stillskies

 

I can't wait.  That sounds amazing.

lol It looks absolutely decadent, so we'll see how it turns out.

Days 022-024

Oh man, this week has gotten off to a running start. Meetings all over the place! Plus, it's review season, and my review is later today, so I'm on edge. Welp.

Anyway. Monday was just... meetings. Didn't do a whole lot of anything, but did get some good prep work in for my project. Which is good. There's a lot of moving parts to it, and I'm trying to make sure I keep up with it all. Ended up moving away from post-it note notes back to a notebook. Which makes things a little easier, but I may have to use stickies to make sure I know what notes are on what page. I really wish I was better at using OneNote than I am - I just much prefer hand-written notes. Alas.

Tuesday was a looooooong day. Not too many meetings - all of them were in the afternoon, after Zumba. After work, went to bjj for basics (open guard attacks) and intermediate (turtle attacks). In basics, I was actually partnered up with a guy! One of the lower white belts. During rolls, however, I was put with the colored belts - the professor said that I would probably learn more from the upper belts, and that I was starting to become a target for the lower belts (which makes zero sense since I am still kind of unable to get a submission because I'm... I don't know - scared of them? Something to think about). Up down outs were... interesting. I feel bad for everyone who rolled with me since they all had to go easy on me, but some of the upper belts were super helpful, and I managed to execute an armbar - which I'm sure was given to me, but whatever. I'll take it.

Intermediate was... hard. There were only four of us - a blue belt, me, and two lower white belts. The lower white belts were paired together, and I got the blue belt. Lucky me. Fortunately, my partner was very helpful. By the end of the class, I had a bit more confidence, which was nice. Still no submissions, but I won a few rolls by bettering my position. Left on a high (and a cut on my face from someone's toe nail, I'm sure). Went home, watched "Lucifer" and then went to bed.

Yesterday was meetings galore, which seems to be my life. Stars and I went out for lunch, which was a nice change of pace - we usually bring our lunch, but there was no meal prep on Tuesday, so we used the opportunity to go to the Japanese restaurant near work. Ended up not going to the gym or bjj (I had planned to hit the 7pm class, but... So tired...). Started watching season 2 of "Bitten" and boy do I have feels about that. FEELS. And they are NOT good feels. I hate when you have source material that is rich is world building and characters (INCLUDING DESCRIPTIONS - I'm looking at you Paige and Ruth), and then the series adaptation... is like AU fanfiction. I just. I'm going to finish the series because I'm morbidly curious about how they're changing the Aleister arc, but. Ugh.

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 0/2. I'm determined to pass this quest this week.

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 2/2! Completed!

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 2/6! Yesterday was pizza and soda for dinner, which was delicious.

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Not yet. Have a brownie recipe for this weekend when BlackTezca comes over.

I just want to hermit.

Days 018-021

The weekend was full of busy, as seems to be the usual these days. Sigh.

Thursday was looooooooong. Work was okay, but kind of non-stop. Went to Body Sculpt with a co-worker. After work, since stars and dancezwithkittehz were off in the mountains, debated hitting bjj and then going to lift. Agonized over it for a while on my drive until I found myself turning into the bjj gym. Did the basics class, which felt hard, but that might have been just exhaustion. Afterwards, went to the gym and lifted. Managed a 5x5 squat at 150lbs, but it was hard. My depth was a bit shallow on some reps, and I nearly got stuck on the bottom a few times. My bench went slightly better, and I ended up getting a spot from one of the guys, who kept telling me I had more reps in me than I felt I had. lol Went home afterwards after stopping at the store, ate dinner, watched Miss Fisher, and then crashed out.

Friday at work was... hit and miss. Got a few important things done, completely blanked on another important things. Not sure how that's going to impact, but we'll see. Did manage to get down to yoga, although I ended up having to leave early because of a meeting. After work, went to the nutrition seminar to get points for the gym challenge. Learned that protein breaks down into either energy or gainz, and that I should drink my protein and eat carbs after working out for maximum gainz. Went home, ate meatballs, watched Miss Fisher, then crashed out.

Saturday was an early morning since it was time to go to the mountains with dancezwithkittehz, stars, and blkhole. The drive up was annoying because of some traffic, but we made decent time. The weather was lovely for the first few hours. We explored Breckenridge, the others ate pastries at a French cafe, and there was much shopping for olive oils and spices. Weather started to blow in nearly two hours before we were supposed to go tubing (we'd nixed snowshoeing because of leg DOMs for three of us, and stars' hamstring wasn't the happiest). Since tubing in Vail meant going on the gondola, we'd been trying to wait until the gondola was free - otherwise we'd end up spending nearly $100 each just getting on the gondola and then going tubing.

So, we decided to see if there was availability at the Frisco Nordic Center for tubing. Alas, there was not. We hung around for a little while and let dwk touch the snow. I threw some snowballs (which I've never actually done!). We posed with a bitty snowman. And then we decided to head down the mountain into town so as to miss the impending weather. (Stars and dwk got stuck in a white out blizzard when they'd gone to the mountains on Thursday, and they weren't keen to relive the experience, and I sure as hell didn't want to live it.) No traffic at all going back down, which is unheard of practically. 

