Wrapping up 2020

I hope everyone is staying positive and testing negative.

Check out our Christmas Tree, DIVOC

There really has not been much to update on this thing. Since so much of my job is dealing sitting in front of a computer and having meetings and teaching through Zoom, I kind of wanted to reduce my screen time (with the exception of TV . . . I guess) over the past week. I’ve been OD’ing on The Office episodes since it will be leaving Netflix on Jan 1, 2021. For example, a few of my friends from my study abroad program wanted to catch up via Zoom, but I really wasn’t feeling it because I was like Ugh, not another Zoom meeting.

I guess it is that time of year to discuss all of the New Year’s resolutions that I’m going to break by January 15th. Someone was telling me that most folks stop caring about their New Year’s resolutions around Superbowl Sunday. Wait, is there going to be a Superbowl in 2021? Let’s see how these 2021 resolutions will go.

Running goals:

I’m going to revisit last year’s resolution of running a half-marathon every month because I started strong last year. Well, I made it to March before races were canceled due to COVID. Rather than registering for actual half marathons, I’ll just run them on my own. Technically, I should have done this during 2020, but oh well. My plan is to run the same course for NYRR’s Fred Lebow Half Marathon during the last week of the month. It’s a pretty simple course, just two loops of Central Park’s outer loop.

Virtual Running Challenges

I am on the fence about signing up for yet another virtual running challenge that I probably will not finish.

For my One NY Cares 600 mi Challenge, it looks like that I ran a total of 478.7 miles. I think this challenge was 12 weeks.

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According to the map, I’m in some city called Constable, NY – a city/town that I have never heard of. Some random triva about Constable from Wikipedia:

The north town line is the international border between the United States and Canada and is the border of Quebec.

Wikipedia

Hey, I completed 79% of this virtual challenge, which is a C+, so I’ll give myself one pat on the back. Oh, the folks at One NY Cares do not mess around with their medals. Look at the size of the damn medal!!! It could function as a saucer.

For my other challenge, NYC Runs Subway Challenge II (another challenge that I will not finish), I’m at 444 out of 691 miles (64%). To be perfectly honest, I’m not really sure when this challenge ends.

Don’t be a fatty

It’s quite clear that my waistline and other things have expanded during this pandemic. To be perfectly honest, I really hate how fat I have become. Ok, hate is a strong word, but I really do not feel comfortable in my “new” pandemic body. To be honest again, it’s not like I was in great shape going into this pandemic. Since I turned 40 during this pandemic, I really gotta start checking myself in terms of weight gain especially since I received my mother’s family’s metabolism and probably a predisposition to a few health issues. Unfortunately, I did not receive my father’s Ghanian eat whatever you want and not gain a pound metabolism in the game of genetics roulette. Over the past couple of weeks, I have started to watch how much food, I stuff down my gullet. I am well aware that one of my biggest triggers is late night snacking. To avoid late-night snacking (technically early morning snacking since this occurs around 2 or 3 am), I have been leaving a large Soda Stream bottle of carbonated water out and chugging it when the hubby’s snoring wakes me up. So far this has been working to trick my body in thinking that it is full. Also, since the bottles are around 30 ounces, chugging one at 3 am will force me to wake up around 5 am to pee and start my morning workout. So far, I have been starting the day with yoga, which leads into a HIIT workout.

Low key sigh of relief regarding my big ass getting bigger

One of my closest friends was planning to celebrate her birthday in Puerto Rico in January; however, she canceled it because of the pandemic. Not really sure what she was thinking with planning a destination bday party during a pandemic. I mean, I get it because this birthday was going to a milestone birthday. Anywho, I’m kind of glad that the trip was canceled because I would have felt very uncomfortable laying around shirtless and looking like a goddamn beached whale on a beach.

According to my food tracking app, I can drop about 25 pounds by May 26, which is a month shy of my birthday. Since this is somewhat an aggressive goal, I’ll probably have to modify it along the way. That said, I think this will be a nice gift to myself. I know that this will be an uphill battle for me, because so much of my weight issues are due to bad eating habits. That said, challenges are supposed to be tough so game on!

Speaking of working out, I would like to start weight training again; however, I do not feel 100% comfortable working out in a gym. Also, we simply do not have enough room in the apartment for more fitness crap that I may or may not use. Word on the street is that Crunch Fitness has an app that approximates how many people are at the gym. I wonder if my gym, New York Sports Club (with its struggling a**), plans to do something similar. You know, once New York Spots Club settles its class action suit. Regarding this resolution, I think that I’ll stick with my workouts (mainly HIIT stuff) from Beachbody on Demand.

Crunching the numbers:

Out of habit, I log my runs and other workouts, but I rarely revisit the data to see if my general fitness is improving. Well, I guess my Apple Watch logs my workouts and syncs it to Strava. It would be nice to actually check out how I’m doing during 2021. I have a Smashrun account (which I rarely use), but the app only provides information and stats regarding runs. I guess I should do a search to find something that can provide stats over time for all types of workouts.

Well, I think these are a few decent resolutions to slide into 2021. I know that my resolutions should be a bit more specific, but I think starting more general will give me an opportunity to be more flexible and specific as I struggle through 2021. Hopefully, I’m still at it after Superbowl Sunday.

Question of the Day:

Do you have any fitness resolutions on deck for 2021?

Do you use any apps to monitor your fitness activities?

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