IslandGirl_Becks

Well this looks a little dead, but I'm in NE and would love to meet up at a bouldering gym or hike if anyone's interested!

I found my knitting group on Meetup. I'm not a knitter, but they let me bring my whittling projects and make chips while they click sticks.

I'm just sitting here in PDX and realized that after today, I'll be in a different time zone every week for the next 4 weeks.

I've done this a couple times in my life... specifically after making a mistake IRL (like dropping my cup of coffee) made me think "load last saved game" instead of "sop up the mess". As far as just not getting angry, that takes practice. Notice when you're getting there. You get to choose your reactions, and slowing things down when you see yourself going that direction so that you have time to observe yourself, your feelings, your triggers, and grounding yourself in reality (it's a game, not real life, there are things that matter more, like family) is a good practice. And maybe don't practice with the game, in the beginning...

Wow, I'm late to this party... but better late than never? I recently chucked my Keen hiking boots, because even at +1 size up I ended up with blisters on my toes from them swelling and being squeezed. Awesome boots, but more than 10 miles and I was tender... which is a bummer when you're that far into a 43 mi hike! I've swapped to flat-soled shoes, with varying levels of support and protection. I've done a ~17 mile day in my Reebok Nanos, a ~13mi/20km hike in the rain a month or two ago (both basically packless) in the same shoes. Upside: happy feet, plenty of toe room, natural gait, great traction. Downside: not at all water resistant, no stone protection - which becomes even a bigger problem when you have a pack. Now, I'm almost always in my Topo Terreventure trail shoes. They are basically zero-drop, have a stone plate, ride just a bit higher with fused rubber for a little better water resistance, vent wonderfully, happy toe box... The only downside is they can be a little slick on polished rock, especially when wet. I wore them on an epic 19+mi blitz-hike a few weekends ago (light pack, 1 day) with ~4500' elevation change, and had no new blisters at the end of the trail. As far as water-caused blisters, have y'all ever considered waterproof socks? For the most part, these are vapor-permeable so you don't get sweat soggy, but will hold up to puddled trails quite well!

I just had the realization that I'm leaving for the first let of my trip to Scotland in 30 days, and now I have a stupid-happy grin on my face

If you don't want to invest in some power saws, double check for a tool library in your town. If you pick up a skillsaw, just make sure you know how to use it first! They're notorious for kickback

What you've heard about weight not being a good indicator is true. I'd say work on building body confidence now. As someone who has been scary skinny and borderline overweight, I didn't see myself as I actually was in those moments. I can look at photos now and what I see is whether I was happy or not - which actually has nothing to do with my weight in either situation. This podcast is one place to start. As far as setting fitness goals, most are realistic... so long as you give yourself time and are dedicated to getting there! Developing a movement practice at any level will improve your standard of life. So, how about starting with something that will get you past that first 2 week stretch, and see how you're feeling? This would get you started with the habits that you can scale as far as you want. Developing a movement practice at any level will improve your standard of life. What is your activity level now? Do you walk, jog, bike, etc? What do you like to do? Nutrition-wise, Steve has written several posts on "healthy eating" that are pretty good. Just remember that you can't out-run your fork! (Top Nerd Fitness blog posts) As someone who also has chronic desk shoulder and bad posture, strength training in my back, core, and shoulders have helped. Even more, mobility work has helped open up the tight stuff. Here are a few of my faves (#1 and #3).

Yep. I put on #30 and things went the opposite direction - heavier periods. Lots of hormones are linked to fat tissue, which means that when your % body fat changes, the hormones change.

Hey, a few thoughts: If you're putting a wall anchor in, make sure it's in a stud. Better yet, set a series of anchor points in a plate (wide piece of metal or plywood) that braces between multiple studs. With the pull-up bar, as long as it's a metal bolt-in one that isn't made to hold tension only in one direction ("down," when oriented on a wall), you should be fine. The "down" direction on a wall puts metal in compression. If it can hold #500 in compression, its strength in tension will be much greater!

I entirely agree. I forgot to mention, I work remotely. My closest coworker is 300 miles away, and most of them are in Quebec! I'm trying out a co-working space this week, but I'm out of town one week every month, so it makes it hard for me to be a "regular" anywhere. I've also joined a crafting meetup (the knitters don't mind me chip carving at their knitting table), a German language class, and am trying out gyms that have group classes. There's a point where the alone-ness is more wearing than the effort of going out and meeting people multiple times a week. I am slowly getting back into running. Once I can do 3+ miles, I'll think about doing a club.