Ate lunch at a burger place that was highly recommended on Google, then dropped blkhole off at her car. Went home, watched more Miss Fisher, and I made chocolate chip banana bread. Then it was crashing time.

Sunday was nice and slow. Slept in for a bit, indulged in two bowls of cereal, and caught up on How to Get Away With Murder. Chatted with dwk until stars called to meet her at the gym. Went to the gym - PR'd on errything!!!! Except deadlift, but whatever. I can squat 155lbs (only did 3 sets because 150lbs had felt heavy on Thursday, which seemed to be more due to over-training than actual difficulty), managed to get the bar up on my bench twice at 100lbs, and curled one set of 50lbs.  

Afterwards, we went to the grocery store, bought much food, went home, ate and watched Miss Fisher until it was time to take dwk to the airport. Dropped her off without any difficulty, and then went home and finished off Miss Fisher. (We're done. How do I go on????) Then it was bed time.

Week 3 recap on the first page. I'm really looking forward to an uneventful weekend, man.

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 1/2. At least I hit it once???

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 2/2! Made it up to the mountains, which is an achievement in and of itself, plus threw my first snowballs!

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 5/6! Not bad. 

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Complete! Made chocolate souffle on Monday. Also made chocolate chip banana bread on Saturday.

Well, I'll say this for you - whenever you leave, it is eventful. I love reading your updates, and I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with your memory for things/life/events in general.

 

I understand you about the running. I used to run through pain all the time. It was terrible, and it's left me with injuries that, to be honest, probably never fully healed. Also, your trainer, mm. I know it's a trainer's job to challenge people, but I really feel like he should have kept his mouth shut unless you were paying him to egg you on, which it does not sound like you were. Hell with him.

 

Sorry work hasn't been going according to plan. It sounds like it's going well, but the wellness of it is a function of your ability to roll with the punches, something which I will accredit to BJJ for Reasons. But seriously, it does sound like you're making the most of what they've given you and that's awesome. You're awesome.

 

Also, regarding soda: have you considered switching over to any of the Stevia-based sodas? Zevia and Honest Fizz are two good ones, and there's a third that looks old-timey and artisanal that was great and that I also don't remember. I mean, if you don't like stevia, then, yeah, you gotta make a cut, but I've found that it works well for me and maybe it could help you too. And I know y'all will have it out there; CO is, like, one level of Hippie below CA, and over here in NC we're way lower on the Hippie Index and we still have it.

 

Anyway. Heal. Train. Sleep. Keep going!

I'm actually surprised I remember as much as I do. It helps that, with work, my calendar is kept up to date so I just need a quick glance to remember the boredom of that particular day.

Eh, he still pushes me, and I mostly don't mind it. I was hemming and hawing about signing up for the 5K - which I likely would have done because I needed to get my race in for February - and I've told him that I need more motivation to tackle 10Ks because I dislike them. So, I'm not too mad about it, and when I told him about my leg after the race, he asked why I didn't stop at the 5K, and then told me to roll it out. So. 

If work ever went according to plan, I would be so happy. Fortunately, it's unpredictable in a good way, and the days that I dislike my job are few and far between, which is good. But yes, adaptability definitely credited to BJJ because Reasons.

Stevia sodas have a weird aftertaste that I just can't deal with. I've tried them a few times and each time, I take a sip and would rather have water. Which is definitely a good motivator in a different way, but. I like my carbonation. And caffeine. I wish I liked coffee - that would be an easy way to get my fix with at least a status quo of benefits. Better than soda, at any rate. But nope. Coffee is also disgusting. Also, why is it that I've lived in the two hippiest states to ever hippie???? Well, Oregon is higher on the hippie scale than California, but only just barely. But still.

Ooof!  Uphill!  I dont' think anyone gets along with uphill!

Uphill sucks. It sucks so hard.

Days 015-017

Finally - caught up. Whoo!

Monday was a holiday, so no work. Yay! Tried to hit Target for post-Valentine's day chocolate, but it was pretty much sold out. Boo. Spent the day watching Miss Fisher with stars, and Kyou Kara Maoh with BlackTezca when she came over. I also made them hot chocolate (the recipe from week 1), and made my very first attempt at chocolate souffle. Which turned out remarkably well, actually. It didn't deflate or anything, so yay! I had a hell of a time with the meringue though (it was a flourless souffle) and had to start it over. Oh well, practice and such.

Tuesday was back to work for me. Which was remarkably quiet except for meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting, which was generally okay, except for the fact that the one meeting I needed to have had to be rescheduled. Such is life. I managed to put a very basic process flow together for the project team meeting in the afternoon, which turns out wasn't entirely necessary because we pretty much spent the hour reviewing what the team is doing since we had two new people join it. Did manage a break in the afternoon to go to Zumba, which had Bye Bye Bye by *Nsync as a new song on the playlist yasssssssssss.

