My Flickr Year 2023 in Review and Background on My Flickr Account Through the Years

The majority of pictures posted on my site come from my Flickr page where I upload all of my pictures. I have been a paid member of Flickr since 2007. I have almost 10,000 photos on my Flickr account and trying to take more and more pictures each year. I often go back and look at past years through Flickr to remember what we did during a specific period of time. Of course I also often go back in my blog to review a trip or what we did during a specific week. 

For 2023, my most viewed picture was from a sunset I took one morning from Washburn University campus as I was walking into work. I entered the picture in a Your Best Shot 2023 group to try and win. I did not win, but it was fun having visitors view and comment on the picture. In the Flickr group, there were over 11,400 members with over 9,000 photos ranging from a variety of photographs. It was the second year I had joined a group for "Your Best Shot" and had fun reviewing all of the member posts with their "Best Shot" for the year.

The picture of the sunset had over 775 views since it was posted on November 3, 2023. The majority of the views coming from being part of the Your Best Shot 2023 group. Overall, I had almost 12,000 views for all of my pictures.

My goal for 2024 is to not only post more pictures to Flickr, but be more active on interacting in groups, other members pictures, and the big one which I have found helps to get views is to include tags on photos. A tag is similar to a hashtag on a tweet but does not necessarily need the typical "#" for a hashtag. Those do show up, but most of my tags are simply "Sunset", "Dog", "basketball", etc. Gives another way for others to search and possibly have whatever was posted show up in their search. I also try to put a title and description on all pictures that I upload. Again, I find that this helps when looking through stats to see how people found a picture.

Brief background into the site that stores pictures I post to this blog that I wanted to share. Hopefully in 2024 I will post more pictures and have more interactions with visitors to my Flickr photos.

Exercise Stats from October Down from Prior Month Still Making Progress

Exercise stats from October were not great with being away for part of the month and then laziness kicked in a bit. I only ran a few times and did not ride the bike as much as I wanted to so I have work to do in November to get my numbers back up. I worked out a total of seven days for the month of October. Not very good! Again, it was a busy month where I was out of town the second week of the month for the blues festival. Not terrible, but certainly a drop from where I had been consistently working out each month.

November is already starting off rough with only a few workouts the first two weeks of the month. As long as I can get some workouts in the week of Thanksgiving and not go crazy with eating, I should be good. Still, it is an ongoing process just to be motivated and make time to get a workout into my weekly schedule. It is so easy to come home from work and just sit down in the chair to relax and suddenly I am asleep. I do enjoy my bike rides as well as my weekly runs that I was doing. As I mentioned in a prior update, I expect my weekly runs on Saturday mornings will come to an end with winter months approaching, but I am still thinking about adding the gym from Washburn so I can have that as an option on Saturday mornings. Again, the motivation to join the gym is not yet in place.

 Eleven workouts for October which was down twelve from the previous month. Wow! Really letting it slide and November is going to be worse. Every category is down from the previous month which is what happens when not working out on a regular basis. At this point, I think I will plan to get back on track following the weekend of Thanksgiving. 

Meanwhile, I continue my journey on doing Weight Watchers although I have taken a break or two from it the past week or two as well. More on that later, but for now, I just need to focus on riding the bike… or join the gym so I can run when it is cold cold cold outside. 

Enjoy the journey and ride on…

My Exercise Stats from September Were Up Slightly and Feeling Good

I made it through September and had one more day of exercise than I did compared to the prior month. So, that feels good. It helped that I was able to get one week of four workouts in the week which helped to give me the extra day of exercise. I was hoping to have more weeks with the four workout days, but September turned out to be a difficult month to get those quality days into my workout.

I also went for two weeks in September where I gained weight, so that was not motivating. As I mentioned, this is due to football games, tailgates, and not sticking to my meal plan for those weeks. I am happy to report that as of last weekend I had a week where I lost weight again and I have lost almost 15 pounds thus far which feels great!

