Tag Archives: challenge

Listening And Learning (or A Brand New Monthly Challenge)

Posted on March 6, 2024 | Comments Off on Listening And Learning (or A Brand New Monthly Challenge)

Last month, I challenged myself to listen to my body more. I think many things were coming together that made me feel like I needed to do this. I was struggling a lot with sleep, but that didn’t account for everything I was feeling. I just had an odd feeling of being off. I don’t want to assume that my iron issues were causing this, but I will say that taking my new supplements has been helping with that feeling so maybe that was it. But I just knew I needed to listen to my body with so many things and I needed to find a way to feel like myself again.

I think sleep will always be an on-and-off issue for me. I naturally don’t wake up early, but I make myself do it so I can go to my workout. I make an effort to go to bed early and not stay up as late as I’d like, but that doesn’t always mean I’ll fall asleep quickly. I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night, and I don’t know why I do that. It’s not that I’m thirsty or in pain, I just don’t always sleep all night. But I made sure to note when that happened and took things a bit easier the next day since I knew I’d be tired.

But I think the biggest thing I did with listening to my body was to use that with how I ate. Just like sleeping, I know food will always be an issue for me. I can’t just always eat what I want, but I know that listening to my cravings can help me manage food better. I also didn’t stress myself out as much about eating at official meal times. I did try to have 3 meals in a day, but sometimes it was more like 2 meals and 2 snacks. I don’t track calories or other nutrition like that, but I do have a general idea of how much I’m eating and I know I’m staying within the right amount of calories. And I was feeling more satisfied when I did try to indulge in my cravings a bit more. If I was craving something sweet or salty, I didn’t ignore that. I didn’t necessarily eat exactly what I would like if it wasn’t the best choice, but I tried to figure out something that would help that craving. And yes, sometimes I did eat the “bad” thing because I knew that was going to be the only thing that I wanted.

Overall, I’m happy with what I did with my challenge in February. I feel much more like myself now. I still have some physical ailments that I know won’t be resolved by listening to my body, but things are much easier on me when I don’t have extra things I have to work through.

And for March, I decided to go back to the type of challenge I did when I started doing these. I recently got a new-to-me camera from a friend. It’s a very nice camera and so far I’ve only used it with all the auto settings. But because it’s the first camera I’ve owned that has all these settings and ways you can take amazing photos, I want to learn how to do that. So I’ve decided this month that I’d like to take some online photography classes.

I’ve already saved a few different free classes I found online and I’m going to work through them. I don’t think I’ll be able to get through them all within the month, but I’d like to have some idea about how to use more than just the auto setting on the camera by the end of the month. I don’t know how often I might use this new camera since the main reason I got it from my friend is to do self-tape auditions, but I think it would be fun to be able to take nice photos from time to time. I don’t want to get myself in a situation where I regret not learning how to use the different features before having an opportunity to use it.

I’m hoping by the end of the month, I will feel more comfortable using the new camera and I’ll start to have some fun with it. I don’t know if I’ll pick up photography as a new hobby, but you never know. New hobbies start after trying something, so maybe I’ll end up finding a new creative way to express myself!

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Building Upon Another Good Week (or PR Weeks Are So Much Fun)

Posted on February 12, 2024 | Comments Off on Building Upon Another Good Week (or PR Weeks Are So Much Fun)

I really got lucky this past week with having another good week. I didn’t have the pain and nausea I deal with each month and my weekly injection didn’t make me feel sick. I don’t know if I’m getting used to the new dosage or if I lucked out with injected it in the right spot. I did have some extra hip pain this past week due to the weather, but that is minor compared to what I am normally used to. I know that I will be having another bad week either this week or the week after with pain and nausea, but I was just so happy to have a good week this past week and I really took advantage of that.

I think because we have the Transformation Challenge going on right now, we are getting a lot of benchmarks and specialty workouts. And I know I can’t always get a PR or have an incredible workout, but I was still on a bit of a high from my PR the week before and wanted to continue my streak. This past week, we had Catch Me If You Can. This challenge has been a tough one for me in the past. I was always getting caught at the same checkpoint each time. I knew it wasn’t impossible to get past, but I was always shy of the distance I needed to be on the bike to continue going.

