Adjusted Reality

Usually around the first few days of January, I do this big, long post with all my ambitious yearly goals.

I meant to do it, like, at least 15 days ago if not 20. I was thinking about it. And then… I just kinda got busy doin’ stuff over the end of my holiday break and it didn’t happen. Let’s at least rectify that in a half assed way on January 20th, shall we? *Ahem*. Let’s start up the goal machine! Does it look very similar to last year? Yep. We call that… CONSISTENCY!!!

#1 The small kettlebell I’m carrying around that I don’t want to be.

While trying to lose weight continues to feel like banging my head against a brick wall, the other option is giving up, which is not going to happen. I did that for like a month in December, and I gained back most of what I lost last year. Bad idea, 2/10, do not recommend. So… here we go again!

• Track food daily, aiming for 1200 calories + activity, averaging out to this or lower on a weekly basis
• Many, and many different types of vegetables, and reintroducing fruit into my life as snacks
• Breakfast salads are the bomb, keep up this trend
• My favorite brown relaxant (whiskey) and I need to have a talk. As is per usual, I spent the end of the year stressing, then celebrating, so we spent a little too much time together. We need to set some boundaries with each other.

Like, I know how to make all this work. It’s just maddeningly difficult to put into practice with enough consistency to make progress. Usually in January I sound so hopeful about this. This year, I’m just not. I don’t have a number goal because it feels futile. Regardless, we shall continue on, rebuilding the good habits I had in months like last Jan/Feb and Nov, where I started to see progress, and see if I can keep these practices up more months than not to get some momentum that I can’t manage to undo in a month.

#2 Sporty Sports Goals

This is a fun one because my big scary goal is scheduled in 3 weeks. Yep, just getting that 50k out of the way February 8th! Then, the name of the game is, you guessed it, CONSISTENCY. Right now, we’re doing these big, long weekend hike/run things where I’m recovering for half the week after (just walking). When I get back to shorter stuff, I can run (bike?) (swim??) almost every day for 30-60mins instead of just being a weekend warrior (better for injury prevention, fitness, and calorie burn). Not that I’m not having fun doing what I’m doing right now… I totally am. But I’m ready for long days to be like 2-3 hours vs 7 and to have non-walk activities on the calendar more days than not.

So… goals.

• Complete a 50k trail race
• Continue to lift 3x week and walk at least a mile per day (since the treadmill is now in play for this streak, I need to be extremely injured or on my deathbed to break it)
• Maintain run fitness so a 10k run wouldn’t be a stretch (maybe a little bit of a stretch between July and Sept because of the weather but not too much of one)
• Bring biking and swimming back into my life in Spring (like once a week? just so the tri training in summer isn’t a shock to the system)
• Race a triathlon in Sept
• Figure out what other races I’d like to do and sign up for some stuff! More tris? Road races? More trails? A… bike ride? Who knows?

I don’t see this as a “smashing PRs” year, I think I’d be really happy just to stay relatively injury free and maintain some good fitness. Maybe that mindset will change throughout later on but I’m happy to complete a 50k then just kinda have some random race goals to keep me active and fit and burning calories CONSISTENTLY.

#3 Adulting

The year started off with some major adulting when a rodent utterly and completely chewed through our 2012 Xterra’s wiring and totaled the car, so we had to replace it. We weren’t happy about the unplanned cost and were fine with what we had, but now we have Truck Truck (final name TBD) and absolutely love it. You wouldn’t think that a truck could feel like an absolute luxury vehicle, but it does! It can start with an app, basically can drive itself, and is soooo comfortable. And unless we get a 4-bedroom trailer or something, it can tow darn near anything reasonable if/when upgrade the lunar lander.

Even though we went with the cheapest (new) option that could comfortably tow what we wanted, it was still a large chunk of change, so we are probably going to hold off on big new expensive projects this year. But still… stuffs we’d like to do

• Even though the truck can’t fit in the garage, we still need to clean it out – this is a spring goal (once it’s not cold AF and also once we move Joel’s work office stuff back into his work office)
• Same spring timeline – also get everything cleaned out of my office that is not my work stuff, music stuff, or retro gaming once I can move my work office stuff back to the work office.
• Joel’s office set up – but I am letting him set the goals, the timeline, and when he’s happy with it. Til then, we’ll just close the door when company comes over 🙂
• Small cleanouts:
  • The coffee table and the end table drawers
  • The bar cabinets – probably don’t need stuff we haven’t used/drank in 10 years!
  • Probably some other stuff

We usually do this stuff in a fit of motivation over the holidays. Hopefully, we can make some time to do this stuff by doing what we did over vacation – spending an hour or two on it just to get some progress made instead of it being this big scary thing we need to start and finish.

In non-decluttering goals:

• Consult with a retirement planner instead of just Wealthfront’s chart to make sure we’re on track.
• Figure out WTF to do with the pool. When it came down this year it wasn’t completely broken but wasn’t in the best shape either. Live with it? Get a new cheapo pool? Get a new nicer pool? See above with the “already spent a lot on the truck” but we kinda need want something.

I’m not sure I have any other major adulting to do. I’m caught up on my Dr. appointments (I do owe myself a vision appt but I’m only a month or two late on this). I’m even getting myself a referral to a dermatologist to start doing the mole checks again next month since I’m out in the sun a lot. Look at me, being responsible!

At some point, we want to redo the flooring and redo the patio, but for now, I think that’s future us’s projects. On the horizon, we also would like to consider an investment property of some sort to have passive income as a safety net/retirement plan, but I also don’t feel like the time and climate in 2025 is right for this one yet but obvs will stay open to opportunities if they fall in our laps.

#4 Fun Stuff!

It’s super fun to predict travel and then see how it actually pans out, so here we go:

• Houston weekend (wedding) in January (just got back!)
• 50k race/camping in Huntsville, TX (Feb)
• Another camping trip in spring TBD
• Bonaire diving trip in Apr/May/June
• 4th of July camping trip at Krause Springs
• If we go to EU for work: mediterranean cruise
• Kerrville camping for the race in Sept
• If we don’t go to EU for work: Oct fall foliage cruise on the east coast

I think this about uses up my vacation time if I plan to take Thanksgiving week and some time at Christmas off as well, but I can certainly see the possibility of some shorter camping/weekend trips not planned here. There is a small chance I might end up in the Philippines for work, which would mean a diving trip there (instead of the cruises, probably), so we’re not booking anything yet and are open to pivots.

I also keep having this idea of “vacationing in Austin” – getting a hotel downtown and doing the touristy things I haven’t done yet. Could I do this without a hotel downtown? Sure. I live less than 10 miles away. Will I? Probably not. I’m an enigma, I know, but vacation mindset (go see/do all the things) is so different than home mindset (let’s workout, work, relax, stay close to home, etc) and I think it will take staying right in the middle of all that so it’s all a walk away, not a drive, to make it happen.

In other hobbyist pursuits – I have enough going on that I don’t need to stress myself out about turning these into side hustles with progress checkpoints, but it’s also fun to see where I am in a year with various things and keep myself motivated to do these things vs scroll social media incessantly, so here’s some words!

• Pace myself with my writing, doing it consistently enough so I can pick it up and make an hour of progress on it at a time (not taking 1 hour to get back into it because I put it down for a month). I’d like to finish book 3 for sure (that’s a softball goal) and there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to at least have a great start and/or finish book 4 in a year, but consistency is the most important thing here.
• Guitar – my goal is to play one song every WFH day. Right now, I’m getting my callouses back so that’s all I can really tolerate. But… hey, consistency. Also, probably more under adulting, I need to get the electric repaired (which is what made me stop playing in the first place last year).
• Photo editing – I’d like to have all 2024 projects done before I go to Bonaire, then after that just not get too far behind. Also, at some point, I should figure out something to do with all these pictures I’m editing but for now, they can live on Facebook, my hard drive, and my backup hard drive. 🙂
• Play lots of Warhammer games with Joel with a goal to have fun and learn the rules. Don’t focus on winning, I mean, winning is nice, but we are SPARRING. My ego isn’t so fragile I have to be the champion at everything.
• Painting? Do I do this anymore? I just have been diverting my creative time to other things, I suppose, but would be nice to pick up a brush this year. Maybe just make the goal to paint my bloodbowl team that’s still in the box a year later.

I’d also like to continue to do stupid stuff like Walko Taco (15 mile walk to all the taco carts in the area) and go to the Taco Museum and otherwise be slightly less of a hermit and go out with friends on the weekends occasionally. Maybe for tacos because that seems to be a theme. But doing random silly stuff because we are silly makes life worth living.

#5 – (Mental) Work Life Balance

I have done a pretty good job establishing great work/life balance in 2024 in terms of work hours, taking time off, etc. However, sometimes I’ll keep work problems with me mentally over nights/weekends and ruminate on it and get cranky about it and it will really affect my mood and productivity and cause me to lose motivation on both work and non-work things. I used to be really great about putting that stuff in a box and taking it back out during office hours. I dunno if I can be THAT perfect about it again, I have a little more of the weight of the world on my shoulders in this position, but I don’t need to sit on the couch on Sunday night when I’m trying to relax and instead overthinking strategy on how to fix whatever the current issue is (and then feel burnt out on Monday when I should be rested and ready to tackle it).

So, my work/life balance goal is to do better at putting work away MENTALLY when I’m done for the day. Maybe schedule me 30 mins every workday to ruminate on the problems instead? Like, can you schedule worrying? If you call it strategizing, of course you can, right? Otherwise, maybe only let myself do that while I’m running or swimming (both great places for me to solve the world’s problems).

So, after putting this together, I think 2025 is about consistency. Track the food daily. Do the workouts that keep me active daily. Clean something out, or at least do some of it every few weekends. Write for an hour most weekends. Play a song every WFH day. Pass on having drinks once a week or every other week when I usually would. Meditate most workdays. Little actions make habits eventually, good or bad ones, and I’m aiming to keep the good and ditch the bad in this year of CONSISTENCY.

December has been an interesting month, and not quite what I expected.

I had made a big deal about holidays being DAYS, not months. I even mentioned it to my mother when she had already given up and “was going to start again in January” before Thanksgiving.

