Raidho

Update: Ow. I'm so sore.

Today I finished my very first Spartan Race! It was a sprint. My time was 1 hour 10 minutes and I got my butt handed to me. Lol. I have to say though it was a ton of fun and it means the world to me that I was able to finish. I've been interested in OCR events for a while, but never thought I'd belong....until NF. So yeah... awesome. Now to train for the next one!

Update: "Well hell" I have accomplished 0 things over the past 2 days. Well, that's not entirely true. Climbing 8 floors of stairs and Yoga has been going strong. My down dog has gotten better (this pose has been a struggle for me) and I have read. I walked all over the city yesterday looking at new places to live. I also started taking carefully portioned meals to work with me as well as logging my food! However, yesterday I also had 3 beers and like.... half a loaf of banana bread, which is like.... a cup of sugar. Oi. Bad Rai was bad again. But today is a new day. Back to working out, tracking and eating well.

OK, now that I've gone back and put down what exactly I've been doing, I can talk about how I'm doing with my goals. As you can see in the previous post, I've been hitting my workouts really hard. My partner has been a huge HUGE support in pushing me to do my best. I dunno what I'd do without him. As for reading.... I've kinda been light on that. I've read for maybe 30 minutes, but that's not quite what I'm aiming for. Hopefully I'll make up for it by reading some extra in the next 2 days. Yoga is going well. It's becoming a habit. I look forward to it now (especially with how hard I've been attacking those workouts.... stretching feels soooo good). My form still is kind of blah, but there's consciousness with it. The same goes for my breathing (BREATHE RAIDHO!!!! BREEAAAATHE) which is good because.... passing out during yoga isn't good for the whole bad-ass adventurer look. Lastly, I've been talking with a few friends about the struggle of my work schedule and its impacts on my diet. I think I have an idea. I'm going to have to do A TON of prep and packaging and get creative with small snacks (my state doesn't require meal breaks *cries*), but I think I can do it. I know diet isn't in my goals for the challenge, but I can't outrun my diet. So yeah, that's it for now. I'm loving it. For the first time I feel like I belong in the fitness world. I don't have a debilitating case of imposter syndrome in the gym. I had an awesome mental breakthrough that I really want to put out there, but it's 02:36 and I'm wayyyy to tired to eloquently word all the thoughts. Plus I think it might do better in a different thread as it might help or inspire people or what have you. I just need to find the right thread.

I realized that I haven't been posting what my workout is. I know that it's not necessary, but I like the idea of logging it here. I'll use that spoiler/hidden content thingy to make the post shorter. Day 1 - 7/27 Day 2 - 7/28 Rest Day 3 - 7/29 Rest Day 4 - 7/30 Day 5 - 7/31 Day 6 - 8/1 Rest

Awesome to hear! It's great to have something like a challenge to help keep some routine/focus. Also, I'm interested to see how your move goes/affects your routine as I too have to move in a few weeks. Also, subbing is crazy fun, but literally one of the most exhausting things I've done. So keep strong! You can crush it dude!

"The Liar" - Stephen Fry, "Watchmen" - Alan Moore, & "LUYL" -That One Steve Guy. I'm bad at reading a book at a time, I need variety. Lol.

I'm going to be going to my first OCR on 9/24 at the Spartan Sprint at Citizens Bank Park in Philly.

Three cats raced across a lake. The first cat, from England, was named One, Two, Three. The second cat , from France, was named Un Duex Trois The third cat, from Germany, was named Einz Zwei Drei. All three cats took off to swim across the lake, but only the English & German cats came ashore on the other side. Why? Because Un Deux Trois Quatre Cinq *Rimshot*

Hello people! I feel sorta bad, as I don't really have any reason for posting other than to say hi. However, I was excited to see this topic on the forums. I've been looking to be more engaged around here and, honestly, being the gay guy in a room/world full of usually testosterone laden straight guys can be intimidating (I'm speaking towards experiences in life. Everyone in NF has been lovely). It's nice to have a chance to connect with other LGBTQ people that are either in the fitness world or trying to be. I'm guessing that someone else has felt that same sort of feeling. So....uh.... yeah, hello!

Thanks! Granted.... it would all be a lot easier if I weren't having to work out/get home at 2 or 3 in the morning.... which it is now. I haven't even had dinner! My work does not lend itself to living healthily. Haha.

Today's update is: "Ow" So yesterday I completed my first full circuit workout. Man that things has left me sore in places I didn't know could be sore (curse you bear crawl holds)! It was intense and outside so it was hot and muggy, but I prefer working out outside. Plus I figured training in the summer heat was better for gearing up for my first OCR. Yoga is going well. On advice from a friend, I've started recording myself on my phone so that I can watch my form better. Apparently my yoga form is atrocious (then again in general my form is a weakness). So I'm focusing now on getting that down. I haven't gotten to walk with the dog and the boyfriend due to scheduling insanity, but I have been working out with the boyfriend, so I'll go ahead and check that as a success. Lastly, for my reading, I'm starting to re-read Watchmen. It's been 10 years since I've read that book and face it, high school Raidho had way less life experience at the time and most of the book probably flew over his head. I'm getting there. Step by step. I'm honestly flabbergasted at how motivating keeping a thread about my progress is. It's weirdly addicting. I think I might buy a notebook to keep as a fitness journal as well.

The Bad News: So, my seminar/luncheon thing with my boss's boss went well. I enjoyed myself. I think I made a good impression. However, I got home at 2am (having not eaten dinner) and, in order to make the class on time, I had to get up at 7am so I could leave on time. So yesterday I was running on about 4 hours of sleep. By the time I had gotten home at 8, I was so tired that I made the call that it would be unsafe for me to try to do anything strenuous. So no progress on the workouts. The Good News: Yoga/stretching is going well. It's encouraging to already see some small changes in my flexibility. I haven't missed that yet! I also finished my first book! I know that my biggest focus is getting stronger and faster for the Spartan Race, but I'm proud of the small victories. I'm seeing a change in the way I feel and my general outlook. I'm much happier. Also, fuck yeah for 2 updates. New record! Lol. And that's a start, right? As long as I keep pushing the envelope, it's laying down the strong foundation for the grand life changes, right?

All the freaking time