Adjusted Reality

My parents love to go on cruises. Like, a lot of cruises.

They love the ships, the food, the entertainment, but they do not care about the ports in the slightest. So, they’ve occasionally just gone on back-to-back shorter cruises if it’s worked out for them schedule/pricewise even if they just visit the same places twice. They asked us if we wanted to go on a back-to-back as the family vacation this year, so we set sail on the Grandeur of the Seas twice last month!

If you’ve been around here, you may have read a few cruise recaps since it’s the family vacation of choice, so I’ll stick to the interesting and unique stuff about this particular jaunt to Mexico and then Mexico again.

The Grandeur of the Seas is a VERY SMALL ship in comparison to most sailing these days. I do love the big floating cities with 20 different restaurants and 30 different bars and 15 different entertainment venues, but it was also nice to have some simplicity. You could obtain food in the buffet, the poolside grill, and the dining room. There were 6 bars open on the whole ship and probably about that many entertainment venues. It removed a lot of the decision fatigue. If you were hungry at noon, there were two choices (buffet or dining room).

Since we had more sea days than port days, we settled into our normal cruise rhythm. Right around sunrise, I’d wander out of bed and take some pictures from the balcony, then crawl back into bed and read/sleep until Joel was up too. Then, we’d head to the gym most mornings to do 30+min cardio and some lifting/stretching. It was a point of pride for us that we hit the gym every single day that we weren’t in port. It may sound laaaaaame, but we really do enjoy working out, especially when we’re not rushed.

I aimed to skip most breakfasts, occasionally I’d snack on something and Joel would grab a small plate of eggs. That typically meant that we were ready for lunch right when the buffet opened, so we’d meet my parents and partake of whatever goodness was there. I kept with my plan and started with a salad and then had no more than another plate of food. Wasn’t always the healthiest (e.g. one day that was nachos) but it kept the portions in check.

There was no card room, so we ended up playing in the solarium (adults only enclosed pool area) instead. I *LOVED* this because it wasn’t cold, it was right next to the drink station so I could stay full of tea, coffee, or water without having to go on shipboard adventures to do so, and I got to be outside instead of in an interior room with no windows. It was right next to the cafe that was open afternoons, and that meant an OCCASIONAL snack, but I resisted most days.

Sometimes, there’d be a nap or extra reading time in there, and sometimes when the clock hit 7 we’d go see the nightly show, but we played A LOT of cards – 14 games total over 9 days.

We opted for late dinner, which meant we ate at 8pm and with multiple courses, finished around 930-10pm. Again, my goal was to splurge here only when it was worth it. I mostly avoided fried foods unless it sounded OMG AMAZING MUST HAVE, stopped eating when I felt super full, and split desserts with Joel every night. I did fall in love with their French Onion soup and ended up with that and shrimp cocktail for many appetizers. Their simple chicken plate was actually REALLY good, and after a conversation with the Maitre-D about Indian food, we had a stretch of three nights where they made us tiki masala and magic wings off the menu (some of the best I’ve had!).

With earlier wakeups and late dinner, we didn’t make it out to do anything after dinner during the whole cruise. I think we may have finished some of a bottle of wine on the balcony whilst reading ONCE, but typically we just crashed into bed with our books and fell asleep digesting. After talking with the fam, we all felt pretty gross eating so much so late, so we’re going to try early dinner again next cruise.

There were four breaks in the sea day routine – Costa Maya (Friday), Cozumel (Saturday), disembarkation/embarkation day (Monday), and Cozumel redux (Wednesday).

Costa Maya was a bit of a bust (well, as much of a “bust” as it can be with views like that). The seas were too rough to do the dive, and since we didn’t book our excursion through the ship, we didn’t find out until we got there. They did offer a snorkeling trip in a little protected cove area for really cheap, and since going in the ocean is always > not going in the ocean, we signed up.

The trip was not the best snorkeling of our life. It featured poor visibility, fighting strong current the entire time, and since we had to wear life jackets (for damn good reasons), there was no swimming down to get pictures. However, we did get to see two eels fighting and the bigger one devour the smaller one, so that was something, even if photographic evidence was pretty spotty.

