Walk Walking Update 05/05: California Walk

All of my steps from last week have been added to my California Walk. Here's the progress!

Weekly Training Recap Apr 23 to Apr 29

Monday, April 23
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Steps: 10650, 25¢

Tuesday, April 24
Workout: 1.94 Mile Walk, 11¢
Steps: 8418, 0¢

Wednesday, April 25
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Steps: 8786, 0¢

Thursday, April 26
Workout: None
Steps: 7570, 0¢

Friday, April 27
Workout: None
Steps: 9723, 0¢

Saturday, April 28
Workout: Recumbent Cycle, 25¢
Steps: 10301, 25¢

Sunday, April 29
Workout: None
Steps: 8075, 0¢

Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $1.36
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $109.29 / $3,500

Fitbit Weekly Stats: Apr 23 to Apr 29

 

Walk Around the World Progress: 96.2 miles ahead of Leisa Stamey

In Memoriam: Brian Jennings

In Spring 2011 I had the opportunity to take a political science course with one of the best professors I've ever met. Brian Jennings was a person who really just relished life. You could see his passion when he taught his classes, when he talked about his family, and when he talked about his cycling. He loved life and lived it to the fullest. The negligence of one person changed all that, though, on April 17 when a driver fell asleep at the wheel and killed Brian while he was out for an afternoon bike ride.

Even though I haven’t taken a class with Brian in seven years, his passing has still had a really profound impact on me. Years after being out of his class, he still remembered my name and greeted me regularly whenever I saw him around campus during the work day. He was kind and had a smile that showed more genuine care and warmth in it than you could ever imagine. And the fact that he died because of someone’s negligence is really bothering me.

Knowing what I know about Brian, though, he wouldn’t want me to simmer in anger. He’d want me to take my negative energy and do something positive with it instead. So that’s what I’m doing. Money is really tight right now, but I’ve been using the app Charity Miles off and on for a few years now and it’s the way that I’ve decided to react positively to what’s happened. The miles that I complete on CM are now dedicated to Brian and his love of nature. All my mid-day walks, bike rides, and runs are now dedicated to perpetuating his positivity.

I decided to dedicate my Charity Miles to Brian on April 24 after attending his memorial service on campus. Since then, I have donated $3.77-worth of miles to the National Park Foundation through Charity Miles. It isn't a lot, but it's a start that I'm very proud of. He deserves to be remembered. 

My first CM badge earned while completing #milesforBrian.

 

Article about Jennings’s death.

(Cross-posted to Call Me Little Bob 04/27/18)

World Walking Update: California Walk

A little while back I found a website called World Walking (link on the sidebar) and I've decided that it's kind a fun little way to measure my walking progress through the weeks outside of my giant Walk Around the World journey that's been in progress for the last several years. Right now I'm working on what's called the California Walk and when I updated my progress today I found out that I'm officially outside of the first milestone area, Eureka, and I'm now out on the open road as I head toward Milestone 2: Sacramento. Below are a progress screenshot from my WW dashboard. If you get motivated to join WW, feel free to let me know. Maybe we can start a team walk and knock out one of the really big routes that's available to try.

 

Progress: 188, 349 / 2,245,986 Steps (8% Complete)

Fitbit Weekly Stats: Apr 16 to Apr 22

 

Last week was a LAZY one. And whose fault was it? Mine. I take complete ownership. And I had errors with my fitbit again this last week, too, so you'll notice that I had to make corrections on my weekly recap above.

Husband and I have been going through some stressful times for the past few weeks and I think that everything finally caught up to us last week. He's been working 60+ hour work weeks (which usually span over all seven days of the week, too) for almost two months straight now and work has me pretty burnt out, as well, so this weekend we really tried to step back and relax during the times that we could. I managed to sleep in until 11:00am on both Saturday and Sunday, something that I hadn't done in months, and it was a game changer. My stress levels felt like they just melted for a short time and even though it kind of messed up my sleep schedule over the last couple of days, I'm saying that it was totally worth it.

Walk Around the World Standings as of 04/25/18 (I'm creating a gap again!):

Weekly Training Recap Apr 9 to Apr 22

Monday, April 9
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Steps: 7926, 0¢

Tuesday, April 10
Workout: 6.29 Mile Walk, 31¢
Steps: 18732, 25¢

Wednesday, April 11
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Steps: 10957, 25¢

Thursday, April 12
No Workout
Steps: 7455, 0¢

Friday, April 13
Workout: 1.25 Mile Walk, 6¢
Steps: 8189, 0¢

Saturday, April 14
Workout: 1.5 Mile Walk, 8¢
Steps: 7433, 0¢

Sunday, April 15
No Workout
Steps: 7435, 0¢

Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $1.45
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $97.11 / $3,500

---

Monday, April 16
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Steps: 12012, 25¢
Getting to class was crazy this day because I was sitting in interviews for my old position before and after class and I couldn't get really sweaty during my workout as a result. It was really hard to find a balance between getting my heart rate up and staying dry, but I managed to get a decent 40 minutes in on the bike before running back to the conference room they had us in.

