Exercise

I need to remember to not snack immediately before a workout.

Or really, at all.

That said, I did another 5K+ stint on the treadmill, so woo on that. That makes 17 for the month with four days to go. I had originally planned on perhaps doing a run outside for the first time since the bitter cold of December, but hey, it’s been stupidly bitter cold the last few days and last night it snowed. It snowed on the flowers that had been blooming, lulled into the false hope of an early spring.

NO MORE SNOW.

Anyway, stats are pretty standard. I was a bit faster than yesterday, but BPM was up. Not to an alarming degree or anything, so I remain unalarmed. I did burn more calories, which is not surprising given the brownie baggage I added last night.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

I mean, I would have done a workout anyway, but I decided to make the last batch of brownies to clear out the giant Costco-sized box from our pantry (the box was legit purchased at Costco). After making the brownies, I may have sampled several. They were yummy. I will regret them tomorrow. No, I actually regret them now. But today’s workout, in which I watched videos ranging from Blender tutorials to the immediate aftermath of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, will help alleviate some of the excess calories.

I did another 5K today, continuing until I reached the end of the last video. I’m watching videos the way I used to read books. This isn’t good or bad, it’s just different. But it helps keeps me motivated, so maybe it is kind of good!

I was slower today, possibly because of the brownies, possibly because I had to stop several times, once to visit the loo, which is always annoying during a workout (I can hear moms all over saying, “Why didn’t you go before you started?” I did, I swear!) I did hit a new max distance, though, so woo on that.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Today I got in the workout much earlier than usual and found that:

• I went farther (5K)
• Was faster (9:00/km)
• But BPM was also a bit higher (132) but not defibrillator high

Overall a good workout with a healthy smattering of videos ranging from DIY routers to ghost revenge plans and more.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Another mid-evening workout because I chose to spend Family Day acting like a very lazy member of the family.

All the stats are pretty decent, with BPM dipping even lower still, which is always nice to see.

I watched videos from Ryan George, Brad Colbow, TechLinked (LTT), Mac Address (also LTT) and Tom Scott. All were fine, though I don’t like the MA guy’s hair. Get a haircut, hippie.

Also, Brad’s video on “So you wants to draw” was informative, even if I’m not a complete newbie anymore. He offered sage advice on balancing what you love to draw with actual lessons and such. I try to do this, which is one of the reasons I do drawing prompts, because maybe I don’t love drawing hippos, but maybe I should.

Also, I’m way behind on drawing prompts. Whoopsie.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Yes, two whole days off from the treadmill and I feel guilty. But only a little, because the last two days I have done a boatload of walking. Some of it was even near the sea, where you will find boats, often loaded with things. Sometimes things on fire.

In the meantime, I queued up a bunch of random videos¹Speaking of videos, I watched a TechLinked news thinger that LTT does and I find the format, where people off-camera always call out to the host, just sort of weird. Also Jason Strieb pulled down the collar of his t-shirt to reveal a hairy chest, so that was a thing. and managed a late evening workout to close my activity rings. Once again, the lae night effort was actually good instead of middling. Go me.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Maybe it was something I ate. In any case, the workout today was fine, nothing remarkable at all, and I even went farther than panned, just past 5K (by coincidence, as I worked out until the current video ended, this turned out to be nearly the exact same distance as yesterday’s trip on the treadmill, one of those things I could never have planned, as math is hard). The one blip occurred with about five minutes to go when I suddenly, absolutely had to go to the bathroom. I paused the workout, went, then resumed and finished without further incident.

I only highlight this because of how unusual it is. I really do wonder if it was something I ate. Hmm, I say.

In the meantime, stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

I returned to a 5K workout today, just because I felt like I’d slacked off by not doing a workout yesterday (I did walk 3 km to the mall, uphill and in imaginary snow, though). And it went fine, although I was not strangely swift™ as before, just kind of average.

I watched Linus Tech Tips look at dollar store electronics, watched Brad Colbow do a quick take on a new XP-Pen pen tablet, then rounded off by watching Tom Scott throw switches in a model train facility that trains (ho ho) real switch operators. All fine stuff, but none of it really funny as such, so I’ll blame the slower pace for the lack of yuks that could have fueled me. Yeah, that’s it.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Another day when I needed to hit my activity goals past mod-evening. I felt better today, though, so stepped onto the treadmill with less hesitation than yesterday.