I hate moving. I love going places, hate moving. I'm slow to make friends, even slower to make close friends. A month ago, I found myself starting over solo in a new city. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to how to re-build my life and where to find community in this new place. For those of you who've done it, how did you re-build your life when you've been uprooted? How do you find 'your people'? (also, anyone in the greater Portland, OR area want to meet up and do something nerdy or fitness related?)

As a native west coaster from the next continent west, I totally get it West coast, best coast! Also, that group is pure travel porn. Yes, please!!

So, that's the rub. If I can get a full 2 weeks off in September, II'll probably spend a little time in a city or two. If I only have 1+ week, I'll be heading almost directly to to the route. I'm planning to walk the Speyside Way. I've been told it's not the most beautiful of the long distance walks, but I was digging around in my grandmother's family history (of which we don't know much) and discovered her grandfather emigrated from Dufftown.

I had it for the first time on a UK trip with my mom... It's really hard to find in the US, because Americans tend to think that any non-chocolate pudding is weird! I'm hoping to be back at the end of this summer for a walking trip in Scotland... the plan is to have black pudding and scones for breakfast, walk all day, stop at regular intervals for whisky, and pub every evening!

I order the same breakfast every time I go to this cafe in Victoria (the only place I know to find black pudding anywhere close to home), and to be honest I was rather confused by the flat "scones" they served... but they were delicious! And they look super easy to make!

Congrats on respawning! What is this unofficially official app of which you speak?

I just looked at my last month of chaos, and realized that sometime in the midst of all that I crossed into the last stage of my journey. Goal for this year is to reach Mordor, and make it all the way back home! Here's to the miles ahead And for those of you who are map nerds, here's a great interactive map of the different routes through Middle Earth: http://lotrproject.com/map

I think I'm going to hit Lothlorien today! If you were to eat something in the real world to celebrate your first bite of Lembas, what would it be? I have been trying to up my foot miles because of both things going on at home, and a hope that I can blast through an 18 mile hike in 1 day next month. The hike is in the North Cascades, which are currently fogged in by forest fire smoke (as most of the rest of the Western US is right now), but I'm really hoping to not have to put it off 'till next year.

I know, one of the 2 things we're never supposed to talk about (the other being politics). But I'm just curious - how many of you have been through a faith transition at some point in your life? From an organized religion to agnosticism? Used to be an atheist, now believe in one of the major versions of a higher power? Tell me about it!

And it's the Memorial Day weekend sale!!

Hi Anouk! I'm starting back with CF after taking 8+ months off (for no good reason... just making life harder for myself...) and just got to the point where I'm able to walk comfortably the day after a WOD. DOMS are my nemesis. I'll second what DarkRaider said - time, make sure you're getting protein, and on top of that maybe add a little pinch of salt (and maybe some lemon juice) to you water in the morning. For that matter, make sure you're drinking a lot of water and replenishing electrolytes! Muscles adapt faster than tendons, so make sure that you're taking it very slow when it comes to things like gymnastic movements (this goes for everything from push-ups to muscle ups!). Like DR said, scaling is key. I like rolling after a WOD and taking a long time to warm up beforehand. Often, if you're sore, actually using those muscle groups and pumping them will make the cruddy feeling clear away more quickly. That means if you're sore from squats, do some air squats and mobilize in that position! You can also look up MWOD on YouTube for some great mobility/recovery tutorials.

Hi Nerds, I just found an *amazing* podcast that I thought I'd share with y'all. I have dealt with anorexia, bulemia, exercise bulemia, stress eating, body image issues... and each of these at times when I was running/training for marathons and doing CrossFit. In the past few months, I've re-framed my relationship with food - and part of it recently has come from a new podcast I found. Paige Smathers runs Positive Nutrition and the Nutrition Matters podcast. She takes an intuitive eating, weight neutral approach to nutrition. If you've dealt with any of these issues, check it out!

They're Topos, and they're perfect for the trails that I run around here. Last fall I accidentally ended up hiking back-to-back 13+ mi days in my Reebok Nano 4s, and had the thought "why can't I find running shoes that fit like this"? I tried Altas, but they didn't feel quite right. I put the Topos on and they fit perfectly - snug in the heel and midsole (I can run up rocks slanted 30* sideways without sliding in the shoes) and perfectly shaped in the sole so my wide toes are happy even when I've been pounding them for several miles! These are the ones I got.

Grrrr that feeling when the "miles to go" column read 3.0, and suddenly it reads 460.8. Well, I guess I better suit up... (new shoes. I have new shoes arriving today!)