[karinajean] 100 push-ups! 100 sit-ups! 100 squats! Then a 10K run! EVERY SINGLE DAY!

[teddie.bare]

I hope you are feeling better before your flight home! flying while sick is SO miserable. I know this is too late, but my doc recommends Afrin the day you fly, like 30 min before you board, and then as you taxi. That should help keep your sinuses/ears safe. Double decongestants is also not a bad idea. Do you neti pot? that would also be an option in the morning. My ears hurt for you just thinking about it.

 

Yay for two runs while on vacation and not feeling good! You are a beast! Great job I know how hard it is to stay sane while on vacation. All I want to do is eat all the food and sleep all the time. Oh and do (and drink) all the things. Keeping any semblance of normalcy is a huge deal.

 

I hope you guys don't get the storm they think you're going to have. Although you're right, shoveling that kind of snow counts as like a triple workout. We are pretty lazy here in Colorado. If it snows, most of us don't shovel. Because it's so dry here, the snow is mostly melted/evaporated in a day or two. We're spoiled that way.

 

Have a safe trip home!

[Priscillia]

it's super cold outside (like, 60 degF! totally brrrr for south florida) and it's hilarious to see the native floridians wearing their puffy down jackets.

As a Canadian living in -30 C I feel like it is my duty to post something funny about this.

 

 

I really admire your discipline to not VEG OUT during vacation time!!!  Hope the flight is alright (or at least not crazy due to sickness).

[Alexandrite]

Safe travels! Glad the workcation has gone moderately well! And hopefully you leave the cold behind in Florida!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[Lightning]

Your discipline while you travel has always been so impressive to me.  It's just so easy to give yourself a complete pass but you have great consistency.  

[karinajean]

y'all are so super. thank you for the encouragement! I haven't been online very much because reentry into regular life is kind of awful - especially when your head cold is hanging on like this. in retrospect I should have taken monday or tuesday off as a sick day. I guess I'll know better the next time.

 

with the travel and the sickness, I'm realizing that the real primary reason I loved the 6 week format of the challenges was because you had a chance to screw up a week totally and get back on the horse. I feel so much more pressured with the 4 weeks to do it all correctly!

 

tuesday night cuban food was achieved, and we had HUGE amounts of leftovers which I TOTALLY took on the airplane back with me. I meant to eat it on the flight but I was so full from the night before that I just couldn't face it.

 

I'm back in NY/NJ and feeling still pretty head-coldy and exhausted. I got to work on wednesday at around 1045 after a 4AM wake up call (which was really a 3am wake up call b/c I didn't sleep well. ate my cuban food leftovers (YUM) and headed out a little early to pick up my kitty, who was super happy to be home and has been sitting on my lap non-stop since we got her back from the boarding place.  thursday was my long day at the construction site (so no exercising in the am) and then tkd in the evening. not a big workout because I was asked to instruct a brand new student during class, but it was still a good set-up. and the new student is good! she has great physical instincts.

 

today I thought about getting up early to go running, but lordy be I am so tired and sick still. so, nope. I'm planning to head home in a few minutes. we have the kids for a full week + this week starting tonight, because their mom is out of town, and I'm thinking a few minutes to rest up before Twelve comes over (and we have to figure out what Sixteen is doing and how much freedom he gets at our house) will be super nice.

 

Tomorrow I'm hoping it's not too much snowmageddon, because I really super want to go to tkd and boxing and weapons classes. we are supposed to get a mere 3-5 inches, mostly in the afternoon, so I am hopeful. then Sunday! we have got a 5K run. If I wasn't sick I would have run this morning at the gym, but nope.

 

also re: TKD - I got the test structure, and basically I'm going to be tested on... EVERYTHING. which is fine, I should know everything if I'm going to call myself a 3rd degree black belt (which I do so....) but I need to practice it all a little more because we don't do everything every week. aaaaah. that is in 1 month.

 

still haven't done week 2 recap. I'm sure I'll get to it. if you are all getting snowy, stay warm and safe!

[MasterOfCows]

I can't believe you haven't gotten over this cold yet.  That is super sucky.  But you are a machine!!

[Mrs Van]

Eish, you need a break girl! Is it a cold, or a very bad sinus (chronic sinus can move down into your chest because of post-nasal drips) attack maybe?

Just wishing you luck with all the TKD, weapons and extra training you need to do! Luck and praying that you'll be feeling better soon. I'm keeping an eye on how you handle the teenage boys for future reference this side.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Best of luck with everything on your plate right now.  You're an inspiration!!!!!  

