I previously stated that I would start up exercise again after our latest camping trip (see No Exercise), so the time has come to start my journey to become motivated and start a workout process once again. The last time I worked out was November to the end of June. I completely stopped riding our bike, walking, or basically doing anything, so now the motivation needs to kick in so I can start working out on a regular basis.
My plan is simple, start out slow. Bike riding 10 - 15 minutes the first few weeks as I build up what I lost in stamina from riding November 2020 - June 2021. I know that when I rode for only a week back in August, I struggled to ride for the two or three days I had planned which ultimately had me giving up and not riding since that date. My plan this time is to only do 10 - 15 minutes in beginning classes once again 2 to 3 times per week.
I would also like to add in walking/jogging at least once a week although that might be difficult as the winter months are approaching, but we will see. The walking/jogging is to give me motivation to take our dog, Oliver, on walks. He loves it when I used to jog regularly (see Jogging Posts) as he would get excited when I would simply put on my tennis shoes. If I can just start the regular bike riding, I will be happy and keep it going throughout the year even when busy with other items.
To be able to keep the bike riding motivation continuing, I plan to ride during the week before work. My plan is to get up at 6 am on Tuesday and Thursday to ride the bike. As I become more used to riding, I might need to extend this out to earlier, but right now, I plan on 6 am twice a week to get up and ride. The third day of riding will be on either Saturday or Sunday depending on what is happening. I prefer Sunday and hope to take part in "Sundays with Love" on Peloton.
I plan to update here at least once a month on my status and looking for my family and friends to call me out if I miss a monthly update or you know I am not doing the rides. I do enjoy riding, and running, so I look forward to the process and getting back into the swing of the mindset for exercise.
What do you do for exercise and how do you keep yourself motivated to keep working out each week? Post a comment and I would like to discuss further.
We went out mid-afternoon on Thursday, October 21. Greg and Erin were meeting us after Erin finished with work, so Carrie and I got the tent set up, ready to make dinner, etc. and we were ready for the weekend. While we took some firewood as did Greg and Erin, we went through all of it the first night.
Although it was chilly the first night, it was a perfect night. We used the Firedisc to cook supper where we made fried rice along with Bulgogi. It was our first attempt at doing fried rice let alone Bulgogi, but it was really good! We ate late and by headlamp and cell phones as the moon was not out yet when we were eating.
The moon did come out after we finished eating and we were sitting around the fire pit. The moon had a ring around it that stuck around for a few hours while we sat and admired the moon. We tried to take pictures of the moon, but it did not give it justice to what we were seeing. It was a cold evening, so the fire felt really good. Great first night at our camp site!
Saturday night around 2 am, the storm that had been forecast hit our area. We had heavy rain, lightening, thunder, and strong winds. The storms woke me up as the tent was going back and forth. I could hear the rain pounding on the south side of the tent and a little water came in under the flap for the vent. We only had one hook come up down and it was on the south side near the vent, so a small table we had in the tent dumped contents. Overall, no major issues and then did great through the heavy storm. Another reason glad our dog, Oliver, was not with us as there would have been no where he could have gone to “get away” from the sounds.
We love this spot as it was our second visit to this same camp site (see Melvern Lake). We plan to go back and maybe check out some other areas of the State Park for camping… but why change from a place we love?
Below is Instagram post Carrie did from our camping weekend.
Have you camped at Eisenhower State Park? Where is your favorite location to campus at this State Park or any Kansas State Park? I would love to hear from you in the comments.
On Saturday, October 16 I went to a tailgate for Washburn University vs Northwest Missouri State University (NWMSU). It was any normal Saturday and the third such tailgate of the season I had attended. Previous years, we would put up a good fight to lose to NWMSU whether at home or on the road. Not this day! This day, Washburn came away with a huge win! It will be one of those games that I remember forever. I have been attending Washburn football games for many years going way back to Javier and I first coming across tailgating and football on the Washburn campus one weekend some fifteen years (or so) ago. I have been going ever since.
