WRD: Week 9:2021 Adapting for Stress Week
First week of the month at work = stress
It’s been more than just last week, the last several weeks were busy and stressful at work. Of course I say, “at work” but I’m working from home. The added stress plus the fact that you can’t just walk to someone’s desk or yell out to your teammates can be frustrating.
Also, we are going through changes again at the company, and a part of the business is splitting off. I was officially asked this week to go to the “new” company. I’ve already been discussing it since the end of the year but now it’s official. This means I will start at a “new” company in May. And the role is not completely defined. I’m excited but nervous at the same time.
Hard to keep up with the blog sometimes
I always have good intentions to reply to all the comments on the blog posts because I really love and appreciate them. It takes everyone time to read and comment on blogs, and I should be able to do this as well. I have real time issues it seems! So I do apologise for not replying. Just know I really do appreciate everyone who stops by the blog and reads my posts.
Time for the Weekly Run Down – Let’s do this!
Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!
Week 9 – Some Change-up Required
Monday – Strength Training – lower body 40 min
Tuesday – 5KM run, mobility training 25 min
Wednesday – rest day apparently
Thursday – RPM 83 lunch workout, Strength Training – upper body 30 min
Friday – Walking 7.3KM, 10 min yoga stretch
Saturday – 5KM notparkrun,
Sunday – 10KM walk
This week massage therapists, hairdressers and other “contact” professionals were allowed to reopen (except for sex workers due to inability to contact trace clientele for the corona virus) . Ron had an appointment for a haircut Wednesday and I had a massage appointment at the same time so we switched our Tuesday workout up a bit. With work craziness I was also up early every day, but sadly not to workout. Wednesday I tried but it was one fail after another and I lost too much time trying to get started.
Such is life, right?
Running
Really enjoyed the running this week!
Tuesday in the park; it was much chillier this week so the park wasn’t overloaded with people. We decided to do two rounds and in my head I thought maybe I would try for 6km. My legs were a bit heavy though, breathing was heavier, so at the end of the 2nd round I knew it was enough. My 5KM came in just a few seconds longer than my notparkrun PB just a few days before.
On Saturday, I planned to meet Micheál and Jana again, Ron decided also to join and another expat, Jeho, came as well. We are allowed to run with one other person so it ended up Ron and Jana (their tempos match best), Jeho behind them at a bit of distance so he would know the route, and Micheál and I in the back.
It was quite cold and my lungs weren’t enjoying it as much but the legs felt good and was fairly “easy” to get around. At some point I stopped to walk for maybe 10 seconds but I realised that it was harder to walk than to just keep going!
At the 5KM I realised I again had another PB at 34 minutes! 1 min and 23 seconds faster than last week. I told Micheál he now has to run with me every Saturday! ha!
If I look at my last several notparkruns, I’m quite happy to see that my recovery is obviously going well and I’m doing the right thing at the moment. I would like to up this to 3 x a week at some point, but maybe next month.
Walking
I didn’t manage any early morning or lunch walks this week. Friday I finally walked to just enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. And I had a bit of pep in my step because I’d been to see Kim (my hairdresser) and my hair is a lovely shade of purple again. Hooray!
Sunday was cold and kind of gray; I wanted to walk somewhere where I thought it might be less busy so I crossed the John Frost Bridge (a bridge too far) and hit up the path along the river in the Bakenhof almost all the way to the Sacherov Bridge. I wasn’t sure how many kilometers it would be, but I had my tunes and I was just happy to be outside.
Not quite at the end, I went on the other side of the dike, up to the Stadsblokken, over to the Mandela bridge and back home. Funny, I thought it would be much longer!
I have run here countless times, and never, ever, ever tire of the view.
Strength and Spin
Monday was lower body again, Tuesday mobility and Thursday upper body. Friday was again a 10 min yoga stretch. Sometimes I don’t care so much about taking photos of my workout. I assure you that no photos doesn’t mean it didn’t happen – ha!
This week I did RPM 83 which was in a slightly different format than the releases I normally do. Just two instructors, no participants or fake cheering from the audience. Also there were parts showing the two instructors actually cycling outside (filmed in New Zealand), so the visuals were really nice.
Home Improvement
Nothing too exciting on the HI front; We’ve got another door in (yay!) with one to go and I still need to decide on paint.