[karinajean]

wow, guys. I am feeling like such a challenge failure. I'm keeping on, but I'm not here, and I"m not actually getting anything other than strict routine done. I'm still feeling not-awesome with my cold -- this thing takes a lot of time on the tail-end to break up and leave, I guess. My sinuses are still super painful and I've still got a grossly productive occasional cough. I'm exhausted, and even though I'm doing better at getting into bed right at 930 I'm still waking up at 5 or 530 totally pooped. I can't get the temperature right in my bedroom, and basically I'm super complainy.

 

Sat. was dojo day, and I felt pretty good for it - first was boxing, which I hadn't been to in forever. I actually scraped the skin off of the tops of my feet with the bag roundhouses, yikes. it was a lot of cardio, not as much technique as usual. Then we moved to weapons, and Ray was super and we spent the whole hour ironing out 2 forms for me to demonstrate during the black belt test. I still need to really practice them but I feel like I remember them on my own now, which is really the hardest part when you're used to doing forms in a group. then I ran the regular tkd class (my instructor was super sick - another cold!!!) and because of snowmageddon fears, we only had 2 students -- Twelve, and the 9 year old 1st degree. So I made them practice forms with me, because I need to remember all of those (and so does the 9-year old) for the test, and also we took breaks to do the worm (Twelve is amazing at it, 9-year old and I, not so much). 9-year old showed me his weapons form (it's a bo staff form, he loves swinging a stick around), and we went over my sword form too. So, it was a bunch of stuff that was hopefully interesting to Twelve (who is a purple belt) and helpful for me and the 9-year old.

 

then I went home and basically pooped out. I was so tired! I read a book (The Mirror Empire, which I would recommend) and we had a goofy dinner and Twelve played xbox and Sixteen was out with his friends non-stop and never came home so we had a reasonably early night. I was worn out.

 

Sunday we got up for the 2nd 5K in the winter series that I'd signed us up for. We missed the first one, but plan to do #s 2-4. And despite snowmageddon, we got NOTHING. seriously, there were flurries on Sat. but it literally blew away before sunday morning. it was sunny and warmed up to the upper 20s for the run, which was GREAT. I did the 5k in about 28:30, which is really super considering I have only been running 2 or 2.5 mile distances! My husband was at around 38 minutes (and he hasn't done ANY running except for while in Florida). We went home via the grocery store and picked up supplies for the week, and then home for lunch with Twelve. Sunday afternoon I went back to the dojo and helped out with a self-defense class that my 2nd instructor had organized. it was a woman and her 2 daughters, and we went through awareness, intuition, boundary setting, and then some basic strikes and getting out of holds. I had to be the person upon whom people practiced, so there was a lot of grabbing on my part and avoiding getting hit. we also had them practice striking the bag (palm heel and elbow) so they could see how it felt to strike something hard. then home, I made dinner, Sixteen did his laundry, and I pretty much fell into bed after helping Twelve study a bit for mid-terms.

 

This weekend my husband undertook reorganizing and cleaning out the craft room, which is the first room that people see when they walk into the house. it's like a front parlor, and is the most drafty room in the house, so we don't use it for much more than storage. it was a HUGE pile of disaster after his semester and he's started classes this week, and wanted it to be a little clean. as he progressed through that, though, I started to really think about how we're managing the house. We're clearing out one of our crap rooms (the blue room) for Sixteen, so he can move into it, and then Twelve will also have his own room. This means we need to get better storage for the craft room and for our bedroom so we can shift our stuff around a little and make spaces more usable - so I am planning a big ikea trip for sat. so we can get lots of shelves. we need some for the craft room and some for our bedroom. I'm actually pretty excited about investing in some storage. as much as I would like to have a gorgeous house with airy and open rooms with minimal clutter, we have got too many interests with too many accouterments. I mean, in the craft room right now we've got paper-crafts, knitting, sewing, spinning, needlepoint/embroidery, hand bag and shoe construction, leather working supplies, block printing, and other art supplies competing for space. there's no work areas because we've got too many supplies in the way.

 

Yesterday I woke up and drove to albany (about 1 1/2 hours away), worked from that office, and then went with my mom to a drs appt. she's ok, but doesn't do great with drs sometimes, and often disassociates while they're telling her important things. I picked up Twelve on the way home and we made dinner and studied and ate with my husband when he got home, and again, all 3 of us were exhausted and pretty much fell into bed.

 

Tonight is TKD and I plan to go a tiny bit early to practice forms and stuff in prep for the test. I had flirted with getting up at 5AM and doing a BW workout, but I was way too tired this morning, and actually ended up sleeping until 550.

 

All caught up, I guess I will recap, though I'm kind of meh about the challenge. This NEVER happens! I can't believe that I feel so down on this one! I'll keep going but man. meh.

[sylph]

Your 'meh' level of activity in a week is way more than most folks accomplish in a month.

[starpuck]

Your 'meh' level of activity in a week is way more than most folks accomplish in a month.

^  Truth lol.

