Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Some Interesting Workout Days (or 3 Regular Workouts And 1 Traditional One)

Posted on November 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Some Interesting Workout Days (or 3 Regular Workouts And 1 Traditional One)

This past week of workouts was interesting for me. I had some odd struggles that I wasn’t expecting and I had some really great things too. I didn’t love having as much of an off week as I did, but I think I made the most of it.

Monday’s workout was a strength day and it was a prep day for the Everest workout happening later this month. I was also having a bit of an off morning. I think having the clocks change affected me more than I thought it would because I struggled to sleep the night before. And while I was tossing and turning, I made my hip hurt a lot. It wasn’t ideal going into a strength workout, but I was prepared to try my best.

The cardio work was similar to what the regular Everest workout is like, but we had a break in the middle. For the treadmills, they increased the incline by 1% every minute. For me on the bike, I increased the resistance level by 1 every other minute (I have done every minute before, but it gets really difficult and I didn’t want to risk it with my hip). We did that for about 11 minutes and then we had about 2 minutes to have some recovery. Then we did the same 11 minutes as we did before but we started at the top and decreased the incline/resistance level until we had a flat road all-out at the end. Because I was only doing the increases every other minute, I never had the resistance level too high. It was still higher than I normally use, but not as bad as it has been for hill work.

On the floor, we had 2 blocks. We started with 2 rounds of high rows on the straps, alternating chest presses, side plank rotations, and sit-ups. Then we had a 200-meter row before going back to the exercises again. And the second block had a similar format. We had 2 rounds of chest presses on the straps, bird dog single-arm low rows, and palms to elbows (which I did as shoulder taps) before another 200-meter row. My row wasn’t fast, but it was better than it was last week. And I tried to go heavy with the weights, but I wasn’t able to go as heavy as I would have liked to.

Wednesday’s workout was a mix of strength and power. It wasn’t as bad with inclines as Monday was, but it still had some hill work.

We had 4 blocks for cardio. Blocks 1 and 3 were similar and blocks 2 and 4 were similar. For blocks 1 and 3 we started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 30-second base pace. Then we had 3 rounds of 1-minute hills with 30-second base paces between each one with a 30-second all-out at the end. For the first block, the inclines/resistance levels got higher each time and for the third block, they got lower. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had 2 rounds of a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after. So between all 4 blocks, we had 6 minutes of hill work and 6 all-outs.

On the floor, we also had 4 blocks. And blocks 2 and 4 were done on the rowers and timed out with the treadmills. So for each of those blocks, we had 2 rounds of a 30-second all-out row followed by a 1-minute recovery row. For the regular floor work, we had sumo goblet squats, squat jacks (which I did as side step squats), lunges, and plank rotations for the first block. And for the third block we had good mornings with weighs, lunge to hops, and plank alternating leg lifts. My hips and legs were definitely feeling it after this workout, but this was a much better type of pain and soreness than what I was dealing with on Monday.

Friday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. But it was a really bad day for me. I had gotten my booster shot on Thursday and didn’t have that many side effects when I got it. But the next day, I was really feeling it. I usually have reactions to any vaccines I get, so don’t let this dissuade you from getting the booster or vaccine. But I guess I was too hopeful I wouldn’t have side effects this time and I was wrong. So I spent a lot of my workout dealing with a lot of body aches and a bad headache.

This was a run/row workout for cardio. We had 2 blocks that were very similar. We started with a 3-minute push pace and then had a 1-minute base base. Then we had rounds of a .1 mile (.4 for the bike) run and then a 30-second all out row. In the first block, the incline/resistance level increased each round and in the second block, we started at the top and decreased the incline/resistance level each round. Because I was so slow on both the bike and rower, I didn’t make it through that many rounds.

On the floor, we had 4 blocks. Every exercise we had was for 10 reps, so it was easy to remember how much I had to do of each exercise. Block 1 had chest presses and hip hinge low rows. Block 2 had push-ups, back extensions, and mountain climbers. Block 3 had close grip chest presses and squat to Y raises on the straps. And block 4 had tricep extensions, plank pull throughs, and lateral crunches. Just like on cardio, I was pretty slow so I didn’t make it through a lot of rounds. I also had to go a bit lighter with the weights because of how I feel.

Saturday’s workout was a special one. First, it was a signature workout called The Chipper. But also, this was my traditional Thanksgiving workout with my family. I know that it’s not Thanksgiving yet, but my family decided to do it earlier this year because it’s less expensive to travel if we celebrated a bit early. We were spending it in Santa Barbara (more about that day in tomorrow’s post) and there was a brand new Orangetheory studio that was only minutes away from where we were staying! So it was perfect for us to work out that morning. This year, it was just me with my dad and brother, but we still had a great time.

The idea of The Chipper is to chip away at the workout each round. So for cardio, you started with a 3-minute push pace and that decreased each round after a 1-minute base pace. The bike at this studio was different from the bike at my studio, plus I was still having some side effects from my booster shot, so I know I didn’t do as well as I could for the workout. But I tried my best and it was fun to experience class at a different studio.