Ron worked on the skirting boards downstairs as well. The guy who did our floors was supposed to come back and finish the laminate/skirting boards job but he’s been super flakey and didn’t show up Wednesday when he agreed to come over. Ron told him to just forget it, that he would finish it himself. Floor Guy has now promised to come by and bring us some laminate cleaner at no cost for letting us down. We are not holding our breath. it’s very annoying because we’ve already paid him but he couldn’t finish for various reasons – mostly to do with the room downstairs not being finished. But we set our own deadline for the room downstairs so he could come in March. And now he’s flaking out.
Anyway, it is was it is, and it’s not worth fighting the guy for it.
We did pick up this chair for free about a week ago; I’ve finally cleaned it and we are thinking to put it downstairs in the bedroom to throw clothes on. Yes, I’m honest – that is likely what it will be used for. Or the cats will claim it. I mean, in a way they already have.
Stats this week:
Walking: 17.3 KM
Running 10KM
Bodypump 0 but 2 strength workouts
Spin bike 1 x RPM
Total steps: 61,974 (avg: 8,853 daily)
February Scorecard
Less Steps but more intentional – definitely managed this. I do want to do my morning or lunch walks again though as I do feel better when I move every day. I missed it a lot the last couple of weeks.
Daily vitamins – well, I started out really well on this but just completely failed after a couple of weeks. Why on earth is it so hard to just take a couple supplements per day???
Strength training – Doing well on this, though not bodypump in particular. I am doing two times a week, but am going to add a core workout from Les Mills to the mix starting this week.
Reduce Stress – work in progress. Sometimes it’s out of my hands but I can choose to react differently to it.
Early Start to the Day – I managed a few early morning walks and most of my early mornings lately were for work. Not really the intention. So I want to continue working on this goal.
I wouldn’t call February a fail, not even close. However, there are still things to work on. So I’m not setting any extra or different goals for March. I don’t see any reason to add more goals and the ones I set for February aren’t unrealistic. I think these goals will continue for a while.
That’s a wrap!
How was your week? Do you have times of the month at work where it’s generally always stressful? Do you change up your goals monthly or work on them a few months at a time? How many people are you allowed to run with officially? When I look at the notparkrun photo I feel a little bit bad that we weren’t fully distanced.
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Your cats are so cute! That’s a nice looking free chair too.
Sounds like a pretty good week of fitness, despite the work stress. Good luck at the “new” company!
Thanks Jessie!!
Great job with your workouts this week! That’s great that you are making so much progress with your 5k times. Yay for being able to go to appointments again!
Thank you Lisa!!
It is nice you got to run with some friends this week Makes a huge difference. Nice job on the workouts this week. Again always impressed with your DIY projects
Thanks Deborah, it really does make a difference! I think the DIY will be calming down for a little while until we figure out what’s next.
I’m not consistent about commenting or answering comments…I have good intentions but this is one tiny part of my life and it’s not the thing that pays the bills so…yes I understand where you’re coming from. If you’re dealing with work stress plus home renovation stress that ‘s alotta stress and you’re doing amazing.
yeah it is so hard for me to keep up with everything even though I do enjoy the blog and social media. I also have work and other stuff going on. but I just feel bad about it sometimes. thank you so much x
That sucks about the work stress :( I hope that things are better for you next week. I can understand how it can be exciting but also a little nerve-wracking going to the “new” company. Hopefully they will give you more details in the next upcoming weeks.
Glad you were able to run with friends! I haven’t done that in a year and I miss it sometimes.
Thanks Kim. I think it will all work out in the end. Running with friends has been too underrated pre-covid. I can imagine you miss it! do you think you’ll start up again once you have the vaccine doses? do you have rules on how many people can run together at a time?
I love your pictures. That run along the river must have been amazing- the sky looks so dramatic! And I love the intense blue sky in the other picture. Sounds like you had a good week in spite of the work stress.
Thanks Jenny! And that was a walk but nonetheless amazing. I do love the dramatic skies we get here.
Running with friends makes all the difference for me. You had some nice runs this week as well as some other activities.
Yes on the stress. There’s a lot of new stuff for me at wotk and it’s stressful. You are right about not being able to talk to someone face to face. I work from home too.