But the last time we had this challenge, I somehow made it to the distance I had to get to so I could continue going. I felt so proud that I finally made it and I got past another checkpoint after that. I wasn’t able to get to the end, but very few people make it to that point so I was ok with not completing it. I was just so happy that I finally got past the point that I was always caught at and felt so accomplished. When I knew we were going to do this challenge again this past week, I reviewed what I did in the past. I wasn’t sure if I’d get a PR again this time, but I was really hoping I would beat the past checkpoint that I was always getting stuck at.

When we had the challenge, we had a little paper in front of us that showed what the various checkpoints were. But I noticed that the one I had for the bike wasn’t accurate (there are 2 types of bikes at Orangetheory and the paper was the distances for the other type of bike). I was able to get my coach to give me the one that had the distances for the treadmill and I just had to do the math and multiply those by 4 to get the bike distance. Yes, doing a little bit of math at 6am isn’t fun, but it was fine.

I kept the resistance level on the bike at my normal base pace level because I knew I needed to pedal really quickly to get past the checkpoints I wanted to beat. I felt like I was cutting things close to the checkpoint where I’ve gotten caught in the past, but I managed to get to that distance right before the time cutoff. And just like the last time I got past that one, the checkpoint after that was a lot easier for me, and the one after that was another close call. But I was at the spot where I was the last time and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the distance for the next checkpoint. Even though I was certain I was going to get caught at the same checkpoint as my last PR, I was hoping I would be able to at least get a little bit further than I did the last time. It’s not as easy to do that on the bike since the distance tracker isn’t as precise as the treadmills. But when we got to that checkpoint and I was caught, I managed to squeak by with an extra .1 miles compared to my last PR.

It wasn’t easy to get that done and I was exhausted for the rest of the workout, but I was still so happy that I got another PR. I wasn’t expecting the one I got the week before and I wasn’t certain I would be able to do this one. But to get PRs on back-to-back weeks was so incredible. I know that not every week or every challenge can be like this, so I celebrate them when they happen.

We have another challenge coming up this week, but I’m not expecting another PR. It is a team challenge and I usually do them solo so I don’t track how I do. And I’m not sure how I’ll be feeling so I don’t want to set myself up to be disappointed if it doesn’t go well. I’ll see how I feel when that day happens and maybe I’ll surprise myself again. But no matter what happens, I will still be so happy with how the past 2 weeks went with my workouts and I’ll continue to celebrate those wins!

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Finding New Ways To Accomplish Old Goals (or Feeling Good About Some Challenges)

Posted on February 7, 2024 | Comments Off on Finding New Ways To Accomplish Old Goals (or Feeling Good About Some Challenges)

To kick off 2024, I wanted to work on budgeting again. I’ve done this so many times in the past, but it’s still something I struggle with. I’ve heard a lot of people say they are making the most money they’ve ever made right now but also feel the poorest they’ve ever been. I totally related to that feeling. So working on budgeting for my January challenge seemed like the right thing to do.

Things didn’t go the way I expected them to go last month, but I still feel like I accomplished my goal. I still don’t necessarily have a budget created for myself to track my money, but I’m a lot better about how I’ve been spending money. And a big part of that is working on using coupons and deals a lot more. I have been pretty good about using coupons at places like CVS that make them really easy to use, but I haven’t been as good about doing that at the grocery store. And honestly, it’s silly that I haven’t been doing that. But I’m now working on being a lot more mindful about what I buy each week at the store and trying to make sure I look up any coupons ahead of time so I can make the best choices.

I also signed up for a rebate app that does money back on top of coupons I might find online. I know there are a bunch of rebate apps out there, but I went with iBotta. That one seemed to be mentioned a lot and was pretty user-friendly. I know that I can do a lot more with that app than I’m doing now, but I’m starting off doing what I can and I’ve already gotten just over $20 back from the past month. I know that’s not a huge amount, but it’s still $20 I wouldn’t have had if I didn’t do it.

Once I’m better with doing these things, I do want to figure out about how much I spend in a month for groceries so I can use that to help me work on making a budget. I don’t think a super strict budget will ever end up being the right thing for me, but saving money where I can and being aware of how I’m spending it is something I know I need to continue to be better about.

And being mindful of things connects a bit to my challenge for February. This challenge will be a little harder to see if I’m successful or not, but I want to work on listening to my body more this month. I’ve had a lot of things that affect my body in crazy ways and I’ve just been working on going with the flow. But that’s not working for me anymore. Especially with side effects from medication, I’m tired of letting those things control my life as much as it has. I know I can’t be fully in control, but I can be a lot more aware of how things will affect me based on different factors. Maybe if I eat differently at different times of the day, things will be better. I’m sure I need to continue to get more sleep, but finding the right amount of sleep would be good too. I know that when I can sleep in, if I sleep too much I feel tired just like I do with a little too little sleep. I also want to focus on the hip pains I’ve been having lately so I can see what I can do to make that a little easier to deal with. So much is out of my control with pain and side effects, but there are still things I can do to try to make things better for me. I’m not willing to just give up and accept how often I have bad days anymore. I need to work on making things work for me again.

