Awe. Thanks for the hug and kiss, Trudy!🐶

Trudy sends hugs and kisses for DorothyMH and PetiteSheWolf too. She sends a dry kiss for Mademoiselle Luna (because you are not supposed to lick friends who are smaller than you).

Monday, January 24 - Rainbow's Consecutive Days of Fitness Day 642


Dolphin-a-Day #151 + Feathered Peacock-a-Day #51: 2 minutes


Workout with my mother: Day 676

Upper Body Stretch
On the Ball
Sore Feet
Talk to the Hand
Hand Tendons

Total time for w/o w. mother: 60 minutes


Total workout time: 62 minutes


Other stuff:

6 km hiking - with the pups
5 min. restorative yoga
50 min. Fluenz
17 min. YTT

Daily French: - Total Consecutive Days: 440
GOBOT:
GBOT:

January 26:

⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Phew!

Tuesday, January 25 - Rainbow's Consecutive Days of Fitness Day 643


Dolphin-a-Day #152 + Feathered Peacock-a-Day #52: 3 minutes
Yoga: 90 minutes (arm balances workshop)


Workout with my mother: Day 677

Rotator Cuff
Spartan Trials - Day 1
Ankle Recovery
Wrist Pain
Hand Tendons

Total time for w/o w. mother: 33:10


Total workout time: 126 minutes


Other stuff:

6 km hiking - with the pups
20 min. meditation & restorative yoga
15 min. Fluenz
95 min. YTT (Live Practice)

Daily French: - Total Consecutive Days: 441
GOBOT:
GBOT:

You're doing the Spartan Trials with your mother? Wow!

Yes. I am getting good at figuring out how to modify exercises to make them accessible for her. All planks are done incline. Sometimes we are talking a very steep incline (with her hands on the edge of our dining room table). Other times I have her do them with her hands on the seat of a dining room chair. (It depends on the specific exercise, whether or not she will be able to do them from the chair seat.) For day 1 she used the chair seat. Moving from a plank at that height into the lunge was an excellent challenge for her. (I am trying to push her to challenge her balancing skills, but only within a range she can handle safely. Falling is not so great for an 80-year-old woman!) My mother's feet don't actually leave the ground in jumping exercises, like the jump squats. She can do a squat though, and push up in an "explosive" fashion, like you would for jump squats. It's the same action. She just doesn't have enough power to get airborne.

January 27:

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Wednesday, January 26 - Rainbow's Consecutive Days of Fitness Day 644


Dolphin-a-Day #153 + Feathered Peacock-a-Day #53: 2 minutes


Workout with my mother: Day 678

"Yoganza" - some standing poses, half sun sals, chair-assisted standing balances, twists & hip-openers seated on the chair, and supine work. Since my mother liked doing bridge work on the exercise ball on Monday, I though we would use it for a legs-up-the-ball shavasana. But she did not find this comfortable. She thinks just a cushion under her knees would be better. So we will try that next time.

Total time for w/o w. mother: 55 minutes


Total workout time: 32 minutes (25 minutes of the yoga was restorative)


Other stuff:

1 km hiking - fetching groceries. (the pups missed their walks because it was too freaking cold)
20 min. Fluenz
55 min. YTT (teaching)
45 min. writing (prep for Saturday's game of EPOCH)

Daily French: - Total Consecutive Days: 442
GOBOT:
GBOT:


A daughter of a friend of mine is doing a research study on building healthy habits for her psych MA. The study is currently recruiting research subjects who are interested in creating a lasting, healthy, daily (or most days, at least) habit. I heard about the study from my friend shortly after I'd made the decision to stop trying to do so many things every day! Still, I am trying to build healthier habits in the form of working towards my goals more consistently, so I wanted to join the study if I could. I decided that the daily habit I want to build, towards this end, is to complete a minimum of 2 hours work each day in one of my primary areas of study, before 10:00 PM. My primary areas of study are currently defined as: Writing/Game Design, French language, Yoga Teacher Training, Painting/Drawing, and Ornithology/Natural History. (My areas of study can and I expect will change over time. But the ongoing habit I wish to develop is the consistent, daily work in at least one of the areas that is a currently identified focus.) Completing this habit daily won't get me 100% of the way towards my current weekly study targets (which total 16 hours per week, not 14, and don't include ornithology/natural history) but it should certainly help me to get there, and it will help me to meet my goal of getting to bed on time too.

My orientation session for the study was interesting as the lovely young research assistant who explained the study to me really wanted me to commit to completing my habit at a specific time of day and/or otherwise connect my habit to a specific cue, and this just is not possible for the habit I am trying to build. She then suggested that I try a simpler (i.e.: easier) habit that I could link to a specific time and/or cue. But that's not what I want. I really want to build this specific habit, which I acknowledge will not be easy, in no small part because I cannot always do it at the same time of day. As the purpose of the Habit Builder Study is to examine the factors (plural) that lead to lasting, healthy habits, my proposed habit still qualifies for the study, even though I cannot make use of one of the key factors which previous research has identified as helpful (linking the habit to a specific time and/or cue). Other factors are important too, such as the fact that this specific desired habit is meaningful to me. So I'm in the study, and hoping that my progress towards my custom-designed, not-so-easy-to-build desired habit will provide interesting and useful data for the research team.

January 28:

⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
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🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Thursday, January 27 - Rainbow's Consecutive Days of Fitness Day 645


Dolphin-a-Day #154 + Feathered Peacock-a-Day #54: 3 minutes


Workout with my mother: Day 679

Arms & Shoulders Stretch
Push & Pull*
Sore Feet
Talk to the Hand
Hand Tendons

*I changed the name of this portion of our workout to reflect the fact that we will be using both resistance bands and dumbbells going forward. (We used only bands this day. They worked well for some things, less well for others. Some exercises are more effective and/or technically easier with dumbbells, and we have both. So there's no reason not to use them.)

Total time for w/o w. mother: 38 minutes


Total workout time: 41 minutes


Other stuff:

2 km hiking - short walks with the pups
25 min. Fluenz
75 min. YTT (Live Workshop)
20 min. writing (prep for Saturday's game of EPOCH)

Daily French: - Total Consecutive Days: 443
GOBOT:
GBOT:

January 29:

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Friday, January 28 - Rainbow's Consecutive Days of Fitness Day 646


Dolphin-a-Day #155 + Feathered Peacock-a-Day #55: 2 minutes
running: 5.5 km in 38 minutes (more or less. the battery on my Garmin died)


Workout with my mother: Day 680

Universal Warmup
30 Days of Cardio Blast
Ankle Recovery
Wrist Pain
Hand Tendons

Total time for w/o w. mother: 29:10


Total workout time: 69 minutes


Other stuff:

2 km hiking - short walks with the pups
7 hrs. writing (prep for Saturday's game of EPOCH)

Daily French: - Total Consecutive Days: 444
GOBOT:
GBOT:

January 30:

⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Saturday, January 29 - Rainbow's Consecutive Days of Fitness Day 647


Dolphin-a-Day #156 + Feathered Peacock-a-Day #56: 3 minutes


Workout with my mother: Day 681

Posture
Knee Saver
Sore Feet
Talk to the Hand
Hand Tendons

Total time for w/o w. mother: 37:30


Total workout time: 40 minutes


Other stuff:

6 km hiking -with the pups
5 hrs. 15 min. writing (prep for + game of EPOCH)
40 min. restorative yoga

Daily French: - Total Consecutive Days: 445
GOBOT:
GBOT: