Big Show: Intermission 1 - Stationary Hunter

[Big_Show]

Bit late to the party, but here is my rehab challenge!

 

My last challenge ended prematurely with a recurrent calf injury that bother me loads last year.  It was basically a culmination of putting a fair bit of weight back on, not committing to the daily mobility work, and not training consistently enough to justify attempting speedwork when I did.

 

So this challenge I am taking a break from my custom XP mechanic and keeping everything nice and simple.  My goal is to:

 

1) Do daily mobility work/yoga

 

2) Gradually build up my running mileage at a safe & sustainable rate

 

3) Log every damn thing I eat.

 

This won't involve obsessively counting calories, but the mere act of recording it all will focus my attention on what it is I am actually eating, and start improving things from the outset.

 

My major target is to keep everything as simple as possible so I don't get overwhelmed if work gets busy, or as the end of this challenge approaches and I move in with the Welshman.  I need consistency and simplicity in my training, and having fewer priorities makes them easy to keep an eye on.

 

I also want to actually update this thread no less than every other day at the very least, and to catch up with how everyone else has been faring recently!  Meeting up with nerds over the last couple of weeks has me miss you all

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

First! Welcome back!

[rowan]

SECOND! TAG YOU'RE IT!

 

Hooray for Big Show! And hooray for simple challenges - it's so easy to be lured in by the promises of SPREADSHEETS and POINTS SYSTEMS and TIERED PLANS and all that jazz, but when you get right down to it this is the heart of the practice

 

also HELLO HELLO HELLO!

[Big_Show]

15 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

First! Welcome back!

 

Thanks!  Good to be back!  (Again)

 

15 hours ago, rowan said:

SECOND! TAG YOU'RE IT!

 

Hooray for Big Show! And hooray for simple challenges - it's so easy to be lured in by the promises of SPREADSHEETS and POINTS SYSTEMS and TIERED PLANS and all that jazz, but when you get right down to it this is the heart of the practice

 

also HELLO HELLO HELLO!

 

YAY!  RANGER ROWAN IS BACK IN THE HOUSE!

 

Also, love the achievements you have there in your signature -  they're great!

 

-----------------------------

 

First day of my respawn went well.  To a certain extent.

 

I weighed myself this morning very first thing and the scales said 115.4kg (254.4lbs).  Which was not pleasant, but also kinda expected.  And my waistline has gone back up to 46" again :/

 

Still, it gives me a good starting point!  First step is to aim for 110kg (242.5lbs).  Then take it from there

 

So, today's targets:

 

1) Do daily mobility work/yoga

Absolutely exhausted after another awful night's sleep yesterday (jetlag is fun!) so I just did the 7min long Squat Mobility mini-session.  But something is better than nothing!

 

2) Gradually build up my running mileage at a safe & sustainable rate

Not planning on running until Saturday at the earliest, but then I'll be attempting a simple 2 miles.

 

3) Log every damn thing I eat.

I wrote them all down in my paper diary.  After a healthy lunch, I realised that I need to start packing a snack for late afternoon/pre-exercise.  Otherwise I will inevitably start making bad decisions and justifying them with "hunger".

 

Tomorrow evening I am catching up with my parents after work, but should be able to still fit in a mini-session again.  Then on Saturday I attempt the gym and that short run - and I'll also have my copy of the new Nom Nom Paleo cookbook which got delivered to my folks' house while I was away on holiday, so this weekend will hopefully involve some very nice food indeed!

[rowan]

WRITING DOWN WHAT YOU EAT BUDDIES!  It is rather illuminating, isn't it? Oh, the power of analog!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

DAMMIT BIG SHOW!

[Sloth the Enduring]

It's nice seeing you again Big Show.

[Big_Show]

Ok, so I didn't do well with the daily logging target.  But over the weekend I did try running (1.3M without any injury recurrence), catch up with my family, have a couple of nice quiet nights in with the Welshman, and do a load of meal prep.  So Week 2 is getting off to a good start as a result.

