Charlotte Hoonhout

THE LAST LEG DAY FOR SWEAT WITH PRIDE 2024 COMPLETE!!!

Leg day is one of the things I’ll be carrying forward from Sweat with Pride, I do like being on the bike for the most part and doing bike time on a regular basis makes my physio very happy. N Given that I give her grief and mischief the majority of the time…. Doing time on the pedals is a small price to pay.

Thankfully, I didn’t have any drama this morning. The bike seat stayed where it was suppose to and I made a clean jump onto the bike on the first attempt. I was also super pleased with my cadence today. It’s been a bit of a slow adjustment relearning the movement pattern for cycling, my legs sometimes stall and I have to reboot by guiding the leg with my hand to restart the pattern, I noticed today, that I needed to do less reboots today,  and that my start was pretty clean and the reboots were only really needed from the halfway mark.

 

I challenged myself today, once I got halfway through my ride , I set a rule that at every 30 second mark I had to pedal at max effort for 10 seconds, then back down to normal speed. 10 reps , would take me up to my cool down time at 25 minutes. It was definitely fun, and while I don’t think I was dripping with sweat, I was definitely hot and shiny at the end of 30 minutes.

Was also super pleased to push my RPM into the low 100s range at max effort. Finished off at a distance of just over 8km. Long way to go but I’m really pleased with progress that I’ve made in a few short weeks of regular commitment.

 

The other positive of the short burst sprints was doing the warm down on the treadmill was genuinely welcome! Still a slow walk, but definitely needed it to recalibrate back to normal programming 😝 Share

Hat trick swims for a second week in a row! I’m always a little nervous when I glide through my warmup because it typically indicates that I’m gonna have a hard time in my main set and today was testament to that occasion.  Share

My Monday didn’t end that well, but I did somehow clock 11,200 steps which was cool. I was ready to blow some steam this morning, douse my bad mood in chlorine and bubbles.

I definitely got the bubbles! I had the fast lane to myself this session, and the fast lane in my local pool aligns with the internal pumps. So I needed to push a little harder to cut through the added drag from the pumps. It was a good swim, and my muscles ache in a good way.

 

Was slightly derailed at the end of my swim, because I belatedly realised that the pool ladders had been removed! The pool walls are too raised for me to haul myself out so I had to sprint across the pool to make it to the exit ramp before I caused a traffic jam with the people entering the pool for aquafit. Lesson learned, check all exits before diving into the pool.

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IT’S FINAL THE COUNTDOWN!! I’ve been waiting for this week, purely for the opportunity to reference Europe’s The Final Countdown as much as possible 😝

There are 7 days left of June, it’s the final push. This month has been a wild experience, my first time doing a major fundraiser and first time doing Sweat for Pride. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me and my team this month, we are all very grateful and very sweaty. I’ve managed to meet my goal twice, and my team is on the cusp of our $3000 goal.

 

With how busy and active this past weekend has been, I was aiming for a low intensity swim, just to move and get a good stretch. Unsurprisingly le vessel protested (I anticipated this)

It felt good to get some laps in, but things didn’t feel quite right in multiple places , so I called it quits at 600m in 20 minutes. I will get my remaining sweat from walking around today, and a grocery run. And tomorrow is another day, and another swim to be had.

The biggest challenge of this whole event has been managing my body throughout. While I have made time for recovery, none of them have been complete recoveries, so le vessel is T.I.R.E.D. 7 days to go and then I can have a fat nap!

 

But even with June coming to close, I’m not exactly planning to pump the breaks 😝   There be new sweaty goals on my horizon.

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It’s been a busy weekend in the Holy Walkamolies world this weekend. But still got my sweat in! Share

I think today is the sweatiest I’ve been (in the literal sense)  over the course of this month. Leg day did not go to plan this morning. I’m still trying to find my optimum happy place on the bike. I adjusted the seat and found I was really reaching for the pedals, and didn’t trust that the seat would adjust properly if I stayed on, so I dismounted. That was a mistake. Adjusted the bike seat and then my body would not cooperate about getting back on.

 

Now in general, my method for getting on the exercise bike is not particularly elegant, it essentially requires me bench pressing my body weight to suspend myself over the saddle and then I just wriggle and hope for the best. It’s not too bad doing it once. I did it 3 times this morning, with multiple fails in between the successes. I must have done at least 15 attempts. I was sweating with sore arms before I even started pedalling for real. So after much drama, 3 seat adjustments and internal swearing, I pulled just over 6km in 25 minutes. I included my 15 minutes of self-weight shenanigans as part of my sweat, because it really did make me sweat. I was dripping when I finally got off the bike. Also did 5 minutes cool down on the treadmill to let my legs recalibrate. Not sure how accurate the treadmill heart rate monitor was but it marked me coming down from 175 bpm at the beginning.

