Avalonna

I have had so much going on that I have been horribly neglectful of NerdFitness. I even stopped tracking on my spreadsheet and just had to carefully recreate the past week, which was a PITA! Boo. Here's my last workout, from the 29th: Rowing (machine):0:05:00 (+44 pts)Barbell Squat:65 lb x 5 reps (+53 pts) 85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts) 85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts) 95 lb x 5 reps (+65 pts) 100 lb x 5 reps (+67 pts) Rack Deadlift:95 lb x 5 reps (+41 pts) 115 lb x 5 reps (+46 pts) 120 lb x 5 reps (+48 pts) Lat Pulldown:70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts) 70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts) Push-Up:8 reps (+15 pts) 8 reps (+15 pts) And my wrap-up of last week: Goal the First: Get Supple Did a MobilityWOD on 5 out of 7 days. Meh. Grade: C Goal the Second: Get Strong Lifted 2 days this week. Grade: A Goal the Third: Get Serene 27 out of 45 minutes of meditation. My evening social life greatly interfered with meditation this week! Grade: F Goal the Fourth: Get Sweet-Free (sort of) Managed to limit sugar to twice this week. Grade: A

My gym has a setup (I think it's a Smith machine?) that I use for bench presses. The barbell rides in a vertical track so it can't move side to side, and you can set stops on the track so the bar can't go below a certain height. I set the stops so the bar is barely touching my chest at the bottom. You might theoretically get stuck under the bar, but there is no way it could crush you. Also, the bar has these hook-thingies on it so you can catch the bar at any height you want, so if you can push it a little ways up but not all the way, you can hook it on (just by rolling the bar slightly) and shimmy out from underneath. If anyone could understand that explanation without any visual props, congratulations! I made it clear as mud.

I had kale chips yesterday! Yum!

I guess I'm a real lifter, since I've dropped a plate on my toe! I thought it was broken and had to have my husband come and pick me up at the gym since I couldn't walk home. It was okay, though - just turned a pretty shade of dark purple. #wuss

Gym day, with TWO PRs! Rowing (machine):0:05:00 (+44 pts)Barbell Squat:65 lb x 5 reps (+53 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)95 lb x 5 reps (+65 pts)100 lb x 5 reps (+67 pts)Rack Deadlift:95 lb x 5 reps (+41 pts)115 lb x 5 reps (+46 pts)120 lb x 5 reps (+48 pts)Lat Pulldown:70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts)70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts)70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts)Push-Up:9 reps (+17 pts)9 reps (+17 pts)Dumbbell Bicep Curl:15 lb x 6 reps (+30 pts)15 lb x 6 reps (+30 pts)I was planning to go for a 100 lb back squat, but by the time I finished 95x5, I was done. I went on to my deadlifts and pumped out a PR of 120x5, did a few easier things, then went back to the squat rack and... YES! 100x5!

Count me in among the math-challenged. I am constantly counting my plates, not always correctly!

Mac, I am right behind you with lifting! I just hit two PRs today: 100 lbs on my back squat and 120 lbs on my rack deadlift. I realized after my workout that I could have been using the 35 lb plates for my deadlift, and that I only have 15 more pounds to go before I can use the 45 lb plates and will be the right height to do deadlifts from the floor instead of a rack! Are you doing your deadlifts from the floor? I'm a bit worried that they will be a lot harder.

Yahoo Hearthsinger! You are AWESOME!

The groom came from a problematic family, and the only family members he invited to the wedding were his mom and brother, and they were totally into it.

The bride's parents are practicing pagans who are WAY into costumery. They have a huge Solstice party every year, and the daughter piggybacked her wedding onto the Solstice party. So, they were more than OK with it!

Weekly wrap-up: Goal the First: Get Supple I missed 2 out of 7 MobilityWOD sessions. Boo! Grade: C Goal the Second: Get StrongGot my 2 gym workouts in. Grade: A Goal the Third: Get Serene 40 out of 45 minutes of meditation. Grade: B Goal the Fourth: Get Sweet-Free (sort of) Ate sugar twice: tiramisu while out to dinner, then kind of all day at a wedding. I'm going to mark myself down for the wedding because it was a bit excessive. Grade: B+ I had a good time at the wedding, though! It was a pirate wedding! "ARRRR!!"

I've been a very lackluster poster during this challenge. Sorry! Here's my gym workout from Saturday: Cycling (stationary):0:05:00 (+5 pts) Barbell Squat:65 lb x 5 reps (+53 pts) 85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts) 85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts) 85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts) 95 lb x 5 reps (+65 pts) Rack Deadlift:95 lb x 5 reps (+41 pts) 105 lb x 5 reps (+43 pts) 115 lb x 5 reps (+46 pts) Push-Up:10 reps (+19 pts) 6 reps (+11 pts) Lat Pulldown:70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts) 70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts) I cut back my reps by a bit because my DOMS was so bad after my previous gym vist. This time I have barely any DOMS at all. Huh.

