radialgirl

I've done my yoga classes each day so far this week! I'm pretty said today'll be pretty much my last class at this studio. I did some research into studios in my new area and I think I've found one that will be a good fit. There's a couple women from my sailing club that go to this studio on a semi-regular basis as well, so it will be nice to have some yoga friends I have also remembered to write about my practice in my logbook, so that's really great. I am SO EXCITED for Games! Maybe almost too excited. My team is driving up to Edmonton tonight, and then ALL of Team Alberta flies to Sherbrooke tomorrow morning eeeeeeee yayayayay!

Hahaha yeah it's a little excessive for everyday life XD haha behind a tree works well

I LOVE my green smoothies in the morning! I too was skeptical to begin with, but you can't even taste it in there hahaha Dude don't even feel bad, I'll totally one-up you here! I'm a competitive sailor, we pend hours on the water during competitions. I also drink a SHITLOAD of water (9+ liters a day during competition) My wetset has breather holes all over it so I just pee straight through it if I have to XD Although your goals are big ones, it definitely seems like you have a good handle on it! Awesome that you're getting the fam on board as much as ya can too Good luck!!

SO pretty much just parroting everyone else here, but I totally agree that "I don't" is so much more powerful than "I can't." For myself, I DO NOT drink when I am training, and rarely drink outside of that. When I used to say "I can't drink because I'm training" it's all come-on-live-a-little-do-you-really-hate-fun-that-much, but when I say "I don't drink" people get to feel like an ass if they push me on it, it's great! Haha I really like all your goals, I know you'll do AWESOME!

So this will be my second go at the challenges. My first was as a druid and I did not complete it due to becoming supah busy and my challenge was no longer a priority. This time I'm going in KNOWING I will be supah busy, so I will be factoring that in from the start of my challenge. Here it goes! MAIN QUEST Rehabilitate my back injury. So the background on this is that I am a competitive sailor and have succumb to an unfortunately typical sailing injury. Most people have quads that are overdeveloped compared to their core, but due to the specific motions of sailing this imbalance puts HUGE strain on your hips flexors, which in turn puts HUGE strain on your lower back, which makes sailing really difficult and painful and life sucks. It's been over a YEAR since I completed all the races in a regatta (sailing competition) due to my struggles with this injury. MISSIONS So over the course of this challenge, I will be competing in two major competitions, Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke Quebec (away 1-10 August) and Canadian Youth Nationals in Vancouver, BC (29 August-1 September, likely away for on-site training a few days before this). Because of this, I DO have more than three missions, some competition specific and some general training specific. Competition Missions 1. Know my limits. I'm generally good at this, but the important nature of these regattas will increase the temptation to push too hard. 2. Proper recovery is PARAMOUNT. If I have to ice bath/stretch/roll out/whatever for 2 hours after sailing, that's okay. Being able to race the next day is more important to me than dinner with the team. Training Missions 1. Continue to strengthen my core. So far regular yoga (4-5 times a week) has been fantastic for this. My family is moving to be closer to the sailing club sometime mid August, and I MUST find a studio in that area so I can continue with this. Also, beginning after Youth Nationals, I will re-introduce 3 weekly gym sessions into my dryland routine, with a focus on my physio- based core strengthening exercises. 2. Start my next layer of physio. I have found great relief through a treatment called intramuscular stimulation (painful but works!) to loosen up my muscles, but I've mostly gotten all that I can out of it. I will be moving on to myofascial release treatment, in order to relax the fascia tissue so I can continue to effectively stretch my muscles. 3. NEVER LOSE HOPE! (seriously, clicky-clicky because this video is amazing) This comes from my other favourite fitness-y website, Parilexx, a by-athletes, for-athletes blog run by Ian and Justyn Warner, two Canadian Olympic-level track athletes. It has been extraordinarily hard to continue with my sport through this injury, but I have recently decided to reset and treat every day as a new one. Where I was has nothing to do with where I will be. The biggest part of this mission will be to get back in the habit of logbooking after every on-water and dryland session, and then some. Putting my thoughts somewhere outside of me, whether they are negative or positive, really helps me keep things in perspective. MOTIVATION Sailing is my passion and the long-term driving force behind this quest is my goal to represent Canada at the Olympic Games. I am aiming to qualify first for the 2020 games, and while this may seem like a long way off, I need to start training NOW. This injury has been a serious set back in my youth career, and I CANNOT continue to just do my best to live with it. For those of you interested in following my results at Canada Summer Games, I have been told there will be real-time GPS tracking of all boats, and I will DEFINITELY share that link as soon as i have access to it

