DJTrippyT: The Return

[DJtrippyT]

 

[Charlie_Quinn]

I already know I'm going to love this challenge. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome back.

[DJtrippyT]

Okay, challenge time! 

 

My challenge theme is Bob Ross, the Afro-wearin', smooth-talkin', squirrel-lovin' Lord of Acrylic that did The Joy of Painting, showing everyone that with enough self-acceptance, dime store paint, and nitrous oxide they too could be a super-relaxed artist dude, no matter what their limitations were.

 

 

 

 

I had to take a brief break from challenges because work and life got super crazy, but now that things are a bit calmer I want to ease back into challenge-land with a self-care challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to set this up as a "SMART" goal for once, and actually follow the rules, but I couldn't figure out how to make "Just chillax, man" into a measurable goal so we'll just have to wing it.

 

Goal One: do something nice for myself every day.

 

This can be meditation, spending time outdoors (that isn't work out time), reading for relaxation, whatever. Only rule is it can't be a "food as reward" situation as I'm trying to break that habit.

 

Goal Two: Don't overload my schedule

 

I think this has to do with some residual puritan work guilt about being self-employed, but I have a hard time not cramming my schedule with stuff to do from 5 am to midnight. I realize that it's important to have structure when one isn't already put in place for you the way it is with a 9-5 job or a class schedule, but I just go waaaay overboard. I usually lay out my weekly planner with multi-color post-its on a dry erase board, and by the end the planning session it looks like someone threw up Coachella. Just looking at it makes my skin itch. 

 

I also have a very erratic schedule/life/friend group/partner, and if my oh so carefully planned out week gets thrown out of whack I get WAY too frustrated. Nobody likes a frustrated Trippy.

 

So instead of laying out my week in 15-minute increments at the beginning of the week, I'm going to just have colored post-its for various activities run down the end of my planner board. Then as I do stuff I can move them over to the main planner so I can see at a glance what still needs to be done. This way if my plans for a day change, it's not the end of the world - I just move stuff to the next day, or whatever.

 

Today, for instance, I had planned to work on redoing my office, running a bunch of errands, cleaning the house, and riding my bike. Around 10 am I got two phone calls; one was from the Mantis, who needed a lift in the afternoon to get home from work, and one was from a friend who is in town for a few days and wanted to come over for coffee. Normally this would make me freak out and assume I had to work until midnight to get everything on my list done plus see my friend and give the ride. Today, I just took a deep breath, decided what the most important item on the list was (cleaning the house, so my friend could come over for coffee without recoiling in disgust), and mentally moved everything else to tomorrow. Since nothing is already set in stone for tomorrow, it was much easier. I was able to chill out with my friend, rescue the Mantis, and run the dishwasher.

 

Just typing and reading this back makes me realize how completely insane and OCD this makes me sound. I may need to talk to an actual qualified professional about this someday.

 

Goal Three: Since I'm trying to be all chill and shiznit, I just have two goals. Psych!

 

Hopefully this will not be too boring a challenge for everyone. If it is I'll go back to regular self-flagellation next go round ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Yes, but will there be biking?

[Xena]

Bob Ross always makes me think of  "happy little trees" (I feel like he was always adding them).

So glad you're back!

 

[Mr_Willes]

4 hours ago, Xena said:

Bob Ross always makes me think of  "happy little trees" (I feel like he was always adding them).

So glad you're back!

 

 

So much of that!!!

 

And it already featured deadpool AND it is your challenge, what's there not to like!

 

So...

 

[Charlie_Quinn]

I think I was a bit in love with Boss Ross as a child. 

 

[DJtrippyT]

On 5/23/2018 at 9:35 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Yes, but will there be biking?

 

 

I mean... that's a rhetorical question, right? 

On 5/23/2018 at 10:47 PM, Xena said:

Bob Ross always makes me think of  "happy little trees" (I feel like he was always adding them).

So glad you're back!

 

 

I have a meme for this but it's in my phone

 

On 5/24/2018 at 3:43 AM, Mr_Willes said:

 

 

 

 

This looks like an acid trip I had one of my three junior years in college

 

On 5/22/2018 at 11:18 AM, Charlie_Quinn said:

I already know I'm going to love this challenge. 

 

I'm mostly here to make you happy, CQ

 

Quick Week Zero update, and then the challenge proper can start tomorrow

 

Wednesday is so long ago I can't remember anything I did that day. Oh no wait, that day I had coffee with my friend and I fetched the Mantis. Didnt' work out.

 

Thursday I did not get very much done which gave me guiltyness, but I absolutely went ham at the gym so that kind of made up for it.

 

workout:

 

(btw, my workouts are currently structured so that I do 2-3 strength moves and then a conditioning circuit, and sometimes I do a long aerobic thing after that.)

 

OH Press: 4 sets @ 95 lbs - fuck yeah, finally making serious progress here. I was stalled at 85 for a long time. 6 reps per set.

glute bridge, 3 sets of 30 at 100 pounds

tbar, 4 sets of 5 reps at 80. I need to work my back more

 

Circuit:

db snatch 25 lbs 30 reps

pushups, BW 10 reps

step-ups, 50 lbs 30 reps

wall ball, 8 lbs 15 reps

kb swing, 35 lbs 30 reps

run (length of the parking lot and back)

 

Did whole circuit 3 times. by the last run I was sucking some serious wind. The heavy OH's wore me out more than I expected.

 

Friday I made up for Wed/Thursday laziness by getting a zillion things done including redoing my organizer post it board of magic, but damn it took all day. I went out to lunch as a treat. 

Workout was 45 minutes on the bike trainer, intervals. I wanted to ride outside but I couldn't get my stuff done in time.

 

Saturday: another day with a lot of nothing. Meditated in the morning, was iffy all day, and then went to the gym and went bananas; I did "Grace" for the first time ever (30 clean & press) and holy cow that shit was HARD. I had planned to do it at RX (95 pounds) but I did a couple of test lifts and chickened out so I did it at 80 pounds. I did it in 7 minutes 29 seconds. I think most people do it in five minutes or under.  Then I walked/jogged 2 miles on the treadmill. (then I came home and ate everything in the house) 

 

I'm currently following the CrossFit Endurance template laid out by a guy who trains cyclists, triathaletes, etc who do crossfit/HIIT style workouts, and his template is a 3 day on, one day off pattern. I kind of like this because I get organizational anxiety every week trying to schedule my workouts around other stuff and trying to shoehorn everything in; with this I just alternate the two workout types (gym and cycling) with my rest day ad infinitum, so there's no "oh my god I only rode my bike twice this week I have to double up tomorrow" kind of stuff. I'm comfortable enough with my workouts now that I can look at it as a long-haul thing; I don't have to force myself to go to the gym x number of times a week (actually kind of the opposite; they may start locking me out if I don't stop showing up so often)

 

Nice thing for self: watched 2 nature documentaries. And I bought a guitar! Just a cheap acoustic of some kid on craigslist. "Learn to play guitar" is on my Year Of Trippy checklist, so now I at least have the instrument.

 

 

Sunday: originally planned to ride my bike today but woke up with my legs not functioning. *apparently* clean and press uses your lower body more than I thought (and then the treadmill) so my DOMS is turned up to eleven. Fortunately I'm actually scheduled for a rest day today (3 on, 1 off) so I laid on the couch without guilt.

 

Still have to do the laundry, though. Damn. Can't start the official challenge without clean underpants. Off to do laundry I go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Xena]

2 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

I think most people do it in five minutes or under.  

 

Uhhh...most people haven't heard of it.

 

2 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

30 clean & press) and holy cow that shit was HARD. I had planned to do it at RX (95 pounds) but I did a couple of test lifts and chickened out so I did it at 80 pounds.

 

And wouldn't understand the explanation.

 

Will you try it again in the foreseeable future? The only reason to suffer through that shit once is so you can feel smugly superior when you kick your past self's ass a few days, weeks or months down the line.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I find Xfit endurance intriguing, but all the plans I’ve seen were written for runners.

[Elastigirl]

3 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

Can't start the official challenge without clean underpants. Off to do laundry I go.

 

 

Glad you are starting the challenge right.

Welcome back!

[Mr_Willes]

6 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

This looks like an acid trip I had one of my three junior years in college

 

It's just Happy

 

6 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

Can't start the official challenge without clean underpants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope your DOMS is a bit better today!

[DJtrippyT]

10 hours ago, Xena said:

Uhhh...most people haven't heard of it.

 

10 hours ago, Xena said:

And wouldn't understand the explanation.

 

an extremely valid argument. "Grace" is a crossfit workout that involves 30 clean and press (taking the barbell from the floor to your shoulders, then to overhead), and it's "prescribed" (RX) at 95 pounds. I'm not strong enough for that yet though, so I did it with an 80 pound barbell.

 

10 hours ago, Xena said:

Will you try it again in the foreseeable future? The only reason to suffer through that shit once is so you can feel smugly superior when you kick your past self's ass a few days, weeks or months down the line.

 

Yes, it's a "benchmark" workout, so the theory is you do it occasionally to see if you've gotten stronger/faster/whateverer. 

 

10 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I find Xfit endurance intriguing, but all the plans I’ve seen were written for runners.

 

Yeah, the book I have is clearly aimed at runners or triathaletes. I just use the distance runner's plan and sub in cycling. Nobody loves cyclists enough to write plans just for us (sad face)

 

The big benefit is the enforced rest days; I usually just flail away until I can't move and then I have to take three days off, which is... suboptimal. With this I can point at the program and put my feet up and watch penguin documentaries without guilt.

 

6 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope your DOMS is a bit better today!

 

 

Much better this morning, I can walk down the stairs without looking like the Life Alert lady.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Yeah, I didn’t think you were getting enough rest before. Because I can never be happy, I’ll now wonder if you’re getting enough riding done.

[DJtrippyT]

36 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Yeah, I didn’t think you were getting enough rest before. Because I can never be happy, I’ll now wonder if you’re getting enough riding done.

 

Current goal is 85 miles a week, now that I'm out riding on the road again. I can't get anything close to that when I'm on the trainer. Hopefully by end of summer I'll be pushing 125. 

 

(I cheat a little and count the miles I do on the staionary bike at the gym to warm up)

[Xena]

6 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

an extremely valid argument. "Grace" is a crossfit workout that involves 30 clean and press (taking the barbell from the floor to your shoulders, then to overhead), and it's "prescribed" (RX) at 95 pounds. I'm not strong enough for that yet though, so I did it with an 80 pound barbell.

 

I only meant that you are SUPER AWESOME and do WAY MORE than "most people" :-)  

 

[.TIFF]

 

Hey You, seems we have returned at the same time this go around!  Following  

[DJtrippyT]

Yesterday was a good day. I got all the things on my to-do list done, including vaccuming and mopping all the floors, and I got a couple of things done on my main project for the day, which is getting my patio in shape for summer (which is already here)

 

Rode the bike on the trainer for about 45 minutes for my workout. I would rather have ridden outside but it was raining. Did really well, hit 200 watts on the power meter which is crazy good for me (albeit only for like three seconds).

 

Later I watched a documentary on whales, and then one on weather. While I was watching the weather one, half of my tired brain said, "It's too bad we can't harness the awesome power of lighting to generate electricity" and the other half of my brain looked at the stupid half and said, "Dude. That is LITERALLY the plot of Back To The Future" and then I went to bed because I was obviously to dumb to be awake.

 

Today is... meh. I woke up feeling tired and puffy, like I had a hangover (I didn't) and I've just been kind of flailing all day. I seem to have a pattern of one super-productive day and then one useless day. Perhaps my brain only creates so much serotonin or neurotransmitters or whatever the smart juice is and I used it all up. I'm supposed to do gym today but I'm going to ride the trainer again since it's already set up and I can just hop on it. My butt will not be pleased but I will at least have done something useful.

 

 

 

 

 

[Xena]

2 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

Later I watched a documentary on whales, and then one on weather. While I was watching the weather one, half of my tired brain said, "It's too bad we can't harness the awesome power of lighting to generate electricity" and the other half of my brain looked at the stupid half and said, "Dude. That is LITERALLY the plot of Back To The Future"

 

Doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad idea...

[DJtrippyT]

okay, rest of week one and some notes

 

End of Tuesday, as predicted, I rode my bike trainer, then went out to dinner. My nice thing for myself was supposed to be to give myself a manicure, but I didn't have time to do the full thing. I did trim my nails from their Nasgul-like length to a length more appropriate for someone who has to use a typewriter.

 

Wednesday I was on fire. I took my to-do list (which had roughly 47 items on it) to the coffee shop and glued myself to the laptop. I got a ton done, although not nearly everything on the list. I felt good about it though.

 

Wednesday evening I went to the gym and kicked my own ass for real. I was supposed to deadlift but that area was busy so I improvised.

 

 

5 miles stationary bike

 

OH Squat

dumbell bench press w/ 35 pound dumbells. I'm still feeling this today

 

Circuit:

50 jump rope

prowler push

300 yards rower

(three circuits)

 

finished with 2 miles on the treadmill. Getting better at this, jogging more, walking less.

 

 

I was seriously wiped out after workout so I decided my "nice thing for self" would be an ice bath. It was great for about 10 minutes (after the initial "holyshitholyshitholyshit" when you first go in) but then I heard my cat tearing apart the grocery bags I'd left on the kitchen table and had to get out. He could smell the rotisserie chicken that lurked within. 

 

Thursday I was scheduled for a rest day and a day off. I really wanted to go for a long walk and I wish I had. Or at least gone to the park and read. I just did a couple of errands and hung around the house and was restless. My nice thing for myself was to let myself watch all the Crossfit Regionals updates on my phone and not feel bad about it.

 

Today I'm going to work on my office re-do project because I'm trying to get that finished by the end of the weekend. Then I'm going to ride the bike (outdoors).

 

Challenge summary so far:

 

 

The Good: using the 3-on 1-off workout program seems to be working. It feels weird to take so many days off but I do feel less fatigued when I'm working out so I'm hoping that translates into better (faster) bicycling and more energy for other stuff.

 

The Bad: Unlike Bob Ross, my brain is not happy with "just letting it happen." This week I didn't do any specific planning, and while I did get stuff done, I just felt floaty and unfocused. And there's way too many things still on the "undone" side of my post-it ledger. I also didn't get any more "enjoyment" or creative brain space, which was kind of the point of the exercise, because I was always worried about how I was going to arrange my week.*

 

 

So for week two I will make an adjustment, Bob Ross style. Even though St. Bob had a very free-form style, he still worked within some constraints: He had to work within the time limits of his tv show, and he had to stay within the limits of the canvas. Although I can totally picture Bob getting lit and painting and suddenly the painting is off the canvas and across the studio wall, like this: 

 

He also famously worked with only eight colors, because he felt it discouraged people from painting if they thought they had to go out and buy a zillion colors and brushes and whatnot. Which is kind of awesome.

 

So anyway for week two I'm going to try to use some limited structure to make me feel productive and in control, but still have some brain space to think and some flexibility for changes. So I'm going plan - LOOSELY - to do one type of work per day, and if my day gets flummoxed just shift it over a day. Then if I get to the end of the week with items undone, they can either be put at the head of the line for next week, or just left in rotation. I'm sort of stealing from my new workout cycle here, thinking of it as a long haul concept rather than that every week is this desperate battle to get to a finish line.

 

 

 

 

 

*if you're wondering if I'm this OCD and crazy when I'm on vacation, the answer is yes 

 

 

[Xena]

I like the idea of trying to add a little bit of structure. And I like the idea of trying it for a week.

 

I had no idea Bob Ross only worked with 8 colors. That IS awesome!

[DJtrippyT]

Okay, so this challenge is not really working and it's boring me to tears, so I'm just going to nuke it from orbit and restart. 

 

I am going to keep the Bob Ross theme, though. That's too good to give up.

 

 

 

So instead of worrying about schedules and whatnot, I'm going to make the rest of this challenge about getting outdoors more. I was really down this week and I thought I might be getting some sort of depressive episode, and then at one point I realized I hadn't left the house in like three days. That cannot be healthy. My vitamin D levels are probably like negative 12.

 

Fortunately I got some outdoor time yesterday and today and I feel much better.

 

 

So let's look at the week thus far through the new challenge lens. I will grade each day on the Bob Ross scale, with 1 being ready to throw the painting in the garbage and 10 being ALL the happy little trees.

 

Monday: bike outdoors, 20 miles. Good. It was really hot out, like 91 degrees. I was still pretty down on that day.

Bob Ross grade: 2, empty canvas staring at me

 

Tuesday: Went to gym, had really good workout (but completely indoors). Also got a ton of work done.

 

Workout was Crossfit DT, 5 rounds of 12 deadlifts, 9 hang cleans, and 6 OH press. I got to round 4 before I had to tap out, but I'm now doing it at 75 pounds - before I could only do it at 65. So that's an improvement. Have to get to the 5 rounds though. Then I did 30 minutes on the rower. 

Bob Ross Grade:  3,  just beat the devil out of it

 

 

Wednesday: Long bike ride, 26 miles. Was supposed to do 32 miles, but I blew a spoke (AGAIN) at mile 13 and limped back. Still, a good ride and got some thinking done (when I wasn't cursing about the tire). Also I saw a bunny while riding.

Bob Ross Grade: No Mistakes, just happy little accidents (*&^#&^%& wheel!) [grits teeth]

 

Thursday (today): Got bike fixed which was excellent, I thought I'd have to leave it for a few days but they did it right away. I had to buy a new rim, which sucked, and I got a new tire while I was at it, in an effort to compress all the painful spending into one episode. The mechanic asked me how many miles I had on the tire (the actual rubber part) and I realized it was almost 3500 miles, which is just nuts, in a good way. 

 

Today's my rest day (I'm still using the 3-on, 1-off system; it seems to be working) so I just went for a long walk (3 miles) at a nature trail near my house. It was very relaxing not to worry about how fast or far I was going. I saw two whitetail deer and two bunnies, and there were fireflies everywhere. My feet kind of wish I hadn't done that third mile, but I feel a lot better today than I have all week -  I must be rebuilding my serotonin levels or something. Anyway, it was nice.

 

Bob Ross scale: 5, the oddly soothing scrape of the palette knife on the canvas.

 

 

 

 

tomorrow I'm going to work on some house projects and then go to the gym. Haven't fully decided which workout to do yet.

 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I'm glad you got out of the house and got some stuff done.

[Xena]

I love that you re-booted your challenge. I think Bob would have approved. He painted right over all kinds of schtuff.