After work was bjj. Double classes, to boot. Got in half an hour of rolling before class even started, which was awesome, but also told me I was more tired than I had originally thought. Guard attacks was the lesson for basics, which is mostly different kinds of chokes and an arm bar (which we learned in intermediate last week). Intermediate was slightly more advanced guard escapes. My leg held up just fine, but my back did not. One of the escapes requires the person on the floor's arm to be pinned under their back. Which would be fine if 1) my back wasn't acting up and 2) my partner was slightly more interested in the technical application of the move. Needless to say, I had to sit out of sparring during Intermediate because my back was just not okay.

Went home via the store and Taco Bell and put together an eating plan for the foreseeable future because I fell down the rabbit hole (again) with crap eating. The plan:

• Limit bread/pasta to one meal a week - I don't really need the added carbs, and I'm still getting them from fruit.
  
• Limit processed food to two meals a week - Not so much a problem these days, but still good to have this here.
  
• Fruit as snacks - Nothing wrong with string cheese and pepperoni, but I need to up my fruit intake.
  
• Soda once every 5 days - I don't want to give up soda and I don't think I should have to. That being said, I also recognize I shouldn't be drinking one or two daily.
  
• Track - I was doing good until last week. Back on the wagon, so to speak.
  
• Meal planning - I was doing pretty good with this until the holidays. Back on the wagon.
  
• Calories - This one may change depending on how I feel, but between 1300-1400/day
  

Clearly, there will be a more structured challenge around this next go around since there's really only a week left of this challenge, so.

Wednesday was an early day (8am meetings are the worst), and also day 1 of new eating. Packed lunch (some chicken I'd made the night before, grapes, strawberries, a banana, an apple and a string cheese) and headed out the door. Got to work by 7:30am, which was nice. Ate my banana and got ready for the day, which was full of meetings. I finally have a draft of the processes I need for the project, which is good. I'll have to review it with the directors on Friday, but I think I'm making some decent progress. I just have to move it into Microsoft Visio so that people can understand it.

Hit the gym for a short-ish workout, focusing on Core. Which is so weak, omg. I really need to fix that. Anyway, did some work on the exercise ball and then finished up the day. Left early since I'd come in early. Was going to go to bjj, but I was pretty exhausted, so I may end up going tonight. At any rate, went home, had dinner with stars, and watched Lucifer before she had to take off for rehearsal. 

I FINISHED MY SOUTH PARK REWATCH. FINALLY. I celebrated by nearly falling asleep on the couch and taking a shower before stars got home. We watched an episode of Miss Fisher, and then I... crashed out. I had a huge headache by the end of the day and I'm not sure what the cause was - it could have been a drastic cut in the amount I was eating (pretty sure I've been eating ~1800-2000 calories a day over the weekend), staring at a screen for too long, or caffeine withdrawal (no soda). I guess we'll see if it keeps up.

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 0/2. Meant to do some last night, but. Whoops.

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 1/2! This weekend!

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 1/6! Let's do this thing.

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Complete! Made chocolate souffle on Monday.

Days 010-014

The amazing disappearing Sherri has returned! Been dealing with a new bout of depression, which has... yeah. It is what it is. Moving on.

Wednesday was an enforced rest day. I'd been sort of overdoing it, and figured it would be a good idea to just... chill out for a day that way I had a chance of not dying during the 10K I had stupidly signed up for. (Well, signed up for is a bit misleading - I wasn't going to sign up for the 10K, but my former trainer guilted me into it. Something about me being more of a runner than him and I was wearing a running shirt - it said Run, Rest, Repeat - and that I even had a runner's haircut and I just wanted him to stop talking, ugh.) Anyway, rest day. Which was... nice, I guess? I don't quite know how to 'rest day' anymore. Whoops. Work was full of meetings, but was mostly just kind of... there.

Thursday was another easy day at work. Most of the stuff that I was supposed to attend got canceled at the last minute. I was going to work on some reporting, but didn't end up having a chance. The big thing was my 10K, which means it's time for a.....

RACE REPORT!!!!!!!!

So, first things first, I went into the race already beaten. I didn't want to run the race, and I was nervous af about it, which I'm attributing to being the slowest person there. At big races, I'm generally middle of the pack - even during my first half, I was middle of the pack. When it comes to longer work-sponsored races? I am absolutely dead last. Every. Fucking. Time. If I had done the 5K, I'd have been in the bottom of the mix, but not last - I passed quite a few 5kers while making my way towards my second lap. Anyway, not the best frame of mind to enter the race in.

Checked in, got my bib, and just sort of... stood around until I saw S, who was doing the 5K. Chatted a bit while we waited for things to start. 

The course, for the 10Kers, was a double loop of the 5K course. The first mile was fine - downhill is a wonderful thing - and I made it in under 10 minutes. The second mile was a bit harder and I had to stop and walk about halfway. Mile 3 had some steep uphills, which I did my best to walk/run. I'd given myself permission to walk to the top of the first hill and then run until I hit the next hill, which actually went pretty well. The second hill... Ugh. Super steep. I was trying to do walk to one light post, run the next one. I managed that for... maybe half of the hill? Before I just gave up and walked to the finish line to turn around and do it all over again. If it weren't for the damn uphill, I'd have actually been making pretty good time.

