Posted onFebruary 28, 2024|Comments Off on Another Quick Santa Barbara Day (or Celebrating My Niece)
I don’t go to Santa Barbara too often, even though it’s not that long of a drive. But I do go up at least a few times a year to see my family. I go up for my niece’s and nephew’s birthdays, and I’ll continue to do that as long as their birthday parties are family parties. I don’t know how many years that will go on so I have to take advantage of them when I can.
Since it’s an easy drive, I only go up for the day so I don’t need to pack an overnight bag. I really can’t remember the last time I stayed overnight in Santa Barbara since I’d rather not have to bring all that stuff and like to sleep in my bed. I still end up feeling like I bring a lot of stuff with me, but it’s usually because I’m bringing stuff to give to my parents so I don’t have to ship things to them. And my parents usually have a bag of things to give to me as well. Typically, my dad is bringing me some tools or things that I mentioned would be helpful to have. This last time, I mentioned not having clamps to hold things down when I glue them, so he got me a set of clamps.
I went up recently for my niece’s birthday party and I really didn’t have much to bring with me this time. I did have her birthday present, but that was all I had to remember to put in my car. But I did get a new-to-me camera recently (it was a trade with a friend), so I brought that too so I could practice taking some photos with it since it had been a while since I had used anything other than my phone to take photos. I got the camera mainly to do self-tape auditions, but learning how to do more on it is a good idea in case I want to use it for photos and other things.
The drive up was pretty easy, and I felt lucky about that. The day of the party was supposed to be a very stormy day, but I didn’t have much rain on my drive. I lucked out with the storm because it only rained a little bit going up so I didn’t have to worry about extra traffic caused by people who aren’t good drivers in the rain.
Most of the birthday parties that my niece and nephew have had before only had a few friends there. This time, there were a few more friends than at their past parties (I’m guessing my nephew will have a lot of friends at his birthday in about a month). It made things a bit more hectic, but I ended up talking to my parents most of the time. The kids were doing different crafts like decorating cookie boxes (which had glitter so I was trying to stay away from that) and playing with all the toys they have. Once my niece opened her presents, they started to play with those things too. I got her a dress-up set, but she got a lot of dress-up stuff so she had a lot of new things to open up and try on.
The party only lasted a few hours before all my niece’s friends started to head home. I stuck around a little longer to talk with my parents about a few random things, but once it looked like the rain was about to start, I knew I needed to leave too so I could try to avoid driving in a crazy rainstorm. I don’t love to drive in the rain anyway, but to drive 90 minutes or more in the rain sounded awful. Just like with my drive up, my drive back down home only had a few minutes of rain and then it was easy for me the rest of the way. I’ve done the drive up and back enough to have experienced a lot of random situations that make the drive harder or longer, but this ended up being one of the easier drives I’ve had.
Hopefully, when I go back up in a little over a month for my nephew’s party, it will be just as easy of a drive. And I hope it won’t have the threat of rain so the party can take advantage of the bounce house they have been using for other parties since that is always a big hit with everyone!
Posted onSeptember 6, 2023|Comments Off on Celebrating And Organizing (or And Yet Another Repeat Challenge)
I set out to make sure that I celebrated my birthday in August as my monthly challenge, and I would say that I accomplished that. I know that some people might do a lot more to celebrate their birthday, especially if it’s a milestone one like mine was, but I did exactly what I wanted to do. I had a party with friends, and it was one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time. I’m not great about planning things for myself, but I am glad I did it and loved seeing different friend groups coming together and having fun. I also got to continue my birthday tradition with my birthday twin and had our dinner out. It might have been a bit different than we thought it would be, but it was still perfect and made us so happy to continue the tradition.
I also just tried to be excited about starting a new decade of life, and I really did feel that way. I know realistically that turning 40 means that I’m not that young anymore or at the beginning of my life, but just because I might be in the second half doesn’t mean my life is over. I still love my life and have a lot of things that I enjoy doing. I’m planning for more fun things in the future and I truly believe that my life is just going to keep getting better as I age. And I feel healthier now than I did in my 30s, so that is helping me really enjoy my new age and new decade.
I’m really happy with how my August turned out and the celebrating that I did. And I know that I will continue to celebrate being in my 40s for a while. But I also want to set myself up for as much success as possible, and that helped to inspire this month’s challenge. I’ve done this challenge before, and it always has been helpful for me. I want to do another digital organizing/detox with the different apps and systems I use on my devices.
I have added a lot of apps to my daily routine over the years. Some of these are from challenges in the past, like using Duolingo to learn French, and some are apps I use to do other sorts of tracking in my personal life. But a lot of these apps or routines are just routines and are not really benefitting me anymore. I’m stubborn and want to continue a streak of doing something just to prove that I can keep it going, but that’s not the best use of my time. And even though most of these apps take minimal time from my day, it can add up and I don’t want to keep doing something that takes time if it’s not really doing much good for me.
When I’ve done this type of challenge before, I’ve gotten rid of apps that I know now were really just taking up time. Like the different food tracking apps that I didn’t use accurately so they weren’t benefitting me. Even though I had the best intentions to use it properly, it wasn’t working for me so I was making a minimal effort to maintain a streak but it wasn’t providing any results or data for me that I could use for other things.
There are a few apps I have in mind for this month. I’ve been doing my habit tracker either on paper or on my phone for over 8 years now. I haven’t changed the habits that much over the past few years and most of the things on there are things that I do on a regular or daily basis. I have reading listed as one of my habits, and the only time I can remember a day that I didn’t read was when I had horrible vertigo and couldn’t keep my eyes open. I have going to workouts on my list, and that’s something I do regularly and don’t need to have on a checklist as a reminder to do it. As much as I love seeing the streak of habits I’ve got going on the app, I think it’s time for me to let that app go since I really don’t use it for the reasons I started it years ago.
