Thunderneath

Back again! Sorry for the infrequent posting. I've been busy enough lately that I've had to fit NF forum activity in at random times. I think that may be a part, though a minor one. I've spent the last year-ish on a weird six-week pendulum cycle, where I start with normal day/night rhythms, then deadline pressures lead to late nights and sleeping during the day, and then things slowly return to normal. Repeat. My body's adapted to that (as much as a body can, I guess), so I'm fighting that rhythm now and trying to impose a normal one, as well as trying to meet the publishing deadlines that keep popping up. HR and body temp is an interesting idea- I might try tracking that. It'd be a little difficult to fit into the routine now, but if things don't improve I'll give it a shot. See below! And thanks for not letting me slide on this one. I don't think I'm overtraining, but since I've never even come close to that condition before in my life, I can't say that with certainty and I'll be careful to not push too far. I'm not feeling exhausted after workouts, or like it's taking too much more effort than before to complete activities. If I were betting, my money would be on fighting years of terrible time management and sleeping patterns. And thanks! I seem to be doing well on some lifts, but the upper body strength is lagging far behind. Your description of your bedtime habits is me, to a T. When the deadlines are met and I should be going to sleep, I "reward" myself by browsing the web, or watching Netflix or reading, since I know I won't have time for these things tomorrow (which makes no sense! If I sleep now and get up earlier, the same amount of time would be freed up the next day.), and I either sleep in or don't get enough rest. I'll keep trying here, and see if things get ironed out over the next few weeks. Otherwise, things have been going very well! I've got some serious logging to catch up on so here goes: Thursday 9/26 Calories: 1657 Exercise: Barbell Bench Press:- 145 lb x 8 reps- 165 lb x 6 reps- 175 lb x 4 reps- Well that's nice! 175x4. I started with bench this time instead of doing it halfway through.Lat Pulldown:- 140 lb x 8 reps- 160 lb x 8 reps- 150 lb x 8 reps- Not working as hard here as on Tuesday.Two-Arm Kettlebell Swing:- 35 lb x 20 reps- 35 lb x 20 reps- 35 lb x 20 reps- 16KG Kettlebell. I haven't done these in ages.Ab Crunch Machine:- 35 lb x 20 reps- These weren't planned, but helped to keep my workout partner motivated.Walking (treadmill):- 0:05:00 || 0.2 mi- 0:05:00 || 0.2 mi- Just warming up and cooling down with my buddy.Sleep: I don't remember! Shame on me. I'm thinking it was about 3AM-11AM Friday 9/27Calories: 1508Exercise: 45min. run, 3.2mi. (Week 9 of C25K, plus a little. This includes about 6 minutes of walking at the start, but mostly a slow jog.)Sleep: 2:30AM-6:45AM (Short night! BAD) Sat/Sun- no tracking. Helped a friend move Saturday, went for a bit of a walk Sunday, but otherwise I was aggressively slothful. But somehow, I managed to tackle my life goal and draw a page of the book I'm working on! YES.Here's a panel from it: Rough pencils, I'll be adding more shading once I take the ink brush to it, but it's what I intended to get done this weekend. Finally, some movement! Monday 9/30Calories: 1252Exercise: Run-walk, approx. 3.75miSleep: 5AM-12PM Weird day! Sleeping in so late means I started with lunch, so my calorie count is low. It will probably be correspondingly higher tomorrow. Now that I've finished C25K, I need to create a new routine. Today's run started as a simple 35-minute run, but MAN it got rough about 10 minutes in. Felt the one leg trying to shin-splint up, hamstrings were super stiff, and for the first time my hips felt really sore. I'm thinking it's a combination of pushing so hard Friday, and being so sedentary over the weekend. I settled for walking most of the way (probably about 2 miles, maybe more), and alternating between jogging and sprints for the rest. I feel worked, but not quite OK with how it went. That's alright though! Wednesday's coming.

Yeah, gotta keep the long game in mind. I've already made a list of stuff for next time. Good going on the stretching & strength. It's awesome that you're at 100% so far. Drink some more water!

Today sounds awesome. Way to go, sir.

Well done Uri!! Glad you rocked the Warrior Dash so hard. Excellent work, dude. Hope you're feeling 100% again after that flu shot. Sucks that it knocked you down so hard. So where to from here, after the big Boss Fight?

Good work with the main goals! Let us know how things go with finding a fiddle teacher.

You're rocking this challenge so far, Laurel, awesome stuff. Glad you had some time to rest this weekend! I hope you slept for a bit of it.

