Tag Archives: challenge

Finishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Debating If I Like This Workout Schedule)

Posted on December 13, 2021 | Comments Off on Finishing The 12 Days Of Fitness (or Debating If I Like This Workout Schedule)

This past week of workouts was another 4 workout week for me to finish the workouts I needed to do to complete the 12 Days Of Fitness challenge. We had to do 7 out of the 12 days, and I had 3 days the week before so I needed to do 4 more this week. That’s normal for me with my workout schedule. But just like I’ve done recently, I had to pack in my workouts to fit with the holiday schedule so I did 3 workout days in a row.

Monday’s workout was Day 6 of the 12 so we had a few different 6-minute of 6 1/2-minute challenges and it was endurance-focused. For all sections of the room we had 2 blocks. The first block was 6 1/2 minutes and the second block was 6 minutes.

Both cardio blocks had the same format. We had a 3-minute push pace, a base pace, a 1-minute push pace, and a 1-minute all-out. The difference was the length of time for the push pace. I was still feeling a bit nauseous that morning, but I was doing much better so I could do a decent effort for the 3-minute push paces. I did put the resistance level at my normal push pace level to start, but in the second block I had to move it down a bit.

On the rower, the first block had rounds of 1-minute all-out rows with squat jacks and lunges between each row. I did the squats as normal squats and my lunges were not that deep because of feeling some hip pain getting on and off the rower, but I still did the exercises. We didn’t reset the rower for that block and then in the second block we first rowed the same distance we did in that first block and then just had the squats and lunges until the block was done.

And on the floor, the first block had sumo squats to upright rows with weights and lunges to bicep curls. I ended up splitting up each move so I had 4 exercises instead of 2, but I still did all of them. And then the second block was a 6-minute challenge with the Bosu. We had push-ups, pop jacks, and single-leg v-ups all using the Bosu. We started at 8 reps and went down by 2 each round. The goal was to finish the round of 2 reps, but I only started it when the workout was done.

Wednesday was Day 8 and it was a power day. And we had an 8-minute floor challenge.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a 1-minute push pace to a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. And the second block was rounds of a 30-second all-out with 1-minute to recover between. It feels like it’s been a while since we had short all-outs with recovery for an entire block, so this was a fun one to do.

On the rower, we had a similar timing pattern with the cardio. The first block was the same intervals with the push pace to base pace with the all-out at the end. And the second block was technically the same timing, but during the recovery time we also had lunges to do before continuing our recovery. So we didn’t have the full minute to rest before the next 30-second all-out row.

And on the floor, the first block was a short block with bicep curls and tricep extensions. And then the second block was the 8-minute challenge where the goal was to get through 5 rounds of hip hinge swings, sumo squats to froggers, plank pull-throughs, and plank dumbbell taps. And if you finished all the rounds, the bonus round was double crunches. I was able to get through almost 4 rounds of the exercises, but I didn’t make it to the 5th one. I wanted to make it to the end, but I also knew if I went faster that my form would have been sloppy and that wouldn’t have been good.

Just like the past few weeks, I worked out on Thursday instead of Saturday. For Day 9 we had another challenge on the floor, but this time it was using the TRX straps.

For cardio, the first block was rounds of 30-second push paces and 30-second all-outs with 30-second recoveries, which felt like not having much of a recovery.  And the second block was rounds of 90-second push paces with either 1-minute or 90-second base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end.

The first block on the rower was rounds of 150-meter rows with 12 criss-cross squat jacks between each row. I did regular squats instead. And the second block had 300-meter rows with front press jacks between each row with the goal to double the distance from the first block. For some reason, that day I really struggled with the rowing and I didn’t get that much distance for either block, but I tried.

And on the floor, the first floor block was shorter with gorilla rows with weights and overhead presses. And the second block was the 9-minute challenge with the straps. We were supposed to start with knee tucks in the straps, but I did mountain climbers instead since I can’t do that sort of unstable exercise. Then we had 3 rounds of tricep extensions, bridge rows, and squats using the straps. And if we completed that, we had the knee tucks again. But I was doing my last round of squats when the 9 minutes were done. I felt like this was the toughest of the floor challenges this week, but it might have been because all my workouts that week had floor challenges.

And Friday was Day 10 of the challenge but day 7 for me so I was able to complete the challenge and earn my hat! This workout was an endurance day and it was a really good endurance challenge.

For cardio, we had rounds with different distance challenges with 45-seconds to recover between each round. Because some of the distances were a bit longer than what I would normally do in a push pace, I set my resistance level to be between my base and push paces and that seemed to work really well for me. And even though the recovery time was short, I tried to pedal really slow on the bike to get some recovery instead of doing something closer to what my base pace is like, which is what I tend to do at times.

On the rower, we had our 10-minute challenge. We started with a short block with a 2-minute warm-up row with some push paces and an all-out. Then we had 5 rounds of a 2-minute block on the rower. We started each block with high knees and then we went to the rower to row the rest of the time in that block. I usually had about 90-seconds to row each time. And we had some distance goals to hit, but because my hips were hurting from getting on and off the rower I really didn’t get close to the goal time. But considering how much time I had on the rower, I didn’t do too bad.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block that all had exercises with weights. We had neutral thrusters, reverse flys, sumo squats to upright rows, tricep kickbacks, bicycle presses, and plank low rows. I might have gone a bit too heavy with my weights for the floor because I needed to take more breaks than I normally would. But it was a good floor block and a great way for me to finish this week of workouts.