With a storm rolling in, we weren’t too sure about our diving prospects in Cozumel the next day either. There wasn’t enough interest to do the official ship dive (it was mostly college kids), so we were on our own. We called our favorite dive shop in the morning as soon as we docked and they said dives were happening, so back to Dive Paradise in the Hotel Cozumel resort we went!

We got two solid back-to-back morning dives in, though we both felt like we were swimming in place against the current at times. When we surfaced, the yellow flag on the shore had been replaced with the red flag, so the port was closed and no more dives were allowed for the day. Before we noticed the chane, we were debating between Dive #3 and a cerveza, and that made the decision super easy!

I wasn’t sure how it would feel to go on two back-to-back cruises instead of one single longer one. In some cases, it was a bit of a hassle – we didn’t get the same room for the second cruise so we had to pack and unpack twice. We still had to be up and out of our room by 8am. We had to do a very quick walk through customs and registration again, but we were one of 30 people instead of one of thousands, so it went super quick. Besides all that, it was kinda neat. We got to see two different groups of people enjoying the ship and each had a different vibe. We got two different “first days” of the cruise and the first last day didn’t count at all. Going to Cozumel twice in one week was sort of novel as well.

Speaking of, we had much better weather on the second outing, and two more phenomenal dives. Since we’ve been back to Hotel Cozumel and Dive Paradise so many times in the last four years, that resort just kinda feels like home away from home now. We did regret missing out on the beautiful blue open water you only experience from a boat dive, but there’s just so much to see right off the shore and tanks only cost 12$ each.

Disembarkation was so quick with such a small ship (we took our time and were some of the last people off the ship around 9am and were driving home about 9:30am). Our only inconvenience was a flat tire in Houston, but we were able to spend an extra hour reading our books on the side of the road and then roadside assistance fixed us right up.

After 9 days, we were ready for own bed, our own food, to set up the pool, and apparently for all of us… to get sick. I did see it coming. Masks were optional, which meant that Joel and I were one of maybe ten people on the whole ship besides the crew that were wearing them, and we didn’t wear them while working out. The buffet was self-service, with plenty of finger food, so pretty much if anyone had Covid on that ship, it was spreading. I’d prefer not to repeat the experience next time we travel, so we’ll have to think on how we can be more careful.

Sometimes you make plans and the universe laughs at them.

Just ONE day after laying out this plan, Joel started feeling awful. The next day, my father tested positive for Covid, and the day after, so did my husband. While I tested negative at first and did everything I could not to get it (wearing masks in the house, sleeping in separate bedrooms), it wasn’t to be and on Wednesday night I got a scratchy throat and by Thursday afternoon I was just laid out sick.

Up until last Thursday, I was following my plan nicely, but after that, it’s been a goose egg, and that’s intentional.

Last Thursday and Friday, I really just felt low energy and brain-foggy to go along with my scratchy throat and decided to go to the doctor to ask about any options, and also to get a test for sure. She talked with me about the possibility of doing some medication and also an antibody infusion because I asked about them, but then didn’t recommend them for me (unknown side effects for likely no benefit for the former, and my risk factors were so low it was unlikely I’d get the latter). She sent me home with orders not to exercise for 10 days (and no intense exercise for 14 days after that), advice to take a multi w/zinc, 1000 IU Vitamin D, and 500 mg Vitamin C 3xday. She offered a prescription cough medicine, which I declined, as Nyquil has never not done its thing for me.

My goal was to aggressively rest/sleep through the weekend to get healthy as quick as possible, but my plans were foiled by a VERY painful sore throat to the point where I had no voice. I couldn’t sleep unless I was sitting up or – this is lovely – the snot would run down the back of my throat and make it feel like knives were stabbing me, so I was napping in 15–30-minute segments which is OBVIOUSLY not optimal for recovery. Or anything, really. NOTE TO SELF: always get the dang cough medicine, even if you don’t use it.

We called back on Monday and got that rectified, it cost me all of 2.01$ to fulfill. I “went” to work that day (in my home office) and told everyone I had no voice and I was going to push off most meetings, which actually afforded me a nice quiet day to get some stuff done. I had no intention on staying the whole day, but I felt good, and it was actually relaxing to dig into work and put together a plan. I approached every day last week the same way, ready to bounce out if I felt bad, but I never did.