Tuesday, April 17
No Workout
Steps: 7531, 0¢

Wednesday, April 18
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Steps: 8233, 0¢
Back in action (and back to sweating it out!) Class wasn't very hard this day, but it was fun and I enjoyed it immensely.

Thursday, April 19
No Workout
Steps: 7626, 0¢

Friday, April 20
No Workout
Steps: 5720, 0¢

Saturday, April 21
No Workout
Steps: 2249, 0¢
x

Sunday, April 22
Workout: 1.42 Mile Walk, 7¢
Steps: 5298, 0¢
The lazy streak continued through the whole weekend and Husband and I barely got out of the house all weekend. The walk we took was really the only exercise that we ended up getting which is a shame, but at least we moved a little bit. Hopefully next week I'll have more gusto again.

Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $0.82
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $102.93 / $3,500

Fitbit Weekly Stats: Apr 09 to Apr 15

 This is so late. Last week was a blur and I got nothing posted. I did figure out why my weekly stat reports weren't coming in, though. In mid-March, I changed my old email password and neglected to change it on my importing permissions to Gmail. As a result, nothing had forwarded for a month. That's all fixed now, so pretty stat reports are back in action!

That all taken care of, last week was the week that I thought I'd beat W.B...and it didn't happen. I mean, you can even see Tuesday where I walked almost 20,000 steps to try and catch up to him and yet it...didn't happen. This week (April 16 to 22) isn't going to be any better, either. He's hiking up a local mountain every morning and as of writing this post, he's averaged over 15,000 steps for the week. I have no idea how I'll ever catch up.

Walk Around the World Rankings through April 15:

Me: 8,115.3 m (ahead by 92.8 m)

Leisa: 8,022.5 m

P.S: Something is wrong with WATW right now and is subtracting miles from members instead of adding them to our totals right now. I managed to fix my numbers by resubmitting them to the tracker, but I don't know if Leisa Stamey has noticed. Hopefully they get it fixed soon.

Back in Action!

Screw being injured! I'm going for it.

If you've seen my training recaps for last week or you've seen me in person, you'll know that last week was hell. I'll be the first to admit that I'm really not a fan of training, but not being able to train because of something out of your control is worse than any workout in the world. Today was my first day back and I'm pretty proud of what I accomplished.

I should preface by saying a few things, though. One: I should probably still be resting from my back injury. Two: I have too much of a competitive streak in me to lose my Workweek Hustle again this week. As of 5:30pm this evening, I'm 11,870 steps behind the leader (Monica) and 8,113 steps behind W.B. For the record, I REALLY want to beat W.B. this week. Like...REALLY...

So that all being said, I had the bright idea to go running on my lunch break this afternoon. It was 92°F outside, so I really shouldn't have been out there, but I managed to get three miles done in just under fifty minutes by alternating between running one lap/walking one lap to stave off heat stroke. It worked and by the time 3:00pm rolled around I had already racked up over 10,000 steps. I was pretty happy with my pace, too--around 16-17 minute miles--but those miles weren't even close to being enough for me to catch up with Monica and W.B.

The thing is, Monica really got into running this year and right now, W.B. is at a conference, so he's running around like crazy. I only just got back on track with my workouts yesterday, so I need to really need to hustle to keep up with them. And that meant going to the gym tonight on top of my track workout today.

I say this proudly with my chest puffed out that I went directly from work to the gym today which is a rarity for me. And then I walked and walked and walked at the gym to narrow the gap between me, W.B. and Monica. An hour on the treadmill added 7,200 steps to my count for the day and put me only 2,000 steps behind W.B. Now I just need to keep up with my workouts for the week and I should stay near the top of the board. I'll be watching the rankings like a hawk for the rest of the week, too, because there's nothing sweeter than a well earned victory.

Weekly Training Recap Apr 2 to Apr 8

Warning: I need to vent. Being injured is horrible and I hate it with an absolute passion. On March 31, I really hurt my back doing a yoga practice that was full of back and leg openers before I had really warmed up my body for the day. I was pretty much off for nine days as a result and it was excruciating to just stay at home. I ended up coming in last place for my Workweek Hustle competition; I lost my Weekend Warrior competition; and I only ended up moving something like 19 miles total for the entirety of last week. And the worst part is, I'm still injured. My back still hurts to the point where I'm popping ibuprofen and I'm to the point where I don't care any more. If my back is going to hurt, fine, but at this point I'm not hurt enough to still be off from working out. April 9-15 is going to be a different story from this last week. I'm going to be back in action regardless of how my body might be hurting.

