Kestrel Grey

Good to hear you're on an upward path! Following.

Calling a mulligan on today. It was hot and miserable and I ate ice cream and hid in my dark room all day. Around 5pm I had a cold bath, which rejuvenated me enough to go water my veggies and buy yet more ice cream.

If it makes you feel better, there isn't much they can do for a broken pinkie toe anyway. So it's not like you delayed healing by delaying diagnosis.

My sister and one coworker bought themselves plague masks.

Getting back to the grind is a bit of a letdown at first, but you'll settle back in. Training isn't always exciting. Sometimes it's just the thing you do so you can be ready when the next exciting thing pops up.

I was exhausted again today and slept for 2 hours instead of going for a run and cooking. I may have to figure out a way to schedule 10 hours sleep because otherwise I just fall back asleep and ruin my plans. Yesterday and today I avoided anything bad for my complexion. Today especially I was thinking about a coke, but took extra tea to work instead. My fruit/veggie goal is falling short though I did grab a handful of plain lettuce to munch on on my way out the door. That counts. My bedtime routine is on day 3; as a bonus, my teeth are now getting flossed daily.

Following! Wait, you are supposed to see someone other than your spouse more than once every 6 months? Are you sure?

It's the perfect drinking song. No words to remember.

That's right. I'm turning darkly obsessed with my appearance for the next 6 weeks. For every decision, the question will be "does this make me look pretty?" There is a non-superficial reason behind this. My skin reflects my inner state and health clearly, and my body composition reflects my diet. If a choice makes me look pretty, it is also probably good for me. The main factors are: nutrition sleep stress levels self-care routines healthy exercise hydration which sounds an awful lot like the factors for being a healthy person. Stating my challenge in terms of vanity just makes it more fun. Normally my goals would be focused on a fitness target. Right now, I don't have a ton of free time to invest in training and the urgency has disappeared along with all of 2020's events. So I think maintaining what fitness I do have (mainly in running) and focusing on health instead for a while is a good thing. Over the past couple weeks, I have been fiddling with my daily schedule and I should be able to reliably free up 2 hours for fitness-y stuff, 4 days a week. Most weeks will have more free time if I get days off, but those aren't reliable and are often prebooked for other things. My challenge goals take that into account. And because I have historically done well with microhabits, they will reappear here. The base layer goals, providing structure to be able to get through the day/week: Start getting ready for sleep at 12:30. Includes skin care and teeth care. Lights out by 1 am. Set alarm for 9:30 am. (Left alone I would easily sleep 10+ hours.) Plan out my day and update my day-planner over my morning tea. Run 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes. Aim for a long run at least every second week. Lift at the gym once a week. Currently this is Back Squat, Deadlift, OHP, and Rows. The microhabits: When choosing what to eat, ask "will this make me look pretty?" Most of the time go with the answer that makes me prettiest. At 1pm and 11pm, eat a veggie if I haven't had one already. Wipe down the sink after food prep. After putting Delboy back in his cage, pick up the cloth I use to clean the cage. After every time I change Monday to Friday, do 2 shoulder shrugs and 2 negative push-ups.

I am sad there is no Mulberry street near me. Will be living vicariously through your thread.

Answering this late, but I just wanted to clarify something. Losing weight doesn't make you a different person. It will likely make you healthier and give you more opportunities in how you spend your day, but you'll still be you. Were you a different person at 272 than you are at 282? So why would losing weight make you into a stranger? You'll still have the same values, character, quirks. Just more skills. (You can choose to grow as a person, but you can do that with or without weight loss. Your weight does not determine who you are.)

Here anticipating the speedo challenge conclusion. It's okay if you delay until the pool is finished for a better backdrop.

Mobius looks fun, do you work on it outdoors or do you have enough space inside? I tried to look at GMBs programs past Elements, but there just isn't space in my condo to do rolls etc without smacking into walls or tv stands...

Challenge Summary Mini Goal wondering what happened to Mighty Goal Mighty: Run at least 3 hours a week Mini: Microhabits, with a new one added each week. The Mighty half of the challenge was a complete bust. Every week had something preventing me from running. Let's see: there was a short quarantine order, a massive sunburn, a turned ankle, an ill husband, and needing to take on a larger amount of adulting than normal. I suppose it's amazing I got in any running at all. There is no reason to be anxious about it since the target races were all cancelled anyway but I had hoped to still make some progress. On the positive side there were some beautiful runs over the past few weeks. Summer in the Rockies is a glorious thing. Did I mention I took a break in the middle of my last trail run when I came across a field of alpine strawberries? I love those tiny things. The Mini half did well. Actually, with losing much of my free time in the mornings, the microhabits have saved me. I have stayed more organized and therefore less stressed thanks to my morning planning over tea, and focusing my awareness on fullness has helped me not gain weight with stress-eating. Getting dressed immediately after putting my breakfast dishes in the kitchen is not going as smoothly - there is some resistance on my part to committing to the day. And I had to abandon emptying my lunchbag when I got home because the noise woke up delboy. Microhabits in general work well with me and I will be adding in a couple old and a couple new microhabits for the next challenge.