 

Today marks 10 days left of June! It’s been a journey, and looking forward to the final leg of Sweat for Pride 2024! 

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Hat trick complete. 3 swim sessions completed back to back. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. I typically have Tuesday as a recovery day or doing a non-water based activity.

Had a really good session today, happier with my breathing and had a couple of really good moments where I could feel it all coming together. The hilarious thing about swimming is you definitely sweat but it’s also hard to tell.  Came out of the pool with tingling – well everything and I could tell my lungs have worked hard. Had a quick shower and then straight downstairs for physio, for more pain.

 

But the good pain, and good to get everything checked over as we work through the middle of week 3, there’s 11 days of June left! I’m $50 short of my goal of $650 and the team is closing in on $3000, currently sitting at $2780.

 

Let’s get it!

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Went for a swim this morning as decided i didn’t feel like walking much today.  Share

This morning was 50/50 , on the one hand I managed to stay reasonably dry commuting to and from the gym this morning = Win

On the flipside I drank a decent amount of the pool swimming next to a human torpedo this morning  and my muscles are still a bit tired from wheeling around in the Rouge yesterday.

But aside from eating wake, and the pool being unusually busy for a Monday,  it was a good workout. My kick button decided to work today, and I focused on some hypoxic (breath control) drills.

Had a good session with Physio too, mainly focusing on fixing the minor damage from yesterday’s faceplant and doing all my most (un)favourite stretches.

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Today marks June 15 and we are half way through the month! It’s amazing on reflection how difficult this challenge is.  Share

I wasn’t sure if I should be proud of myself today or not. I hadn’t planned for a high intensity set this morning. But sleep problems aside, the vessel was feeling good and I’m starting to see the fruits of my persistence.  I added a couple of new drills to my regular set a few weeks ago, and I kinda hate them. They’re hard, it can hurt and one in particular makes me feel like I’m actively trying to drown myself. But today, something clicked and my hardest drill was super clean for about 50m before I went back to interpretive drowning. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s progress towards the bigger picture that I’m excited for. And as much as I may grumble about it, leg day is also showing it’s worth. My legs are recovering much better from bike days now with minimal disruption to my ability to walk. Which was absolutely not the case in the beginning 😝

And because I was feeling good, I had an intrusive thought towards the end of my main set “sprint, sprint, sprint” ,I haven’t done any major sprint work for months, focusing more on form, endurance and technique. It was a lot of fun to go for a bit of a blat and a great way to decompress.   Hopefully I won’t pay for it too much later. Looking forward to a low-ish intensity weekend as we prep for week 3 of Sweat with Pride!

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The ironic thing is I'd been looking forward to leg day all week, and then got to leg day and zero enthusiasm to be found. Motivation? Who's she? Share

Stats from my swim this morning Share

I’m listening to my body and taking it gently today. I have somewhat of a lovehate relationship with listening to the vessel because, it’s not always right. But in saying that (and friends will attest), I am also, not always right either. My battery crashed quite badly at the end of yesterday, I’d had a good day but not a lot of food and given my propensity as a functioning insomniac, not much quality sleep of late either. Nerissa took the reins on dinner while I napped, waking occasionally to taste test and backseat chef. Had an early night and still feeling low battery today. These are the types of days when going outside even with good intentions is not the best idea. When I’m like this, I’m more likely to fall, and therefore injury myself. And my physio is still processing how I managed to survive the escalator without becoming wobbly mince with a major shoulder injury.

 

So my sweat today is being achieved through multiple short sessions of stretching and mobility exercises on the floor to make up my daily quota , and a 5 minute weightlifting session of bring my snazzy new SMARTTECH training kit inside the house! This neat set is from Les Mills is what I won through Sweat with Pride as the top recruiter. I’m super excited to unbox these and have a play. But want to get some good advice first, as playing with weights, even small amounts should be done with good technique and advice to reap the gains. The upside is that these beauties caused absolute chaos on my work chat during our semi-regular “What’s in the box game?” Some creative guesses included, long range poking stick, gladiator fighting staff, long-range tongs and a javelin. 

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So I had a case of Mondayitis, I woke up earlier than my alarm (the alarm is 4:15am), was suffering from high humidity and I wasn’t hungry which was problematic. Some people will train on an empty stomach or a cup of coffee but I’m not really allowed to do that. With the way my CP affects my body, I must fuel before a workout otherwise my body will burn anything it can to convert to the energy I’m demanding for the work. I have a low overall fat percentage, so my body will dip into muscle reserves if I hit the bottom of the tank. That is even more problematic.