On the floor, we had intervals of an exercise and then rowing. We did just 1 exercise before the row and the number of reps started at 40 and went down by 5 for each exercise. And the row started at 400-meter and went down by 50 each round. The exercises we had were bench tap squats, leg raises, sumo squats to upright rows with weights, low rows on the straps, palms to elbows, chest flies, and bicep curls. This studio also had the new rowers with the screens, and I loved seeing all my data while rowing easily displayed. I didn’t make it through all of The Chipper, but I did better than I expected.

And of course, we had to take our traditional picture with our coach after class.

I’m still having some side effects from my vaccine, but they get better and better each day. So hopefully this week will bring more wins and less struggles in my workouts.

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Default ThumbnailMy Short Workout Week (or 6 Years Of Family Workouts) Default ThumbnailLast Regular Workout Week Of 2019 (or Still Pushing Through) Default ThumbnailA Short Workout Week (or 3 Workouts In 3 Different Locations) Default ThumbnailWorking Hard (or Some Normal But Tough Workouts) Default ThumbnailA Good, Strong Workout Week (or I Really Love Feeling Like Myself) Default ThumbnailHaving Some Realizations About My Workouts (or Still Adjusting My Thinking)

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Letting Go Of The Old Me (or This Was Very Overdue)

Posted on November 11, 2021 | Comments Off on Letting Go Of The Old Me (or This Was Very Overdue)

For quite some time, I have said I needed to go through my closet and dresser and get rid of clothes I don’t wear anymore. I also needed to see what things might have holes or other things that needed to be repaired so I could decide if they should be tossed or fixed. I’ve gone through my clothes from time to time and have gotten rid of a lot that was just taking up space, but I know I need to do more work with this because there are things that I’m convincing myself I will wear again.

But there is one part of my wardrobe that I didn’t look at any time I did a closet clean. I think a lot of people who have lost a significant amount of weight do this, but I had a small collection of my favorite skinny clothes. This wasn’t in my closet but in a storage bag under my bed. So I didn’t have to look at them and be reminded of my skinny clothes that often, but I always knew they were there.

When I lost weight, I was more than happy to get clothes that fit me better. I would try smaller sizes as soon as my current clothes felt even a little baggy. When I gained weight, I held on to those smaller sizes until it was painful to wear them anymore and then I would size up. I haven’t been my skinny size in well over a decade, but for some reason, I still held on to my favorite pieces.

So the other day, when I was doing a big clean to really look at what I want to move and what I don’t need, I decided to finally open up those storage bags and see what I could get rid of. Most of the items in there were things I kept for sentimental reasons. There was one thing that wasn’t skinny clothes, but only sentimental. I had my high school prom dress in that storage bag. I did like my prom dress, but it wasn’t like it was a dream dress or anything. I struggled to find something in my size but I was glad I found something that fit me and was pretty. I only wore it one other time for a costume party, but I was holding on to it. And I figured it was time to let it go so it went into the pile of things to get rid of (which was going to be donated).

And then I started going through the rest of the clothing from the bag. I had 2 pairs of jeans that were the smallest jeans I wore as an adult and they really fit me well when I was that size. I had a few different dresses that I kept for random reasons. One was a cocktail dress that I lucked into finding and wore quite a bit when I was that size. Another I never wore but I bought because it fit perfectly, was a color I loved, and was on clearance when I found it. The only way I knew it was on clearance was because the tags were still on it. I also had a few different shirts that were a mix of fancy dress shirts and silly t-shirts that reminded me of something specific. I thought I had a lot more in that storage bag, but it was under a dozen things.

I thought about keeping a few of my favorites, but honestly, there isn’t really a good reason to do that. I will have more closet space at my new place, but I don’t need to hold onto these things. Even if I fit into them again, they aren’t really in style or my taste anymore. And while they do remind me of a good time when I felt much better about my body than I do now, I don’t need to be reminded of what I used to have. I try not to think about how my life might be different if I never gained weight again. And looking at that clothing did make me wonder about the alternative life I could have had. And while my life would likely be different if I was still skinny, I have no way to know if it would be better than my current life. So I’m choosing not to think like that too much. And the easiest way to do that is to not have any of my skinny clothes in my house anymore.

It was a little tough to get rid of things I have held onto for over a decade, but I did feel a sense of relief when they were gone. I don’t have a reminder of the old me anymore and I don’t need to reflect on my past in terms of my body, weight, or size. I know that I have some clothes in my closet now that probably don’t fit and are the wrong size, but they are things that might just be a size or two off. So I’ll need to do a day where I try on what I own and consider getting rid of what I don’t want to hold onto even if it’s almost the right size.

One day, I might be that skinny size again and I’ll need to buy clothes if that happens. But for now, I want to focus on my size right now and make sure I have clothes that fit who I am now and not who I used to be or who I might be in the future.