Monday, April 2
Workout: Spin Class, 25¢
Class was pretty difficult, so I took it easy and tried to baby my back as much as possible. This was the day that I realized that I needed to take some serious time off from working out to heal up.

Saturday, April 7
Workout: Morning Yoga Class, 25¢
My yoga teacher came back to the gym to sub! It was amazing, but when she came to adjust me during pigeon pose, she could feel my muscles spasming and she actually asked me, "What's your pain level right now." That's not a good question to hear from someone who knows your body that well and it made me realize that my injury isn't one that's just going to fix itself in a week or so. I have a feeling that I'm going to be dealing with this for a while and I might need to see my chiropractor or a massage therapist in order to speed things along. I really just wish my body would cooperate with me, though. I've had three separate injuries this year and I know that I'm not over training, so I don't know what's going on. I'd really like to know, though.



Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $0.50
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $85.66 / $3,500

Fitbit Weekly Stats: Apr 02 to Apr 08

Long story short, my fitbit steps are actually 10,000 steps over for the week. I only got about 46,000 total steps for the week. And for the record, it was a rough one. I was off the entire week due to a back injury and even as I write, my back is still giving me problems. I'm hoping that this week will be a lot better because I've decided that if nine days off isn't healing my back and I can still workout, then I should. I mean, I can't let Leisa Stamey catch up to me, right? She could really gain on me this week since I only put in about 19 miles. Here's the standings as of today:

Fingers crossed that April 9 through April 15 brings lots of miles and no new injuries. The last thing I need after a bum back is a recurrence of my hip flexor or hamstring injuries. I'd go crazy if that happened...

Fitbit Weekly Stats: Mar 26 to Apr 01

For some reason, fitbit has not been sending my my weekly stat reports, so I've been having to manually pull the data from their website for the last few weeks. The emails I used to get were much nicer on the eyes, but I'm grateful that I can at least pull the data still and figure out my mileage at any given time.

Honestly, it's great to see the steps and the floors, but the main thing I care about is my miles. Off and on for the last few years I've been working on "walking around the world." (A link to the website it on the left had side of this post under Links.) I update my miles (logged via fitbit) each week and as of April 2, 2018, I've logged over 8,000 miles.

That all being said, part of my determination to make it around the world is due to a person named Leisa Stamey. Whether she knows it or not and whether she cares is irrelevant. If I ever had a rival, she's the one. Over the last several years, we've been neck and neck in terms of logging her miles and at one point I managed to log something like 300 miles extra in a year so that I could overtake the lead she'd created while I took a hiatus from logging. Each week that I log, I scope out her progress. Right now she's about 50 miles behind me, but that's not good enough. I want hundreds again which means more activity and better health. She's unknowingly my fitness coach and my motivation. If I ever get the chance to meet her, I'll be stuck between emotions. Do I love her or do I hate her?

Weekly Training Recap Mar 26 to Apr 1

Monday, March 26
Workout: March in Place, 0¢
Steps: 10051, 25¢
We started a fitbit Workweek Hustle competition at work and I realized that I was already 7,000 steps behind the leader by the time I got home from work, so I marched in place while Hubby read to me and I managed to get to 10,000 steps before heading to bed for the evening. It wasn't a true workout, but I was moving nonetheless.

Tuesday, March 27
Workout: None, 0¢
Steps: 4621, 0¢
I took Tuesday as my lazy day for the week since it was the beginning of my Spring Break and we had friends come over to play Gloomhaven with us in the evening. It was a great time and it was nice to have the night off.

Wednesday, March 28
Workout: March in Place & Yoga Class, 25¢
Steps: 10456, 25¢
Wednesday was the last night that my yoga instructor was teaching at my gym, so I had mixed emotions all day and felt really conflicted emotionally during the time I was actually practicing. I'm really glad I got to go and say goodbye to her (for the time being) and thank her for all that she helped me accomplish and I am very excited to say that she will be subbing at my gym on April 7, so when I said goodbye it wasn't for forever.

Thursday, March 29
Workout: 1.41 Walk and Marching in Place, 7¢
Steps: 11124, 25¢
I was still in a desperate catch up mode for my Workweek Hustle and marched in place for a really long time on Thursday to try and make up the 7,000+ steps between me and my boss who was leading the competition. I really didn't make much of a dent, but I did get over 10,000 steps which got my a quarter toward Dopey and helped me stay active while I was at home from work for the week.