Which would have been fine, but towards the top of the hill, I felt something... I don't know - shift? Pull? in my hip joint. I briefly considered stopping so as not to exacerbate any injury, but that would be too easy, right?

Right.

So, I turned around and began running again. This time, mile 4 (which was mile 1) was hard. I got down the hill and was heading towards the marker and everything just felt... heavy. I hit the first mile and had to walk. Which turned out to be a mistake - running? Not so much of a pain on my hip. Walking? Oh god, my walk breaks were pretty much limp breaks. Mile 5 was okayish until I hit the start of the hill. By the time I hit the last mile, I was cursing just about everything in sight. I did manage the run/walk up the hill on the last mile, though, all the way to the top, which was more because running hurt less than walking, omg. 

Finished last (as expected), although my time wasn't terrible: 01:19:40 (I think - the time is at home; I'll double check it). Not my best time, but considering the hills, I wasn't expecting to PR. /race report

Limped my way back to my desk after the 10K and continued plugging on. Got lectured by stars for not stopping when I realized I may have hurt myself (sigh, I know, I know), and was forbidden from lower body at the gym. Which we hit after work. Decided to do volume bench press, which was interesting. Got up to 95lbs (1 rep, dear lord my arms). Did my curls, and used the assisted pull up machine. I was bored because I couldn't squat, and even though I hate squat, I hate being told I can't do something more.

After the gym, went home, ate, showered, went to bed.

Friday - blessed, blessed Friday - was a train wreck. The project I took over last week? I had a plan. A good plan. A plan that was ultimately thwarted because the two directors sponsoring this project forgot new hires started the following week. So I spent the day feverishly catching up on reporting and putting together a welcome packet for these new hires so that they had something to do on Tuesday. I apparently did a good job - my boss thought it was super awesome and thorough, so yay? - so I'm glad about that. But yeesh - talk about tight timelines. Took a break midday to go to yoga, where I struggled a bit on balances because hahahaha my leg was still not happy with me, sigh. 

After work, stars (who was so excited because Friday being over meant she was officially on vacation) and I went to Target to pick up some stuff. We then went home, had dinner and... crashed on the couch to watch Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. Which is a fabulous show and you should all watch it if you have Netflix. We were going to go to Kohl's to spend the gift cards my sister got us, but that was vetoed by stars, who was not thrilled about me pushing my leg. 

Saturday was supposed to be bjj, but since the week's lesson was guard escapes - which is a lot of pushing on the hip - I opted out. I was going to yoga, but mostly just... watched South Park and chilled out until stars came home from aerial. She got home shortly before Kagetsukai showed up for their food box thing date, and I took off to get my oil changed (which was woefully overdue). Fortunately, there was no line for an oil change, even though the car wash line was ridic, so I was in and out in twenty minutes or so. Ended up having to get my transmission cleaned since it was dark and starting to rust, which was a pretty penny. I knew that it was coming up, but I was hoping that it would at least be okay until my next oil change, but he showed me the transmission, and yeah. No.

I did get a free car wash which I need to go claim, though, so yay?

Went to Barnes and Noble afterwards to wander around and look at their project management books (hello, impostor syndrome!). Didn't end up liking any of them enough to pay the price for them, but I did pick up a new book and some chocolate for stars for Valentine's day. Went home afterwards, considered baking a chocolate thing, but ultimately didn't feel like it. Besides, there was chocolate in the box stars and Kagetsukai had, so.

Kagetsukai hung around for a while, and left shortly after stars went to go take a nap. I watched more South Park until stars woke up, and then it was noms and off to Kohl's, whereupon we used up our gift cards on one exercise shirt each, a clearance shirt, and socks (for me) and tights (for stars). Also got some chocolate and some dish towels. Ended up spending a whole $1.25 after discounts and gift cards. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Went home, watched more Miss Fisher, and then crashed.

Sunday was Valentine's day, which stars and I don't generally celebrate (such commercial, very annoying), but we were going to make a nice dinner and go see Deadpool. First, though, was the gym, whereupon I attempted to squat because my leg felt fine. Until I hit the bottom of the squat, and then suddenly 45lbs was too heavy. Sigh. Maybe next week. At any rate, benched, did assisted pull ups, incline benched, and barbell skull crushers.

The showing for Deadpool was in the early evening, so we hung around home and watched Miss Fisher until it was time to go. We went to see Deadpool, but ate so much food at the theatre that dinner was kind of unnecessary. Deadpool was amazing. SO GOOD. Everything I wanted and more. 10/10 would see again.

All in all, a good weekend.

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 1/2. Whoops.

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 1/2! Nope.

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 4/6! Gave up at the end of the week. Depression just makes me want to eat.

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Nope.

Day 009

Hello, stress! I haven't missed you. At all. 

So, a project that I'm working on has just transitioned directly to me. I've kind of been peripheral to it - I know a bit of what's going on, but someone else had done the project plan, and I was just there really as additional support. Well, not anymore. I am now officially the PM for it. And I'm absolutely terrified. I mean, I've PM'd some things, but mostly small scale. This is a new company initiative to restructure an existing organization, and I'm like, but how do PM???? Once payday hits this week, definitely going to Barnes & Noble to get a PM book so I can cram over the weekend. I have a few other things to do in preparation for the core meeting next week. I'm just trying to remember to breathe. Eep.

In other work news, managed to complete the reporting I was kind of stuck on earlier this week by getting the correct link. There's still a piece I don't understand, but I'll just ask the guy who created the tool. The person who trained me has gone from super helpful to not so helpful in the blink of an eye. Also, even though I had saved the reporting in the correct folder, she went and just... redid them. Even though she looked at mine and told me they were good. So, I'm not sure if she's just not good at letting go of responsibilities or what, but that kind of bummed me out yesterday.

Did get down to the gym for zumba, and got my blood pressure checked beforehand. This week's coach's challenge for the work gym challenge is to get our blood pressure checked twice by next Monday in support of heart health awareness. My blood pressure was 112/82 - a little high on the bottom number, but the last time I had it checked, it was 110/70. I'm not too worried. If the bottom number is high next time, then I'll bring it to my doctor's attention when I see her next month. 

Zumba was... hard. I'm pretty sure this has to do with having no rest days since day 1 of the challenge, but yeesh. Arms song was terrible, but I made it to the end - I only had to lower my hands once, and I was kicking myself since it turned out to be the end of the song. Oh well. Got through it.

After work, I dragged my ass to bjj. I'm still not 100% sure it was the best thing to do, but I did it, and I managed to make it through both classes. Was exhausted at the end, but that's to be expected. Basics was guard escapes, which is what we went over in women's on Saturday. Nice review, and I got in some decent drilling time. Started out the class with one of the new girls (2 stripe white; seems like she transferred from another school), but then D showed up, so Professor T moved me to work with D, which was fine since breaking D's guard is hard as hell. Rolled at the end of class, and did pretty decently when I was on top. Still not so good when I'm bottom since I'm supposed to sweep or submit, but I tried.

Intermediate was afterwards, and it was guard attacks. We focused on armbars, triangle chokes, and triangle armbars. The hip motion was a bit hard - my hips are super stiff lately - but I was finally able to get a decent triangle choke. Just have to work on hip mobility so that it remains consistent. Not too bad. Again, more rolling at the end of class, and again, did pretty decently. Ended up rolling with a guy that I could not get into guard because my legs just weren't long enough to close around his waist. Tried to improvise, which didn't work out too well for me. It was just too easy for him to pass. Alas. I'll figure out something next time.

On my way home, called and chatted with my mom. Let her know the dates I'll be in California to visit. She mentioned she wanted to start weight lifting, so we'll see how long this desire lasts. I told her I'd show her the main three lifts stars and I do when we go out there in April. I'll probably suggest she get a trainer to help her with form until she gets the hang of it - that might actually be her birthday present. I don't know - have to look into gyms in her area and how much personal training costs there. We'll see. 

In the meantime, today is a forced rest day - my body needs it, and I have a 10K tomorrow. I tried to downgrade to the 5K, but my old trainer vetoed that. Alas. I can do the 10K, but not in a decent amount of time. If I finished in less than 01:30:00, I'll be surprised. I mean, that's a 00:45:00 5K, which should be doable consider the first 3/4 miles is downhill on both 5K legs, but that also means the last 3/4 miles is uphill on both legs. And uphill and I don't get along...

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 0/2. Tonight for sure.

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 1/2! Nope.

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 2/6! Again with the likely didn't eat enough to sustain my activity level, but I hit 1600, which is good enough.

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Valentine's day plans~

The only reason my wife gets a refund is because of my income, otherwise she'd owe upwards of $600 a year. It sucks when I do the taxes because I enter in all of my stuff first and see this wonderful large number (I have extra exemptions added to ensure they take enough), but then it drops significantly when I enter her info.

Yeah, as hard as you train, you definitely need to take some time to rest. Glad you have a Nerd!wife who's willing to work with you and help facilitate your training - that is so cool. The use of restorative yoga is a nice touch as well; are you using the NF programs or will it be more WOD-type stuff?

I have a hard time with the concept of 'rest' days. As it is, I still won't get one this week until Friday unless I skip the gym and bjj tomorrow. Which I'm considering doing because I'm exhausted and I have a 10K on Thursday.... But said Nerd!wife is a nag.

As for yoga - youtube videos or the 'all levels' yoga class at work. I don't have the NF Yoga thing, but fortunately there are tons of free things online.

As someone who used to overtrain and paid the price in pain and misery, I am relentless in constantly telling her to rest more.