Well, it me too. Not really on purpose but it’s December 30th, I haven’t been tracking much this month, and I’ve been spotty at my morning routine, so I barely have any weights logged. And I can tell you, I’ve definitely been eating more which I assume means I’ll weigh more. My excuse? My phone broke on Thanksgiving, then I went on a cruise (where I didn’t log, but that was kind of planned) and my loaner isn’t quite as nice, so I haven’t been using it as much and just got out of the habit and decided I’ll get back to it Jan 6th. Definitely one of these types of situations.

I have enjoyed the break, though, so it’s not all bad. It’s not a free for all or anything. And seriously, an extra 1-2 lbs, which is all it is, is fine and I’ll get back to routine in about a week and feel refreshed and maybe I’ll be carrying fewer pebbles on my back so I can step over the cracks again with gusto.

Remind me I said this when I’m pissed about the scale in January.

Besides the utter failure which has been eating healthy and tracking things, I’ve been very productive elsewhere!

• So far, we’ve done a massive amount of bedroom cleanout/fixing the dresser, cleaned off Joel’s desk, cleaned out the kitchen to switch out our new dishes, tupperware, and silverware, and cleaned out the garage (which is now full of other things, but it’s inevitable until we go back to the office). Weirdly enough, I’m actually now like… what can I clean out next (instead of the usual dread) so let’s see how long that sticks.
• I have written! Only three times, but I’m up to about 42k words now. And I feel like I’m maybe halfway through book 3’s story, so that’s about right with the word count. I need to get back to the point where I can jump in and do 30-60 mins without it feeling like a waste because it takes that long for me to get in a groove after some time away and that means doing it more often.
• I’m halfway through 2023 fishy pictures and then will move onto the cruise we just took next. I usually like to wait until each vacation feels like a memory before I edit them, but I posted so little during (because of the phone issue), and it’ll be nice to see palm trees and sunsets in winter. If winter ever gets here, it’s 88 degrees today.

And last but certainly not least… I’ve walked like, everywhere! The calendar isn’t really worth showing because so many workouts have been walks (which it doesn’t display), but I’ll hit the highlights:

• I’ve been pretty consistent with weights. I am weirdly showing missing one on vacation, which doesn’t seem correct, because I remember doing it. I missed one session the week after we got back. So, 14/15 for the last 5 weeks. Not bad!
• Running has been spotty. I don’t run on the ship, so that was a week and a half off. Then I was feeling low energy when I got back, so I gave myself another week. THEN I twisted my dang ankle on a long walk so there was another week. Last week I ran 2.5, 4, and 4.25 miles. All good. We’ll build a little from there.
• From the day after Thanksgiving until today, I’ve logged 133 miles of walking (or 48 hours). That’s a lot!

So, I have not been inactive and I have been kinda productive. Have I outeaten my activity? Absolutely. But it’s better than sitting at home doin’ nothing so I’ll take it. I’ll keep the good habits (activity) and ditch the bad ones (shoving everything in my cakehole) next week.

Since it’s the last month of the year, let’s wrap up 2024 goals here too before we create nice shiny new ones.

#1 Lose 12 lbs OR track 365 days of food.

I didn’t do either of these things, but I really did come close to tracking every day, only falling off while on vacation in Vermont and again in December during vacation and holidays. I assuredly weigh less than I did January 2024 – my trendweight at the beginning of the year was close to 188, and in November, it was 183. If I truly do gain 2lbs this month, that’s still 3 lbs less and that’s not nothing. I am definitely stronger and sturdier than I was 364 days ago, so that’s also not nothing.

I make progress when I am diligent about tracking, and I’m certain when I post my 2025 resolutions something very similar to this will be on my list.

#2 Continue to earn my right to run

I’m pretty happy here. I’ve been VERY consistent with my weight training, I’ve missed maybe 1-2 sessions a month max, but 3x week of strength (back/bi, chest/shoulders, leg/core) is a fully ingrained habit in my life. I’ve set a rule of 2 for recovery (do 2 each day: stretch, roll, boots, ice, massage chair, tub) and while boots and ice definitely are used more often than the others, it’s keeping me sturdy and upright.

Running hasn’t been quite as consistent, as sometimes I’ve favored walks instead. I ran 322 miles with 90 sessions logged, and I walked 858 miles (with over 400 sessions logged!). Walking and hiking have gone from something extra to burn calories to a major goal – I had no idea I’d want to hike/run a 50k but I’m planning to do it in February.

I met my race goal to run a half marathon, and I did actually run it, not limp through the whole thing, even if I walked a few massive hills the last few miles. 2:39 isn’t a great time for me, but it’s a respectable 12-minute mile pace (considering the elevation change). I raced one 10k just coming back from a cranky hip, and I did… okay (about 10:30/mile). I did one tri on a minimal amount of training (mid-Aug through end of Sept), replicating my times almost exactly from the year before. So, I know what is needed to maintain these sports, at least!

Where I didn’t plan to venture was the trails. I did a hilly hot trail half marathon in June and a 25k in November. We hiked most of this – still getting the hang of running much on trails – but found it to be a fun challenge. Something different. Something less like “let’s go out and crush the competition” and more like “let’s go play in the woods and eat snacks and talk about random stuff for hours”. And I’m kinda liking the vibe of the latter in my life right now.

Either way, I felt directionless at the beginning of the year on sportslife and now I definitely have a map and a plan for 2025 that will make me happy and fulfilled.