Friday, March 30
Workout: 6.65 Mile Walk, 33¢
Steps: 17665, 25¢
If the above entries for the week weren't an indicator, I can be a pretty competitive person when I set my mind to it. Being so behind in my fitbit competition really lit a fire in me, so I ended up going to the gym half an hour earlier than when I was supposed to meet Monica and walked on the treadmill to try and get myself out of last place for the week. And Friday was the last day to get steps in, so I tried to do everything that I could to eek my way past my coworkers. I ended up in 3rd out of 4th place, but I only missed 2nd by 561 steps which felt really good. If I had known that I was that close to moving up a spot, I would have marched my little ass off to beat Monica, but she didn't sync before I went to bed and I had no idea that I was so close to her. Oh well! There's always next week when we do it all over again. And one of these weeks we're going to beat the boss. Every time we play with him, he wins and we're getting pretty tired of always coming in 2nd and 3rd. I really want to win it all next week, so Monday through Friday of next week I'll be putting the pedal to the metal in terms of steps.

Saturday, March 31
Workout: Morning Yoga, 3.7 Mile Treadmill Walk & 1.5 Mile Treadmill Run, 59¢
Steps: 15868, 25¢
Since my yoga teacher no longer teaches on Saturday mornings, I have been finding it almost impossible to go to the Saturday morning class at the gym each week because the teacher that took over doesn't teach in a style that really meshes with me. I had gotten up at 6:45 to get to the gym at 8:30, though, so I had over an hour to kill before I needed to leave the house and meet Monica. I ended up doing an incredible back and legs yoga session via Down Dog and then I went to the gym and did an hour long walk at a 2.5% incline and then somewhere toward the end I got (kind of) motivated and decided to run another 1.5 miles before I left for the day (12:20 pace). I felt pretty tired and a little sore as I was leaving the gym, but it felt great to get another great workout in and I was extremely happy with my step count for the day. I was hoping to get to 20,000, but I was pretty tired after I got home and we had company coming over, so I ended up scrapping the idea, but it felt great to get going and burn all those calories.

Sunday, April 1
Workout: 3.64 Mile Treadmill Walk, Morning Yoga & 1.49 Mile Walk, 51¢
Steps: 21650, 50¢
Big, busy day yesterday. At 8:30, Monica and I went to the gym and walked for 75 minutes before I went to yoga. There was a substitute instructor there (probably because of the holiday) and I wasn't sure if I was feeling her class very much at first, but it ended up being amazing. I left with such a clear mind that I was zen for pretty much the rest of the day. It was phenomenal and it carried on all the way into Easter dinner with my folks. Monica and I were still in a step competition for the weekend and I was behind, so I made sure to help my mom as much around the ranch as I could and then we decided to go for a little walk around the neighborhood so that I could try and get a leg up in the competition. Long story short (and almost an hour of marching at home later in the evening), I ended up beating Monica by about 1300 steps. It felt great and I'm really revved up to beat everyone in this next week's Workweek Hustle--especially my boss!



Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $3.50
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $80.08 / $3,500

Weekly Recap Mar 19 to Mar 25

Monday, March 19
Workout: Cycling Class & Evening Yoga Class, 50¢
Steps: 7508, 0¢
This was another standard workout day for the semester. I was extremely sore from hiking Cowles Mountain the day before so my cycling class in particular was pretty difficult, but I managed to push through and had a great workout. My average RPM was a little lower than usual, but I think that was mostly because we did a 13 minute hill climb and I ramped up the tension. (I figured that I was already super sore, so what did another tension level matter at the end of the day, right?) My average watt output was higher than usual despite my soreness, so I it left me in good spirits for yoga later in the evening. Yoga itself was difficult, but rewarding as usual. I really enjoyed class and when I came home I was really nice and relaxed.

Tuesday, March 20
Workout: Walk at Work Track, 5¢
Steps: 7559, 0¢
Monica and I went for a 1.02 mile walk during our lunch break. We didn't go very far or very fast because I was still extremely sore from hiking/running Cowles Mountain on the 18th, but it was great to get out of the office and moving really helped me with the stiffness in my legs.

Wednesday, March 21
Workout: Cycling Class & Evening Yoga, 50¢
Steps: 7380, 0¢
I had a much harder time concentrating in my spin class on Wednesday than I did on Monday and even though I was less sore than on Monday and Tuesday, I think that my muscles were really worn out and I just couldn't really find my get-up-and-go when it came time to put the pedal to the metal. I had a bit of a hard time getting to yoga, too, but class ended up being pretty amazing and I'm really glad that I made it (even if two crappy old ladies stole my spot in the yoga room.) The bad news, though, is that my yoga teacher will be leaving my gym on the 28th. I'm pretty disappointed because she's really helped me get to the place that I am now and I just don't know if someone else's teaching style is going to mesh with what I enjoy during my yoga class. We'll see soon enough, but fingers crossed because yoga is what helps me get to the gym each week. When I don't have class to look forward to then I never actually make myself get up and get to the gym.