Hope you like your new company.
So nice to run with friends occasionally! I appreciate it now more than ever! I wonder if working from home will ever feel 100% normal? I’m sure the new company will be fine. We’ll pretty much stay tied to the one I’m currently in, at least until the end of the year. Hope your stress is easing up.
Looks like a decent week for you–friends, good weather, free furniture… oh and fresh haircolor! I’m going on Thursday–I go every 4 weeks and believe you me, it’s not often enough! lol. I’ll freshen up my pink streaks this week too.
So sorry about the work stress. I hope it turns out ok!
Thanks Wendy! The hairdresser is really just a basic thing you know? I missed it!! We have our periods of stress at work. I’m sure it will get better.
Way to go on those 5K’s!!!!! I totally agree on wanting to get in more daily walks. I didn’t realize how much I missed them (most of February) until I was able to resume them when the weather (sort of) cleared. I think your hair looks amazing!
Thanks Kim! Yeah I was a bit like “ok let’s ease up on the 10K steps per day”. and now I’m “wow I really miss those daily walks!” Ok so they just don’t have to be 6km every time. Thanks for the hair compliment :)
Work has been stressful for me lately too. I hope to catch my breath for a moment this week. I hope the new job situation works out well!
That run across the bridge looks gorgeous!
LOL on your new clothing chair. I use the wide ledge of our jacuzzi tub for that purpose.
oh sorry to hear you have stress too Coco! I’m sure the new job will be fine. Oh and that was a walk across the bridge. I need to work my way up to running it!
Seems like the chair isn’t going to work in our room. too bad we don’t have a jacuzzi tub as an alternative!
All the best with the new position at the “new” company. You scored a very nice chair! Sorry about the flakey floor guy. Par for the course but so frustrating. On the goal front I managed to donate 3 big bags of stuff for the win!
Thanks Marcia. And yes we do like the chair. Jury is still out if we keep it though. Doesn’t quite fit in the bedroom… Yeah we’ve been dealing with Floor Guy for a while and knew he was a bit of a flake after he sanded our wood floors. But what are you going to do, you know? Well done on the donation stuff!
It’s funny, I don’t work, but I sort of do — I’m just not paid for it. Not right now, anyway. And there’s a lot of caring for everyone around me!
Good luck with your job changes. That’s not easy, but I hope that it goes well for you.
Nice job on lowering your 5k times! Great job!
Thank you so much Judy x
I have a hard time getting comments answered sometimes, too.
Best of luck with your new position! That’s so exciting! You’re going to do great!
I can’t wait for your final reveal of the house! It’s shaping up beautifully.
I can run with as many people as I want. I run with one or two, and I’ve been to a few races, with limited fields (400, with rolling wave starts). Our city’s BIG race is coming in the next week, and I’m tapping right out of that. Much as I will miss the event, I’d rather wait til next year.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! I do feel guilty though, just like the whole “I have to go to every blog in the link up” feeling that I have if I participate. My new job won’t really start for a while but I’ll officially be employed by the new company on 1st of May. We’ll see what happens! Our new rules for sporting together went up to 4. We have no events. Even if we did I would also be holding out. No thanks.
I’ve had stressful work of my own doing – mustn’t let deadlines get away from me again. Ugh. Well done on all your work on the house, I’m so impressed. We need to choose some bathroom stuff then ask the guy here to do a quote – to do once next door stop renovating their house and cracking our plaster …
Thanks Liz! so sorry to hear you’ve had some stress as well. and goodness YOUR plaster is cracking from next door’s work?? our neighbour is also doing her kitchen and it’s been going on for 5 weeks now!! 5 WEEKS! I mean ok, we also made a lot of noise but come on!!
Yup, they are banging so hard against the party wall that our plaster has cracked quite a lot, it’s very upsetting. And they’ve been doing it for … A YEAR.
I am also falling behind on reading and commenting on posts. This morning I realized that I missed one from last Tuesday’s linkup. That is exciting about the new company! Oh and I love your hair color. I hope you know that the chair is no longer yours. Now it belongs to the cats. :-)
Thanks Zenaida! I also missed a Friday post but I think it’s ok if we miss occasionally! And yes I totally know the chair is no longer ours hahaha!