Hey! Sorry to disappear. We went to my parents’ house for 2 nights (Wed-Fri) for the 4th last week, and then the “extended family interpersonal situation” I mentioned recently escalated some over the weekend and has had my brain on the fritz.
Since I’m the one who is home during the day (obviously working, but still…other people always seem to view me as “more available”), I just seem to get pulled into everything. I’ve felt really out of sorts this whole past week.
Actually, I’ve felt out of sorts really since we got home from Hawaii! I can’t decide if that was poor timing/placement of the trip (right after school got out, directly on the heels of May-hem Season), poor execution of planning and re-entry stuff, the kids being home, this family thing, Charlie’s neutering and associated hassles, or… some combo of all of the above? Probably the last option, I guess.
Exercise + Steps
Exercise:
On an unrelated note, I have been back to the gym consistently now and have been hitting my 4x/ week strength workouts. So that’s good.
I forget if I mentioned here, but post-Hawaii I also had tried to pick running back up for the summer. I ran exactly 4 times, felt pretty YUCK on every run, and now haven’t run since….June 25th? Whoops.
I told myself I got a free pass since we had some rough nights of sleep after Charlie’s surgery. (He didn’t want to be in crate with the cone, but also couldn’t leave him loose in our bed per his usual since we needed to ensure he wouldn’t jump off the bed and disrupt his incision, and it became a whole cluster.)
But now I still haven’t gone running, or done ANY cardio, for that matter.
😩 I really need to do cardio!!!! Currently trying to decide if I should actually keep running (liked this idea due to nice summer weather, but why does it feel so haaaard), go back to those Emkfit Dance videos (ok, probably not the most high intensity, but free, fun, short and can do at home and is that better than no cardio?), or try to do some gym cardio (eg stairmill, etc) after my other workouts?
It really is funny how different we all are, by the way. SHU texted yesterday that she was finally picking strength work back up after a long hiatus, and I asked her how it went. I think she responded something like, “Survived. Had no fun tho.”
Hahaha. And yet she thinks running is a total blast, and here I am, the total opposite….I think STRENGTH is fun! And my recent runs felt like borderline torture. Hehe. (Ok, exaggerating, but it did not feel fun.)
Is this a genetic difference? A learned response? A conditioning thing? It’s so interesting!!
Steps:
One other thing really bugging me lately- and I always really notice this after a vacation, where I’m naturally so much more active- is how easy it is for my steps to be so, so low on a normal workday.
Here’s my Apple watch stats from yesterday.
4,800 steps. And I felt like I had a relatively active day!!!!
Ethan and I biked to McDonald’s for breakfast (where I got an egg McMuffin and an UNSWEETENED ICED TEA, for any inquiring minds, not a Dr. Pepper, though that would have been kind of amazing, just sayin’…).
Ivan and I walked Charlie for like 27 minutes last night. Which apparently was only 1.32 miles. Come on Charles, pick up the pace.
I also did a Yoga with Adrienne video (first yoga in months, and I realize this contributes basically zero steps, but I just felt stressed/crabby and did this in the evening to relax).
Anyway, I feel like if I don’t really, really make a strong effort, my steps so easily land in the 4,000 range. Which is pitiful.
I need to remedy this! Normally I walk Charlie at least twice, which helps (Asher handled his morning walk yesterday though), but it just seems that whenever I have busy workdays (chained to computer = so. much. sitting) and boys are home (= my “breaks” are often spent sitting in the car driving someone somewhere), plus many of my hobbies and/or household admin activities are also sedentary (reading, blogging, email stuff, etc.)…. it’s really hard!
When we travel I often will say, Gosh, I feel so good being more active! And then I vow to somehow mimic that at home, but it ends up being impossible to mimic all that vacation walking when I have a desk job and just otherwise need to sit so much.
Does anyone have a treadmill desk or anything that they love? I do have a treadmill. I’ve wondered if I could set something up there. BUT, so much of my work really benefits from a double monitor situation. So that’s an issue. But I suppose even if I could stand or walk for part of my day, that would be an improvement.
I am feeling tempted to challenge myself to get say, at least 7,000 steps for the rest of July. Or something. I know that magic number is 10,000 (read an EXCELLENT article by Sohee Lee on this topic titled: “10k Steps a Day: Legit or Myth?”), but I feel like 7,000 would at least be an improvement over my lower days.
Of course, if I do continue with running, that’s obviously a very easy way to drastically up the step count in a hurry! 😉
4th of July!
And real quick, I’ll dump some pics from our 4th of July. It was nice! Definitely seems to be losing some of the excitement as the boys get older here, which is a bit sad. We still went to the parade, but neither one cared to go scramble for the candy thrown out. They still loved the fireworks, but neither really cared if we bought sparklers to do at home after, as we’ve done every other year. Sad.
Morning walk w/ Charlie:
Parade shots:
Grill out dinner:
We had burgers, hot dogs, brats, chips + pico, baked beans, etc. Yum! The boys were very game for this meal. 🙂
We took Charlie to a little dog park (his first time ever!) next to the skateboard/scooter park that the boys went to for a bit. Fortunately, there was no one else there (in the small dog section), because Charlie acts crazy hyper and jumps all over other dogs (need to figure that out…) and he was still supposed to be recovering. It was hot/humid so he mostly just wandered around sniffing stuff, lol.
I liked this sign on the way out:
Fireworks:
And finally, a funny comic my mom just sent me while I’ve been typing this….LOL!
Have a great Tuesday! Let me know if you have any advice on my steps dilemma and/or ongoing cardio woes.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for restarting my time logs. I didn’t do them in Hawaii, and then sort of fell off the habit when we got home (after about 15 months of doing them continuously!). But I do love them and really enjoy them, so I just restarted this week and am excited about that. 🙂
GRATEFUL KAE 
Ha, it is funny how different we all are. I’m on SHU’s team! I wish I could like strength more. First of all I would say- don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re going to the gym for a strength session 4x a week! If I did that it would be a miracle. It seems like you have a reasonably active lifestyle, given the constraints (having a desk job.) You walk Charlie (I like how you called him “Charles” when telling him to pick up the pace) and ride your bike. Your weight isn’t a concern and you eat pretty healthy. I would say don’t worry about getting more steps in, EXCEPT that you say you would feel better. In that case- you could try replacing your run, which you’re not enjoying, with a very BRISK non-Charles walk. I’ve been doing that while my calf is healing up, and personally I find it less comfortable than running. But you might like it better!
I like your 4th of July festivities, and I love that cartoon. As you said, sad but true.
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That’s a good point- I maybe should at least a couple times a week try to sneak in a decently long, SOLO walk (no Charlie) to be able to up the pace. Even if I am not doing your level of speed walking, lol, I could walk at a more consistent brisk pace and cover more miles. He’s getting much better about walking along, but he still stops pretty often and it just never feels like workout pace at all.
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Re-entry is always so hard. SO HARD. Every single time. I know it, but still it always takes me by surprise. I feel this way about the transitions when my husband travels as well. We’ve done it hundreds of times in our marriage and I STILL struggle every time.
You have so much going on, and I think you have so many “good” things you want to do and there just isn’t enough time. I think that’s the lynchpin of this whole thing. There isn’t enough time. You’re not doing anything wrong. You need activities that are low-stress and low-energy (reading, blogging). You work a full-time job. You have some unusual external family pressures right now. You have two active kids who you need to take a lot of places AND you invest in your relationship with them. You have a dog. You travel a lot. You make time to see and support and visit with your parents. AND YOU EXERCISE regularly. Your husband works a full time job where he doesn’t get home until relatively late in the day.
This feels a bit like 4,000 Weeks where it’s a case of having to realize you can’t do it all? I totally get the urge to do more and thinking it must be a case of not arranging your days efficiently enough but I think you’re doing great!