Nag nag nag. ilu

Day 008

Yesterday was actually fairly productive! Got through some reporting (first time doing it) and managed to do all of it except for two pieces. One piece, I needed access, which I now have. The second piece... no one seems to know how to do and it hasn't been updated since December, so....... I guess we'll see what happens. Just waiting for the person who trained me to look over the numbers to make sure I did things right, and then it can be sent out. Huzzah!

Managed to break away for the gym, even though I wasn't really feeling it. Since I'd done heavy lifting on Sunday, stars told me I could only do cardio. Which I did. Except I did more than I think she had anticipated I was going to do. Whoops. Ended up doing four sets of run/bike - 1 mile run, 5 minutes bike, 1.5 mile run, 5 minutes bike, 1.5 mile run, 5 minutes bike, 1 mile run, 5 minutes bike. All in all, 9 miles. (It takes me about 5 minutes to bike a mile, which is awesome. ) Did do some intervals in my running because I know it's good for me, and then added in some walk breaks as well. My time remained more or less steady (my last mile was in the 12 minute range because I set the dreadmill for a slower pace and walked for .1 miles after each quarter mile). I still hate the dreadmill, but I at least got in some running before my 10K on Thursday. 

After work, I was going to go to bjj for Basics, but I was wiped. Stars lectured me on my exercising habits (hello, one week no rest day~) and we put together a program (which has some flexibility because I'll need it for training for different races). So, going forward, my schedule looks like this:

Monday - rest day - am allowed to do yoga, but only restorative

Tuesday - zumba, bjj basics, bjj intermediate

Wednesday - core/mobility, bjj basics

Thursday - lifting

Friday - rest day - am allowed to do yoga, but only restorative

Saturday - bjj basics, bjj women's, bjj randori, yoga

Sunday - long run (February is 6 miles), lifting

Some days are heavier than others, and I'm likely to add something else on Thursdays - maybe more core/mobility? Also need to add in isolation muscle exercises since I'm not really working on those elsewhere. But it's a decent start. Once I start training for the 10M run in May, things'll have to move around to accommodate more running, but.

After work, hit the store, then went home. Ate dinner and watched more Great British Bake Off. Only one more episode left.

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 0/2. Was going to do some last night, but decided against it.  

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 1/2! Nope.

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 1/6! Probably didn't eat enough yesterday, but my food choices were good, at least!

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Valentine's day plans~

On another (unrelated) note - I haven't had a proper rest day since last Monday. I was planning on going to bjj tonight, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. I went to the gym on my lunch break and ran five miles and biked four miles, and I'm exhausted. Think tonight'll be a yoga and rest night.

Bjj will be waiting for me tomorrow. And with a double class day, to boot! 

Geez, everything's been busy and happening over here like whoa. Sorry I haven't been around, but it seems like mostly everything's been about as good as it could be. Even with the snow and such.

 

I definitely get being afraid of a certain weight. It's the fear that the thing you were prepared to charge at as your epic goal wasn't actually all that worthy of you, and the notion that it reflects on you poorly as a result. Which it doesn't - you hadn't done any weight lifting in a while, and you didn't have access to a 'proper' barbell setup when you were lifting weights, so you didn't know whether you'd get that particular amount/degree of strength quickly or not.

 

But hey, lookie here - you are stronger than you realized. This is a fantastic problem to have, and I think that if you lift with an eye toward the long term that you're gonna have a lot of fun doing this and seeing just how much you can do.

 

Onward to week 2!

Madness. Madness everywhere. I'm legit looking forward to a nice, easy week. I'll get one, one day.

105lbs is a terrifying weight. I keep picturing my skinny arms breaking trying to lift the barbell, mostly because my left arm is double jointed, so I have to be super careful. I get paranoid adding weight because there is a high chance I can snap my arm if I'm not careful. I lift fairly frequently (at least 2x a week since... forever it seems like), but yeah - actually weight and working numbers were hard to come by because there wasn't a proper set up. I'm kind of bummed that squatting 150lbs isn't going to be that difficult (probably - it still could be!), and if I'm able to do it, well, I check it off and start working towards 200lbs. I'm relatively positive that will actually take some work. 

It's totally gratifying to be stronger than I thought I was.  

I used to run 8 routinely ... want to get back to that PLUS I've a trail half marathon coming up.

Fair enough! And good luck on your trail half!

Days 005-007 

gdi NF. I do not like your damn site freezing up when I hit post and then LOSING MY ENTIRE DAMN POST. I'm half tempted to say screw it because ugh, it was long because it was three days' worth of stuff. Not cool. Not cool at all.

Friday was a work day. Did some reporting stuff, tried to make some headway on the new reports only to be blocked by access restrictions. Need to figure out a way to get around that, but that requires talking to a different manager, and Friday was just not a day to do this because I was already frustrated. On the upside, did get a chance to go to the gym for yoga (more on that in the challenge thingy), which was, as usual, boring. But the work day was mostly uneventful, which was nice. There was an escalated project that was supposed to come to me, but it never did. I'll need to follow up on that because I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but I'm assuming that the team the escalation came from handled it. At least, I'm hoping they did.

