Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

Because I can't leave anything well enough alone...

This Year
  • 70 barre3 classes (63 in-person; 7 livestream)[This includes if I go to the in-person I have booked tomorrow]. Goal for 2023: 100+ classes.
  • 18 Orangetheory classes [This includes if I go to the class I have booked Friday]. Goal for 2023: 52 classes (1 per week)
    • 1-mile running benchmark PR: 11:02
    • 2,000m row benchmark PR: 9:57.14
  • 113.8 running miles (mostly includes OTF treadmill miles because I track those for shoe purposes)[This does not include Friday's OTF class, which will probably be 1-2 miles]. Goal for 2023 TBD based on West Coast runDisney announcements.
    • Outdoor running: 90.2 miles
    • Orangetheory: 23.6 miles
  • 152.8 walking miles. Goal for 2023: 150 miles.

Honestly, for a year when I stopped running, had a lot going on, and struggled to find a consistent exercise routine, this isn't bad at all.
 
Yeah ... I should probably stop making questionable decisions.

Not going to go into why I was reading through old posts, but anyway, if there's one thing I've learned since 2019 it's to never stop making questionable decisions. Sometimes they steer you wrong, but sometimes the best things come from questionable decisions. And the best things make the misses worth it.
 
Also ... I feel like everyone who tries OTF becomes a die hard. I haven't heard anyone say they don't like it or are lukewarm about it. Are they drugging the water or something?

This is from February 2019. Fast forward 4 years (I think that's the math) ... I guess I'm kind of an OTF die hard now? I mean, I have the lowest tier membership, but I also love a lot of things about it and I might upgrade in a few months when my schedule briefly calms down (the short lull between Passover and baseball season). Oh, and it's not the water, it's something that passes into your skin through the heart rate monitor. I don't know how they do it, but that's definitely what causes the obsession.

But I get what you're saying about OTF. That's one of the things that has scared me from trying - I don't need everyone else to see my stats up on a board.
Also ... the board doesn't scare me now that I know what's on it. Most classes that I've been to that have leaderboards (I'm thinking spin classes mostly), I opt out because I don't want anyone to see my stats or rank. OTF I'm on the board because I wear their HRM (I like having my stats in the app), but all it shows is my HR zone/percentage and "splat points" (# of minutes spent in the two highest zones), and it's all alphabetical, no ranking at all. And nobody cares that I'm always in the red zone (my heart rate shoots up like crazy when I exercise). I like that there's no ranking and it really doesn't feel like a competition to me.

I get why I was scared of Orangetheory initially. And I think that if I had tried it at a different point of my life, I would feel very differently about it. But I think I found it at a point in my life where it's really good for me.

Anyway, the reason I'm here (other than the fact that I just can't quit this thing) is to share a story from Orangetheory. On Friday we did a benchmark workout called "Catch Me if You Can". Basically, every few minutes (starts at every 2 minutes then goes to every minute towards the end), there's a checkpoint and if you're not at a certain distance, you get "caught" and stop running (and move on to another exercise - for the class I did, it was alternating rowing 200m and running 0.2 miles). If you run 2.8 miles in 20 minutes, then you didn't get caught (you then get an extra 2 minutes to tack on more distance).

At first I was afraid of CMIYC. There's no universe in which I can run 2.8 miles in 20 minutes. There probably isn't a universe in which I can run 2 miles in 20 minutes. But then I saw some people on reddit (which I still hate and only use for OTF things) talking about hoping to make it to the 10 minute mark and I realized ... it's okay if I get caught. So I went. I got caught at the 10 minute mark (the distance was 1 mile and I was at 0.94), and I was happy with that. I was one of 3-4 people in my group who got caught at that point, and the coach (who happens to be one of my favorite coaches) was encouraging us to celebrate getting as far as we did. 2 people in our class didn't get caught, out of like 25-30 total people. So really, almost everyone got caught. And that wasn't a bad thing. We were all encouraged to celebrate what we accomplished and were never made to feel like we failed or missed out on anything. And that's kinda what I've come to love about Orangetheory. It's the fact that whatever you did that day is an accomplishment - it doesn't matter how far or how fast, it's still something to be proud of.

(And the coach, who has been there for most of the highs (hitting my goal treadmill speed for 15 seconds) and lows (panic attack on the treadmill) of my OTF membership was very excited for me and proud of me!)

I've been doing a lot of things at Orangetheory that feel like I'm challenging myself - new benchmarks and signature workouts, faster speeds, heavier weight (although not so much of that). I'm even planning to sign up for DriTri, which is their twice-a-year version of a triathalon (it's rower/bodyweight exercises/running, so not much shared with an actual triathalon). I think that's also part of why I'm connecting with Orangetheory so much these days. It feels like a safe place to challenge myself, and I haven't felt like I had that in a while. Running definitely has not felt like that in a long time.

Anyway, next on my agenda may or may not be my second attempt at the 2000m row benchmark on Friday (last time I did it in 9:57:14, so that's the time to match or beat). I'm signed up for class but I'm also going back to Queens on Friday so TBD whether I will actually be able to make it to class.
 
