TIPSYwithWATER (Odynne)

TIWESDÆG, SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 | AMAZING "FALL WEATHER" JOG THIS MORNING TRAINING: It was a little drizzly this morning, but I was all amped-up to go for a jog, so I taped my knee up tight and went for it. What a fantastic session! Very refreshing. NUTRITION: Been doing terrible with the eating, mostly due to stress, which is probably the worst excuse ever... Made some plans to try to get back on track, though. Bought some hemp oil to try for my anxiety. We'll see how it goes. OTHER NOTES: I woke-up earlyish today and felt so much better than I do when I wake up late and snooze a bunch-- We're going to try to make it a habit. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.8%

SATURDÆG, SEPTEMBER 08, 2018 | JUST A LONG-ISH WALK LATE AT NIGHT... THE POINT IS, I MADE MYSELF GO DO SOMETHING TRAINING: Completed my "Epic Quest" goal of working out for one month 4-5x/week. NUTRITION: I've been eating crappily lately, but there's a lot of stress abounding at the moment. I'm going to work on turning it around in the next week or so. OTHER NOTES: I can do this... I CAN do this. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.358%

FRIGEDÆG, SEPTEMBER 07, 2018 | A.M. RAIN STIFLED MY RUN, SO I DID SOME YOUTUBE YOGA INSTEAD TRAINING: I got up early (snoozed, but... I'm trying), and was all set to jog when I realized it was raining. My inclination (to a degree) was to go back to bed or just curl up in a blanket until time to go to work, BUT I didn't do that. I jumped on YouTube and did a 30+ minute session of Yoga With Adriene to get my blood flowing and try to help my stiff neck loosen up a bit. NUTRITION: Hoping to have another good nutrition day today-- Got my lunch all packed and ready to go! OTHER NOTES: Snoozed, but got up before 6, which was a good start. I feel so much better when I sleep a little LESS than 8 hours. We also got to bed before 11 last night, which was great. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.35%

ÞUNRESDÆG, SEPTEMBER 06, 2018 | THURSDAY NIGHT BOXING - PRETTY GOOD SESSION TRAINING: Had to be in a group of 3 for drills, but it ran pretty smoothly. Worked directly with the coach for a couple of rounds (which kicked my ass), and realized I have a little longer way to go than I thought... But, instead of getting down about it, I'm just going the chalk it up as being part of the overall journey. NUTRITION: Good nutrition day - Solid lunch and dinner OTHER NOTES: So much napping... So bad. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.33%

Hi, InnerFire! Sounds like we're kindred spirits-- I'm so glad to have piqued your interest! iNaturalist is a program (accessible on mobile and desktop) that allows users to photograph any living organism from anywhere on Earth and upload it to a collective data system. This data is used for various purposes by different projects and organizations, for anything from studying the relationships between pollinators and plants, watching avian migration patterns, looking at the spread of invasive species, and etc. However, the most direct use of the data is to train the AI that the app uses to recognize a creature when you submit its picture. When you upload an image, the AI system will suggest an identification (it's not always able to and occasionally makes mistakes, but it is startlingly accurate the vast majority of the time), and give you a link to more information about the species, which is super fun and helps you learn a lot about your local wildlife in the process. When you choose an ID for the image and one or more other members in the community choose the same ID, the observation then becomes "research grade," and adds to the collective body of knowledge used by the application. So it's teaching you, while you're teaching it! It's a pretty simple (and free) app that I get a ton of value out of-- It's given me a whole new appreciation for the outdoors and makes me feel good to contribute to this shared knowledge as a "citizen scientist!" The community is also, by and large, very nice and helpful. It's not an overly social network from what I've experienced (still sort of new to it, though), but there are ways to connect with people and make use of their knowledge and experience. Additional links: Sign-up: iNaturalist website | iNaturalist for iPhone | iNaturalist for Android Guides: iNaturalist User Guide | iNaturalist Video Tutorials

Hey, NF Community! Just wondering if there are any other iNaturalist addicts and/or other assorted nature nerds (hikers, photographers, explorers, citizen scientists, professional scientists) who would like to share here! "Nature stalking," as I like to call it, has really helped me connect with my surroundings, get outside more, log more hikes, explore new places, and learn so much about the creatures we share the environment with! If anyone is interested, jump on in! If you have questions about getting more outdoorsy, please feel free to shout those out, too! To kick this off, I wanted to share a few of my iNat pics (I'm personally very fond of bees!) and a few resources. iNaturalist - upload observations of living creatures to help with data collection and analysis, and use an amazing AI system to identify your photograph! (available on desktop, iPhone, and Android) * More info in my conversation with @InnerFire, below. QuestaGame - individuals and teams photograph and identify living organisms for points (similar to iNaturalist, but made into a game) SciStarter - Citizen Scientist project center Geocaching - outdoor treasure hunting (yes, really!) World Wildlife Fund Panda Ambassadors - WWF volunteering What else should I add to this list?? - Odynne (TIPSYwithWATER) BEE SPECIES PICTURED: Perplexing Bumble Bee, Common Eastern Bumble Bee, Eastern Honey Bee, Eastern Carpenter Bee, Western Honey Bee

