Lady of the Bog: Sweats Like an Orc, Lives like a Hobbit, and (hopes to) Look like an Elf

[ladyofthebog]

On 7/17/2018 at 11:42 AM, Kishi said:

 

Mm. Sounds like Henry Rollins' Iron and the Soul. Bodies and their souls are way more integrated than we tend to think. The soul can push the body, yes, provide feedback and force it to greatness. It pushes from the inside out. But it's a two-way street. The body can push the soul as well, the outer strength driving inward.

 

It's weird, but it's legit. You're not alone or unusual in experiencing it, although it's not something that I generally see discussed as such. I think the last one I saw who really got into that was Elliott Hulse, a yogi-strongman, whom I'm convinced is insane, but not wrong for that.

 

Anyway, glad to see that you got in and did the work. There's a time for resting, and there's a time for pushing through; I'm glad you could discern the difference.

Oh man, I love henry rollins and thank you for directing me to that  article. yes, a season for all things. my schedule is a little busier than normal so i am having trouble finding time to workout in the morning (my favorite time). so, been pushing to go after the little bean goes to sleep at night. I have a less juice for sure at night but doing what is necessary to get it in and being flexible with t.

Day 57 in the year 2018: The Account of Sophie and the Finding of the Butt of Power):

Took family photos today! Looking forward to seeing them later this week. We went to a local park here because coordinating to the beach house was so just too complicated. Very sweaty. Much carrying of child up hills. Hopefully the sweat will look more like glisten then, well, sweat. It's a fine line for sure.

So I am contemplating leaving the Strong by Bret membership. I'm not stoked on this month's (or last month's) but will hold out for another month. Not looking forward to either coming up with somethng myself (though that's what I've been doing) or finding another program.

 

So: lifts

sumo deadlift: 145 lbs 3x10

incline overhead press: 50 lbs 3x12

goblet squat: 45 lbs 3x10 directly into

   superset: reverse lungs 45 lbs 3x10 (10 each leg)

arnold curl 15 lbs 3x15

xxoo

 

ps anyone watch the magicians? i loved the book series when it came out but having trouble getting into the tv show.

[Kishi]

That's the catch with outsourcing your programming: you don't have to think and choose for yourself, but you gotta do what they tell you or else it's not their program anymore. For better or for worse.

 

I hope they find the way back to programming stuff for you that you want!

[solski]

Your post about body-soul relationship reminded me of Alexander Lowen. He created a whole psychotherapy method based on finding relationships between state of your body and your psyche. You can check his works out. Let me know what you think about it if you decide to check that out

About creating your own program - I think it's a good idea to borrow from someone else (like you do now with Strong by Bret) and then experiment from there. Of course it will be a long journey, but hell - the experience and knowledge you're gonna get out of it is priceless  Besides - it'll motivate you to seek knowledge even more.

[Renate]

Saw your thread in the Respawn point, this thread made me smile, so I am going to follow it for when you pick it back up again. 

[ladyofthebog]

10 hours ago, analoggirl said:

Saw your thread in the Respawn point, this thread made me smile, so I am going to follow it for when you pick it back up again. 

very glad to have you here! and i love your name. i'm going to go head over and check your challenge out! 

[ladyofthebog]

Day 58 (eer time is a flat circle) in the year 2018: The Account of Sophie and the Finding of the Butt of Power):

Alright, my friends, I am back posting on here. I posted over in the Respawn thread about some changes I've made towards my fitness. Mostly, my schedule is such that I don't have the space to get to the fancy gym so I've been working out at home and gradually building up my weight collection. I've been doing Liift4 program + the booty workouts on one rest day/week for a month from Beachbody and liking it. I can't really compete with lifting heavy at the gym but it is getting what needs to be done. I think the program really utilizes time under tension which is just, wow, painful. It also utilizes a lot of hiit which I'm hoping makes me feel a more well rounded kind of fit. We shall see!

