Poop Happens

What else would a normal person do at 430am whilst on round 2 of colonoscopy prep but catch up on blog writing?

I mean, after that sickly sweet cherry flavored “gonna poop myself” drink and being up most of the night anyway with allergies? It just makes sense to write something in my delirious state killing time between bathroom breaks.

Soooooo… yeah, that super rough March went pretty much as expected and more. I posted my last missive right before we left for GDC. It was actually a great experience, both professionally and personally, but kinda took a toll. We stayed in a room – the first few nights – with other major quirks, but most importantly only one full-size bed. Not a queen, not a double, a full. One step away from twin. That didn’t work out for two grown ass adults. First night I turned in at a reasonable hour and just tossed and turned. After that, I figured I may as well indulge in the after parties, as it was the only way I was getting sleep. So, three nights of piss poor sleep, 8am-midnight+ meetings and then social events which were pretty much meetings with alcohol and food, and 20k+ steps per day and we were just exhausted to the bone.

We had planned two more nights/three days of fun and sightseeing for just us, and we were so tired we didn’t do a lot of it. I pretty much slept and read in the room on Friday after a few morning meetings except for a quick trip for dinner the Stinking Rose – one of the first nice places we had a “date” on vacation 25 years ago. It was really delicious, but we got sat in a corner by the window with the sunset coming in and kinda blinding us and were ready to leave once the food was in our bellies. We had snagged a rooftop suite for pennies (since the convention was over) and the plan was to get a bottle of wine and enjoy it on our patio… we enjoyed falling asleep for 10 hours each night instead. We made it through a bit of hiking but Joel didn’t have a ton of energy, so we called it at 8 miles Saturday (Golden Gate Bridge Trail to Fisherman’s Wharf) after a hearty crab chowder in a breadbowl and 3 miles in the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park on Sunday before completely unremarkable pho for lunch.

After the flight home (which landed after midnight), Joel woke up the next morning sick sick and I was kinda sick but not in a normal way. I never had any symptoms, but the level of tired you get when you get the flu or covid or something? Yeah, I felt like I was wading through sand mentally and physically for about 3-4 days. So, besides work? I slept. A lot.

I finally felt some energy back right around the beginning of April and started feeling like runs. Lots of them, but short. I think the first week back I ran like 5 times in 7 days (but between 1-3 miles a day). It actually was quite nice just to think “hey, I’ve got 15, 25, 35 mins right now, I’ll just go for a jog” and not worry about the length, if it wasn’t that much, I’d just go again the next day. I’m going to try to keep up that mentality. Getting a 2-mile run in isn’t usually all that’s on the plan, but it’s a really nice way to wake up if I can make it happen!

I took almost 2 weeks break from weights. I had planned for that during GDC – doing a super back bicep chest shoulder workout the day before I left and then just having “legs” be the 20k steps a day and hills that were San Franciso, but when I got back, see the “work and sleep only” plan. I tried, y’all, I really did. On Tuesday, I brought the weights to do a back and bi workout in my office. That was enough of a workout. I just kind of stared at them on Tuesday. And Wednesday. And Thursday. I finally picked them up on Monday the next week, and I’ve been good for the last two weeks and don’t see that stopping.

I mentioned allergies – those hit on Thursday and have been bugging me since. It’s all springy and pretty and I’ve been tromping around my house to get my mile walk in this weekend because it’s positively YELLOW with pollen outside. Colonoscopy prep + allergies has been super fun too. I already am doing weird things to my body by eating like I’m on a cruise and forgot what vegetables are, plus I also can’t sleep well because all the snot is dripping down my throat and making it all angry-like. I honestly cannot tell if it’s a mild cold or bad allergies but considering the status outside and everyone else in Austin whining about it, I’m going with allergies.

If I sound like a sad sack, I’m nothing compared to what Joel’s been going through. Instead of just “weirdly tired” he was sick sick the week after we got back. He felt better, so the next Monday, he accompanied me on a 2 mile walk and a 10 minute swim, which pretty much knocked him out for the first half of the week. Later on, he felt better so we increased his walk a little and had him walk 3 miles on Sunday. The next day, he was just shattered. So, to the doctor he finally went, and she diagnosed him with previously having the flu (which I assume I was spending time just fighting off) and then he caught bronchitis. He got 5 days of super-antibiotics. And just the last few days he’s finally felt like a real person again (just as I have devolved into the angry phlegmy pooping goblin!).

