Earlsdottir

Totals Yoga: 9 / 12 = 75% = B. Yoga was worth a total of 4 stat points: 3 Dex and 1 Con. I'm taking 3/4 - 2 Dex and 1 Con. Strength: 14 / 18 = 77% = B. Strength was also worth a total of 4 stat points: 3 Dex and 1 Con. I'm, again, taking 3/4 - 2 Str and 1 Con. Cardio = 5.5 / 6 = 91% = A. Cardio was worth 4 as well: 3 Sta and 1 Con. I managed to keep up with that one fairly well despite the injury, and will take all those points. Side Quest = 82% = B. Side Quest was worth 3 points: 3 Cha. With a B overall, I'm taking 2/3 of those. This wasn't my strongest challenge, but I battled through some tough weeks -- both some heavy work weeks and some difficult personal weeks. Without the challenge, I probably would have given up completely and done nothing, so I'm counting these B's a win overall. Druids, it was a pleasure to join you for this challenge. Thanks so much for the community and the support!

I'm late getting my final accounting in on account of disappearing from the grid for the holiday week, but here it goes. Week 6 Yoga: 1/3Strength: 2/2Cardio: 1/1Side quest: 100%The last week wasn't perfect, but it was something.

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I decided not to give up. I can't change the past, but I can do better this week, so I'm buckling down with a goal of finishing strong. I did strength training on Monday and yoga today. If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I can make it.

Doing well is, in fact, something I am no longer doing. Alas. Week 4 Sucked. Not much else to say about it. I hit up the November Project for strength and cardio on Monday (run-workout-run), and on Wednesday I met with my running coach to figure out stretches and active recovery to help my foot get better. I'm counting that as one yoga. I did absolutely nothing else related to my challenges that week because (a) work ate my soul, and ( winter sucks. Strength: 1/2Yoga: 1/3Cardio: 1/1Side quest: 0% Week 5 Frankly, not much better. I spent four days this week with a left glute/leg muscle that wouldn't fire at all -- I could barely sit/stand or walk up/down stairs without leveraging myself on something. This made strength work almost impossible after Wednesday, and I only got the last yoga and cardio in when it finally started to feel better today. Strength: 1/2Cardio: 1/1 -- I set up the indoor trainer and did some cycling today, only to be interrupted about 30 minutes in by the downstairs neighbor complaining about the noise. Oh well. So much for that alternative.Yoga: 3/3 -- Accomplished 2/3 of them (tutorial and one set) this evening only because I realized how much I've dropped the ball the last couple of weeks and because the downstairs neighbor interrupted the cardio.Side quest: 100% (finally) Maybe the world is trying to tell me to chill out, but after six weeks of chilling because of my foot, I'm sick and tired of chilling. I want to start running again -- I miss it like woah -- but I don't want to hurt myself further and just make it worse. Barring that, I'd love to cycle more -- but outdoors isn't an option this time of year. Neither, apparently, is indoors. And all of my efforts to get better have failed so far -- resting doesn't work, focusing on yoga and strength hasn't worked, the PT exercises I was given not only didn't work, they rendered me more broken. It's almost enough to make me want to give up in the challenge and on fitness in general.

Checked in with the PT today. Alas, I am not cleared for running stairs. Have fun tomorrow, and stay warm!

My flight out for Thanksgiving was delayed because of computer issues with the plane. They deplaned us after rebooting didn't work. Jokes from other passengers about making sure it was plugged in, changing to a Mac, etc., were a small highlight on an otherwise stormy and frenetic pre-holiday Wednesday morning. Which is all to say, I'm amused to learn they actually have iPads. That's awesome. But not awesome if they can't get at them. Hope they resolve it soon and get you on your way!

Employing the NF gear while geocaching in the hills along the Maine coast. Seriously, one of the most comfortable shirts I own.

I can understand the spiral. I remember struggling with similar anxiety during grad school, especially while trying to find the motivation to write the graduation-requirement papers. As a friend used to say, that's heavy pizza. I'm glad too hear that you could have at least a short respite during meditation. I like the way you've broken that down into manageable tasks. I do yoga on the floor in my living room. We have hardwood (one of the few blessings of living in an aged building), but I start to feel much the same way when I'm in positions that let me see under the couch/entertainment center. But the cleaning just feels so daunting right now, what with work kicking my ass. I think I'll save that one and make it a life quest for next challenge. Sounds like the challenge is still rolling along at a fairly good clip for you. I thought of your alcohol challenge this evening during my office's holiday party, and decided that I'm going to stick to two days a week through the holidays, too.

This is one of those weeks where I can only be grateful that I've survived this far. Work seriously kicked me in the shins this week; I won't be out from under the mountain of work until sometime tomorrow afternoon. Goals? I managed one strength workout on Monday morning, and barely made a PT appointment on Wednesday that I may well count as yoga (an hour of stretching and flexibility work). Otherwise? I've been riding a desk sixteen hours a day, coming home, sleeping six hours, and doing it all over again. Oof. Someone bring the weekend, stat.

I'm definitely in for dinner/drinks Saturday! Probably can't join in earlier, alas -- commitments. The rest really depends on how much work decides to rake me over the coals next week. If this week is any indication, outlook is not good. I hit up the NP workout on Monday. Those folks are serious awesomeness. Wednesday should be a lot of fun and I'm still hoping to make it out there, though this is in no way whatsoever a commitment that I'll attend (see above, re: injury).

That sounds like a week of serious win, even if the grades weren't all the way there. Though I'm fairly tight with my family, we also tend to do Thanksgiving with friends because of how far away we live from the rest of the clan. I'm glad to hear it wasn't an anxious holiday for you, and that they fixed your wheels to get you there. And that massage sounds just awesome!

Hitting the halfway point for the challenge, I'm finding that my goals may have been a little bit under-challenging under normal circumstances but, thanks to this silly injury that doesn't want to pass, they're just about on target. I had a lovely time this week celebrating Thanksgiving with a small collection of family and friends in an out-of-the-way location. Unfortunately, I spent a chunk of it limping due to not respecting my foot the way I should have, and I completely dropped the ball on eating in a remotely healthy manner. I give myself a pass on that (since, you know, it's not one of my official challenges), but that can't continue through the rest of the holiday season, or I'll lose all of the awesome progress I've made the last couple of challenges. All that said, numbers for Week 3: Monday Arachne introduced me to this set of 100 different bodyweight workouts. The only downside is, you know, I spent some 40 minutes pre-workout trying to figure out which one sounded the most awesome while at the same time helping me toward my pullup goal. (N.B. I'm up to doing assisted pullups after a couple of weeks doing dumbell rows.) I finally settled on the Odin circuit. I may have pushed a bit far: the DOMS the next couple of days was of Valhallic proportions. Tuesday I spent the day traveling. it involved a good bit of walking from point A to points B through Q, but no workout or yoga. Wednesday Arrived at my Thanksgiving location. Snuck in the first yoga video for week 3 before the horde appeared. Discovered it was not in fact yoga, but pilates. Muscles were displeased, but we rallied and did it anyway. Thursday If being on your feet in the kitchen all day counts as a workout, I did one. But I think the amount of wine, butter and pie consumed cancel it all out. Dinner, however, was absolutely delicious. Friday I had planned to go for a run while out of the city, but as mentioned above, my foot was having none of it. On Wednesday and Thursday I was limping so badly that any thought of a run was out. However, on Friday by midday things were feeling quite a bit better, and I went for a very easy 4-mile walk around a nearby lake with friends and their young offspring -- with a three-year-old pace-setter, I couldn't break myself too badly. I'm not counting this as the week's cardio, but it was pleasant all the same. Saturday Spent the day cleaning up from Thanksgiving festivities and traveling. Toppled into bed almost as soon as I got home. Sunday Did a 12-mile ride on the bike trainer while watching the Patriots stumble their way to victory, followed by the week's yoga tutorial and second DYWM video. Downside of doing yoga over halftime: If yoga does not end before halftime is over, I can kiss savasana goodbye. Week 3 Summary:: Yoga: 3/3Strength: 1/2Cardio: 1/1Life Quest: 60%

I find I absolutely have to get my goals done before I pour a drink, too, or I can be pretty sure they're not going to happen. Though it's not an official NF Challenge goal for me, after this past weekend, I'm also aiming to keep this holiday season at a healthy sobriety level. Good luck with this new goal over the coming weeks. I'll be rooting for you!

Week two: conquered! My mood really picked up toward the middle of the week. I found myself actually wanting to do things. As mentioned above, it was heavy on the social obligations, but I made it through that maze. Monday Rolled home from the office at a perfectly reasonable hour and hit the gym as soon as I got home. Tuesday Attended a work dinner, and yet -- and yet! -- didn't overeat, and didn't overdo it on the beverage front, to the point where I felt perfectly fine when I rolled in the door. So perfectly fine, in fact, that I settled in for some yoga before I crashed. Wednesday Ender's Game. That is all. Thursday Quit the office a little bit early, because I ran out of things to do -- that's a rarity, indeed. I attempted a really easy run, but my foot wasn't having it, so I counted the mile a warmup and hit the gym instead. Went out to dinner with friends afterward, but because I'd gotten home so early, I didn't have to cut the workout short. Win! Friday Finally, a free evening. I did my yoga lesson at a nice and easy pace, and hit the tutorial as well. Saturday I had every intention of getting up and riding on the trainer this morning. Didn't happen. In fact, spent some quality time with friends, but otherwise? Nothing happened. Sunday Again, every intention of getting that ride in. And then my foot felt pretty good. And it was less than 20F out. So...I snuck out to the gym and pounded out three easy miles on the treadmill instead. Foot felt good through the first two, and only mildly iffy through the last, though it tensed up pretty rough during the hours that followed. I'll continue to take it pretty easy. Week 2 Summary Yoga: 3/3Strength: 2/2Cardio: 1.5/1Life Quest: 50%

...I should have guessed, from your profile pic. That costume is several kinds of awesome -- I love it! Can totally understand why it needs to be uber before the shoot. Spoonfuls of tomatoes aside, your veggie goal inspired me today -- after eating a lot of crap at these dinners, I almost continued the streak with a bacon cheeseburger and fries for lunch. As I walked past the grill, I mused: "....could I make any of that count as a veggie?" And so I skipped that station and hit up the salad bar instead. Thanks for the inspiration!

I'm a lot more of a run-after-work type of person, too. During the summer, though, it was way too warm to run in the evenings, so I polled the masses about morning running: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/35468-morning-running/ The collective wisdom boiled down to, "Give it a week or two, and you'll get used to it." I gave it a couple of weeks and found that I did indeed get a lot less sluggish as my body grew accustomed to running in the mornings -- both during the run, and during the workday that followed. So it may be worth a try!

Hey, congrats and well done! That is an amazing accomplishment, both physical and mental. May you carry that strength through the rest of the challenge!

Yeah! In the end, they finally cooked and I had a tasty dinner alongside some Girl in the Fireplace. And then slept, and the world was better in the morning. Week two is trundling along. I've had several dinners and other social obligations this week -- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, in fact -- which has made things a little tricky. It's only going to get worse as the holiday season kicks in. I'm not, by nature, a social person, but I play a professional at work, and these things are expected. Still, I've managed to fit in both of my workouts and one yoga session so far. I'll do the other yoga tonight or tomorrow. I tried running yesterday for the first time in three weeks. My foot was finally not hurting and I thought I'd give it a go with a very slow and easy two miles. I was about a mile in when (1) my foot started explaining to me in excessive detail just how displeased it was with this activity, and (2) the other member of my household called, having forgotten keys, and needing to be let inside. So I limped back home, opened the door, and then ducked out to the gym for some easy-on-the-foot bodyweight working out. Which means that if I'm going to get cardio in this weekend, it's going to be cycling. And if it's cold and rainy, which seems likely, I need to set up the trainer so I can cycle indoors. And to do that, I need to clean up portions of my apartment. And...so that's the agenda.

I've had a slew of obligatory post-work dinners and parties this week, and I'm right there with you vis-a-vis the wagon being difficult to stay on once the alcohol kicks in. It's been rum and/or red wine for me. I bit the bullet yesterday, though, and snuck home a little early so I'd have time to get my workout in before the obligatory dinner. And then I ate myself sick at the dinner. Hm. May need to rethink that plan again. I'm pretty sure that "lentils" don't count as a vegetable. They're a grain. Or are you, like the public school systems, counting a spoonful of tomato sauce as a serving? Consider yourself lined up to be yelled at if the yoga doesn't get done. And, finally -- what cosplay?

...and also, hanging in there! I started the challenge off fairly strong, and week 2 is panning out pretty good so far despite a slew of social obligations that threaten to throw off my groove. I'm nursing a foot injury that I hoped would be better by now -- instead, I'm learning a to be patient, and that it's okay to scale back and do what my body needs me to do to recover. That's harder than I expected it to be!

See, I'm the opposite. Give me a "no sweets" goal and I can stick to my guns. Give me the leeway to have "some" and to decide how much is "less," and I'll have a really hard time cutting back. I think that's exactly right. The key is to figure out what works best for you, and then leverage that.

I love the bedtime calculator. I punched in some numbers and realize I never hit those intervals -- I'm always trying to wake up in the middle of one. I'm going to try to switch it up and see if that doesn't help with the morning grogginess. Thanks for the pointer! And my cat is equally into yoga. Or, into my attempts at yoga. Or, into me being on the floor and in easy petting/headbutting/etc. space. She's a bit more young and spry, so I just push her away a couple of times (or lots of times) and sooner or later she flops over on the floor nearby and watches.

I was going to use the standard grading system in the....damnit, I could have sworn one of the instruction or FAQ threads had a grading scale. Hm. But I'm not finding that now. Any rate, grades will be as follows: A = 88%-100% B = 72%-87% C = 55%-71% F = Less than 55% Since the three goals supporting my main quest are "Do this X times per week," I'll count up totals each week and use those to calculate the overall grade. For the side quest, I'll report a percentage each week and average those percentages at the end of six weeks. I'll then apply this same scale. Again, forgive the lack of disclosure here. I do it out of respect for the privacy of others. But I promise, I'm tracking the details offline.

It may be sixty-five degrees outside today (!), but I'm suffering from some serious winter blues tonight. I thought maybe some endorphins would help, so I kicked my ass to the gym and did some BBW circuits. Only managed to exacerbate the plantar fasciitis. Oops. Tried meditating a bit, but I can't get my mind to still. Rawr. Tried making some dinner, but my potatoes just won't cook through. Damn them. Time for Plan D: hard cider and the Doctor.

Aw thanks! I would like to say it was pretty simple, but damn, it took some real determination. Like, comfy-on-the-couch, ready-to-curl-up-under-a-blanket, aw-Turtle's-going-to-think-I'm-a-slacker sort of determination. (Though I did curl up on in a blanket with hot cocoa on Wednesday night. And there was coffee-flavored rum in the cocoa. Some days....)