Posted onMay 3, 2022|Comments Off on I Really Did Give Myself An Easy Monthly Challenge (or This Month Will Possibly Be Easy As Well)
For my monthly challenge in April, I set it to be something that I had no choice but to accomplish. The challenge was to be completely out of my old place by the end of the month. Because the last month of my lease was April, I had to be out by the end of the month. Of course, I wanted it to be a bit easier than just rushing at the end of the month to get it done. And most of my things were out about a week before the end of the month. I did have a few last things I had to move or give away within the last few days, but on the last day of April, I did turn in my keys and officially said goodbye to my old home for the last time.
I know it was an easy challenge for me to set, but I wanted to make it an easy one since I was preparing for the month to be stressful and didn’t want to add any extra stress that I could avoid. Of course, I wasn’t fully prepared for how stressful moving would be. So I’m extra grateful that the challenge I set for April didn’t add to that stress and make things worse for me.
And my challenge this month is also connected to moving and hopefully will be a bit of an easy one as well. My challenge for May is to get most of my things out of boxes or into consolidated boxes. I know it won’t be possible to get everything out of the boxes by the end of the month because I still need to buy some furniture that will hold my things. And right now, I’m pulling a temporary hold on buying more stuff due to some things in the condo still needing to be worked on (more about that coming later). So things like my books will need to stay in boxes for a bit longer.
But I can get a lot of things out of boxes by the end of this month. And for what I can’t get out of boxes, I can get into boxes for each section of my house. For example, right now in my office, I have about 5 boxes with different things in them. Some of the boxes have things that won’t be going into my office and some of the things going into my office are in boxes in other parts of the condo. So if I could get all my office stuff into a few boxes in my office, that will make things easier when I do have the pieces I need to put things away.
Even though I got rid of a lot of things while I was packing up my house, I’m sure I will find things in these boxes that I might not want to keep. So organizing what is not put away will also help me make sure I don’t keep things just to have them. But I don’t think there will be too much that I find that I need to get rid of. It will be more about planning where I want to put things now that I have so much more space. So things that I had to put in one place because it’s the only place they fit before could be put somewhere else now that I have some options. Decorating this new space should be a fun process and I’m finally getting close to enjoying that part of my new home.
I would love it if most of the boxes were out of my condo by the end of the month, but I don’t know how possible that will be. So I just want to see how much I can get it down to and how much I can organize all the things that I haven’t put away just yet. And hopefully by doing that, I will feel even more at home by the end of May.
Posted onMay 2, 2022|Comments Off on I’m Really Tired Of Workout Weeks In Pain (or At Least There Were More Good Days Than Bad Days This Time)
Because I knew during this past week of workouts I should be pretty much done moving stuff from my house to the condo, I assumed it would be a good week. For the most part I was right, but of course, life always has plot twists.
Monday’s workout was one that I did not do in the beginning half of the month. Just like I have felt for a lot of this month, I was a bit sore from doing some moving things, but at least I was feeling better than I had the week before.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 3 1/2-minute push pace and then had a 1-minute base pace. We then had a 3-minute and 2 1/2-minute push paces with 1-minute base paces after each. And we ended with a 1-minute push pace and a 1-minute all-out. The longer push paces were tough, especially with only 1-minute base paces after. So I had to be a bit more mindful of how I was feeling during the push paces to make sure I could get back to my base and not need to rest or do what is usually my recovery speed on the bike.
On the rower, we had 2 blocks. For the first block, we had rounds of 300-meter rows with squat jacks after each row. We weren’t supposed to reset the rower while working and we noted our distance at the end of the block. In the second block, we did our rows times with the treadmill with a 2 1/2-minute push, 1-minute base, 1-minute push, and 1-minute all-out. And the goal was to beat the distance from the first block in the second block. We also were supposed to focus on strength rows and keep the stroke rate between 22 and 24 for the entire time.
And on the floor, we really only had 1 block but we had a 2-minute finisher at the end. In the block, we had lateral step-ups (I did lunges instead), roll-outs on the straps, single-arm low rows with weights, and plank step-outs. And for the finisher, we had 1 minute of bicycle crunches and 1 minute of holding a plank. I was pretty shakey during the plank, but I tried to just keep adjusting between being on my toes and knees so I could at least maintain some sort of a plank for the entire minute.
Wednesday’s workout was another new one for me. And it was a really tough day. I was recovering from food poisoning (or whatever else I had) so I was pretty weak and I know I was dehydrated. But I wanted to go and try to do whatever I could do because that would be better than doing nothing. But I was frustrated with how I was feeling because I really was hoping that this would be a good week for me.
For cardio, we had an interesting workout. It started with a 3-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out. Then we had 3 minutes of recovering and going back to a base pace before another 30-second all-out. We repeated that pattern with the 3 minutes to recover and get to a base pace before an all-out for a total of 3 times. Those 3 minutes were both recovery and base, which I don’t think we have ever done before. So we really had to focus on how long we would recover since we weren’t told when to be back at a base pace. I tried to keep my recovery time to about a minute each time and then really try to be at a base pace. I know I didn’t always do that because of feeling weak, but I at least tried.