I have dabbled in and out with running for a decade now and I just don’t love it. I find the only time I truly love running is when I’m doing it a lot and am in the shape for it. When I don’t keep it up consistently, it’s a slog. Brisk walks with Charlie sound great, but I remember you really liking those dance videos so I say go for it! Does you gym have any in-person spin classes (I see you went biking twice)?
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Thanks for such an insightful comment! That second paragraph made me realize- oh yeah. I DO legitimately have a lot going on! I think sometimes I forget that, maybe because I see a lot of other people doing a lot of things…but sometimes I think I do forget to take into account key differences between other people’s situations and my own. And then I think sometimes I forget that while we can do a lot of things, we can’t do ALL the things, all the time, either.
Our gym does have spin classes, but those are so hard. HAHA. I feel like I want to do cardio that just “pleasantly” gets my heart rate up…I don’t want to feel like I’m gonna die. lol. That’s what I think I liked about those dance videos- I would sweat, and my heart rate would go up, but like in a good way, if that makes sense. Not in the same when like when I used to do HIIT videos that included a lot of burpees. ha! I used to like the martial arts/ kickboxing type workouts on Beachbody when I did some of those in the past, so I have thought about maybe trying to go to some in person classes in the gym like that, but I’ve never done those so it feels a little intimidating… I’m not super great at following coordinated movements with other people watching me. 😆
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I’m doing this activity challenge at work and they have an activity conversion chart that converts activities into steps. So I track how long I walk, but I also convert activities like cleaning, gardening, yoga, cooking, etc. into steps. I have actually found this to be useful in terms of figuring out what a “busy” day looks like for me because it’s counting other activities. So I guess I would suggest not just focusing on literal steps, but figuring out all the activities you’re doing in a day!
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Yes, it is a good reminder that walking isn’t the “only” thing that counts. That article I shared actually talks about that- like you could go swim laps for an hour and do a ton of great physical activity, but your step count would be 0 for that whole time. So it’s probably smart to not get overly fixated on that one metric.
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I’m with you enjoying strength more than running (NO WAY!) so all my “cardio” comes from walking which is my fav activity and seems to fix so many things: stress, anxiety, fresh air, listening to books/podcasts, etc. I’m semi-obsessed with 10k steps/day which generally makes me feel great but there are times it causes anxiety to meet it every.day. which seems to defeat the purpose so I feel ya!
My two thoughts are 1) potential intentional subtraction needed. You have lots going on and in the summer with boys home, your rhythm is different so what is realistic to fit in? Perhaps not steps; especially since biking and yoga don’t “count” but you are still being active. 2) I also have desk job and without a focus on walking, I’d have fewer steps so things that have helped me (if you decide you want to increase) are a) looking at mtgs in advance to see if there are any listen only or 1:1 type conversations where I could walk, b) when I have a few min between mtgs I get up and walk, even if only for 5 min down the driveway and back, it is something and adds up. These are transition times I often don’t do anything with anyway. c) Fitting in walks during other activities in evening like kids activities so I’ll watch most of my son’s baseball game but also walk loops during it or especially practices if it doesn’t make sense to drive back. Mainly I think give yourself grace, sometimes it is simply hard to fit it all in!
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Interesting! So you don’t really stress about doing any “higher intensity” cardio besides walking? I also love walking for all the reasons you mentioned. But I guess I always feel like I should ALSO be doing some more formal, higher intensity, “official” cardio. I have no idea why I think that exactly. Haha.
I’m also glad to see that you don’t enjoy running (as well as some others) and have just opted to not do that! I think it’s a conundrum for me, because I USED to like running…. so I sometimes feel like, Well, I probably could again? (Although, that was over 10 years ago, so maybe that was just a momentary thing for me?) And then so many of many friends are into running and it’s just so popular and seems like so many people are into it, that I’ll think, “Ok, what am I missing? This must be great! I need to keep trying!” But maybe not. 🙂
Those are some great suggestions and ideas of times to fit more walking in. I’ll admit- there are some times that I probably COULD walk, but don’t.