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Default ThumbnailA Major Cleanup (or Saying Goodbye To The Old Me) Default ThumbnailHolding On (or When Is It Time To Donate Old Clothes?) Default ThumbnailAnother Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping) Default ThumbnailRenting A Dress (or Testing Out Gwynnie Bee) Default ThumbnailIs It Too Early To Be Spring Cleaning? (or Out With The Unused) Default ThumbnailGetting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping, Weight Loss

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I’ll Have A New Home Soon (or The End Of The Condo Hunt)

Posted on November 10, 2021 | Comments Off on I’ll Have A New Home Soon (or The End Of The Condo Hunt)

Even though I technically started looking at condos about 5 years ago, things didn’t really get serious until the beginning of September this year. I wasn’t in a rush to find a new place, but circumstances changed things from how I was doing lazy searching before. Because my parents were helping me with this, we had to have a serious conversation about what the budget would be and what things we saw as requirements. For the most part, we were on the same page with everything. There were a few things my parents saw as requirements that I didn’t think I needed to have. But they were things that were on my list of things that would be nice to have, so I didn’t mind adding them to the requirement list.

And once we were seriously looking, there were a lot of places we went to. When my parents were here, we looked at a bunch of places. I was spending my Sundays going around to different open houses to see what was out there. And I would occasionally go after work for a showing with my realtor for places that were fitting what we wanted. And I saw a lot of places that weren’t bad, but they just weren’t right. Sometimes, you can’t explain why a place isn’t right. It just didn’t feel like it could be my home.

I got ideas of what I wanted and my parents and I talked about ideas of what sort of remodeling work we’d consider. Of course, finding a place that is perfect and move-in ready would have been the top choice, but I knew that wouldn’t be likely with our budget and the style that I like. So finding a place that only needed cosmetic changes was the idea we were thinking of.

I know that there are people who spend months looking for a place, so the time I was looking really wasn’t that long. I was seriously looking for about a month before I found a place that seemed perfect. I wanted to stay in my current neighborhood and this place was only 3 blocks away. It was in the budget. It needed cosmetic work, but nothing major. It had a little outdoor space. The only thing I was hesitant about was that it was not on the top floor, which is something I really wanted. But I also realized I would have to deal with noise from neighbors no matter what floor I’m on when you compare it to my current place.

I had my parents on FaceTime when I was at that place and I arranged to go back for a private showing with my realtor the next day. And he agreed that it was a great place for me and it fit what I was looking for. Then there was a lot of back and forth stuff. We were a part of multiple offers and had to do two different offers before they accepted ours. In the inspection, there were a few things we found that we either wanted credit for or wanted to have repaired. The repairs took a bit longer than expected, but since I am not in a rush to move, I preferred it would be done properly than to be rushed. But exactly a month after the first time I saw the condo at an open house, it was officially ours!

We are still looking at contractors for doing some work, and the timing worked out perfectly because my parents will be in LA next week. So they will be able to help me find a contractor and look for materials that I want to use. And I have no clue how long the work will take to do, but I’m hoping not too long since it’s not a lot of work. I won’t be moving in until it’s done, so I’ll be paying rent plus paying for the condo for a few months. So the shorter time that needs to happen, the better.

So far, I’ve gone over to the condo a few times since getting the keys. I have done a little bit of cleaning with things that I can do myself. And I went around taking measurements so I can plan how my furniture will work in the new place. I’m not worried about things not fitting, the condo is much bigger than my current house. But I still want to plan out how things will fit and what new things I might want to get.

While this place felt like it could potentially be my home from the first time I saw it, it feels more and more like it’s mine each time I go over there. It does help to not see the furniture from the staging company, but there is just something there that feels like it fits me.

I’m sure I’ll be sharing more about the condo as we hire a contractor and once I move in, but for now there might not be a lot of updates as we get things planned and ready to start. But I’m very excited that I will have a new home very soon. I’m a bit sad to leave my current place (I will have been here about 12 years by the time I’m guessing I will be moving out), but I’m excited for the adventure a new place will bring!

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Really Being Grateful (or I’m Lucky To Have Support)

Posted on November 5, 2021 | Comments Off on Really Being Grateful (or I’m Lucky To Have Support)

While I am a pretty independent person in a lot of ways, in many ways I need to have support. Sometimes that is emotional support and sometimes that is something concrete like financial support. And even while I’ve had a lot of time being isolated for a while, having support and help has really been essential for me.

I am very lucky that I have a lot of friends that I can reach out to when I need help with something. Not all of my friends are able to help with everything, but I have different friends who can help with different things. Some friends are good for helping me figure out a serious situation. Other friends are good for supporting me when I’m really low and need a boost. I have a lot of friends who are great to turn to when I have something annoying happen with me in the dating world and can either give advice or laugh at the ridiculousness that I encounter. Honestly, my friends keep me sane when I feel like some things are out of control. Most of them don’t live near me, but knowing I could text or call someone at any time is reassuring.