Even though I have done weeks in the past with 3 workout days in a row, I think this is the first time where I had multiple weeks doing this. And I’m debating if I want to change up my regular workout schedule to be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from now on. It does make it tough, but it also makes my Saturdays a bit more open since the earliest I can go on Saturdays is at noon after work. I’m still deciding what I will do this week, but I know the week after I have to do this again because of the holiday schedule. So I think I’m going to keep testing this out and I know I can decide to change whenever I want. But maybe change will be good for me. I’ll just have to wait and see.

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Kicking Off The 12 Days Of Fitness (or A Different Type Of Hell Week)

Posted on December 6, 2021 | Comments Off on Kicking Off The 12 Days Of Fitness (or A Different Type Of Hell Week)

This past week of workouts was a tough one for me for a few different reasons. First, I knew this would be a tough week because I was expecting to have to deal with pain and nausea, and I was right that it would be happening. Also, I had another week where I had 3 workout days in a row. And finally, this week was starting the 12 Days Of Fitness! I’ve done the 12 Days Of Fitness before and it’s a great challenge. The goal is to do 7 out of the 12 days and then you earn a winter beanie! Just like with Hell Week, I knew I’d be doing this and making sure I earned my hat!

Monday’s workout wasn’t a part of the 12 Days challenge since it was before the start of the month. It was an endurance day and it was also a day I wasn’t feeling too great. I was mainly dealing with pain that day, which can sometimes be easier for me to push through. And I think I needed the ability to push through in order to do the endurance plan.

For cardio, it was all about long push paces. We had 2 rounds of a 3-minute push pace and 2 rounds of a 2-minute push pace. Between each push pace, we had a 1-minute base pace and after the last 2-minute push we went right into a 30-second all-out. It was a lot of work and didn’t feel like it had a lot of rest. I did have to take my own breaks during the workout in order to get through some of the pain, but I think I did better than I expected to do considering how I was feeling.

On the rower, I really struggled and had to do a bit of my own plan. We were supposed to do long rows with hops between each round of rowing. But for me, the hops were making me feel really sick, so I decided just to work on rowing for the entire block and take breaks when I needed to. But I did try to be aware of the plan for the rowing and make sure I took breaks after each round. The rowing was supposed to be 800-meters, 400-meters, 200-meters, 400-meters, 200-meters, and 100-meters. I only got through about half of the rowing even without doing the hops between each round. That just shows how slowly I was rowing and how often I needed to rest.

The floor was a bit better for me. We had 1 long block with 2 mini-blocks in it. We were supposed to do each mini-block for 3 rounds before switching. The first mini-block had bench squats, goblet squats, and static crunches with scissor kicks. And the second mini-block had sumo squats, squats with rotations, and single-leg v-ups. I felt much better about my workout after the floor work since I think that was the best section for me.

And Wednesday’s workout kicked off the 12 Days challenge. And each day is themed around the day number that it is. So for Monday, since it was the first day we had a lot of things that were for 1 minute. Unfortunately, I was also feeling really horrible this day. I was really struggling to do anything, but I knew I just had to try my best.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had a 1-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, 2-minute push pace, 90-second base pace, and 1-minute all-out. The second block flipped the push paces so we started with the 2-minute push pace and had the 1-minute one toward the middle of the block. I still took a lot of breaks to rest or let the nausea pass, but I think I did a pretty decent job considering how worried I was about being able to do anything.

For the rower, again I struggled as I did on Monday. The first block started with a 100-meter row and then we had high knees. I knew I couldn’t do high knees, so I did marching in place instead. Each round on the rower, we increased the row by 100-meters. And for the last minute of the block, we had a 1-minute all-out timed with the treadmills. Then we reset the rowers for the second block and we started with a 300-meter row and high knees. And each round on the rower we went down 100-meters. And again, we ended with a 1-minute all-out row. The goal was to do better in the second block, and I think my nausea medication was kicking in around the second block because it went a lot better for me than the first block did.

And on the floor, we had 4 blocks. The first and third blocks were longer blocks. The first block had goblet squats and hip hinge low rows. And the third block had deadlifts and shoulder presses. For the second and fourth blocks, it was a 1-minute block that went with the all-out on the treadmills and rowers. We got to pick one exercise to do for the entire minute. I picked squats and I was able to get a lot of reps done within the minute both times.

As I mentioned before, I did a Thursday workout instead of one on Saturday due to my schedule (I think this week will be the same way again). So I was at the workout for Day 2, which had a lot of 2-minute things and it was also a strength-based day and a 2 group class so I had longer on cardio than I usually do.

We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block was rounds of a base pace at an incline and a base pace without incline. We started with the highest incline and went down each round. But the incline base paces got longer as the incline got lower. And the block ended with a 2-minute distance challenge. I did work with the resistance levels on the bike, but I was pedaling really slowly because it was another day I was feeling rotten. The second block was the same idea as the first block, but we went up the inclines instead of down. It also ended with another 2-minute distance challenge. And the last block was one more 2-minute distance challenge.

