gwennefarrell

Sorry I didn’t post on Saturday, it was a busy but fun day. It has been quite windy and stormy here the past few days. I got up yesterday morning and there was a thunderstorm happening so I opted to delay a walk and instead did one of my Zumba video on demand sessions. Early in the afternoon it appeared to have stopped raining so I went out for an hour walk (note I did still attend my online bootcamp). Wouldn’t you know it but when I was on the last 15 minutes of the walk the skies once again opened up and dumped rain. Fortunately I was able to walk most of the rest of the way home under trees so I didn’t get seriously wet.

One thing we have learned coming down here is that you need to avoid making static plans. About the only thing I am relatively successful doing is meal planning but even that always has to have a back up. Case in point, today we were supposed to go to a local beach club with our friends but owing to the wind it has been postponed. We are not sure when it will happen, we just have to wait and see. Even my plans for doing some work need to have a bit of a contingency because sometimes out of the blue we are invited to something or someone needs help which we always give.

It has taken me a long time to get my head wrapped around the fact that I can’t schedule our time down here. Anyone who knows me gets the fact that this is so out of my comfort zone. Something I really enjoy is being in control of my time and schedule. Here, it is like wring it in the sand. I have had to learn that I have to look at things in terms of something like well, one day this week we can do this. I have to be prepared for everything tentatively planned to be shifted to a different time or even a different day. Today was a prime example of that.

So what to do now that beach club day has been canceled? Well, we are going to walk over to our favourite local restaurant for lunch. And because we are going out for lunch it means changing up what we were going to have for dinner (it’s because of that whole balancing carbs and calorie thing). But you know what, that’s ok. The culture around here if truly different from what we are use to. I do admit though that I have finally started to get used to it.

And so I have just accepted that everything while we are here is on manyana time. I will say, the more time I spend here the less stressful that concept has become.

Ok, this morning has been a bit crazy. Our friend found a contact for a contractor to come in and replace the hinges on our shower doors because they are corroding and one door has actually failed. This is great as it will be completed by them and done properly. We got everything set up for them to come this afternoon. It was then up to me to find a way to pay them (payment has to be shown before they start the work) which took a bit of work. I should note, so did typing all the WhatsApp messages into google translate! Anyways, the big challenge was being able to provide them with a map of where are condo is. Trust me, it took far too much time out of our morning and thus tequila is now involved.

This past week I have been trying to get some work done. My clients are now at year end meaning I need to get everything input, balanced, adjustments done, financial statements prepped for Board meetings, info sent to the accountant, etc. I got a jump start on one client the beginning of the week and got a lot done. Then yesterday the other client sent their year end information so now I need to start working on that.

Now add to that the fact that several of my volunteer organizations had work for me this week. This included a Zoom meeting, writing a report for a meeting I wasn’t able to attend (it wasn’t available on Zoom). I had to get caught up on emails and do some work for a 3rd organization this week and that work is still ongoing. You add on top of all of this the fact that I work out 3 hours each weekday and you can probably see how a big chunk of my day is taken up.

However, when we come to the condo the goal is to get some relaxation time in as well as socialize with our friends. So how am I supposed to do that and juggle all the other stuff? Simply put, I make sure there are boundaries put in place. That means if we want to go out or plan to socialize by the pool with our friends then I restrict myself to no more than 3 hours of work. This of course can change if there is urgent work that I need to do but so far that hasn’t happened. I recognize that there is a lot of stress in my life so I know I need to have recovery time while I am here so I am pretty stringent on saying no to volunteer organizations when I need to. Funny they seem to understand but then they want me re-energized so that I can work harder for them when I come home.

It is possible to juggle all your commitments and still find time for relaxation and a social life, you just have to be dedicated and keep those boundaries firm.

I need to vent a bit. I have mentioned that there are lots of dogs in our complex in Mexico. Most of the owners are awesome, they keep the dogs on a leash when walking them and pick up the dogs’ poop which is what all responsible dog owners will do. This morning I saw the man out walking his 2 dogs, one was a beagle who was on a leash the other was a larger chocolate lab who was not on a leash. To make things worse, the guy watched that lab take a big poop on a grassy area and then kept walking. My husband asked me if I said anything and I explained it was 6am and very dark out with no one else around so starting a confrontation would not have been safe. However, if I see that fellow in daylight when someone else is around I will absolutely call him out because that behaviour is not acceptable.

