[870] The End

Just like that February is almost over. A lot of things have happened this month for me, and the biggest of which is that I started going on morning walks again.

I'm trying to re-build my habit of doing at least 3 kilometers every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Just this past week I was able to succeed on this. Hopefully once I get used to going on walks every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I'll be able to get myself to go back to doing my HIIT/Tabata workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Why Tuesdays and Thursdays? Well I figure I can do cardio three days per work week and for the remaining two days I can use it to do the light kettlebell weightlifting.

Also these past two days or so the weather has been really, pleasantly cold. I keep saying how by March things will start to heat up so, again, I keep telling myself to savor these last few days of nice cold mornings.

Out.

[869] Walking

 After almost one whole year I finally did another three laps around my usual walking route earlier this morning.

It has been very challenging for me to get back to working out, and the high intensity interval training I was doing wasn't something I was looking forward to. I decided to finally stop making excuses and try walking around the subdivision in my usual route I used to take.

Of course I was wearing a mask because the pandemic is still around. I was initially worried about any difficulty of engaging in strenuous activity while wearing a mask but it wasn't really bothersome. It was more bothersome that my feet and calves weren't used to the strain and pace that I used to have.

I managed to average around 10 minutes per kilometer during my walk. It was around twenty to thirty seconds off one of my last walks around March last year. I believe I averaged around 9:37 per kilometer then. Today I think I was around 10:05 per kilometer. These stats are off of my adidas Running app. I was able to do one more set of 10:01 per kilometer last year before stopping totally because of the quarantine and the lockdowns that happened.

It felt interesting to go walking again. My calves were aching during the inclined climbs up some of the streets but I was happy that I was able to push myself to a pace I was happy with. Wearing a mask was almost a non-issue except for the times I was breathing through my mouth and the smell was noticeable when I breathed through my nose.

Will I continue walking again? Most definitely. Summer is closing in and the earlier sunrises, coupled with the hotter weather will drive me to wake up earlier and hopefully have no excuses to not exercise. The dark early mornings and cooler weathers during these past few months were really not conducive to me working out.

My plan moving forward will probably involve going on walks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be my HIIT/Tabata sessions. I can do four five-minute cycles that involve 8 20-second workouts, 8 10-second rests, and a minute recovery per cycle. I usually do two cycles of cardio, usually jumping jacks, kettlebell swings, and running in place. Then for the other two cycles it's either a combination of deadlift variations and bent over rows, or squats, lunges, and calf raises for the third cycle. For the fourth it's either shoulder exercises or biceps and triceps exercises. All using one or two twenty-pound kettlebells.

Consistency has always been a big issue for me with regards to working out. I had managed to drop to 86kg during the middle of 2020, but gained weight and am now hovering between 87kg to 89kg. As I wrote before, this is nothing serious because that is usually my trend in weight. I lose, gain, hover, and find the inspiration to lose again.

Out.

[868] The Weather

 The weather has been great so far. However I can already feel the warmth of summer slowly creeping in. And it's not even the end of February yet!

Ever year that passes I start to savor the cool evenings and early mornings that start around November and end around March. I dress appropriately so I don't get sick but I also make sure to appreciate the fact that I don't need to turn on my electric fan. That I don't need to sleep shirtless, and that I can sleep a bit longer because of the cool weather.

Once the summer heat hits in the tropics, it's "over." You go to sleep sweaty, you wake up sweaty. Electric fan is in steady mode and maxed out.

Out.

[867] One Car Garage

I like to write about cars, that much is obvious. I also like to daydream about cars I wish I could own. So here we go again. A list of cars I would love to own if I had the money to buy them. I am basing all prices from Autodeals' website. They are my go-to local website for prices and specs of cars as well as online window shopping used cars. Because that's all I can do, look online.

My categories for my choices will be practicality and fit for the streets of Metro Manila. It should also be capable of going on roads trips, long and short, to visit other places in the Philippines. Finally, it should be available locally through a dealer. I'm listing down brand new cars, not second-hand ones. So here we go again with yet another list.

The attainable one. The Suzuki S-Presso. I could probably be able to afford this car with the price. And I really, really like the way this car is. It is exactly what I like in a car, practical and nice looking. It can seat around four to five people, and you can probably fix the space problem by installing roof rails and a roof basket / cargo carrier. Size is small enough that you won't have problems in parking spaces, ground clearance is tall enough that you won't scratch the bottom on tall humps and you'd probably be safe slowly driving over potholes that you can't avoid.

Less than PhP1 million. As far as I know all models of the Suzuki Ertiga still cost below one million. Decent size, can seat seven people if needed. With five people you have great cargo space. Again, you could probably add roof rails and a roof basket or cargo carrier if you want more storage. I think you just have to have it registered to carry cargo on the roof if they haven't changed the laws here.

Anything over PhP1 million. The Toyota Innova. The price range is so vast you can get some for a little over (or under?) one million to almost two million. So pick your variant, type of fuel, and transmission. The Innova has good ground clearance, is pretty practical, and can seat five to seven people. Again, an excellent practical choice.

So there you have it, my practical car choices. You'll notice I didn't include my personal favorite Honda Jazz in the list. It may also be practical, fun to drive, and nice to look at, but at the end of the day you can only fit five people there. Sure, there are only three of us in the family but I honestly believe the extra seating or storage space is better just in case you have other people riding with you or if you're going on a long road trip.

Out.

[866] Developments

Interesting developments have been happening to me since 2021 started. I don't want to mention anything here, because I've learned to censor myself to what I actually broadcast online.

Biggest change is that I've finally added one more cycle to my HIIT/Tabata workout. I used to do three 5-minute cycles of 20-second exercise and 10-second rest with a 1-minute recovery break. Since I've really slowed down the number of times I've been exercising since around October last year I decided to increase the duration of my exercise. I started last Monday, January 18. I finished my second workout earlier this morning.

I'm really hoping that once the weather slowly starts getting warmer, and the dawn starts getting brighter, that I will be able to exercise more frequently. If I can get back to my Monday to Friday frequency I'll probably be doing MWF with some lifting and TTh as all cardio.

As it stands now what I do is two cycles of cardio. Usually alternating between jumping jacks and a 20-pound kettlebell swing. After those two cycles the next one is usually either (if back day) suitcase deadlift alternating with left and right bent over rows or (for leg days) a combination of a kettlebell goblet squat, calf raises, and forward/backward lunges. I end the workout with (for shoulder days) some shoulder exercises I don't know the names or (for arm days) some bicep/tricep exercises I don't know the names either.

When I started this HIIT/Tabata workout last year my original goal was to lose more weight. I had gone down to 86kg and I wanted to go below 85kg. Since then I've gained weight and I am now hovering between 87kg to 89kg. This doesn't worry me. I am just refining my goals.

I've been here before, when I initially started my weight loss journey. I went down and hovered between 96kg to 99kg for quite a while before I refocused. I went down and hovered between 92kg to 94kg. Took a while before I managed to go down and now I'm hovering (yet again) between 87kg to 89kg. See the pattern?

The important thing I want to focus on now is to get back to exercising. Less for weight loss but more that I get my body moving. I'm already forty years old, I'm not getting younger, and I'm starting to slowly feel Father Time catch up to me. I need to be healthier.

Out.