Our tailgate neighbor, John, who always has a huge spread for his tailgate, multiple tents, satellite TV, and is so friendly was over in our spot a few times during the game high-fiving and telling us this was the time we are going to beat NWMSU. As the final seconds ticked off of the clock, John was over in our area telling us he was going to rush the field when it ended and we won. Sure enough, as the clock ticked away to the end of the game, John moved inside of the stadium and was poised ready to run down the hill. There might have been some talk about taking down the goal posts, but his friends as well as us just laughed at him. If there ever was a good time to take down the goal posts at Yager Stadium, this was likely that time, but then what would we do with he goal posts? Where would we take them? Instead, we watched John rush down the hill following the 17 - 16 win and hug coaches, players, and possibly other fans. When he came back up the hill, he high-fived, hugged, and yelled celebration of the huge win. 
We started off the weekend by attending a Washburn volleyball game Friday night. Washburn volleyball team is ranked #1 in the country and has a seven game winning streak. The first two sets were fast winning by a huge margin. The third set we lost a bit of focus and lost but came right back and won the last set to win the match. Carrie and I went to the game and had a great time. Only six home games remain on the regular season, so hoping we can make it to a few more before the regular season ends. Washburn volleyball plays again this evening, but we are headed to the Washburn football game, so likely will not make it to the volleyball game tonight.
Saturday, we had talked about a few of us going to the tailgate and game. When it came time to leave for the tailgate (around 11 am) others decided they were going to skip as it was going to be hot. I took a few chairs and a tent earlier in the day as I took the car for work. So, when I went at 11, I only took a cooler. I saw fellow fans and hung out at the spot. The game started and I got a notice on my phone of activity at our front door. I also got a notice that Carrie was leaving the house, so I checked our Ring app and I could see Carrie leaving with a cooler. I thought, well, that is kind of odd. I could then see her heading my way on Find My app and eventually Carrie and Greg came walking up. It was pretty cool! They came and joined me for the game.
It was supposed to be hot (low 90s) but it turned out to be really nice. A breeze that was blowing and overcast, so it helped with the heat. We had a good time and talked with our neighbor, John, about combining our tailgate spots in the future as both of us are struggling to get others to join our spots. I told him I was certainly open to doing so. Washburn won 23-20 in overtime. It was a strolling end to the game. We hung out a while after the game before eventually cleaning up and heading home.
Carrie and I thought about going to another volleyball as they were playing at 6 again Saturday night, but we both decided we were tired after doing the tailgate and game. We had a fun day and I am looking forward to Chiefs playing tonight.
Normally at this time of year, I would be on the road back from Helena, Arkansas from the King Biscuit Blues Festival, but with it being canceled this year, missing out on the festival, seeing friends, and the travel to/from Helena. I miss seeing all of our family and friends for the King Biscuit Blues Festival, but hopefully we will be back in a year. It has been fun seeing family and friends post memories from past festivals, but I cannot wait to get down there again.
Until next time, have a great week and I will talk to you later…
Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was getting back on the bike after taking a long break from early July? Well, that getting back biking and working out only happened for about a week (see Back to Bike Riding from August 15) never happened. I rode the bike for exactly one week (three days a week) and then never got back on it. Part of this was simply because I did not have time, but the other was that I had no motivation to get on the bike again. After spending November to June biking weekly, I dropped off cold and having a difficult time to get back on the bike let alone exercise.
The new plan is that here in about two weeks, I am going to start biking again. I plan to get up early and bike in the mornings. The good thing is that Carrie is going to do so with me so she can do Yoga. I think having one another getting up will help motivate. I am hopefully that it will take me long to get back in biking form. When I tried it for that week back in August, I was so sore I could barely walk, so that did not help with the motivation either.
To help me stay motivated once this starts, I plan to start writing about my progress here on this site. If nothing else, if I know I need to write an update at least once a month on my progress, that will give me a goal to strive to so I can get back into shape. It is so easy to just stop and it takes a lot of determination to get it going again… it can be difficult. Let’s Go!
In the recent update, it sounds as though we might lose NBC channels which includes a multitude of other channels including Bravo, Golf Channel, USA, etc., so it could be a huge segment of our channels that might disappear. YouTube TV did tell us through an email that if the channels do disappear, they will reduce our monthly bill by $10 to make up for the number of channels that disappear.
Updated note from September 30 from YouTube TV is that nothing has changed. We do still have the NBC channels, but negotiations are still in progress, so who knows what will happen.
On Saturday, we received a note that NBC and YouTube TV came to terms and we will keep NBC. Thank goodness! Still, we go through this process and it needs to stop.