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Ahem... Tomorrow, the world!

I ran my first marathon, by myself - with nothing but water from water fountains. My timing would be 5h 23 min and 29 s to cover a distance of 42.2km, in 31 degree weather.

At the beginning of the year, I could barely run a mile. I kept trying (and failing) to do 5k runs, and I'd always have to start walking during the second mile. I'm not sure what my time for one-mile would have been, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 minutes. Back in June, I finally ran a mile in under 8 minutes. Today, I just ran a mile in 6:55. It feels impossible. I was in disbelief when I first saw it, trying to figure out how I could have subtracted a minute somehow or something. It just feels really, really good. I'm super proud of myself right now. My distances have gotten better too. I do 10k on the weekends without it feeling too crazy.

I've had an exciting month! So during lockdown, I kinda had to switch from leg press machines to squats. I had some dumbells that I'd been using at home for this, and now our covid situation has largely improved (current local blip notwithstanding) and our gyms have reopened. I switched to using the bags, but having found the 15kg now to be too light, I had to go up. Only I couldn't shift the 20kg one onto my shoulders. I had no choice - I had to learn how to use the barbell. So, under instruction, I set foot in a squat cage for the first time and did my squats with a 20kg olympic bar. Like a grownup!! I'm not gonna lie, this is thrilling for me! I've now added weights gradually as I got used to it so I'm now doing 5x5 with a total of 27.5kg on my shoulders. I've also finally got the hang of deadlifts. I'd tried before but wound up getting back pain, so I did a bit of research and found that I wasn't bending my legs enough. I've changed my posture and this seems to have improved things massively. I'm doing 8x4 with 35kg now, and it feels great! I'm loving finally being able to play with barbells! Hoping to level up to 30kg and 40kg respectively next week.

Hi all I've just posted my introduction in, of all places, the introductions section. Visit there for personal context, or, don't! You are your own person and you can do what you want, physics permitting. Apologies in advance, I talk a lot. And I'm Canadian, so I also apologise for it. I've been doing the beginner bodyweight workout, although not in its entirety, for just about a month now. Day One, having not done any sort of structured workout in 15 years, I went as hard as I possibly could and burned out (pretty hilariously) after two circuits. For two days after I couldn't really move properly because my chickeny legs were having a tough time adjusting to this whole "you've never done two squats in a row and then out of nowhere you did 40 of them" thing. But I learned immediately to pace myself a little better, and although I was still just doing two circuits, I got to watch numbers increase. By my 4th workout I had made it to doing three circuits, even though they weren't complete as prescribed. See, I have been enjoying bad knees since I was 12, and lunges in particular are very challenging for me so I've been doing 10 instead of 20 (we'll actually come back to this two more times in this post). My third circuits I also was doing 10-15 squats instead of 20, and my pushups have been 'cheater' pushups where I'm on my knees instead of my toes - bodyweight workouts are harder when you weigh more, y'know? But I was chugging along and slowly getting numbers up and feeling really good. Things were okay, until... they weren't. Had I been active here at the time I would have posted in the Respawn Point. On a Monday where I was supposed to exercise (I'm doing one day on, one day off) I ended up NOT exercising. I was feeling bad and it was one of those days where it was hard to do anything. Even though I *know* that getting off my ass and even doing one circuit would have made me feel better, I instead decided to not do that at all. One day turned into FIVE. On the 5th day I was like, it's today or not at all. I knew that if I didn't do it that day, there would be no coming back for a very, very long time. And it was awful. If my Day One I was starting at zero, this time I felt like I was at negative two. I wanted to throw up in my first circuit, and I had to give up halfway through my second. Lunge number six - I couldn't get out of it because my knee seized up. I felt pretty defeated. But two days later I got back on track and slowly have worked my way up, even getting to 20 squats on all three circuits on my third workout since starting back. We find ourselves at today, a workout day. I was having a bad day, again, and I spent nearly two hours... trying to solder a wire. (facepalm goes here) Things just kept going wrong. I've soldered hundreds of wires in my time, but everything just kept fighting against me. My soldering iron broke and I had to take it apart and finish what I was doing with the disassociated components of the tool all dangling very safely from a pair of pliers (I took a picture if you're interested). It was absurd and... I. Was. So. Angry!! Were I not composed of some amount of consideration for my neighbours I would have shrieked unintelligibly until it felt better. But I still had a workout to do, so I finished my stupid mothereffing wire and then I shoved my bedroom into the corner, as usual, to make room for exercise o'clock, put on System of a Down and then proceeded to kick some ass. I worked hard, for sure, but I felt good, like it didn't matter that I was too hot and out of breath. Half of my pushups were REAL pushups instead of cheaters. And instead of my usual 10 lunges.... I did 12. On each circuit. I know, I know. It's not a giant increase. But it felt like a huge leap. It still feels like a mountain that I just destroyed. I'm not someone who feels a lot of pride but tonight I'm really proud of myself. Enough so that I finally decided to come here and start like... talking... to people.