On the rower, we had a 14-minute row. Honestly, this was brutal for me. I think this would be difficult no matter how I was feeling, but this day it was even worse. I knew I couldn’t row the entire time, so I just rowed and rested when I needed to. I know that I didn’t do great and my end distance was much lower than it should have been. But I also know that I didn’t give up and I was really trying.
And on the floor, we had one long block that has 2 parts to it. The first part was only done once. We had low rows on the straps, tricep extensions on the straps, and single-leg airplanes (which are similar to single-leg deadlifts so I did them while balancing on the wall). After doing those once, we moved on to the rest of the workout. For the rest of the time except for the last 30-seconds, we had alternative hip hinge rows with weights, overhead tricep extensions with weights, and deadlifts. We were supposed to go heavy with the weights and I did go heavy for my rows and deadlifts. They weren’t the heaviest I’ve ever used for those exercises, but they were heavier than what I normally use. And for the last 30 seconds, we had a v-up hold. That was really tough for me with my hips, but I kept my knees bent which does help. And when I fell out of the hold I just got back into it.
By Thursday, I was still feeling a bit weak and I know I was dehydrated but I was doing better than I was on Wednesday. And it’s a good thing I was doing better because this workout was a benchmark challenge day. It was the 12-minute distance challenge, which I’ve done a few times before. I still haven’t gotten back to my pre-pandemic PR, but I have been getting closer. I knew that because of how I felt I wouldn’t be getting a PR, but I just wanted to see what I would be able to do.
Since it was a 3 group class and the challenge was 12 minutes long, the challenge took up almost the entire block. We did start with a 1-minute warm-up and 1-minute recovery before we all reset the machines to start the challenge. I kept my resistance level at my base pace level and tried to do intervals with pedaling faster for a bit and then going a bit slower to recovery. I did need to take some breaks to drink water, but I really didn’t take that many. And when we were done, I actually tied my distance from my last attempt which was much better than I expected!
On the rower, we started with a 400-meter row and did lunges after that. We continued to alternate between rowing and lunges but we decreased the row by 50 meters each time. The row wasn’t supposed to be too hard since people who started on the rower would be doing the row before the benchmark, and I was glad that it wasn’t too hard so I could feel like I could do it.
And the floor was also a bit easier since 2 groups in the class would do it before the benchmark. We had one long block with 3 mini-blocks of 2 exercises each in it. We did each mini-block 2 times before moving to the next one. We had mini-band walkouts and squats to leg lifts, lunges to plank walkouts, and step downs and toe taps. For the step downs, I was able to lower the bench so I could try to do them instead of doing a different exercise. I still went really slow and had to take time to find my balance, but I’m glad I went for it.
Friday’s workout was a repeat class I had done in the first half of the month. I will say, I do like this format with repeating workouts so I can compare how I did a few weeks ago to now. I might not have a ton of improvement, but I do notice where things are better for me or where I was able to push myself a bit more. And this class had an extra bonus. One of the coaches that I have known since almost when I started at Orangetheory but who I hadn’t seen in years was taking class! It was so awesome to get to see him again and I was so happy to have a little random mini-reunion!
For this workout, we had 2 blocks for cardio with hill intervals. Everything except the all-outs were 1-minute long. For each block we had 3 rounds of a 1-minute hill and then 1-minute with no incline but they were all at base pace. And the hill/resistance level increased each time. But the first block was a slightly higher hill so the second block was a little easier. And after 3 rounds of the intervals, we had a 30-second all-out at the end. The hills were mostly at resistance levels that are higher than what I usually use, but since I’ve had to do that a lot recently, it was a bit easier. It’s still really tough, but I can see how I might need to increase the levels I use soon.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with 2 rounds of a 400-meter row with lateral hops and high knees after each row. Then we had an 800-meter row, which ended up being the last thing that I got to do in the block. I was feeling a lot better and I think I’m almost fully recovered, but my rowing is always the part of the workout where I feel I have the most setbacks and hardest time getting back to where I was.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had push-ups, squats, bicep curls, and pull-ups on the straps (which I did as high and low rows on the straps). And the second block had chest presses and squat jumps (which I did as squats with calf raises). I did my push-ups as reverse push-ups so I made sure my chest touched the floor, which makes them harder. And I did try to go heavy with the weights for my chest press.
I’ve now done a full month with my workouts being on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday becuase of my move; and I think I’m going to stick with this for a bit longer. There is a week coming up where I will have to adjust things based on my schedule, but I am liking having all my workouts done during the week and not feeling like I’m using up so much of my Saturdays with a later workout. If the workout was a little earlier (or I didn’t work on Saturdays), maybe I would feel different. I know I was going back and forth with doing all weekday workouts and I’m glad I was almost forced into it for this month so I could really see how I feel about them.
And hopefully this coming week will have even less pain during my workouts and I can really feel like it’s a normal workout week again.