So it is hot here (truly not trying to brag to the people at home dealing with the cold). Last year when we were here this time of year it was reasonable. And yes, I did complain when we first got here that the mornings were a bit chilly. Now, however, when I get up at 5am it is already 27-28 degrees. You add humidity it is around 32 degrees. Still, I have managed to get out for a good walk every day starting Jan 2nd. I acknowledge I just can’t find it in me to do even a short run because quite frankly even walking has me covered in sweat.

While I am here I make sure I am really cognizant of the heat. Normally at home during the summer my idea of hydration is to stop at available water fountains along the beach and that is enough for me. Here, no way would that cut it. Instead I have my hydration belt with 2 frozen bottles of water. Trust me those bottles are empty every day when I get back from my walk. As well, I wear heat appropriate clothing (of course along with my LED vest) and always carry a cloth to wipe away the sweat. I also ensure to drink even more water when I am back in the condo. I can also assure you that after that 2 hour walk in the morning where I am just getting back at dawn, I do not go outdoors without a good coating of sunscreen.

Just on a side note, it is not just sunscreen that is required down here. The other important thing is bug spray. You would not believe the size of the chunks of skin that no-see-ums here can take. You add that to the sand flies and the massive amount of mosquitos and you can understand why bug spray and calamine lotion are always well stocked.

The bottom line is I do whatever I can to keep myself safe in the heat. I won’t let it be my excuse for not working out (when I do my online fitness class I have a large fan pointed directly at me) rather I look for the solutions to keep me at least one foot into being comfortable.

Cut my normal 2 hour walk this morning to only 90 minutes. I had gone out at the usual time but about 1/2 way through it started pouring rain (ok, those of you at home reading this I know you are rolling your eyes given the deep freeze you have going on) so I got soaked. Once back in the condo and dried off it was time for a fitness class. On Saturdays the 1st class is at 8am (11am Playa time) so I decided to see what classes they had recorded this week. I found a Zumba class from Tuesday and decided to give it a try. It was actually a lot of fun and a decent workout.

In our complex here there are a lot of dogs. We know one couple who has rescued 5 dogs! Lots of people living here full time have multiple dogs and no matter what time of day it is people are walking their dogs throughout the complex. One I have befriended is a yellow lab and when she sees me she will stop in the middle of the road and refuse to move until I pet her. There is also this adorable tiny yorkie who gets all excited when he sees me but when I am within a couple feet of him he turns into Kujo. Still, I try to make friends with him.

I will note there is also cats everywhere. Sadly, many of the cats are feral but others are pets. I mentioned the one that actually likes to walk with me in the morning but sadly I haven’t seen him in a few days. I do find it a bit hard to determine which ones are pets and which are feral simply because even the pets are often skinny. I’m pretty sure that the ones with collars and tags have homes that look after them.

And so to make my walks even more enjoyable I picked up both dog and cat treats. I have to say, even dogs that seem to be aggressive towards strangers figured out pretty quickly that I have treats in the bag I pull out. The yorkie decided that I obviously was a friend because he gently came over to receive his little biscuit yesterday. And the lab, the first day I had treats she gently took one and typical of a lab batted her pretty eyes at me so of course she got a second treat. I also leave cat treats on the ground whenever I see a cat nearby. Today an orange tabby who was pretty skittish before saw me coming and immediately ran towards me ready for his goodies.

Several of the dog owners were surprised that I would have treats for their dogs. But let’s be honest, I love animals and doing this just gives me a sense of joy. I miss my pets when I am away (though we Facetime them every day) so making friends with the dogs and cats down really just makes me happy.

So, find your joy! Do something simple that makes you happy. To me that makes everything so much better.