Wow. Okay. So after receiving the newsletter about the next challenge starting up, I remembered I completely forgot to stay updated with this one! My life has been super busy between the start of sailing season, and my family's decision to move to be closer to the yacht club. I've also been pretty bummed out as my carpal tunnel issues have made it impossible to sail for the time being. So between all that, the challenge just totally fell to the wayside. I have kept up my yoga, I'm going every day during the week. I've been able to perform poses flat on my hands as opposed to using my whole forearms this week, so that's super positive! I did not make it back to the proper gym at all during this challenge, mostly because of the carpal tunnel i-can't-lift-things issue. I'm trying real hard to get in my physio exercises, and I definitely notice the improvement. I only have refined sugar when my elderly neighbour offers me a jujube or something. He's been giving me popsicles and candy over the backyard fence since I was a wee baby and it'd break his heart if I said no, so it's worth it to deal with the sugar nastiness Imagery's been kind of hit and miss for me. When I can't find the focus to mentally sail, I image myself onto the side of a mountain with the wind lowing around me, and just meditate. So even though I didn't really finish this challenge, I wouldn't say it was a complete failure. I'll go into the next one with a much better idea of how I need to stay on top of myself at the very least!

Thanks for that tip, Evenewbie! Update #3 This has been a very hectic week for me, and I've only been to yoga once. My carpal tunnel has only been getting consistently worse, and as such I have had to make the tough decision to withdraw from my school program for the sake of my health. This also means I've still been unable to resume my gym sessions, there's often times where I can barely pick up my purse let alone lift weights and such. I am making more of an effort to cycle as transportation so i'm still getting SOME extra exercise in! What with the last week being as it has been, I've also been very sporadic with my imagery and physio, and I find myself craving sugar, although I've not really given into that. I've really noticed that by slacking on my typical routine, my energy levels are waaaay down and I'm struggling to stay focussed, and that definitely doesn't help me with my current situation SO. This is my reminder to get myself back on track!

I totally second the spaghetti squash recommendation, holy crap it's like the best thing everrrr.

I think that's a smart way to start out for sure. I always find it tough to break a poor habit if I don't have something better to replace it with. And funny how that works, hey? The more I work out the more I want to work out, the more I eat well the more I want to eat well, the more I work out the more I want to eat well and the more I eat well the more I want to work out! So yay you for the awesome start!

Thanks! Yeah it's a rough sport for sure, but that's why I love it, it's such a challenge! This'd be my sport at it's best Most've those are smaller Canadian acts, they totally deserve waaaay more exposure! Lemme know if ya like 'em\ Hahaha not steel-y enough! I'd say at least the last minute and a half were sheer willpower lol Thanks! Fantastic sport if I do say so myself

Oops, didn't realise anyone'd replied to this! Thanks Thanks! Yeah, luck and talent are both overrated. My coach has this saying up in his office "The harder I train the more talented I become." SOOO true haha

ooooh boy tell me about it! between sailing and the gym my hands get straight up nasty, especially over the summer

Awesome on the goals you did accomplish this week! Totally sure ya can do better next week

So I just had a meeting with the sports nutritionist available to my through my selection for Canada Summer Games! Pretty cool. She figures I need to eat more protein, and probably also take calcium supplements due to the whole no-dairy. Overall my diet checks out fairly well so that's great It's FINALLY getting nice here in Calgary, 20 degrees with some craaazy winds. Not too long before the ice is off the lake and I can get out in my boat!

Update #2 Yoga on Sunday and Monday, going to class at noon today. Planning class on Wednesday evening. Special open-for-10-years celebration class on Friday. Planning one gym session this week, increase to two next week, three week after that. Avoiding sugar is going well overall, the only times I've had it has been in things I didn't think about as containing sugar, like a juice or salsa. I've started being more aware about reading labels to look for the nasty little bugger! I've been doing my physio consistently every other day, but I really NEED to make the time for it every single day. Imagery is going well too, I'm getting it in every day even if it's just before bed. I'm focussing on my tacks right now and will start doing more with my mark roundings and gybes next week!

Haha that's super cool, my dog is waaay too dumb for things like that XD also awesome, it sounds like you're already kinda doing it! Definitely more effective when you know imagery is what you're trying to achieve though! Hope it helps you out! Thanks! Yeah I totally agree it'd be a bit much for a non-athlete Lemme know if you find the imagery helpful! and I'll totally check out the mini-challenge! Ahhh but you can image it in a more pleasant way, use it to convince yourself it's not actually that hateful! That's how I started loving vegetables! It's like mind control on yourself haha

Yeah the sugar's a cow, hey? Oh yeah I've heard that about hot water, a friend quit her coffee habit and now totally prefers just hot water. Yeah for sure for sure, I do really enjoy herbal/fruit teas too so those are good

Hey there! That trip sounds SO amazing! mmmmm Indian food... haha. All fantastic goals! I really like how you have a super clear grading system in place for each one, definitely something I should've set up right from the start. Ah well, never too late to start! My only problem is this... OMG I COULD NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT MY TEA HOLY HELL. What I actually mean is wow good job for doing away with something you know isn't helping ya out! I don't put sugar in my tea, that makes it okay right? Right?