However, the brain fog was REAL. The lack of sleep inflated the problem, sure, but this was… bad. I had no choice but to play my league Bloodbowl game last Sunday and it was like swimming through mental soup to try and figure out how to even move the pieces on the board let alone strategize. I don’t lose very often these days, and certainly don’t lose 4-1. Monday, I found that if I could focus on ONE thing, I was awesome. The minute something else appeared in my viewfinder… first thing goes *POOF*. I am typically excellent at keeping a multitude of plates spinning. Early last week, I’d start spinning one plate, and then when I had to spin the next one, the first one just didn’t exist anymore. I was an interesting conversation partner, easily distractable, but hopefully at least amusing at my most “Squirrel” times. It all got a bit better later in the week but I’m still not feeling quite as sharp as normal.

It hasn’t been all bad though. First of all, I wasn’t able to eat much with the sore throat and was DEFINITELY not drinking during this escapade. Even now, I have very little appetite (because I’m not really doing anything) so the June trend line is looking… a verra nice.

Second slice of happiness: it’s been an excuse to slow the eff down. For the last week, we’ve been in the pool every day and started walks again on Wednesday – extra vitamin D to hopefully shorten our convalescence. Without the ability to be quite as megamanaical in all facets of life, I’ve just kind of given myself permission to do a little less this month, and that feels nice. Don’t get me wrong, I LIKE doing a lot, but it’s a refreshing break to be okay with less for just a little while.

So, today we are set to test again later today and that will determine how we proceed into next week. If’n we’re negative and resume all plans as schedule, it’s a busy one. We’ve got chiropractor and massage appointments and want to go back to the office and play in our D&D game and we’re hosting a family gathering on Saturday and we’re itching to get back to the gym and strength training with the trainer. If’n we’re still positive, then almost all of that drops off and life waits one more week. Whew, after listing all of that out… not sure which result I’m rooting for (obviously negative as I’d like to have the choice, but still…).

No matter what, the ten-day exercise ban ends tomorrow, and I’m ready for it. I aim not to overdo it, but I’m ready to get back on the bike (inside, at low intensity), continue walking, and make some use of the swim treadmill on the lower settings for short segments. I’m ready to get back to at least 3xweekly weights sessions even if I keep it a little light for the first week or two. I’ve spent so much time on the couch/in bed that I know my body could use some stretching so that will be on the plan next week fer shure.

I’ve done a pretty bang-up job not eating like a complete jerk over this ordeal, and the goal will be to start tracking again tomorrow to keep it that way. I don’t want to starve myself because I’m still not 100%, but once I get back to normal daily life, I want to make sure that line keeps going the right direction as quickly as possible!

I’m incredibly happy that I was able to avoid Covid for about 2 1/2 years, and will continue to take precautions not to get it again as much as possible, but thankfully, my experience was mild. We’ll see what the long term effects are (fingers crossed for none!) but I’m thrilled to be over the hump of the sickness and on the mend. Now it’s my mission to NOT EFF IT UP.

Sometimes you know you need a vacation but gosh you don’t know HOW MUCH you needed a vacation until about halfway through.

10 days off – really and truly off – as in we didn’t even really talk or scheme much about work at all beyond poking our nose into work chat a few times to observe (and warm fuzzies about everyone handling things so well while we were out!). I feel like my patience and perspective have been restored. All the time away was very much needed, I had a great and relaxing time, and I actually worked on establishing some good habits including waking up REALLY early most days (6-7am), hitting the gym every day I wasn’t diving/snorkeling and doing strength and stretching sessions daily.

Soon, there will be a post about our vacation, but first I’d like to look beyond. #projectraceweight starts today. Yep, Saturday. This is how I roll.

I have had trouble prioritizing things over work lately. That is in and of itself a thing I need to work on, but for now, I’m just going to use it to my advantage instead of trying to fight against it. There’s a work thing that is more than tentatively planned for the end of August, which could mean meeting a lot of new people and likely some press/interviews. For many reasons – most importantly the confidence that looking my best gives me – there is now a work-related reason and a deadline for me to work on #projectraceweighttakefour

So, I’ve got 88 days. I’ve set a very ambitious goal of 20 lbs. This is a “shoot for the moon, end up among the stars” situation that I don’t expect to hit, but I’d like to approach. This is still a safe rate of loss for me (up to 2 lbs/week), though it’s aggressive. It’s up to my tolerance to push as hard as I can without cracking. Now that this is 100% my highest priority (ahead of training for races, even though I am still doing that), I shall pen a reminder to myself on what the next 88 days will entail:

#1 30 mins cardio per day (5-7 days a week)

The cruise proved to me that if I can wake up at sunrise and make time for (and actually super enjoy) 30 mins/day of cardio, there’s just no reason I can’t find 30 mins every day at home to move my arse. When this starts to sound hard, here’s a reminder to future me of all the things I can do to satisfy this goal without driving and/or leaving my neighborhood:

• Swim treadmill in the backyard pool
• Trainer ride indoors
• Put on your shoes and run
• Put on your shoes and walk
• Walk to the gym and do a spin class
• Walk to the gym and do the elliptical
• Walk to the gym and run on the treadmill
• Walk to the gym and swim in the crappy pool (and bring backup for something else if the lanes are taken)
• Walk to the gym and use some other machine for ish and giggles (stairmaster? why not?)

This doesn’t even include riding my bike outdoors, swimming in the nicer pools or lake that are a short drive/bike ride away, or whatever other class/equipment options Lifetime fitness has. This here is my lazy list. I can be arsed to do one of these things for 30 mins a day. I *may* have some designs on using some of these sessions to get faster (let me whisper the word speedwork into the universe and see what happens), but the one and only REQUIREMENT is to do them.

#2 1-3x week trainer gym sessions (3x week lifting)

We paused our trainer sessions at the beginning of the year because vacation, then covid was rampant, then race training took precedence, then vacation again, and now FINALLY it’s time to get back to it. We’ll be going at least once a week starting next week, possibly more (depending on whether the sessions expire 1 year after we bought them, I am unclear on this), and aiming to lift whether it’s with our trainer or solo 3x week.

These strength sessions include, non-optionally, a stretch and roll. Stretching daily on vacation made my body feel so much better. It’s not hard, it’s just… haaaaaaaard to get myself to plop down on a mat after a long day instead of the couch. From my vacation-rested perspective, this sounds sooooo stupid. But I know how things feel when I’m knee deep in it. It would be neat to stretch daily, do some extra ab work on off days, and do other recovery things daily. However, at minimum, I lift, stretch, and roll 3x week.

So, if we’re at the gym lifting, absolutely no reason we shouldn’t just knock out the cardio at the same time if all we need is 30 extra minutes. This takes care of three sessions per week. Then I just need to figure out the other days. No problem, because I have my low-effort list above to reference. Worst case, just like the cruise, I alternate between the bike and the elliptical for a bit (just like on vacation).

#3 Food, and tracking it

Nothing revolutionary shall be said here, and if you’re getting sick of reading it, I’m getting sick of SAYING it. I just need to DO IT:

• 4-5 days/week: 1200-1400 calories (1200+ a little bit more for exercise if needed)
• 1-2 days/week: 1500 calories (a little bit more on days I exercise intensely or just feel extra hungry)
• up to 1 day/week: up to 2000 calories (longer exercise/splurge day)

I’ll be tracking daily and aim that my weeks average out around 1400 cal/day.

I’m not going to impose any other restrictions, but to keep myself sane/not hungry at this level, I need to employ all my dirty calorie-saving tricks like:

• Eating spicy food usually satiates you for fewer calories
• Abusing the hell out of salads full of veggies and lite italian dressing, vegetables, chicken broth, and pickles as very low calorie but super filling snacks
• Being nitpicky about minor calorie additions (aka – my sandwich doesn’t neeeeed cheese or mayo, my salad doesn’t neeeeed croutons)
• Lots of zero calorie tasty beverages like fizzy water, tea, and an occasional diet soda if I want something sweet with flavor.

I also need to remember that the next three months on the hunger scale, I should be aiming for a max of 5 out of 10 (no longer hungry) vs any level of feeling “full”, and that being hungry is not an emergency to be avoided at all costs, it’s totally natural. And yes, yes, I know complex carbs, green plants, and lean proteins will fill me up on fewer calories than simple carbs, processed foods, and fatty meats, so of course I’ll trend towards the former. But… not in any exclusionary way. Calorie count is king, diet quality is merely its squire.

#4 *Grumble grumble something something less alcohol grumble grumble*

‘Tis the last priority on the list, I’d rather clean up everything else about my diet before this, but I could probably do away with fewer empty calories that take the form of my favorite brown liquid-y relaxant, bourbon.