Yesterday was my birthday and so I decided that I did not need to put in 3+ hours of exercise. What did that look like? Well, went for an hour walk and then did a fitness class. Sigh, I just couldn’t justify taking the whole day off from my fitness regime. This was probably a good idea based on what I ate during the day and in all honestly the amount of alcohol consumed (not my fault that a craft brewery here provides you with free beer on your birthday). Of course I was up early again this morning for a 2 hour walk followed by an hour fitness class. Still going strong even after 2 weeks at the condo.

I have mentioned that over the past 2 years we have really expanded our social network at the condo. It is strange because it’s like you meet a couple and they introduce you to a bunch of other couples who all seem to hang out together. Some are closer than others but in general it is a lot of the same people who hang out together especially for things like birthdays. We have really been enjoying getting to know all of these people and many of them have become good friends.

There is one couple in particular that we realized we see at many of these events but we haven’t really spent a lot of time with us. I let them know that my husband and I would like to get to know them better and they invited us to join them at a beach club today. I sometimes get nervous in these type of situations because you never know, even more so in the current political environment, if in a small group you are going to find you really are not on the same page. However, today was awesome! We had a fantastic time chatting with our new friends which was of course helped along by our mutual love of animals. Trust me, stories of our dogs was a really good starting point for the conversation.

When we got back to our condo my husband and I agreed it was a great decision to spend the day with this couple (also joined by a couple that live in their building who were also great). Getting to know new friends can be a really uplifting experience and now we have expanded that circle of friends just a little more.

Well it took some work but my online workout system is now fully operational. I knew coming here that in order for me to stay motivated and do my classes I needed to have a system that was a little better than trying to do the online workouts using my iPad. I was very cognizant of the fact that I would likely try and find excuses not to participate in the classes so decided we needed to set up a ‘high end’ online gym. And so, mini Mac connected to the 55″ tv with a Bose speaker and all is good. Much to my surprise I am actually enjoying doing the online workouts and now know this is absolutely doable every time we come down here. The only thing I need to do is find a decent workout mat because the one I am using is super flimsy. But, I’ve still got weeks to try and find one.

It has been over a month since I had that massive arthritis flair up and it has quite frankly really held me back. I stopped doing anything that was high impact because it was very painful if I jolted that knee. That has been very frustrating for me because truly when it comes to my fitness I am not good at being patient. Nevertheless, I forced myself to allow my knee to completely recover because I didn’t want any further setbacks. Over the past couple weeks I had slowly started upping my intensity level while being diligent to stop if there was any pain. The past few days I have been able to go full at it in my classes so decided now would be a good time to really push things again.

This morning I got up and thought, right today is the day. Put on my new running outfit (this includes a cropped running shirt because it was already 25+ degrees) and my LED vest and started running. Well guess what, an hour later and with a big grin on my face I had completed my first run in about 6 weeks. Yes, I know I hate running but that smile was because I’m back baby! The knee didn’t hurt at all and after the run I still managed another hour of walking (and then eventually a fitness class). Even now as I write this my knee isn’t bothering me at all and I have suggested to my husband that we go for a nice long bike ride later this morning. I should note, I do not have full flexion in my bad knee and some days I don’t get the 110 degrees bend needed to ride a bike and trust me I haven’t had that lately. Today however, I’m confident that I will be able to ride my bike and I am pretty happy with that.

And so, I am back at it. Ok, I know I never really stopped working hard it was just I wasn’t working as hard as I like. Funny, I look back at FB posts from 3 years ago when I really started down this fitness path and I kind of shake my head. Who knew that I would get to a place where I really enjoy working out and being fit but that is where I am today. My husband posted pictures of me just finishing my run/walk this morning and I looked at them and realized, I’m no longer that short, fat chick that lived in my head for so long, may she never return.

I have to say, I am a bit surprised by the number of people I see walking/running at 6am in our complex. Many of them are out with their dogs but there a also a lot who are just walking/running. There are a couple of men that I see every morning who are super intense in their running and I am so impressed.

So today was a good friend’s birthday. She had decided to celebrate at a local beach club which is about a 15 minute walk from our condo. We absolutely adore this woman and her and I joke about the fact that today starts the 4 day party as my birthday is on Jan 10th. There was no way we were missing this event.