Posted onApril 29, 2022|Comments Off on It’s Finally Goodbye To My House (or Closing This Chapter)
Tomorrow, I turn in the keys to my house. I still think I can’t totally believe that because it feels like this move has taken forever. But it’s finally the end of the month and the end of my time renting this house. I’ve been sad about saying goodbye to this house for a while, but I think I’ve finally moved past that feeling and now I just feel like I’m leaving a space and not saying goodbye to my home. As things have been moved out of the space, it has felt less and less like it was mine, so that helps with the feelings.
I still can’t believe I lived there for over 12 years. Almost a third of my lifetime. The entire time I have written this blog has been while living there. I have had so many different jobs while living there, and working from home started for me there. I survived a pandemic in that tiny home. I have made some amazing memories and have had some really sad ones there. I am glad to be leaving behind some ghosts of sad memories there, but I also know that those sad moments have made me who I am today.
Finding that house was honestly such luck for me. Before moving there, I was living in a 2 bedroom apartment and had gone through multiple roommates. There were times I had no roommates and the apartment was so expensive to have just to myself. But I always ended up finding new roommates and making it work. But when another roommate told me they were moving out, I knew I needed to find a new place and couldn’t keep just finding new people every year or so. But it wasn’t easy to find a place in my budget in my preferred area. Or if I did find a place, there was something really wrong with it. But one day, I found my house and it was cheaper than anything else. It turned out they had a rent special for one amount for 6 months and a slightly higher amount (but still within my budget) for the next 6 months. I asked if we could split the difference and keep the rent the same for the year, but the landlord said no. But that worked to my advantage because he never raised the rent for the second 6 months.
And because it was a rent-stabilized building, my landlord was very restricted in how much he could raise the rent. He never raised it for the first few years I lived there. I don’t know if he didn’t bother or just forgot. But even when he was raising the rent each year, it could only go up 3%. The last month I paid rent was only $239 more than what I was paying when I moved in. I know that it was a cheap rental. Most places in my neighborhood went for 2 or 3 times the price. I always said I couldn’t afford to leave until I bought a place. And it’s crazy to think that is exactly how it happened even if the timing wasn’t exactly what I planned for.
I had been looking at condos casually for several years. But when we found out my landlord was selling, things went into high gear and we got serious about condo hunting. And I honestly feel like somehow this is exactly how it was supposed to happen. I don’t know if we would have looked at or considered this condo years ago. I was in a different place then and I was a different person. My condo might have been too overwhelming or too much for me before. And while I do feel a bit overwhelmed, I know I can turn this space into a home and I’m not worried about taking my time with it.
I feel ready now to be moving on from the house I loved so much. That place was where I grew so much and really came into my own. I wasn’t sure of who I was and I was a bit lost when I first moved in there. But I rebuilt my life while living there. My life isn’t perfect and not necessarily where I thought I would be now, but it’s my life and I’m happy with things. And I am so grateful that I have this amazing new home to continue to build my life and my future.
I will always be grateful for my tiny home for 12 years. I learned so much while living there. I learned how to be much more independent and that I could live alone and not feel lonely (this doesn’t count when I felt very lonely during the pandemic). I learned how to really create a home and a space that is mine and makes me happy. I built a life in LA that I didn’t have before and I didn’t let others hold me back or always allow fear to stop me from going for what I wanted or asking for what I deserved.
Thank you to my house for being a home for so long. The 12 years there have been amazing and I know that I will take the lessons I learned there for the rest of my life. I know that when they finally tear down the houses (which we know is the new landlord’s plan), I will be very upset to see that home gone forever. But I hope that someone else can live there before that happens so they can experience that magical place just like I did.
Posted onApril 28, 2022|Comments Off on Some Positives About My Move (or Not Just Focusing On The Stress)
I feel like for the most part since I started to move my things to the condo I have really only written about the negative things such as the stress. And I’m not going to deny that the past few weeks have been extremely stressful and that a lot of it is my fault. I did a pretty bad job with planning my move and I underestimated how poorly I was organizing things. Maybe I won’t move again for a long time, but I hope I learned my lessons and I won’t make the same mistakes. I think feeling like I could move a majority of the stuff on my own was a very optimistic idea that was poorly executed because of my schedule.
And yes, the stress and other negative things really sucked. But I wanted to do a post that focuses on the things I’m so happy about now that I’m almost moved into my new place.
First, the obvious one is that I have a much bigger place that has so many upgrades compared to my last place. I used to live in a house that was 400 square feet and over 100 years old. I didn’t have a lot of space and I didn’t have a lot of things that most people probably feel are almost standard things to have these days. I didn’t have a dishwasher. My water heater was pretty small and had issues maintaining the temperature I set it to. The insulation in the house was non-existent and I had extreme temperatures year-round inside.
And now, I have all new appliances. I have a dishwasher and my own washer and dryer (doing laundry on a random weekday felt like such a luxury since the ones I shared at my old place were not cheap to use). While I do have central a/c and heat now, I haven’t turned on the thermostat because the temperature inside has been pretty consistent no matter what it is like outside. I also have better lighting inside my new place and I feel like I’m not always having to turn on every light in order to do things.