Thursday, March 22
Workout: Marching at Home, 0¢
Steps: 10187, 25¢
I didn't do a formal workout, but I did walk in place at home for something like 45 minutes while I watched my husband play Dark Souls on the computer. It wasn't the most cardiovascular workout I've ever done, but I did "walk" almost two miles and I was really proud of myself for getting over 10,000 steps for the day.

Friday, March 23
Workout: 5K Treadmill Run & 0.42 Mile Cool Down, 33¢
Steps: 11204, 25¢
Monica and I got off work early on Friday and we were able to hit the gym and run before we headed home and spent the evenings with our families. I was very, very happy with my 5K time, 38:50/12:29 pace, because I really haven't been running very much, but I'm realizing now that my spin class is really increasing my cardiovascular endurance. My PR 5K time is only two minutes faster, so I think that if I continue training and keeping up my cardio, I'll be able to PR a 5K before the end of the year. I just need to find a race to run.

Saturday, March  24
Workout: 5K Treadmill Run & 0.47 Cool Down, 33¢
Steps: 10947, 25¢
Saturday was another great run and a faster run by 43 seconds (38:07/12:15 pace), too. I didn't really want to run, but I was really comfortable at a 5mph pace, so I just kept at it and pretty soon my entire run was over. It was really exciting and I can't wait to hit a sub-38 5K soon.

Sunday, March 25
Workout: None, 0¢
Steps: 2496, 0¢
Super lazy day!

Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $2.46
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $71.58 / $3,500

Fitbit Weekly Stats: Mar 19 to 25

 Stats for the week included 57281 steps, (only) 30 floors, and a not-so-great mileage of 25.11 miles. It certainly wasn't my best week, but seeing that my long time rival Leisa Stamey catching up to me on Walk Around the World has me very motivated to get  my mileage back up so that she doesn't pass me again. At one point, I had almost a 100 mile lead on her, so seeing her only 9.5 miles behind me has me pretty frustrated (and yet motivated.)

This next week, three coworkers and I will be competing in a Workweek Hustle on fitbit, so I'm hoping that the competition will motivate me to get my step count up and hit 70000 or more steps for next week. Will I do it? I have no idea, but it's worth a shot. And since I get $0.25 for every 10000 steps that I walk per day (rounded down), I'm also monetarily motivated so that I can earn more money toward my Dopey 2023 trip. And collectively it all helps me get healthier, so it's an all around win. Fingers crossed for a good week and a happy Spring Break to me because I'm taking three days off of work!

Weekly Training Recap Mar 12 to Mar 18

Monday, March12
Workout: Cycling Class, 25¢
Steps: 7488, 0¢
I've had a really consistent and somewhat nagging head and neck ache since mid-last week and it's really starting to wear me out. It took a lot out of me to get to my spin class this afternoon, but I got through it which was great. My intention was to also get to yoga this evening, but when I got home, I got comfortable and ended up not going to class.

Tuesday, March 13
Workout: N/A, 0¢
Steps: 4325, 0¢
Monica was out sick on Tuesday, so I forgot to take my lunch and run. And then I forgot my fitbit at work and kind of gave up on working out for the evening. Looking back at it now, I'm pretty disappointed with myself for that, but it's a good lesson learned and I'm going to do my best to not let it happen again.

Wednesday, March 14
Workout: Cycling Class, 0.5 Mile Run, 0.2 Mile Walk & Yoga Class, 56¢
Steps: 10339, 25¢
This was an awesome day. I felt really strong in my spin class and I was able to power through a 12 minute hill climb and then three sets of 10x jumps. It was super difficult, but I enjoyed the challenge and then my jello legs as I walked back to my office. In the evening, my intention was to get a good run in before yoga, but I really wasn't feeling it and my mind was elsewhere, so I only managed to get half a mile of running in (5 MPH) and then I walked another four minutes just to pass the time and get my 10,000 steps in for the day. Yoga class was great. It really helped me regain my focus and relax. I was even able to get some help and adjustments with my tripod headstand (work in progress!) right before class ended. It was one of the best classes I've been to in a while just for the fact that it really helped me become aware of hand, forearm, and shoulder positioning in ways that I wasn't before.

Thursday, March 15
Workout: N/A
Steps: 7357, 0¢
I decided not to bring my workout clothes to work and as a result I did not workout and I didn't do a real workout when I got home either. I marched in place to hit my required steps for my Step Bet, but other than that I really didn't do much.