That’s probably the app that I use the most that I’m thinking about getting rid of during this month, but there are a lot more that I know I will probably delete. I plan on dedicating time to going through my various app folders because the way I organize apps means I don’t see a lot of what I have on there. And I know that keeping apps on my phone isn’t a big deal or makes using my phone harder, but I just want to streamline things. I want to do something similar on my computer, but with the various documents and things I have saved and not necessarily apps since I don’t put too many apps on my computer. And while I should do this on my iPad too, that device is starting to become a brick and not that useful, so I’m not using it that much. I don’t know if I’ll get another tablet anytime soon, but if I decide that I want one, then I might just start from scratch instead of transferring over all my old apps. So that’s a low priority for me. Working on my phone is at the top of my list and I’ll work on my computer after I feel like that work is done. If it takes me more than just this month, then I’ll continue into next month. But my plan is to really dedicate time so this should be done in the next few weeks.
Hopefully, while I work on getting rid of apps that don’t benefit me anymore, maybe I’ll also discover gaps in what I could be using to make my life better and I’ll find new apps or new routines that I want to add to my life. I just want to do whatever it takes to make sure that I’m not wasting time on unhelpful routines and that I maximize the free time that I do have in my life.
Posted onSeptember 4, 2023|Comments Off on Finishing Out My Birthday Month Of Workouts (or Ending The Month On A Good Note)
I had another good week of workouts this past week. I was back to feeling normal, which always makes the week better. I also was getting more sleep (which I’ve been working on) so that allowed me to push myself a bit harder. There is a Dri-Tri coming up, and I’m going to try to participate in it. But there are a few things working against me right now so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it. But I still want to push myself in my workouts as if I will be doing it just in case.
Monday’s workout was a lot of endurance work, which made sense since we were coming to the end of Marathon Month. I don’t regret not participating in Marathon Month, but I wish I had tracked my distance on the bike each day because I ended up being curious. I think next time we have this challenge, I’ll track it even if I don’t officially participate in the challenge.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had alternating push paces and base paces. The push paces started at 30 seconds and increased by 30 seconds each time. And the base paces stayed at 1 minute throughout the block. And we ended with a 30-second all-out. The second block was a 6-minute distance challenge with a 30-second all-out at the end. We could do our distance challenge however we wanted to, but what I did was have my resistance level just a bit higher than my normal base pace to make it more challenging for me. I looked at this as a bit of training for the Dri-Tri cardio section so I tried to keep my pedaling steady throughout the entire thing.
For cardio, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a 200-meter row with medicine ball exercises between each row. We had front presses, tricep extensions, and bicep curls between the rows. And in the second block, the rows were 100 meters and the exercises changed. We had squats, squat pulses, and squat jumps (which I did as squats to calf raises). I liked that the rows were short so they were fun for me to do. And I did challenge myself to try to increase the wattage of each row and I noticed that it was going up throughout each block.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. In the first block, we focused on strength and stability. We had swing lunges, single-leg squats using the straps, high rows using weights, and single-arm low rows on the straps. For the swing lunges, I held on to the wall but I was mostly able to do the exercise. And in the second block, we picked to do either the strength exercises or the stability exercises. I picked the stability exercises so I did the exercises on the straps and we added rollouts on the straps too.
Tuesday’s workout was a themed workout. It was a PSL workout, which stood for Press Squat Lunge. So we had a lot of those in our workout!
For cardio, we had one long block. The focus on that block was 3-minute base paces, but we also had 90-second push paces. The long base paces were nice, but we also had to challenge ourselves to make sure we weren’t going too easy. There are always ways to modify a workout to be easier if you need it, but you also need to modify things to push yourself if you think it might not be tough enough. And if I had gone easy on the base paces, this cardio block wouldn’t have really been much cardio. But I tried to pedal faster than normal for my base paces at my base resistance level to keep things going for me. I think I did a pretty good job making sure I didn’t make things too easy, but I’m sure I could have also gone harder if I really tried.
On the rower, we were supposed to keep all of our rows close to 24 strokes per minute. I know this is supposed to be a challenge because so many people row faster, but that’s a good pace for me so I was happy that was the challenge. We started with a 300-meter row with a medicine ball front press. Then we did a 200-meter and 100-meter row with a medicine ball front press. After that, we had a 300-meter, 200-meter, and 100-meter row with a bicep curl using a medicine ball. And things ended with those 3 rows again but we had lunges between each row. I only got to the 300-meter row with the lunges, but I was very happy with how I did with the rows and I did keep my rowing between 22 and 24 strokes per minute for the entire thing.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had pivots to single-arm presses, squats to shrugs, and lunges. The second block had chest presses, sumo squats, and lateral lunges. I did have to modify things a bit and not use weights for the lunges, but those are my standard modifications so it didn’t feel like I changed that much. And we did 1 minute of any of the exercises to end the block, and I did a minute of sumo squats.
Wednesday was an odd day for me with some weird hip pain, but it wasn’t anything too bad. I think I had slept weird and that’s what caused it, but I had to do some extra stretching and rest throughout the workout just to help the pain go away. The pain and stretching is a normal part of my life, but it doesn’t always affect my workout as much as it did this day. But even with the extra pain, I was very happy with how I did.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had rounds of a 1-minute push pace, a 30-second all-out, and a 1-minute recovery. I was using my normal resistance levels even though they felt harder than normal. And I think I was pedaling a bit slower than I usually would, but I was happy that I only took breaks to stretch my hip during the recovery time. And in the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 1-minute recovery. I felt better about how I did in the second block compared to how I did in the first block. And I needed less rest time, which is always a win for me.