Yesterday was THE DAY. The last day of None-to-Run program. I did it, I've completed all the intervals and runs. Even better - I run offroad which is tougher (I've been told so) than road running, yet I find it fun and relaxing (despite sometimes my lungs want to jump out of ribcage and get some vacation...) Maybe nothing big for pro runners, but I'm proud of myself

Last week I left work at 11:30pm. My daughter was closing at her job and would not be off until 2:00am. I was her ride. I had a few options. I could drive to the parking lot and take a nap until she got off work, or I could find some way to pass the time. I decided to put on my night running gear and go for a run. It was supposed to be a quick 5k, but at the halfway point at which I would turn around and come back, I was still feeling good, so I continued to follow the road, which led to a few uphills and downhills and then down a 400+ foot descent to the end of the road next to a lake. I paused at the end and realized I had run just over 3.1 miles and would (of course) need to return to my car on the other side of the mountain (which meant I would be climbing back up the 400+ foot hill that I just descended). I got my breath under control and started the ascent. My total distance when I returned was 6.31 miles. Below are the final results of this "accidental" 10k run.

TLDR: Went from 11 to 17 pull ups in 30 days. I documented my journey in this video: To see my initial rep max, skip to 1:00 To see my final rep max skip to 2:52 For my 1st ever challenge (the one from April 23 - May 30), I decided to take on the Russian Fighter Pull Up Program for 30 days straight. https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/107841-optimus-prime-rolling-out/ I’ll admit, I wasn’t very good at recording my daily logs, but I did complete the entire program to a T. Basically the goal of the 30 day program is to increase the number of pull ups you can do in a single set. When I started the program, I had to test my max. I ended up getting 11 reps. My goal for the program was to increase my max pull up reps from 11 to 16. I also had a reach goal of 20. I used the 5RM Template from the StrongFirst link above to create a program for someone with an 11RM. Here is the program I did for 30 days: Day 1 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 Day 2 11, 10, 9, 8, 8 Day 3 11, 10, 9, 9, 8 Day 4 11, 10, 10, 9, 8 Day 5 11, 11, 10, 9, 8 Day 6 Off Day 7 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 Day 8 12, 11, 10, 9, 9 Day 9 12, 11, 10, 10, 9 Day 10 12, 11, 11, 10, 9 Day 11 12, 12, 11, 10, 9 Day 12 Off Day 13 13, 12, 11, 10, 9 Day 14 13, 12, 11, 10, 10 Day 15 13, 12, 11, 11, 10 Day 16 13, 12, 12, 11, 10 Day 17 13, 13, 12, 11, 10 Day 18 Off Day 19 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 Day 20 14, 13, 12, 11, 11 Day 21 14, 13, 12, 12, 11 Day 22 14, 13, 13, 12, 11 Day 23 14, 14, 13, 12, 11 Day 24 Off Day 25 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 Day 26 15, 14, 13, 12, 12 Day 27 15, 14, 13, 13, 12 Day 28 15, 14, 14, 13, 12 Day 29 15, 15, 14, 13, 12 Day 30 Off After day 30, I took 2 days off and retested my max. I ended up getting 17. Better than my goal of 16, but lower than my reach goal of 20. Still, its over a 50% improvement so I consider that a win! I am 6’0 and 170lbs. I consistently ate at my maintenance level calories of around 2500. My weight did not change throughout the program. I also had side quests of: 1) Sleep 8 Hours a day. I know it should be easy, but sometimes its easy to stay up late! 2) Take a green food supplement every day. Again, it's easy to think I get enough veggies. But it doesn't always happen. This is more of a guarantee that I do get enough greens each day. Both of which I successfully completed! If you’re someone who is interested in increasing the number of pull ups you can do, I highly recommend the Russian Fighter Pull Up Program! Its definitely the best pull up program I've done so far. Here are some more links if you’re interested: https://www.strongfirst.com/the-fighter-pullup-program-revisited/ https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-do-the-russian-fighter-pull-up-program