And even if I just need a friend to listen to me while I rant and talk something out, that can make a huge difference when I’m having a tough time. Sometimes I just need to say things out loud and know someone is listening to figure out what I want to do. And I’ve learned since the pandemic that I also sometimes just need a reminder that I’m not on my own planet all alone and there are other people around me even if they aren’t in the exact same space as me. I do prefer to hang out with friends in person, but this time has taught me how to find support in other ways and I know that I wasn’t using those skills before.

But for some of the more concrete support I get, I rely on my parents a lot. And I’m aware that I am coming from a place of privilege and this is not something that everyone has. But I am so grateful for all the support they have given to me lately. With the condo search, while they were not able to look at most places with me, they still helped a lot. My mom made sure she was available on FaceTime if I wanted her to see a place that I was looking at. Once we started to do paperwork, they helped me understand a lot of what I was signing (my realtor helped too, but I also didn’t want to bother him with all of my questions). And now that we are planning potential renovations, my mom is helping me plan what I want to do and interviewing contractors.

Honestly, if I was doing this without my parents’ help, I think it would be impossible. Even taking out the financial aspect of it, I have no clue what I’m doing. I’ve only been a renter and even finding a new rental hasn’t been something I always do alone. But with buying a place, there are a million more things to think about and plan for. And if I didn’t have help from my parents, I can see so many ways things could go wrong or that I could make a mistake. Even planning for things like property taxes isn’t something I fully understood. I knew enough to know they happen, but planning for the timeline for the payments and the options for payment aren’t things I thought about before. There are some things that I know I’m doing in a slightly more complicated way than other friends who have bought property, but there are reasons that this will work out better for me in the long run. So I know I could have done this in an easier way, but it might not have been the best way for me.

For all of the times since March 2020 that I have been upset that I feel so alone and isolated, I don’t know if I appreciated the support that I do have. While most people didn’t have the same type of isolation that I had with no physical contact with other people for months at a time, there are people who had total isolation who didn’t have the support that I was lucky enough to have. And I need to remember how lucky I am. It’s not always easy to remember that when things are so low, but I’m getting back into a better time where I can reflect on the positives that I do have in my life. And when I think about it, the luckier I realize I am.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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Having To Explain My Costume (or An Almost Normal Halloween)

Posted on November 3, 2021 | Comments Off on Having To Explain My Costume (or An Almost Normal Halloween)

Last year for Halloween, I only celebrated over Zoom. I did try to have a bit of a costume by making a fun Zoom background, but it really wasn’t the same as seeing my friends. I knew this was how we had to celebrate so we could all be safe, but it was just another reminder of what we were missing out on during the pandemic.

This year, things are a little different but they are still not as safe as they were before. So while I would have loved to be at a big party with all of my friends, I knew again this wouldn’t be possible. Fortunately, I was invited to a small party with a few friends who only had vaccinated people there so I was able to enjoy Halloween with other people again this year.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for my costumes, so I tried to see what would inspire me. Like so many people, I joined TikTok to entertain me this year. And there are a lot of accounts I follow that are just silly. And one of those is Noodle the Dog. Noodle is a 13-year old pug and each day as his owner tries to get him up from bed he will either stand up or collapse back into bed. So the saying is that he either has bones or no bones and that determines what the day will be like. I know it’s silly, but we all just need silly things these days.

So I decided that a fun and silly costume would be to go as a No Bones Day. I wore all black, made a pug mask from a photo online, and emptied out a dog bone container (I had to buy dog bones but I’ll be giving them to my parents’ dog). Not a super fancy or elaborate costume, but I think it did a good job representing things. And I got confirmation of that when I posted it on Instagram and tagged the Noodle account and they shared it on their Instagram too!

I’m aware it’s also a bit creepy since I had a very realistic looking photo for my mask.

When I got to the party, most people had no clue who I was so I had to show them the TikTok account so they could get what I was supposed to be. There were other people there who also had low-key costumes like I did, so I didn’t feel too out of place. And I think the focus for a lot of us was about being around other people and not the costumes. It’s still so rare to get to be around friends, so I am enjoying whatever chances I get. And we did try to make sure things were as safe as they could be. We were all outside and I know everyone was vaccinated. And not going to a big party was probably smart too.

This was much closer to my normal Halloween than what I did last year, but it still wasn’t what I was used to. I remember thinking last year that of course things would be normal again by Halloween. I think it’s still surprising to me that by this Halloween they still aren’t. But as tired as I am about having to always be careful, I do know this is what we need to do to get past this. And maybe by Halloween next year, we will be 100% back to normal and I will be at a crazy costume party surrounded by my friends again.

