Weekend of February 9-10
This is going to be a pretty short weekend recap… but after Friday night, there’s not a lot to report!
Friday was a very big day for me at work. I’ve spent the last few months planning for SheTech Colorado, a one-day conference for high school girls to get them excited about careers in STEM, and Friday it all came to fruition! I was on tap to give some welcoming remarks in the beginning (right before our lieutenant governor!), then host a small group workshop on facial recognition technology before lunch, and finally judge the afternoon tech challenge before we closed out the day. There were a few snags throughout the day, but everything came together just in the nick of time so the girls were none the wiser, and I’m thrilled with how it all turned out!
On my way up home after SheTech, I spontaneously decided to ditch the emails I knew had been piling up all day, and instead stop for a massage. I had tweaked something in my back right after waking up on Friday morning, and it felt like heaven to have someone work on it! Although I don’t get regular massages (outside of the awesome hydromassage at Chuze), I always try to find a low-cost low-frills local place, and this one didn’t disappoint. It was nothing fancy, but for $45 an hour (plus tip of course), I was very happy. The soreness didn’t entirely go away Friday, but by Saturday, I felt better. Perfect 🙂
Post-massage, I stopped home just long enough to wipe off the eye makeup that was smudged all over my face from my massage (ahhh), then headed out for a belated 40th birthday dinner with my friend Mark and his family. I had a conflict the night of Mark’s birthday party, so we scheduled a dinner a few days before. However, Mark’s kids both went down with the flu, forcing both events to cancel… and then I couldn’t make the rescheduled party either! I was thrilled we were able to make dinner work this Friday night instead, and it was great to kick back with friends after a long week.
But there seems to be some kind of sickness curse around Mark’s birthday… because I woke up Saturday morning feeling totally out of it. I didn’t have a fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, or any other solid symptoms, but I felt really dazed and out of it. I was supposed to be heading to the mountains to celebrate my friend Kirk’s 40th birthday, and at first, told myself I’d just rest on the couch until it was time to go. But I wasn’t getting any better, and I finally conceded defeat and canceled to continue lying on the couch 🙁
I got a solid night’s sleep Saturday, but woke up on Sunday still not feeling well… but also still with no real symptoms. Was I actually sick, or was I just tired? I knew at the very least I was tired of lying around, so I texted my friend Heather and we made plans to go see On the Basis of Sex, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic. I figured lying in a recliner watching a movie was about as close as I could get to being on my couch, while still getting out into the real world 🙂
The film was good, and I felt okay throughout. But afterward, we went next door to Caribou for coffee, and in the midst of sitting and chatting I found myself really dizzy and needing to duck outside for fresh hour. Yikes! Not good. I immediately high-tailed it home and spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch. On the bright side, I read a few books and caught up on some emails, so at least felt like I wasn’t hitting Monday perpetually behind!
Because my symptoms were pretty much non-existent outside of being exhausted, I spent the whole weekend wondering if I was really sick or just tired. When I got dizzy at Caribou, it actually made me feel a little better, like I wasn’t faking it! But now that I’m on the mend, I am itching to hit both the mountains and the gym as soon as possible.
Monday afternoon, I squeezed in a quick fifteen minute workout while I was cooking this Thai curry brussel sprout soup (OMG so good; make it ASAP!) for lunch. I had just read this article about celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak’s at-home 15 minute workout, and thought I’d give it a try, since I was feeling so much better. It seemed less risky to me than going to the gym and then realizing I was too tired. It was perfect for what I was looking for – something that would work my muscles a little bit, without getting my heart rate up high. And I hoped that surviving it meant I could get back to Chuze Tuesday.
While I used to love Orangetheory (and now, Chuze’s equivalent – Team Training), I’ve been taking more Bodypump classes at Chuze lately. I’ve found that I’m pretty good at doing treadmill interval workouts on my own (at least if I put my mind to it), but taking a class for weight lifting helps ensure I hit all the muscle groups and forces me to go harder than I would on my own. While Bodypump is high reps, it gives me a great workout as long as I remind myself to go heavy and actually lift to exhaustion – if I don’t need to trade my weights down toward the end of the track, I haven’t gone hard enough. Or at least that’s how I look at it 🙂
I’ve started bringing my phone into Bodypump with me, and in between tracks, logging what weights I used and whether it felt easy or hard, so that next time I can push harder. And in my last Bodypump class, I noticed that I almost always had the heaviest bar of anyone in the class! I was pretty proud of that… but more importantly than the comparison, I was loving how I pushed myself just to the limit of where I was proud of myself but probably couldn’t have done more.
Although I’ve never belonged to a regular gym in Colorado before Chuze, I’m really enjoying how it forces me to separate out my workout time. Yes, I have home gym stuff in my basement, but sometimes the fact that it’s so easy and “right there” means that I plan to go all day and never get to it. I like having Chuze’s class schedule to force me to pick a time and stick to it… and of course, the hydromassage that pops up in so many of my Instagram Stories is also a great motivator 🙂
Anyone reading try / like Bodypump? It’s very different than the high weight / low repetition style of lifting that I’ve gotten used to over the years, but I’m starting to think it’s equally effective. Would love to hear someone else weigh in!
Hi Laura,
Long time reader, first time commenting. Just thought I would answer the Body Pump question. For me personally, I think it is a great way for people to get into weight lifting while also getting some cardio in. I think the problem I see in a lot of classes is poor form because there are many people with no prior weight lifting experience and too many people for the instructor to address each one individually. Also, I think people just do not push themselves enough, I often see people using the same weight for legs and triceps which just makes no sense. But if used properly I think it can be a fun and effective workout. At the end of the day I think there is no point in stressing about the optimal workout, if you are pushing yourself and enjoying yourself those should be good enough indicators.
I also agree that for me it is way easier to exercise if I actually have to go to the gym, whereas I keep postponing home workouts.
Maria, thanks so much for reading, and for the thoughtful comment! I agree on form – I don’t think I’ve yet taken a BP class where the instructor came around to offer personal corrections (vs just saying “remember to do XYZ” over the mic), and I COMPLETELY agree with you on people not pushing themselves as much as they maybe could. I think BP is such a fun workout, but I’m always conscious of trying to make the most of my time in the gym, so I try to go as hard as I can 🙂