On the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first block had single-arm high rows and chest flys. And the second block had single-arm chest presses and hip hinge reverse flys. For both of those blocks, when the treadmills were doing their 2-minute distance challenges, we had a 2-minute row. For the last block, it was 2 minutes long and the coach got to pick what exercise we had to hold for the entire time. Our coach picked squats so we had a 2-minute squat hold. We were told to take breaks when we needed them, and I also did wall squats for maybe 10 seconds at a time to make it a bit easier for me.

By Friday’s workout, my pain and nausea were a bit better (but still not great) but I was dealing with a little soreness from having 3 workout days in a row. But I still think it was one of the better days of the week for me. It was a power day, and because it was Day 3, we had a lot of things that lasted 30 seconds to fit with the theme.

We had 3 blocks for cardio and blocks 1 and 3 were the same. For those blocks, we had 2 rounds of a 30-second push pace and 30-second base pace and then ended with a 30-second push pace to a 30-second all-out. I tried to limit the breaks I needed to take to just the base pace time and I was still working with the resistance levels to make my push and all-outs harder. And for the second block, we had 4 rounds of a 30-second all-out with a 1-minute recovery after.

For the rower, we had the same 3 blocks as we did for cardio with the push paces to base paces and the all-outs with recovery. This was a lot harder for me than the cardio was and I took a lot of breaking during the rowing blocks. But it was also a lot of rowing even if I was feeling ok.

For the floor, the first and third blocks were timed out with cardio and the rowers. In the first block, we had alternating heel touches and static crunch in and outs with mini-bands and we switched every 30 seconds. And in the third block, we had front walks and side walks with the mini-bands and again we switched every 30 seconds. For the second block, it was supposed to be lunges and step-ups, but I usually replace step-ups with lunges. So I ended up having a block of lunges, which wasn’t easy but at least it gave me a challenge during a week I had to go easy on myself.

This week, I’ll be finishing up the 12 Days Of Fitness and I hope that I feel better for most of it. It’s an unknown how I’ll feel this week, but I’m trying to think positively so I can finish out the challenge on a good note!

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Excitement and Speaking Up (or My Last Monthly Challenge of 2021)

Posted on December 1, 2021 | Comments Off on Excitement and Speaking Up (or My Last Monthly Challenge of 2021)

It’s so crazy that it’s already December. This year feels like it didn’t happen, but I think part of that is similar to what happened last year with the pandemic. I didn’t get to fully live my life the way I’m used to, but in other ways I created new things within my life. But still, this year is almost done and that just seems bonkers!

And since it’s the beginning of the last month of the year, it’s also time for me to review last month’s challenge and plan out this month’s challenge. Last month, my monthly challenge was to be more excited in my life. I knew I needed this challenge because I was feeling like I focused more on negatives and preparing for the worst and it was really starting to affect my life. I know I did this partially as a coping or protection mechanism because of some things happening in my life, but I knew last month I needed to move on from that feeling.

And I think I did a pretty good job with this challenge. A lot of the things that were causing me to focus on the negative were out of my life. I also worked on trying to make plans or have more things in my life that make me happy. Things are still not perfect and I do still worry about things more than I probably should, but I think the balance is much more toward the positive and excitement than to the negative. And just like with so many of these types of challenges, the biggest progress has been in my ability to recognize when my thoughts are getting this way and being able to take action sooner than I did before.

And for my last challenge this year, I have decided to do something that I have struggled with for a while but I have taken steps toward progress recently. This month, I challenge myself to speak up more for myself. This isn’t about being bossy or not listening to others, but about being a better advocate for myself.

I struggle a lot with this because I feel like speaking up could make me seem difficult or unlikeable. But I need to get over that feeling because I shouldn’t have to tolerate something that I’m not ok with just to assume the other person is going to be upset with me if I say otherwise. And this is something I struggle with in both my personal life and my work life.

For my personal life, I see this being an issue most with dating. There is the idea of being the cool girl and not pushing for things or stating you might want something more than what a situation is at the moment. I don’t think I was ever fully like that, but I know I didn’t speak up a lot in the past when I could have done so. I shouldn’t have to fear asking for what I want. If me saying I want to find something serious scares someone off, then they never would have been right for me. There is a saying that you will never be too much for the right person. I have to remember that. It would be better to stay single than to tolerate multiple half relationships where I don’t say what I really am hoping to find. I’ve been getting better at this, but there’s still a lot of work to go and fear to get over.

And for work, I’ve gotten much better about this, especially recently. There are a lot of systems at my job that just don’t make sense or work for me. And for many of them, there doesn’t seem to be a reason why things are like that other than that’s how it was done before and how we were trained. But as the company grows, there’s no reason to avoid change. But unless someone speaks up and explains why a system isn’t working, there’s no way for those in charge to know and look into alternatives.

I feel like I do have an advantage with this since one of the executives at the company is a friend of mine. And when he was sitting in with me while I worked, I was able to be very blunt and honest about systems that just make work harder than it needs to be. I know that this really is a benefit with this job that I can keep in mind when discussing ideas like this with other jobs. But it’s still the same idea about not fearing I will be fired because I bring up a concern.