Just like so many other challenges I’ve done, this one will likely last more than just a month. But I’ve already been noting things about how different medications are affecting me and finding small changes I can try to see what works and what doesn’t. I’m hopeful that I’ll have at least a few new routines that work for me by the end of February!

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Ending The Year With A Very Productive Challenge (or Starting Off 2024 With Another Repeat)

Posted on January 10, 2024 | 2 comments

My monthly challenge for December was one that I knew I needed to do. I wanted to get myself as ready as possible for 2024 with my acting career. This was something that had really taken a backseat in my life over the past few years. I was still pursuing acting, but I knew I wasn’t doing things the best way I could. Things haven’t been what we all considered normal for the industry between the pandemic and the strike. But that’s also just an excuse because things have been happening since the pandemic, and commercials weren’t affected during the strike so there was still a possibility for me to audition. However, I discovered that I no longer had an agent during the strike. That was the kick in the butt that I needed to get back in gear.

I knew I needed new headshots, but I wanted to see if I could get a new agent first since that agent would likely have an opinion on those headshots and I didn’t want to do a shoot only to need to do another one after that. It’s been over a decade since I’ve had to look for an agent, so I wasn’t sure how things worked now. So I decided to start with people I knew since that would be the easiest way to start and I would love to be represented by someone who really knows me and doesn’t just see me as another actor on their roster. My first submission was to someone I have known since I was in college. We did improv together when I was in my 20s so we’ve known each other for over 2 decades. She transitioned to being an agent and I knew that her agency represented actors both theatrically (for film and tv) and commercially. It seemed like it could be the ideal situation for me and I was hoping she would think the same. And fortunately, that’s exactly how she felt and I was signed to her agency when we met! I know I’m insanely lucky how easy it was for me to get a new agent and this isn’t how it is for most people. And I’m also grateful that I have stayed in touch with people I’ve been in classes with for this long so I would still have this connection.

Getting a new agent was a huge win for my challenge and technically that was the only thing I got done during December. I did shoot new headshots last week after discussing what looks my new agent wanted to see. That shoot was in January, but I think it still can count as a win for my December challenge since it only was delayed because of the holidays. And now, I feel like I’m really back to acting and I hope that the combination of the new agent and new headshots will result in some amazing auditions and some bookings!

I know that not all challenges can go as well as my December one did. I didn’t even expect it to go that well and was thinking I might still be submitting to agencies and trying to get meetings through the next month or two. But it was a great way to end 2023 and I’m hoping that my challenges in 2024 will be close to that successful.

For my first challenge of 2024, I’m doing a bit of a repeat again. But I’m modifying it so hopefully I can be a bit more successful at it. I’ve tried multiple times to create a budget for myself and get on top of my finances. I’m doing much better with it now than I did before, but I’m still not great at having a budget. So this month, my challenge is to find the parts of my life that I can create a budget for. I might not be able to budget for everything, but I can try to budget for certain categories so I can be more mindful of my spending. I think that creating a budget for meals (both groceries and going out) would be a smart one to have. Also, I’d like to have some sort of entertainment budget. I don’t go out that much right now, but budgeting to go out and do things would be smart as I try to be out and social more. I also want to look more carefully at regular or recurring expenses to make sure there aren’t things I don’t use anymore that I’m paying for.

Maybe by budgeting for a few categories, I can ease into creating a larger budget for myself. I have some unplanned expenses right now that I don’t have the funds for and I need to save up. Knowing where all my money is going will help me save for what I need to do now and what might come up in the future. I know that I don’t make a lot of money, but finding any extra money right now would be so helpful. I don’t expect everything to be perfect, but I’d like them to be better than they are now so I can continue to get things in order as I have more things in my life that cost me money.

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Finishing Up The Last Workout Challenge of 2023 (or Working Around New Issues Again)

Posted on December 18, 2023 | Comments Off on Finishing Up The Last Workout Challenge of 2023 (or Working Around New Issues Again)

This past week of workouts completed the 12 Days of Fitness challenge. I did my normal workout days for this challenge, so I wasn’t going to complete it until the last day. But that was fine with me because I knew I would get it done and I didn’t want to stress too much about trying to change up my schedule. I have to change up my workout schedule for the end of the year, so doing it then is enough for me. I’m really a fan of keeping my routine, so I finished the challenge and earned the blanket on Tuesday.

I didn’t need a blanket, but I like having something as a reward for completing a challenge. I will always do Hell Week to earn my shirt even though I don’t normally wear them. I have done other challenges where I have earned hats and socks even though I don’t use those. If the prize is something I know I won’t use or enjoy, I don’t always sign up since we have to pay for these challenges. But normally, I will do it just to have the bragging rights. And that’s how I feel about earning this blanket!

The workouts for this challenge weren’t extra hard, they were just the top workouts of the year. So it wasn’t as bad as Hell Week is. But I had some extra challenges this past week because of my reaction to the Covid booster shot. I always have strong reactions to vaccines, and this one was no different. I tried to time things out so it wouldn’t affect my workouts as much, so I got my vaccine on Thursday when I would have the most amount of rest days before my next workout. And it was good that I did that because I was feeling pretty awful on Friday and Saturday. But what I didn’t expect was having extremely swollen lymph nodes for a long time.

I’ve had swollen lymph nodes after different vaccines, but this was the worst I’ve ever experienced. For the first few days, I couldn’t fully put my arm down. I actually kept a pillow under that arm over the weekend because it was starting to hurt my shoulder. I didn’t think too much about how this would affect my workouts, but I learned very quickly that having swollen lymph nodes meant that I couldn’t row properly. I had to keep my arms bent in an awkward position to be able to bring the row handle back. I made it work and I’m glad that each day over the week got a bit better and I was a little less swollen. I also had some other side effects I had to deal with in my workouts, like being very fatigued and feeling weak. But those are things that I am more used to dealing with so they were easier to work around.

With all the random issues I had to work with for this past week’s workouts, I just had to go a bit easier on myself than I would have liked to. I have been trying to push myself extra hard when I’m having a good week and this past week should have been one of those good weeks. Unfortunately, it ended up being a bit of a bad week instead, but at least the issues that I had were things that I was able to work with and they didn’t affect me as intensely as the pain and nausea that I work through every month.

Next week should be a normal workout week for me, even if it might be a bit of a bad week toward the end of the week. But at least I should be going in for my workouts on my normal days. Then for the end of the month and year, things will be a little different since I have to work around the holidays. But I’m expecting that I will hit my workout goal for this year by the end of the year and I will be finding a way to work in my traditional holiday workouts so I can end this year and start next year the way that I have for a while.

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Starting The 12 Days Of Fitness (or I’ve Almost Earned Some More Swag)

Posted on December 11, 2023 | 1 comment

Whenever Orangetheory has some challenge, like Hell Week, I try to participate. I don’t do every challenge, for example, I don’t do the transformation challenges since I don’t want the stress of what the scale says to affect me. But I like doing these challenges to push myself and have a little extra motivation. I’m pretty good about going to my 4 workouts a week, but anything that makes them a little easier to get to is a win.

Orangetheory is doing the 12 Days Of Fitness for the beginning of December. This challenge features 12 of the workouts we had this past year that were determined to be the most popular ones. And if you sign up for the challenge, you have to do 6 of the 12 workouts to earn a fleece blanket. I don’t need a fleece blanket, but I still want to earn it! I can always find a use for it and I want it just like I always want the Hell Week shirts even though I don’t usually wear them.

Fortunately for me, doing 6 of the 12 workouts fits in perfectly with my normal workout schedule. I won’t be earning my blanket until the 12th day, but I was able to get my first 4 workouts done for the challenge this past week.

Of the 4 workouts I had this past week, I had previously done 3 of them. But the only ones that I really remembered were Drop It Like A Squat and Tread Trail.

I remembered Tread Trail because it was very different to not know how long we would be doing different intensities on the treadmill. Normally, I can be mentally prepared knowing a push pace is only going to be a minute or I can take it a little easier if it’s going to be 3 minutes. While I try to do the same thing for my push pace no matter how long it’s going to be, I also know I need to go a bit easier when they are longer so I can be back to a base pace when they are done instead of needing a break. But when you don’t know how long you’ll be doing something, it’s much harder to pace yourself. I know that’s a good challenge to have since I don’t do that normally, but it also meant I was going a bit easier on myself for a lot of the workout because I was prepared for the intervals to be longer. But I tried to push myself harder when I could and I was happy with how I felt when the cardio block was done and I felt like I didn’t go too easy.