And the space I have is a huge benefit too! It is weird to see my furniture look ridiculously tiny in the new place, but I will be getting some new pieces to help fill out the space a bit. My kitchen isn’t big, but I have probably triple the counters I used to have (maybe more than triple). We got rid of some cabinets in the renovation, but there are still so many more cabinets than I had before. I can’t reach the top shelves without a little step stool, but I haven’t had to use the higher shelves yet because I barely have filled the lower ones.
I also love having office space. Right now, things are a bit unorganized because I will be buying some new furniture for this room so things might stay in boxes for a little while longer. But I have my desk pretty much set up and I love having a separate space to work from so I don’t feel like I’m always in my workspace all day long. And in my old setup, my desk faced a wall in my living room so I didn’t have a nice view. I just saw a calendar on the wall behind my computer when I looked up. But now, I have a view of the courtyard from my desk.
I do see everyone as they come and go because I have a view of the main gate, so that’s a bit distracting at times. But it’s also fun since I haven’t had a chance to meet all my new neighbors yet.
And my new neighbors are another positive. At my old place, there were only 8 units and we all knew each other pretty well. We helped each other out and looked out for everyone if things seemed off. Everyone at my old place knew I was moving and they all were offering to help me however they could. I know having a situation like that is very unusual and I never lived somewhere where I was close to all my neighbors. But in the new place, everyone I’ve met has been just as amazing. The neighbors on either side of my place have been so kind, especially since the renovation wasn’t quiet and they had to deal with the noise. And when I’ve needed help with anything, they have offered it without hesitation. And everyone else I’ve met so far has been so welcoming and really seemed like they wanted to get to know me, not just meeting me to be polite. This isn’t that big of a building (it’s under 40 units), but it’s bigger than my last place and I know it will take time to meet everyone. But I’m glad that the people I’ve met so far have all been really great.
And I think the biggest positive about my move and the new place is that this is my place. I’m not renting and have to worry about what my landlord might do. Ever since I knew my last place was being sold, I was worried about us getting eviction notices. I also couldn’t do all the things I wanted to do to the place since it wasn’t mine. I had to ask permission for things like having my a/c unit in the window or wanting to remove a screen from a window. But now, while I can’t really change the outside walls since it is a shared building, I have the freedom to do what I want to this place. The renovation already has turned it into the perfect place for me. And I have more plans for how I’m going to make this place really mine and I can’t wait to see how it looks when I have everything figured out.
The stress of this move has been brutal and I really didn’t think it would be this bad. But I know it’s worth it. I’m so happy with my new home and what I have already created in this place. And this is just the beginning and I know so many good things will be coming my way.
Posted onApril 26, 2022|Comments Off on More Selling And Donating (or It Really Doesn’t Feel Like My Old Place Anymore)
I’ve been working on clearing out my old place for what seems like forever now. I started trying to sell things online as soon as I knew I was going to be moving. Some things were easy to sell and other things felt like they took forever to get people to say they wanted them. And I wasn’t selling things to necessarily make a profit. I was offering things for crazy low prices and didn’t always take the money because I wanted things to go to a good home. But for some reason, I struggled to get some of the things sold that I thought would go quickly.
And as my time with my old place got closer to the end, I knew I needed to pick up the pace on getting things out of my home. I started listing them for free to friends (or friends of friends) to get things out. Again, I wasn’t trying to make a profit, I just needed things gone because I didn’t have another way to get them out of my place. And I couldn’t leave them because my landlord would charge me an extremely high disposal price (or at least I’m assuming he would). I finally found homes for most of the things and for everything else I was able to coordinate with Habitat for Humanity to pick them up as a donation.
And by some crazy luck, I was able to arrange for all of the pickups of these last few big items to all be on Saturday within a 4-hour timeframe. It worked out really well for me because I could work on cleaning up more as I was waiting for people to arrive. I also have some things that still need to be thrown out and are supposed to be picked up by bulk trash, but since that pickup isn’t until the end of the week I’ve been keeping things in one area of my house until it’s closer to the pickup day. So I won’t fully clean the old place until one of the last days I have the keys, but I was able to get a lot of cleaning done as things were being picked up and rooms were starting to clear out.
I am happy that I found some people who could really use what I needed to get rid of. Everything was in pretty good condition but they were things I just didn’t need anymore. For example, my fridge isn’t new but it’s never had any issues. But it wouldn’t fit in the correct space in my new place so I needed to sell it. A friend of mine just had a fridge break on them so this worked out perfectly! Another friend has a friend who is a single mom and needed some new storage solutions. They took my bookcase, pantry storage, and a few other things that will work out perfectly for their kids. Seeing things leave and my home clear out is sad, but it’s less sad when I know that everyone who took them is really excited about having these things.
Almost everything left in my old place is now in one spot in my living room and most of them are things that are bulky and will just be a specific car trip to get them (such as my vacuum and ladder). But it really looks empty in my old place now.
It’s so weird how the space looks nothing like the home I lived in for 12 years anymore. The rooms don’t feel the same size or shape and things just don’t feel like it’s what I’m used to. I guess this shows how much art, furniture, and other decor can really make or break a space.