Yeah for sure for sure, I've found doing things on my whole forearms instead of a flat hand is the biggest thing! Awesome! Totally going to check out your thread so I can do the same for you! Imagery is basically the same thing as visualisation, seeing in your mind what you wish to be able to do in reality. I use it as a training tool for my sailing, so I can get more practice in while I'm not actually on the water. The key is to imagine yourself in first person view, rather than watching yourself from above. I find it's helpful to go through my processes at different mental speeds, like I'm slowing down or speeding up a video feed, obviously something I can't do when I'm on the water. It took a bit to get used to, but I've always thought better in pictures anyways. It's really about getting into the right mindset. It's easiest for me to image when I'm doing a static exercise like plank or wallsit, (even cycling is alright) because the physical exertion mimics the feeling of ACTUALLY sailing. Also, regulating my breathing, slow and even through my nose with some sound from the back of my throat helps me to centre myself. If I do it without the physical exertion I often put on a soundtrack of ocean waves or something, so I can focus on my imagery rather than focussing on staying focussed, if that makes much sense!

So I made it to yoga yesterday, yay! I did my imagery but forgot about my physio exercises because I totally neglected to set my alarms. Haven't put my goals on the calendar yet either, but that's on the list today! Also crazy how much I'm thinking about sugar now that I've decided to completely not eat it. I know this'll pass, I just need to keep reminding myself how gosh darn awful I'll feel if I cave haha

Yeah totally go for it! It's seriously something everyone can benefit from SPREAD THE LOVE

Awesome on getting out and going, ESPECIALLY when you don't think ya can! The first step in dealing with negative self talk is recognising it. I was first introduced to the concept of thought-stopping through my sailing coach, and since then I use it ALL THE TIME EVERYWHERE. So you seem to have the recognition of the harmful thoughts down. Try to keep a constant watch on what exactly your mind is saying at all times. When you recognise a negative, or simply non-helpful, thought pattern, you mentally stop it, and then immediately replace it with the positive thought you'd like to be thinking instead. I like to shout the command STOP in my mind and think of a flash of red blanking out the old thought. So a few examples... On the race course my mental dialogue used to go something like this: "That start was awful, what was I thinking? Now I'll miss the first shift. There it is, and I have no room to tack out of here. Oh well, I'm okay with it because everyone else has been sailing for way longer than me..." So I STOP that and replace it with "what can I do to make this situation more favourable? If I bear off I can tack out and get the extra pressure on the right side of the course" Or I'm feeling down and say to myself "I don't have enough energy for the gym today/I'm in too shitty of a headspace to workout/etc" STOP, and it gets replaced with "Exercise will improve this mood/I know I always feel better when I'm done" Eventually it's gotten to the point for me that I rarely even need to thought-stop, because i've trained those patterns out of me. If one does happen to sneak in I can typically recognise the feeling of the pattern and stop it before my mind actually voices it. One thing I'd definitely recommend if/when you're starting out is to make a physical list of your non-positive patterns. For me I know it's not just straight up negative thoughts that can bring me down, it's things like "I'm okay with this undesirable situation because..." This has just helped me SO much in my life that I totally HAVE to share it ALL THE TIME hahaha. Good luck with your challenge!

I'm seriously gluten/lactose intolerant, and I hear some variation of "Come on, just have a little, it won't hurt ya" or "OMG what do you eat?" ALL THE DAMN TIME! Or when I say I'm fine eating some straight up vegetables instead of a potentially contaminated meal, they go and try to find a gluten-free sub for me, and then make me feel bad about it when I don't want to put that (typically highly processed and awful tasting) stuff in my body. And it's usually from the people in my life that make less than healthy eating choices. I definitely also get the alcohol thing too. I don't avoid it altogether, but I honestly hate feeling even a little tipsy. Basically everyone my age only seems to be able to have fun if they're drinking and assume I'm missing out because I'd rather go to the gym or be on the water or read a book or whatever.

This is basically my favourite series everrrr. FINALLY letting myself reread them again. The only other thing I can't help but let myself get THIS sucked into is Diablo 2 LoD. It's seriously a good thing I never got into drugs ehehehe So yeah, just re-started on Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson!

Thanks! Yeah imagery is SUPAH COOL. I mostly use it as a training tool for sailing, but I definitely find it effective in a general life-is-awesome sense too. If ya ever wanna chat about imagery/mental training/meditation stuff totally hit me up! It's seriously cool the things you can do with your own brain once ya figure out how lol, closest I'll ever come to badass magic outside vidyagamesssss