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Default ThumbnailStill Celebrating Halloween (or A Virtual Costume To Go With A Virtual Party) Default ThumbnailHaving Some Halloween Fun (or Creating A Clever Costume) Default ThumbnailLow Key Halloween (or Costume Flashback) Default ThumbnailLow-Key Halloween (or A Work In Progress) Default ThumbnailFirst Halloween Party Of The Season (or At Least I Made An Appearance) Default ThumbnailA Halloween Outing (or Dressing Up As Me)

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Planning Ahead and Getting Excited (or Working On Getting Back To The Old Me)

Posted on November 2, 2021 | Comments Off on Planning Ahead and Getting Excited (or Working On Getting Back To The Old Me)

A lot of my monthly challenge for October was about getting things back to how they were or resetting myself and my environment. And I know for sure that I needed this challenge. Things have been spiraling a bit for me lately and I wanted to work on getting back. I know I didn’t do this perfectly, but I made a good dent in things.

I really worked on cleaning and sorting through stuff in my house. I still have a lot to do, but I’m also not in a rush. Just getting back to a good weekly cleaning routine made a difference for me. But I also was doing extra cleaning as I was starting to go through more of my things. I have found a lot that I don’t want to move with me. Some of it I have given away and some are just going into the trash. I hate feeling wasteful, but there are things I’m getting rid of that can’t be donated (like finding expired contact lens solution or shoes that have the soles falling apart). I’m trying to focus on a small area at least a few times a week to go through and sort stuff. I haven’t started to pack, but I know that will come soon.

And while my food is still a struggle, I did get into a better plan this past month. I was trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, even if I still ate stuff I know I probably shouldn’t have. But at least I was getting in more good food even if I wasn’t getting rid of as much bad food. And I was getting better at eating on a more regular schedule, although last week ended up being a bit crazy and I wasn’t doing as well. But I do feel like my efforts were worth it since when I got my blood work back, a lot of things seem to be improving for me.

And this month, I want to continue on the theme of getting back to the old me. I have noticed more and more that I’m not as excited about some things as I used to be. Some of it is pandemic-related and not wanting to take a health risk if I don’t have to. So I haven’t gotten excited about going out to dinners, trying to get back to Disneyland, or being out in crowds. But I also don’t feel as excited about some of the other things in my life. \

I know this could be a sign of being depressed, but I think this is more that I have become very isolated and introverted over the past year and a half. I don’t want to get used to this because I miss being more outgoing and wanting to be around people. And while I can’t be around people as much as I used to, I can still work on being more excited about the things in my life.

I have thought about this a bunch the past week or two as I was deciding this would be my challenge, and I do think some of it comes down to having bad sleep habits again. I’m working on fixing this, but it’s not easy. But maybe if I wasn’t as tired, I would be more excited about things after work. Or maybe I’ve just had too much other stuff to do lately so I couldn’t focus on the fun. I’m not exactly sure why this is hitting me as much, but now that I know it’s happening I’m going to work on it. And I’m glad I made it my challenge this month.

Hopefully, by the time I recap this challenge, I will feel even more like myself again!

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A Full Week Of Hell Week (or I’m A Survivor)

Posted on November 1, 2021 | Comments Off on A Full Week Of Hell Week (or I’m A Survivor)

I’m a Hell Week Survivor! I had a feeling I’d be able to get this done since I’ve been able to do it every year, but this is my first Hell Week since having 13 months off from in-person workouts. So I knew it might be harder than it has been in the past. But I had every intention of getting my 5 workouts in so I could earn my shirt. And that’s exactly what I did!

Sunday was my first Hell Week workout. This one was called Fishing For Recovery, and I didn’t have the best start. I don’t normally work out on Sundays, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that I didn’t know the main street I had to cross to get from my place to Orangetheory was closed due to a race. I was struggling to find a way to get over there, and I finally had to drive down the freeway a few miles to exit and find another street to take. I thought I wouldn’t make it to class, but I made it after class started but before the cutoff to join in.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks that had similar patterns. We had 3 different 1-minute intervals at a base pace with increasing inclines followed by a 1-minute base at no incline and a 1-minute all-out. The recovery after the all-out for those on the treadmill was at a 15% incline. I just used whatever the highest resistance level was that I had during that block. These resistance levels got really high for me and in the end my legs weren’t moving much at all because it was so hard. But that’s what Hell Week is about!

On the floor, we had 4 blocks as well. Each block started with the same 3 exercises. We had clean to presses, front squats, and half thrusters. All of these exercises were with weights. Then we had 1 exercise on the straps after that. We had low rows, alligators, bridge rows, and high rows. After the 1 strap exercise, we were supposed to row for distance. But I only was on the rower for a brief moment each block. This wasn’t the worst Hell Week workout I’ve had, but it was a good one to kick off a tough week.

Monday’s workout was called The Burpee Breach. I’m not a huge fan of burpees, so I wasn’t looking forward to this one that much. Fortunately, the burpees weren’t as big of a part of the workout as I feared.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was all about distance challenges and all-outs. We started with a 2-minute distance challenge followed by 30-seconds to recover. Then it was a 90-second distance challenge, 75-second distance challenge, 1-minute all-out, 45-second all-out, and 30-second all-out. And all of those had 30-seconds to recover between the work. The second block was all about 1-minute intervals and inclines. Every minute the incline or resistance level went up by 1 until the last minute when it was back to a flat road. The goal was to try to beat your distance from the first block, and I just was able to beat my first distance.

