Fitness Log #171 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 3 years, and plan to continue doing so.

I started the Friday Firsts sections as a way of keeping track of some of my “firsts” as I dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things seem to be settling down, but I will keep it for now–more as a way to be aware and thankful of what is happening in my life.

Friday Firsts

This week’s firsts:

  1. I wasn’t feeling great and did a home COVID test for the first time. It was negative (good news, but not conclusive), so I used the employee health PCR testing for the first time too. Oh, boy.
  2. For the first time, I paid for a subscription to watch sports. (What is happening to me?!). In brief, ESPN paid for the rights to broadcast the Australian Open, but didn’t show any of the games until 11 pm some nights. That’s too late for me, especially if I have to go to work the next day. A subscription to ESPN+ gets around that issue, and lets us watch more than one match, if we want to switch back and forth. Very exciting. But I really do need to cancel this subscription after 2-3 weeks before it ends up dragging on all year.
Greek terracotta jar with a stylized octopus. About 3000 years old.
Look at those whirling octopus eyes–just how mine looked after watching professional tennis for hours.

Fitness Log

For the first few months of 2022, the goal is to do my PT exercises 3 times a week, and get 150 minutes of moderate exercise, of which (ideally) 60 minutes should build strength (yoga counts); if I am working in the hospital, my goal is just 90 minutes, which is a more realistic stretch during those busy days.

How did I do?

  • Saturday:  Rested today while I felt awful.
  • Sunday:  Felt better, but decided to rest a bit more. I did get my PT exercises in during the afternoon.
  • Monday: I was finally feeling better enough to exercise on my day off. I did my PT exercises in the morning, hit a tennis ball off a wall in the basement for 12 minutes, and then worked out with my trainer (30 minutes).
  • Tuesday: A good but busy day today, I was a bit sore from my training session (or maybe the tennis practice). No exercise today.
  • Wednesday: Today was slow, but still stressful. I did do the PT exercises.
  • Thursday: This was a long day. Full of great patients, but nevertheless long. No energy to exercise today.
  • Friday: A long-ish day, but I did get to my PT after dinner.

Total: 30 minutes of strength training, 12 minutes of “tennis,” and did my PT exercises 4 times (16 minutes), for a total of 58 minutes. Still not anywhere near my weekly goal for time, but at least I am still doing my PT after months of avoidance.