I hope that I find some good ways to speak up more for myself when I need to this month. I know that I am worth asking for what I want or expressing when things don’t seem right to me, but sometimes it’s hard to believe that in the moment.

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Posted in Dating, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PRs and Pain (or A Very Up And Down Week)

Posted on October 4, 2021 | Comments Off on PRs and Pain (or A Very Up And Down Week)

This past week of workouts really was a mixed bag for me. I had some great moments and some not great moments. But fortunately for me, I was expecting the not-great moments so they didn’t surprise me too much. But the great moments were a surprise and that made things even better!

Monday’s workout was a benchmark workout. I have done a few benchmarks since returning to OTF, and they haven’t been the best for me. But I also have known that I’m not back to where I was before, so I’m not too upset when I don’t get close to my PR.

This time, the benchmark was the 1-mile run. I used to do this on the treadmill, but now it’s on the bike and that means I go for 4 miles. I didn’t look at my past benchmarks before class because I just wanted to do my best and not judge myself against my past self. I kept the resistance level between my base and push pace levels and tried to let my focus be on anything other than the clock. I checked my distance every so often, and I didn’t pay too much attention to the time until I was almost done so I could make sure I knew what my final time was.

I finished in 8:19 and that seemed pretty great to me. But it wasn’t until class was done that I could check my past benchmarks and I discovered that I PRed on my mile challenge on the bike! I know it’s not a huge difference from my old PR, but 3 seconds faster is 3 seconds faster!

The second block on cardio was a bit easier with rounds of 45-seconds of an all-out and 1-minute to recover between.

On the floor, the first block was a bit easier than normal because the people who started on the floor had to do it before the benchmark. We had some warmups with high knees, front and back steps, and skips. Then we had bird dog low rows with weights, chest presses, and plank work. And the second floor block had lateral step-ups (I did lateral lunges), heel touch crunches, and v-ups.

Wednesday’s workout was a strength day, and I was feeling really off. I wasn’t sure if this was my usual pain and nausea kicking in earlier than expected or if I had a bit of food poisoning or something like that. I was just feeling nauseous and had to try to push through.

For cardio, we started with a rowing block with 1-minute intervals between push pace and base pace and ending with an all-out. I know my rowing wasn’t that great, but I did manage to do it with very few breaks. Then we had 2 more blocks on the treadmill/bike. We had 2 rounds of 90-second push paces at an incline with 1-minute flat road bases between. Then we ended with a 90-second flat road push pace and a 1-minute all-out. The first of the 2 blocks had higher inclines than the second block.

On the floor, the first block was a mini-band block with hip bridges, knee tucks, and crunches. The second block had goblet squats, lateral raises, and shoulder taps. And the last block had sumo squats, front raises, and side plank rotations.

Friday’s workout was an interesting one. I was feeling pretty bad that day, so I did have to go easy. But the cardio workout was a bit like the Everest challenge.

We had 3 cardio blocks that all had similar patterns. The first 2 blocks had a push pace, a base pace, a 3-minute hill, a base pace, and an all-out. In the first block, we went up the hill and in the second block, we went down the hill. The last block skipped the push pace and base pace in the beginning and went straight to the 3-minute hill. And we could choose to start at the top or bottom. I decided to start at the top and work my way down. I’ve done this workout before and that’s the way I like to do it because it’s nice to feel like it’s getting easier.

And on the floor, we had 3 blocks that all started with a 200-meter row. Then, within each block, we worked the same muscles to perfect our form. The first block had chest presses on the straps, chest presses with weights, and push-ups. The second block had low rows on the straps, hip hinge low rows, and seated low rows. And the last block had crunches, weighted crunches, and sit-ups. I did struggle quite a bit on the floor and had to take a lot of breaks, but I didn’t have to modify much for my nausea.

I was really feeling bad by Saturday’s workout. And this one would have been a challenge for me even if I was feeling great. This was The Nonstop, which is one of the signature workouts that I’ve taken before. And it’s always a tough one. This class was also a 3 group class, so in some ways that made it easier, and in other ways it was harder.

The idea for this workout is to just not stop during the blocks. The cardio and rower were the same, with a 14 1/2-minute block with no recovery. It was a 3-minute push, 90-second base, 2 1/2-minute push, 75-second base, 2-minute push, 1-minute base, 90-second push, 45-second base, and 30-second all-out. That’s a lot of work and it was really tough for me. I took a lot of breaks, but I did my best to try to do them in the base time. But for the rower, I struggled to do much so I didn’t have a lot of difference between my base and push. There is a goal distance for the rower, and I wasn’t anywhere close to it. But I did my best considering how I was feeling.

On the floor, there were 2 groups of exercises and within each group, you weren’t supposed to stop. The first group had squats, bicep curls, front squats, uppercuts, deadlifts, and hip hinge low rows. Every exercise was 5 reps and I used a weight that I knew I could do for all the exercises. So the weight was lower than I normally would use for some of the exercises, but I was able to do the entire set of exercises without stopping. The second group was all core work with static crunch over unders, heel taps, and bicycle crunches. I did modify the bicycle crunches to be regular crunches to each side, but I didn’t have to modify beyond that.

Even though I ended my week on a slightly down note with feeling awful, having the PR at the beginning of the week really did motivate me through the entire week! I was feeling so powerful even when I knew I was struggling and not doing my best. And I hope that I can keep that feeling going this week as I know it’s going to be another tough one. I’m going to try some different timing with the medications I take to see if it helps, but I also know that I probably will just have to push through like I normally do and see what happens.

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Planning For The Future In A Few Ways (or Connecting One Monthly Challenge To Another)

Posted on October 1, 2021 | Comments Off on Planning For The Future In A Few Ways (or Connecting One Monthly Challenge To Another)

Last month, I made my monthly challenge all about not overthinking the future. And that ended up being the perfect challenge since I found out right after I set my challenge about my landlord selling my place. I did have some freakouts about having to move, but I was able to keep myself calm. And in a weird way, focusing on looking for a condo was a good distraction from other things that might have made me overthink the future more. So while I did have something that made me work on my monthly challenge, it might have been a bit easier than expected since all my focus went to that one thing.

But I’m still glad I did it because I know this is something I need to continuously do and practice. And I want to keep working on it so it’s more instinctual for me and not something I have to really think about when working on it.

And while my challenge for last month was all about not overthinking the future, my challenge this month is almost the opposite with planning for the future more. That’s not the reason why I did it, but it’s connected in a weird way.

The general idea for my challenge this month is to plan for the future, but that doesn’t exactly explain it. I guess it’s also a bit of a reset in a way, but again, that doesn’t explain it. But I have 2 main ideas within this challenge that I’m trying to accomplish in my reset/future planning.

The first is that I want to really work on cleaning my current place. I know I have a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t want to move when I move, so I want to work on clearing things over time. I also don’t want to worry about not having trash space as I throw things out, and I only have a single trash can. So my challenge is to work on cleaning out things like my desk (which has been a recurring project), my clothing, and stuff I have stored. I know I have so much stuff that is just there because I don’t think about it being there. So being more mindful about it all will help.

And the other part of the future planning I want to work on is related to my health. I don’t have a specific goal connected to my health, but I want to make it more of a focus. I want to work on eating more fruits and vegetables and being better about eating real meals and not snacking. Maybe I’ll do some meal planning or prepping, but I’m not too specific on what I want to do other than to put more of a focus into my life. I need to do this and I’ve been almost craving to work on this (but it’s not always my only or strongest craving, which is the problem).

I know this isn’t the most specific goal, but I think I’m also doing another flexible goal because I know October will be a bit crazy for me. Besides the usual craziness, I will also have condo hunting as well as the SAG-AFTRA Convention! So I don’t want to add something else to my calendar that I might not be able to focus on that much. But hopefully whatever focus I can put on this challenge this month, I will have another positive outcome and feel really happy about what I did.

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My First Post-Shutdown Dri-Tri (or This Is Not How I Expected Things To Go)

Posted on September 21, 2021 | Comments Off on My First Post-Shutdown Dri-Tri (or This Is Not How I Expected Things To Go)

When my Orangetheory studio announced that they would be doing the Dri-Tri, I wasn’t sure at first if I was going to sign up. I’ve done the Dri-Tri lots of times and I think I have done it every time my studio has offered it except the first time. But even with being back at the studio again for about 6 months, I still know I’m not back to where I was before the shutdown. And I didn’t know how I would do with the Dri-Tri this time.

But I forced myself to get over that feeling and realized that’s exactly why I needed to do it. I needed to prove to myself that I could. Even if my time wasn’t anything close to what I used to do, I needed to know I could finish. So I signed up and decided I wasn’t going to look at my old times to see what I used to do and go in with an open mind. I did have 2 ideas of what I would like to do, based on what I know I could do in regular classes. I was hoping I could get onto the bike (the last section of the Dri-Tri) before the 30-minute mark and I was hoping I could finish in under an hour. But I knew that I might not be able to do either, so I wasn’t setting them as big goals, just ideas.

The day of the Dri-Tri was a bit of a weird morning for me. I was still dealing with the burst blood vessel in my eye and it was looking much worse than the 2 days prior (this is normal, the blood is similar to a bruise and it can spread for a while before it starts to fade). I felt like I looked horrible and that everyone would be looking at me. And then when I was getting ready to leave for the studio, the shoelace in one of my shoes broke. I wasn’t going to wear new shoes for a Dri-Tri and didn’t have time to unlace one shoe and put in new laces, so I had to make it work.

And it turned out, I had even less time than I thought. I knew the Dri-Tri wasn’t at a normal workout time for me, but I wrote it in my calendar as being at 10:45am. So I got to the studio around 10:35 so I’d have time to do a little warm-up before starting. Well, I guess I wrote it down wrong because it was actually at 10:30! Fortunately, they hadn’t started when I got there and were going over all the rules. But I didn’t have any time to warm up. They actually were waiting on me to strap my feet into the rower so they could start. So from the time I arrived to the time the clock started was probably under 2 minutes. Not ideal and not something I had ever experienced before.

The first part of the Dri-Tri is the 2000-meter row. This is something we do as a benchmark so I’m very familiar with what I can do and what my time is like. Since the studios reopened, I have done this benchmark twice and they both have been much longer times than I have done in the past. I’m pretty sure the most recent one was one of the worst times I’ve ever had on it. And I knew that doing this row as the first part of the Dri-Tri meant I needed to be very careful to not go too hard and to conserve some energy.

Normally, they say to do 10 really hard pulls and then find a good pace and intensity to stick with. I didn’t do those hard pulls, I figured without a warm-up that was going to be a really bad choice). I just tried to find a steady rhythm and to keep things around the same pace the entire time. I also wanted to try to limit any breaks I might need to take. And I don’t know how or why this happened, but somehow the row this time was much better than when I did the row as a benchmark. My time was still slower than before the shutdown, but it was over a minute faster than the last benchmark. And I was able to only take 2 real breaks and 1 break where I was still rowing but rowing very slowly. I couldn’t believe that! I didn’t care that I was the last person on the rower (I think I had over a minute on the rower when everyone else was already on the floor), I did it and couldn’t believe that it went a lot better than I thought it would.

The floor is all body weight exercises. We had bench hop-overs, bench tap squats, step-ups (which I always do as lunges), push-ups, plank jacks, and burpees. I do little modifications t0 a few of the exercises. The hop-overs are done one leg at a time and not as a hop. The push-ups are on my knees. And the burpees are done using the bench for my hands. Because I’m not competing or trying to get into the regional Dri-Tri workout, it’s ok that I do these modifications. The floor exercises are split up so you do 2 rounds of everything. And normally as I’m starting the second round, I have a moment of thinking that I’m exhausted. And I did have that this time, but I was able to keep going. I just took the breaks when I needed to and then got back to it when I was ready.

When I went over to the bike to start the last second, I took a look at the clock and it was about 25 minutes in. So I had made it to the bike in under 30 minutes and that gave me a nice boost before starting the bike. This is always the longest section for me. If I was on the treadmill, it’s a 5K run (or 2.5K if you powerwalk like I used to). On the bike, it’s 4 times that. I’m not exactly sure that the distance of the bike is 12.4 miles, it’s listed as trips and not miles. But I know the bike needs to show 12.4 to be finished.

I knew I wouldn’t want the resistance level too high on the bike, but I also wanted to make sure it wasn’t too easy because that can also make it tough to go for a long time. So I had it either at my base pace level or the level between my base and push paces. I just changed it when I felt like I was ready for a change, I didn’t worry about tracking intervals or timing anything. I just wanted to go and base it on how I was feeling. When I needed a break for water, I did have to stop pedaling because I don’t have enough balance or stability to do that. But I tried to keep pedaling super slow when I could as I was getting my water bottle or putting it back. But for most of the time I was on the bike, I just tried to let my mind wander because I knew I’d be on there for a while.

I would check my distance every so often and mentally note when I hit different milestones like being half done or 10 minutes in. And I was making pretty decent time compared to what I thought I’d be able to do. The coaches and staff go to each person as they are finishing so they can mark the time and everyone cheers as each person finishes, which is really nice. I was one of the last people to finish, but I didn’t care. I got it done. And my final time was 55:51! I did it in under an hour!

Considering all the things working against me and how I wasn’t sure how I’d do in the Dri-Tri, I was in shock with my final time. Even one of my coaches said he was impressed that I did that well without having the warm-up before we started. I don’t know how I did it and I’m still in a bit of shock, but it happened!

And for completing the Dri-Tri, we all got a certificate, medal, and water bottle.

And yes, you can see a bit of my messed-up eye in that photo, but I was able to make it look much better than it looked in person.

I’m so glad I decided to do the Dri-Tri and didn’t let my worries get to me. I needed this challenge. I needed to see that I could do it and do better than I thought. I needed this proof that I’m not doing that much worse than I was doing before the shutdown. Even with all the things that were going wrong or not my way before I started, I overcame it all and did an amazing job!

I know that this doesn’t mean that I will instantly improve in my regular workouts because I approach those different from how I do the Dri-Tri, but I at least have a new record I can reflect on when I’m trying to see improvements and growth in my workouts.

And despite how I sometimes feel in the middle of a Dri-Tri, now I can’t wait until we have the next one so I can do it all again!

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Celebrating And Future Planning (or Preparing For What Comes Next For Me)

Posted on September 1, 2021 | Comments Off on Celebrating And Future Planning (or Preparing For What Comes Next For Me)

Last month, my challenge was to celebrate what I could in my life. I knew I needed to do this. I have been focused on a lot of negative things lately and I wanted to change that. Things are still not normal or feeling really safe, but there are still good things happening in my life even if they are silly. And celebrating the silly things was kind of what this challenge was about.

There were the obvious things to celebrate like my birthday and how I celebrated my birthday. I didn’t celebrate my birthday as much as I would have liked to, but I still celebrated. And seeing friends and going out for a meal are really things to celebrate these days. I celebrated little victories I had in work like when I got good news or figured out something that will make my work better. And I celebrated anything I could think of. I still use grocery delivery a lot (I have to admit it’s pretty convenient), and I would celebrate if I got everything I ordered without a substitution or something being out of stock. I celebrated when I found a good deal on things I was looking at buying. I celebrated when I felt like I accomplished everything I wanted to within a day.

