New Year, Better Me? We'll see

[NicTheRugger]

Hi all,

 

So... that December challenge, huh? That was... yeah. It was a failure on my part. I don't think I did anything. But new year, right? It's 2020, it's the start of a new decade--and we're going to totally gloss over the horrible nightmare that is world events right now, and try to be optimistic. 

 

An update on what's going on in my life: work is still ridiculously busy. I love it though. I'm still in PT. I have 5 sessions left that are going to be stretched out from next week until the beginning of May. I'm making considerable progress, but I'm still experiencing pain. The good news is that the root of the problem is being addressed. It turns out that it's a problem originating in my lower back, and that is somehow impacting my knee. So my new PT exercises are a mix of lower back and hip strengthening and stretching in addition to the knee and leg stuff I was doing before. Because of that, I can also slowly start incorporating workouts back into my life. Nothing too extravagent, I'm not going to be picking up a barbell any time soon (tragically), but I can start working out again. While I can't do more than 5 body weight squats at a time, I'm hoping to work my way back up. In other news, I started 2020 with a sinus infection which is slowly starting to get better as well.

 

My goal for this challenge: be able to do the level 1A workout on the nerdfitness academy, be able to do a 1 mile jog without knee pain, read 2 books, and streamline my mornings (again!).

 

How am I going to accomplish this?

 

1. Every day, weather and health permitting, I will go for a minimum of a 5 minute walk. If the weather is too bad for me to walk outside, I should try to make it to a store or somewhere where I can walk around for at least 5 minutes. If the weather is too dangerous for me to leave the house safely, then I can take a pass. If I am too sick to walk, or my knee hurts too much, I will also excuse myself from the daily walk. There's no point in making myself worse in my attempts to get better.

 

2. Keep doing my mobility routines/PT exercises daily. Keeping up with my exercises will help me get better and move towards accomplishing my goals.

 

3. At least twice a week, do some sort of low-impact bodyweight exercise routine. My goal is to work my way up to the level 1A Academy routine, so I can try to do that routine biweekly. 

 

4. At least  3 times a week, I will do a yoga routine or stretching routine that is at least 15 minutes long. 

 

5. At least 3 times a week, do some sort of ab workout. My physical therapist told me that I should start doing core workouts again, because that will also help my recovery.

 

6. Make time to read at least 4 nights a week. I'm already halfway through my first book of the month, so finishing this one soon and moving onto a new one shouldn't be hard. It's my goal to read a minimum of 24 books in 2020.

 

7. Streamlining my mornings. I will admit, being sick for the past week and a half has been pretty miserable. It makes getting out of bed reallly hard when all I want to do is burrow deeper into my blankets and stay warm and cozy and pretend for a little longer that I don't have responsibilities. But there are a few things I can do to make my mornings more streamlined. 

                   a. Move my phone back to the other side of the room so I have to get up to turn off my alarm.

                   b. Take my work clothes out the night before

                   c. Plan or even make my lunch the night before (so long as my lunch isn't a sandwich, it can be made the night before)

These are small things but can definitely help me cut down on time that I waste in the morning.

 

This week I've made an attempt to do a bodyweight routine (still sick though, and could only make it through one set of the exercises), and have done one yoga session. I managed to walk yesterday and Monday, but need to take a pass today because it's both too icy for me to go outside and my knee pain is unusually high today. I'd rather try to stretch out those muscles so that I can try again tomorrow. I've rad for 2 nights already this week, and will likely finish my book my the end of this week. (It's a quick read.)  Let me know if you have any good book suggestions! I was thinking about revisiting a book I didn't finish last summer (or don't remember finishing) after that, and then moving on to Circe by Madeline Miller (if I can get it in a timely manner from my public library).  But I would love some more suggestions as to what I can read!

 

I still need to move my phone charger to the other side of the room tonight, as well as pick out my clothes for tomorrow. My lunch needs to be transferred to a travel dish for tomorrow (I'm having canned soup, which isn't the healthiest option, but considering I'm still sick, I'll take soup over just about anything), and I need to take my clothes out. It's going to be a cold day tomorrow, made even colder by the fact that it's going to be very windy, so I'm looking at something that involves my fleece-lined tights for work tomorrow. I may do some more stretching before bed because my hips and leg are feeling really tight, which is causing the knee discomfort, and then get ready for bed.

