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Nationals is April 13-15. BRING IT ON. So, yes, this challenge is awkwardly cut in half by the only competition that matters, but I think I have found some goals I can work on in both the playoffs and post-season. To get pumped, I am going to look to our bitter rivals: cheerleaders. And what do you know, there happens to be the perfect film about cheerleaders and THEIR OWN BITTER RIVALRIES. It's like it was meant to be. Goal 1. Talk the Talk, Now... Roll The Roll? Mobilize with a foam roller, lacrosse balls, wine bottle, baseball, etc. at least 4x per week I talk about mobility and the importance of doing this all of the time, but do I do it? Naaaaaaht really. Goal 2. Spirit Fingers Work on hand balancing, preferably handstands but other things are acceptable as well, for 60 minutes a week Good for the core, good for the joints, good for the mindspace. Pretty much EVERYONE should be working on handbalancing all the time. Goal 3. Rise Above Actually boulder 4x over the challenge You have the membership and while the gym is beautifullll, you could probably actually take a bold move and use the walls to get into that bouldering groove! You know it's fun after all! These may happen entirely after Nationals, and that is okay! Goal 4. Get Yo Learn On Duolingo German 20 lessons a week Everyone else is doing it and the app makes it easy to. Why not?

Background: The past few challenges have been focusing on preparing me to compete in gymnastics competitions. That culminated in competing at Nationals last weekend, which finishes out the competition season. It went okay. Normally, I would take this time to have some fun, learn new skills, and enjoy the freedom of a looser training schedule. However, Past Me hates Present and FutureMe and decided to sign up for the May 23rd GoRUCK Challenge in Boston, which is officially 6 weeks from tomorrow. I have 6 weeks to go from a bouncy, gymnastics sprinter to an endurance and strength machine. Motivation: To be an asset and not a hinderance to the team in May. Goal 1: Girl, You're Gonna Carry That Weight Attempt to mostly follow the GoRUCK 6-week training plan (lol really?) subbing running for other endurance cardio work as necessary aiming for at least 4 of the 5 prescribed workouts a week and absolutely following the plan with regards to ruck out days. Goal 2: Every Day is NOT Leg Day My upper body is severely lagging behind my legs. While the GR plan and just having the ruck on will do some good things for my shoulders and the rest, I've got to prepare better than that. I will be following the hundred push-ups plan with a 4+ brick ruck for the duration of the challenge. Will be aiming to hit all 3/3 prescribed push-up workouts per week according to the plan. Initial test put me at 10 push-ups with the ruck, but I may follow the 1-5 program to start because I've found that these things ramp up a bit too quickly for me otherwise. Goal 3: Flippin' Awesome While gymnastics will be on the back-burner, I still want to try to go on Saturdays at the very least. This goal will be to attend at least 8 gymnastics classes during the course of the 6-week challenge and work on SKILLS. Ideally, I want to make progress on one or several of the following skills: front handspring + front tuck + front tuck on floor, back handspring on balance beam, valdez on balance beam, round-off + back handspring + layout on floor, press handstand on floor, and aerial cartwheel on floor. These are all skills I could do when I was younger, so they're a continuation of my quest to be a better gymnast than I was when I was 12. Goal 4/Life Goal: Don't Fear the Meter I am going to hard track calories this challenge. The only challenge-related aspect of this will be to track daily and to report back to you folks about how my food's going. I may also share a MFP log or something like that. I want to lean back out, but I have no desire to do it quickly. I am still working on a rewards scheme for this goal. I think I may create an achievement system for myself that allows me to purchase goodies off of my Amazon wishlist for things like 5-day on-target calorie streaks. Disclaimer: I know this is not a super assassin-y challenge, but <3 you guys and I'm not going anywhere.