
Good Morning, my friends! Happy New Year to you all. I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season. The post this week is a little unplanned. I didn’t plan to start working on the Site until next week. Well, “the best-laid plans of mice and men…”. Things haven’t worked out as planned for me over the last few weeks. Nonetheless, here we are. This week’s post will talk a little about my recent weeks and will include my workout schedule for the upcoming week. So to kick off the new week on the positive, this is The Workout of the Week. This is The I Should Be Ice Fishing This Weekend, But I got Covid Workout.
The Last Few Weeks
The last few weeks should have been great. The Holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. However, this year, things for me didn’t go as planned.
I was supposed to go to my Mom’s house for Christmas. Mom and the rest of my family live in Fargo. Fargo is about a 3.5-hour drive from where I live, in the Minneapolis area. We got hit with a pretty good snowstorm and huge wind gusts the week leading up to Christmas and travel in the area I need to drive to get to Fargo was not advised. News reports show white-out conditions and had “ground blizzard” warnings. So, I decided to spend Christmas at my home. I went to a Christmas Eve party with some friends and had a great time. We made the best of the situation. I thought maybe if the weather was better I could get up to Mom’s for NYE and we could do our Family Christmas then.
The Wednesday after Christmas, I started feeling a little off. By Thursday morning I had some serious body aches and knew I had caught something. By the end of the day Thursday, I had a fever, chills, body aches, and congestion. The symptoms were flu-like, or Covid-like. So I texted Mom to let her know I caught something and was not going to make it for NYE. I got a home Covid test. Sure enough, the test showed I was positive for Covid-19. I have been isolating myself since.

From that Thursday to Sunday (New Year’s Day) I was pretty sick. By Monday, I knew the worst was well over and I was recovering well. By Wednesday I was about 85% normal, and as of writing this post on Sunday morning, I am about 90% back to normal. There is a little lingering congestion, but no other symptoms.
The Fishing Trip
For the last few years, my friends and I have planned an annual fishing trip to Red Lake, in Northern Minnesota. We rent Ice Sleepers and spend the whole weekend out on the ice.
We were supposed to go this year in December, the weekend before Christmas. Due to unusually warm weather, the ice on Red was not good. The resort said they were not putting Ice Sleeper Houses out on the lake. They said we could reschedule our trip for later in the year when Ice conditions improved. So we decided to move the trip to January 6th – 9th.
Since I picked up Covid I had to let The Boys know I wouldn’t be able to make the trip. As I am writing this, the guys are probably trying to get in on the morning bite, before packing things up and getting ready for the long drive home. I am sure they will have some stories for me when they get back.
My Holiday Season Re-Cap
So my Holiday season can be re-capped as a fun party on Christmas Eve. No family Christmas. Getting sick with Covid. No New Years’ celebration. Lots of sleep. And No Red Lake Fishing trip. Basically, a bummer, wrapped up in bummer-sauce, topped with bummer-frosting.
OK, OK, OK – I will stop whining! Things happen. Life goes on!
“It ain’t about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep pushing forward.”
Rocky Balboa
How I have Gotten Over Covid
I would urge anyone who has Covid-like symptoms and has a high risk for serious illness to see a doctor. Since I am not at high risk and am generally healthy, I didn’t think a doctor’s visit was needed. I monitored myself and said if things get any worse, I will see a doctor. My symptoms were overall fairly mild and didn’t get worse. So I did not see a doctor.
I got over Covid by resting a lot. For the first few days of being sick, I laid in bed as much as possible and slept way more than I usually do. I took Ibuprofen for the aches and the fever. Mucinex for the congestion. I drank water and PowerAid like someone who had been stranded in a desert. I also drank hot lemonade with honey mixed into it. Aaand I made some righteous chicken soup in my instant pot. I got (pretty much) over Covid through rest, hydration, OTC medicines, and the healing power of chicken soup. Check out past posts for my Chicken Soup recipe.
I am (almost) better
Yesterday, I went out and enjoyed some sun and a 4-mile ruck. I’d say I am getting back to being myself. I am almost better. I did get some cool MinneSnowta pics. Check em…




The XBB.1.5 Strain
The News says the current Covid strain is XBB.1.5. My symptoms lined up with what to expect and I am fairly certain that is what I got. The scary part on this one is most say it is resistant to previous immunities and seems to be transmittable even in vaccinated people. I am vaccinated and still got it. There are many articles available talking about the XBB.1.5 variant like this one, if you want to read more about what experts are saying.
On To The Workout Schedule

The Workout Schedule this week will include Spin Bike workouts, RBFTBs, Heavy Bag Tabatas, Yoga and Meditation, and Rucking or Treadmill work.
For the spin bike workouts, since I am still recovering a bit from Covid, I am just shooting for 20 minutes of easier riding without a real set routine or video.
RBFBTs are Resistance Band FIIT Tabata Burners. I do three Tabata sets of resistance band exercises. For the Heavy Bag work, the same idea as the RBFTBs, except I am only doing two sets of heavy bag exercises. You can see more deets on these exercises in past posts.
For the Yoga Videos, I am trying to work along with my “Yoga Homies” Adriene and Benji, and do the Yoga With Adriene 30 Days of Yoga series that they put out every year. I have done the first two videos in the series so far and will continue them until I get through them all.
Wrap It Up, Dude
There you have it my friends, the first Workout of the Week for 2023. Thank you so much for reading! Thanks as always to Yoga With Adriene for the awesome gift she and her channel have given to the World – Free Yoga classes. Even though my Holiday plans didn’t work out, and I didn’t get to go on the Red Lake fishing trip, and I got sick with Covid, life still goes on! I am not going to let a few setbacks set me back. Be careful out there. The XBB1.5 variant seems to be running pretty wild right now. If you have symptoms, get tested, and if you’re very sick or at high risk, see a medical professional! Until next time, be happy and healthy, and be the Hero or Heroine in your story!