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I meant to come here and share a mid-year update at the end of June but some things happened in June. So here's a September update:
  • barre3: 54 total classes. There have been some changes to barre3 this year - they got rid of the studio livestreams + introduced 2 new types of classes, a strength-focused class and a cardio-focused class. I did the strength class and it was meh, but I liked the cardio class and will try to do it whenever it fits my schedule. Anyway ... I think I'm a little behind where I need to be for 100 classes but hopefully I'll catch up when I'm in the office more.
    • In-Person Signature: 48 classes
    • Livestream Signature: 3 classes
    • Strength: 1 class
    • Cardio: 2 classes
  • Orangetheory: 46 classes + 1 DriTri (aka bad idea) + 1 rowing workshop. A few months ago I upgraded my OTF membership to the next level so I've been going more than I originally expected. Anyway, lots of PRs this year:
    • Catch Me If You Can - I wrote about this already but I got caught, ran a total of 0.94 miles. Was hoping to beat that in June but I wasn't able to make it (it was while I was sitting shiva).
    • Inferno - This is a rowing challenge, you row 100m then do something else (I think it was some sort of exercise for my class), then 200m then exercise, etc. Goal is to get as much rowing distance as you can. I got 2492m (yes I was annoyed about that last 8m). Goal is to get 2500m or more next time, but I missed the last time we did this because of schedule.
    • DriTri - this is Orangetheory's version of a triathlon - 2000m row, 300 bodyweight exercises, 5K run on the treadmill. I did it but it sucked. And that's all I'm gonna say.
    • 500m row - did this one twice, but the second time I had some stuff going on so I just took is easy. Faster time was the first one - 2:02.82.
    • 12 min treadmill - this is a benchmark where you run as far as you can in 12 minutes. I got 1.12 miles. Probably played it a little too conservative but this should come back around soon so I can try again.
    • 200m row - did this a few times this year and consistently shaved off 1.5 seconds each time. Fastest time was 40.2 seconds.
    • 1 mile - did this 3 times so far this year, with my fastest time being 9:52. Which is pretty fast for me.
    • Everest - this is a dumb thing where you increase the treadmill incline progressively until the max (15%) and then go back down, and the goal is to get as much distance as you can. I did it in May (1.49mi) and said never again and then stupidly talked myself into doing it again in August (1.61m), at which point I decided to rethink my entire approach to Orangetheory because obviously if I'm torturing myself I'm doing it all wrong.
    • Marathon Month - this was August - you sign up for a distance (I picked half marathon) and try to hit that distance in the month of August. I got 16 miles and some sweet swag (which of course I paid for because registration fees)
  • Peloton: 1 class - this was fun! I did a cycling class at the Peloton studio. Signed up for another one on 9/28. It's expensive (~$40 class) so not gonna become a regular thing but I liked the vibe.
  • I haven't really been walking much, other than from the office to/from barre3. Which honestly, I'm fine with. I think upgrading my Orangetheory membership has balanced that out, and the plan is to start running again soon.
It's been a pretty wild year for a few reasons but overall I think I'm doing okay. Next race (because that's apparently a thing now) is the Disneyland 5K in January so I should probably book my hotel or something.
 


Next race (because that's apparently a thing now) is the Disneyland 5K in January so I should probably book my hotel or something.

Be prepared for insane prices....like WDW insane, even for the off-site hotels. I booked a hotel as a "placeholder", but at this point, assuming I still go, that is where I will be staying.
 
Be prepared for insane prices....like WDW insane, even for the off-site hotels. I booked a hotel as a "placeholder", but at this point, assuming I still go, that is where I will be staying.
Yeah, I know. I've been looking a bit and it's pretty ugly. I would love to just book something but I don't know exact dates or even exact number of people yet so it's hard.
 
2023 In Review

  • 74 barre3 classes
    • 4 livestream (they stopped doing livestream in May)
    • 70 in-person classes
      • 45 Signature 60-minute classes
      • 21 Signature 45-minute classes
      • 1 strength class
      • 3 cardio classes
    • ... I can't believe I was one class short of 75. I for sure had time to take one more class.
  • 73 Orangetheory classes
    • 65 60-minute classes
      • 44 "2G"
      • 20 "3G"
      • 1 Tornado
    • 5 90-minute classes
    • 1 "Workshop"
    • 1 DriTri
    • 1 Strength class
    • PRs:
      • 1-mile treadmill: 9:52
      • 12 minute tread for distance: 1.12 mi
      • 200 meter row: 00:40.20
      • 500 meter row: 2:02.82
      • 2000 meter row: 9:08.66
  • 5 Cycling Classes
    • 1 CycleBar
    • 4 Peloton
  • Outdoor running: 8.66 miles
  • Walking: 65.23 miles

What's next?
  • Disneyland 5K - this is gonna be a mess because I didn't train and I screwed up a lot planning the trip but it's Disneyland so it will be fun anyway.
  • barre3 something something challenge - they always have a challenge in January. I don't remember what this one is called. I think you're supposed to take 4 classes a week but I'm just gonna take class whenever I have time and be happy with that.
  • Orangetheory class #100 - this I think will be in early February. I'm debating if I want to make a big deal out of it. Probably not but we'll see.
 
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