 

My diet hasn't been on point. Three pronged approach to getting it in line

1) eating 5/day -->planned snacking w/ healthy ratio of protein 

2) meal prepping quinoa or other meal base  and having veggies on hand that are ready for immediate consumption

3) decreasing refined carbs

 

Sooo, going to post my workouts here if it feasible to do so. 

Chest/Triceps- Circuit

This workout has three blocks of four exercises which are done as supersets. Each block of 4 is done 3x with 15 seconds between each set of four (not rest between each exercise) and 60 seconds between each block.  I think maybe it is good for hypertrophy to do such volume but it's hard to do respectable weights w/ so many reps (40 reps/block.

 

Chest Press (x10@ 50 lbs)

Tricep Press (x10 @ 20 lbs)

Flys (x10 @ 20 lbs)

Tricep kickbacks (x10 @ 24 lbs)

* done three times w/ 15 second rest between each set (not individual lift)

60 second rest

Decline Press (basically go into bridge and do a chest press)  (x10@ 50 lbs)

Skull Crushers (x10@ 24 lbs)

Rotating Chest Press- I love these though can't say why? (x10 @ 50 lbs)

Single side skull crushers (x10 @ 12 lbs)

* done three times w/ 15 seconds between each set

60 seconds rest

Burn out: wide push ups for 30 seconds, tricep pushups for 30 seconds 

* done three times w/ 15 seconds between each set

  Ab work:

a minute of reachign sit ups/bicycles x3 w/ same deal: 15 seconds between

 

Thank you for following along. Appreciate you. 

xxoo,

Sophie

 

me and baby love

growing me guns in the basement or as i affectionately call it, the hole

 

[ladyofthebog]

Day 58 (eer time is a flat circle) in the year 2018: The Account of Sophie and the Finding of the Butt of Power):

Back and biceps today. It was a 50/50 workout which means half the time is lifting and half is HIIT. My legs are burnt from the workout I did on Sunday that was butt related so it was a struggle. Feel better for doing it. I think I probably can count on my hand the times in the past decade where I've regretted doing a workout. Remind me of this when I am resistant in the future. 

 

I really do enjoy these Beachbody workouts (particularly like form cues) but, gosh, the whole MLM structure to the company is awful. I get so annoyed w/ the "health coach" aspect and the pushing of their products (particularly their meal replacement shake) that it has taken a lot for me to get over it and just enjoy working out. Speaking of multi-level marketing has anyone listened to "The Dream" podcast? It's great and really reveals the underlying economic inequities and particularly American philosophies that underpin the birth and success of MLM companies. FASCINATING. Also, any other predominately stay at home parents out there live on podcasts? I do! It keeps the ol' brain juices flowing while keeping house.

 

Feeling a bit crazed trying to get a million things together today and not getting as much as I'd like done.  I host a monthly fantasy genre (taken loosely) bookclub that is meeting on Thursday. The book that we read was a collection of short stories that are interpretations of HP Lovecraft. Therefore, want to make some kind of noodle dish a la Chthulu? Then Friday it is once again D&D which I like to make a nice spread. Then, off to California on Monday for a three day holiday for me to see my BFF. So, lots of planning today. Trying to get it all in between toddler time.

 

Anywho: workout time

Back and Biceps, Week 4

Set 1(superset)

Wide Rows–  10 reps (40 lbs)

Wide Curls – 10 reps (24 lbs)

        3 sets (15 seconds between each)

60 seconds rest

Set 2

Reverse Flys–  10 reps (24 lbs)

Full Curls – 10 reps (24 lbs)

         3 sets (15 seconds between each)

60 seconds rest)

Set 3

Full Rows–  10 reps (40 lbs)

Hammer Curls – 10 reps (24 lbs)

        3 sets (15 second between)

HIIT

Square Squat Jumps- 60 seconds

Wide Mountain Climbers – 45 seconds

Single Leg Plyo Jumps – 30 seconds   

       3 sets 15 seconds between each- I thought I would explode

Core

Side Reachers– 30 seconds

High Plank Dumbell Taps – 30 seconds

Repeat the above for a total of 3 sets.

 

There you have it folks. 