Added to this, is the hotel where this beach club is located is where our dear friends and next door neighbours are currently staying. Of course we invited them to join us in the celebrations and it was just so awesome to unite our Canadian family with our Mexican family. Quite frankly it was just an amazing experience.

And so I admit, tequila has been involved, a lot of tequila. But that is ok, as always I planned for this. As this is Saturday it is a day that I back off my workouts and yet I still put in 27.5k steps or 18 km (on top of 32k steps and 21.5k yesterday). I kept my breakfast to a simple low calorie hard boiled egg this morning. Ultimately my intake today will still be significantly less than my calories burned.

But here is the important part, it is ok to let yourself have a day of celebration. You have no idea how much I enjoyed introducing my Canadian family (and our next door neighbours at home are our family) to our Mexican family (and these people are absolutely our family). Having this kind of day where there is no care in the world is completely invigorating. Sometimes something as simple as a beautiful hug can just take away all the stress in the world and trust me, there were many hugs today.

So forgive me that this is a slightly drunken blog. I wouldn’t change a thing that happened today because I am sitting here with a silly grin on my face. I won’t say I deserved the day, what I will say is I deserved the day with my amazing friends.

I have found some new walking friends on my early morning walk. First is a very pretty flame point kitty who trots along with me for about a block when I am in his neighbourhood. He doesn’t want any affection, just wants to keep me company. During my afternoon walk I have another cat, an orange tabby, who also likes to walk with me though he chats the entire time. Then of course there is Laura the yellow lab who when she sees me plants her butt down and refuses to move until I have come over and scratched her behind her ears. They are a awesome group of animal friends.

Day 3 of being back to my workouts and things are going well. I do a 2 hour walk first thing in the morning. This is followed by an hour of online bootcamp (more on that in a minute). After lunch I do a final 1 hour walk getting me to a total of 4 hours for the day. We have also been really trying to eat healthy which is aided by not eating out. Fortunately in Mexico there is an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables to it is not that difficult. My biggest challenge is convincing my husband that what he calls ‘simple’ meals are the ones that tend to not be all that healthy so I am limiting those to maybe once a week.

On our last trip to the condo I had opted to take a pause on my gym membership while I was here. I had found some Zumba videos on our TV network and decided to use those to supplement my walking (note I was only doing an hour a day on that trip). The problem was only 2 of the videos were actually full on Zumba so by the end of our trip I was absolutely bored with them. I decided this time I needed to do something different.

My fitness centre offers the ability to attend all classes online via Zoom. The last trip I didn’t know if that would work for me hence opting to take a pause in membership. This time I decided to at least give it a try. However, I really did not want to do classes via my iPad as I figured it would just be too hard to see so I bought a webcam which could be hooked up to our Mac Mini which runs through the TV at our condo. We had success getting that set up for my 1st class Tuesday but unfortunately I didn’t know where to find the Zoom meeting information (I now have it) so I just did a previously recorded class. I did the same yesterday but only because they did not have an early morning class for me to take. Today was my first day with the live online course and it went quite well. I am going to have to hook up a speak to the Mini but that is ok as we have several bluetooth speakers here.

All in all it has gone well so far. While my goal is to continue at this level every weekday I know that time can sometimes be the enemy. I know there are going to be some days where I might not be able to do that afternoon walk but I will do everything I can to get it in. Here’s to keeping fit while in Mexico!

As I mentioned I was taking Saturday off from writing my blog as we were arriving in Mexico on Friday and I knew we would be busy. I had also taken a few days off from working out which I had planned. I know taking a week off (along with eating more than usual and definitely consuming more alcohol than I should) is not going to destroy me. I had given myself a break with the understanding that today I am back at it full tilt.

I did manage on Sunday to get out for some walking which was a bit interesting. Firstly, I had set off at 7am which is still pretty dark. I had come prepared and went out wearing an awesome hi-vis vest which has flashing LED lights, trust me I could be well seen. The problem was it is not exactly warm here in the mornings and I didn’t bring any sort of walking jacket. I suffered through it for 2 hours but still got in lots of steps. This morning it was slightly warmer but not much made worse by the fact I hit the road at 6am hence I have now made arrangements to have a jacket brought down here to me with my friend who is arriving on Thursday. I should note that after I did a 2 hour walk first thing today, I then did an hour online bootcamp class. Moreover, my husband and I plan to do an hour walk after lunch (I’m fairly sure it will not be a walk at a pace that I am used to).

