Stardust

Getting better slowly but surely. Got another medical issue I've gotta go to the Docs tomorrow for, but for the most part I'm just reintegrating what I can for the last week of the challenge. I'm getting in a routine 3000 steps the last few days, just gonna keep going how I'm going.

Chest infection, and a pretty big one apparently. Out of action for a week, just gotta do what I can. *sigh*

Dealing with some chest pain, not fun. Just doing what I can and not worrying too much until I've been to the doc. It's not a heart attack, feels more like pleurisy, but not having a virus right now makes that a little concerning. Will see what happens.

KM walked today: 2km KM Left to Rivendell: 714km Some progress is better than no progress, at least.

Naturally, yesterday I kinda tanked. Did a couple of the easy things on my list and skipped out on the rest cause I was feeling ill. Didn't even finish out my steps. It happens, I need to work past the illness sometimes and just get on with it instead of moping in bed

Hitting the halfway mark is pretty cool, the end of the week is always nice review time. Switching my goals over to just what I'm tracking on Habitica is workin really well for me. This is something I'm definitely going to be carrying forwards into future challenges. Developing a cumulatively longer list of things to track and do just seems to work right for my approach to self care, health and fitness. In that respect, a quick review of what I'm tracking and the results I'm seeing. Write in Journal: I've not missed a day on this. I like the app I'm using, which is called Writeaday. Instead of a blank page I add little entries over the course of the day, similar to a bujo but not as involved. It's really shifting my mentality on journal writing, which before felt tedious and like a chore. Now it definitely feels more like an outlet for whatever's on my mind at the time. Have a Healthy Meal: I've missed one day, and that day was a complete write off for almost everything. I wasn't overly worried about meeting this one, I track it more as a reminder to eat well, rather than eating junk. But it's still a good thing for me to be tracking, and lays the foundations for building better, healthier eating habits off of it. 1 Hour Crafts/Creative Time: I've not done so great on this one. I've skipped it the last three days. I always find that it's something I want to do later in the day and then the boy wakes up and it falls by the wayside. Moving forward I need to do this earlier in the day to make sure it's done. I really fell better when I pursue hobbies that I enjoy, and I need more variation than 'videogames, forums and youtube'. Crafts is something I can use to develop skills, something I really enjoy. Shower: I've missed a couple of days, but on the whole I've been doing a lot better at this. I've never been /terrible/ at this, but on the worst points I'll go two or three days without a shower, and fall into a pit. I feel better when I do take one, even if I don't want to take one. Exercise: Some days I've been ticking this off for doing extra walking, because it's a non specific goal. Moving forward I need to actually make this bodyweight work. It only needs to be something as simple as five pushups. Just needs to be done. Treehouse Unit, Get a Badge: No worries on this one. I'm still trawling through the content and earning badges. I'm exploring different fields and languages and trying to find the stuff that interests me most to start with. It's pretty great. 5000 Steps: Every day ticked off, without fail. I really underestimated how impactful walking was on my mood. I missed it a lot more than I realised. This one's definitely my high point of my tracking. 2l Water/Fluids: Yup, every day ticked off. It's Australia, so hydration is pretty important, but it's always something I try to track and keep an eye on, because it's so easy for me to fall off this wagon. Plus the less I drink the more I eat, because it's easy to mistake thirst for hunger. So I'm not doing terribly. About where I expected to be at this point with my tracking. Doing well, with room for improvement.

KM walked today: 4km KM Left to Rivendell: 716km Again this is for yesterday, I'm still trying to find my rhythm of whether I update the night of or the morning after. I seem to check in more the next morning so that's probably going to be easier for me. Nights are the boy's time and he has my full attention for that part of the day. I've noticed such a dramatic change in my mood since getting regular walking going in my day again. I really underestimated what an impact it had on my mood. I need to introduce more bodyweight work into my day, and get over the serious anxiety I have about working out in front of people because I live with my Dad and he's not always out doing things.

KM walked today: 4km KM Left to Rivendell: 720km

Ticked of all my stuff yesterday, nice and simple. Almost skipped out on my shower if the boy hadn't good-naturedly bullied me into it, and I felt so much better for it in the end. My craft/creative time was spent fiddling and trying to write little codes on my own outside of my lessons, and then finished up my C# basics for beginners course today. Gonna keep going on to the next set of classes tomorrow. Today still got a few things left to do. I want some handy dandy crafts time today, whether that be my sewing or some writing. I need a little meditative time. My engagement ring arrived today and I've lost so much weight over the last two months since I ordered it that it doesn't fit on anything but my thumb. Ordered a new one two sizes smaller, should be here in another month and a half or so. Hopefully that one won't be ridiculously large too! Luckily they're low cost rings, nothing fancy. It's the symbol, not the expense, so I can afford to pick up a new one at 5 bucks including shipping. Journalling is going more smoothly for me recently. Having an app where I can make multiple small entries instead of a book where I feel like I need to sit down and have journal time every day. Having it more casual makes things a lot more easy for me. Right now just finished throwing dinner together, nothing especially fancy but decent food. Veggies and some lasagna.

KM walked today: 4km KM Left to Rivendell: 724km Again, for yesterday, I'm going to reupdate tonight before I go to sleep hopefully.

KM walked today: 5km KM Left to Rivendell: 728km Technically this is yesterday for me. I got my walking done but tanked out on everything else I needed to get done. I hate anxiety attacks, they leave me feeling low and drained, and then I wake up the next morning basically hungover with all the bleh from the day before. Back at it this morning though, already got my first 1000steps under my belt for the day. If I do nothing else productive, at least I can get up and walk. Now I'm gonna turn on Fallout 4 and do nothing all morning.