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Really interesting point that you and SHU are great at prioritizing different fitness activities! I wonder if it may be because you both have specific plans and/or goals surrounding either the lifting or the running, while the other activity is more “supplemental” than part of the primary goal.
I’ve found that I’ll definitely do more cardio when it’s something I enjoy. I used to enjoy running, but now I don’t, so I’ve chosen different modalities: cardio kickboxing, hiking, walking in the neighborhood or on the treadmill post-lift. I only do more formal/medium-high intensity cardio a couple times a week – the other times are definitely lower intensity! I also have a walking pad that’s under an adjustable-height desk, so that I can walk (up to 4mph, but it’s usually at about 2mph so I can multi-task a bit better!) while doing computer work on days that I need more steps. The walking pad that I have is made by JURITS and the desk is made by Claiks, both on Amazon. 🙂
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Like Megan’s reply above, thanks for sharing about your different forms of cardio that you enjoy! I do like kickboxing type stuff- have you ever done any online or streaming options for that? I don’t currently have any subscriptions, but I know I used to do some on Beachbody that were martial arts inspired that I found to be really fun.
And thanks also for the walking pad/desk recs! My desk set up is a built in desk, with attached cabinets, etc., but I wonder if there might be options out there that could still work for me to “convert” to a sit/stand desk of sorts. Or at the very least, I feel like one of those bigger desk trays that can clip on to a full sized treadmill would be cool (though I couldn’t use my double monitors then…). I think I would have to walk pretty slowly too in order to be able to really function on the screen, but maybe you get used to it?
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I haven’t tried any of the subscription services’ classes, but I’ve worked out with lots of YouTube videos! PS Fit, RC Fitness, Eleni Fit, Grow With Jo, and Burpee Girl all have some fun ones.
There are also some under-desk leg cycling “machines” that take up less space and can be used while sitting!
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I don’t think you need to force yourself to run to clock the steps. I believe we should find what we enjoy doing so it could be sustainable. Maybe do more walks with Charlie? That’s something you seem to enjoy doing, or make calls while walking? Your July 4 cook out looks so precessional with the table cloth.
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I think I would take some pressure off yourself to log a certain number of steps or do a certain amount of cardio. You look amazing and your body composition is great so what you are doing is working for you! I love running and find it far more enjoyable than strength training. It must be something that you are wire to like or not like. I like the CG workout programs I have done but I don’t love them as much as a run. If I am not running, I tend to average around 7k steps so overall I feel like I’m “active enough.” It helps when we can go for a walk with the boys after dinner as we end up walking over a mile typically.
You do have a lot going on though between work and the boys and caring for your dog! And you are the person w/ the more flexible schedule so a lot of house stuff falls on you, too. I don’t know how you’d squeeze more steps into your already busy schedule! It’s easier on vacation when you don’t have pesky work taking up lots of time. 😉
Your experience doing yoga with Charlie around is like doing a strength training workout with the boys around. Paul usually leaves me alone if he’s home but Taco does not! He is always getting up in my business and it drives me crazy! So I rarely do strength training workouts when they are around.
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My husband Tony made a treadmill desk! On his channel: https://youtu.be/LTjlgpufZ0g?si=3bHhgwzfV7I2-PQV
I used it and I liked it. It was a bit wobbly but nothing major. He will be on Zoom while walking.
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You had a lot going right after coming back from this epic vacation, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
And realize: you can’t do it all, all the time! I think it’s fantastic that you’re getting 4 strength sessions in and WHY do you have to do cardio? I mean, walking/steps is always great, but cardio is something that as we get older is almost more and more discouraged… strength becomes so much more important… have you thought about easing back into running by doing running/walking intervals? I feel like that could help if it feels hard (unless you’re doing this already?)
As you know, I am also team “morning run”… it’s just so damn nice to get outside in the morning.
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