January recap + biking in CA

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through February! One of my goals this year is to publish 12 blog posts. Ideally, this works out to once a month, but I intentionally left my goal at “12” rather than specifying a monthly cadence. It gives me more flexibility. Hopefully, I am not writing ten posts in December. 😉 

It’s a challenging goal because, to be honest, I’ve felt pretty creatively blocked the last few years. It’s been hard to write. It’s been hard to finish projects! I don’t know…I blame it on the adjustment of going from college and part-time teaching to a full-time job (not to mention, the collective trauma of the pandemic and the upheaval of moving constantly thrown in there). It’s hard to commit to my own creative endeavors after a day of feeling drained from corporate tasks–and drained from just trying to keep up with the day-to-day of feeding oneself, life admin, and not letting your apartment drift into chaos. Tending to a creative practice amidst the pull to scroll and consume after a long day is my kryptonite. 

For some, life admin might come easy. For me, it does not. (I blame it on undiagnosed ADHD.) HOWEVER, over the last two years, I’ve focused on building more stability in my life and “creating systems that work for me and my brain.” Perhaps I’ll delve into how I’ve done that in another post, but suffice to say, I am finally feeling like I’m working with my brain and energy, rather than against it. I’m actually accomplishing things outside of work. I’m following a training plan. I’m more consistent at sleep. I’m even learning how to meal prep. My apartment is clean more days than not. I get a lot of things done on my to-do list every week and every day. And here I am, writing my second blog post of the year. This is significant progress! 

How was January? Well, the snow has been disappointing, to say the least. I’ve only skied three days this season–can you believe it? Usually I’ve skied 20+ days at this point! This is the first year since I started skiing seven years ago that I’ve not been excited about skiing. It’s an odd feeling! I don’t know…I’m just bored of it? I need a break? I want to try something different? I’m trying not to think (with chagrin) how much money I spent on two season passes. I don’t want to force myself to do something just to check a box. Instead, I’m enjoying having extra time to bike and starting a weight lifting regimen. 

January started off really strong, as it usually does for me. It is a magical time for me. I love fresh starts! I love new years! I feel very inspired to set goals and plan and dream. I have many goals for the year, including returning to creative practice and “SLEEP IS EVERYTHING!” (It’s very important it’s in all caps.)

In January, I slept a lot and tried to get my average sleep score up (my Garmin still hates me). I made gluten-free lasagna and got my hands on some gluten-free Cheez Its (delicious), started working with a strength training coach once a week, and did a ramp test. 

Now, what is a ramp test you might ask? 

This self-inflicted torture requires you to bike at a certain power (watts) in one-minute intervals that increase in difficulty every minute for ten minutes. (There are a few different types of tests, but this was how mine was structured.) Ten minutes doesn’t sound like much until you’re in it and feel like you’re going to DIE. Whatever final minute you make it to reveals your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), the maximum average power you theoretically can sustain for approximately one hour. Then you can divide this by how much you weigh in kilograms and determine your watts per kilogram number…a very nerdy cycling stat that basically tells you how you compare in fitness to others. Pro cyclists like Tadej Pogacar have an estimated 7 w/kg. Female pros usually have something like 5+ w/kg.

SEVEN. Insane.

This time, I not only survived my ramp test, I achieved a major increase in my fitness since my last test back in June 2025: a 15% increase in my FTP. Huge! While my w/kg still looks like nothing compared to the pros, I’m really proud of this! It’s exciting to see the payoff of biking consistently and (mostly) following my training plan. 

Finally, I’ll leave you with a lil’ video I made of a recent trip down to California. I really enjoy making videos and it’s been a goal of mine to start doing that a little more regularly. Now, before you watch this, please know that I spent about two hours editing it and about six hours trying to export the video from Capcut. Unfortunately, the video wouldn’t export past the first 28 seconds and no amount of Googling and troubleshooting could tell me how to fix this problem. So, alas, I had to screen record this baby, which is why the audio is so poor. I’m still mad about it! Next time, I’ll be using a different editing platform…

Anyways, enjoy!