For videos, I queued up some Linus Tech stuff, one video being “you get what you pay for” with AirPods knock-offs, the other being Linus trying and failing to replace Lithium batteries and producing bad sparks and having to run the battery packets outside in a bucket filled with sand. Good times all around.

As for the workout, as the title mentions, I was strangely swift. I used the usual settings and went for just over 30 minutes and managed an average pace of 7:58/km, which I did not really think was possible. BPM was good, calorie burn was a little light, but overall I have to admit I am pleased, if baffled.

Also, as we hit the halfway point of the month, I have done 10 workouts thus far. Madness!

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

After a day of feeling incredibly blah and actually napping twice, I was not really feeling it. By 9:30 p.m. I still needed 28 minutes on my exercise goal and I wanted to complete my rings to keep my streak going, but again, incredible blahs.

So I went on the treadmill anyway, and I stayed on until I got to the move goal for the day (I knew that would take longer than the exercise goal). BPM was a little higher, but it seems to be that way when I work out later in the evening. Other stats were pretty normal, so yay. I again watched a bunch of videos, but lack the energy to recount them right now.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Another, another 5K workout on the treadmill. I noticed that my legs are feeling a tiny bit sore, which means I’m actually working the muscles enough to make a difference. This is (for now) encouraging me to stretch my treadmill walks out to 5K, which takes around 45-48 minutes and is still faster than going out and doing a 5K run. Plus, the weather is almost always better inside.

I do plan on resuming runs in the outdoor world soonish, though. If the weather is mild and dry next week, I may start then.

For now, it was more videos and shaving a few minutes off my previous 5K pace. I also set the incline correctly to 5 right from the start. Go me.

Videos:

• TechQuickie: Explaining American Megatrends at long last
• Let’s Game It Out: Playing TechCorp, which was delightfully absurd and at times surreal
• Birdhouse in Your Soul: Classic TMBG music video. So much plaid.
• Brad Colbow: Review of the Huion 13″ Pro 2.5K pen tablet. He liked it! No glove dance.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

I’m not sure what the title means. But yes, I kept going on today’s workout and hit 5 km, and a little more to boot, coming in at just over 48 minutes total.

There was a bit of a goof-up for the first 15 minutes, though, as I inadvertently left the incline at zero when it should have been 5. I changed it when I noticed, but still got in what would be a full regular workout with the usual incline settings.

And the workout went well! I watched four videos and by the end the main reason I stopped was not just because my YouTube queue was now empty, but I also really had to pee. I should have gone before I started, just as one should do before embarking on any kind of long journey.

For the record, the videos were:

• Let’s Game It Out – creepy internet gaming café
• Brad Colbow – on NFTs (he is not exactly pro-NFT)
• Linus Tech Tips – should you buy the most popular gaming keyboard on Amazon (A: No)
• Dave2D – on how Snapdragon’s new SoC maybe doesn’t suck after all. Also I think his hair looks different.

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)

Farther: I walked 4.97 km. If I had known I was so close to 5K, I would have gone another 30 seconds or whatever.

Slower: As expected, the longer distance meant my pace was a bit slower overall, but pretty swift early on, as per usual.

Overall, I am pleased by the extra length and sweatiness and such. I have the fan turned up to 7 to cool off instead of the usual 3. I watched three videos, with the first two taking me far enough past 30 minutes that I felt like, what the heck, may as well keep on walking till the end. They were Snazzy Labs looking at Universal Control on Macs (was decent), a Let’s Game It Out on a game called The Maze, which seemed to drive Josh slowly mad, until he realized it was too boring to continue (was okay–I felt kind of bad for him, mazes are the worst) and finally a discussion from LTT on why PC ports still kind of suck (was okay, but really just looking to pad out the queue with something shorter).

Stats:

Speed: 6.5
Incline: 5

Pace: 8:51/km (8:49/km)
Time: 48:43 (47:05)
Distance: 5.50 km (5.34 km)
Calories burned: 478 (335)
BPM: 130 (120)