Oh my goodness gracious! I lost 11 lbs as of today! I started this program in the beginning of March! I was 208 lbs since I started! I hope my appearance gets better though...

Well, it happened. I weighed myself yesterday. I have been doing the work, eating right and pushing myself every step of the way. The info I have gathered, eating habits and exercises are doing their charm. I feel great and proud of myself. I have lost almost 60 pounds! Coming from over 300 lbs have bee a journey but I feel great about this first milestone. As my gift for keeping me motivated, I will wear a Star Wars inspired costume to a Comic-con convention at my town. Bst things are yet to come. If you need that extra push forward, set a goal for yourself. You can achieve it if you make the first move. NF forums have various types of ideas and styles to choose from in order to fit your lifestyle. Set that goal. Think of your future! #Success

Spent an hour and a half fixing my stationary bike. Its now silent and i can continue biking in the am without disturbing my wife! It may be stuck on max resistance but i was only one setting away from that anyway. Happy i saved myself a couple hundred bucks!

I've always felt that, if I had a reason to be in shape, instead of just to look and feel better, it would be easier to motivate myself to exercise. So, I had my 5th Muay Thai class yesterday, and I freaking love it! I want to keep doing this, long term. I'm just a beginner, but I can already tell, I'm going to love this, long term.

tl;dr - I play roller derby, we had an awards night last night, I won two awards for being part of the league. #validation So last night my roller derby league had our first end of year dinner / awards night. Historically I was never the sporty type until starting derby and so I wasn't going in to dinner expecting much. The only sporting award I ever got was 2 participation awards for tee-ball when I was like, 6, or 8, or something. only like, 20 years ago. But I've really found a love for roller derby and the people I've met doing it. I've also never felt much drive to be an active member of the community or to be part of a team or anything like that. True Neutral Introvert. Yeahhh. BUT! Last night I was given an award for being the best Act-Belong-Commit volunteer person in the league (I am the fundraising organiser but still) AND I won the award for Comeback Kid 2017 - the award for the best comeback from injury. There were only two contenders - me and another girl - but I'm really touched that my league-mates voted for me. I fully intend not to win that award next year though. No more broken limbs for me. (I broke my ankle in two places and got back on the team within 4 months so that's pretty cool.) And despite all my end of year angst and lack of self confidence people believed in me. And when my teammates believe in me I believe in me more. I was having real mental struggles for the last few months of our season and being validated by my teammates reminds me why I put so much of myself into the sport and has given me some fuel to come back awesome next year. Go Sports!

So I've run off and on over the past year as I've increased activity and was able to run. Often fluctuated around 8-10 minute miles pretty consistently (once I could actually run a mile). Got kind of hooked on the fitbit's 'cardio fitness score' and was happy that I was in the "good" range. Stopped running about 2 months ago when I switched over from the beginner's bodyweight circuits (had added dumbells, so not really 'bodyweight' anymore) over to stronglifts 5x5. Decided to run after my session this morning as I had a little time. First mile was 7'02! And I never got into "peak" zone (dunno if that's good or not) (that's the first woot). Second woot is that after the run, my 'cardio fitness' score was a 51...or "Very Good." Woot woot, I love little perks and achievements like this

I've got some insomnia issues, I didn't really sleep last night, worked a full day today...and then I came home and worked out anyway. This is big for me - I always seem to get derailed when I get sick or tired, but today I stuck to my plan anyway. I feel great - and hopefully I'll sleep tonight!