Glad you enjoyed the sci-fi club last week and have had good workouts. Great work on the awesome 100% paleo streak! And of course it's fine that you ate non-paleo food with your friend! If our fitness habit comes at the cost of friendships, it's not really worthwhile, in my eyes. Balancing relationships and personal goals is pretty crucial, I think. PS I've only started Dune, but it's amazing so far. Haven't read anything else from the series. And yeah, I love Gauld! And Stephen Collins. I wouldn't know their work if not for the Internet. PPS They Live is a wonderful, wonderful movie. If you enjoyed it, you should see Big Trouble In Little China, by the same director.

Glad you did so well with Week 1, Dirty. And good going, mixing up the strength routine. Boredom is one heck of a workout killer, and I'm glad you were able to catch it before you got demotivated. Sounds like everything else is going pretty ok; alternating running and weight days seems smart. Take care of that knee! Doing at least half of your active stuff last week is great. And you're rocking the Driver's Ed now! Excellent!

Week 2 does look pretty good from here, daggart. Did you do any calculation before you assigned yourself the 1600kcal goal? For somebody your size it seems like a very reasonable weight loss goal; 1500's well within reason too. Cutting to 1200 to create a buffer zone for overeating seems too drastic to me, as well as planning to fail. I encourage you to keep your current goal, and continue tracking everything eaten. The discipline of hitting that calorie goal will come in time. The caffeine in coffee is what's addictive, right? Everything else is just habit. I think drinking decaf for the challenge is definitely good!

Glad you've been eating well, and got in some swimming. Here's to a better week indeed!

Thanks. I'm trying not to get too obsessive, but I also want to do well through the challenge. The box jumps are definitely worth keeping in the routine; hopefully I'll be able to get some really good vertical going with time. And thanks! I'm not sure that I'll gain a ton in numbers since I'm both eating at a deficit and running regularly, but I'll do what I can. Plus, that bench goal isn't going anyplace. Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. I definitely do need to rethink the way I'm approaching sleep, as I slept through my alarm again this morning and didn't wake up till 11:30. I'm going to be in bed by midnight tonight, and put my alarm across the room so I have to actually get out of bed to turn it off. Yeah, whiskey and ice cream aren't great food for weight loss. Both of 'em are infrequent indulgences for me, so they probably won't be popping up again.I'm absolutely willing to take the time to workout with this friend, as long as he's motivated. It's kinda nice to be able to help somebody out with exercise for a change!Thanks for keeping up on my thread! I tend to post on my own log after catching up on everyone else's, so it's often late at night. And speaking of which:Calories: 1765 (tomato soup for dinner! Perfect for a cold rainy day)Exercise: Running/sprints; about 2.25mi.This was supposed to be Week 9 of C25K again, but I flaked. Not quite sure why, as it's just a 2-minute increase from last week, but something in my brain's not letting me go all the way to 30. I know it's just mental, and it's really frustrating me. I ended up running about 20 minutes, then alternating walking/sprints in the rain on the way back. Still a good cardio workout, but not what I wanted.Sleep: 2AM-11:30 AM. Those of you who are trying to get enough sleep every night probably hate me right now. I stayed up late to watch the Person of Interest Season 3 premiere. I shoulda just gone to sleep and been up by 8.

Sorry about the injury, daggart, and I hope you recover quickly. Kudos on modifying your goals so efficiently, I'm sure you'll tackle them well!

Those are awesome! Do you handcraft them?

Well done!

Argh, double post! Have this picture of a dog.

Thanks, Vibrant! I really don't have a good excuse for the weekend lapse. I'll try to structure that as much as the weekdays and hopefully that'll keep me going. Today: Calories: 1369 (this seems low but I can't think of anything I missed...) Exercise: Barbell Deadlift: - 255 lb x 8 reps - 285 lb x 8 reps - 315 lb x 7 reps Lat Pulldown: - 180 lb x 8 reps - 160 lb x 8 reps - 200 lb x 5 reps Standing Military Press: - 105 lb x 8 reps - 105 lb x 8 reps - 105 lb x 8 reps Box Jumps: - 10 jumps || 24 in - 10 jumps || 12 in - 10 jumps || 24 in The box jumps are new to me. They kinda suck to do, but that's a sign I probably should keep doing 'em. Yup.