So I managed a smoothie and a piece of toast and hoped for the best. Trotted off to the pool, got there and couldn’t find my cap, luckily I always keep a spare in my bag. Here’s me thinking I’ve beaten karma and head to the deck. Go to pull my goggles over my face, and meet air, no goggles. 😅 
Trot back to the changing room, empty my bag, no goggles. And the pair in my case were my spares. Exasperated, I trotted down to reception and asked if I could borrow a couple of sets from the lost and found box for the morning. So after 15 minutes of trotting round the gym, I was finally able to hit the water!   😅

 The lost and found goggles are some of the best I’ve ever used. I had a great swim, albeit not my usual full set as I’d lost time and had physio after. But it worked out, today’s focus was more about having a good stretch and plucking away at technique rather than high intensity work, as still reaping the gifts from the escalator last week.

When I went back downstairs for physio, I handed back the pair of goggles I hadn’t used and showed them the ones I had, and rather shamelessly asked “I don’t want to give these back, their fantastic, can I keep them?” and they let me! So for all the shenanigans I got a great pair of goggles out of it!  💪🏽💪🏽

Moral of the story, always triple check your kit, and failing that go have a look in lost and found. You might just find a rainbow 🌈

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On just DAY 8 my goal of $500 has been achieved!! THIS IS SO DAMN COOL!! Thank you so much for all the love and support that’s got me this far in just week 1. I truly feel that I have the easy part of sweating it out and putting in intentional time for something I already enjoy. Thank you so much for reaching for your wallets to support such an important cause. As my long time friend and teammate Andrew put it “whether you’re driven by Allyship, a desire for a more inclusive world, or love for me and my friends or to spite the phobes. There are many, many reasons to donate and the money will be helping our rainbow communities around the country. So thank you again for your support!! The month is young and I wanna see how far I can go! 💛🦊💛 Share

A wise bell curve saying “work as hard as you can” with the reflected bell curve saying “rest with equal intensity” Share

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Got up this morning and I didn’t feel flash, went about my usual routine to get ready this for pool and physio. Got halfway through making my lunch and then spilt the peas all over the kitchen floor … at 430am. I could have cried from frustration.  Share

After yesterday's debacle with the escalator I'm a tad sore so decided on a low intensity day. Given there a several more days of June left to sweat more heavily 😝 Share

I could tell you that I swam another 1km and sweated through a 30 minute human panel beating session (*ahem* physio *ahem*) this morning. This is true.

But you really wanna hear about my afternoon - So here’s the thing people, if you didn’t know, there’s an appropriate way to ride escalators.

Today, I did not follow those rules, because sometimes my body just lands me in ridiculous situations and people think I plan these things but seriously, I’m mostly just a passenger in the vessel called my body and I fight for the controller against my cerebral palsy and karma of the universe, at the same time. Always.

I was in hurry to get home as I had a large package waiting at my front door that I anxiously wanted to get secure in the house. I jumped on the escalator to make my way to the bus stop, and things went sideways. Literally.

 

My fellow humans, it is generally considered good health and safety practise to ride escalators in the standard upright position. I DO NOT recommend under ANY circumstances suggest alternate positions. Especially while wearing a dress.

I somehow ended up with my feet on an upper step and my upper body at least 3 steps apart hanging in the general direction of the downward descent. I couldn’t get my legs back under me and there was no way to brace and haul my upper body because unfortunately escalators are in constant motion. I took one glance at the metal steel trap beneath me which suddenly felt like a human cheese grater and briefly considered a plan of hoping to be a human bar of soap and pray that the slide down wouldn’t sherd me or my (new) dress to pieces.- Not liking the odds of that nor the idea of the rest of this month’s exercise being inhibited injury by stupidity I made the executive decision that my best hopes of survival with minimal bodily injury was to cling and maintain my unintended position and just sort myself out at the bottom in whatever state I arrived.

 

You’ll be pleased to know that a lovely gentleman dropped all his files on the floor to catch me at the bottom of the escalator.

I had to escape the confines of my gym/work bag before we could get me off the floor. But, point is, I survived, my dress survived, and my dignity will eventually recover.

I thanked the people who helped profusely, laughed a bit and then mounted  the next escalator with extreme caution to finally get to my bus stop below.

 

I called my sister at the bus stop and her immediate response after a tentative hello was “Oh dear god, you never call out of the blue, what have you done now? How broken are you?”

We laughed so hard that I had tears in my eyes (I’m honestly still laughing as I write this) , and my sister rightly concluded “I think that this is by far the most ridiculous shenanigan you’ve managed to get yourself into to date.” And she’s likely right.

So my fellow humans, remember the tale of a wobbly who almost got eaten by an escalator and observe proper escalator etiquette.  

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Had a busy morning full of Teams meetings so stepped away over my lunch break to churn out 1km at my local pool, in exactly 45 minutes.  Share

Summary at the end of today’s walk. Image description: black watch face with gold rim showing 3.6km in 45 minutes and 52 seconds Share

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