 

Hope you all are doing well, and happy new year!

[NicTheRugger]

Friday check-in! Thank goodness it's Friday! It has been quite a week. 

 

Challenge updates so far:

only one day of yoga done, will do some tomorrow and Sunday. I like having the time to do these routines in the morning, because I think they set the tone of my day better.

one day of BW workout done. That will also be a tomorrow project. 

1 ab/core workout done. I did that last night and I'm weirdly feeling it today. I knew I've gotten out of shape but it wasn't until I did my 5 minute ab workout that I got from the gunnery sergeant back when I was working towards OCS that I realized how out of shape I've gotten. That 5 minute ab workout used to be a breeze! I struggled to do the entire thing yesterday. I'm going to do another workout tonight and then on Sunday to hit 3 for the week.

 

Days reading: 2/4. I'm likely going to be only able to do 3 out of 4 days this week, but may try to get some reading done during the day on Sunday so I can finish my book by the end of the day.

 

I've been relatively successful with walks this week, when my knee's allowed me. Today was a pretty warm day and was able to walk around for about 10-15 minutes. Only some knee irritation. 

 

streamlining my morning was successful... until today. I didn't sleep very well last night, so when my alarm went off this morning, I woke up, got out of bed, turned off my alarm... and promptly got back into bed and slept for an entire hour! Thankfully, I live 5 minutes from work, and I set my alarm for 5:30, so I wasn't late for work, but yikes. I guess I really needed that extra sleep.

 

Not much of an update today, I'm afraid. My head's feeling kinda fuzzy and tired, so I'm gonna poke in on some other posts and see how peeps are doing and then call it a night. Bye friends!

[Elastigirl]

Glad the PT was able to determine what was causing your pain, and that you are on the road to recovery. Weird how having thing injured (your back) then messes up with the rest of the body

[NicTheRugger]

On 1/11/2020 at 1:34 AM, Elastigirl said:

Glad the PT was able to determine what was causing your pain, and that you are on the road to recovery. Weird how having thing injured (your back) then messes up with the rest of the body

Isn't that just bizarre? I really can't understand how it happened. 

 

Happy Sunday, friends! Sundays end up being my "busy" days because I usually spend Saturdays round my parents' house. I may need to start cutting down on that though or only going around every other weekend that way I don't have to cram in everything on Sunday, because my to-do list for today is... whew.  I'm taking a leaf out of @Salinger's book and am going to post my list here to keep me accountable!

 

• Bake bread for the week (it's just one loaf, but it's a time investment)
• PT exercises and yoga
• core workout
• Meal plan for the week
• Make soup for dinner/for lunches this week
• Vacuum the floors
• Clean the bathroom (minus tub, which I did last night)
• Wash the floors
• Do my laundry
• Prep my motions for tomorrow
• Prep my planner for the week
• Practice Polish
• Read at least one copy of The New Yorker (I have a backlog that I've been meaning to get to and I never do...)

That the list... I think. I may add on more as needed. But for now, the bread is in the oven, I've done my PT exercises and am about to start yoga, and then I'll go from there. 

 

 

 

[Salinger]

busy busy Nic!!! Good luck  xx

[NicTheRugger]

3 hours ago, Salinger said:

busy busy Nic!!! Good luck  xx

Thanks, Liz!!  

 

Lunch-time check in!  Had a very productive morning

• Bake bread for the week (it's just one loaf, but it's a time investment)
• PT exercises and yoga
• core workout
• Meal plan for the week
• Make soup for dinner/for lunches this week
• Vacuum the floors
• Clean the bathroom (minus tub, which I did last night)
• Wash the floors
• Do my laundry (in progress, first load is in the dryer, second and final load is in the washer)
• Prep my motions for tomorrow
• Prep my planner for the week
• Practice Polish
• Read at least one copy of The New Yorker (I have a backlog that I've been meaning to get to and I never do...)