I was up for total workouts, minutes, and calories burned all looking good from September stats. I was down in miles traveled during September though which I account for not working out the 12 - 18 and 26 - 30 dates. Overall, I am happy with my numbers from workouts for September. 

I told Carrie that I am enjoying my runs Saturday mornings, so I am thinking I am going to join the gym again at work just to have it as a backup in case the weather is bad and I need to run. Granted, I only plan on running one day a week, but it might also be nice to have the gym as a backup if I do not feel like riding the bike at home.

Short update for this week. I hope you have a great week!

Stats for August Working Out About Same as July Stats

The month of August was busy. The return of students to campus the later part of the semester and the first part of the month we had returned from being on vacation the last part of July. Although I did manage to get two works outs that first week of August, the second week I did not get but one into the week. I got things back in order the third week and fourth week. No changes from the number of workouts I did from July, so that was good. I slacked a lot for the month though as I look back at August, so I have room to improve as I look at September.

Although I had been saying I had wanted to get running into my routine, it did not occur during the month of August. Still, I keep the plan alive to start running to my exercise routine. We did start Weight Watchers on August 5, so that felt good. Even though we started on August 5, I did go about another week before I started working out regularly. It felt good to get back on the bike after a week of being away.

Individual stats from August had my down a bit from minutes worked out. Miles traveled were down too as you would expect with minutes being down. No change in total number of workouts as indicated previously. Then total calories was also down a lot from the prior month. 

I feel good as I look back on overall workout from August. Yes, I could have done more, but I think it was good considering a busy month and the motivation was lacking for at least a week there toward the beginning of the month.

I am always looking for ways to improve exercise process. Whatever I can do to increase motivation, work out more, and make the process interesting is what I am looking to do as I go month-to-month. True, some days I do not feel like getting on a the bike at all. I have to motivate myself just to get on the bike, but I usually feel much better after I do the bike even when I do not want to do so.

So far I am enjoying the process and I keep going back to get on the bike even when I do not feel like doing so. If I can keep it going and make it a part of my week as a routine, I will keep getting on the bike and enjoying the process.

For now, I will continue to ride and enjoy the process even on those days I do not feel like riding. Until next week, have a great week and may you keep the momentum to keep riding, running, or doing what you do.

Stats for July Working Out a Little Better Than June

I had a lot of times working out for July, but he back-to-back days came while I was on vacation where I worked out daily. Granted, some of those workouts were only for 15 - 20 minutes, but I could sure feel it in my legs towards the end of the end of July after working out every day for a week. It helped me to get up early and stay motivated while on vacation.

It seems like I should have worked out more by working out everyday, but as you can see, the July 1 - 9 I did not work out at all. Thus, I matched my total number of days working out of nine. Overall, I am happy with the number of times working out for July.

Minutes working out are up from June where I worked out a total of 211 minutes compared to 251 minutes working out in July. So, I increased the number of minutes I worked out. I also increased my number of miles traveled from 45.6 to 63 miles traveled during nine workouts in July. I am pretty happy with that number considering I was on vacation and did not work out for the first part of the month.

The largest number is the calories burned that went from 2,272 in June to 3,170 in July. I still have a lot of work to do and I am planning to start Weight Watchers. By watching what I eat, continuing to exercise, and helping to motivate, I hope to be able to soon be talking about considerable weight loss for myself. Of course we are headed into tailgate season which is always tough, but I think I can do it.

A short update on working out for July. I feel good about my numbers from July and hoping to have even better numbers for August.

My Stats for Working Out Slacked a Bit for June

Working out in June was another struggle. Looking back, I only had three of the five full weeks where I worked out multiple times. Two weeks I only worked out once on a Sunday. Getting sick in the middle of June did not help my days for working out (see Exercise Not Happening), so it is easy to understand why it was down a bit. In fact, I think the June 19 or 26 date was not even a bike ride, but meditation to keep my streak going for Peloton working out. One of those days I was sick in bed and not doing much. While it seems infrequent, looking back on May 2022, I only worked out nine times that month too. 