 

Diet

Breakfast: 3 eggs, spinach on the side

Lunch: was feeling a sweet tooth so made quinoa porridge w/ a splash of Good Karma's flax milk "Pumpkin Spice Nog" (45 calories/4 fl oz), walnuts (healthy fat!), and berries thrown in. Hit the spot!

Plan for rest of day:

-- snack on jicama and hummus

-- dinner: lentil soup and moroccan chicken for the family 

 

xxxoo,

Sophie

[ladyofthebog]

Day 60 in the year of 2018: Short-cut to Monterey:

Checking in at the airport. Flying without kids such a relaxing experience. I'm a hour early for my flight and sitting here reveling in the feeling of time stretching out in front of me. Motherhood has changed me in innumerable ways and surely one that must be mentioned is my approach towards flying. 

 

 So, here I am, returning from yet another trip to California. How many times have I flown across these borders (Joni Mitchell's California is playing in reverse in my mind's stereo box). I miss the graceful hills and ocean breeze of my homeland. I miss the particularly Californian food- something so distinct yet so imprecise that I can never quite put it to words? I miss the heat of the sun cutting through the cool sea wind.

 

Just this last weekend I was driving through Damascus, revealing in the verdant (I always appreciate this word because it was on the one SAT I took and got a perfect score while hungover. Is it sad that I am still proud of that so many years later? Don't be like me, kids, wasteful in my youth, strident), mossy landscape rushing outside my windows. Oregon is so unabashedly ALIVE, deep and dark. The beauty of where I am from is stark- not West Texas stark- but open, inviting. It's a place where people seem secondary- nestled into the crevices of the sloping hills. There is something particular about growing up next to the ocean: you learn yourself to be secondary, perhaps, aware of great depths. Control is an illusion.

 

So, I ate a ton of sushi. Gorged on sushi. I don't have any regrets. I went to the gym with my bff, attempted to show her how to dead lift, hip thrust. I have a new appreciation for personal trainers. Cues at hard, identifying what's not working is hard. Not so hard to recognize what is working. I feel healthy these days. It's taken about five weeks but I'm the place again where my body craves exercise, my lungs want to pump. I feel like there is always a roadblock from me getting totally ripped but I also recognize I don't really care to have the discipline that it requires. My life is often about other things than tracking macros. 

 

Lately I have been struck be a few things (non-fitness related) that I thought I'd share:

This one has been on my mind for months in various configurations-

 Humans are social beings. Our relationships are what sustain us and to deny it is not to look close enough. The very fact of frontal lobe dementia, traumatic brain injury should let us know that we are not our own. We are caught and suspended and held in a web of relations. Who we are and who we *think* we are is so much bound up in others. Not just tattooed but the very sinew of our being is formed by the doings of others.

 

It's like the butterfly's wing and a hurricane analogy but in flesh. What happens to someone in Somalia or Shanghai doesn't just affect me when I see it but affects the course of my life! Who I am as a person relies upon so many micro-interactions that erupt into macro-consequences. I'm not sure if I am making myself clear but lately I have been thinking in a very REAL sense: I am you and you are me! What happens to one of us happens to all of us. Taking care of others, we care for ourselves. 

 

I liked to the line from a Streetcar Named Desire in my early twenties- "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers" for a few reasons. First, what a deliciously enigmatic line? What perfection in prose! Second, I did depend on the kindness of strangers often. When you are young and female and fit in with a particular aesthetic, people want to help you and, if you are flailing like I sometimes did, there are many opportunities for that. Though, like our heroine learns in Streetcar knows well, that kind of kindness may come at a price. That line means something different to me now- and it is def not what the author intended.

 

With no sardonic tinge, I can confidently write that we all depend on the kindness of strangers. We are here because of the kindness of strangers. We are at once both at the mercy of strangers and ourselves the stranger. Kindness. That's all I got. 