I also have the oven on self-clean right now. It absolutely needs it. To be honest, I'm not sure my roommate ever ran the self-clean cycle on the oven. It feels good to have the house clean. While I'm all warm and a little sweaty now from scrubbing away for the past few hours, it's very satisfying. My roommate and I have different definitions of clean, and I hadn't done the vacuuming in a couple of weeks. (Although, I did only get the vacuum for Christmas...) To my eternal horror, I saw that cobwebs were starting to build up. I think when I get a new place next year (and how I hope that next year's place will be a place for at least a couple of years because I'm tired of moving), I'm either going to live by myself and stick to a regular cleaning schedule, or make sure that whomever I'm living with has a clean home as a priority. 

 

It's a beautiful if windy day here in the South Shore, and I have what windows haven't been wrapped for the winter open to let in the fresh air. 

 

I'm waiting for my chicken drumsticks to finish thawing out so I can make soup, and after lunch I'm going to get started on the planner and meal planning for the week. I'll figure out where to go from there. TTFN!

[Salinger]

Hey Nic, yes living by myself im enjoying being the cleaner, and doing it properly and not having that silent resentment towards my housemate hahahhhah

 

I need a hoover though!!!!! xx

[NicTheRugger]

Well, I was able to make it through most of the list. I made my soup (it was delicious). I did some meal planning, but not all. I was able to do some prep for my motions (one of them requires watching a DVD from my work computer, and I cannot do that at home), and some of the prep involves me asking many questions of my coworkers, because I've never done that particular type of motion before. I did what I could, but I also wasn't in the best mindset yesterday. After my afternoon update, I had a Long and Serious(TM) chat with my partner about our future together. He's asked me to move up to Vermont with him so we can be together and not be long-distance any more. And I feel... conflicted. I don't really know what to do, and it put me in a funk for the entire end of my day, because I was not expecting this chat and it definitely threw me off my productivity game. Because of that, I didn't get much meal planning done (I have today covered and Tuesday, and that's it). 

 

But, I need to focus on the here and now for today, so here's my to-do list for the day:

 

Make my bed

Rescue my laundry from the dryer since I never took it out yesterday

Go to work by 7:30 (gotta move fast so I can do that!)

Finish all of the things I didn't get to yesterday (planner, meal planning)

Go to PT

Go for a walk today (I completely forgot to do it yesterday)

Practice Polish

Based on how PT goes, either a core workout or a bodyweight workout. 

 

I'm experiencing lower back pain today. I'm not sure if it's always been there and I've been ignoring it, or if it's something new tbh. I did my morning mobility stretches and I don't think it helped very much tbh. I'll probably end up taking a couple of ibuprofen with breakfast (can't take that on an empty stomach!) and see if that helps.

 

That's all I've got time for for now. I'll be back later, folks!

[NicTheRugger]

It's Thursday already? Oh man. The week is simultaneously dragging on and flying by. I'm not even sure how that's possible. I've been thinking about the conversation my partner and I had, and I can't stop thinking about it unless I'm extremely busy at work. But thinking about it is making me not sleep well, I'm distracted, not focused... it's just a lot and I'm still really conflicted.

 

On a more challenge-related note. I've done one yoga session this week and one bodyweight session. I've neglected the ab workouts so far, but no longer! Once I finish this, I'm going to do my PT exercises and a core workout, and get ready for the day. Thankfully, I've already set out my outfit for today (did it last night!), my lunch is pre-packed, and I have all my things together ready to go when I'm all done with my morning tasks. I was slow in getting up this morning, because I moved my phone back to near my bed because I wanted to listen to some soothing music to fall asleep and didn't want to blast the volume from the other side of the room. Clearly not a great option, since it took me over 40 minutes to get out of bed this morning. I'll move the charger back to the other side of the room when I go back in to get dressed.

 

PT session went well this week. While I'm still experiencing knee pain, it's increasingly infrequent, as I work towards targeting my lower back and hip muscles. By strengthening those, I somehow help my knee. I don't get how that works (will need to consult the anatomy book), but if it works, it works, right?

 

That's all I got time for now, my friends. Today's going to be a busy day at work, so I want to get there in under an hour so I can finish prepping for the day and start working on my crazy backlog that's piling up because I never have enough time to get everything done. 

 

To do list for today:

- Make bed

-Do PT exercises/mobility (I've found a routine that actually incorporates many of my PT exercises!)