It was useful. I ran errands in the morning, but when time came for outdoorsy fun in the afternoon I was exhausted and slept for 2 hours instead. The extra sleep was needed more than a run though.

The week is almost over and wasn't that bad. Planning my day out over tea in the morning is helping me free up a little time for myself. On Wednesday, I went for a run that turned into a walk because I was just too tired. The walk was still nice. On Thursday, I reclaimed some time for strength training. 4x5 at 75% of my 1rm. It felt good. There was an older man there who obviously was suffering under the isolation orders and came over to talk to me, totally invading my bubble, but he was so friendly and sweet that I didn't have the heart to tell him to back off. On Friday, I had time for a little bit of weeding but no other exercise. On Saturday I squeezed in a 30 minute easy run and bought a ton of fruits and veggies at the farmer's market, then proceeded to eat none of it as I baked up a massive pile of French toast for brunch. Today is my only day off and I plan on enjoying it, probably going for a long trail run or hike out somewhere nice. I'll decide after breakfast. And that's my week!

A great addition to the Epic Goals list! It's okay to have a down week, you are probably still a little sad about the marathon being cancelled.

My vote is for mythography. If that isn't a real word, it should be. Getting to run downhill makes up for having to run up them.

That has the makings of a fun fartlek game. Congrats!

Not much to update. Mainly adulting and in a long work stretch. I did get out for a short run on Saturday. It felt nice, and the osteopath seems to have fixed my lopsidedness. My inner child is being bribed into behaving with sugary treats; probably not the healthiest choice but I do what I can. It seems to be working out okay and there have only been a couple morning tantrums when faced with the to-do list after not enough sleep. Work isn't cooperating though and I end up getting home past midnight, and still too wound up to sleep for a while, most nights. So this week's goals: get out for two runs keep sugary bribes to one a day max maintain the microhabits, especially checking my dayplanner over my morning tea

Happy early birthday! A two week warm-up to your next year sounds like a great plan.

Very classy, did the red deepen to the colour you wanted after a few more coats?

Just a quick update. Went for a long but gentle hike with a friend on Thursday. Otherwise I've been adulting and trying to be gracious about it. It's a work in progress. If I wake up early tomorrow I'll be able to get a short run in before work/errands, and it will be the only one so far this week. Gracious adulting. People do this all the time. I'm sure I can manage. Had to go back on my winter medication just to dredge up the enegy this week but maybe I'll get used to it. Edit: Actually it's been fun. My current inner monologue is 12 year old Kestrel in a whiny "don't wanna" mood. She's kind of cute. Much more fun to practice the acknowledge/dismiss method with than that jerk Bob.

I followed @Capt Frost's suggestion and squatted today. Originally I had planned an easy run, but my ankle was still twingy from being rolled on Sunday so it seemed like a good day to restart a lifting routine. Today's goal was to re-establish what weights I am lifting. It was only moderately depressing. My max for squat was around 130 last fall; today my form got wobbly at 105. My OHP is the same because I never had any pushing strength to begin with, and the occasional pull-up practise this spring has kept my max rows at the same weight.

Microhabits Zero Week: Open my planner when I wake up in the morning (before checking my phone) while I am having my morning tea. Week One: Check in with my stomach before and midway through meals, and assess how hungry I am. Week Two: Get dressed (in workout gear when appropriate) immediately after breakfast putting my breakfast dishes in the sink. Week Three: Take lunch dishes out of my bag and put them in the kitchen, after putting the keys away when I get home from work. Week Four: TBA Week Five: TBA As usual, my triggers need some finessing. Opening my planner while still not quite awake isn't useful because I am in no state to think about organizing my day. After/during breakfast is better. Yesterday I bought a larger day planner with room for to-do lists so it will be more helpful in seeing what needs to get done. Getting dressed after breakfast is great, but I needed something more specific. Was I supposed to get dressed as soon as I finished even if I was in the middle of something? After clearing breakfast away? After breakfast but before I finished my tea? Yes, I do need my triggers to be that specific or they don't work. Checking in with my stomach has become pretty routine now. This week's microhabit: taking my lunch dishes out of my bag, after putting away the keys when I get home from work. I forget them in there and then they don't get cleaned promptly...