#3 Adulting

Progress (expensive progress) was definitely made this year.

• I still haven’t actually cleaned out my dang fridge/freezer from January, and we didn’t lose power for 7 days like the new normal, so I wasn’t forced into it, but it’s on this holiday vacation’s goals. IT WILL HAPPEN.
• Bathroom remodels accomplished! It was a pain in the arse during the process (and we got the “pay the premium so they’ll minimize the time spent” Rebath service) but now I actually quite like spending time in my bathrooms, which sounds like a weird thing to say, but it’s true. Now my jetted tub isn’t a rust bucket and actually works! We have a very nice shower with a bench which I never knew I needed, but it’s the best. Most importantly, the walls are not falling apart. Check!
• The great office project is in progress. The most important thing – moving Joel into the spare bedroom – happened early in the year. The rest? Not really. But, we’ve started the process again over break and the retro gaming corner is set up in my office and next up is finishing that room and starting on making Joel’s not a disaster.
• The garage got cleaned out… and then immediately filled back up with storage from our work offices. Fitting the cars in the garage will be a March goal once we move into the new place.
• Not on the list but done: getting Joel’s dresser and closet usable again, some drawer and closet cleanouts for me (no idea why I had so many socks! and I cleared up like 50 hangers), some kitchen paring down (including the bar area) and organizing, and probably other stuff I’m forgetting.
• We figured out we don’t really need an accountant (now that tax stuff has stabilized) and I don’t think I framed anything (but we also decided we were moving offices, so was going to wait until after I get settled). However, we did get art for the guest bathroom and the vanity area of the bedroom, so I’m counting it!

Next year, I would love to continue the momentum I have right now, but I also realize this motivation came from a lot of staycation time already to relax, which only happens once a year. I’ll try setting some reasonable goals and establishing a habit (like, really, I can dedicate 2 hours a month to something, but I just don’t) but we’ll see if that happens.

#4 Staying Happy and Well-Rounded

Work/life balance went from a tenuous tightrope walk earlier in the year to pretty much no worries by the end, so I’m thrilled with that. I only traveled for work once, and I very much did not confuse working a convention for a few days with vacation. Here’s my guesses vs actuals from my travel plans in January:

• Somewhere for my birthday (YES). Vegas? (Nah, we just went camping at Canyon Lake)
• Bonaire in May (NO, but we went camping again instead)
• Krause Springs 4th of July? Check.
• Somewhere in EU after work travel in Sept, maybe a cruise? (we didn’t actually go to EU for work this year, so NO on this, but we did go to Vermont to go hiking instead)
• We had considered Bonaire again in December, but went on a Carribean cruise instead (to get our Diamond status on Royal Carribean before they raised the dang points again).

Even though it didn’t go as planned, I did pretty well with the goal to take some time for non-work travel once per quarter and I plan to do something similar in 2025. And for reals, do that dive trip in Bonaire.

Other goals:

• Finish book 3 and have a loose outline for the whole story – not quite. I really thought I might get this one when I started it in July but I lost a little steam in the second half of the year. I did put together a potential loose outline though! Guessing I can probably meet the goal of finishing book 4 (of probably 7?) next year though.
• I finished the dang Paris pictures! Hooray! On May 1st, actually. Then I made my way through a whole bunch of smaller projects and am honestly mostly caught up with my footage. Will I run out of footage before my next big vacation? Probably not, but it will be close, and that’s kinda cool.
• Painting? I haven’t really touched a paintbrush this year. Kind of sucks, but I’ve been focusing my hobby time elsewhere.
• I didn’t game as much as I intended to throughout the year, but I tend to play more in the winter (which had and is happening) and I kinda want to figure out what’s keeping me from playing more regularly. I do love playing handing the controller back and forth with a game on the TV. I think I’m just not into playing something on the PC while watching TV (love me some mono focus time) and we haven’t done much of that lately. Maybe a goal to do more of this next year?
• I absolutely slacked at guitar, to the point where I’m not sure I know all the songs I learned anymore. This winter will be a great time (since I’m full WFH for 2 months) to establish a routine where I play on WFH days.

All in all, it was a very productive, very weird, very unexpected year. It didn’t turn out as planned in a few regards, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I made some good habits which I will endeavor to keep, and some bad habits I’ll endeavor to break. But we’ll talk more about that after the rest of this lovely holiday.

Generally, I expect goals to take an agonizingly long time.

It’s pretty cool when they surprise you much quicker than you expect. It’s like when I thought I would need to spend a lot of time trying to qualify for Age Group Nationals back in 2018, and I went and qualified on my first race with that intent. This time, my goal was much less flashy but better for my long-term health, perhaps.

Hi, I am a SALT addict. Sugar, I can take or leave, but give me my salty, savory goodness or give me death (or even if it gives me death?). Even so, I actually did the thing where I stopped salting my food. Weirdly enough, within a few days, it didn’t really bother me. Within a week, I was like, “holy hell, I was putting EXTRA salt on this before?” Last week, I went to Olive Garden and the soups were deliciously salty (and in the past I would have considered putting some salt in them if no one would catch me and make fun of me). I still think fries need to be saltier than they are, but my tastebuds have quickly jumped in line with the rest of humanity otherwise.