And I remembered Drop It Like A Squat because I remember how hard that workout was on my hips. Doing it another time wasn’t any different and I still had some struggles with hip pain during the workout. I know that squats are really good for me and they are also good for my hips, even if they hurt them a bit. I need to build the muscles around my hips in order to support them. One of the reasons I haven’t had more issues with my hips already is because I have built up those muscles around them so the side that has no cartilage is supported and my bones aren’t hitting each other. But that doesn’t make squats any easier on me. I just had to let my body be my guide and take breaks when I was hurting. But I still did so many squats in that workout and I felt that for a few days after!

I will have the last 2 workouts for this challenge this week so I can complete the challenge. I don’t mind that I’m going to be done on the last day possible since it’s just about completing it and not rushing to get it done. And even though this week shouldn’t be a bad week for me, I’m a little worried about how the beginning of the week might go. I’m writing this post on Saturday, and 2 days ago I got another Covid booster. I always have strong reactions to vaccines, and this has been no different. I know that having a reaction like this means my body is building an immune response and it’s a good sign, but it still feels like I’m sick. I’m hoping that I’ll be feeling fine by Monday, but I know that sometimes my reactions last longer than I would like. So it’s not a guarantee that I’ll be back to normal by the start of this week. But I’m used to working out when I’m not feeling my best, so at least it’s something that I know I can push through. And even if I’m still dealing with side effects during the week, it should be not as bad as I feel now, so that should help too. Hopefully, the sleep and rest I plan on getting this weekend will help me be over these side effects and my workouts this week will be just normal ones and I’ll finish out this challenge feeling like myself.

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Cleaning Up And Getting Ready (or Still More Prep For 2024)

Posted on December 6, 2023 | Comments Off on Cleaning Up And Getting Ready (or Still More Prep For 2024)

It’s the last month of the year, which is insane to me! This year has flown by, but not just in the normal way that it has been in the last few years. So many of the things that seem to mark different points of the year haven’t happened the same way they have before. Having the strike happen made time feel like it stood still and skipped by at the same time. Even though it feels weird to be in December, I’m also feeling ready for this year to be done. It hasn’t been a horrible year necessarily for me, but I like the feeling of a fresh start with a new year and I feel like I have been setting myself up for what things might come my way in 2024.

In November, I had the challenge to work on cleaning out things that I no longer need. I have been noticing that I’ve had things that I just held onto because they were in my old place and they aren’t really useful anymore. And because I got a lot of new things when I moved, I had a lot of extra stuff that was taking up space that I didn’t need to use up. I didn’t clean out as much as I expected to do this past month, but that’s because I kept finding more things I wanted to go through. I know my desk will continue to be a project because I have so much that I used to use but don’t anymore. But I was able to get a lot of stuff cleared out of my closet and my kitchen drawers. I’ve also started to replace things that I have had for years with higher quality things so I am getting rid of the duplicates.

Even though I didn’t clear out as much as I thought I would by the end of the month, I did make a significant dent in the project and I’ve been creating new systems for reviewing what I still need to go through. And just like so many other challenges I’ve been doing recently, this one isn’t ending just because the month ended. I’ve been starting to work on my dresser, and I’ve gone through about a third of my stuff and found a lot of things that I was able to get rid of or donate.

And my challenge for December is yet another one to set myself up for the new year. But this is one that I’ve been needing to do and finally am getting around to it. I want to get all my stuff ready to really be back in the acting world again in 2024. This is going to be a big process and I know it won’t all be done in December, but I’m working on making a list of what I need to do and trying to get as much of it done this month.

The biggest thing I need to do for my acting career is to find a new agent. I found out that my agent can no longer represent union actors and they also might have gone out of business. I don’t know exactly how long ago this all happened because I discovered this randomly and I wasn’t notified by my agent. No matter how long I’ve been without an agent, I need to find a new one to really be back in the game. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to find representation, so I’m easing into this again by starting with reaching out to people I know. If I could get represented by an agent who already knows me, that would be amazing! If I have to start reaching out to agencies that I don’t know personally, then I’ll do that but that won’t be until the new year.