 

I'm so sorry you're beat up still from that cold chica.    I gotta agree with the others, your ability to push on and through is freaking amazing.   I totally throw in the towel when I am sick, so it's really awesome to see someone that can counter that.

 

Hope you get to being 110% of your normal self soon!

[karinajean]

Your 'meh' level of activity in a week is way more than most folks accomplish in a month.

wellllll yeah but hanging out with you guys kind of spotlights that we're not "most folks." thank you though! <3

 

 

I'm so sorry you're beat up still from that cold chica.    I gotta agree with the others, your ability to push on and through is freaking amazing.   I totally throw in the towel when I am sick, so it's really awesome to see someone that can counter that.

 

Hope you get to being 110% of your normal self soon!

 

welllll I do think honestly that if I had rested during days 1-3 of the cold a little bit more maybe it wouldn't have been so dire! but I am healing, for sure, and I just HAVE to get better soon.

 

Best of luck with everything on your plate right now.  You're an inspiration!!!!!  

 

oh thank you! I would feel a lot better about things if I could just find the time to participate in this community more. once I'm more well I think I'll be able to focus a little bit more clearly.

 

Eish, you need a break girl! Is it a cold, or a very bad sinus (chronic sinus can move down into your chest because of post-nasal drips) attack maybe?

Just wishing you luck with all the TKD, weapons and extra training you need to do! Luck and praying that you'll be feeling better soon. I'm keeping an eye on how you handle the teenage boys for future reference this side.

 

 

haaaaa well I am in kind of a funny place with the elder teen boy. I'm honestly taking a very hands off approach with sixteen because he is so self centered and selfish and has got a lot more autonomy than I personally am comfortable with. I am such a helicopter parent, apparently! at least last night when I said to my husband at 930PM "I'm really not comfortable not knowing where Sixteen is" he responded with "me neither!" and kind of a wild eyed look, so I now know that I'm not the only one here who thinks the kid should check in with us and clear his plans with us ahead of time.

 

I guess what I would say is: be super clear with your expectations. I know you will be. the coparenting thing makes it extra complicated with two sets of household rules for us, so it's hard for US to be that clear. although mostly it's hard because no one likes confrontation. key is to be clear with expectations BEFORE there is a confrontation. and when they are 16 it seems like there is almost always a confrontation, so it's important to set these expectations when they're younger and not quite as defensive and pissy. ugh.

 

I can't believe you haven't gotten over this cold yet.  That is super sucky.  But you are a machine!!

 

I woke up this morning feeling the best I have so far! of course... 3 hours into my day and I'm starting to feel the sinus pressure again. time to pop a decongestant, but - I have hope that the cold will leave soon!

[MasterOfCows]

I'm eating dayquil capsules like candy, just to function, much less do "stuff" so I'm still in awe!!

[raptron]

Ugh at this cold that never ends! That's so exhausting to even think about. I knew you were quietly getting things done on your end even if we hadn't heard from you, so it's always good to see the updates when you do return.

 

Excellent time for the 5k, ESPECIALLY if you are still coughing and nasally. Are you waking up at night or do you think you just need even moar sleep to fight this thing?

[Red1263]

I agree with everyone else, your ability to workout, despite fighting the terrible monster named "Sniffles" is nothing short of admirable!

[Lara]

That cold seems eternal. Maybe it's a call to slow down? I would take 2 or 3 days to fully recover, sure you would respawn afterwards.

I hope you're feeling better by now anyway.

[karinajean]

wow, guys. I know I was sick, and traveling, and busy, but at least one of those is status quo and yet they all totally derailed me. I don't like this 4 week format because when I started to miss week 3 b/c of illness I pretty much was like: whatevs challenge! and I had a REALLY hard time reengaging because it was almost over. Ugh.

 

Anyway, so, the challenge is over and pretty much I feel like I failed it even though I really kept doing things, mostly because I didn't show up here. And this is the first challenge I've ever had where I totally bagged it! aaah!

 

End of Challenge week 4 update:

Wednesday: was busy, didn't move much.

Thursday: left work early and got to the dojo in time to practice weapons forms a little in prep for the black belt test. Then I dash out, drive up the street a few blocks, pick up Twelve, and drive him back down for regular TKD class. We miss basics, which is a drag, but he was moved into a higher level of hip hop dance class that finishes at 630. TKD was good, we did practicing for black belt stuff.

Friday: I meant to get up and do something but the weight of the week was upon me. So I instead went to the gym on the way to knitting party, and snuck in a quick 2 mile run. then off to knitting party with lovely snack-dinner.

 

I'll do a challenge recap, but I'm going to bop over and start a new thread now. dudes. this post-holiday hangover illness/not being any less busy is a superhuge drag. sigh. This is what I get for making a fancy challenge with real GIFs, I guess. I started so strong! just could not maintain.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Gym .... knitting party .... quick run .....