On the rower, we had one block. First, we had a 600-meter row followed by step-out squats. Then we had a 400-meter row followed by side-to-side hops and step-out squats and did that row with the exercises twice. After completing that, we had a 200-meter row with good mornings, side-to-side hops, and step-out squats. The plan was do to the last set four times, but I only got through 2 of them when the block ended. I was happy with how I did with the step-out squats because those usually are tough for me. But this time, they almost were like a stretch so I enjoyed them a lot more than normal.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block was the main block for exercises. We had 5 exercises, but we started with just doing exercises 1 and 2. Every round, we added on another exercise so then we had exercises 1-3, then 1-4, and finally 1-5. The exercises were a split squat, kneeling alternating shoulder press, bridge hold pullovers, side plank hip dip, and reverse hyper extension. All of the exercises were supposed to be on the Bosu, but I only did a few of them on it. I never can do split squats on it, so I didn’t use it for that. And for the shoulder press and hip dip, I knew it was better for my hips not to push things with my stability. But I was happy with how I did. And the second block was a short block that had burpees, plank jacks, and push-ups. We started with 1 rep of each exercise. Then we did 2 reps of each exercise, and so on. We only had a few minutes to do them, so I didn’t do too many and the exercises did take me longer because it’s always hard to get up and down like that.
Thursday’s workout was another heavy endurance day since it was the end of Marathon Month and they wanted everyone to have a chance to get in all the mileage they could before the challenge ended. And it happened to be a repeat of the workout we had on the first of the month, so it was nice to have bookends like that.
For cardio, we had a long distance challenge where we set what we wanted to do to maximize our time. We had 2 90-second surges in the block when we were supposed to go just a bit faster like we were trying to pass someone in a road race. For the challenge, I set my resistance level to be just above my base level, as I did at the beginning of the week. For the surges, I pedaled faster but didn’t change the resistance level. I think this strategy worked out well and I was tired at the end of the block but not so tired that I felt like I overdid it.
On the rower, we had 4 blocks total. For blocks 1 and 3, we had 30-second rows. After the rows, we had lateral hops. We started with 10 hops and every time we got off the rower, the hops increased by 10. I had to do side-to-side steps instead of the hops, so I didn’t get as much time on the rower since the steps take longer. But I got almost to the same distance for each block and I was happy about that. Blocks 2 and 4 were 90 seconds each, and they were at the same time as cardio did their surges. For those blocks, we had a 90-second row for distance. I focused more on my split time and tried to keep it under a 2:30/500 split. I’ve been struggling with rowing endurance for a while, and I really want to get back to where I used to be. It wasn’t easy to keep my split time where I wanted it to be and I didn’t always succeed, but I’m glad I pushed myself to try.
And on the floor, we had one block. It was a mix of upper and lower body work and we were supposed to try to challenge ourselves by increasing the weight if possible after each round. We had sumo deadlifts, kneeling wood choppers, single-arm high row to low row, and tricep kickbacks. We had a rep range so we were supposed to do 6-10 reps each time. I did go heavy with my deadlifts, but I wasn’t able to increase my weights when I did the exercises a second time. I think I might have gone a bit too heavy the first time, so I made my challenge to get more reps done the second time compared to the first and I was able to do that. And we ended the workout with a 30-second plank hold, which I was happy to do since it was a break from using weights.
After completing all my workouts this week, I reflected a bit on how I did throughout the month. I still love how I’m now 40 and I feel so strong. I think I took on each workout the best way I could. I didn’t always do an amazing job in every workout, but I did what I could and I pushed myself whenever it was possible. And even with the pain I had to deal with, I think that this past month was better than a lot of other months. I just had extra motivation with my birthday and knowing that age is just a number. I think that made every week this past month exactly what I needed to do with my workouts.
And hopefully, that motivation and feeling just continue with the challenges that I know will be coming up with Orangetheory. Even if I can’t do Dri-Tri, I know that Hell Week is just around the corner and I’m excited to push myself with those classes. Every month adds in more challenges, and I’m ready to take those on and see what other improvements I can continue to have in this new decade of life!
I only have a few birthday traditions that I do every year, and one that I’ve been doing for years now is my dinner at Truxton’s with my friend (and birthday twin) Joanna. We’ve been doing this dinner for over a decade now, and even though things have changed over time, we still celebrate with their birthday deal.
The deal was a free entree and dessert when we started doing our birthday dinners. That allowed us to have a totally free dinner and we basically tipped what the cost of the dinner would have been. After a few years, the deal changed to $20 off your meal, which was $40 for us since we both had $20 to spend. We have tried to do a free dinner with that deal, but it became more of a hassle to try to figure it out. So now, we just get an appetizer to share, an entree for each of us, and a dessert to share. It’s not free, but it’s pretty cheap. And we can both tip $20 (which is almost the amount of the cost of the dinner) and feel like we are getting a great deal.
The original restaurant is over by LAX, so that’s where we started going for the birthday deal. But once they opened a location in Santa Monica, we switched to there because it was easier for both of us to get to. And that was our plan again this year. For whatever reason, I felt the need to look at the menu the day we were supposed to go and I’m so glad that I did. Because there was an issue with the lease for the Santa Monica location and it had to close shortly after we were there last year. If I hadn’t looked, we would have driven there for dinner and had no idea that wasn’t an option anymore. So I let Joanna know that we would have to switch back to the location by LAX. And going forward, we might adjust our tradition to be a lunch or brunch because it was crazy for both of us to get there with traffic.