Up to 3 nights per week, when the mood strikes, I’ll have a few drinks. I’d like to cut that down to up to 2 nights per week as long as that doesn’t mean I increase the number of drinks I have on those days to balance the scales (cramming the “fun” into fewer days). I am lucky that even at 43, I can easily have some drinks a few times a week and still get up in the morning and get on with my triathlete and work life – it takes a LOT for me to have a hangover that impairs my daily functions. So, it’s rare that cutting down on it crosses my mind.

However, my tolerance also means I ingest a lot of empty calories without any sort of satiety or nutritional benefit. Also, let’s be real – while I can get by, I’m not at peak performance those mornings so maybe an extra day of being 100% raring to go per week will benefit me in other ways.

Here we begin yet again. 88 days for 20 lbs. Let’s do this thing once more with feeling, shall we?

I have done it before

It only made me go a LITTLE crazy

I didn’t (quite) kill anyone

But it definitely changed my headspace

So, once more, onto the breach, and let’s see how my life changes this time in the next three months.

I’m back off my BS and had a pretty solid week!

I remembered to harness the power of the mornings and accomplished four morning workouts this week! I didn’t hit my exact plan, but here’s what we’re looking at:

• Monday: 30 min run, weights AM
• Tuesday: off
• Wednesday: 30 min run, weights AM
• Thursday: 30 min trainer ride AM
• Friday: 40 min walk
• Saturday: ~1 hour outdoor ride, 20 min lake swim
• Sunday: TBD, probably a walk, maybe some weights

Considering what I was up against the last month or two with almost nothing during the weekdays, I will take this any week in 2022!

Trying to reserve weekends for a while to get myself in the lake and outdoor bike rides. I can do brick workouts (since they’re short now!) during the week once I get back to it, this at least gets me out on the roads and in open water once a week.

Speaking of that calendar, notice I have a weight every day! I also found the site I used to track my trendweight and good news, it’s going down!

My trendweight went down 0.9 this week (from 191.8 to 190.9), which is very exciting. It’s also that fantastic time of the month where I’m extra bloaty, so I expect even more progress next week! While I didn’t make MUCH progress in the two months I effed off of tracking, I didn’t backslide.

I have tracked my calories every day for a week as well, and I’m averaging around 1600. Not terrible, I’m certainly not going to gain weight on that intake, but losses will be slow. When I get back from vacation, I’ll try to take that down a little bit, seems like the tipping point to really lose weight is when I can average under 1500/day. Considering my high weight in January was 9 lbs higher than my low weight this week, progress is happening. It’s just time to go quicker!

I am signed up for two races (since the Wurst Tri is still “coming soon”):

• 6/26 Lake PF Tri (sprint)
• 9/26 Kerrville (sprint)

And I’m keeping my eye out for more (possibly Marble Falls in late July), I’d just like to nail down my work travel schedule first so I don’t pay 100$ for a race I have to miss.

In other news, we finally cleaned out the pain cave and I got my bike desk set up last weekend. I only got to use it once this week but it’s sooooo nice to not have my laptop balanced precariously on top of my fan anymore. I *could* potentially take a meeting (that I was a secondary participant in) there now, but most likely it will just make watching Bloodbowl games much easier. 🙂

Week 1 down, if I can model them all after this one, I’ll be doing just fine!

Some of you are singing Hamilton now, and some of you are just wrong.

It is clear to me that I need some racing in my life for motivation to do something besides work and sit on my couch after work and play Bloodbowl. It’s also crystal clear that training for longer races right now is the height of folly. The dominos are starting to fall into place where I may downgrade my level of WOAH from bananapants to just busy this summer, and I’d like to enjoy that for a month or two instead of deciding my vacation of working 40 hours a week should be bookended by doubles and multi-hour training sessions.

So, sprints it is! I’m about to give the credit card a workout and sign up for:

• 6/26 Lake PF Tri (sprint)
• 9/26 Kerrville (sprint)
• 10/9 Wurst Tri Ever (sprint)

I had thoughts about wanting to do a longer distance at Kerrville but y’know what? I’m good with 60-90 minutes of pain right now vs 6-7 hours. My goal is to participate at Pflugerville for funsies, and then get serious about trying to race Kerrville and Wurst Tri. Well, as serious as one can get whilst starting the race descending a 2-story water slide, as that certainly adds some levity to the competition, heh.