- Yoga session (tonight, when I get home)

- Get through at least 3 backlog folders at work today (I can bring work home with me to accomplish this task)

- Spend time reading tonight

- Core workout

- Take my vitamins and an emergen-c. I don't feel too great this morning, and I'm worried about getting sick again. And as the saying goes, "ain't nobody got time for that."

- Log my gratitude for today

[Salinger]

I hope work and everything else goes well for you xx

[NicTheRugger]

20 hours ago, Salinger said:

I hope work and everything else goes well for you xx

Thank you, Liz! I hope so too ❤️ 

 

 

Yesterday was SO BUSY. So busy, in fact, that when I got home in the evening, I didn't want to do anything when I got home. So I didn't do a core workout or yoga yesterday, but I did get everything else done on my list. I did, however, have a lovely evening, sitting on my couch, knitting, drinking a cup of my favorite tea, and watching The Addams Family (1990 movie). All in all, a success.

 

Today's looking like a less busy day at work, which is good. I'm going to get some much-needed desk time this afternoon so I can actually return calls on cases and whatnot. I've had one person call me 4 times on a case, but the problem is... I'm never at my desk! I can't answer my phone if I'm not there, and when I'm actually at my desk, I'm focused on the immediate tasks that need to be addressed ASAP, rather than checking my voicemails. Unfortunately. 

 

Slept horribly, last night. I couldn't get comfortable for the life of me, and the wind! The wind was something fierce last night. It kept waking me up. That being said, despite the lack of quality sleep, I was up and out of bed at 5:30, and didn't get back into bed because I moved my phone to the other side of the room. I think I'll need to keep doing that in order to actually motivate myself to get out of bed.  I had my morning 2 cups of water (gotta hydrate, babeeyyy), had an emergen-c (still feeling under the weather), and then had a mobility/PT exercise session that focused largely on foam rolling and working on my hips and lower back. I also did my killer 5 minute ab workout that I got from the Gunnery Sergeant a lifetime ago. It's a good workout, and I'm still feeling it. I'm hoping to work my way back up to doing it every day, because man, when I was doing that workout, I had killer abs. I could hold a 4 minute plank because of that workout, at one point. 

 

I need to take a quick shower still, and make sure I have everything packed for the day. It's still incredibly windy, and the temperature dropped 25 degrees since yesterday (from 45 to about 20, this morning; from about 7.5*C to about -6.7*C, for those on the Celsius system), so I'm reconsidering the clothes I picked out last night. I know I picked out a warm sweater and a skirt I could wear with fleece-lined tights but.... it's still so cold  I'll be a Nic-cicle by the end of the day. I'll probably throw that stuff on anyway though... and just grab a long coat and wear warm boots to work and switch into work-appropriate shoes there. (I may or may not keep a shoe-rack at the office with about 5 pairs of appropriate high heels to wear)

 

To-dos for the rest of the day:

- Shower

- Yoga

- Read

- Organize my room

- Knit

- Figure out how to have that talk with my roommate about the fact that she didn't clean her stuff out of the dining room even though she said she would this week....

 

Have a fabulous day, everyone!

[Salinger]

Hey Nic ❤️ did you get stuff done? Hope talk with roommate went ok?xx

[NicTheRugger]

On 1/19/2020 at 10:37 AM, Salinger said:

Hey Nic ❤️ did you get stuff done? Hope talk with roommate went ok?xx

Heya Liz! ❤️ I did get stuff done. Unfortunately, I was without internet from the moment I got home on Friday through Monday and have a limited data plan so updating was difficult to do.

 

The roommate chat went okay. She moved her things to the other side of the dining room so I could set up my desk. I'm actually sitting at it right now! I have my desk, I bought myself a big comfy chair to go with it (a little more than I wanted to spend on it, but it's so comfy it's worth it). 

 

It was a pretty meh weekend, challenge related. I sort of phoned in my PT exercises and skipped yoga altogether this weekend, which is no bueno. I need to get better about creating a habit for myself where I do yoga on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Yesterday was pretty good though. I woke up at 5:15 even though I had the day off (gotta love state holidays and working a government job), and forced myself to do a bodyweight workout. And y'all... I did the Academy 1A workout! My knee was a little cranky after it, but it got done. I'm probably going to stick with that workout until the end of the challenge to make sure that my knee is comfortable with doing that before going on to the next workout. I'll take it on a day-by-day basis to see how it's feeling. Had a lovely massage yesterday, and got in a walk. (Two, technically. I walked to the massage place and back. Both walks were about 10 minutes at a brisk pace).