But the traffic was worth it so we could have our birthday meal. And even though I know we both try to meet up more often than our birthday and cheesecake traditions, we are both busy and never seem to be able to plan a lot of other hangouts. So having these traditions something we make sure we do our best to keep up really helps us have regular hangouts/check-ins with each other.
We both knew what we wanted to eat quickly, so we were able to put in our order and focus more on our catch-up. And as it’s been the last several times, most of what we discussed was about our dating lives and our condos. And Joanna gave me some great ideas for the closet in my bedroom which I have been wanting to change up, so I’m glad we had our random chat as always.
And since the focus was on catching up, I also didn’t think too much about taking photos of our food. But I did get a photo of the dessert we split. We had this apple tart in the past and it’s always been good. And the waiter knew that it was both of our birthdays because we let him know in advance about us using the birthday deal, so he put 2 candles in it for us! I think this was the only birthday thing I had with a candle in it this year. It was really the perfect way to end the meal.
Because we went to a different location this time, our dinner was a bit later than normal so we were done later than I was planning. But we did this dinner on a night when I didn’t have to be up too early the next morning so it was ok. And it was worth it to get our birthday dinner. I think both of us would do whatever we can in order to make this dinner happen. Even during the height of the pandemic, we still found a way to have our dinner together even if we were eating in a park instead of the restaurant.
I’m seriously so lucky that we’ve kept this tradition going for as long as we have and that we both see it as such a great way for us to maintain our friendship even with our crazy schedules!
Posted onAugust 14, 2023|Comments Off on Birthday Week Workouts (or Celebrating Each Class)
This past week of workouts was another good one for me. Not only was it my birthday week, but I was feeling really great. I’ve said several times that I really think it’s awesome that I turned 40, but I think seeing how strong I am in my workouts really has helped with that feeling. I can see how different my body and my strength are compared to when I turned 30. And I got to experience that feeling several times in this past week of workouts.
Monday’s workout was a lot of strength and endurance. I tried to push myself where I could, but I’m still balancing out how much I can push myself without making my hips hurt too much from also going out to walk and picket. But I’m getting pretty good and sensing when I’m pushing just a bit too much.
For cardio, each block focused on push paces and base paces. The push paces started longer without incline and as they got shorter, we added incline and resistance levels. And the all-outs for each block also used incline/resistance. None of the resistance levels got too high, but I was still using higher levels than I normally do for my push paces, so I tried to keep pedaling as fast as I do without the extra resistance level.
For rowing, we had 2 blocks that both started with a 400-meter row that decreased by 100 meters each round. And between each round, we had a medicine ball exercise. In the first block, we had lunges with rotations. And in the second block, we had halos. Because of my balance issues, I really can’t do rotations with lunges. So I alternated doing lunges between one set of rows and then rotations with the medicine ball between the next rows. I figured that was the best solution for me.
And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had single-leg deadlifts, single-arm reach to rotations on the straps, and tricep extensions. The second block had rows on the straps, squat to presses, and plank low rows. I was happy that I was able to do these exercises with very few modifications so I could maximize my time on the floor. As hard as it is for me to see progress on the floor because I don’t change the weights I use too often, I do like to see how much easier some exercises become for me to do over time.
Tuesday’s workout was the last workout of my 30s and I felt like that was something to celebrate. I don’t usually get really sentimental around birthdays, but this time I did. And I really was reflecting on how much I accomplished with my workouts in my 30s and what that really did to make me the person I am today. It sounds a bit cheesy, but that’s how I was feeling during the workout.
For cardio, we had long push paces and shorter base paces. This was a lot of endurance work to fit in with this month being marathon month so those participating in it could get as much distance as they could in the workout. I was using my usual push pace and base pace resistance levels and was just enjoying how normal and chill that felt. It was still a challenge for me, but it was also nice to realize that my body could do that and I wasn’t struggling all the time.
On the rower, we had one long rowing block. We started with a 600-meter row followed by 20 high knees. I had to do the high knees as marching in place, but I did them. Then we did a 400-meter and 200-meter row with high knees before going back up the pattern and switching the exercise to butt kicks. I did all the rows with high knees and the 200-meter row with butt kicks. I was working on the 400-meter row when the block ended, but that was further in the block than I thought I would get.
And on the floor, we had back-to-back sets. We had 2 exercises we were supposed to do without resting between each one. And we did each set twice before moving on to the next one. We had chest presses and split squats (which are more like lunges for me), hammer curls and single-arm hip hinge swings, and chest flys and speed skaters. Besides modifying the split squats, I was able to do the rest of the exercises without modifications. Because of the weights that were available after others picked what they used, I did go a bit lighter with the hammer curls, but I added a few extra reps to make up for that.
Wednesday’s workout was my birthday class, and my coach said happy birthday to me as soon as I walked inside the lobby. They also wrote happy birthday on the brag board, and I took a photo with my coach before class started so I could get a non-sweaty photo to remember spending a milestone birthday at Orangetheory.
I’m also excited to see when we have rowing benchmarks how I do because I am in a new age group. For cardio benchmarks, this won’t really be a factor since my benchmarks are listed in the bike section and that’s not split by age group. But it would be cool if I could make the leaderboard a few times for rowing now that I’m in the 40-49 group instead of the 30-39 group!