I’ve only got a few more days before I give my keys to my landlord and I say my final goodbye to this place. But I feel like I already said goodbye to it being my home when my things were moved. Now, it’s just a shell of the home I lived in.
Posted onApril 19, 2022|Comments Off on Getting More Moving Help From My Friends (or Seeing Things Come Together)
I know I’ve seen memes about how you know you are getting old when you are willing to pay for movers to do your entire move and you don’t ask friends for help or do it yourself. For the most part, I do agree with that idea. I’ve always had movers whenever I have moved since moving big and heavy furniture isn’t something I have always wanted to do. But in a way, I have used movers less and less with each move.
This time, since I’m only moving 3 blocks, I’m doing a lot of the moving myself. I’ve been bringing a few boxes over every day and I don’t have to worry too much about packing things properly. For example, with my dishes and glassware, I put things into banker boxes and didn’t put any bubble wrap or protection around them. I didn’t fill each box that much and I used the handcart to move them from the car to my condo. I know this isn’t the way it’s normally done, but it’s worked for me so far. I did a similar thing when I moved from my last apartment to the place I’ve been in for the last 12 years, but I did let the movers move more things that time since it was a close move but not as close as this time.
I’m still leaving a lot of the heavy lifting for the movers, but there have been a few things I needed to do before the movers. The heaviest thing was getting my bed over there. I wrote about doing that before because it was pretty crazy how heavy those boxes were and I was really proud of myself for being able to do that with my workout coach. But that was only the first part of getting the bed to the condo.
Because of the overlap between my last month in my rental and when the condo was supposed to be done, I’ve had a lot of flexibility regarding when I would actually be moving in and sleeping at the condo. But I knew I wanted to have the bed ready the day I had the movers coming in case I wanted to sleep there that night. I knew I wouldn’t want to build it after a big moving day, so I asked my friends to see who might be willing to help me. I don’t like asking for help, but I knew that there were a few steps with the bed that needed an extra set of hands.
Fortunately, my friend (and birthday twin) Joanna was willing to help me out. I knew this was a big ask of a friend, and I was so grateful she could help me. I knew she was going through some renovation stuff with her place too and I wanted to hear how it was going and I knew she wanted to see my place since she hadn’t been over yet. So after work last week, she was able to come over and help me figure out how to set up my new bed.
It ended up being a little more complicated than we thought (I think most things are like that), so we had to figure out how to do some of the steps differently than how the instructions described. And we had to keep moving different pieces around the room to make space for us to do the work. It was pretty funny seeing all the weird ways we made it work, but we figured it out and I’m happy with how it looks! And then because the mattress I bought is a hybrid foam and spring mattress, we rolled it out and watched it fluff up right in front of us. And when we were done, I think we were both pretty proud of what we did!
I really didn’t think it was going to be as tough to put together as it was, so I was even more grateful that Joanna was willing to help me out. It’s tough for me to ask friends to help me with things, especially when they are tasks like putting together things or moving when I know I could hire someone. But having a friend come by did make the evening more fun and we had a chance to be silly.
And now, my room is really starting to look like a bedroom and not just a blank space. It’s another step closer to making the condo look like my condo and my home and seeing my bed there made me even more excited about living in that space soon!
Posted onApril 18, 2022|Comments Off on A Bit Extra Pain In My Workouts (or Always Pushing Through What I Can)
This past week of workouts was tough for me because I was dealing with pain and nausea for several workouts plus I was dealing with extra pain because of all the work I’m doing with moving. Since it’s been over 12 years since I moved last, I think I forgot how exhausting it can be and how physically draining it is. But I also know I’m in better shape now than I was 12 years ago, so at least that’s an advantage I have. But it still added to the difficulty of my workouts during the week.
Monday’s workout was not too crazy, but after moving super heavy boxes over the weekend (and still having some bruises from doing that), it was a bit harder for me than it needed to be. But I was also worried I was also going to be nauseous and wasn’t, so that was something positive for me to focus on.
For cardio, we had rounds of a push pace to a base pace. But the base pace was supposed to be at an incline. And the incline it was supposed to be at would be the equivalent of my push pace resistance level on the bike. So for the entire block, I kept the bike at my push pace resistance level but tried to go faster during the push pace segments. We started at 30-seconds for the push and base pace and it went up by 15 seconds each round until we got to 75-seconds and then we went down by 15 seconds each round. And we ended with a 30-second all-out and I really tried to go a lot faster for that but I was pretty tired at the end of the block.