Friday, March 16
Workout: N/A, 0¢
Steps: 8919, 0¢
Once again, I didn't do a real workout, but I did get a little bit of activity because I marched to get my Step Bet steps again. I wish I'd have pushed to hit 10,000, but as I'm recapping this week, I'm realizing that I didn't really push myself at all and I should have. It's a lesson learned and I'm hoping not to make the same mistakes again.

Saturday, March 17
Workout: Dance-a-thon!, 25¢
Steps: 10030, 25¢
So this wasn't really a workout, but I'm going to mark it as one anyway because I did a cross of marching in place and aerobic dance around my friend Frie's living room for something like 63 minutes. It truly was a workout, but not one in the traditional sense. Super fun, though.

Sunday, March 18
Workout: Morning Hike & Yoga, 39¢
Steps: >10,000, 25¢
I hiked the front side of Cowles Mountain for the first time today. It took my 40 minutes to get up to the summit and then 23 minutes to run back down to the trail head. Originally, I was supposed to go with a coworker, but she bailed on me at the last minute and I said, "Screw it. I'm going anyway." I had an absolutely great time, too, even though the trek was pretty hard. I never had to stop to catch my breath which was really exciting and it made me really excited to go back to Cowles again in the future. It's much closer to my house than I thought and because of that I will probably be back there again really soon.

Overall, this certainly was not my best week, but I was still able to get some good workouts in. The week wasn't wasted. I think I just need to set a schedule and really stick to it no matter what's going on. Next week I also start a new work schedule which will last me through the end of May. I will be getting off work an hour sooner on Monday and up to three hours early on Fridays, so it's going to free up my schedule considerably to get to yoga on Monday and add in some good runs on Friday, possibly on the track at work. I'm super excited about it and I'm really hoping that everything works out!

Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $2.20
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $64.12 / $3,500

Hiking Cowles Mountain

When I was in cross country, I ran the back side of Cowles Mountain once or twice, but I never felt like I really had the opportunity to enjoy the hike because I was in such a hurry to get up the mountain, down the mountain, and back to home base as fast as possible.

Today was different. Originally, I was supposed to hit the trail with a coworker, but she didn't tell me that she wasn't going until twenty minutes before we were supposed to meet. I was already there, so I decided that I didn't care if I was going by myself. I was going up to the summit come hell or high water.

Going up was not easy and this was the first time I'd ever done the front side of the mountain. Some places were really rocky and I tripped a few times, but overall the journey was quite pleasant and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I made it my mission to say hello to everyone I encountered while I was on the trail. It helped me stay motivated to keep going while I was heading up to the summit and I'm really hoping that I made at least one person's morning while I was out there

The Plaque

When I actually got to the top I was really excited. It kind of snuck up on me at the end and I didn't expect to be finished quite as quickly as I was. The last quarter mile or so to the top is a bunch of rocky switchbacks, so I was focusing more on making sure I kept my footing instead of looking up to see how much farther I had to go. I made it to the summit in exactly forty minutes.

At the top, there's this really cool (and popular) plaque.  The atmosphere at that spot was really fun and energetic, but if you moved even just twenty or thirty feet away, everything became quiet and serene. And the view was amazing. You could see all the way to downtown and the ocean.

While I was up surveying the view, there was a gentleman who came running up to the summit and asked me for the time. He'd actually run up the mountain in fifteen minutes and inspired me to run back down the mountain myself to see how much faster I could go down. Running down all the rocky terrain was pretty scary in some places, but it was really fun to do and I would gladly do it again. I made it down the mountain and back to the car in twenty-four minutes where I stretched out and headed home to do some yoga before Hubby woke up.

Overall it was a great morning and I would gladly do it again. Hubby even said that he might go with me someday. He just doesn't want to go nearly as early as I do because as far as he's concerned, weekends are for sleeping in!

You can see all the way to the ocean!

Motivation Issues - Shark Week

Since Friday, my motivation has been in the pits. I worked out yesterday, but I didn't feel strong like I usually do and I instead of going to Monday yoga, I came home and ate Vietnamese food with my husband instead (and it wasn't very healthy...)

I'm not really sure right now about what I should do. Frankly, just writing this all down is making me more motivated to hit the gym tonight, but I don't feel as revved up as I want to be. My guess is that my hormones are off with Shark Week (Ooh Ha Ha!) and I'm just feeling sort of lousy all over, but bodies are complicated, so I'm not quite sure. And it certainly isn't helping that I left my fitbit at work this evening when I left for the night. Not good, but what can you do about it? I'll just have to get it tomorrow.

