Scalyfreak stops playing the game and goes her own way

[Scaly Freak]

Scalyfreak continues her journey, but without hurrying this time. It has finally dawned on her that she is not traveling towards a goal set by someone else, or on a schedule created by someone else. She is doing her own thing, on her own time, so why hurry any faster than she wants to? Why hurry at all?

 

It is finally warm and sunny. That bright and beautiful weather that people wish for when they long for spring in the dead of winter, has finally arrived. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and their sweet fragrance travels on the warm breeze and helps completing the picture of idyllic spring morning.

 

“I’m a walking cliché, in a cliché landscape. Awesome.” Scalyfreak shakes her head at the absurdity of her situation, and keeps walking. “Maybe if I travel far enough I’ll run into other clichés.”

 

Scalyfreak toys absentmindedly with the straps on her shield, and begins halfheartedly look for a bent-over old lady who is gathering firewood, or a cheerful minstrel with a lute, but instead, she notices a far too familiar figure up ahead…

 

 

“I told you to stay away from me…!” Eyes narrowed, Scalyfreak resolutely draws her sword and advances on her enemy. Self-Sabotage needs to be killed once and for all!

 

Wait a second…!

 

Scalyfreak stops and studies the large demon in front of her. There would be no point in hiding underneath a pile of leaves for several days and ponder things, if none of the insights and conclusions stayed with her after she left the pile. Scalyfreak thinks back, looks closer at the demon in front of her and notices that it is rather transparent around the edges… and it’s unusually quiet.

 

“You’re not real. This isn’t the real you.” Scalyfreak sheaths her sword and folds her arms across her chest (mentally patting herself on the back for managing to cross her arms with a shield strapped to one of them), and looks Self-Sabotage right in the eyes. “This is some kind of weird thought construct that you made me invent, to make me think you have power. Like you matter, and like I need to focus on you and fight you head-on, like you are the real enemy in my life. And you’re not.”

 

As she talks, Scalyfreak moves closer to the big demon, and notices that the creature still does not speak. It doesn’t even blink. It just stands there.

 

Scalyfreak stops. Experimentally, she draws her sword and hods it at the ready… and the demon creature lowers its head and snarls, but makes no further movement. Scalyfreak sheaths the sword, and the demon stands back, once more a frozen statue-like thing. The horrible demon twins, Procrastination and Self-Indulgence, stand as still and immobile on either side of Scalyfreak, the two of them watching her but saying nothing.

 

“You only fight me when I attack you, don’t you?”

 

Still no response. Still no movement.

 

“So basically it’s been me doing this to myself all along. That’s great. That’s really fucking great.”

 

And then Scalyfreak realizes that it actually is pretty great.

 

“If all of you are only attacking me because I attacked you first, that means…” Scalyfreak thinks about all the things this might mean for several minutes, and then straightens up, and gives Self-Sabotage a defiant glare. “I’m not playing this game with you anymore. Not with any of you.” The demon twins also receive a defiant death glare each, and on that note Scalyfreak turns away from the terrible trio, and chooses a different path to walk. This one is bathing in sunshine as well, and there are birds singing, but unlike the earlier cliché this path makes Scalyfreak happy.

 

The path winds through the forest, across a clearing and into a large meadow. Through the meadow it continues towards a tall mountain, and on up towards the top. Halfway to the mountain’s peak, the path splits, and a signpost shows that taking the road towards the left will eventually lead travelers to a place called “Cardio Cave”. Scalyfreak studies the sign. The path it points to looks well traveled, though judging by the footprints, not by a lot of people in heavy armor. And a Cardio Cave sounds difficult. Challenging. Occasionally tedious… but also something entirely new and different.

 

Scalyfreak nods to herself, turns onto the path towards this entirely new (and improved) kind of boss fight, and starts walking.

 

 

Yes, I am doing a cardio challenge. Mainly because I really hate doing cardio, but my doctor says I need to, so I need to figure out a way to get it done. So the challenge is to find a form of cardio that doesn’t suck (aside from dancing at random for 10-15 minutes at a time), and start to do it at least once a week. Assuming I can find a form of cardio I actually enjoy, doing it more often won’t be difficult, because it will be something I actually want to do and look forward to.