Been tracking calories, walking, weighing in, sweating, cussing for 5 years trying to listen to my body, and take better care of it. As of Saturday, I am NO LONGER A MEMBER OF THE 200+ club. Weighed in on Saturday at 198.4 lbs. Measured twice to be sure, 19.6% body fat (per electric impedance measurement so take that with the bottle of salt needed). Not resting on my laurels though, still goals to hit!

Had a fitbit since around January. Kicked ass this morning in full body circuit and run...checked the fitbit app and finally moved my cardio score from "Good (44.2-49.6)" to "Very Good (49.6-55)" Woot woot!

I'm back to 130-132lbs! I haven't been super diligent about my diet but I have lost about 20 lbs in just over a year by living on my own and eating normal portions. It's amazing what happens when someone my size (5'4") stops living and eating with two guys (6'0" and 6'4")! Now it's time to build up some muscle!

I ran a half marathon on Sunday and finished the bugger without giving myself any major knee pains. I not only feel accomplished I actually feel like I did the week before the race instead of limping around in pain. I even went for a short run this morning. Here's me in the home stretch (in the shades):

This battle log will not be daily. But I would like to leave something of my progress behind, just in case someone like me comes along and needs that extra push or second wind. Starsapart was that person for me, and I'd like to be there for someone else! First things first...or perhaps second things second, I am not at my goal. Not by a long shot. At this point in time, I am a novice, just beginning to count the fruits of her labor. I am into my second real 6 week challenge--not including my novice training. And I have told myself, I will give nerdfitness 7 challenges to astound me. But at this point in my journey, I feel like I can offer some words of encouragement to the me from four months ago and her compatriots. 1) Scales are the Devil's work. Abandon hope all yee who approach. The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler is worth it's weight in gold. It helped develop my distaste for junk food in a way that spoke to the intellectual in me. Not that I ate badly at all, mind you. Perhaps at my worst, as a child. But if I learned anything in college it was how to eat and eat well. Still, Dr. Kessler's work ended any lingering temptation fast food represented (now a freshly made burger and properly made chips? Nothing wrong with real food my dears). He also revealed to me my triggers. We all have them, even if we are not aware. Triggers that sabotage our efforts, induce us to eat or feel or stress. I had a few I could point out immediately, but the most important one is the scale. The scale was a trigger for me. Even when the number made me happy! I immediately switched to body measurements with a tape. 2) Captain Steve is right, cardio is pointless This isn't to disparage those who are dedicated to it. Cardio does have a time and place. But the benefit you get from cardio, can easily be matched and over come by an intense bodyweight workout with a cardio element. Now I'm not saying HIIT--that word scares me and might scare you--but I have had much more sustainable (not to mention quicker) results swinging a kettlebell or doing jump squats as part of my routine. For those of you in the middle of C25K or Zombies Run!, don't stop. That's building a habit of discipline in you. And showing you how to do something you thought impossible just a few weeks ago. Finish it out. 3) My Fitness Pal will save your life It took me a while to get over my hangups about measuring my food on myfitnesspal. But if I can attribute anything to my success, it is my adoption of this. Using my fitness pal has made the process of weight/inches loss a science, rather than magic. Science is predictable. You can anticipate it. I promise you: If you use this tool, this FREE tool and take up an exercise regimen, you will lose fat, weight, inches etc. Give it one 6 week challenge and if you haven't budged a pound or an inch/cm, you can come find me and punch me in the face. Secondly, buy a food scale--this will make tracking on myfitnesspal literally a child's errand. And finally, my fitness pal has a recipie import feature. If you have a smartphone and you are browsing a lovely website with lovely food, you can share that recipe to myfitnesspal and it will tell you how many calories per serving that lovely food has. If you switch through recipes that you have saved on myfitnesspal and keep under the calorie limit? Fat will flee. 4) Don't forget to stretch and walk I barely have time to stretch. In my first 6WC with the Assassins, I stretched maybe twice. But those two times, especially when I went out for a walk afterwards, I felt amazing. Now, in this challenge, I am working out everyday. I have EVEN LESS time and I am still stretching everyday (I'm working on the walking part). Give yourself 5 minutes. While watching TV. You can time yourself. And if you want to stop after 5, you can. If you don't--which is more likely--then you've just made time to stretch. See how that works? 5) "Don't hate your body. It's just trying to keep you alive" Maaya, or starsapart--a very wise woman--told me these words in my proverbial darkest before dawn moment. If you are healthy, and that is a relative term, if your body is not actively and seriously unwell. If like me, being overweight is the one thing it seems to be doing wrong, then don't hate you body. The difficulty your body is having shedding weight and inches comes from a survival instinct. It's not your body's fault. Your body isn't a malicious being trying to make your life a misery. So be kind to yourself. And then teach your body to thrive. So why Sabriel? Why the Abhorsen saga as the inspiration for my battle log? Well the newly leased warrior in me would say it is because I put the dead down. The dead being dead weight. That I have taken up the fishscale armour, silver key dusted halberd and bell bandolier of my office to hide the tears fat sheds as it wrung from my body (anyone see what I did there?). But in all honesty, and we can be honest here can we not my dears? In all honesty, this is not just a journey to put down fat. I'm putting to rest everything that ever went bump in the nights of my tearful youth, any silly insecurity I ever had, any belief that I can't. I may be the most ignorant Abhorsen in centuries (and pretty old to be starting at 25), but blood is blood and the Charter is the charter. And this Book of the Dead? I hope it will serve as a woot guide for the like minded. If I can do it, anyone can. And that's just me being honest. Does the walker chose the path or the path chose the walker?