Yesterday was a near total write off. I got my steps done, I did a little extra exercise, I did nothing else. I didn't even eat a healthy meal or drink enough fluids. Couple of massive anxiety attacks just knocked me six ways to Sunday and I bombed out so hard. Back on track today

boot vs runners/shoes is a bit personal preference, for sure. I tend to end up with shin splints if I use boots, my ankles like the free movement better and my step has always been a little bit twisted so it's more comfortable on my posture all round. Plus I use gaiters all the way up to my knees, so I don't fuss much about ankle protection helps keep the snake fangs outta your skin in Australia.

I'm already comfortable at 5000. I'm not pushing past that point, because I'm not risking aggravating an old injury until it acclimatises properly. That's why I set a target of 5000. Not currently, flitting between small things at the moment.

KM walked today: 4km KM Left to Rivendell: 733km I forgot how much I missed walking. I've been off the wagon for a few months and my endurance has completely tanked to the point that I'm walking in sets of 1000 steps multiple times a day to cover distance instead of a longer hike. All recovery/progress has to start somewhere, it's just very tempting to throw caution to the wind and risk doing myself another injury sometimes.

All ticked off today, even my steps. Lordy but I missed walking. I wish I had the endurance to be doing more, but I'm not dumb enough to overexert myself too hard. Good day all round.

Honestly I mostly find that they're inflexible and absorb too much impact. I wrenched my knee bad enough that I'm back down to rebuilding from 5000 steps a day upwards because I just couldn't feel the terrain properly and stepped wrong. They make my ankles ache too if I'm not actually on a road. I take crocs for in camp and fording durable, waterproof, breathable and easy to clean.

I like the challenge format for tracking short term goals, but some things I've got on my goal list require more consistent long term tracking. So having a battle log to track those sounds like the best idea. So, setting out all the long term goals before anything else! The Long Term Goal List Body fat %: 12-14% Physical: Regain strength, improve posture, increase endurance Walk to Mordor Daily light bodyweight work, potentially building up to free weights or calisthenics Increase distance walked gradually over time Diet: Eat mindfully, develop a good relationship with food No processed sugar No caffeine Replace starchy carbs with veggies and fruits No takeout/junk food Mental: feel better, enjoy life, be comfortable and happy Daily journalling Make time for hobbies I enjoy Discover new hobbies Get out of the house more Make some local friends Other Goals Obtain driver's license Learn to program at least one language well Find work Save $10,000 Buy a house/land Travel Japan America (Again) India Bali New Zealand Peru Jordan Egypt Italy The Walk to Mordor Hobbiton -> Rivendell (737km) Rivendell -> Lothlorien (744km) Lothlorien -> Rauros Falls (626km) Rauros Falls -> Mt. Doom (756km) Minas Tirith -> Isengard (861km) Isengard -> Rivendell (1115km) Rivendell -> Bag End (639km) I readjusted my distance metrics to the list that you can find on Steve's NF Blog, just for ease. It's a nice breakdown of distances for multiple mid-term goals. Some of this would probably fit well in the Epic Quest thread, but honestly if I spread myself too thin over multiple threads all tracking slightly different things, I'll probably lose my mind. So I'll track everything here and see how that goes.

Just my shower to go tonight, which I'll grab in a couple of hours. Still missed my 5k steps, but tomorrow is a new day and I should be able to get up and knock them out. I wanna ease my way back into my Skyrim workouts too, there's a lot to be said for treating exercise like a drinking game. Just in case anyone is curious... I switch the sit ups for jacks, because sit ups really mess with my back. But it's good fun, and with squats on fast travel, you reeeeeeally start debating the worth of that quick time saver

One of my group chats, one of the guys off to do his morning yoga with his six year old daughter. "Men doing yoga... *condescending, dismissive laugh*" Lady, I knit too. And I do needlepoint. And I bake. Your sexist crap is unappreciated.

Waterproofing shoes is relatively easy these days, there's equipment out there to waterseal pretty much anything. There's a difference between trail runners and road runners though, the impact absorption and makeup of the sole is different. My road runners do me fine for day hikes, but I wouldn't want to use them for multi-day or thru hikes. Look into something that's designed for trails, personal opinion. The cost difference and weight difference is pretty negligible, and you can waterproof them if they're not already.

No exercise or steps last night, but everything else got ticked off okay. My back is less cranky today, so I'm gonna at least get a little exercise done because I'm starting to get cranky after a rest day. Just downloading some stuff I need for Unity for today's Treehouse lesson so I can tick that off. I almost didn't shower last night, and I seriously considered switching crafts time for gaming time. In the end I got up and showered, and then I got out my crafts, and I feel better for it. I always do, it's not until afterwards that I remember that though! Making some chicken meatballs and veggies for dinner tonight, still aiming for low carb even when I don't quite get there is positive.

I never said he would get mad though? I said that we've talked about it a lot. And we have. I needed to let out some frustrations with the situation in a sensible place so that if we had to talk about it again, I could approach the situation like a rational adult, instead of picking fights like a child.

Woke up this morning to inflamed muscles in my back, making it intensely painful to stand, walk, bend, all the fun things. So exercise might be on a burner today. Just do what I can do.

Today I ticked off everything except 5000 steps. This is actually going to be the hardest one to get back on board with. Which is sad because a month ago I was up to 8000 every day, and now 5000 kills me. But tomorrow is a new day, and we'll get it sorted. Walking doesn't count towards exercise tick off either, those are separate. I whacked out a few sets of push ups earlier.