On the floor, the first block was the burpee block. And it was timed out with the treadmills. Every time the treadmills had their 30-second recovery, we would have a squat hold. And during their runs, we had burpees in various forms. Because I had to use the bench for my burpees, I didn’t do exactly what we were supposed to do. We started with ultimate burpees which is a burpee with a push-up, low row with weights, and shoulder press. I can’t do the low row with weights when using the bench, so I did shoulder taps instead. And each round with the burpees, we took away one part of the burpee until at the end we were just at regular burpees. But those 30-seconds of regular burpees felt just as hard or harder as the 2-minutes of ultimate burpees because I was so tired. For the second block, we had 3 rounds of hop-overs, step-ups (which I did as lunges), and squat jacks. After that, we were supposed to go to the rower and work with the person next to us to alternate 100-meter rows and recovery rows. But the floor work took me a long time and I never made it to the rower.

Wednesday was Decoding the Drop Set, and yes it was about doing drop sets on the floor. But I had cardio first and it was a run/row.

The run/row started with a .5 mile run (2 miles for the bike) and we increased the incline/resistance level 1% 5 times. Then it was a 100-meter row. The treadmill/bike segment shortened each round and we didn’t increase the incline/resistance level as many times but we started at a higher incline/resistance level. And each row increased by 100-meters. The segments were all pretty short, but with the increased resistance level they weren’t getting that much faster for me.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks. Each block had 1 drop set exercise, 1 exercise we were supposed to do until failure, and 1 exercise that we had regular reps for. With drop sets, you use a heavy weight for a low number of reps and then a lighter weight for a higher number of reps. And after doing the drop set exercise, we were supposed to use that same lighter weight for our exercise until failure. The drop set exercises were seated shoulder presses, seated low rows, and chest presses. For the until failure exercises, we just did as many as we could until we lost our form and couldn’t continue. For me, this varied a lot, but I tried to get at least 6 reps done for each. We had tricep extensions, hammer curls, and chest flies. And for the last exercises, they were all jumping-type exercises like jumping jacks. I really couldn’t do those that day (and rarely can do them), so I did different types of squats instead.

Friday was one of the hardest Hell Week workouts I can remember. I know I’ve had some tough ones, but this one was just that much harder. This workout was called Meltdown, and I feel like it was a good description for it.

For cardio, we had a run/exercise block (like a run/row but floor exercises instead of rowing). Cardio started with a .1 mile run (.4 for the bike) and increased by .05 miles (or .2 for the bike) each round. After the run/bike work, we went to the floor and had the same 4 exercises each time. We had single-arm clean to press, plank single-arm low rows, single-arm snatches, and single-arm hold with lateral step-ups (I did these as lunges). The first time on the floor we had 4 reps and it increased by 2 reps each time. It was a lot of work and I was exhausted. But that was probably the easier part of the workout.

On the rower, we pretty much had a 23-minute row. It was broken up into segments and we had some rest between each segment, but it was still a lot of rowing. And after the floor, my hip was really hurting so I knew I’d be struggling with the row. The first segment on the rower was a 4.5-minute row for distance. I wasn’t able to do this without stopping, but I tried. We looked at our distance after that was done and then reset the rower because the goal was to match the distance for the next 3 blocks. The next block had a 90-second push row, 1-minute base row, 1-minute push row, 30-second base row, and a 30-second all-out row. Again, I needed breaks but I tried to do what I could. The 3rd block was probably the hardest one. We had 10 rounds of 20-seconds of an all-out row and 10-seconds to do a recovery row. Having double the effort than recovery is just really hard, and doing it for 10 rounds is that much harder. And the last round was 10 rounds of 10-seconds of an all-out row and 20-seconds of a recovery row. This was a little better, but I was so tired by this point that it didn’t feel much easier. While I love challenging myself, this might have been a bit much for me and I was glad when it was done so I could rest.

And my final Hell Week workout was on Saturday. This one was called Pyramid Scheme and not only was it a Hell Week workout, but it was also a 90-minute workout too! This was not something I necessarily planned, but my usual class was a 90-minute one. And since I didn’t know when I could do my final workout, I decided I might as well end on an extra challenging class. So we had the regular Hell Week workout and then did an extra rotation around the room. And it was a 3 group class so we had equal time on cardio, rowing, and the floor.

The pyramid idea was very clear in the cardio work. We started with a 90-second distance challenge followed by 30 seconds to recover. Then we had a 75-second challenge, 1-minute all-out, 45-second all-out, and 30-second all-out. And between each one, we had 30 seconds to recover. Then we went back up and went from 45-seconds back to 90-seconds again. When we had our next rotation around the room for the extra 30 minutes of class, we had another pyramid with 30-seconds, 1-minute, and 2-minutes of all-outs of distance challenges before going back down to 30-seconds.