For cardio, we had 3 blocks that each had 4 different 1-minute push paces and all the push paces used inclines. In the first block, the inclines increased by 2% each minute. In the second block, the inclines increased by 1% every minute. And in the last block, the inclines increased by 0.5% each minute. For the first 2 blocks, I did change the resistance level to the correct amount each minute. But the resistance levels are in whole numbers, so I can’t increase by 0.5%. So for that block, I repeated the second block and increased them by 1 every minute.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block started with a distance row. Then we had lunges off the rower before rowing for distance until the block ended. The goal was to get at least the same distance for each block. The first block started with a 200-meter row, the second block started with a 150-meter row, and the last block started with a 150-meter row. I was pretty close to the same distance for each block, so I was pretty happy with that.
And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks but they were different from what we normally do. Each block focused on a single exercise. We had a minute to do a specific number of reps and any time at the end of that minute could be used to rest. We repeated that 4 times in each block to make the blocks 4 minutes long. The first block was 12 reps of a goblet squat each time, the second block was 12 reps of a reverse grip low row each time, and the last block was 8 reps of a deadlift each time. We also had the option to do more reps if we felt like it wasn’t enough or to do a plank hold at the end of the last minute. I did the plank hold for the extra time in the last minute for each block which was tough enough for me. It was a challenge, but I felt like it was a great way to start things as a 40-year-old.
Thursday’s class had a bit more of a focus on power, which felt different from the other workouts we’ve had so far this month. It still had a lot of opportunities for people to get mileage for the marathon challenge, but it was all about all-outs for cardio.
For cardio, we had one long block. We started with 2 rounds of a 1-minute all-out followed by a 1-minute recovery. Then we continued the pattern of an all-out with a 1-minute recovery after, but the all-outs got shorter every other time. So we had 2 rounds of 50-second all-outs, 2 rounds of 40-second all-outs, 2 rounds of 30-second all-outs, and we ended with just one 20-second all-out. I used my normal resistance level for all-outs on the bike, but I tried to pedal faster for the second time we had a certain all-out time. I didn’t get that much faster, but it was a little extra which I think counts a lot.
We also had 1 block for rowing. It was similar to what we had on Tuesday, but there were a few differences. This time, the rows were 400 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, and 400 meters. After the first 3 rows, we were supposed to do a squat hold bicep curl with a medicine ball, but I was having a tough morning with my hips so I just did the bicep curl with the medicine ball. And for the last 3 rows, we were supposed to do a squat hold tricep extension, and again I just did the exercise without the squat. I was working on the last 400-meter row went the block ended, so again I got pretty far in the exercises which I was happy about.
And on the floor, again it was a single block. We had drop sets this time, which is always a good challenge. But we also had single-side exercises this time which added to the drop set challenge. So we did a heavy weight on the right side, light weight on the right side, heavy weight on the left side, and light weight for the left side for each exercise. The exercises we had were goblet lunges, single-arm low rows, and single-arm shoulder presses. I can’t do goblet lunges, so I did regular lunges with no weight and goblet squats separately. It was like the lunges counted as one weight and the squats as another. It’s not exactly what we were supposed to do, but it was the best thing I could do with modifying things the way I needed them to be. And I did make an effort to try to use heavier weights than normal for the heavy weights to make sure I pushed myself. It was hard and I was pretty low with the rep count, but that’s how things should be for drop sets since I got a lot more reps done with the lighter weight.
I don’t think I could have asked for a better week of workouts for my birthday week. I was feeling good and strong, which is always a sign of a good week for me. I had the chance to challenge myself but I wasn’t struggling or getting frustrated. And I felt like a badass as always, which is the best way to turn 40!
I’m 40 today! I’ve said it before, but I’m not that worried about being 40. I know it’s something everyone says, but age really is just a number. Nothing has changed about me because yesterday I was 39 and today I’m 40. I also think that where past generations were at 40 is very different from where my generation is at 40. And a lot of my friends are older than me, so I have a lot of examples of what a 40-year-old could be like. Some of them at 40 were married with kids and others had similar lifestyles to what I have right now. And I’m lucky that none of my friends or family pressured me to feel like I had to be at a certain phase of life at any age.
I also have said before that my 30s were so much better than my 20s, and I think that things will just continue to get better. A lot of this feeling is not caring as much to fit certain stereotypes or what others may think about me. If I want to enjoy my life a certain way and it’s not hurting anyone else, I should be able to do that without shame. If I want to spend a day reading, that’s fine and I shouldn’t feel embarrassed that others might see that as a wasted day. And the sense of freedom I’ve had as I have gotten more confident about not caring has been amazing.
I’m not really doing much to celebrate my birthday today. I have my workout, going to the picket line, and working my day job. I might end up doing something after work, but I have a feeling I won’t be up for much since I tend to be tired after work. But that’s ok because I had a small birthday party thing this past weekend!
I haven’t celebrated my birthday with friends for a while, but I figured I should do it this year for a milestone birthday. I didn’t want anything too crazy, so I organized a hangout at a lounge attached to a bar near my place. I invited a lot of friends because there are so many people I hadn’t seen in a while and about 15 people were able to come.
I didn’t take any photos because I was busy talking with everyone, so I’m grateful for a friend who was there that took these candid ones. And it was such a great birthday hangout!
I had friends that were there from different friend groups, and it’s always crazy to see how people know each other when I had no idea. For example, one friend I have known since I was in college knew another friend I know through union service from an acting class they were in 20 years ago! And another friend from one friend group knew another friend from a different group but they hadn’t seen each other in about 15 years. There were several moments when I just sat back and watched my friends talking to each other. It was so awesome just seeing new friendships being created and old friendships catching up. I didn’t need or want to be the center of attention, I just wanted everyone to have a good time. And I think everyone who was there did.