Not a bad track record for June working out considering I was sick for about a week and a half, still, I was hoping to be working out consistently throughout the month. Now, July has started and here we are at day 10 and my working out has not happened much for July either. I plan to get back into it starting Sunday, July 10 with my normal ride time and planning to ride Tuesday and Thursday this week too.

It is so easy to fall out of the routine of working out and so difficult to get back into the swing of it after taking a few days, or weeks, off from doing so. I am happy to report, which I have not done recently, which is that since January 6, 2022 I have lost 14.6 pounds. Weight not exactly flying off, but I am seeing some improvement with my weight. My clothes are fitting better, I feel better than I did back in January, but a long way to go. 

As I look to individual stats from June, they are not horrible, but not great either. Already covered the individual workouts of nine which matches with May workouts. However, at least one, maybe two, are not even bike riding workouts. So, really I am looking at seven workouts for the month of June. Not very good and room to improve for July.

Total minutes of working out at 211 is not great either. Back in May I spent 283 minutes working out, so this is down considerably from May time spent working out. Again, room for improvement for July although so far I am lacking behind total minutes working out. I might need to throw in an hour long, or two workouts, this next week or after to bump those numbers. My plan of incorporating a jog at least once a week has not happened yet either. I do miss running and still hope to get that involved in my workouts possibly in August.

Mile traveled is down too as you would guess. For May I traveled 69 miles during the month long working out routine compared to 45.6 miles traveled for June. Hoping to get that back up and tracking toward triple digits for future months. I will say, the past few months while I was trying to workout for at least 30 minutes, I have found that I have done a number of 20 minute workouts which means I am not working out for as long as say a few months ago or traveling as many miles.

Finally, calories burned is down almost 1,000 from May numbers. Again, not surprising considering I did not work out but only seven times for June where I was riding the bike. 

I do enjoy riding the bike. I look forward to it and enjoy the process. I just need to do more of it and be better about consistent workouts. Stop making excuses and plan for it if I know the week is busy, get up early to work out. Or, move days to another day if I am unable to get a workout in on a planned Tuesday or Thursday. I was doing this a lot early on in the year where I would move days, but the past month or two, if something comes up where I cannot get a workout completed, I simply skip that day. Not good!

I hope your workout routine is going well. If you are on Peloton and would like to workout together, please drop me a line in discussion below. Happy riding and see you on the bike…

May Stats for Working Out Was a Bit of a Struggle

The month of May was not a great time for me and working out. I did manage to get at least two days in each week but they were not long workouts. I think I averaged 20 minute workouts. Still, good I am getting some exercise, but not as much as I had intended. Trying to keep the rides going even when busy with other events through the week is the tough part but it is also part of what drives me to make sure I get those rides scheduled. I need to do more when I know it is a busy week so that I get up early and ride or move the days around to get the three days a week workout done.

Consistently worked out on Tuesdays through the month of May except for the last Tuesday of the month, but we had just returned from camping that Monday and did not feel like getting on the bike. Sunday was consistent too for me. The Thursday workout was the toughest it would appear for May only working out one Thursday during the month which also happened to be my one week during May that I did get three workouts in for the week.

Interestingly enough I did work out three additional times in May then the prior month, but it does not look like it when I look at the report of dates I did a workout. My minutes at 283 total minutes working out is better too. So, even though I feel like it was a down month, the overall report for the month does not look too bad.

 

Miles traveled and calories burned were all up compared to the prior month. So, progress there even though it feels like it was a down month, I can see in the reports that I did better than I thought.

 

I do continue to see weight being lost. Since January 18, 2022, I have lost 11.6 lbs. So, not a lot, but it is gradual. As I have mentioned multiple times in past updates, I continue to drink beer or not eat very well. Although, eating better as Carrie and I are doing good with our eating at home and trying to eat healthier too. Eating healthy is a constant battle and it is so easy to let it slip where I eat a burger or something for lunch because it is easy. Happy to say it has been a while since I have been to McDonald’s during the week. We did get simple burgers when we went camping and when we returned that Monday.