On the rower, the first half of the main block was timed out with cardio going from the 90-second challenge down to 30-seconds. But after we did the 30-seconds, we didn’t work out way back up but had distance rows with lunges between. And for the bonus block, we started timed out with cardio again for the first half and then had distance rows with high knees between each row.

And on the floor, we started by learning the mystery number of squats we had to do in the middle of the block. For my group, we had 80 squats. But before that, we had other exercises. We had low rows on the straps and chest presses with weights. We had a round of 40 reps, then a round of 20 reps, and finally a round of 10 reps. Then we had our squats before moving on to the next half of the block. We had bicep curls on the straps and overhead tricep extensions. For those, we started with 10 reps and worked up. But I only got started on the 20 reps of the bicep curls on the straps before the block was done. And for the bonus block, we had hip hinge swings, plank jacks, squats, and plank hops (which I did as mountain climbers). For those, we started with 20 reps and then had 10 reps and 5 reps. By the time I was done on the floor, I was so exhausted. I possibly overdid it a bit this past week, but it was worth it because I hit my goal and did all 5 of the workouts I wanted to do!

I’m still a bit sore from all my workouts last week and I know this week might kick off my bad week. So I’m not planning on going too crazy in my workouts. I know I’m recovering still from all the work I did last week and I need to allow my body to get back to normal. But I’m still proud of what I did and that I continued my streak of being a Hell Week survivor!

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Default ThumbnailFinishing Up 12 Days of Fitness (or This Felt Like A Long Hell Week) Default ThumbnailHell Week Prep (or The First Part Of My Workout Week) Default ThumbnailKicking Off The 12 Days of Fitness (or It’s Like Hell Week Again) Default ThumbnailHell Week To Orange Voyage (or One Challenge To Another) Default ThumbnailHalfway Through Hell Week (or Finding Lots Of Moments To Be Proud Of Myself) Default ThumbnailStarting Off Hell Week (or 5 Workouts And They Were All Hard)

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Forgetting To Take A Moment To Take It In (or Lots Of Back To Back Projects)

Posted on October 29, 2021 | Comments Off on Forgetting To Take A Moment To Take It In (or Lots Of Back To Back Projects)

Usually, I try to plan out what I’m going to write on here in advance. I don’t always do that, like when I’m experiencing writer’s block or something else that is making it hard for me to know what to write about. It does still shock me sometimes that I have continued to keep this up as long as I have. But there are other reasons why I end up writing some of my posts at the last minute.

This post is being written much closer to when it goes live than I would like it to be. And that’s because my life has just been a bit crazy lately. And I know that being busy is good and almost everything keeping me busy are positive things.

There have been things keeping me busy with the condo hunt/buying process. I feel like there is something new I have to review or agree to every day. And I do want to make sure I know what’s going on, but for some things, I just have to trust my parents and realtor because I don’t have as much time to read everything before needing to agree to it. I will review everything and see what I am signing, but I know I should read all the details too and I try to do that later when I have a chance.

I’ve also had a bunch of work-related projects keeping me busy. I rarely have downtime at work anymore because I’m busy doing something when I’m not focused on my primary work responsibilities. For my customer service job, I’m working on coming up with ideas on how we can take what we have to do and be more efficient. I’m looking at different procedures that we can implement and what things we do in multiple ways that can be condensed down to one way. And for my data entry job (which really isn’t data entry anymore), the work that I was done for the first part of the current contract is done and now I’m helping with more social media work and planning. Social media work can be surprising and take more time than most other things I work on. I do enjoy it, but I can easily spend hours working on something that seems simple.

And then there are the normal things that keep me busy that add to my schedule.  I don’t really do things I don’t want to do, so I try to be careful of what I have in my schedule each week. But just the things I want to do can sometimes be from 6 am-7 pm each day. That’s a lot of time each day and usually, when I’m done, I’m really done for the day. I don’t feel as motivated to do things after work because I’m tired and want to relax.

But at the same time, being this busy is also making me forget to celebrate the little wins that I have in my life. Everything with the condo has been a win so far. The things I’ve done in my workouts can be wins. The things I’ve been able to get done outside of work can be wins. But I just haven’t really had the time to sit back and reflect on those things until now. Sitting down to write this post forced me to think about what’s been happening lately. I didn’t know what to write, and I had to think back at what’s been going on. And everything I have thought about has been something really great. And I don’t know if it hit me until I wrote it out.

There have been so many benefits I’ve gotten out of writing this blog. And I guess recognizing the positives in my life is another thing I’m gaining.

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Keeping Up With One Beauty Routine (or A Mix Of Old Normal and New Normal)

Posted on October 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Keeping Up With One Beauty Routine (or A Mix Of Old Normal and New Normal)

There are still so many things I haven’t brought back into my life since the pandemic started. I had a long time without most of my normal routines, then I added in a few things, but I haven’t added much lately. There are a few things that I think are holding me back from adding back some routines. Money is the main reason, even though I am doing better now than I was before. A few other things seem silly when my life still isn’t back to normal yet. And then there are a few other things that I debate about starting up again but I’m just too lazy to make the effort. But like I’ve said before, having just a few things back in my life makes those feel a bit more special.