I also need new headshots. The ones I have are fine and I still look like those photos, but they have been used for a while, and having fresh headshots can help when I’m being submitted for auditions. The timing of doing the new headshots depends a lot on whether I get an agent that I already know. I would prefer to be signed by a new agent and then get new headshots so I can do the photos that they want for me. But if I have to start reaching out to new agents that I don’t know, I should get some new photos to add some more variety to what I have and then I will probably expect that I will have to still get more photos after I sign with someone. So that’s another reason for me to hope that I can find a new agent soon.

I also worked on cutting a new version of a demo reel, although I don’t have a lot of work that I can choose from that is recent. But I made something that I think looks better than what I had before. I did some work on my acting resume, but I might be making some more adjustments on that after I’ve had some more time to think about it. And I’ve been working on my stuff on the online casting sites so everything is updated and ready to go.

Some work has been coming back as the strike has been suspended (by the time you are reading this, hopefully, the new contract has been ratified and the strike is officially done), but things are still slow. It’s normally slow this time of year because of the holidays, and most productions don’t want to start up only to have to shut down again for holiday time off. But I’m hoping that once the new year starts, things will be getting back to a more normal pace and I want to do whatever it takes so that I can be a part of the acting world again. I’ve had too much time feeling disconnected between the pandemic and the strike, and I’m ready to go full force again and see what wins will come my way.

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Default ThumbnailStill Getting Ready For 2024 (or I Feel Like I Keep Finding More To Do) Default ThumbnailGetting Ready For The New Year (or Trying To Set Myself Up For Good Things) Default ThumbnailNew Things To Think About With My Acting Career (or I Need To Plan Things More) Default ThumbnailGiving Myself Some Breathing Room (or Just Getting Ready For Other Things This Summer) Default ThumbnailStarting To Plan Some Next Steps (or Researching Classes and Looking At My Schedule) Default ThumbnailReally Getting Ready To Get Back To My Workouts (or I’m Not Sure I’m Ready To Work That Hard Yet)

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A Normal Week With A PR (or The Break Between Holiday Week Workouts)

Posted on November 20, 2023 | Comments Off on A Normal Week With A PR (or The Break Between Holiday Week Workouts)

This past week of workouts was a normal workout week for me. The week before was a bit different because of my family workout. Next week will be almost a normal workout week but slightly different because of the holiday. So having a regular workout week was a nice break, especially since I know I’ll also have a few odd weeks in December.

And not only was it a normal workout week, but I was feeling pretty good throughout the week. I did have some issues with being lightheaded a few times, which is something I experience from time to time and usually is because I don’t eat enough the day before or I eat my dinner too early. But because I’m used to it, I know that I just need to sit down and catch my breath. It’s the same thing I do when I get lightheaded at any other time of day (sometimes I experience that when I’m just sitting and working).

I really have been trying to increase the weights that I use on the floor, but I’m still struggling with it. I did have a bit of success, but most of the time I couldn’t use the heavier weights. I know that just trying to use something heavier and then going back to what I normally use is still a bit of a success, but I don’t know what it’s going to take for me to be able to use the heavier weights for all my reps. Maybe it’s just continuing to do trial and error with the heavier ones? I was able to use slightly heavier weights once for an upper body exercise, which made me really happy. And having that feeling when using the heavier weights just convinced me more that this is the right thing to focus on. I think I felt almost more accomplished by using those heavier weights than I do when I get most of my PRs.

But speaking of PRs, I got a new one this past week! We had the 12-minute distance challenge on Thursday. This benchmark is tough because it will always last 12 minutes no matter how fast or slow you go. When it’s a distance challenge, you can be done sooner if you go faster. But you have to pace yourself for 12 minutes for this one and that’s not a short time. I have had attempts in the past where I went too hard at first and burned out and really couldn’t do much for the second half. But I’ve been doing better at pacing myself and making sure I don’t go too hard in the beginning.

I knew that I PRed the last time I did this and that was hard enough to do. And it can be harder to PR on the bike than on the treadmill because the treadmill tracks smaller distances than the bike. So while on the treadmill you can see a new distance every few seconds or less, on the bike I see a new distance every 15 seconds or so. So that means I might have gone just a tiny bit further, but the distance on the bike computer would be the same as the last time. I am crazy competitive with myself, but I also know that when I’m doing bike challenges and tying my PR, sometimes it doesn’t mean that. It’s not an excuse, but something to help me not be too frustrated.