I really did notice a change in my mindset as I celebrated things. I have been doing gratitude lists every day as I’m getting ready for bed, so I usually take some time each day to focus on the good things that happened to me. But I usually don’t think about it all day, just when it’s the end of the day and I’m reflecting on things. But this past month, I did keep it in mind as I went about my day. Even taking a moment to recognize something to celebrate put me in a better mood for whatever I wanted to do next. I don’t know if I’ll continue to celebrate everything I can the way that I did this past month, but I want to continue at least some of this habit because it did help me each day.

And this month, in a way my challenge is a bit of the same thing but also a bit of the opposite. I know a lot of people do this in different situations, but I tend to think way ahead in the future whether it is good or bad. If I have an amazing audition, I think about how my life might be if I booked the job. If there is something that worries me that may be happening in the future, I start thinking about all the bad things that might come. I was doing that recently when I found out about my landlord selling where I live. I dream of what the future might look like, whether it is good or bad, and I get myself either worried or excited about things that might not happen. So I want to work on curtailing that.

I know that I can’t prevent it completely nor do I think that would be smart. I do want to plan ahead, both good and bad. I do want to celebrate if a good thing could happen and imagine some great things. But I don’t want that to be a big focus for me. I want to maybe spend a little time on that future planning and then move on to things that I can work on at that time. For example, when I was panicking about my place being sold, I spent a lot of time wondering what I would do and where I would go. I started to stress out about a lot of things that may not happen for months depending on how quickly my landlord finds a buyer. Instead of worrying about all the things that might be coming, I refocused on what I could change. I started looking at options for where I could move instead of just imagining a plan. I started to make a plan that I think will be a really great thing (but more to come on that when I have more information). I can’t change how quickly some things might happen, but I can be prepared for what I have ready at that time. And that’s how I want to manage my future planning.

The same idea can work for when my future planning is about good things. Using my union election as an example, I can imagine how great it would be if the people I want to be elected win and what it might be like if I am elected to the local board. But right now, I can focus on the work I was doing to get out the vote and help other candidates campaign by what I post on our social media. Planning for the future with tangible things and not just daydreaming.

I’m curious how this will work out for me this month. It might be a great thing or it might feel stifling. I’m not sure yet. But that’s why it’s a challenge I’m going to try out and see how I feel in a month. And if I love it, I’ll keep doing it. If I don’t, I’ll adjust as I feel necessary and maybe try again. And maybe in a month, I’ll be writing about something new I learned about myself or how I manage things that come my way. That’s what these challenges are all about. Pushing myself to try something and see if it benefits my life and if I want to keep doing it.

I guess we’ll have to see in a month what happens!

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A Celebration Challenge (or Focusing On The Good and Positive)

Posted on August 3, 2021 | Comments Off on A Celebration Challenge (or Focusing On The Good and Positive)

It’s officially my birthday month! It doesn’t really feel like August, but then again it hasn’t felt like normal times for almost a year and a half now. But it is a new month and that means I have a new challenge to work on.

My challenge last month was to take more risks with my clothes and to rediscover more outfits and maybe add to what I have. And when I wrote that challenge, I honestly thought things were going to continue to get better and more events would be happening. But that wasn’t the case. I didn’t have a lot of things to attend or hangouts with friends. I did have a few things I went out to do and I was trying new outfits or to make my clothes fit differently. I also went through my closet to take a real inventory of what I own and what I might want. Unfortunately, all the online shopping that I did ended up not fitting so they had to be returned. But I’ve still got my list of what I’d like to add so I can keep searching for them either online or in stores when I’m shopping in stores again. And I’m going to continue to go out of my comfort zone with clothes when I have the chance to. It’s just that right now, there aren’t that many chances. But I’m hoping that will change soon.

Since it’s my birthday month and we are back in a bit of an uncertain time in the pandemic, I had to think about what I could do for my challenge that doesn’t depend on much outside of myself. I know I could do more projects around my house, but I’ve done so many of those. I really wanted to find something that would make me happy, even if I can’t celebrate my birthday again this year.

And that’s why I’ve decided to challenge myself to celebrate anything and everything this month. Obviously, I’m going to celebrate my birthday because getting a year older is something to celebrate. But I also want to celebrate the little things. If I have an exceptionally good workout, I want to celebrate that. If I have a good food day, I should celebrate that. If I don’t do something dumb that I was considering, that should be celebrated too. Even though I’m not able to celebrate a lot of things I normally would, I can still celebrate so much in my life. And I think that’s the perfect thing to do this month.

Celebrating the things in my life doesn’t have to be a big deal. But I should recognize when I have something to celebrate and at least remind myself that it’s a good thing. Even if I had to spend this entire month isolated in my house, there are still positives in my life. And when right now it seems like a lot of us, myself included, are focusing on the setbacks of what we recently lost it’s good to remember all the things to celebrate and be grateful for.

And hopefully by the end of this month, I will be focused much more on the good in my life and celebrating what I can. Because that is always important, even when the world seems so crazy around us.

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Workout Challenges (or Seeing Improvements)

Posted on August 2, 2021 | Comments Off on Workout Challenges (or Seeing Improvements)

This past week of workouts had a lot of good things in it. I was challenged a lot in different ways, but I feel like I did a pretty great job with those challenges! I still notice where I haven’t gotten back to where I was before, but I feel like this week I made a lot of progress getting closer and making that difference a lot smaller. And I am working on celebrating any improvements I see and not just thinking about how much more I have to do in order to be where I used to be.