 

One of the recipes I tried was the Thanksgiving Bites from Ready or Not!, the new book from Nom Nom Paleo (little patties of turkey mixed with sweet potato, carrot, and brussel sprouts).  Without making the sauce as well, they were quite nice for dinner last night and also work well for taking to work for an emergency snack to stop me hitting the vending machine again.

 

Today's check-in:

 

1) Do daily mobility work/yoga

 

Both a squat mobility mini-session and some foam-rolling was done while watching TV.

 

2) Gradually build up my running mileage at a safe & sustainable rate

 

Today I ran again with no calf problems!  Not far, but slightly further than Saturday's effort - 1.5M in 12:39 @ 8:18/mile av., although it felt a lot slower than that.

 

3) Log every damn thing I eat.

 

I wrote everything in my diary.  Despite all the good excuses at the time, that Kit Kat I had on the way home was not really justified at all.  But work stress made it seem so at the time I guess...

 

 

Spent the evening getting back on top of my finances & budget app (yay!) and watching the first two episodes of the new Star Trek series (undecided so far - visually impressive, but no idea what the series itself is going to end up being like), and soon be heading to bed for some much-needed rest.

 

Promise to check in again tomorrow!

[Big_Show]

Kinda ran out of energy and enthusiasm to do much this evening.

 

1) Do daily mobility work/yoga

 

Squat mobility mini-session and some foam-rolling done.

 

2) Gradually build up my running mileage at a safe & sustainable rate

 

Not today - planning two miles for tomorrow though.

 

3) Log every damn thing I eat.

 

I logged everything.  However I ate my feelins/boredom later on, so it did not make for pretty reading.

 

I felt tired and quite meh and so sacked off my gym session in favour of lying on the sofa reading random list articles on my phone.  I think I've been doing variations on this same gym programme for over a year now, and now it definitely feels like time to try something new that I can get excited about again.  I've made decent strength gains, but now I kinda want to get my engine fired up again.  While also continuing to squat/deadlift/get better at pull-ups.  Think I need to do some research and find a good one to try.

[Wild Wolf]

23 hours ago, Big_Show said:

One of the recipes I tried was the Thanksgiving Bites from Ready or Not!, the new book from Nom Nom Paleo (little patties of turkey mixed with sweet potato, carrot, and brussel sprouts).

 

Nom Nom Paleo has some awesome recipes. I've been using her recipes on and off since 2013-I should check out this new book. Those bites sound really really tasty

 

Following along, ya cheeky bastard! Welcome back. Cheers to becoming the "Swift" Hunter once again!

 

 

Wolf

[Raxie]

Yayyy! So glad you were able to get through a run with your calf not being a butt.  I really need to get my hands on the new Nom Nom Paleo book!

[rowan]

hello hello hello Mr. Show!  how was your week 2? do you have lots of interesting data about the things you put into your face?

[rowan]

Biiiiigggggggssshhhhoooowwwwwww

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

OY!

Get back on the boards you limey giant!

[rowan]

WE WILL PROCEED TO MOCK YOUR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN UNTIL YOU RETURN.

 

TEA? CORGIES? CALLING ALL DESSERTS PUDDING? HAHAHAHAHA!

[Big_Show]

I shall return this evening!

Damn colonials. Mocking pudding is just not cricket.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

[rowan]

OKIE I SHALL WAIT HERE WATCHING PANEL SHOWS AND SPELLING THINGS WITH EXTRA "U"S LIKE COLOUR UNTIL YOU DO IN FACT RETURN

[Big_Show]

OKIE I SHALL WAIT HERE WATCHING PANEL SHOWS AND SPELLING THINGS WITH EXTRA "U"S LIKE COLOUR UNTIL YOU DO IN FACT RETURN

*WITH THE CORRECT NUMBER IF "U"S

FTFY

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 hours ago, Big_Show said:

*WITH THE CORRECT NUMBER IF "U"S

FTFY

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 

Naw, ya'll don't need as many ah them thar "u's" as ya'll think ya'll do.

[Big_Show]

45 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Naw, ya'll don't need as many ah them thar "u's" as ya'll think ya'll do.

 

If it helps, my accent tends to stick far more "a"s into words than are strictly necessary too.  Or "aaaaacent", as it might be said...