My plan this time for the challenge was to keep the resistance level at my normal base pace level so it wouldn’t be too heavy. I wanted to pedal really fast, but not so fast that I would feel out of control. And I wanted to maintain about the same speed for at least the first half. Then, after the 6-minute mark, my plan was to do little sprints every minute. I alternated between a 20-second and 30-second sprint every minute and when I wasn’t sprinting, I was trying to keep my speed the same as I did for the first half. And I was able to pretty much do my exact plan.

At the last minute, I knew that I was going to at least tie my last PR. It just came down to whether I could get the computer distance to change in time or if I would just appear to be at the same distance as the last time. And by some miracle, at 11:59, the distance went up by .1 and I was able to get a new PR!

The rest of my workout on Thursday suffered a bit from how exhausted I was from the challenge, but it was worth it to get the new PR!

I know not every week can be a winning week like this past one was, but I am so happy I had such an incredible week. I know it’s just a matter of time before I have another tough workout week, but I feel like those weeks aren’t getting that much worse than they normally are but my good weeks are getting better than they have been! So things are balancing out more in my favor than they have done before and that’s something to celebrate!

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Default ThumbnailKeeping Things Normal For A Holiday Week (or Steady With My Workouts) Default ThumbnailSome Holiday Workouts (or Back On The Treadmill This Week) Default ThumbnailBack To My Normal Workouts (or Another Challenge Switch) Default ThumbnailWorking Hard (or Some Normal But Tough Workouts) Default ThumbnailJust A Normal And Good Workout Week (or Using My Workouts To Get Out My Stress) Default ThumbnailA Very Weird Workout Week (or Food Poisoning And Holiday Workouts)

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Still Getting Ready For 2024 (or I Feel Like I Keep Finding More To Do)

Posted on November 1, 2023 | Comments Off on Still Getting Ready For 2024 (or I Feel Like I Keep Finding More To Do)

Happy November! I know I say this all the time, but this year has been flying by so quickly. I think it’s been a bit of an unusual year and it doesn’t feel like certain time markers I’m used to have happened. Some of that might be because of the strike and how there is usually a lot around the new fall tv shows and that didn’t happen. Or maybe I’m just in the same routine I’ve been in for a while so I’m not noticing some things as much as I used to. But no matter the reason, I can’t believe we are in the last 2 months of the year!

Last month, I set my monthly challenge to work on getting myself set up for the new year. I didn’t accomplish everything that I wanted to do, but I did put a big focus on doing the financial things that I wanted to get set up. My planning took a bit of a turn when some of my annual expenses were higher than planned. For example, my condo insurance was about 30% higher than I paid the year before. I was able to call in and negotiate a lower rate by raising my deductible, but it still was more expensive than I budgeted for. I had the same issue with my property taxes. I thought I budgeted enough for what they would be, but I was about $1,000 off. Fortunately, I did have enough saved up so I was able to get the money from other saving buckets I have so I was able to pay for it all. But it did make me think about how I need to maybe overestimate my budget goals more than I already did so I don’t run into this problem again. And I’m hoping to be able to afford a few fun things in 2024, so I need to make sure I don’t pull money from a fun fund in order to be able to pay bills. And I want to be able to do something like afford a monthly cleaning service, so I need to be able to budget for that without making my bills an issue.

Even though I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to do, such as working on creating more reminders for myself, I did get a lot done. And I’m working on those reminder ideas, I just haven’t found the perfect system for myself yet. But I did do work on organizing my calendar and email so whatever new system I put into effect will work with those better.

And this month’s challenge continues on the trend of getting set up for the new year. It’s also something that I probably need to do a bit more regularly. I want to go through my things and see what extra stuff I have that I could donate or find a new home for. I did a lot of this when I moved, but somehow I feel like I filled my new place so quickly even though it’s 3 times the size of my old place. I don’t think that anything is cluttered or necessarily messy, but I also know there are a lot of things here that I’m just storing. For example, I have a lot of old books I got from my parents. I had some friends who took books for their kids, but I have so many left. It’s not the end of the world for me to keep holding on to them, but I do want to get new furniture for my office and those books won’t have a spot when I do that. So I should just take them to the library to donate so someone can enjoy them. I finally donated my old tv, which was just sitting on the floor after I got my new one. And I have a few other things that I think I just don’t need but I need to take the time to go through everything and make a plan for where they should go.

I think maybe once I do a lot of this cleaning and donating in my office, I will finally have a better idea of what furniture will work here. I have needed a new desk since I moved, but I just haven’t found a good one. But maybe I’m looking at what will fit what I currently own and not what I think I will keep.

