If I want to enjoy my life a certain way and it’s not hurting anyone else, I should be able to do that without shame. If I want to spend a day reading, that’s fine and I shouldn’t feel embarrassed that others might see that as a wasted day. And the sense of freedom I’ve had as I have gotten more confident about not caring has been amazing.
I’m not really doing much to celebrate my birthday today. I have my workout, going to the picket line, and working my day job. I might end up doing something after work, but I have a feeling I won’t be up for much since I tend to be tired after work. But that’s ok because I had a small birthday party thing this past weekend!
I haven’t celebrated my birthday with friends for a while, but I figured I should do it this year for a milestone birthday. I didn’t want anything too crazy, so I organized a hangout at a lounge attached to a bar near my place. I invited a lot of friends because there are so many people I hadn’t seen in a while and about 15 people were able to come.
I didn’t take any photos because I was busy talking with everyone, so I’m grateful for a friend who was there that took these candid ones. And it was such a great birthday hangout!
I had friends that were there from different friend groups, and it’s always crazy to see how people know each other when I had no idea. For example, one friend I have known since I was in college knew another friend I know through union service from an acting class they were in 20 years ago! And another friend from one friend group knew another friend from a different group but they hadn’t seen each other in about 15 years. There were several moments when I just sat back and watched my friends talking to each other. It was so awesome just seeing new friendships being created and old friendships catching up. I didn’t need or want to be the center of attention, I just wanted everyone to have a good time. And I think everyone who was there did.
I didn’t think to tell people to not bring presents because I honestly wasn’t expecting them. And I was surprised how many people brought me a card or a gift. I felt so loved, and a little embarrassed that I didn’t think I deserved so much fuss. But I also know how much I love to give my friends gifts, so I appreciated the time and money others spent on me and finding the right gift to get me.
I don’t really have any other big plans for my birthday. There are some birthday traditions that I need to schedule still, so I will still be celebrating turning 40 for at least a few more weeks. And I think being 40 is something I will be celebrating for a while because I really am excited about this next decade and I really can’t wait to see what will be coming my way and what my future has in store. I know that I have built a life that I really enjoy and have surrounded myself with people I love. And whatever happens for me in my 40s will just be adding upon that. I know it won’t all be amazing and positive, but I have a feeling there are some incredible things ahead for me!
Posted onAugust 7, 2023|Comments Off on Last Full Workout Week Of My 30s (or Continuing The Good Workout Weeks)
This past week of workouts was another good one for me. I feel like I’ve been spoiled lately with the good workout weeks. They aren’t all perfect workouts and I still have struggles, but they haven’t been as bad as they could have been. Of course, in the back of my mind, I wonder if my next cycle will be extra brutal since this one wasn’t bad, but I’m trying to focus on the positives, not the negatives. And this past week of workouts was the last full workout week of my 30s, so that was something to be excited about. Even if I’m not the thinnest or lightest I’ve been as an adult, I know that my 30s were my fittest decade. Health is more than a number on a scale, and I have gotten so much healthier over this past decade.
Monday’s workout had a lot of endurance focus to it. It was a good and tough class and I tried to push myself where I could. But I was also mindful of how my body might feel after pushing myself since I knew I would be going to the picket lines after my workout.
For cardio, we had one long block. We alternated a push pace with an incline and a base pace without an incline. I did try to increase my resistance levels a bit more for the push paces with inclines since I already use extra resistance for a push pace. I wasn’t exactly able to do the increases we were supposed to, but all of my push paces with incline were at a higher resistance level than my normal push pace level. So that was good for me.
On the rower, we also had one long block. We started with a 15-stroke drill, 12-stroke drill, and 10-stroke drill with a shoulder press with a medicine ball between each row. Then we repeated the same stroke drills with a bicep curl with a medicine ball between each row. And we ended with the same stroke drills with a tricep extension with a medicine ball between each row. I didn’t get through all the rowing, but I did get to the middle row of the last section where we were doing the tricep extensions so I was close to getting all of them done.