 

xxooo

Sophe

[ladyofthebog]

Day 61 & 62: Whispers in the Dark (basement)

My husband is getting a forearm tattoo today with an artist he loves. It's been a year wait list, I can't wait to see it. I'll probably post it on here. Worked out for the past two days (back/biceps and then shoulders + hiit). I've been feeling anxious for the past two days. I'm not sure where it is coming from. Something in the air? It could be passing my test. I have this strange way of flipping good news into bad news as if I am waiting for the other shoe to drop? Is this an adult child of an alcoholic thing? Maybe it is just a human being thing. 

xxoo,

Sophie

[The Battle Chef]

It's a human being thing.  Even when I know I've passed trade certifications in the past, steel feel antsy until I get the certificate and license in my hands.  

[Kishi]

Seconded. Also, just to echo that we are more than our macros~.

 

That being said, hey! I just noticed it's been a couple of weeks! I'm sure life is busy right now and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that, but I do hope all's been well.

[ladyofthebog]

On 1/16/2019 at 1:58 PM, Kishi said:

Seconded. Also, just to echo that we are more than our macros~.

 

That being said, hey! I just noticed it's been a couple of weeks! I'm sure life is busy right now and I wouldn't want to get in the way of that, but I do hope all's been well.

kishi! i'm lax on this log but keeping up(ish) on the challenges! better updating on the challenge here:

 

[ladyofthebog]

Day 63: Butt of Power Day

 I'm back and I hope I can keep this journal a bit more active. I like the format @ReturnOfTheDad's format w/o the weight section because it can get me nutty? Bought a pair of calipers online today so I'll update with that.

 

Snooze time: 915 PM (happy with this, worked out in the evening time and basically showered and fell asleep after five pages of The Fifth Season (super fun read, btw)

Water/Supplements: f***, I drink water like I'm a desert cat. have sucked with this today

 

Meals:

700 am: oatmeal + blueberries

11 am: tostada type situation (one tostada crisp+ heap of spiced red cabbage, fake taco meat ((soy based, unfortunately)), and mango- cheese omitted)

kombucha (yum)

projected:

5 pm: minestrone soup+ slice of bread

    * instant pot! so easy to make!! highly recommend

vegan protein powder+ rice milk

 

Fitness:

butt workout w/ bands (upped the bands and it burned)

 

Finances:

   Took a bit of a hit w/ tax season but working to get savings back up. We have been super intentional about $$ but would like to get a better idea of our budget. have about 24k in savings now but it is going to be hit out when my husband *finally* goes to see the CPA this next week of at least 9k Goal for the end of summer? back up past the 24 k to 26k. Anybody use Acorns?? I love it and recently checked to find that I saved 1000 without even thinking about it! highly recommend!!

 Have a job interview on Tuesday for a nursing job that I'd like (12 h/week) as an IBCLC-RN (boob nurse. I kid). I'm still doing hospice on Sundays (around 8 hours but I'm picking up extra on call shifts because a coworker quit). I've been dreaming about two things:

1) getting my personal training cert (ACE or NASM). I feel ilke this is my crazy brain because I want something to study?

2) someday creating a business that provides two streams of service: death doulas and birth doulas. I have experience working in maternity (and I'm an IBCLC, as mentioned) and I also have experience in hospice. Working in both, I've seen such connections between death and birth. I could go on about this but really am dreaming about this as a someday!

 

Notes: 

feeling a bit lergy but likely due to lack of sleep, not because I'm not getting into bed but I wake up in the early morning stressed about the cats waking up the kid or the kid waking up. I feel like I've got too many catecholamines running through my body.

 

Thank you for all those following along!

[The Battle Chef]

 

Welcome back.

[Kishi]

I've heard that Beyond Meat is doing a non-soy meat alternative, and I've enjoyed it when I've been out and it's been available. I think they must be doing a better job cooking it than I do, though; also, it doesn't seem to reconvert back to ground all that well (although apparently that too is a thing they're working on which, if so, I mean hey).

 

21 hours ago, ladyofthebog said:

1) getting my personal training cert (ACE or NASM). I feel ilke this is my crazy brain because I want something to study?