 

Feeling good about my working out. Summer months will continue to be a struggle to get workouts in. I need to make sure that I keep working out and plan for when I am going to be busy with other things so i do the workout earlier or on other days. 

 

Have a great week and I will talk to you later….

 

April Stats for Working Out Went Up Slightly Compared to March

The month of April, I did much better with my working out each week. Well, at least for the last three weeks of the month, it was much better. I felt good working out during April. I consistently worked out on Sunday mornings. I continue to read while I work out on the Tuesday and Thursday days which is helping me get through my book list and then Sunday is typically spent working to a live instructor. 

 

As I review the month of April, I know why that first full week is so sparse with working out… that was the week of the NCAA championship game. It occurred on Monday, April 5 and it was a late game. As I recall, I went to bed early on April 6 which is my normal workout day. Then it appears I did not get motivated again to workout until the following Sunday. Not ideal, but I got back into the routine the middle of the month. 

 

Feels good to keep the routine going and I am seeing a few pounds drop off through the efforts. I still have not done anything about really eating better, but some how I am seeing pounds drop off little by little. Here we are in the early part of May and I still have not started the jogging once a week plan I had mentioned in past updates. I am hoping to start jogging on Saturday mornings. Hopefully in a future post, I will let you know how that goes. I want to use the Peloton app on my phone to do the run and then see where it takes me. Hoping my knees do better this time around with running than when I started it up before Peloton bike arrived.

 

The following month I get an email from Peloton to let me know how I did which is where these graphs and information come into play. My normal live workout on Sunday mornings is with Alley Love and varies from 20 - 60 minutes depending on the day. She did recently get married and looking to move to London, so I am not sure what that means for my normal workout at 11 am CDT with her as the instructor. She continues to be my favorite instructor as she keeps the workoug intense, she has stories that help pass the time, and she motivates during the workout. Anything to keep the routine enjoyable is what I am looking for in an instructor. If she does move on or changes time, I am not sure if I will find a new instructor for the Sunday morning spot or change to when she does do her live session.

 

I am approaching 300 bike riding workouts. In fact, when this update posts on Sunday, I should reach 300 on Sunday, May 5 as I usually write these early in the week. I am hoping to do the live ride with Ally Love on Sunday so I can get a shout out during the ride. She did mention me a few weeks ago in a live ride although she was not sure how to prounce “Havertyj”.

My monthly stats were down a little from March which is odd as I did not work out much in March with basketball happening. On average, I rode the bike for 25 minutes. I stopped doing the additional cool down rides and instead only focus on however long the ride is scheduled or that I want to ride. I usually do a cooldown but after the session has ended. Miles traveled are down a little too from March, but I hope over the summer I can continue to increase those to higher numbers across the board for monthly stats. We will see what happens...

 

The important point is that I continue to enjoy bike riding. I enjoy the process and how it makes me feel even when the workout is kicking my butt and I am not sure I will finish that particular ride. I enjoy reading while I workout and often times have classical music playing while I ride and read. Whatever I can do to make the workout enjoyable is what I am looking to do and that helps to pass the time and not even realize I am working out. Well, until I get off of the bike and try to walk down the stairs, then I know I have been working out and I am right back to reality.

 

What do you do to motivate yourself for working out? Any tips or tricks you can share?

 

Until next time, enjoy your workouts and strive on for motivation to keep the healthy balance of life.

 

March Stats for Working Out Have Gone Way Down Compared to January and February

With it being March Madness, it really disrupted my workout plans. As you can see during the month of March I had a week where I only worked out once and three weeks where I only worked out twice. It was a struggle! So, looking over the stats, you can see I was down four days from the previous month for working out. There were some days I could have worked out as I knew my schedule for the week, but the motivation was lacking in March and it continues to lack on this Sunday late afternoon as I write this update. In fact, today, April 10, I did not work out at all this past week. I had planned to ride today to get in something, but spent the morning and afternoon working on cutting up a tree. I am exhausted, so I sit here writing this watching the Master’s finish up and drinking a beer. I am spent! My back hurts and I could fall asleep. I did manage to get in a mediation to keep my weekly streak going on Peloton, but it really feels like cheating.