 

So, challenge #1: Find a fun way to do cardio

 

Challenge #2: Find a way to continue with Stronglifts, that doesn’t re-injure my damned knee. Apparently the stupid joint isn’t nearly as 100% recovered as it insisted it was. The ligaments around the knee cap retaliate with massive soreness when I squat, and for at least a day after the workout. This is not good, and needs to be figured out, mainly since squatting heavy on a knee that isn’t fully recovered seems unwise.

 

Challenge #3: Sleep! Because I have drifted away from going to bed at a reasonable time in the evenings, I am reinstating my goal to sleep for five hours or more every night. We’ll see how it goes.

 

Back to basics, more or less.

[Gemma]

28 minutes ago, scalyfreak said:

“Maybe if I travel far enough I’ll run into other clichés.”

 

Scalyfreak toys absentmindedly with the straps on her shield, and begins halfheartedly look for a bent-over old lady who is gathering firewood, or a cheerful minstrel with a lute, but instead, she notices a far too familiar figure up ahead…

...

 

Scalyfreak sheaths her sword and folds her arms across her chest (mentally patting herself on the back for managing to cross her arms with a shield strapped to one of them),

 

 

 

I didn't even try to explain to the hubs what I was laughing about ...

[RedStone]

16 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

 

Challenge #2: Find a way to continue with Stronglifts, that doesn’t re-injure my damned knee. Apparently the stupid joint isn’t nearly as 100% recovered as it insisted it was. The ligaments around the knee cap retaliate with massive soreness when I squat, and for at least a day after the workout. This is not good, and needs to be figured out, mainly since squatting heavy on a knee that isn’t fully recovered seems unwise.

 

Oof, yeah, 3X squats per week is a lot with knee trouble! How would you feel about swapping out the squats for different leg stuff like presses/curls/extensions/raises etc? Pretty standard rehab stuff and no reason you couldn't do the rest of SLs as per! So what are you gonna try for cardio? I have the same ongoing battle with finding crap I don't hate  

[Scaly Freak]

22 minutes ago, RedStone said:

 

Oof, yeah, 3X squats per week is a lot with knee trouble! How would you feel about swapping out the squats for different leg stuff like presses/curls/extensions/raises etc? Pretty standard rehab stuff and no reason you couldn't do the rest of SLs as per! So what are you gonna try for cardio? I have the same ongoing battle with finding crap I don't hate  

 

I will probably start out with isometric holds, like the leg lifts from my rehab exercises, and a wall sit or five. Romanian Deadlifts may also be on the menu, since regular deadlifts may or may not cause pain as well. Since I've been doing them at the end of a workout that starts with squats, I'm not sure how much of a factor the deadlifts themselves are. I probably need to  go without squats for a while before I can determine that.

 

As for cardio, when I talked to Husband about my goals earlier this week he reminded me that I used to really enjoy swimming, and since my gym has a saline pool, I should take advantage of the opportunity and swim there more often. So yesterday I went swimming, and he was right. I had completely forgotten how much I enjoy moving through the water. I'm used to tracking everything with my Fitbit, and it's not swim proof, so that was annoying, but it was still fun and relaxing and I have made plans to go back and swim more in the near future.  

[The Battle Chef]

Hello.

 

SWIM!  SWIM!  SWIM LIKE A FISH!  It's really super good.

And I feel a bit like a broken record, but Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett should be mandatory reading for all athletic-types.  

Knee sleeves can also help, maybe.  Possible.  I dunno.

[Blocky]

Have you ever looked into box squats? I also have significant knee problems, but squatting to a box helps me stay strong when I'm working around it - with the right height box, the knee angle never exceeds 90 degress, which for me works great. When you do box squats correctly, all the torque and strength comes from the hips/hamstrings/glutes and very little from the knee itself.

[Scaly Freak]

I have knee sleeves, one Level 2 that I wore right after the injury, and a pair of Level 1, that now are a part of my regular gym attire (prevention for the other knee). They really do help.

 

I am right now planning to swim again tomorrow. As active recovery,  swimming is pretty awesome. 

[Scaly Freak]

2 minutes ago, Blocky said:

Have you ever looked into box squats? I also have significant knee problems, but squatting to a box helps me stay strong when I'm working around it - with the right height box, the knee angle never exceeds 90 degress, which for me works great. When you do box squats correctly, all the torque and strength comes from the hips/hamstrings/glutes and very little from the knee itself.