But the New Year has arrived and that means everyone seems to be scrambling trying to get their resolutions in place. Now first of all I don’t believe in setting resolutions about what a better person I will be this year, how I will be kinder and more forgiving, etc. Let’s be honest, those never work out the way we intend. I also don’t believe in setting myself up for unrealistic goals and then suffering the disappointment when I don’t achieve them. Sure, I can tell myself I am not going to drink, that I will be at 120lbs when I get home from Mexico or maybe that I’ll be back to running every day. Sorry, none of those things are going to happen.

Instead I am opting to set small weekly goals. This week I’m doing the easy one, exercise here like I normally would at home. I say easy because I know I can put in at least 3 hours a day, 6 days a week without it interfering with work I am doing while I am here or the social schedule we have. Goal 2 this week is to go back to diligently logging all of my calories (really, it was only the last week or so I let that slip). Goal 3 is to limit alcohol (note I say limit and not eliminate because hey, I’m in Mexico meaning tequila is often involved). The final goal is only eating out 1 day a week (likely Saturday).

Yes that is 4 goals for the week which may seem like an awful lot but to me they are all ones that I know I can attain. Next week I will mainly keep these same goals (I say mainly because I know there will be one celebration day next week) and then add one more such as doing a 5 k run at least 3 times (made easier by the current weather). If I accomplish that then I’ll come up with another one for the following week but cognizant that I want it to be something I can achieve.

So pick some small goals for this week and then when you accomplish then slowly add to the list. Most important, praise yourself when you accomplish your goals. I find that congratulating myself helps me to keep on track.

For those of you who have been searching for a post from Tuesday, it didn’t happen. It was the day after Christmas and we had decided to take down all the decorations because we are away for nearly 7 weeks and my siblings didn’t want to have to do all that work without us. That’s the tradeoff of them living here and taking care of the animals so that we can do these extended trips. There also likely will not be a post on Saturday simply because we have a lot to do to get the condo set up for our trip. This is mainly because of shopping, pre-preparing various meals and socializing with the neightbours.

While it seems to have taken forever to get here, tomorrow is the big day and our flight leaves at 8:15am. We have done all the prep work including booking a cab to the airport, arranging for someone to pick us up in Cancun and what I consider most importantly is arranging for dinner to be delivered tomorrow evening as it will be later than we normally like (note this time of year Playa del Carmen is 3 hours ahead of us here). Once we get there it will be unpacking the stuff we brought down to leave at the condo and figuring out what we need to buy for groceries. It is always hectic the first day or so as we try to get everything done so we can settle into our routine.

But I also have to do a lot of planning for these trips especially to try and ensure that I maintain my current weight (last trip I gained a few pounds but lost them quickly once I got back home). I not only plan my meals including when we will be eating out but also my workouts. Last time we were there I would do a 1 hour walk or run then a Zumba video. The problem was that after a few weeks I got bored with the Zumba though I did keep it up. This time I plan on 2 hours walking/running each morning followed by an online bootcamp course from my fitness centre. This works well for me since the 5:30am class will actually be at 8:30am Mexico time allowing me lots of time to get the walking/running in. I know the 2 hours is absolutely doable since yesterday I was successful at doing a 3 hour walk.

One of the other things I have planned for this trip is better exercise clothing. If you recall from the fall trip it was so hot that the final week I wouldn’t even consider doing a run. So this time I have much lighter workout clothing including shorts in better materials as well as running crop tops. I am hoping with these and the fact the weather is a bit cooler I will be more comfortable.

So the next couple days I doubt I will get to my 10k steps but that is ok. I also doubt that Monday I will accomplish much since we are going to a party Sunday evening for New Year’s Eve. I’ve already got my head wrapped around just letting those days go so that I can hit the ground running (literally) come Tuesday, January 2nd. We’ll see how it all goes but I am pretty determined to have at least the success with my weight and training as I did on the last trip.

On a final note, Happy New Year everyone!