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Hello, all! Last challenge, I got some bad news and found out that I wasn't accepted to OCS. It's a bummer, but I did find out that I was very close to making it. This means I have a really good chance at making it in with the next selection board! In order to do that, though, this challenge is going to focus on resetting my mindset, recentering my goals, and rebuilding my strength because I pushed my body a lot last month. In fact, I pushed myself so hard that I gave myself shin splints! Which... ouch. Not fun. I'm going to try and make this challenge a little less complicated than the last few though, and just stick with the "reset, recenter, rebuild" theme. Also, I have a Spartan race May 12! I want to make sure I'm ready as possible for that. I think by sticking to my goals I should be able to do that. Reset: This is the recovery portion of the challenge. I pushed my body too hard, to my detriment, last month. I need to make sure I'm taking time to recover, or in other words, reset my body back to where it was pre-shin splints/burnout. The goals: Daily exercises for my lower-body targeting shin splints. This will include a lot of the stretches that @Xena recommended to me during the last challenge! Also important is hip flexibility. How I'll keep myself accountable: I'll need to check off a box every day in my bullet journal saying that "yes, I did these." I'll put in a habit tracker to keep myself accountable Foam roll a minimum of once a week. Full-body foam roll, no excuses. How I'll keep myself accountable: another check in the bullet journal! This one won't be in the habit tracker, but will be a box in my "to-do list." Recenter: Self-care is something I struggle with, and I've noticed that when I don't do it, I tend to spiral into dark gloomy places and just don't do as well. The goals this time? Self-care and journalling. Self-care: take half an hour to do something that brings me joy that isn't exercise (gasp) or watching Netflix each week. Bonus points if it's something creative like finishing one of my craft projects (or mending the jeans I've been putting off mending for months now). How I'll keep myself accountable: another box on my to-do list for the week! Journalling: When I started journalling a couple of months ago, I noticed that it really helped! And then, of course, I kind of stopped. The goal is to get back to consistently journalling at least 3 days a week. How I'll keep myself accountable: a row in my habit tracker! Rebuild: I need to rebuild the basics, even while I'm letting my body recover. Push-ups: I would like to be able to do a minimum of 40 consecutive push-ups even while tired and sore after a long day of PT/after a tough gym session. I want to get as close to 40 push-ups by the end of the challenge as I can How I'll do this: Do [X] amount of push-ups a day, 6 days a week! Sundays are rest days, and will have no push-ups. Week 0, Tuesday- Saturday: 50 push-ups a day Week 1: 50 push-ups a day Week 2: 60 push-ups a day Week 3: 60 push-ups a day - NO PUSH-UPS THURSDAY-SUNDAY BECAUSE SPARTAN RACE Week 4: 60 push-ups a day How I'll keep myself accountable: A special row in my habit tracker each week Pull-ups: not just for the PFT, but for my Spartan race that I'm running in May! (But mostly for the PFT and OCS.) The challenge? Do either the workout my OSO gave me or do an Armstrong workout 3xs a week. That's it. Just 3. Also flexed arm hang practice 3xs a week! How I'll keep myself accountable: Well, I'll be at the gym 3xs a week already! I'm going to just keep doing what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks Special exception: I'll be doing only 2 days of pull-ups on Week 3, to make sure I'm well-rested for my spartan race! Running: with shin splints, I can't do as much running as I would like, and definitely can't do any sprinting until probably after the race. I can, however, make sure I do 2-3 miles 3 times a week. Hill training is okay, slow runs are okay, even a 5k is okay as long as I'm taking time to make sure I can recover. Bonus challenges: Sign up for an intro/free cross-fit class! At the OCS Prep Day I did this past weekend, the PTI I survived met said that a great way to build endurance is to do CrossFit. As such, a bonus challenge I'm setting for myself is to sign up for an introductory/free crossfit class at a local crossfit gym. Ideally, I'd be able to get a couple of weeks of free classes by trying out different gyms to see how this goes. Try to do a handstand a day. This is just for fun. I've gotten pretty good at doing minimally-supported handstands, where I'll have a foot lightly touching the wall for balance, and I can even hold myself up without any support for 2-3 seconds! I haven't done handstands in a while though, and would like to get back to practicing those again. No need for a habit tracker, as this is just for fun. Well, that's it for now, I think!