I’m eating more fruit (at least one serving a day, sometimes two) either in a smoothie or some watermelon or berries to snack on. I’m eating a giant salad either for breakfast or a snack most days. I broke and had a hot pocket one day after having a little bit too much fun the night before and it was… not as good as I remembered. I ate one crappy lean cuisine protein micro meal (for dinner because I’m an adult and it sounded good, and I’d already had my fruit and veg for the day and wanted something small) and it also did not need the salt I had been adding to it previously.

So, a few weeks of this and what has it done?

Oh, and also-

This, coupled with actually being pretty proactive with calorie counting (either before or hours, not days later) is really helpful for progress. Adding up my over/under on calories, I’m currently about 300 over my plan for the whole month so far. The last week has been a little challenging with activity since I was resting a cranky ankle (which has paid off – I’m running again without pain!), but 300 is pretty small margin of error per day over a month, so I’m going to call it a success.

And, of course, in the midst of some momentum, I’m about to go on a cruise and then land face-first in the holiday season. So, here’s some goals.

• Basically, keep doing what I’m doing. Track what I eat proactively. Increase activity on days I know I’m going to eat more. Giant veggie-filled salad and lots of variety of veggies throughout the day. Some fruit. Don’t go ham on the other stuff. Even ham.
• As per ush – the holidays are specific days, not a full month+. Celebration days can be balanced with extra activity. Small holiday treats are also fine to be part of a balanced diet, again, just have to go back to the first order of business – actively tracking and balancing the calorie checkbook with activity.
• Do this the best I can on the cruise, too. I have successfully LOST weight on a cruise before, and I don’t dare to dream of that, but I can calm my ish on stuffing my face uncontrollably and hopefully arrive home in similar condition to how I left. Remembering my strategies to do this…
  • Unless it’s a diving day, a VERY small breakfast with just enough to get to lunch. I don’t enjoy most breakfast food much (especially in a buffet type situation), and my best bet is to eat as little as possible.
  • For buffet lunch, ONE plate, mostly veggies, with a few other fun stuffs too. The desserts aren’t worth it.
  • If we end up skipping/missing real lunch and getting snacks – as healthy and as small as possible since dinner is at 5 if we go to the dining room
  • I figure we will go to the dining room most days, so if we do, no real limits here besides don’t stuff myself. No doubling up on meals. If there’s something I want that I don’t get, I’ll put it on the mental list to order or make at home.
  • Just because it’s there doesn’t mean I have to take advantage of it. Snacks, late night pizza, etc etc.

And, yeah, that’s about it. I think I’ve established pretty good habits the last few weeks and the metrics are showing it working. I just need to keep on keepin’ on.

As for activity/training/moving my arse:

Can’t complain. 11-14 hours with a “stepback” week after the race of almost 9 hours? Okay, fine.

We also completed a 25k and had this to say about it on the social medias:

Crazy week, not awesome sleep, and everything felt broken this morning, but off we went! The course was gorgeous, the weather was pleasant (if a little warm at the end), and though I (and my ankle) kinda hate rocks with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, we made it happen.

I did learn how to run with my new hiking poles and learned the lesson that I should always check if the liquid going in my camelback is warm (because that was my biggest whine the last 4 miles). I think with a sit, cold refreshing liquids, and some more nutrition (they were starting to bring out the hot foods for the longer races) I coulda gone a little further, but there’s much more time on feet training needed before I even think about going out for double the distance. I’m excited for it, though!

We were only not DFL by the one person we passed right at the end (but ahead of the 10-12 people that DNF’d), but we did what we set out to do. Yay!

Elsewise, I hit 3x week weights minus ONE session early in the month, and I’m also back to the gym mixing it up 1-2x week instead of doing the same stale sessions at home. I’ve been running 2-3x week (mostly 2) and I have DESIRED to run more, I took it easy on the cranky ankle. Because I didn’t push it earlier in the week when it felt “fine”, I was able to get out over the weekend and do a very pleasant 5-miler with no pain or discomfort instead of running through niggles. Patience that is not in the form of persistence is not always my strong suit, but maybe I’m gaining some wisdom in my old age. 🙂

December, after vacation, is going to be about ramping up a little more. I’d like to run 10 road miles by NYE and I’d like to have a 20-mile trail run/walk in the bank by then as well. The weather and our schedules should be decent to get some time on feet. I’d like to be running 3x week with one long(ISH). I’d like to get at least 2 really long hikes ramping closer to our 50k goal. Weights are still on the menu and so is doing them at the gym as much as possible.

Biking and swimming? See you in the spring.

As for all the other hobbies? Most have been out of focus. I haven’t really touched my book. You know when you’re just feeling burnt out about a thing and the idea of doing it just makes you recoil? Yeah, I’m there right now, and I really don’t know why because I love to write, and I was in the flow with the story (mostly just frustrated about the lack of time to write) and super enjoying myself and then all of a sudden it felt like WORK. I realized this and I went ahead and gave myself a pass until after the cruise. I need some time to clear my head and relax before this sounds fun and really, I’m doing this for fun so it should be fun, not a chore.

I HAVE been rocking through photo editing! I finished all the spring stuff, and now I have a few sets of fall stuff including Seattle, which I will very likely finish (or close) before I go on vacation. That leaves the backlog as just Vermont, and now a set of underwater photos from Jan 2023 I found while unearthing my diving camera… so I’m back at a place with a manageable backlog of photos to edit. So I DEFINITELY need to go take more!