How do I get there? Hey, remember all those big words about #projectraceweighttakefiftyorwhatever I had earlier in the year? Pitter patter (I need this shirt). It’s time to fully focus on this. If I do nothing more than maintain some level of cardio fitness, lift heavy things, and lose weight, this is probably the best training I can do for a sprint later this year.

So, if this sounds like more words about the same ol’ same ol’, it totally is. And obviously, I need to say ’em a few more times at least until I start doing them.

Tracking my food starts TODAY (and weighing starts tomorrow since I’ve already eaten). I initially said “Monday” but who gives a crap that it’s a weekend? Why wait longer to pursue my goals? From now until the end of the month (with a little break, you’ll see soon why I’m giving myself some leniency initially here) is to re-establish the habit and quantify my intake vs exercise and weight. I got on the scale on a random day in late April and it read 190.2, so that would make my trendweight go down… if I could find the damn site that I was tracking it on. Maybe I’ll just start over and make my own trendweight tracker, that way I’ll never lose it. Either way, thankfully I haven’t gained but there’s no more ignoring it.

Going forward, the workout plan is vague but the scheduling won’t be.

• 5x week 30+ mins of cardio
• 3x week weights session
• 3x week stretch/roll

This will be a fight of wants vs musts. Now that it’s all nice and summery out, what my doe-eyed self currently wants to plan is all manner of swimming in lakes and outdoor pools, outdoor bike rides, sunrise jaunts with my running shoes, spin classes, etc. Middle-of-the-day-Wednesday me, fighting with my to-do list, is probably going to get on the trainer for 30 mins exactly working from my phone half the time. And that’s okay. This plan allows for both methods to be valid ways to check the box. Move my arse for 30 mins? Check.

So, I’ll ask for the happy and settle for the mildly crappy. As of now, next week looks oddly sane. I won’t believe it yet, but it makes me think perhaps we can do such things as:

• Monday – weights AM, outdoor ride lunch
• Tuesday – trainer ride lunch
• Wednesday – run 2-3 miles, weights AM
• Thursday – off
• Friday – run 2-3 miles, weights AM
• Saturday or Sunday – outdoor bike ride, swim in the lake

However, could be:

• Monday – weights AM, trainer ride whenever
• Tuesday – trainer ride lunch
• Wednesday – weights AM, trainer ride whenever
• Thursday – off
• Friday – weights AM, walk after work
• Saturday or Sunday – trainer ride

…and that’s fine too. It just can’t be:

• Monday – oops
• Tuesday – oops
• Wednesday – oops
• Thursday – oops
• Friday – oops
• Saturday or Sunday – finally, we do something

So, why am I not hopping 100% in immediately? Well, we’re on vacation later this month. Another cruise (aka, floating cavalcade of food stuffs). My goal this time is to not look at this as “one last hurrah” before I really buckle down, but to start AHEAD of the cruise and eat like a reasonable human being and not be an arsehole.

All words I have said before, but bear repeating to remind myself:

• On sea days, snack size breakfast at most or skip entirely, and for lunch, one plate of food + a soup or salad
• On diving days, significant enough breakfast to fuel diving (somewhere between the snack and a full plate), and lunch when I get back
• One piece of bread with dinner, and try to err on the side of entrees that aren’t fried, creamy, or otherwise high calorie unless they seem like they’ll be really worth it
• One dessert per day, maximum
• Try to lay off the snackses. And if I need to have them, eat less at a meal.
• Gym every day that I’m not diving

And while I’m not going to track my food in the app (no internet), I’m going to log each day what I eat and bring the travel scale to keep myself in check. Notice I’m not mentioning alcohol. I don’t aim to go crazy or anything, and I plan to stick to lower calorie drinks like hard seltzers, wine, and whisky on the rocks, but it’s still vacation. 🙂

Then, when we return, back to the plan immediately (tracking, weighing, consistent exercise), which should just feel like normal, just a little bit of a reduction of portion sizes from vacation. It is time to create the habits that brought me to success before. While they may be more challenging to get started, start again I shall.

Time to get back to this again. It starts today! 🙂