jstanlick finishes a challenge he didn't start

[jstanlick]

Don't read too much into the title. Take it literally. I didn't start this challenge. I meant to, and then life happened. More discreetly, work happened. Unplanned and unfortunate. Well, at least for my ability to sleep and manage stress anyway. For 2 and 1/2 weeks it happened. And then it took me a couple of days to get my mind right again. So, I'm finally here. It won't be the most exciting challenge for 2-3 weeks, but I will be here.

 

So, I'm just going to put down my plans here and that's what we'll stick to.

 

• Exercise - So frustrating this week. Between snow removal and work headaches, everything crept in on my workout time. I managed to claw some back with a quick 5K run yesterday and some lifting last weekend. Not enough exercise for me to keep my sanity. It got so bad, I had my Garmin tracking snow shoveling around my house as cardio. Didn't quite give me the same sense of accomplishment with back shouting at me, "You have a snow blower for a reason! You moron!" So, I'm declaring an executive order to build a wall around my scheduled training times so nobody can sneak in there. If Yahoo-in-Charge can do it, so can I. No skipped planned workouts unless bodily harm will come to someone if I don't skip it.
• Nutrition - Ah, nutrition you elusive minx. Everything was going great...until it wasn't. Put on 8 pounds in 2 weeks! Blood sugar numbers all over the map. Stress and sleep deprivation shoot up and you get a "Fuck it! I don't care what it is, gimme!" kinda attitude. So, along with getting my mind straight the last few days, I've also been getting my nutrition straight and need to keep on that path. The blood sugar numbers have been coming back into normal this week and the scale is slowly going back down as well. A reminder to stay humble and never get too proud of yourself, because falling off that horse hurts!
• Blog Posts - Need to do a better job of writing these. So, I want to publish 2 more before the end of the challenge.
• Be a cheerleader - Lots of people doing good things here at NF and IRL. I want to be more vocal in my support of them. 2 reasons why for this one. 1) It's the right thing to do. When people are busting their tail to do better and be better, they should know someone is proud of them and admires what they're doing. 2) It gets me charged up about the stuff I want to accomplish. It inspires me to be better.

 

Really only 2 quantifiable goals there, but that's my plan for the remainder of the challenge.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Two is plenty.

[jstanlick]

On 2/22/2019 at 2:54 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Two is plenty.

I agree. It will be an effort to hit that goal.

[Elastigirl]

Glad you made it to the challenge party!  Well, we rarely get snow, and we were blasted with enough that I had to do some real sow shoveling, and I say it vey much counts as cardio and strength

[Salinger]

Hey there J, really glad you are back around good luck with the goals. xx

[Xena]

The exercise and diet goals sound exactly right. I totally understand the garmin tracking of the snow shoveling!!

[jstanlick]

22 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Glad you made it to the challenge party!  Well, we rarely get snow, and we were blasted with enough that I had to do some real sow shoveling, and I say it vey much counts as cardio and strength

It technically does, but I don't want to count it because at this time of the year I'm just sick of it.

 

19 hours ago, Salinger said:

Hey there J, really glad you are back around good luck with the goals. xx

I would never stay away too long! Just crazy times the last few weeks.

 

4 hours ago, Xena said:

The exercise and diet goals sound exactly right. I totally understand the garmin tracking of the snow shoveling!!

I've gotten as many comments from friends on the snow shoveling on the Garmin as I have about running in the snow/sleet. So many people have been very positive about it. I mean I've gotten my heart rate as high as 148 according to the watch shoveling snow. And my back has reminded on subsequent days that I did indeed do some work. Should be fun as the 7 day forecast has 5 days of snow in it. 

[jstanlick]

Alright, so after the 5K on Thursday, I got in another 3 miles on Saturday. That one was frustrating because my body felt great, but the sleet and freezing rain was making the footing treacherous and decided to stop. It's always a bummer when I have to cut a good workout short just because of some reason. At least the reason was safety. I can convince myself that it was a good call after almost falling on my face 3 times. The disappointing part was getting a call from my boss asking him if I could help him fix a bunch of stuff he just broke..on Saturday...right before dinner with my kids. After the last few weeks, I was not in a good place for that call. But, I didn't want to dump this on the guy on my team who is actually on call. But, these kinds of calls are why I left my old job 5 years ago and took a paycut to come to where I am. For the last 5 years, its been a good choice. Things have been very different than the norm the last few weeks. I think it's temporary. It needs to be. At least when 60 hours a week was the norm, the salary matched the expectations. If these are going to be the expectations, then some negotiating needs to take place.

 

Today was a 60th birthday party for my BIL. We almost didn't go because it's almost an hour drive through a wind advisory with sustained winds of almost 30 MPH and gusts up over 50 MPH. But, the snow died out early in the morning and the roads were not slippery snow I was glad we went. Hadn't seen my sister since Thanksgiving. It was worth the trek for a chance to catch up. Plus any chance I can talk to my dad in person (he'll be 83 in a few weeks) is worth it as who knows if it will be my last. He's in good health, but ya never know. Food was a little bit out of whack today as a result of driving all over southeastern Wisconsin, but a good day nonetheless.