SUNNANDÆG, SEPTEMBER 02, 2018 | EXTRA LONG NIGHT JOG TRAINING: Did 2 back-to-back routes without rest (just to prove to myself that I could). Took the "right route" and the "uphill route" in my neighborhood. It felt really good! NUTRITION: I honestly don't remember (filling this in on the following Friday)... OTHER NOTES: Loved that jog! PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.3%

SATURDÆG, SEPTEMBER 01, 2018 | WEIGHT VEST JOGGING MAKES ME FEEL STRONG... EVEN IF IT'S JUST 10 LBS TRAINING: Completed one of my Epic Quest goals today: Jogged 1+ miles nonstop with a weight vest on (10 lbs)! I really enjoyed it and think I may up it to 15 or 20 lbs the next time. My goal is to be jogging with as much weight (or more) as I've lost on my journey. It should total over 60 lbs by the time I reach my current long-term goal. NUTRITION: I worked-out without eating first today, which always makes my body feel awesome (not sure why). Not sure what I'll eat tonight, if anything (might be a good opportunity for a fasting day since it's already so late). OTHER NOTES: Did a little better with sleep last night than I have the last couple of days, but it still needs tremendous improvement to get to a "healthy" level. Excited to be back on track for my working out 4 to 5 times per week goal! PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.22%

ÞUNRESDÆG, AUGUST 30, 2018 | THURSDAY NIGHT BOXING - TOTALLY OUT OF IT TRAINING: Went to the Thursday night boxing class, but was completely exhausted. I have PTO this week, so I slept way too late and didn't take any preworkout, which made my body feel totally drained! I still went and stuck with it though, despite the class being rough and how disappointing my performance was. NUTRITION: I slept so late that I barely ate. Did Okay except for some ice cream I had after dinner and a bowl of cereal and milk I ate before bed (CRAVINGS...) OTHER NOTES: More sleep drama. Sigh. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.19%

TIWESDÆG, AUGUST 29, 2018 | TUESDAY NIGHT BOXING = HORRIBLE TRAINING: I went to boxing tonight since I didn't make it yesterday. Unfortunately, Tuesday's class almost always (like, 99.9% of the time) sucks! Part of it is the instructor, part of it is the people who come in for this particular class (not a group that's really there to learn), and part of it is how many other things are going on at the same time because it gets so loud that it's hard to hear and pay attention. I got a decent workout, but was so frustrated, NUTRITION: Eating carbs a bit late (lentil pasta though, not wheat pasta), but other than that I did Okay. OTHER NOTES: Sleep sleep sleep... So much trouble with sleep... Snoozing and napping... So not healthy!! PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.18%

MONANDÆG, AUGUST 27, 2018 | TRAFFIC JAM PREVENTED ME FROM GETTING TO BOXING, BUT I HELPED ANOTHER ANIMAL TRAINING: I was on my way to boxing, but Maps told me I was going to be super late due to traffic, so I went home. I really needed to workout though (been "bad" for a few days...), so I threw on the weighted vest (just 10 lbs. to start) to give walking/jogging in it a try. There's a running joke among friends that I'm always finding animals in need--because I constantly am--and today was no exception... Not 5 minutes into my walk, I found a scrawny little nestling on the ground. Wild birds are difficult to care for, especially babies, so I had to make some tough decisions. I moved her out of the road, and, long story short, I looked up some articles* and took the suggestion of building a little makeshift nest and nailing it to the nearest tree to give the little birdling a better chance to be found by its mama. Anyway, after I was all done, I was exhausted from running back and forth so much, but I decided to throw the weighted vest back on and go ahead and take my walk anyway. I ended-up doing about 3 miles with a big hill on the route-- Feels good! We'll see how I feel tomorrow, though NUTRITION: I was bad last week, so it's going to be tough to get back on track. I had some leftover mac and cheese for my first meal, then finished off strong with an afternoon sweet potato and sushi at night. OTHER NOTES: I'm feeling less depressed today. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.14% Poor little thing... I wish there was more I could do for her. Hopefully the nest will keep her safe for the night and her mama will find her soon. * Article: Wildlife Rehabilitation: Baby Birds Out of the Nest, Washington Department of Fish Wildlife