M flew in in the afternoon, and stars went and grabbed her. By the time I got home, they were hanging out. Dinner was had, as was The Great British Bake Off. (M has generously allowed us access to her Netflix account in exchange for access to our Hulu account. Hello, Netflix! ) 

Saturday morning was early since I had to do my initial weigh in for the challenge at the new gym before going to bjj. Weigh in was pretty much as expected - they grabbed my weight (unchanged from last week) and my bf% (32.17%). They explained the rules (1 point for every pound of muscle gained or maintained, 1 point for every pound of fat lost), had me set an 'attainable' goal for the 8 week challenge (5x5 squat at 175lbs) and then sent me on my way. The whole thing took maybe ten minutes? Which meant I got to bjj super early. Spent the extra time chatting with the Basics coach (he was subbing for Professor A) and E, then joined in with Basics for the first half hour. Moved over to Women's once it started and spent the next hour with them. Stayed for an extra 15 minutes after to get in one last roll with Professor T before going home.

Bjj was... good. I got praised a lot, which is always nice. Coach R ended up teaching back attacks rather than back escapes, which was what we'd done earlier in the week, so that was good. Now I can attach if I've got someone's back, and I can escape if someone has mine. Was praised for my fluidity on my movements by Coach R. Women's was guard escapes, which was a review for me. (FOR ONCE!) Spent some time at the end of class rolling. Was praised by Professor T on my tenacity (I didn't stop moving and kept trying things even if I figured they were going to fail). Also was praised for how easy it is for me to break someone's guard by opening up my hips.

I also actually tried to do submissions for once - just triangle choke and guillotine choke, but I tried. Wasn't able to execute any of them, but. I'll never execute if I never try, right? Right.

After bjj, went home, showered, ate, and then met up with stars, M, and A downtown for tea. It was M's birthday, and she wanted tea, so we went to the British tea house. It was fun - we ended up post-gaming at a shop that sells whiskey and donuts. Afterwards, M, stars and I went to the mall to procure new aerial leggings for stars, and then we wandered around a bit. Went home, ate, watched more baking show, and I made my chocolate thing of the week (more on that in challenge thingy).

Sunday was nice and lazy. Chatted with M while stars was at church and she gave me an idea for reporting. It requires learning Python, though, so it might be a slow implementation. Didn't end up getting out and running (second weekend this year missed, boo), but wanted to keep my legs fresh for squatting. M read for a bit while I watched some South Park, then stars called and it was off to the gym!

Did bench, squats, curls(!!), and deadlifts. Tried to PR on my bench by attempting 105lbs, but didn't get the bar up. Alas. I did managed 1 rep at 100lbs, so I'm still steady. I also managed 5 reps at 90lbs, so there is some progress. I just have to be patient. I did managed to PR on my squats - did 4 sets at 145lbs, and one set at 150lbs (on accident - I can't count and put a 10lb plate on one side rather than a 5lb plate - I did this with my first bench set, too). Next time, I'm up to 150lbs. Woo. Or something. 

Since this was M's first time at the gym doing weights, she used the pre-loaded bars at lower weights. When she finished her squat set, I used her bar to curl. I started with 20lbs (which was easy), went up to 30lbs for most of my sets (also easy), and did 40lbs for my last set. The last set was hard. I figure I'm somewhere between the 30lbs and 40lbs. Will likely start adding these in because yay curls!

Deadlifts were what they were. Started out light at 135lbs, went to 155lbs, upped it to 165lbs and ended with 175lbs. My form felt fine - at least, I didn't feel anything in my lower back, which is the good thing. I managed all of my sets with the same grip (modified hook because I can't reach my thumbs because tiny hand problems). I was super stoked about that.

After the gym, we hurried home to change and set off for bakery adventures with the girls (blkhole, Kagetsukai, BlackTezca, Achaedia and A). Got there only a little late. Much food was had by everyone but me (food adventures aren't really my thing). It was fun. There was lots of chatting and laughing. Finally, it was time to go take M to the airport so she could get home. Thanks to the Superb Owl, traffic was thankfully light, so we got her there early, said our goodbyes, and then went off to the in-laws' place for my mother-in-law's birthday dinner.

Dinner was fun - again, lots of chatting and lots of food. I played with the cats while everyone else babbled. Left around 9pm and promptly hit traffic because the Denver Horsies won the Superb Owl. Took longer than usual to get home, and ugh, I hate football. 

Onto the challenge summary thing!

Contortion is Needed to Mimic Paintings (aka yoga - 2 sessions a week) - 2/2. Hit the class at the gym on Friday. It was... okay? I don't know. It's yoga. The teacher only touched me twice (once to readjust my Warrior 2 stance, and once at the end to move my arms around while I was in corpse pose), which is a victory. I still hate being touched, though. And yoga isn't anymore fun now than it was a week ago. I'm just telling myself it's beneficial, and I should do it even if I hate it. Flexy bendy helps in bjj. Flexy bendy helps in bjj. 