 

Today, got up, did my PT exercises and a 15 minute mobility routine, which means I checked off that box for today. Morning was streamlined by actually getting out of bed and turning off my alarm, thanks to my phone being on the other side of the room. Clothes were picked out last night, and my lunch (soup!) is packed and ready to go. I need to take a shower and straighten my hair (it looks like a bird's been nesting in it), and then get ready for work so that's all for me for now!

 

To do:

Shower

Core workout

Read!!

Finish setting up how I want my desk to be laid out. (We'll get there eventually)

 

[Salinger]

Yay great all round Nic I hope today is excellent for you!!! xx

[NicTheRugger]

Oh man... I totally forgot to check in over the course of the week, didn't I. Well, I'm happy to say that the week was mostly successful! I fell a little short with the reading goal (only 2 days) and the ab workouts (also only 2 workouts), but my mornings were efficient (except for the weekend because that's "me time"). I'm getting better with the bodyweight workouts, and I was even able to go for a jog yesterday!! It was my first jog in 5 1/2 months. I took it slow, it was mostly intervals via couch to 5 k, and my knee/leg was stiff by the end of it, but I did it! What I forgot to do, because it's been ages since I've gone for a run, was to do a good post-jog stretch. I did take a nice hot bath though, and that helped with the muscle soreness around the bad knee. 

 

Today, got up at 5:15, and did a mobility routine and my bodyweight workout. I did both the 1A and 1B workouts from the Academy. I'm pleased to say that I'm moving into the knee push-ups, from elevated push-ups, and doing regular inchworms because I can't actually figure out the mechanics to do the wall inch-worms. I've done my stretching and now I'm providing you all with this lovely little update! Need to hit the shower, make my bed, and try to leave early today because I want to make a quick stop at the ATM before work today. We're doing Chinese food for lunch and I don't have venmo so I'll need cash. Wasn't as efficient with my time as I should have been, took longer breaks than I should have between sets. 

 

Left to do today:

PT? (need to call and confirm)

Shower

Bank

Probably other things that I can't remember right now. 

 

I was going to have crockpot chicken pot pie for dinner today, but I didn't meal prep last night and the workout took longer than I thought it would, so that will wait until tomorrow. I'll have leftover meatloaf for dinner tonight with some sweet potato fries.

 

That's all for now, folks! Have a lovely day.  

[Salinger]

Nic, what a great update  proud of you for all that good stuff, well done!!!!! ❤️ 

 

crockpot chicken pot pie sounds AMAZING xx

[NicTheRugger]

Thanks Liz! The crockpot chicken pot pie came out pretty well! I have enough for at least with 5 more meals. 

 

An update. I skipped the walk today because my knee was really achy today. I think between a tough PT session and increasing workouts from nothing to... well, 2-3 a week is enough that my knee is feeling the strain. Morning was not at all efficient this morning because I stayed up late for a chat with members of a discord group I'm in. Worth it because it was a lot of fun, but I am so tired today lol. 

 

I accomplished my goal of reading 2 books this month! I'm now trying to pick my next 2 for February. I bought 2 books at the bargain store this weekend (2 books for $6!!), so I'm thinking about reading one of those for February, and finding a non-fiction smart book to read for book #2. Not sure what that will be yet, but I have at least a little time to figure it out. 

 

My stomach isn't feeling great, so I'm going to call it a night and get ready for bed. I'll check in tomorrow. Good night, friends!

[Whisper]

7 minutes ago, NicTheRugger said:

I have enough for at least with 5 more meals

I'm a big believer in the approach that if I'm going though all the effort to cook, I'm going to get several meals out of it. Good that it was tasty enough for 5 more rounds!

 

8 minutes ago, NicTheRugger said:

My stomach isn't feeling great, so I'm going to call it a night and get ready for bed. I'll check in tomorrow. Good night, friends!

Rest well and feel better.

[Salinger]

Hey Nic! Whats the recipe for the chicken dish?

And what books have you got?

 

Hope you are feeling better xx