I didn’t think to tell people to not bring presents because I honestly wasn’t expecting them. And I was surprised how many people brought me a card or a gift. I felt so loved, and a little embarrassed that I didn’t think I deserved so much fuss. But I also know how much I love to give my friends gifts, so I appreciated the time and money others spent on me and finding the right gift to get me.
I don’t really have any other big plans for my birthday. There are some birthday traditions that I need to schedule still, so I will still be celebrating turning 40 for at least a few more weeks. And I think being 40 is something I will be celebrating for a while because I really am excited about this next decade and I really can’t wait to see what will be coming my way and what my future has in store. I know that I have built a life that I really enjoy and have surrounded myself with people I love. And whatever happens for me in my 40s will just be adding upon that. I know it won’t all be amazing and positive, but I have a feeling there are some incredible things ahead for me!
Posted onAugust 7, 2023|Comments Off on Last Full Workout Week Of My 30s (or Continuing The Good Workout Weeks)
This past week of workouts was another good one for me. I feel like I’ve been spoiled lately with the good workout weeks. They aren’t all perfect workouts and I still have struggles, but they haven’t been as bad as they could have been. Of course, in the back of my mind, I wonder if my next cycle will be extra brutal since this one wasn’t bad, but I’m trying to focus on the positives, not the negatives. And this past week of workouts was the last full workout week of my 30s, so that was something to be excited about. Even if I’m not the thinnest or lightest I’ve been as an adult, I know that my 30s were my fittest decade. Health is more than a number on a scale, and I have gotten so much healthier over this past decade.
Monday’s workout had a lot of endurance focus to it. It was a good and tough class and I tried to push myself where I could. But I was also mindful of how my body might feel after pushing myself since I knew I would be going to the picket lines after my workout.
For cardio, we had one long block. We alternated a push pace with an incline and a base pace without an incline. I did try to increase my resistance levels a bit more for the push paces with inclines since I already use extra resistance for a push pace. I wasn’t exactly able to do the increases we were supposed to, but all of my push paces with incline were at a higher resistance level than my normal push pace level. So that was good for me.
On the rower, we also had one long block. We started with a 15-stroke drill, 12-stroke drill, and 10-stroke drill with a shoulder press with a medicine ball between each row. Then we repeated the same stroke drills with a bicep curl with a medicine ball between each row. And we ended with the same stroke drills with a tricep extension with a medicine ball between each row. I didn’t get through all the rowing, but I did get to the middle row of the last section where we were doing the tricep extensions so I was close to getting all of them done.
And on the floor, we had reverse drop sets. So for the exercises, we did 6 reps with a heavy weight and then as many reps as possible with a heavier weight after that. Normally, for a drop set, you drop down in weight instead of increasing. So this made this extra tough. The reverse drop sets were with squats and chest presses. After doing the squats we had knee drives to leg lifts, which I had to do as separate exercises. And after the chest presses we had knee tucks. Knee tucks are always hard on my hips, but I was able to do them this time by going slowly and allowing myself extra breaks during the reps.
Tuesday’s workout was another one that felt very endurance-focused. August is Marathon Month at Orangetheory, so I think there will be a lot of endurance work with cardio throughout the month. I’m not doing Marathon Month this time, but it’s mainly because I don’t want to stress about how far I’m getting on the bike if I’m not feeling well. But I’m still trying to get a lot of distance in each workout. I was able to push myself a bit more since I knew I wouldn’t be going to the picket lines after my workout (right now, I’m going on Mondays and Wednesdays instead of trying every day). So I was able to push a bit more and allow myself to prove what I could do.
For cardio, we had another long block. We had 2 long runs/bikes for distance and 2 surges in the middle of them when we were supposed to go a bit faster. I knew that I couldn’t do my push pace resistance level for the entire block, so I used a resistance level between my base and push to be a bit harder. And for the surges, I didn’t increase my resistance level but instead focused more on pedaling faster since that’s something I know I could do a lot better with. And at the end, we had an all-out where I did use my normal all-out resistance level.
On the rower, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. In blocks 1 and 3, we started with a 30-second row and then did 10 lateral hops. I did side-to-side steps instead of the hops. We then did another 30-second row and then had 20 hops. We continued the pattern of a 30-second row and increased the hops by 10 every time. These weren’t my best blocks since the steps and getting on and off the rower took some time. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had a 90-second row for distance and we were supposed to try to make it an all-out row for the last 30 seconds. These blocks were better for me and I was able to get further in block 4 than I did in block 2.
And on the floor, we had one block. It was a mix of upper and lower body work and we were supposed to try to challenge ourselves by increasing the weight if possible after each round. We had sumo deadlifts, kneeling wood choppers, single-arm high row to low row, and tricep kickbacks. I did have to modify the high row to low rows to be separate exercises because I was struggling to switch my hand position that frequently. But I was able to go a bit heavier with the weights after the first round for a few of the exercises. And the floor block ended with a 30-second plank hold, which was a bit harder than normal because I think I worked that much harder during the workout.
Wednesday was another day where I wanted to push myself but not too hard since I would be picketing. But I’m finding the balance between those things the more I go on the picket lines so I’m hoping it will be less of an issue as time goes on (or the strike ends before I have a chance to do that).
For cardio, we had a few blocks but they all had similar formats. We had rounds of a 30-second push pace and 45-second base pace and a 30-second all-out at the end. Even though the base paces were longer than the push paces, it still seemed like we never really got a chance to catch our breath or recover. But I did make sure I was using the normal resistance levels I use on the bike for all the blocks.