Thordamnit, Elsa (aka outdoors - 2 winter activities throughout the challenge) - 1/2! Nope.

I Can't Keep Eating Like an Asshole, Redux (aka food - eat only what starsapart approves 6x a week) - 6/6! There was lots of food this weekend. Ugh. But I managed to be good.

I Want to Stuff Some Chocolate in my Face (aka baking - one new chocolate recipe a week) - Made dark chocolate hot chocolate from scratch for M and stars. Relatively simple recipe (dark chocolate, whole milk, heavy cream, confectioner's sugar) and didn't take long to make. They had it with dessert Saturday night. Apparently, it was pretty good - I'm not a fan of dark chocolate, so I didn't have any. The original recipe I was going to make this weekend was put on hold because the only strawberries the store had were organic and $7/pack. Fuck you, Superb Owl.

I am so jealous of your bench, omg. I'm still sitting at a one rep max of 100lbs. 

Your workout looks like it was definitely awesome. Sucks about soreness, but that just means you did good. Or something.

Quest 2 Running

 

Got in a decent amount of running -sadly my Saturday run was only 6 miles :\

Only 6 miles, he says. My weekend runs are usually 5 miles, although I'm upping them to 6 miles this month. Got a 10M to train for in May. 

Awesome week!  

hah! Nice! Now I just need to be able to afford to get out there.

 

*

 

Welp. We lost the Super Bowl. That's two big losses against me this year despite all my progress. Oh well.

 

Played S&S today, and it was good. Afterward, managed to get some paleo stuff on with apples and almond butter and sweet potato skins stuffed with sausage and bacon and some brown sugar for flavor. It was good.

 

Not a whole lot else to report. The numbers are the numbers at this point. I bombed on work and on extra curricular stuff, but that was because of me staying up too late and waking up with too few hours to do anything, and the psychological penalties that enforced. Totally my bad.

 

But I've managed to cut my bedtime back from 0500 to 0030 over the course of a few days, which is pretty great. It's what happens when you force your schedule around people who keep farmer's hours. So, that's good. At this rate, I'll go out and work because I'm bored and need something to do... which, honestly, is probably one of the better reasons to go out and do work.

 

Anyway, gonna start shutting it down for the night. g'night, monks!

I'm so not a football fan, but I'm in Denver, and all last night there was ridic traffic and partying and I'm like, ugh, go to bed and get off the roads. >.< I feel worse for my friends and family in Cali - they all live within 10 minutes of the damn stadium. I was going to call my mom tonight, but I already know she's going to be super cranky because of the noise. I hate football.

Huzzah for cutting bedtime back!  

I never read the manga all the way through tbh, I just went to Wikipedia after Tyro and I marathoned the anime a couple of months ago to try to get some questions answered because lbr, the anime ending (or at least, the final arc) was subpar at best and asked way more questions than it answered. :| I keep meaning to actually read it, but. I mean, the concept of the overarching point of the story seems really awesome if kind of meta? IDK. 

I'd actually started reading it before I watched the manga, which was why I was super disappoint when we got the ending anime arc because it's so... different than the manga. The manga arc actually made more sense. And there was lots more OT3ness with Juubei/Kazuki/Toshiki. Which I always appreciate. But Yeah. I was sad the anime ended the way it did - they could have done so much more. And shown me more Kagami/Himiko because I ship that so hard.

Then you find out in the manga that Ban and Himiko are like. Half-siblings??? Iirc. I think by the time that reveal happens, the mangaka had long since given up and decided to take the Luke and Leia route out.

Oh man. The manga. I don't even remember how that clusterfuck ended. I vaguely recall Ban and Himiko having a tie as voodoo children, but I can't recall if there was a blood relation. But now I'm remembering Maria the witch, and Akabane's reasons for going insane. Also, Juubei and Kazuki were even more obvious in the manga.

Ouch. That sucks. Hopefully you'll be able to get some additional deductions.

All of these things went well! I'm to have another conversation at some point today if I can break away from the console for long enough, or if my team lead's superior is still around when I'm done flying for the day (she said she talked to him and that he wanted me to talk to him today, if I could), but yeah, I won't be bored at work for too much longer! Thankfully Mondays and Fridays tend to be crazy busy for me, but Tuesdays through Thursdays, I need shit to do, man.

 

 

 

ALL OF THE PLATONIC FEELINGS. JUST PLATONIC.

 

 

(I think they attempted at one point, for like a hot second, before they realized that they were just kidding themselves and then didn't even bother anymore. )

I mean, there was Himiko, which was a good, solid try. Like, I legit bought Ban/Himiko. In the past. But yeah. That was the only DECENT try.

yep, that looks like a lot of fun!  Though last time that we did a stomach throw I had to point out the difference between stomach and boobs to a teenage boy - he was way more embarrassed about this than me.......

That's hilarious. I find that guys tend to be way embarrassed about that stuff in bjj. I don't know how many times I've had guys apologize for elbowing my boobs. I'm always like, it's okay - it's just a sack of fat. No big.