Sorry for disappearing the last few days! I was hoping to catch up with posts over the weekend. I'm back now, though! Ain't that the truth! Yeah, though I've found that I often give myself too much leeway, such that things never get done. And I did, at least for Thursday! Update below. Going OK- I was far too lazy over the weekend, and let my sleep goal lapse. Not good, as I'm having a heck of a time getting it back on track. Logging below: Thursday last week: Calories: 2374. BAD news. I did well most of the day- two good meals, and beef pho for dinner. It was after dinner, when the friends I was out with suggested getting gelato. Did you know? There's, uh, a lot of sugar in gelato. And cream. It's delicious. But not good for you. Exercise: Barbell Squat:- 185 lb x 8 reps- 225 lb x 8 reps Body Weight Inverted Row (Let Me Ups):- 8 reps- 6 reps- 7 repsOne-Arm Dumbbell Row:- 40 lb x 8 reps- 40 lb x 8 reps- 40 lb x 8 repsSeated Dumbbell Shoulder Press:- 40 lb x 8 reps- 45 lb x 6 repsTrail Running:- 0:05:00 || flatPreacher Curl:- 45 lb x 10 reps- 45 lb x 10 reps- 50 lb x 10 repsAb Crunch Machine:- 45 lb x 15 repsWeighted Decline Sit-Up:- 5 reps Nothing like a personal record up in here. I've got a good friend who's really trying to get some structure in his life and wants regular workouts to be part of it. Only problem is, he's on the opposite end of the lifting spectrum from me- real skinny guy who doesn't eat well. So we've been working out the last couple Thursdays, just getting used to the bar and free weights, so I haven't pushed myself much when with him. Hopefully that'll change, but I need to count on the other lifting days of the week to make real progress for now. Sleep: 2AM-8:30AM. 6.5hrs. Need to get up earlier. Friday last week: Calories:1832 (post-running peanut butter sandwich pushed me over my goal. That, or the whiskey. But I'd rather blame the sandwich) Exercise: Week 8 of C25K- 28min. run, 2.25mi. Took a new trail that had some convenient signs marking distance, so now I know just how terribly slow I am! Still a good run. Cool thing- I got within a stone's throw of a really laid-back doe and fawn while I ran. Don't know if I've been that close to a live deer before. Sleep: 1AM-10AM- 9hrs. Saturday: Calories: N/A- day off Exercise- I shoulda lifted today, but didn't. Like a chump! This is my biggest screw-up for Week 1. Sleep- 3AM-1PM-10hrs. This is my second biggest screw-up. I slept too much, and far too late. I need to structure my sleep on weekends too, otherwise I'll let them screw up my whole week. Sunday: Calories: 1721 Exercise: N/A- rest day Sleep: 3AM-12PM-9hrs. Still screwy. Setting my alarm for too early, and sleeping through it/hitting snooze. No real excuse beyond laziness though. Monday: Calories: 1746 Exercise: Week 9 of C25K- 30min. run. Same trail as Friday, mostly. I got a little lost and slowed to walking for about a minute after I had to cut across a field of tall grass to get back to my trail. Sleep: 2AM-11AM. 9hrs. Still screwy. My body's gotten used to starvation-mode/binging mode when it comes to sleep, and after I let it go on Friday night I'm having a hell of a time reining it in. Grr. Gonna try going to bed by midnight tonight and getting up early. I'll let you all know how it goes. Also going to lift tonight. Life goal: Nooooooope. Tsk tsk!

Hey Tex, how's the week gone? Hope you've just been too busy kicking ass to post.

Nice workout there, Uri. I totally understand where you're coming form on balancing the strength and running- I've got the opposite problem, where I can run every scheduled time, but I miss lifting days. Do you alternate strength/CrossFit days and running days? If not, I'd give it a try.

Every post you make is ridiculously inspiring, Laurel. I mean damn. Great, great work on the consistent workouts and good eating! You've got those parts locked down. Sleep's one of the tough ones for me as well. Good luck with it, I hope you're able to get the rest you need!

Moving definitely counts as a good workout. That's as practical a strength workout as it gets! Also, next time it's raining? You should definitely go for a run. Just to say you did it. Unless it's monsoon season in Canada.

Nice progress over the last week, FiddleOn. Push-ups, walks in the woods, fiddling. All awesome. Do you have a bike of your own? I agree that stationary cycling in the gym is boring (same with treadmill running!), but if you've got a bike you can do the same thing with much more enjoyment. (Well, I guess I don't know the area around Boston in which you live. Is it too developed/traffic heavy to bike safely?)

Hope the week's going OK, man. I'd love to hear more about your airbrushing work. It's always intrigued me- what kind of work do you do specifically?

100% on the strength challenge- well done, keep it up! And glad you're keeping up on the hydration (except Saturday). Once you establish the consistent habit of drinking a set amount of water each day it becomes much easier to just listen to what your body needs for hydration and do that. Keep it up!

Glad you're feeling better, Rowan. And as you recover, remember that it's 80% diet- you can afford to rest from a few workouts if your diet's on track. (And then you can get back to working out at full capacity!)