One of the reasons this blog exists, the main one, actually, is to preserve history.
It’s my own little slice, skewed through my view through my whatever-colored-glasses I’m wearing at the time, full of bias and error, but it’s useful to me. One thing it reminds me of is that in some years, I spent time meticulously crafting my meals for the week, ensuring that I was getting the right kind of carbs, highest diet quality, attending to my macros, etc. Yesterday, I ate a quarter of a leftover sandwich, five taquitos in the air fryer, and chicken tikka folded into a tortilla.
However, another thing I can remember through history is the years I’ve made the most progress, it’s not been about quality, it’s been about quantity, and I’m doing a decent-ish job there the last week.
Unfortunately, this just gets me BACK to where I was after a sub-par July, but the line is going in the right direction, so I shall call it a win.
It’s rather challenging to build muscle and lose weight at the same time, and I reread some history and found this in 2018 as well. I spent a few months plateaued while I picked up and put down heavy things, and then the weight started to fall off once I went into maintenance mode and prioritized diet and cardio with all the shiny new muscle. I was only about 5 lbs down from where I am right now when I won my age group and qualified for nationals. It feels like such a far stretch right now, but I need to remember to trust the process and sometimes things don’t happen on the timeline I want them to just by willing them into existence (but that doesn’t mean they’re not happening).
The cardio is going about as well as before:
Starting Tuesday after our last gym session and theater tickets, we are on pre-travel quarantine. We’re only leaving the house when absolutely necessary and masking up when we do. This means we’re saying goodbye to the elliptical for a while and back to running, biking, and swimming for exercise. I had a heck of a week at work and ended up missing a few intended cardio sessions, but I’m pretty okay with a short swim, a short run, an elliptical, and three bikes along with the three weights sessions clocking in at 4 hours total. I have to remember a very stripped-down workout calendar for me is some peoples #gymgoals so right now it can be mine too.
Speaking of the run, I absolutely cannot wait to get a few miles a few times a week in Europe in the beautiful 60-degree mornings. I expect most of my cardio will be walking, and some of my weight training will be 12-ounce (beer, Germany) or 4-ounce (wine, Paris) curls, but I would like to make sure I do some running as well given the beautiful weather.
Let’s talk about our imminent travels. I’m getting unreasonably nerv-cited for this upcoming trip. It’s mind boggling how much will occur in the next month before I board a plane home:
- Meeting colleagues/working in Berlin, seeing as many sights as possible in the short time we’re there
- Meeting colleagues/working in Hamburg, including the CEOs, and spending the weekend checking out the city, perhaps taking a river cruise and a bike ride.
- Talking to press and attending Gamescom in Cologne, and also checking out the city once that’s over (I’d love to find a great place to watch sunset overlooking the skyline).
- Spending a day in Brussels getting a street Belgian waffle and visiting the Grand Place and Mont des Arts
- Taking over a week in Paris to get hundreds of pictures of the Eiffel tower at different times per day (our hotel is two blocks away), eat amazing food and drink my favorite wine in the world, see a show at the Moulin Rouge, go to Disneyland Paris, and so much more (you might be able to tell where my research time has gone, heh)
This is not one of those “sit on the beach and drink pina coladas” type trips, and I am absolutely here for the adventure. I’m also VERY happy I had the foresight to make Kerrville triathlon (just a few weeks after we return) a sprint only, as I’d rather focus on this amazing opportunity and get my cardio tromping all over town than riding my bike for 50 miles @ 150 watts. I mean, I’m totally open to doing a bike ride (and actually planning on it with a colleague one day in Hamburg if all goes as planned), but it should be for funsies.
If I fall off the map for a bit, just know it’s because I’m travelling all around it. 🙂