 

Not crazy at all! Although, if you don't mind me asking, have you considered going for a CSCS? If you decided to go that route and work, you might be able to command a higher fee. Maybe.

 

21 hours ago, ladyofthebog said:

feeling a bit lergy but likely due to lack of sleep, not because I'm not getting into bed but I wake up in the early morning stressed about the cats waking up the kid or the kid waking up. I feel like I've got too many catecholamines running through my body.

 

Geez, is that what that is? I can never seem to get to bed early enough; even if I get down earlier, I wake up earlier because I'm freaked about missing the alarm. ;;;

[ladyofthebog]

On 4/9/2019 at 11:42 AM, Kishi said:

I've heard that Beyond Meat is doing a non-soy meat alternative, and I've enjoyed it when I've been out and it's been available. I think they must be doing a better job cooking it than I do, though; also, it doesn't seem to reconvert back to ground all that well (although apparently that too is a thing they're working on which, if so, I mean hey).

 

 

Not crazy at all! Although, if you don't mind me asking, have you considered going for a CSCS? If you decided to go that route and work, you might be able to command a higher fee. Maybe.

 

 

Geez, is that what that is? I can never seem to get to bed early enough; even if I get down earlier, I wake up earlier because I'm freaked about missing the alarm. ;;;

i have tried beyond meat! it was the most meaty meat alternative i've had, i think? i'm glad there are mad food scientists out there. hey! and if the soil degrades to such a point that the aerth cannot no longer produce the necessary flora/fauna to engine our metabolism (or any other apocalyptic scenario), hopefully they will continue having our back to make delicious under dark mushroom and bug alternatives to beef! it'll be great! i digress and to be clear, i'm not a prepper/end of world-er... erhmm.

 

have not considered but should! but  mostly it's a pipe dream, something i want to do for my own edification?
 

On 4/9/2019 at 12:06 AM, Rusk said:

 

Welcome back.

that's very canada of you. speaking of which- have you listened to podcast blackout! fun? and from vaguely your neck of the woods???

 

[ladyofthebog]

has anyone joined the Rising Heroes? What y'all think?

 

Day 65 & 67: Riders of the Tricycle

 Been making laps with the wee one and her tricycle. It's great. It's no longer frigid and every so often the sun peaks through.

65

Snooze time: 1000 PM ugh. still wake up for the past days too early and toss and turn.

Water/Supplements: continue to be like a desert cat but took my supplements and drank tea. I've made my own tea of 2:1 cardamom pods/anise. It's GREAT for the tum.

Meals:

700 am: oatmeal + 2 tablespoons almond butter

12 am: yellow curry w/ chickpeas

530 pm: salad and two slices of thin crust pizza

   * so, I ate over at my in-laws and they ordered pizza. I asked my husband if they'd be insulted if I didn't eat their pizza (he affirmed as I suspected) and I ended up eating two slices. They were delicious but 1) had cheese which made me bloat (I think) 2) f**k. i wish it wasn't so strained with them particularly when it comes to health and wellness. I wish we could talk about health/weight, etc but it's such a thorny tender issue. I also just wish it could be normal for me to bring my own dinner besides anything else.

 

Fitness: CARDIO

 

Finances: Transfered $1800 into the savings and want to see how little we can live off for the rest of the month. hoping I can continue to transfer some more in a few weeks. Expected out of the ordinary expenditures: Easter basket things, going to to the beach house (so gas $$, and, if i don't plan well, the groceries out there are ridiculous)

 

66

Snooze time: 915 PM (watched the final episode on netflix of into the badlands. i love fight scenes and i felt like it finally started heating up a little by the end)

water/supplements: i'm actually drinking water today. i probably should be more quantitative about this whole h20 issue.

 

Meals:

630: oatmeal+ pineapple (the chick woke up at 545 am)

12: leftover minestrone and half a block of marinated tofu

plan: chickpeas and quinoa plus broccoli (spicey)

(I need to add in some healthy in between meals ak snacks i'm realizing to get up my intake and also keep me from gorging at meals?)