I played my guitar a few times. I need to prioritize this because some of the songs in my “learned” column took a little bit to suss out what the notes/chords are. So, I want to make the goal to play 3x week in December (which should be easy since I’ll be home more).

Adulting. I have a lot of December goals once we get closer to vacation. Like, many of the things we talked about earlier in the year (the great office setup for both of us, fixing Joel’s broken dresser which now makes the closet unusable, making the garage able to be used by cars again, etc). November was not a goose egg though. I will say that we got some old work stuff out of the attic, we finally recycled some electronics, and we got some of my photos printed on canvases and hung in the guest bathroom and our vanity area, and I’m making some progress in cleaning out my office.

Alrighty, last month of the year, gogogo!

• Continue doing what I’m doing with fruits, veg, less salt, and actively tracking my food
• Continue activity as normal while increasing run/hike distances
• Pick writing my book back up after vacation
• Play guitar so you can remember all your songs!
• Make time for some bigger house projects once the workyear winds down

But first, some time to relax and get away… are we there yet?

I’m just a girl, standing in front of a weather forecast, wishing it would finally be fall.

Looks like I’ll get my wish tomorrow but holy heck, it’s been a hell of a hot-tober. I’m super glad I’m not marathon training – just 25k training, which is also trails and mostly walking, so that’s not as bad, but still feels bad to be sweating your ass off on Oct 25th when it climbs into the 90s mid-day on the hike.

Besides whinging about the weather, let’s catch up, shall we?

In terms of being of sound mind and body-

I got a female things checkup, and all looks good. Much better than the last few years. While I prefer to solve things without medication, and I’m still figuring out how to be productive and competitive without harnessing the power of anger, I do appreciate being a calmer human being even outside of my pills taking care of the actual problems they were intended to solve. I have a preventative regular checkup and a preventative dermatologist skin check scheduled in January as well. Yay, adulting.

Speaking of adulting, the last few times I’ve visited the doctor or dentist, I’ve had inconsistent (and sometimes high) blood pressure readings. I wrote it off as white-coat syndrome, but I figured I should do some due-diligence on it to make sure. And… it’s kind of inconsistent at home too. Sometimes normal, sometimes a few points over normal, and one day it was super high.

Let’s go back to the place where I REALLY don’t want to have to take medication if I don’t have to. So – my goal over the next 3 months is to bring my blood pressure back down to consistently normal and I spent some time researching how to do that. This made me take a real good look at the thing I’m most willing to change – and seems like will make the most impact – my diet. I started thinking about it over the summer, but I didn’t really follow through. If I can be honest with myself, my diet has gone from super high quality to pretty poor over the last 5 years and maybe just calorie counting isn’t enough to stay healthy and feel good.

So, here we go:

• SALT. Holy crap, I eat a lot of salt already and my tastebuds are calibrated for me to want to add more. Totally works when I’m crushing long distance training in the heat. Doesn’t really right now. I started looking in despair about how to do a low salt diet and Joel suggested what his doctor suggested – start with not adding any. Goal is to not add salt to anything that’s already processed. If I make a potato into wedges in the air fryer – I can add (a little) salt. I can’t add salt to a frozen dinner that’s already 50% of my daily value. I’m not proud to admit I do this, but… I do.
• DIET QUALITY. I used to eat really healthy. Like, so many veggies, some fruits, whole grains, lean protein, some nuts/legumes, all the good stuff. I even tracked it, which made me generally eat very healthy so I could accommodate some splurges (which decreased my points) and still stay above a certain range. I can’t find the damn scale, so I’m going to START with more general goals:
  • Reintroduce fruit into my life. This week, I’ve got watermelon (which increases potassium, which is good for blood pressure) and blueberries (I don’t eat much in the blue/purple categories these days). If I don’t have a smoothie in the morning, I need some fruit in my afternoon snack. 1-2 servings a day
  • All the veggies. Salad for breakfast (unless I have a smoothie, then salad as an afternoon snack). Extra veggies with the prepared healthy meals (e.g. extra frozen peas with my cacio y pepe Snap Kitchen pasta). Fewer prepared meals so I can get different vegetables (e.g. making my own chicken pasta with spinach and asparagus vs the same peas in my cacio every time).
  • Eating my processed low calorie foods (hot pockets and frozen meals) very infrequently and not repurchasing them once they are gone.
• Aim for 1500 calories 5x week, up to 2000 calories 1x week, up to 2500 calories 1x week (long day). There’s very few days I get fewer than 300 activity calories (maybe 1-2 days a week when I just take a short walk) spreading out the deficit will help me not have to starve those days. 1500 is doable when I’m eating healthy with no splurges. 2000 is doable with a small splurge. 2500 is very doable for days I do 1000+ calorie long workouts and if I need to stretch it a little I will (e.g. I burned 1500 on my 14 mile hike last weekend I may stretch that to like 2700).

I’ll try this for November and see how things are going. Besides the BP normalization, I’d really like to come into the end of January at least under the “obese” range (179.9 for me). I’m much fitter than the average bear and carry way more muscle so I’m smaller size-wise, but it’s still that convo with the doctor that I’d love to not have to have. So, goals! Let’s go!