On the rower, we had 2 blocks. In the first block, we focused on doing a 200-meter row with a halo using a medicine ball between each row. And in the second block, we focused on doing a 10-stroke drill with front presses with a medicine ball between each row. I really like these rowing blocks. Even though it will probably always be hard for me to get on and off the rower, this went a lot smoother than other similar row blocks have gone for me.
On the floor, we had one long block. We had 6 exercises to do the first round and then after completing them, we could pick any of the exercises to take off so we did 5 exercises for the second round and so on. The exercises we had were lunges, shoulder presses, good mornings, hammer curls, squats, and plank low rows. After the first round, I took the lunges off. After the second round, I took the squats off. I was working on my third round when the block ended and I was going to take the plank off but I hadn’t gotten that far.
I was a bit sore on Thursday, likely a combination of my few days on the picket line and how I was pushing myself in my workouts at the beginning of the week. But I still was feeling pretty good, even with some extra soreness, so I was ready for another challenging workout.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Each block had 1-minute intervals followed by 30-second intervals. In the first block, the 1-minute intervals were push paces and the 30-second intervals were base paces with a 1-minute all-out at the end. In the second block, it was similar to the first block but the push paces had increasing inclines. And in the last block, the 1-minute intervals were all-outs and the 30-second intervals were walking recoveries. These were tough since the harder intervals were twice as long as the easier ones, but they were all short blocks so that helped a bit.
On the rower, we had one long block. We started with an 800-meter row. After that row, we had tricep extensions, halos, and squat jumps (which I did as squats to calf raise) with a medicine ball. Then we had a 600-meter row with the same exercises after the row. I was working on the 400-meter row when the block ended, but I was happy with how far I got.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks and they had a lot of focus on balance. I tried to do each exercise the best I could, but I knew that balance things would be tough for me. The first block had push-ups and kneeling lateral raises and both exercises were with the Bosu. I did manage to do both exercises using the Bosu by doing the push-ups on my knees and taking some breaks during the reps for the lateral raises. The second block had split squats and kneeling tricep extensions, and again they were both supposed to be on the Bosu. I did the split squats as lunges and didn’t use the Bosu, but I did do the tricep extensions on it so that was an extra challenge. And the last block had jack presses without the Bosu and kneeling bicep curls using the Bosu. I did the jack presses as shoulder presses, but I did use the Bosu again for the bicep curls.
I think that this past week really was another great week for me and an awesome way to start closing out my 30s. I love how positive I’ve been feeling with my workouts recently, and I’m so happy that it looks like I’ll be starting my 40s feeling great about myself and ready to see what I can accomplish with my fitness in a new decade.
Posted onAugust 2, 2023|Comments Off on A Few Months Of Celebrating (or Enjoying Each Age)
I set my monthly challenge for July to be to celebrate the last full month of my 30s. I know that’s not really a challenge like some of the ones I’ve done in the past, but I did want to make an effort to celebrate my age because I think it’s important to do so. Age is such a weird thing and I hate the stigma that seems to come with certain ages.
I didn’t stress as much as I thought I would 10 years ago about turning 30. I think turning 29 was almost a harder birthdate. For some reason, there was a block in my mind about what I was supposed to accomplish before 30 and I saw my 29th birthday as the cutoff to get those things accomplished. I don’t know why 29 was as tough for me as it was, but I was grateful that turning 30 wasn’t as bad as I feared.
I haven’t had a big issue in my mind about turning 40. I find it a bit tough to believe because I don’t feel like I’m 40. I think the pandemic made a few years feel like they didn’t happen, but also there was an idea in my mind when I was a kid about what 40 meant. I remember seeing all those over-the-hill gag gift things for someone turning 40, and I don’t feel like I’m headed toward the end of my life. I actually think that my life has been so much better in my 30s than in my 20s had been. I think I really stopped caring about some things that don’t really matter, and that made things a lot better for me. I also had some really great steps with improving both my mental and physical health and that helped this past decade a lot too.
I think every age is important, and it was extra important to acknowledge all the things that happened to me in my 30s. I had so much growth and celebrating that felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t do anything in particular, but I did make sure that I got out and spent time doing fun things with my friends to enjoy the last full month of my 30s.
And my challenge this month is kind of the same as what I did last month. Turning 40 is a milestone birthday, even if it doesn’t have the same feeling now as I thought it might when I was younger. I think it’s awesome that I’m turning 40 and I think that this coming decade will be even better than my 30s. I never knew how amazing my 30s could be, and I am so excited to see how my 40s surprise me. I don’t fear growing older or a specific age, so I want to celebrate how cool it is that I will be 40!
I am planning a casual birthday gathering since I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in the past few years. And I have the usual birthday traditions that I’m planning on doing again this year. I want to start off this decade by trying to spend time doing things I want to do, which I don’t do often enough. I’ve been doing better about getting out of my house and seeing friends, and I want to keep doing that. I want to make sure I take advantage of this month and enjoy as much time as I can. I know that I won’t be able to do that all the time, but making the effort to celebrate my birthday and my new decade is important to me.
I know this is another easy challenge to do, but I think it’s the perfect one for me this month. I haven’t had other life milestones yet that a lot of other people have that they celebrate (like a wedding), so celebrating a big birthday is an important one for me and I want to make sure I start off this decade in the best way possible!
As I wrote last month, I seem to pick monthly challenges at the perfect time. I pick things that end up being exactly what I need at that time and it really has benefitted me. And sometimes, those benefits have been just to focus on something that I know will be taking up a lot of my time. And that was the case for June.