And on the floor, we had reverse drop sets. So for the exercises, we did 6 reps with a heavy weight and then as many reps as possible with a heavier weight after that. Normally, for a drop set, you drop down in weight instead of increasing. So this made this extra tough. The reverse drop sets were with squats and chest presses. After doing the squats we had knee drives to leg lifts, which I had to do as separate exercises. And after the chest presses we had knee tucks. Knee tucks are always hard on my hips, but I was able to do them this time by going slowly and allowing myself extra breaks during the reps.
Tuesday’s workout was another one that felt very endurance-focused. August is Marathon Month at Orangetheory, so I think there will be a lot of endurance work with cardio throughout the month. I’m not doing Marathon Month this time, but it’s mainly because I don’t want to stress about how far I’m getting on the bike if I’m not feeling well. But I’m still trying to get a lot of distance in each workout. I was able to push myself a bit more since I knew I wouldn’t be going to the picket lines after my workout (right now, I’m going on Mondays and Wednesdays instead of trying every day). So I was able to push a bit more and allow myself to prove what I could do.
For cardio, we had another long block. We had 2 long runs/bikes for distance and 2 surges in the middle of them when we were supposed to go a bit faster. I knew that I couldn’t do my push pace resistance level for the entire block, so I used a resistance level between my base and push to be a bit harder. And for the surges, I didn’t increase my resistance level but instead focused more on pedaling faster since that’s something I know I could do a lot better with. And at the end, we had an all-out where I did use my normal all-out resistance level.
On the rower, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. In blocks 1 and 3, we started with a 30-second row and then did 10 lateral hops. I did side-to-side steps instead of the hops. We then did another 30-second row and then had 20 hops. We continued the pattern of a 30-second row and increased the hops by 10 every time. These weren’t my best blocks since the steps and getting on and off the rower took some time. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had a 90-second row for distance and we were supposed to try to make it an all-out row for the last 30 seconds. These blocks were better for me and I was able to get further in block 4 than I did in block 2.
And on the floor, we had one block. It was a mix of upper and lower body work and we were supposed to try to challenge ourselves by increasing the weight if possible after each round. We had sumo deadlifts, kneeling wood choppers, single-arm high row to low row, and tricep kickbacks. I did have to modify the high row to low rows to be separate exercises because I was struggling to switch my hand position that frequently. But I was able to go a bit heavier with the weights after the first round for a few of the exercises. And the floor block ended with a 30-second plank hold, which was a bit harder than normal because I think I worked that much harder during the workout.
Wednesday was another day where I wanted to push myself but not too hard since I would be picketing. But I’m finding the balance between those things the more I go on the picket lines so I’m hoping it will be less of an issue as time goes on (or the strike ends before I have a chance to do that).
For cardio, we had a few blocks but they all had similar formats. We had rounds of a 30-second push pace and 45-second base pace and a 30-second all-out at the end. Even though the base paces were longer than the push paces, it still seemed like we never really got a chance to catch our breath or recover. But I did make sure I was using the normal resistance levels I use on the bike for all the blocks.
On the rower, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, we focused on doing a 200-meter row with a halo using a medicine ball between each row. And in the second block, we focused on doing a 10-stroke drill with front presses with a medicine ball between each row. I really like these rowing blocks. Even though it will probably always be hard for me to get on and off the rower, this went a lot smoother than other similar row blocks have gone for me.
On the floor, we had one long block. We had 6 exercises to do the first round and then after completing them, we could pick any of the exercises to take off so we did 5 exercises for the second round and so on. The exercises we had were lunges, shoulder presses, good mornings, hammer curls, squats, and plank low rows. After the first round, I took the lunges off. After the second round, I took the squats off. I was working on my third round when the block ended and I was going to take the plank off but I hadn’t gotten that far.