My first WOOT post because I levelled up to level 2 in the academy today! Hopefully the first of many levels in the foreseeable future.

I just have to share: Since the beginning of the year, I've lost 15 pounds!! What's especially exciting about this is that I haven't particularly made weight-loss a focus of anything, and I haven't even done anything particularly consistent. I've just been doing the 4-week challenges since the beginning of the year, focusing on improving my diet. But that has made me so much more mindful about my choices that the weight has been dropping as a matter of course. All my pants are getting loose in the waist, and when I bought new jeans the other day, I had to go down a size. My overall goal is to lose 100 pounds, so this means I'm over 10% there!

So my life goal on the last challenge was to start the Kickstarter we were working on, but we had some logistical issues (manufacturer quotes and questions) and it didn't start in February, so my challenge failed, boo. Buuuuut, we hit the Start button last Friday! Hurray! If you'd like to take a look, it's here: Gravity Duels We're also working on a Thunderclap for it so more people will see it. Here's the link to that: CLAP I'm still in the "running around seeing how else I can share it" phase, so if you've got any ideas, let me know I'm also working on keeping my health and fitness up during this - I'm doing well on my eating habits but I need to figure out more ways to squeeze deadlifts into my routine!

Readin about someone lifting more than they ever could is great - But seeing the person lifting more than they ever could and then seeing their happy faces is even better! Reading about someone doing his first 10 pull ups is great - But seeing the pullups, seeing the fight at the last pull up and the happy face after succeeding is even more awesome! Reading about using the 20 seconds courage to jump out of the plane is epic - But seeing the jump itself is more epic! I guess you understand what I want to say - some things are better to be seen So now its time to show your film about archieving your thing! Or maybe creating the film itself is the success! Have fun

I'm excited to say that one month ago I found a lifting partner and joined a local gym. I have made it into the gym following a lifting program every morning I was to be there for the past month. Even when my partner called in sick I showed up and did my lifting. I am actually renewing my gym membership for three more months. I'm kind of shocked, I guess I assumed when I joined that it would fade away quickly but having a partner has really pushed me to get up early and get my lifts in. I'm looking forward to the next month and hoping to continue my success.