Fitbit Stats for Mar 5 to Mar 11

 

 Last week I had set the goal of hitting 10,000 steps each day and averaging more than 70,000 for the week, but I ended up not hitting my goal. In truth, I only took one extra workout day off for the week, but I didn't take active rest days on the weekend and it caught up with me really fast. I also got kind of thrown off of my weekend routine because Gym Buddy Monica was out of town and whether or not I'll be continuing my weekend yoga classes is currently up in the air. Not good excuses, but things happened the way they did nonetheless.

The good news of this week's fitbit recap is that even though my miles were down, I managed to put in extra floors, I managed to average more sleep each night, and my resting heart rate has begun dropping down (a good indication that my cardiovascular fitness is going up.)

Weekly Recap Mar 5 thru Mar 11

Monday, March 5
Workout: Cycling Class & Evening Yoga Class, 50¢
My spin class was awesome. I really worked hard despite being really sore from my workout on Sunday. We did a nine minute hill climb which I was able to do at a new record level sixteen tension, and eight 30s/30s intervals which I was able to complete at level thirteen tension. It was excellent. I have no idea how I got to yoga, though. I really had to drag myself to the gym, but class ended up being really enjoyable. We did a lot of leg and back poses which were really beneficial for my soreness and even though I had a lot of balance issues, I was able to really relax into the class and enjoy myself. The extra 25¢ I "earned" for going to class was a great bonus, too.

Tuesday, March 6
Workout: 1.27 Mile Track Run, 13¢
A very happy birthday to my running buddy Monica! We managed to sneak out during our lunch break and run a little over a mile on the track. It was a little warm for our liking, but overall we were really happy with our overall pace. It was the first time that I'd run a sub-12:00 pace and even though Monica and I were both still pretty sore from our Sunday workouts, we managed to dig deep and push through our discomfort. It wasn't a very long run, particularly time wise, but I'm glad that we got outside and moving during the workday.

Wednesday, March 7
Workout: 1.0 Mile Walk, Cycling Class, 1 Mile Run & Evening Yoga Class, 65¢
I got to my doctor's appointment really early, so I decided to go out and stretch my legs. Turns out there's almost a perfect 1/5th mile loop that circles the building, so I five laps before checking in upstairs. And even though I was late to work because of my appointment, I was still able to make it to my spin class. I can tell that my legs are getting a lot stronger and I'm able to keep bumping my tension up each week. It's encouraging and it keeps me motivated to do more which now includes adding runs to my cycling days. It was really hard for me to stay focused on the treadmill while I was warming up for my yoga class and I'm finding the treadmill to be extremely boring these days, but I was still able to do a mile run in 11:38. Yoga class itself was really amazing, but I found out that my newfound yoga teacher is no longer teaching Saturday mornings. I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm not really a fan of the instructor that I've taken to calling "the flower child." She's just too light and airy for me. When I go to yoga, it's because I want to better myself, not because I want to be lovey dovey with my neighbors. Overall, though, great day.

Thursday, March 8
Workout: 1.47 Mile Run & 0.56 Mile CD Walk, 18¢
Thursday literally had me running from my problems. I think I must have asked Monica if we could go run at 11:45am just because I was so fed up with everything going on, but I do think that it also motivated the two of us into having a great run. We decided to do five laps on the outside of the track rather than run "1.25" or "1.5" miles. What I've been noticing is that when I run for distance like that, I get really wrapped up in wanting to be done with the whole thing and I don't enjoy the journey, so we tried something different and really ended up enjoying it. We ran 1.47 miles in 16:27 (11:07/11:21/AP: 11:11) and were able to get in another 0.56 miles of walking before we stretched out and headed back into the office. It wasn't the easiest run we've ever done, but I can tell that I'm building speed and endurance which is amazing. I also tried out my new TENS machine this evening. It's fun to play with, but I'm still trying to dial in exactly where to put the pads and how much sensation is good for me to help my muscles recover.

Friday, March 9
Rest Day

Saturday, March 10
Rest Day


Sunday, March 11
Rest Day

Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $1.46
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $46.92 / $3,500

Fitbit Stats for Feb 26 to Mar 4

Honestly, I think this is the best fitbit stats report that I've gotten in a really long time. I managed to get over 70,000 steps and I can tell I'm slowly getting my fitness back as a result of all the hard work. (It's paying off!) This next week, I really want to get 35 miles. I'm getting back into running regularly which is really helping to increase my miles, but I'm still going to work hard to get it done. Should be fun!