 

Hmmm. I shall have to try this....

[Blocky]

13 minutes ago, scalyfreak said:

 

Hmmm. I shall have to try this....

 

I have a guide somewhere that I wrote for my trainees... I shall attempt to find it and send it to you

[Scaly Freak]

That would be super-helpful. Thank you!

[Mike Wazowski]

On 5/26/2018 at 11:04 AM, scalyfreak said:

 

I will probably start out with isometric holds, like the leg lifts from my rehab exercises, and a wall sit or five. Romanian Deadlifts may also be on the menu, since regular deadlifts may or may not cause pain as well. Since I've been doing them at the end of a workout that starts with squats, I'm not sure how much of a factor the deadlifts themselves are. I probably need to  go without squats for a while before I can determine that.

 

As for cardio, when I talked to Husband about my goals earlier this week he reminded me that I used to really enjoy swimming, and since my gym has a saline pool, I should take advantage of the opportunity and swim there more often. So yesterday I went swimming, and he was right. I had completely forgotten how much I enjoy moving through the water. I'm used to tracking everything with my Fitbit, and it's not swim proof, so that was annoying, but it was still fun and relaxing and I have made plans to go back and swim more in the near future.  

I'm considering swimming for cardio too!!! Just need to meet with local gyms that have pools at some point.

 

Alsooooo love the back to basics theme of the challenge!

[Scaly Freak]

Monday the 28th comes to an end,and with it, the first official day of this challenge period.

 

It also ends my five-day weekend, and I need a lot more days off before I am ready to go back to work. I waited too long before taking a break from work, and I really need to get better about taking said break before it's too late and too badly needed. Because when I wait too long, five days are not nearly enough, and I am already looking forward to next mini vacation.

 

All that aside, I went swimming again, and enjoyed it just as much this time. If I'm going to make this my chosen form of cardio though, I really should get myself a swim-proof tracker. A new swim suit as well.

 

I managed to do the full five sets of Stronglifts squats by doing a much longer warm-up than usual (involving wall sits and lots of leg lifts), and waiting the full three minutes between sets. The knee was still a bit sore when it was time for deadlifts, so I lied to the app and told it I failed on the last squat set, to stop it from increasing the weight on squats for the next workout. the experimentation continues... next is box squats.

[Chant]

Swimming is ah-ma-zing. So glad you have access to a pool! Swimming never feels like a workout to me. It's play time, moving through the water, head in a happy place play time. I second the rec of box squats for knee issues. Also side squats. They helped me a lot when I was younger and recovering from a knee injury.

[Scaly Freak]

3 hours ago, Chant said:

Swimming is ah-ma-zing. So glad you have access to a pool! Swimming never feels like a workout to me. It's play time, moving through the water, head in a happy place play time. 

 

Yes! It doesn't feel like cardio at all! It's great.  

[Scaly Freak]

Random Wednesday night ramblings:

 

Watching the Stanley Cup game in real time reminds me how much I hate TV commercials. Note to self: Record the next one so I can skip the IQ-lowering car commercials.

 

Tonight's dinner featured a daring kale recipe that none of us had ever tried before - and the kale tasted good. Still in shock from that one.

 

Poorly timed thunderstorm scared the dog into an anxiety attack. Sedatives and love have been administered, and seems to have helped. The dog is dozing almost peacefully on the floor while I wait for the hockey to come back from commercial.

 

It should not be this hard to find a swimsuit with proper bust support!! To all swimsuit designers and manufacturers: These big globs attached to the front of my upper torso do not shrink in the water! They do not lose their need for stable support!  I refuse to believe I am the only woman with d-cups and a desire to wear something that doesn't look like the swim suits my grandmother wore in her youth, yet the only things I can find look like something a nun would wear, while bathing in private. And they're all really boring dark colors. Seriously, what is wrong with the swimsuit industry?

 

The Bryan Colangelo twitter clusterfuck is hilarious to me since I'm not a 76ers fan.

 

It's been fifteen minutes!! Stop with the commercials and stupid crowd filler footage and give me hockey! 

[CourtnieMarie]

13 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

Tonight's dinner featured a daring kale recipe that none of us had ever tried before - and the kale tasted good. Still in shock from that one.

ooo share?