Wedding bells in your future? YAY!

Isn't it so awesome getting PRs every week?! That's one thing about being a beginner that rocks!

Finally - back to the gym! Cycling (stationary):0:05:00 (+5 pts)Barbell Squat:65 lb x 5 reps (+53 pts)65 lb x 5 reps (+53 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+61 pts)90 lb x 5 reps (+63 pts)Rack Deadlift:85 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)85 lb x 5 reps (+38 pts)105 lb x 5 reps (+43 pts)105 lb x 5 reps (+43 pts)110 lb x 5 reps (+45 pts)Lat Pulldown:70 lb x 8 reps (+23 pts)80 lb x 8 reps (+25 pts)Push-Up:12 reps (+23 pts)9 reps (+17 pts)5 reps (+9 pts)Body Weight Inverted Row (Let Me Ups):7 reps (+14 pts)I didn't reach my former squat weight of 95 pounds, but I PR'd my deadlift AND I did a set of 12 pushups, crushing my former PR of 10! Woo-hoo!

Time to report on my first week of challenge, although it really was only half a week. I got home from vacation at 3:30 AM on Wednesday morning, so started my challenge this past Wednesday, 6/12. Goal the First: Get Supple I've faithfully done a MobilityWOD session every day. Grade: A Goal the Second: Get Strong I originally thought "OK, I'm taking Wednesday off, so I'll go to the gym then." Ha, after getting to bed at 4:30 AM, gym-going did not happen. I was planning to go on Saturday, but woke up with the kind of headache that kept me in bed for a few hours (I get these incapacitating headaches once in a while), then had a crick in my neck, and all in all didn't feel well enough. Sadly, the gym is closed on Sundays all summer. So, no workout this week. I did walk a lot, go to Pilates, and do push-ups, but no lifting. Grade: F Goal the Third: Get Serene 36 minutes of meditation over 5 days; if you do the math, that works out to an A, I believe. Grade: A Goal the Fourth: Get Sweet-Free (sort of) I had homemade custard twice, made with local raw milk and maple syrup. So good! Sugar consumption was within my limits. Grade: A

Wow, lots of changes afoot! Good luck with the interview and the move. I've always wanted to work in a library.

Sorry about the physical yuckiness and the emotional stress. Sounds like things will be better soon - at least shark week will be over soon!

Ugh - I'm so sorry about your friend. One of my closest friends died during the last challenge and I graded myself straight F's for the week. Sometimes life gets in the way and trips us up. If I were you I'd give yourself permission to take a break from the challenge for a week or two - you don't need extra stress on top of everything you are going through. You can pick it back up when you are ready.

Glad for my week of debauchery to be over. It was very fun, but less than healthy. Maybe someday I will learn to eat mostly-healthy while on vacation. We ended up getting home from the airport at 3:30 AM yesterday, so the day was pretty shot - no gym. But I hit everything else in my challenge: no sweets, plus I mobilityWOD-ed and meditated. I'm using a free app called Lift to keep track of habits I'm trying to do regularly, ideally every day. They are: meditate, pushups, mobilityWOD, no sugar, no wheat, 10K steps, and eat like a Klingon. I find Lift very motivating - I want to do things so I get to check them off my list. Yesterday I managed to check off everything except eat like a Klingon. All in all, a decent first day of the challenge!

Teenagers are very useful for teaching clueless adults about makeup. My 15-year-old daughter just took me to Sephora and taught me how to put on eye liner. I was a hippie and Deadhead when I was a teenager, so I never learned makeup.

Hello, fellow Rebels! Long time no see! On my travels this week, I have thoroughly neglected every aspect of my challenge. No meditation, no mobility work, no working out at all, and I've been eating like a lumberjack. Vacation indeed! The only plus is that I've been getting in a ton of city walking, earning my first-ever 20,000 steps Fitbit badge. In fact, I exceeded 20,000 steps (which equals 10 miles) two days in a row! We fly home tomorrow, and the next day my challenge begins. I'm looking forward to a less decadent lifestyle. Eating off-plan certainly doesn't make me feel very good.

Your list of home improvements makes me want to go take a nap.

A week at a time seems like a great plan for you, since you have a pattern of slacking off towards the end of the long challenges. Good idea!

Actually, that makes a lot of sense. If you'll be walking a lot less at work and you don't like to walk along in the hot & humid city (and who does?), then 45 miles is not a slackerish Hearthsinger goal. For any normal people, 45 miles a week would be damn ambitious, but you are some kind of walking superhero. Bwahahahahaha!