I set my monthly challenge to be as involved in union service as I could be. There were some limitations that didn’t allow me to do everything I wanted to do, but I was getting a lot done last month. I was continuing to support the strike against the AMPTP as much as I could. I didn’t get out to any picket lines, but that’s just because of my job and not really having the chance to take time off while things are a bit crazy at work. But I was still supporting things as much virtually and sharing information so others could make it to the picket lines.
But the bigger thing I was working on was mainly behind the scenes because it wasn’t announced until the end of the month. Normally during union elections, there are 2 major slates that both have candidates running for various positions. This year, there has been a big sense of unity among union members and that has also changed what will be happening in the elections this summer. Instead of the 2 major slates running their own candidates, we will be having a unity slate with some candidates from each of the major slates. This is a big deal and it took a lot of work to make it happen, but I think this is something that will really benefit the union and could be a refresh for elections that we all need. There are still other candidates that will be running outside of the unity slate and there might be another slate created since there have been talks about some independents doing that in the past, but having the 2 main slates combined is going to make things very different this year. And I’m so grateful I have been a part of the work behind this (although a small part compared to others) and that I will be running on the unity slate.
I will still be doing a lot with union service this month, and likely more than normal since it is still election season. But I have picked another monthly challenge for July that I think will be perfect for me.
July is the last full month of my 30s. I turn 40 at the beginning of August and I’m pretty excited about that. I haven’t really been scared of aging, but I think that I was a bit more fearful of turning 30 than I am now about turning 40. I think my 30s have been the best decade of my life so far and significantly better than my 20s. And I want to celebrate how great my 30s were before I celebrate turning 40. So my challenge for this month is just that simple. I want to spend July celebrating and enjoying the last full month of my 30s. I know that aging is something that some people don’t look forward to, but I think more people now are enjoying aging. And age really is just a number and I believe that there is no guideline of where you need to be in life at certain ages. When I was younger, I believed in that idea more. But now, I am just enjoying my life and I don’t really care about the number attached to my age.
I don’t have anything in particular that I want to do to celebrate the end of my 30s, but I will be making sure that I appreciate what I accomplished in the last 10 years and how I have been setting things up to be even better in my 40s. And I’m thinking I should be doing something bigger for my birthday this year since it is a milestone, so planning my birthday will also be a way to celebrate what my 30s meant to me. I’m excited about this birthday and about being in a new decade of life soon, but I also don’t want to forget everything I was able to do in my 30s and remembering how that time turned me into the person that I have become and will be going into my 40s.
Posted onApril 6, 2023|Comments Off on Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)
When I went to Santa Barbara for my niece’s birthday, I wasn’t sure if I’d be making it back up there for my nephew’s birthday a few weeks later. His birthday was going to be on a weekday and I knew my brother and his family were going to be out of town right before his birthday. So I thought his party might be on a weekday, which would mean I would have to miss it. But after I was in Santa Barbara in February, I found out the party would be the Sunday before his birthday so I would be able to go!
So this past Sunday, I made the drive up to Santa Barbara for the day as I have done so many times before. It’s not a horribly long drive, but with some traffic and road construction it was about 2 hours for me to get there. Fortunately, I knew ahead of time that I’d be driving up so I had a bunch of podcasts saved so I could be entertained on my drive.
I knew the party would be pretty low-key since my nephew was turning 3 and he doesn’t have a ton of friends yet. And I appreciated that it wouldn’t be a huge party full of people I didn’t know. It ended up being my family, my sister-in-law’s family, and 2 of my nephew’s friends from preschool. And they set up the bounce house I got my niece and nephew again for the party, so it was fun seeing all the kids having fun on it (and knowing that it was a good gift since not all of the gifts I’ve gotten them have been hits).
Since my nephew was busy playing with his friends, I spent most of my time at the party with my family and my sister-in-law’s parents. Even though I had seen them all a few weeks earlier at my niece’s party, there was plenty to catch up on. And I didn’t realize my sister-in-law’s mom hadn’t seen all the photos from my condo remodel, so I was showing her those and sharing what we did for the renovation and how it’s been since I moved in almost a year ago.
Everything about the party was casual and chill. They had a taco bar for lunch and I was eating outside with my parents (which was much quieter than being inside). And instead of a cake, they had cupcakes. My nephew loves garbage trucks so the cupcakes were decorated with little trucks.
And both my niece and nephew loved them, but I think my niece had a bit more fun making a mess out of the frosting and seeing how crazy she could get.
After cupcakes, the party was winding down. My parents had the dog with them, but he wasn’t able to be inside for the party so I was hanging out with my parents in the driveway so I could also spend a little time with Tucker. We mainly were just sitting in the front of the house for that, but it was still nice to see the dog since I don’t get to see him too often. And after my niece and nephew went down for their naps, my brother and sister-in-law hung out with us for a little bit before we all said goodbye.
I know I could have stayed a little longer if I wanted to and continued to hang out with my parents at their rental house, but I wanted to get home before it was too late. I know that going back on Sunday evenings can be crazy, and I wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible. Even though I didn’t leave that late, it still took me almost twice as long as normal to get home. But that’s ok since it was worth it to get to have some time with my family. I know that isn’t as easy for everyone to do as it is for me, so I like to take advantage of it whenever I can.
I’m not sure when my next trip to Santa Barbara will be, but I’m sure that there will be another day up there at some point soon. I usually plan them around when my parents are there, so I’ll just have to wait until they plan their next trip. And even with this trip up there being short, I’m glad it was still full of family time and it was on a day that I could make it.
Celebrating My Niece’s Birthday (or Another Santa Barbara Day)