 

13 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

It should not be this hard to find a swimsuit with proper bust support!! To all swimsuit designers and manufacturers: These big globs attached to the front of my upper torso do not shrink in the water! They do not lose their need for stable support!  I refuse to believe I am the only woman with d-cups and a desire to wear something that doesn't look like the swim suits my grandmother wore in her youth, yet the only things I can find look like something a nun would wear, while bathing in private. And they're all really boring dark colors. Seriously, what is wrong with the swimsuit industry?

have you looked into athleta? they go to DD and are a sportswear brand so i imagine the support is good! i unfortunately/fortunately don't have the big globs problem/blessing so i can't vouch for big globs. but it could be a place to start!

 

so exciting that you found swimming again and are loving it!!

[Scaly Freak]

12 hours ago, CourtnieMarie said:

ooo share?

 

That's a fair request.

 

I put it in the food thread:

 

 

[CourtnieMarie]

oh and did you mean to do this to all of us?

 

 

[juliebarkley]

Following! Glad to see you found cardio you liked first try. Goal 1 achieved!

 

Also very glad that you took a break from work at last.

[Jord]

On 5/30/2018 at 10:25 PM, scalyfreak said:

t should not be this hard to find a swimsuit with proper bust support!! To all swimsuit designers and manufacturers: These big globs attached to the front of my upper torso do not shrink in the water! They do not lose their need for stable support!  I refuse to believe I am the only woman with d-cups and a desire to wear something that doesn't look like the swim suits my grandmother wore in her youth, yet the only things I can find look like something a nun would wear, while bathing in private. And they're all really boring dark colors. Seriously, what is wrong with the swimsuit industry?

 

I only buy swimsuits with underwire built in basically regular bras inside the swimsuit. I can still just barely wear Lane Bryant, I got my last one from there. Expensive but well built to last many years. I'm not sure what size you are but I'm sure if you google around for underwire swimsuits you'll find something!

 

Mine is something like this. They sell them in legit bra sizes not like s/m/l. But they have bright colors, I just like black.

 

 

[MaD MaLKaV]

Just mentioning since you have Walk to Mordor in your sig and you're considering swimming for your cardio... In the Walk to Mordor intro post it mentions you can count swimming as distance*3 on the spreadsheet.

[Mike Wazowski]

On 5/30/2018 at 9:25 PM, scalyfreak said:

yet the only things I can find look like something a nun would wear, while bathing in private. And they're all really boring dark colors. Seriously, what is wrong with the swimsuit industry?

Hahaha as a man shopping for good lap swimming attire I have the opposite problem - can I find a speedo that's gonna cover my bum enough that I don't feel like it should only be worn around my SO in private? But I empathize, as a short guy shopping for anything can be a bit of a crapshoot.

[Scaly Freak]

8 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Hahaha as a man shopping for good lap swimming attire I have the opposite problem - can I find a speedo that's gonna cover my bum enough that I don't feel like it should only be worn around my SO in private? But I empathize, as a short guy shopping for anything can be a bit of a crapshoot.

 

Hilariously, Speedo is one of the brands I've been looking at (for the built-in sports bra), and they actually have an impressively wide variety of lap swim wear for men as well... that covers roughly the same amount of skin that the nun-inspired swimsuits do, while still only being a pair of pants. Personally, I find that pretty impressive. My quest for a useful swim suit is currently a tie between a couple of the Lane Bryant ones @Taddea Zhaan mentioned, and some very nice looking Speedos.

 

So at this point, the Swim Suit Quest has reached the stage where I try to wrap my mind around paying more for one single (small) piece of clothing than I've ever paid for running shoes in the past. So I put that part on hold and turned my attention to an equally important part: How to keep the pool water from ruining my hair color. I spend a lot of money on my hair, every six weeks, and I refuse to let the pool water sabotage that... so I need to figure out a way to keep the hair color and the general hair health, while swimming a few times a week.

 

This would be way too much effort if swimming wasn't actually a lot of fun.  

[Scaly Freak]

Also,

 

 

[Jord]

On 6/10/2018 at 12:45 AM, scalyfreak said:

 

This would be way too much effort if swimming wasn't actually a lot of fun.  

 

How is the swimming quest going?