On the rower, we worked on 200-meter rows and 100-meter rows, but the bigger focus was on what we could do with 100-meter rows. We had 3 rounds of the 200-meter row with squats in-between each row. Then we had 3 rounds of a 100-meter row with rest between each one. And the goal was to rest enough to do a real all-out row for each of the 100-meter rows. We repeated that pattern for the entire block. I did pretty well for my 100-meter rows. They weren’t PRs, but they were a lot faster than I normally would be able to go.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block but it was split into 2 mini-blocks. And within each mini-block, we were not supposed to rest between exercises since they were designed to do back to back. We did each mini-block 3 times before moving to the other one. The first mini-block had chest presses with weights and push-ups and the second mini-block had squats and lunges. I did go pretty heavy for my chest presses and squats, especially since my Monday coach was the one who helped me move the heavy boxes and he had joked that he knew that I could do heavier in my workouts after seeing what I could do when moving boxes. And the last 30-seconds of the floor was a finisher move of an isolated push-up hold, which really tired out my arms!
Wednesday’s workout was a signature workout: Inferno. However, this signature workout isn’t exactly the same when you are in a 3 group class so it might have been a little easier than the 2 group class. But I didn’t mind it being easier because I was starting to feel nauseous. I wasn’t feeling that horrible, but it definitely affected my workouts.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had push paces that ranged from 30-seconds to 1-minute and we always had a 30-second base pace after each push. And it ended with a 30-second all-out. And the second block had push paces that were always 1-minute and the base paces ranged from 30-seconds to 75-seconds and it ended with a 1-minute all-out.
On the rower, I really ended up modifying the workout to work for me and how I was feeling. We were supposed to start with a 100-meter row and then do 20 side-to-side hops before going back on the rower. And each time we got onto the rower, we were supposed to increase the row by 100-meters. But I knew I couldn’t do the hops and getting on and off the rower was going to take up a lot of my time. So I just tried to row for the entire block as much as I could. I did have to take breaks to rest and let the nausea pass, but I tried to keep rowing even if I had to go really slowly.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block focused on push movements and the second block focused on pull movements. The first block had chest presses on the straps, chest flies with weights, and overhead tricep extensions. And the second block had low rows on the straps, hip hinge reverse flies, and hammer curls. And the last minute of the workout was supposed to be a minute of full burpees. I used the bench for my hands, but I wasn’t able to do the push-ups for the full burpees and did regular ones instead.
On Thursday, I was feeling a bit worse than Wednesday, but I also was dealing with some other body aches. I tried to take some painkillers before class, but because my workouts are so early they don’t usually get to kick in until toward the end of class. This workout seemed to have a bit more strength-based elements in it, but it was still a mix of endurance, strength, and power.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that had the same pattern. We had 3 rounds of 1-minute intervals of a base pace at an incline and a base pace without an incline with a 30-second all-out at the end. The first block had higher inclines and the resistance level on the bike was always above what I use for my all-outs. In the second block, they were a bit lower so I was around my all-out level for all the intervals plus during my all-out.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with a 400-meter row and the goal was to do it as a base or push row so you wouldn’t be totally exhausted when it was done. Then we were supposed to do lateral hops and high knees before doing an 800-meter row. Because of how I was feeling, I knew I couldn’t do the lateral hops so I just doubled up on marching in place instead of high knees. We also had 2-minutes during the workout that we were supposed to do just the exercises and not row. During that, I alternated doing squats and marching in place. And we ended with a 30-second all-out row.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had push-ups, squats to bicep curls, and pull-ups on the straps. I did high and low rows on the straps instead of the pull-ups, but I was able to do the push-ups on the ground instead of using the bench. And the second block had chest presses and squat jumps. And I did the squat jumps as squats to calf raises. And when cardio and rowing had their all-out, we had a finisher exercise. We were supposed to do isolated squat jacks which I modified to still have the isolated squat but did steps to the sides instead.
Friday was the hardest day of the week for me. I was in a lot of pain and had a lot of nausea, but I also did a lot of crazy stuff for the move on Thursday night that I was still feeling. So I was trying my best and just did what I could.
For cardio, it was a power focus. We had 2 blocks that were very similar. We started with a 1-minute push pace and then had rounds of all-outs and walking recoveries. In the first block, all the all-outs were 1-minute, and in the second block, they were all 30-seconds. And the walking recoveries started at 30-seconds and then went to 45-seconds and 1-minute so we had more recovery time as we worked through the block. I was able to do pretty decently with the all-outs, but I know I wasn’t pedaling as fast as I would have liked. But I was happy that I didn’t have to take as many breaks as I was worried I would need to.
For the rower, we focused on strength rows which means that you want to row slowly and not race through each distance. The goal was to not go higher than 24 strokes per minute, which for me isn’t too slow. But it’s still a challenge to make sure you don’t start rowing faster. In the first block, we had 300-meter rows and then did rainbows with a medicine ball between each row. And in the second block, we had 200-meter rows with front presses with a medicine ball between each row. Since these were strength rows, I didn’t have to worry about pushing through too much during the rows. I was supposed to go slowly, so I did. I did need a few breaks to let the nausea pass, but it wasn’t as bad as I know it can get.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. All the exercises on the floor were with weights. The first block had halos, scaptions, and good mornings. And the second block had uppercuts, tricep kickbacks, and goblet squats. I know I didn’t go that heavy with the weights, but I tried to go heavier for almost all the exercises and my body just couldn’t do it. But at least I tried.