I also want to go through stuff in my kitchen because I do want to get some new pots and pans, but I’m probably not going to just buy a set since I want to get just the pieces I need. But to know what I need, I have to figure out what I have and what is still in good condition so I can continue to use it. I can’t guarantee that getting new kitchen gear will make me cook more, but it would be nice to not have to look at a recipe and realize I don’t have the right equipment to make it.

I don’t know why I keep feeling like I need to set myself up for a really good 2024, but I have a pull to keep working on that. Maybe there are some really good things to come for me and this is getting me ready. And even if next year isn’t anything spectacular, all these things I’m doing will still be positive for me and the coming year.

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Default ThumbnailI Actually Wrote A Book! (or Getting Myself Ready For 2020) Default ThumbnailGetting Ready For The New Year (or Trying To Set Myself Up For Good Things) Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default Thumbnail1 Year Of Living In My Condo (or I Do Feel Settled In) Default ThumbnailFinding More Ways To Clean Up (or Now Doing Some Digital Organizing) Default ThumbnailRecapping A Few Challenges From Last Month (or Getting Ready Stop Going Easy On Myself)

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Starting Off Hell Week (or These Really Are Hard Workouts!)

Posted on October 30, 2023 | 2 comments

I’ve done Hell Week enough to know they are hard workouts. I love the challenge even if during the workout I am struggling. I know that these workouts push me in ways I need to be pushed, and I have never really regretted going to one. Sometimes I wish I had a different Hell Week workout that day, but that’s not exactly a regret.

With this past week, I started Monday off with a regular workout which was one that I had done earlier in the month. But I knew that workout was going to be the easy one for the week and the rest of the week was going to be a challenge. To earn your Hell Week shirt, you have to go to 4 of the 8 workouts. You can earn another piece of swag if you go to all 8, but I know myself enough to know I can’t handle 8 workouts in a row. So I didn’t quite earn my shirt in the first part of Hell Week since I only got 3 workouts in, but I’ll be doing another 2 this week, so by the time you read this, I should already have my shirt.

Of the 3 Hell Week workouts I’ve done so far, I think Tuesday was the hardest day. It might have been because it was the first one and I wasn’t used to how hard these workouts are, but I still think it was the hardest one. The hardest part was the floor work, a mix of timed exercises and exercises on our own. We had 5 short blocks on the floor, 2 of them were timed and 3 had decreasing reps starting at 8 reps. It was a lot of lower body work and a lot of squats. My foot is doing a bit better, but it’s still painful at times. And I discovered that squats put enough tension on the tendon that sometimes it triggers the pain. I just had to take some breaks when we weren’t supposed to so I could stretch my foot.

Wednesday’s workout was focused on inclines, so I had a lot of time to work on using the higher resistance levels on the bike. I do want to increase my resistance level on the bike, but as I was using the higher ones, I know I’m not quite ready for that, at least not for my all-out. I still felt like I was pedaling through jello and wasn’t able to go that fast. I know that still was a good workout because it uses different muscles than pedaling quickly, but since we do a lot of lower body work on the floor, those heavier resistance levels can make those exercises harder for me.

And on Thursday, I had to do a lot of modifications on the floor because it was a lot of jumping exercises. I also was really sore on Thursday from all the workouts earlier in the week, so I didn’t mind the modifications as much. But I did really enjoy the rowing that day because it was all about maximizing the distance you row with each stroke, which I think is something I do pretty well. It takes a lot of patience and understanding that your overall time might be a bit longer, but it’s a great way to use your muscles a different way while rowing.

I heard about some of the Hell Week workouts that I was going to miss on the days I don’t work out, and they all sound so hard! I know all of them are hard, but I think I got the best 3 so far. Even if I wasn’t doing what I felt was my best, I knew I was doing a lot of work and I could feel my strength coming through.

I can’t wait to see how these last 2 Hell Week classes go for me and be a Hell Week survivor yet again!

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Default ThumbnailStarting Off Hell Week (or 5 Workouts And They Were All Hard) Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of My Own Hell Week (or Hell Month Is No Joke For Me) Default ThumbnailMy Own Type Of Hell Week (or Working Through Some Tough Workouts) Default ThumbnailA Full Week Of Hell Week (or Quickly Earning My Shirt) Default ThumbnailA Month-Long Hell Week (or I’m Still Making Sure I Earn My Shirt) Default ThumbnailA Tough Week And A New Challenge (or Starting Off The Last Month Of Workouts For 2022)

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