 

Fitness: upper body, tempo workout with abs

 

Finances: went to the local science museum with the cute-butt which is free because we bought a membership last summer! great buy! otherwise, i need to go pick up some groceries, will go to the local discount market by our house. I LOVE IT and using it has cut our grocery bills by 30-50%.

 

thank you all for following along this log! can't be terribly diverting.

 

 

[The Battle Chef]

35 minutes ago, ladyofthebog said:

that's very canada of you. speaking of which- have you listened to podcast blackout! fun? and from vaguely your neck of the woods???

 

No.  I'm too busy being depressed about all the snow we had this week D:

 

 

 

I wish I was making this up.

[ladyofthebog]

4 hours ago, Rusk said:

No.  I'm too busy being depressed about all the snow we had this week D:

 

 

 

I wish I was making this up.

SADNESS. SADNESS. HEYYYYY GOT IS (almost) HERE. You in?

[ladyofthebog]

AND I just drank half a milkshake and feel terrible. on the downside, i feel terrible and disappointed in myself. on the plus side, it's pretty clear i don't handle dairy well. SIGH. searched for a bloat related gif but came up with nothing

[The Battle Chef]

4 hours ago, ladyofthebog said:

SADNESS. SADNESS. HEYYYYY GOT IS (almost) HERE. You in?

I have no idea what you're talking about lol

 

4 hours ago, ladyofthebog said:

AND I just drank half a milkshake and feel terrible. on the downside, i feel terrible and disappointed in myself. on the plus side, it's pretty clear i don't handle dairy well. SIGH. searched for a bloat related gif but came up with nothing

 

 

I too am cursed with lactose intolerance.  

[ladyofthebog]

On 4/10/2019 at 11:37 PM, Rusk said:

I have no idea what you're talking about lol

 

 

 

I too am cursed with lactose intolerance.  

lol, that wasn't clear at all. Game of Thrones!

I <3 Pusheen 

[ladyofthebog]

Day 68:

Sleep: I am bound upon a wheel of fire that mine own tears do scald like molten lead (I just love that line) not really but the girl has been waking up in the 5 o'clock hour again

Diet:

 Breakfast: pancakes w/ raisins 

 lunch: tofu w/ rice, veggies

 dinner: bok choy stir fry

snack: nuts

Fitness: legs, felt like cardio the whole time

Finance: I'm going to be shoveling all of my paycheck over to our car loan which is in it's final throes! I realize it is kind of silly for us to have money in savings but have debt? I also called my work today to say that I didn't mind them sending me the PRN work and on-call work (I often don't even get called but still get paid! it's great) and that i am open to more of it. 

notes: maybe some of you remember from my last challenge that my husband had been contemplating a career change. Well, folks, that change has been made as he received an offer yesterday as a business analyst/consultant at a business-business marketing company. We didn't even have to move! The salary starts  lower than what we are used to for the first 3-6 months but then increases if he doesn't fuck up. 

 

 

 

 

[The Battle Chef]

14 hours ago, ladyofthebog said:

lol, that wasn't clear at all. Game of Thrones!

 

Not a fan, to be honest.  

[ladyofthebog]

5 hours ago, Rusk said:

Not a fan, to be honest.  

i wasn't for awhile but then winter *really* started arriving and i am now thoroughly down. court intrigue/murder/yadda yadda usually bores me in fantasy but epic tides, i'm down.

 

Day 69: Fog on the Barrow Downs

Sleep: i took a nap when the child nap. it was fantastic!

Diet:

    * breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 slice o' bread, banana, and spinach

    * snack: rice cakes

    * lunch: quinoa + chickpeas + veggies (spinach, celery, orange bell pepper) + sauce

    * dinner: rice, beans, salsa, spinach, peas, carrots

    * desert: half a banana cream cake (200 k/cal)

Finance: went to go pick up a Dave Ramsey book but then didn't buy it because I thought it was kind of simple? Does anyone have a finance book to recommend?

 

Notes: Got in 10000 steps today. Ended the day exhausted.