And the main thing I brought back into my life and pretty much maintained during the pandemic was getting my hair done. It wasn’t always the way I was used to doing, especially when I was dyeing my hair at home. But I’ve gotten back to a more normal routine with my hair getting done and I’m always happy to have fresh color. I hate seeing how much gray I have in my hair, so getting that covered up makes me feel much more like myself.

And I’m making an effort to be getting my hair done at regular intervals so it doesn’t get too unmanageable. But I also try to time it out so I will have nice hair before something I’m looking forward to. For example, the last time I did my hair was right before my birthday. And this time, I had a few different things coming up where I knew I’d see people, so I wanted to make sure I got an appointment in before I had social time.

Fortunately, even with my longer schedule, I can find time to make an appointment. It helps that I have Sundays off and my friend works then so I can go in. And that’s exactly what I did this past Sunday.

It is still weird for me to go out and be around a lot of other people. The salon wasn’t very crowded, so that made me feel better. And masks are still required so that helped my anxiety a bit too. But it still feels a bit like I’m doing something I shouldn’t since I’m used to being at home so much. But I know I need to look at what I can have in my life and not put myself at too much of a risk. And even though a salon is technically indoors, the door was open so there was fresh air and everyone had their masks on and didn’t wear them below their nose or anything like that.

And just like the other times I’ve gotten my hair done since the pandemic, this was a nice break from being alone and a great way to catch up with a friend. Even though we work out together, we don’t really get to chat too much in the workout. So having a few hours while my hair is getting done is the perfect time to have a catchup chat and fun.

And while it does still feel weird to be out and I’m not always used to wearing a mask, it was a nice moment that reminded me of the old normal and my old life. It’s a simple thing that brings me joy and reminds me that this time is temporary. One day, we will be past the pandemic and I won’t have to be as fearful about getting sick. I might still be a bit more anxious and worried about getting sick than I used to, but I know it won’t always be as bad as it is now. And even now is so much better than it was a few months ago or last year. Maybe in a few more months, there will be another improvement with how things are going. The one thing I know from this pandemic is that making predictions isn’t always the smartest thing. My only prediction is that it will get better, I just don’t know when.

But until things are better and my life is even more like the old normal, I just have to appreciate these little moments that remind me of my old life and make me think about continuing to enjoy them in the future.

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Another Condo Hunting Update (or I’m Learning A Lot)

Posted on October 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Another Condo Hunting Update (or I’m Learning A Lot)

I haven’t written about my condo hunt for a bit and there are a few different reasons for that. I’ve been insanely busy with things for the convention and some work-related things. Even though there are always new places on the market, I had gotten very specific about what I was looking for and I didn’t want to settle on certain things when I wasn’t in a huge rush to find a new place (I still have no clue when the new owners of my place take over and when or if they will tell us we have to move).

But the better reason why I haven’t written about the condo hunt for a bit is because the last time I wrote about going to open houses was the last time I went to an open house! I still do not own a condo yet (or partially own since my parents are helping me), but things are in the works. I know nothing is for sure until the papers are all signed and I have the keys, but this has the potential to be for sure very soon.

As I said when I went to the last open house, I had no clue what was next. And I still really don’t. But I’m learning and trying to make sure I understand what’s coming up. I’m very lucky that my parents are a part of this process since they have been through it before and that my realtor is someone that I can really trust. Especially this past weekend when I couldn’t do anything, I had to rely on them to make sure we were making progress on all the things we had to get done. My mom even organized the paperwork I had to sign and emailed me a list with everything organized so I just had to print them out and sign. It was so helpful to be able to do that.

And there is so much we are doing and checking. I knew there would be an inspection, but I didn’t even think about what happened after an inspection with asking for things to be fixed. Also, looking at different paperwork for the building and condo as well as signing a lot of forms about how it will be listed for my mom and I to both be owners. Again, I’m so glad my parents are helping me since they have figured out a lot of things for me that I didn’t know we needed to plan. And my realtor has been so on top of things I should know and what he thinks we need to ask about (like a history of past repairs that were made).

And as much as I like to think I’m educated about things like this and I’m very good about tracking things for my current place, it’s very different comparing a place you rent to a place you own. There are a lot of different things I have to look up so I know what we are talking about. Fortunately, almost everything is digital these days so I have the emails save and I can save PDFs in different places. I don’t have to worry about keeping them organized after printing them out and putting them in a folder.

I’m much more hopeful that this might be my place now than I was the last time I wrote about it. We’ve already gone through so many steps and things are getting much closer to being done. And a lot of what is left is our decision and not the current owner, so that is reassuring. But I also know that things can still change and I’m prepared to start over if that’s what happens. But I’m really hoping that soon I will be writing about moving and not that I’m back to the condo hunt. And maybe I will have that update soon!

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