Monday’s workout was a benchmark day: the 2000-meter row. The coaches always say this is the hardest benchmark and I agree with them. It’s a beast to do, and even though it’s not the benchmark that takes the longest to complete, it can feel that way. I already had 1 attempt at the 2000-meter row since the shutdown, and I knew I had improved since then. So my only goal was to do better than my last one.

Because I did my warmup on the cardio side, I actually did a floor block first. That first floor block had deadlifts, alligators on the straps, palms to elbow planks, and superman planks. I didn’t go too crazy since I was saving my energy for the row.

For the 2000-meter row, I didn’t have too much of a plan. I know I would have liked to take limited breaks and try to time them out to be at specific intervals. But that’s not how things usually go for me. I tried to go as far as I could go before my first little break, but I ended up taking it around the 500-meter mark which is sooner than I would have liked. And just like last time, my breaks became more frequent as the row went on. But in the end, I did finish 50 seconds faster than my other post-shutdown benchmark, so that’s a decent improvement!

After the row benchmark, we only had 1 shorter block on cardio and 1 shorter block on the floor left. For cardio, it was all 1-minute intervals. I was using the resistance levels like I was coached on the week before to make it a bit harder. And on the floor, the last block had lateral lunges, tricep extensions, and side plank pendulums. I’m glad the rest of the workout wasn’t too crazy because the row really took it out of me.

Wednesday’s workout was a power day. Even though I used to only use the resistance levels on the bike to replicate inclines for strength days, I was determined to use them for a power day too.

We had 4 blocks on each side of the room. 2 of the blocks on cardio were 2 rounds of a push pace to a base pace and ending with an all-out and 2 blocks were intervals with an all-out in the middle and again at the end. But all of the intervals in all blocks were 1 minute or less. And while it was much harder using the resistance levels on the bike, that’s the point and clearly what I have needed to be doing for a while.

And on the floor, each of the 4 blocks started with a 200-meter row. I didn’t go too crazy with the rows, but I did try to get a bit faster each time. And in each block after the row, we had 2 exercises. We had ground to press with dumbbells and power pull-ups on the straps, shoulder tap planks and sit-ups, sumo squats to upright rows with weights and power push-ups, and plank bear hops and sprinter sit-ups. It was a lot of moving around on the floor and switching things quickly. But it also helped to make me not feel as tired as quickly.

Friday’s workout was a partner day. We haven’t had a partner workout since before the shutdown, but this one didn’t require switching within the same station so it was a little less contact than other partner days before.

The idea was that one partner was on their treadmill at base pace while the other did a .1 mile run and then a row. And the row started at 100-meters and went up 50-meters each round. But there was an odd number of people and I volunteered to be without a partner. I don’t hate partner workouts, but sometimes it’s nicer to work on my own. So I did the same distance on the bike and rower and then did another round on the bike to be my base pace when the partner should have been doing the other half. It was basically a run/row for me and that was nice since we don’t have those too often either.

And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block was short and we only had walk-outs to push-ups and low rows on the straps. The second block had running men, shoulder presses with weights, hip hinge low rows with weights, and hip bridges. And the last block had plank jacks, bicep curls, tricep kickbacks with weights, and plank abductions. Only a few of the exercises were things I had to modify for my hips, and knowing I didn’t have to modify too much always makes me happy.

I was feeling a bit sore on Saturday, but I think there were a few different things causing me pain. I had worked harder in my workouts, but I had also been having a few bad hip days in a row. So I think that plus not sleeping as well just made things hurt a bit more than I was expecting. But that didn’t stop me since I do try to push myself when I’m having a good week. And with this workout being a strength day, I knew there would be a lot of chances to do that.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Each block had some push paces and some base paces at inclines besides the regular base paces and all-outs. The duration of each interval got shorter each block, but the inclines were going up. And the resistance levels were getting really high for me on the bike. I was using resistance levels for my push paces and then again for the base paces and inclines, so I didn’t have a lot of time at my regular base pace. Just like I’ve said before, I knew I needed to do this because I have needed to make improvements in my cardio. But knowing you need to do it doesn’t make it any easier.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks and they each had a different focus. The first block was all weight work. We had a suitcase deadlift, hip hinge low rows, and sumo squats. I did go a bit heavier with my weights than I normally do. In that first block we also had a 250-meter row, which was our only row in the entire class. The second block was focused on the straps. We had alternating lunges, jump lunges, chest presses, and tricep extensions. I did the lunges using the straps, but as static lunges since I struggle so much with balance for alternating lunges. And the last block was focused on core with bear steps, superman planks, and bicycle crunches. I did struggle a bit with the bear steps with my hips, so I did as many of those as I could and then switched to running men.

I’m really proud of what I did this past week. I had a lot of obvious improvements and even more little improvements I might not have realized happened until looking back. Every time I can row faster, lift heavier, or pedal faster; I’m improving. And even though I told myself I’d be patient with seeing things come back, I know I haven’t been doing that. I’ve been hard on myself and I know I think about how much more I have to do and not how far I’ve come. But this past week was a good reminder for me to change up my focus and celebrate the little things that I can.

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