Let’s ignore the fact that we’re heading into the holiday season and I’m going on an 8-day cruise. We’ll make it work. I’ve done it before!

Where I’m doing great is moving my ass. My doctor asked, “are you exercising” and I just said “yes” but um… yeah, I’m walking like 9+ hours a week and running 2-3x week and lifting weights 3x week. I think that qualifies.

Hikes and runs will just continue to progress over the next few months to be longer, so hopefully that will help in the above quest. This is the easy part for me, especially now that I’m done with triathlon for the year and can get out the door on my own two feet (either moving quickly for a run or slower for a walk) there’s no real friction, unlike prepping for riding bikes or getting to a pool to swim. And… it’s finally starting to be temperate enough for walks or even runs whenever (not just at crack of dawn or after dark) so that will help so, so, so much.

I wish now this showed walking, because that’s a lot of my activity these days, but check the hour totals on the weeks:

My worst week was 9.5h activity, best two were 11.5h. It’s like back when I was half ironman training, but less intense. Which is great for not eating like I’m a trash compactor.

Goals this month:

• I did DECENTLY at weights but I do see two weeks where I only did 2x week not 3. There should be no excuse in November as long as I time leg day far enough away from long hikes (oops last week, killer leg day Fri + 14 mile hike Sat = Sunday NOFUNDAY). And I’m going to try to get to the gym for at least two of them per week. I can do it at home, but my workouts stagnate and I get better quality workouts at the gym.
• We are doing a 25k (15.6 mile) race (let’s call it a hike) on Nov 16! Goal again is to simply complete it, maybe do a little bit of running but mostly hiking.
• Start working my 2-3x week runs (let’s be fair, it’s looking like 2x week above) up in distance a bit. 3 miles is easy before work, but I’d like to extend one of them longer at least every other week.

Longer term, we are targeting a 50k (31.1 miles OMG) in March, and we need to get both our mileage and speed up (we won’t complete it in the time allotted if we just walk it). So, over the winter we’ll increase our road running distance to 13-15 miles (also, I’d like to race at least one half marathon if not some other road races), increase our long hikes to… maybe marathon distance (I need to look up a 50k training plan) and incorporate run/walk intervals into some hikes. But, for now, just want to get through the race and keep slowly building distance in both runs and hikes and start smashing the two together.

On the non-health related stuffs… I cleaned out a drawer. Yay! I did a thing. It’s truly on Joel when he wants to start his projects so I’m not pushing him. But I’m trying to pick one small thing in my stuff to clean out each week so I can make small incremental progress there. I also feel like I adulted by doing doctor stuff and trying to fix my diet so I’m not going to put a crapton of pressure on myself to do more.

In the book, I’m at 33k words (so 10k in the last month), but some are notes. I haven’t had that much focused quiet time to write lately, either due to schedule stuffs or Joel wanting to do other stuffs or just not having the brain to do stuffs when I have the time. It’s ok. I’d like to, if nothing else, make all the words I have into first pass writing instead of notes. December will be a great time to make words, and maybe I won’t have my whole draft of book 3 done by end of year, but I shouldn’t be that far off either!

I had a month where I was just unenthused with photo editing. I pretty much took a month off and just posted spookywalk photos with crappy insta filters. My goal is the same as October, get through random spring stuff and Seattle before I leave for vacay, so I’m only one vacation behind!

I didn’t pick up my guitar. Ah well. Maybe next month. Also, I asked Joel to fix my/his/my electric since something is wrong with it. It’s one of those little speedbumps (I have two other guitars) keeping me from doing things.

So, November:

• Eat more veggies and fruit, no adding salt to salty things (and take my blood pressure consistently)
• Complete a 25k and increase distance on long walks and runs, maintain 3x week weights
• Get my notes into real words
• Edit some photos
• Clean out a few small things or help Joel clean out his bigger things.

Now that the weather is going to start cooperating, I feel like almost anything is possible!

Consider this the most phoned in update ever, so I can continue to get one update per month out. Let’s go!

I spent most of August and early September eating and drinking my way through Vermont, Austin, Seattle, and Sacramento. I sorta kinda tracked my food, sometimes. To no one’s surprise, after I started weighing daily, I’ve noticed I’ve gained a few lbs this summer. I’m not upset about it. But I’m now I’m trying to reverse the trajectory – I am actively tracking each day, and this week I’ll really start to adhere to my limits.

October temperatures changing means getting out to walk more is much easier and also, it’s possible to do outdoor workouts that aren’t first thing in the morning, so I have high hopes my activity level will increase. I also plan to back off the prepared meals a bit. These meals are around 500 calories each (give or take), and with a 200-300 calorie breakfast, that’s what I’m trying to eat in a day before additional activity calories. That makes me cranky. That doesn’t satisfy me. I can make much more filling meals (read: tons of veggies) for fewer calories and can add a giant salad back to my afternoon snack rotation, so I should feel fuller and achieve more of a deficit without the grumps (or at least as many of them).

As for activity, not terrible minus a few hiccups:

I traveled for work (and then family stuff) Aug 29-Sept 4, so workout time was limited. I felt like I was coming down with something after we got home (and half the people we were around got sick too). My tactic was to aggressively sleep, which actually worked, and normal activity resumed the week after.

