Fun Friday

That is what it is called at the gym. No class at our usual time, just a white board with the workout you should complete. A friend and I went down and made up our own workout instead. We ran for 20 minutes, then we did upper body for 30 minutes. I got some more running / walking in between sets just for good measure. All that walking and running lead to 12k steps on fitbit for me.

Yesterday was also the 2nd phase of the 3 phase layoffs at work. So I had to say goodbye to more friends. It was a stressful long week and I’m glad it is over. We had homemade coffee cake, fresh fruit and other yummy foods that people brought in.

The goodbye spread of food

For lunch two friends and I went to The Counter and I got a 1lb Impossible burger. I order it like that because it will come with 3 patties. 1 for that lunch and two to take home. This works out really well since you can not buy Impossible meat in stores yet, although that is supposed to happen some time this year.

  • Impossible Burger @ The Counter
  • Two patties to go

Zwift | Ride the Worlds

Before it all went downhill

Ride the worlds is a mission in Zwift this month. The first mission I have tried. I don’t think I’ve ever done 15 miles in one sitting on Zwift. My seat is just not comfortable enough. But Innsbruck doesn’t show up much. It will only be available twice more this month, including tomorrow.

So I settled in and started. I was in no hurry and thought it would take me more than an hour. Actually it took just over that. On the downhill on the flat track, I finally hit 15 miles. I got the pop-up below.

But it didn’t go away. Zwfit had froze! So now I didn’t know if I had gotten credit for it or not. I skipped the gym today so I would have the energy to ride this today. I did end up getting the email saying congratulations for finishing the mission, so I’m very happy about that.

Tuesday’s step class was rough. Lots of squats, but I made it. Wednesday I was really sore but determined to hit my fitbit goal. I ended up surpassing it by hitting the treadmill and elliptical before Yoga. I got 18k steps yesterday.

Today I will be lucky to hit 10k steps, as it was all about the 15 miles in Innsbruck today. I’ll have to make up for it tomorrow.

Catchup

I missed posting the last few days. Let me try to catch up.

On Monday I did only Yoga. It was a very big day, long with lots of meetings. I did not hit my 10k Fitbit step goal.

Tuesday, yesterday, was better. It is always easy to hit my Fitbit step goal on Tuesdays as I go to a step class. With this class I can easily hit all my goals.

Everyday I had overnight oatmeal including this morning. Monday was apples, Tuesday was peanut butter banana and today was strawberries. Tomorrow I can have a breakfast burrito as I plan on working from home.

Yesterday on the way home I finished The Circle audio book. I enjoyed it and will be posting about it soon on Jason Reads.

A Bit of World Culture | A River in Darkness

A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa

A World Book Day purchased for free on Amazon in order to read books from authors that are outside of the US. I was excited to read this book from an author born outside of the US and written about a country I will probably never visit. As you might imagine from the title the book was very sad. It made me even more thankful for all the things I have and fortune to be able to provide for my family. It would be interesting to see what else has happened to Mr. Ishikawa since the book was published.

The 172 page book was originally published in 2000, but I think the fact that it was a featured book on World Book Day and the fact that it was free, really helped the sales. It currently has 25,500 ratings at a 4.26 rating on goodreads.

The author tells of his impossibly difficult life in North Korea and his eventual escape from the oppressive country. I gave this book 4 stars.

Friday Workout

Zwift Mission

Yoga Cards

Two workouts today. I had some trouble with my Apple Watch today. It quickly drained down to 13% power all before noon today. So I had to put it back on the charger. I had already tried resetting it three times prior since this has happened a lot this last week. Today in addition to a restart I also unpaired and then re-paired it to my phone.

Somehow when I did this it messed up the tracking. I got the Zwift workout fine, since that is sent from Zwift to Strava then to the Apple Watch automatically. So the watch really doesn’t do any tracking. It is all Zwift. But when I did my Yoga workout pictured above with the cards, which are great by the way. The Apple Watch says Yoga 0 Cal. So it didn’t capture any calorie burn on there. Maybe because the health app needed to be reconnected. I’m not sure, but I did do that. We will have to see what happens on my next watch workout.

My Zwift ride today completed my Richmond 15 mile requirement for eh Ride the Worlds Mission. That means only one more world to go. But it is the one that is available the least this month. It is only available on the 21 and 22 of this month. That means I will have only those two days to get 15 miles in that work to be eligible for the mission sweepstakes. Wish me luck.

Book Review | The Awakening

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Widely considered a classic now, The Awakening by Kate Chopin was at at its publishing in 1899, considered controversial for the way that Chopin depicted immoral and frank depictions of female sexual desire and for its depiction of a protagonist who chafed against social norms and established gender roles.

Within a decade of her death she was considered a leading feminist writer for her time. Unfortunately, this often happened for female authors of this time.

The writing is superb. My review on goodreads is short but precise:


Wonderfully written! An ending I did not see coming as well. Really enjoyed this. Upsetting that Chopin was not recognized for her talents while she was still alive.

I’m just a reader who enjoyed this book and gave it five stars. I don’t feel qualified to give it a full analysis, but luckily for us others on youtube have already done this.

Busy Days!

Lots going on at work, but I was happy to still find time to get to the gym for a difficult Butts & Guts workout hour. Even though mist of my day was stuck at a desk I managed to close my rings on the apple watch with this workout.

Breakfast was guess what overnight oats with strawberries. Very filling. Lunch was delayed and I was ready for something good. I got to eat with a friend who has moved to a different department and it was great to catch up. I had a roasted veggie bowl at Sharky’s, one of my favorites and super satisfying.

Just looked at Fitbit for the first time today and I’m glad to see I’m at 8.5k. I should be able to make the final 1.5k easily today. I think I can squeeze in a short walk before it gets too dark.

Leaving the office later than usual, I was in traffic for longer which allowed me to listen to The Circle by Dave Eggers a little longer than usual. It’s getting good and I’m enjoying the story very much. I’ve already seen the movie so I am enjoying finding the differences between the movie and the book. The book holds my attention well and before I know it I’m home.

Breakfast and Today’s Workout

Breakfast today and a lot of days lately have been oatmeal. I use Coach’s Oats and usually and Chia seeds and some peanut butter. I sometimes add coconut shavings or Gigi berries. Turns out I’m not alone in thinking this is a healthy meal.

Today’s work out was thirty minutes or 10 miles in London on Zwift. That should wrap it up for London now. I took the picture below before my ride today. This menu is the only place I can find my progress in the mission. Wish it was other places.

That means I only have two worlds to worry about. Richmond and Innsbruck. I’m looking forward to knocking those out soon, but they are not offered as much as the other worlds so I think they will be the hardest for me to get done.

After Zwifting I did 30 minutes of yoga that felt great.

Eating out for Large People

In this interesting article from the New York Times, the author tells us how restaurants are changing the way they serve large customers. They are late to the game really as the ever-growing waistlines of Americans has been an issue for decades now. But it is worse than ever now.

About 40 percent of Americans over age 20 were classified as obese in a 2017 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the article, there is an app available, in certain test markets, only that is like Yelp but for big people. They can describe what it is like to eat at a restaurant for other large people.

This for me is yet another way that people outside of my core group are a mystery to me. I find it difficult to understand what they are going through. Which is why I am glad that the article also mentions a book by Roxane Gay called Hunger. In which the plus size model Ms. Gay depicts what it is like to be a large person.

Another book mentioned in the article also grabbed interest. This one is by Tommy Tomlinson, a former columnist for The Charlotte Observer, The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America.

Lots of great information and two books mentioned.  This is why reading the New York Times can be dangerous to my book budget.  It is one of the last great newspapers with really great writers.