BUSY WEEK RECAP I didn't get a chance to update my NF Battle Log last week (and only got to workout 3 times), but I'm giving myself a little "pass" because I was helping a creature in need. We found an emaciated stray kitty and took him in to rehabilitate him. His initial health check was good (besides being malnourished), but we have him in a quarantine until we can get him retested in 2 months for feline-specific ailments that may not show-up until up to 8 weeks after exposure; this means we had to do a lot of prep-work in order to have him in our home. This, coupled with having a deployment at work midweek, kept me pretty darn busy (and stressed out!) SATURDÆG, AUGUST 27, 2018 TRAINING: 10 minutes of stair-stepping at a "jogging" pace (60+ steps/minute) and some upper body lifting NUTRITION: I let my nutrition slip pretty badly this week, too I ate SO MANY simple carbs and such that haven't been a part of my diet in the last several weeks... I felt like crap so many of those days. OTHER NOTES: My sleep suffered along with my workout and nutrition routines... I'll have to hit it hard next week to keep the progress rolling and not lose my momentum. PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.12% Some things are just more important than working-out

TIWESDÆG, AUGUST 21, 2018 | PERSONAL TRAINING SESSION - LEG DAY (FIGHTING NERVOUS SYSTEM STRAIN) TRAINING: Personal training session tonight was lower-body focused with an ab circuit at the end to wrap things up. I did what I could. My nervous system is pretty shot from burning so hard at boxing last night (I always forget that this is a thing), so I was super exhausted and barely made it through. Had some strain in the "bad" (i.e., worse) knee on the leg press, so I had to stop there, but the trainer said I have "strong legs," so at least I still have that going for me. EXERCISES: Leg press machine, wide and narrow stance supersets Lying hamstring curl machine + walking body weight lunges superset Kettlebell goblet squat Wide stance kettlebell squat Ab circuit NUTRITION: Did well today-- Ate a decent amount of raw veggies. Enjoying some of my kryptonite--dark chocolate-- with fruit spread tonight as a treat for working so hard, though. I resisted the tasty treats that were all over the office this morning and afternoon, so I think I earned a little something sweet OTHER NOTES: I didn't snooze my alarm this morning! It went off at 5:15am and I immediately bugged my BF until he got up (as per his request yesterday), and then did a nice yoga circuit in bed with some deep breathing to ease my lower back pain and start the day off in an energizing fashion. I might try to make that a habit! PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.01%

MONANDÆG, AUGUST 20, 2018 | SLAYED MONDAY NIGHT BOXING & BEGAN THE PROCESS OF SIGNING UP FOR A PERSONAL TRAINER TRAINING: Monday night boxing = pushing to the brink of death lol SOOOO much fun, though!! I'm excited that the personal training program is now within reach-- I can't wait to get started!! NUTRITION: Ate too late, but ate healthfully. OTHER NOTES: Sleep is still bad... Why is this so difficult for me to get a handle on?? PERCENTAGE TO BERSERK MODE: 3.00%

If you're on your own, I definitely recommend Bas Ruten's Muay Thai boxing CDs. They're a bit old school (which is awesome in my opinion), and they have some kickboxing elements, but they are fantastic guides! He calls out numbers, combinations, keeps track of the round timing and rest timing (discs are organized by round duration), and talks through little tips during the rest periods. It's really powerful! The link I gave you is for the set online, which is expensive because it's hard to get a copy anymore, but you can find pieces of it on Youtube and may be able to find a used set somewhere for cheaper. Also, along that line, treat yourself to some wireless headphones along with the other gear you collect-- Not having cords in the way makes a huge difference and is quite liberating! You can get a decent pair on Amazon for less than $20 (I use MPows and find them quite comparable to Beats, which are undoubtedly great audio devices, but they're so super pricy!) Another option, which may be a bit far-fetched (but you never know...) is to see if local universities in your area have personal training/exercise science programs, and see if their students offer training as part of their course experience-- If you're lucky, you may find one with a boxing/martial arts background. Using this same method, you could put up an ad for a mitt/sparring partner/trainer in local gyms, like YMCAs and such, where you might catch the attention of someone who has such a background. Just because there aren't boxing gyms around, doesn't mean there aren't boxers around!! Just a thought... Good luck to you! Keep us updated!