With all the things working against me, I’m happy with the work that I was able to do. And this week, it’s going to be interesting. As I write this post, I’m not sure when I will start sleeping (and showering) at my new place. But I will likely be switching to living at the condo more than my current place at some point this week. So that will change my routine a little bit with the workouts. It won’t change too much since I’m not moving that far away, but it will be a little different because I will either have to drive on a road that has more traffic or deal with waiting at an intersection for a bit longer because I will be crossing the light rail path. It’s not a huge difference, but when the drive is currently only 5-10 minutes, adding 3-4 minutes does make a difference. But I’m still excited to move and get into my new routine for my commute to my workouts!
And hopefully, this week won’t be too stressful or too bad with pain and nausea. But I know that there’s a good chance it will be tougher than this past week.
Posted onApril 14, 2022|Comments Off on Some Real World Results From My Workouts (or Only Moving A Few Heavy Things)
Even though it would be cheaper for me to move things to the condo on my own, I know that it will be much easier for me to hire movers. I’m not planning on using movers for everything. As I mentioned before I have started to move things over and store them away so that they are there when I finally move. And because I have quite a bit of an overlap of when I can move, it’s easy enough for me to take a few boxes of things each day, empty them where I can, and then repeat the next day. So that’s been my life for this week and will probably continue to be through the rest of this month.
But for the heavy furniture, I have hired movers. This is just going to make my life easier because I know that it would be hard to move my couch, dresser, or furniture like that. And because my move isn’t that far and I won’t be having the movers take too much, I know that it’s very likely that I won’t have to spend more money than the minimum for the moving company (the standard seems to be 3 hours and I feel like my stuff should be moved within that amount of time).
But there have been a few heavy things that I had to move ahead of the movers being there. The heaviest was my new bed. I found a nice bed that I wanted to get and because I ordered it a few weeks ago it was delivered to my current place. I also got a new mattress since I decided it would be something nice to have when I’m living somewhere new. But the boxes that those things came in were very heavy. The bed was about 150 pounds and the mattress was about 120 pounds. And they were giant boxes so I couldn’t put them in my car even if I wanted to.
The original plan was for my parents to help me out, but that didn’t work out since they didn’t come to LA. And I knew I wanted to get them to the condo before I had movers so I could set up my bed and sleep there the day I move without having to put everything together that day. So I had to see if I could think of someone who was strong and had a big enough car to help me out. And I thought of one of my workout coaches who I know drives a truck. So I asked him if he’d be willing to help me, and he agreed. I was so grateful he could help me and we were able to move those boxes this past weekend.
I don’t know if most of my other friends would have been able to help me. These boxes were so heavy and awkward and even with having someone as strong as my coach help me they were not easy to move. But we got them into my room and hopefully I’ll be able to build the bed with a friend before I have the movers there. I’m still working on that.
But besides moving the heavy boxes that I was expecting to move, I had one other unexpectedly heavy box I moved on my own. Although it shouldn’t have been unexpected if I really thought about it. I moved all my workout stuff to the condo the other day and they all fit really nicely into one box.
I knew the box would be heavy, but I didn’t think too much about it. But it was a tough one to get in and out of my car. And even though I have a little hand cart to move things, even using that was really difficult. I finally got it inside and was thinking about it and I realize how heavy this one box was. I had 2 adjustable weights (that were 25 pounds each), 2 hand weights that were 10 pounds each, and a medicine ball that was 12 pounds. The other things in there weren’t that heavy and didn’t add that much weight to the box. But for just the weighted things, that’s 82 pounds in that box! That’s even heavier than half of the box that had my bed!
I did regret moving this heavy of a box after because my arms were really sore, but I am glad I got it moved and that’s done with. And I know that it wouldn’t have been possible if I wasn’t working out as much as I do. I don’t get a lot of chances to see my strength outside of my workouts, but moving all these heavy boxes made it really obvious how much stronger I am now compared to before. I never could have moved a box that was over 80 pounds without my workouts. And I did feel really accomplished after getting that done.
I don’t think there will be any other extremely heavy things I need to move on my own. There will be things like my dishes and pots and pans that will be a bit heavy and probably awkward boxes to move, but there will be nothing close to these crazy boxes that I thankfully am done with.
It’s getting closer and closer to when I’m moving and I can’t wait to share with you all what my place looks like after the renovation is finally done!
Posted onApril 13, 2022|Comments Off on Moving So Much Yet So Little (or Continuing To Decide What I Really Want)
I feel like I’ve been cleaning out my stuff for so long. As soon as I knew I would be looking for a new place, I started to see what I had and wouldn’t want to take with me. It’s been a slow process, but I’ve been getting it done bit by bit. And as I’ve started to pack things, it’s another chance to reevaluate everything that I have and make decisions about what I will bring with me.