[Big_Show]

Ok, so here I am checking back in again!

 

It's been an interesting week and a half.  I logged loads of my eating, gradually went for slightly longer runs (now up to 3 miles at 8:15/mile pace with no problems).  Things I need to stop doing: eating out several times a week, and weekday drinking.  Both have been creeping in loads more over the last few months (while also being lots of fun!) but they should probably be a lot less frequent from now on.

 

Work has been a bit crazy.  I spent most of last week wondering if my contract was going to be ended early and I would be unemployed, but thankfully this not appear to be the case.  Yet it was still an excuse for my head to go to a bad place, and I ended up sacking off most things and hiding from most responsibilities.

 

This is not a productive use of my time.

 

Ok, so I'm now I'm going to pay a lot more attention.  My food diary is being kept, I am doing my yoga, I am running regularly, and I am going to have control my eating a lot better from now on.

 

Also, it is now just over a week until I move house and I need to pack more of my crap up.  So far I have filled one box and thrown out three binbags - that's progress, right?

[Big_Show]

It has been a good weekend!

 

Yesterday I finally went back to the gym for the first time in a month.  Between my previous injury and my holiday I had not been for a while, and I realised I was also putting off my return out of a mix of boredom and also some apprehension/fear.  I've basically been follwing variations on the same programmes for over a year now, and it just didn't excite me to get back in there.

 

However I now bought my Trifecta pass for next year, and a friend went for a trial at a CF box last week and described the circuit WOD they did - this was exactly the kind of thing I was looking forward to get my engine firing a bit harder again.  I still want to keep up the big lifts and work on specific skills, but I need more circuit-type finishers at the end too.  I have my goals, and I want to work directly towards them; one of them is re-dropping the weight I have put on since moving back home and getting into a happy relationship...

 

SO.  For the next month my thrice-weekly workouts will follow this format:

 

Deadlift OR Squats OR bench

THEN

Superset of assisted pull-ups & dips

Seated cable row

OR

Flyes

DB press

THEN

Circuit finisher

 

This week's circuit was 10mins AMRAP of:

- 250m row

- 20 air squats

- 15 sit-ups

- 10 press-ups

- 5 bent-over rows (should have been inverted ring rows but they're nowhere near the rowing machine in my gym, so...)

 

This will be adapted & added to throughout the month, but that's the basic shape of things right now.

 

I have also done enough food-logging; from tomorrow I start actively making changes as well.  I keep putting this off until after the next holiday, or until after the big move, but if I waited another week I'm sure I would find another event relatively soon that I could then wait until after, ad infinitum.  So from tomorrow: no buying food from the shop at work, and no bacon sarnies on the way in either!  Also no solo alcohol calories during the week.  That habit was sneaking back in again.

 

On with the new week!

[rowan]

Yay! It's a good feeling to have the data and start to act on it! Also, ARE YOU MY SECRET TWIN because in addition to having the same challenge thing I also have decided that having solo alcohol calories are a thing to cut out. ARE WE LINKED BY DESTINY MAYBE I DONT KNOW

[Big_Show]

42 minutes ago, rowan said:

Yay! It's a good feeling to have the data and start to act on it! Also, ARE YOU MY SECRET TWIN because in addition to having the same challenge thing I also have decided that having solo alcohol calories are a thing to cut out. ARE WE LINKED BY DESTINY MAYBE I DONT KNOW

 

Quite possible!  Although my Capslock abilities are nowhere near as good as yours...

 

-----------------------

 

I have done no training since Saturday.  But what I have done is pack up most of my flat ready for the move on Saturday.  I'd say I'm about 80% there now, and need to have the rest pretty much done by tomorrow night, as Thursday night we're going out for dinner, and on Friday we collect the hire van and start loading stuff.  So... one more day to go!

 

That said, after work tomorrow I am definitely hitting the gym before I do anything else.  It will see my return to the bench press, and the DOMS from all the squats in Saturday's circuit will hopefully have finally gone by then!

 

By the time the new challenge forums go up next week (which I think should be Zero week?) I'll be semi-settled in to our new house and ready to start making some new healthy habits to go with.  It starts at the perfect time for my new life!