So, overall, I was down on everything from workouts, to calories burned, to miles. This month is not looking much better, so hoping it is a wake up call for me to get back at it again. After today, I plan to get on the bike again on Tuesday. 

Not a lot of updates on my exercise routine other than it is down considerably from previous months and not looking much better so far for April. I still have time though to improve April, so we will see how it goes. I do plan, as I mentioned a few months ago, to start running at least one day each week and now that the weather is warming up, I might start that this month. I do enjoy running and the routine of running. My knees do not like it much, but our dog Oliver loves it because it knows when I run we will go on a walk afterwards. 

I hope you are keeping up with your workout routine and I look forward to getting back on my three day a week routine this next week.

The Cooldown from Peloton a Year of Stats in Review

This year as the year came to an end, Peloton sent “The Cooldown” showing stats from my use of Peloton over the past year. I stuck with it for many months and then let it slide for a few months before getting back on the bike and working out. It was a little difficult during the Christmas break too only working out a few times, but I am fully committed and expect to be back on the bike for 2022.

I hope your workouts have met your expectations for 2021 and set new expectations for 2022. Enjoy the year working out!

January Stats from Peloton for My Workouts Along with Goals of Completing All Categories for Peloton — Staying Motivated is the End Goal in Exercise

Peloton workouts continue to keep me motivated. I am doing some type of workout every day of the week. I have met my 30 day Peloton streak and working on 60 days now of daily workout. As I mentioned previously, I am not cycling daily, but instead I have mixed in weight lifting, stretching, cardio, and even yoga along with cycling. I have changed my cycling schedule to be three days each week and one of the other Peloton workouts the other days. 

Each month Peloton sends a summary of workouts, minutes of workout, miles, and calories burned for the previous month. The first week of February, I received my January report. 33 total workouts, 710 minutes working out, 169.2 miles traveled, and 9,551 calories burned for January 2021. It helps to put some perspective to what I did for the month. The total workouts being 33 is obviously because some days (i.e. two days) I did an extra workout those days. I sometimes do this when biking to do a tough ride and then a five to ten minute cool down. 

My goal is to workout in every category of Peloton and gradually making progress. It is helping my recovery period to not bike every day and put some space between bike rides as I think doing so everyday or even every other day became a little too much for my body and I could feel myself starting to get burned out on the thought of biking. Mixing in other workouts has helped to keep me motivated and I feel like a more rounded workout.

My workout totals since starting Peloton back in November are the following as of today:

• Cycling: 87
• Strength: 9
• Meditation: 5
• Stretching: 3
• Cardio: 2
• Yoga: 2

Categories not yet started include Bike Bootcamp, Running, Tread Bootcamp, and Walking. Granted, I have done running and walking but not necessarily tracked with Peloton app when doing so. I plan to get those workouts included in my stats at some point during the next month or two. 

As achievements are completed, it can cause many high-fives when going into a live session or even recorded sessions. When I hit the 30 day mark as soon as I went into a recorded session I had so many high-fives I could not keep up with high-fiving back. Makes it fun though but if not expecting to hit a mark it is a surprise when high-fives start happening. In my case, I forgot 30 day streak was happening when I went into do a popular recorded session with over 300 people doing the session and found my notifications light up with high-fives after high-fives. It is fun to high-five back. When I am working out live, or recorded, I always give high-fives to notifications I see for others such as ten, 30, 60, or even 300 workout. Most people high-five back and some do not which is not an issue. The idea is that it builds encouragement within the Peloton community and I completely agree.

Today as I look forward to watching Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV I am also looking forward to my live class today with Ally Love in “Sundays with Love”. A good 30 minute workout and then thinking of doing another 30 minutes just to prepare for tonight for some beer, snacks, and cheering on our Kansas City Chiefs. 

Until next week, stay well, stay warm, and share your Peloton workout in the comments.