I’m honestly surprised by how much I’m getting rid of. But this is probably very overdue since I don’t get rid of a lot of stuff that often. And after living in my current place for over 12 years, I’ve accumulated a lot of things. Just recently, I packed up all my shoes except what I think I will need to wear for the next week or so. And while I was doing that, I feel like I got rid of about half the shoes in my closet. If there was a pair I know I won’t wear again, I didn’t keep it. If they were damaged beyond the point that I would want to repair them, they were gone. And for all the shoes I said I would keep, I tried them all on just to make sure I like how they all fit. There was only 1 pair that I got rid of because of how they fit me, but I’m glad I at least confirmed that all the shoes I kept are ones that are comfortable. And I do know that I have a few gaps in my shoe wardrobe that I will need to fix, but I’d rather look for a new pair than wear a pair that I’m unhappy with.
I’m slowly taking things over to the condo. As I’ve mentioned before, there aren’t a lot of places to store things right now that won’t be in the way. The only place I’m currently storing things is in my closet (as soon as the guest room closet has the new door on it, I will probably store things in there too). Right now, I have all of my artwork except for the piece that is too big to fit in my car, shoes, purses, DVDs, files from my filing cabinet, and books.
I know I got rid of a lot of physical books since I mainly read things on my Kindle. I kept the books that mean something to me, but looking at the pile in my closet feels like I don’t have that many books. But again, I know that I can buy new books that I want to have in the future and that not moving the ones that were just taking up space was the right thing to do.
My current place feels really weird because in one way it feels like I haven’t moved anything yet. But also it feels like I’ve moved so much. I think this might be because I am not moving everything and most of the things I have moved over were inside of cabinets and not super visible. So my entertainment center or desk still look the same as they did before, but they are empty inside since things are now piled up in my closet.
I am taking advantage of having a few weeks to move everything so I am also storing things around my house that I want to think about and still need to decide if I want to move. I know that I need to start picking up the pace because I do need to make arrangements for some things (such as having Habitat for Humanity come to get furniture that I haven’t found someone else to take). And I’m sure once I have movers take my big furniture pieces and I can really see what is left, I’ll be making a lot of choices about what is going to move and what is going to go. I’m lucky that I am only moving a few blocks away so it’s very easy for me to bring things over when I know I want to take them with me. And that’s what I’ll be doing a lot of for the next week and a half!
Posted onApril 12, 2022|Comments Off on Starting To Move In (or Taking The Roadrunner To The Condo)
The renovation of my condo is still finishing up, but we are finally to the finish line! There were some delays that made it last longer than expected, but almost all of those delays have been resolved and most things are either done or scheduled to be done in the next few days. And there will probably be some things on a touch-up list to do, but as of now, the plan is for me to move most of my stuff to the condo this coming weekend!
Because of all the renovation work, I want to get my place cleaned by a cleaning service before I really move in. I want it to feel fresh and clean before I start setting things up. I’m working on the timing of it all, but I hope that I can schedule a cleaning for Saturday, and then I’ll have the movers on Sunday. And then I’ll have about 2 weeks of being able to move the rest of my stuff over. I’ve been working on packing up my stuff and I have a lot in boxes and bags right now, but until the other day, I didn’t really start bringing anything over. I don’t want to have a ton of stuff that cleaners would have to work around.
But the closet in my room is pretty much a safe space for me to put things right now. Yes, the floor probably needs to still be cleaned, but I think I can clean that on my own if I need to. So I’ve been slowly putting things into my closet to store so I can get them out of my current place. So far, I’ve only moved the hangers from my closet, my shoes, my purses, and most of the artwork that I have had hanging up in my house. But having my artwork over there has been something that really made it seem real that I will be living there soon.
Nothing is hung up on my walls yet because I still need to decide where most things will go and my parents offered to help me when they are in LA next. But there are a few pieces that I have a good idea where they will live. One is a canvas that has been above my desk and I know that it will go in my new office (maybe above my desk but maybe somewhere else. And the other is a piece that I have always called The Roadrunner.
This piece was something that was in my grandparents’ kitchen for most of my life. My brother, cousins, and I called it The Roadrunner because it reminded us of the cartoon character. I don’t think everyone saw that, but it has always looked like that to me. When my grandpa died and my grandma moved to assisted living, she couldn’t hang all of their artwork up so a lot of pieces went to different family members. I didn’t get this piece originally, but my parents were going to store it and I noticed it and asked if I could take it home. And it’s lived next to my dining room table since I got it.
But as soon as I knew I got the condo, I knew I wanted this piece to be in my living room above the fireplace. So when I moved my artwork to the condo, I put everything into the closet at first except this piece. I haven’t hung it up, but I wanted to see how it would look in the spot that I thought it should go in.
And honestly, I think it’s perfect there. It will be much more centered when it’s hung up, but it’s really the exact size of what should go up there. And it will be a focus of the room, which I love. I didn’t pick paint colors around the art that I have, but I think if I had done that, this would be the wall color that I would have picked.
I love all the artwork that I’ve had in my current place and I’m very happy that I will be able to put them all up in the condo soon. But having this piece leaning against the wall, even if it was only to take a photo before I had to put it into the closet to keep it safe, really made this feel like my place and the start of the condo being mine and not just a construction zone or something that will be mine eventually.
A Few Delays With My Monthly Challenge (or This Month, I Will Be Moving)