I was a bit sore on Thursday, likely a combination of my few days on the picket line and how I was pushing myself in my workouts at the beginning of the week. But I still was feeling pretty good, even with some extra soreness, so I was ready for another challenging workout.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Each block had 1-minute intervals followed by 30-second intervals. In the first block, the 1-minute intervals were push paces and the 30-second intervals were base paces with a 1-minute all-out at the end. In the second block, it was similar to the first block but the push paces had increasing inclines. And in the last block, the 1-minute intervals were all-outs and the 30-second intervals were walking recoveries. These were tough since the harder intervals were twice as long as the easier ones, but they were all short blocks so that helped a bit.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with an 800-meter row. After that row, we had tricep extensions, halos, and squat jumps (which I did as squats to calf raise) with a medicine ball. Then we had a 600-meter row with the same exercises after the row. I was working on the 400-meter row when the block ended, but I was happy with how far I got.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks and they had a lot of focus on balance. I tried to do each exercise the best I could, but I knew that balance things would be tough for me. The first block had push-ups and kneeling lateral raises and both exercises were with the Bosu. I did manage to do both exercises using the Bosu by doing the push-ups on my knees and taking some breaks during the reps for the lateral raises. The second block had split squats and kneeling tricep extensions, and again they were both supposed to be on the Bosu. I did the split squats as lunges and didn’t use the Bosu, but I did do the tricep extensions on it so that was an extra challenge. And the last block had jack presses without the Bosu and kneeling bicep curls using the Bosu. I did the jack presses as shoulder presses, but I did use the Bosu again for the bicep curls.
I think that this past week really was another great week for me and an awesome way to start closing out my 30s. I love how positive I’ve been feeling with my workouts recently, and I’m so happy that it looks like I’ll be starting my 40s feeling great about myself and ready to see what I can accomplish with my fitness in a new decade.
Posted onAugust 2, 2023|Comments Off on A Few Months Of Celebrating (or Enjoying Each Age)
I set my monthly challenge for July to be to celebrate the last full month of my 30s. I know that’s not really a challenge like some of the ones I’ve done in the past, but I did want to make an effort to celebrate my age because I think it’s important to do so. Age is such a weird thing and I hate the stigma that seems to come with certain ages.
I didn’t stress as much as I thought I would 10 years ago about turning 30. I think turning 29 was almost a harder birthdate. For some reason, there was a block in my mind about what I was supposed to accomplish before 30 and I saw my 29th birthday as the cutoff to get those things accomplished. I don’t know why 29 was as tough for me as it was, but I was grateful that turning 30 wasn’t as bad as I feared.
I haven’t had a big issue in my mind about turning 40. I find it a bit tough to believe because I don’t feel like I’m 40. I think the pandemic made a few years feel like they didn’t happen, but also there was an idea in my mind when I was a kid about what 40 meant. I remember seeing all those over-the-hill gag gift things for someone turning 40, and I don’t feel like I’m headed toward the end of my life. I actually think that my life has been so much better in my 30s than in my 20s had been. I think I really stopped caring about some things that don’t really matter, and that made things a lot better for me. I also had some really great steps with improving both my mental and physical health and that helped this past decade a lot too.
I think every age is important, and it was extra important to acknowledge all the things that happened to me in my 30s. I had so much growth and celebrating that felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t do anything in particular, but I did make sure that I got out and spent time doing fun things with my friends to enjoy the last full month of my 30s.
And my challenge this month is kind of the same as what I did last month. Turning 40 is a milestone birthday, even if it doesn’t have the same feeling now as I thought it might when I was younger. I think it’s awesome that I’m turning 40 and I think that this coming decade will be even better than my 30s. I never knew how amazing my 30s could be, and I am so excited to see how my 40s surprise me. I don’t fear growing older or a specific age, so I want to celebrate how cool it is that I will be 40!
I am planning a casual birthday gathering since I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in the past few years. And I have the usual birthday traditions that I’m planning on doing again this year. I want to start off this decade by trying to spend time doing things I want to do, which I don’t do often enough. I’ve been doing better about getting out of my house and seeing friends, and I want to keep doing that. I want to make sure I take advantage of this month and enjoy as much time as I can. I know that I won’t be able to do that all the time, but making the effort to celebrate my birthday and my new decade is important to me.
I know this is another easy challenge to do, but I think it’s the perfect one for me this month. I haven’t had other life milestones yet that a lot of other people have that they celebrate (like a wedding), so celebrating a big birthday is an important one for me and I want to make sure I start off this decade in the best way possible!
Almost Free Birthday Dinner (or Spending My Birthday With My Birthday Twin)