The good thing is that if I follow Joel’s trajectory for recovery after this procedure, I’ll be back at it very soon (maybe a day or two) and he’ll finally be ready to join me (slowly – first building up the walk to 3 miles without fatigue before doing anything else). I’m looking forward to a little bit of normalcy!

So, brief words about where I’m at with all the things:

#1 The Unwanted Kettlebell

I think I’m about the same weight as the last time I wrote here, which is actually not bad considering the week of ridiculous foods in San Franciso and not feeling well. My back-half-of-April resolutions are:

• Get caught up on my Trendweight. I’m months back and it would be nice to be able to legit track some progress here instead of guessing.
• I specifically didn’t track my calories the last three days of prep so I didn’t get anxious about having to eat weirdly, but back to it tomorrow (after getting whatever the eff I want after 36 hours of clear liquid diet crap)
• I have actually been not doing terribly at 1200 calories + activity, but I’ll start tallying my weeks now for reals.

Basically, now that I’m getting back to normal times, I’m going to do the normal things. I’ll get a baseline in April and try to set some goals from there.

Total tangent: I had truly wondered what the “cleanse” part of prep would do to my weight… let me tell you, after the liquid diet part of the day, I was one lb UP from the morning of, and after the first round of the evacuations – the bloating more than overcompensated for unclogging my digestive system, I was a few tenths up over THAT. So, the whole “do this cleanse and rid yourself of all this weight” malarkey going around? I’m going to say it’s nonsense. Eat healthy, stay hydrated, poop a few times a day, and you’re fine.

#2 Sporty Stuff

After feeling better and before allergies/colonoscopy prop, I had a pretty good groove here which I will aim to return to.

• 3x weights per week
• 2-3 bikes per week
• 3-5 runs (some real short) per week
• 1 swim
• 1 mile+ day of walking

I’ve had some pops of not just easy running and riding over the last month and a half, I’m looking forward to making that a habit. I had a really nice baby speedwork session – basically run hard down the hills, jog the flats/uphills. First 5k under 11-minute miles in a while without me really trying to push a pace!

#3 Adulting

Geez, I’m getting my butt looked at, what more adult is there? Besides that I even:

• Got my registration taken care of
• Got my eyes examined and got new glasses (on the way)
• Cleaned up my new office at work so it’s not a complete trash heap of boxes and bags

Going to give myself a pass for the rest of the month on must-dos and make a few goals for May.

#4 Hobbies

• Book – 75.4k (about 5.4k more than last time). It’s less progress than a good focused day, but I haven’t had a good focused day, I’ve had stolen hour or twos here and there. And forward progress is forward progress.
• Haven’t really touched much else besides voraciously reading the Villian’s Code series. I’m a few hundred pages from done on the last book and that’s pretty much been my hobby time since I’ve been sick or tired or pretending I’m sick so I don’t get sick. It’s been pretty relaxing.
• I’d like to finish my diving pictures by the end of the month so I can start something new.

#5 Work Life Balance

I can’t explain why this one has been so difficult, but it has been. I think I’m past the worst of it now, but I can’t lie, I’m almost looking forward to this procedure, so I get an extra day off guilt free. Sounds like I need a vacation – holy geez, I do, and I have one planned, but need to make sure we’re healthy for it. I had booked time off in a few weeks but not the accommodations/travel, so we’ll see if we can actually go then. I think I’m not going to wait though and take an extra 3-day weekend not this weekend (too many social things planned already to actually get the relax time I’m looking for) but next weekend.

No matter what, I resolve to have the plan, by the end of this month, for some time off to destress.

Whew, only been to the bathroom about 7 times since I started this post, let’s go for number 8. It hasn’t been the funnest weekend, but not quite as bad as I expected (at least in the prep part, DO NOT RECOMMEND doing with allergies keeping you up as well). Once I get er done, and get some dang food, I’m sure I’ll be a happy camper and feel relieved even my butt is healthy!