Goals for this week:

1. Move 35 miles or more.
2. Average 8 hours of sleep or more.

Weekly Recap: Feb 26 thru Mar 4

Recently, I decided that I really wanted to start getting back into running. Despite falling in and out of love with it over the last several years, I've found that my successes with running have always helped me boost my sense of self worth and have helped me combat the symptoms of my Bipolar, so I've recently been warming back up to the idea of running again in general.

As part of this new running saga, I've decided that I really want to start logging my training, my triumphs, and my struggles. If someone ever reads this, then I hope that they will glean something from it, but even if these posts are just for me, it will be nice to have the memories as years go by. When I found this running blog again (I didn't even know that it still existed until a few days ago), it was really interesting to go back and read what was going on in my life, so I'm hoping that by writing down my struggles and successes, it will give me perspective down the road if I ever need it. And who doesn't enjoy going down memory lane every once in a while, right? So... let's get to it.

Monday, February 26
Workout: Cycling Class, 25¢
I really enjoy my indoor cycling class as cardio cross training. This class gets me out of the office every Monday and Wednesday and helps me burn off any negativity that's floating around in my world. Monday's workout had a 7 minute hill climb and a 30-1-2-1-30 series of intervals that were both doozies. I was really tired and satisfied after leaving class that day and completed 17.6km. I also noticed that I am really starting to build up more muscular strength in my legs.

Tuesday, February 27
Workout: 2 Mile Track Run, 20¢
I was able to get out of the office on Tuesday and run on my lunch break. The weather was perfect, it was just a little bit chilly and I felt absolutely great afterward. I'm running really slowly right now (13:30 overall pace right now, but 11:45 for my first mile before I started walk/running), but my goal right now isn't speed. I'm just trying to build up endurance right now, so it's going really well.

Wednesday, February 28
Workout: Cycling Class, 25¢
This seems irrelevant, but I put new sheets on the bed Tuesday night and in hindsight it seems that I began to have a bad allergic reaction to them all through Wednesday. Multiple people commented on how flushed I was and when I went to class, whether it was psychosomatic or not, I felt really worn out during class. For the first time in the semester, I just sat and cruised for the day. I'm proud of myself for getting to my bike and putting miles in despite feeling bad, but I wish that I had pushed myself more during this class. 

Thursday, March 1
Workout: 2 Mile Treadmill Run, 20¢
For the first time since I've worked in my current office, my boss let me leave early without it being an emergency or doctor's appointment. It was amazing, and to be perfectly frank, I came home and pretty much did nothing. Initially, I was going to go straight from work to the gym, but I didn't have any workout clothes with me at work or in the car, so I couldn't go directly to work out. When I came home, all I wanted to do was relax and I knew that if I changed out of my work clothes, I probably wouldn't end up leaving the house again for the day, so I compromised and put my workout clothes on before putting my warm pajamas on over them. It took me four hours to work up the energy to  actually get back up and go to the gym, but I did it and ended up getting a 2 mile run out of the evening before coming home. My original intention was to do a 5km run, but about half way in, I started to get shin splint pain in my left leg. I was hoping that it was just a temporary sensation and tried to push through it, but after another half mile, I was in a lot more pain and had started limping, so I called it quits at 2 miles. Not a perfect run, but at least I got out of the house and worked out. Pace was 13:15/mile.

Friday, March 2
Friday was my rest day for the week because we had dinner plans with our friends Ana and Ted.

Saturday, March 3
Workout: Yoga & 2.14 Mile Walk, 47¢
My goal is to try and make it to yoga at least three times a week, but I haven't succeeded in that goal yet since I started practicing again. To be frank, I really felt like I was just going through the motions and poses yesterday and I had a really difficult time getting through the class. My mind just wasn't there and my gym buddy had bailed on me for the morning because she had had too much to drink the night before, so I was flying solo. That being said, I made it through yoga class and ended up hopping onto the treadmill for 40 minutes to get my steps in for the day. It wasn't the best workout I've ever done, but I was happy with myself for going despite the fact that I had only slept for about four hours the night before.


Sunday, March 4
Workout: 0.85 Mile Run, 3.9 Mile Walk Plus Abs, 29¢
My gym buddy was back in action this morning, so we did our Sunday usual and spend some serious time on the treadmill. I actually got there early today, so I was able to get about 20 minutes extra in today which was awesome. My goal was to get in a redemption 5km run plus some walking, but I only got in about a mile of running before my stomach began acting up. (Runner's stomach is the worst...) Anybody who's been in my shoes understands the fear that comes with a running stomachache, so I decided to walk for the next hour or so and I ended up doing a total of 4.75 miles for the day. It was awesome. Running average pace was 13:06. Total overall pace was 17:01.


Total Earned Toward Dopey for the Week: $1.63
Total Saved To Date for Dopey 2023: $40.44