I feel reasonably good enough about my race prep the rest of the month though. I got two open water swims, both felt great (if not fast). I got two outdoor brick workouts on the TT bike, and the first one was a little dodgy but the second was great.

How did it go? This is what I posted on socials this weekend:

I slept very poorly the night before but my good sleeps this week and caffeine made up for it. That and the cooler weather (50s to start, OMG) meant I was raring to go!

The warm water felt sooooo good after freezing my butt off. I took it comfy and slow, finding feet to draft behind when I could. About the same pace as last year (2:15/100) but my heart rate was so much lower out of the water. I just felt refreshed and warmed up. I was able to jog up the hill and transition was almost a minute quicker than last year.

I have been wondering why my outdoor bike times have been slower recently and this week I realized I still had the emergency Gatorskin tires I bought in 2022 the day before the X-50 because my race ones fell apart and that’s all they had. Oops. This is what happens when Triathlon is an afterthought. My bike also hasn’t been serviced since then so this goes on the winter to do list.

Regardless, I had a very nice, smooth, no stress bike (albeit growling a bit at the speeds) where I felt super comfortable even on the crowded course and only sucked a little wind rolling uphill both laps. I finished right around last year’s time (18mph, 46 and change). T2 also went a little faster than last year and I definitely felt more ready to run.

My legs didn’t feel awesome but I let them get under me and warm up until I was clipping along decently. Passed @jetsers going the other way and he was looking strong too! Yay! With my lack of any speed training, I felt ill-equipped to really tuck into the pain cave, I don’t really know my limits right now and I’d rather finish strong than blow up. I tried to push the last half mile but I didn’t have much of a kick and finished pretty much exactly how I did last year – 32 and some change for 3.2 miles.

1:40:30 last year. 1:40:28 this year. I’m nothing if not consistent and hey, 2 second faster!

1:39:11 would have gotten me 3rd in my age group, I got 8th/22 instead. A properly serviced bike with race tires and/or a little bit more oomph on the run will get me there. Maybe next year!

A few days later, I feel the same way. Now that they don’t put age groups on the back of our calves, I have no idea who I need to run down so it’s back to competing with myself. That’s probably better for me in my current mindset and focus. I’m truly happy it went as well as it did, and I think 10% more focus on triathlon next year (a little more specific training and taking care of my gear) will help me close the gap. Instead of limping into and/or after the race like previous years, I was able to wake up feeling great the next morning and go on a 6-mile hike. Does that mean I could have pushed harder? You betcha. Does that make me sad? Not really. I don’t know where my edges are, and until I explore that in practice, I don’t want to extend beyond them and blow up.

Outside of triathlon, I’ve kept up with strength work since I’ve been back from Vermont. It’s mostly at home and I feel like I’m maintaining vs GAINS but that’s totally fine for my focus and the effort I’ve been putting in. In October, we’ll resume our gym adventures, longer hikes, longer runs, but I also want to remember that indoor bikes are a great way to get activity when I need something time-efficient for activity and/or when the weather sucks.

We did some small adulting tasks this month. Does cleaning out the beer fridge count? Well, we did that. We also finally replaced our dryer after 2 months of air drying our clothes. Next month, we have some bigger stuff to do:

• Joel’s dresser drawer broke the night before we went to Vermont. It’s still just sitting in the closet, making pretty much all of it unusable. We need to see if we can fix it, if not, purchase a replacement. This entails a lot of unearthing of said surfaces due to stacked shelves so it’s a bit of a project.
• We need to start part 2 of the great office move/situation. We need to clean out both offices of non-office things, figure out how to get a murphy bed installed so it CAN be a place to sleep very occasionally but is normally usable space, and a lot of other logistics. This is the big fall project.

As for fun stuff

• I’ve finished editing the two camping trips earlier in the year and am next moving onto the next two small projects (random stuff from earlier in the year hikes and Seattle/Sacramento). That will leave me with JUST Vermont to do in later months.
• I am making great (if not consistent) progress in my book. I’m about 22k words already, even though I haven’t had time to work on it each weekend. This one is about where in the campaign I went from “eating snacks and cracking jokes” to “Captial I” Invested once the campaign went to a setting that was familiar to me (and made my brain start turning in a lot of different ways in different aspects of my life).

I’d like to set a goal to pick up my guitar this month again before I forget how to play it. I haven’t been painting and while I’d be sad about that, writing is taking most of my hobby time, and that’s OK! I shouldn’t chide myself for how I spend my productive hobby time (as long as I’m spending it doing something creative vs just doomscrolling). I’m behind on travel blogs but if it’s between that and being motivated to do book stuff, I’ll always do book stuff.

So, October!

• Track food, weigh, and actually stay under my calorie range. Trying to get back to cooking more so I can accomplish this better than small/not-filling healthy prepared meals. This is actually my biggest focus this month so I’m bolding it!
• Lift (back to the gym!), hike, run, stairstepper, and bike when it sounds fun/convenient for exercise. Go do some longer hikes this month to assess if we can reasonably be ready for a 25k next month.
• Progress on the adulting list (Joel’s dresser, start working on the great two-office set up project)
• Write, pick up my guitar and tune it, and keep editing photos