[Xena]

That weather sounded super frustrating.

 

The job stuff...well, hmm. Based on what you've said it sounds worth keeping an eye on. Though selfishly, I don't want you to change anything because I love reading about all your competitive running situations at work.

[jstanlick]

On 2/25/2019 at 8:14 PM, Xena said:

That weather sounded super frustrating.

 

The job stuff...well, hmm. Based on what you've said it sounds worth keeping an eye on. Though selfishly, I don't want you to change anything because I love reading about all your competitive running situations at work.

More frustrating weather today. It's snowing again which means my workout will likely be shoveling tomorrow morning. Sigh.

 

The job stuff I'm hoping returns back to the norm soon. But, I'm not going to wait forever and miss my sons growing up in the meantime like I did when my daughter was little. Turns out, all that money isn't worth it, and I'm certainly not going to work that much and miss out on my kids' lives and not at least get paid for it. The last two days were better, more the usual. So, we'll see where things go from here.

[jstanlick]

Today included no workout, no off roading nutrition, no new blog posts and I boosted up my wife and some co-workers. So, I'm batting .500 today. Well, good enough I hope. After yesterday's workout I'm feeling kinda sore and some rest before snow shoveling is probably a good idea anyway.

 

27:52. Felt kinda slow. Stupid pull-ups were the slow down yet again. Turns out it takes me more time to do 45 pull-ups than I think it should. But, I do love the name of this WOD: Strung out, backwards and upside down Fran

[jonfirestar]

On 2/22/2019 at 8:50 PM, jstanlick said:

Be a cheerleader - Lots of people doing good things here at NF and IRL. I want to be more vocal in my support of them. 2 reasons why for this one. 1) It's the right thing to do. When people are busting their tail to do better and be better, they should know someone is proud of them and admires what they're doing. 2) It gets me charged up about the stuff I want to accomplish. It inspires me to be better.

I love this one, it's really true for me too. Being supportive of other people's goals makes me much more enthused about my own. 

[jstanlick]

I do find myself greatly motivated watching people achieve regardless of what they are trying to achieve. When people can make today better than yesterday it makes me want to do the same. When people set PRs, I want to go do all the things.

Today was a good day for nutrition and exercising. Lots of snow shoveling and tonight was a StrongLifts session. I’ll need to update the BRUTAL spreadsheet and see if any of my Wilks scores improved. I also tried practicing HSPUs. Once I manage to kick myself up into position I actually managed a set of 5 and a set of 4. Getting in position seems almost harder than actually doing them. Pretty pumped about those.

Still no blog posts. But I’m up to 75% today. #Winning


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Salinger]

Great day  keep going!! xx

[Xena]

19 hours ago, jstanlick said:

Today was a good day for nutrition and exercising. Lots of snow shoveling and tonight was a StrongLifts session. I’ll need to update the BRUTAL spreadsheet and see if any of my Wilks scores improved. I also tried practicing HSPUs. Once I manage to kick myself up into position I actually managed a set of 5 and a set of 4. Getting in position seems almost harder than actually doing them. Pretty pumped about those.

 

Is the problem hamstring tightness? I really struggle with getting up into handstand.

[jstanlick]

16 hours ago, Salinger said:

Great day  keep going!! xx

It was. It was better than today. Today wasn’t bad just not as good. Kind feels like most of the day got wasted and I didn’t accomplish much. 

 

1 hour ago, Xena said:

 

Is the problem hamstring tightness? I really struggle with getting up into handstand.

Ha! No. These are handstands with my heels against the wall, not free standing. Mostly, I find them difficult because I’m too worried about losing my balance and crashing into the concrete floor or walls in my basement. So, I use way too much energy tentatively trying to sneak my way up there rather than just kicking my feet up in the air. My shoulders are worn out before I actually start doing them. 

[Salinger]

How you doing J?xx

[jstanlick]

46 minutes ago, Salinger said:

How you doing J?xx

Pretty well, thanks for asking  

 

While I haven't had the same amount of snow to remove as @Sloth the Enduring (We get a decent amount of snow, but Minnesota must think its in the mountains or something because they take snowfall to a new level), my back is quite happy that there isn't any snow in the forecast until Thursday night. Whew!

 

Saturday - With that, I did my SL 5x5 and hit a new high on DL's for reps -- cuz, ya know, my back was feeling too good . No where near a lot of weight for DL by many standards, but it's as high as I've taken them -- its usually warmer by now and my workouts transition to more running at this stage -- and that's good enough for me! After that, I took the Cub Scouts on a winter hike in a local park. I felt great! It was only about 2.5 miles and mostly flat. I was disappointed to see all these kids aged 8 - 12 breathing heavy and worn out. So glad we did the hike Saturday instead of Sunday since the temps dropped...again. I know it was snowy thanks to Friday's snow fall and no one was wearing snowshoes, but when the almost 47 year old and the 2 other leaders were just fine something seemed wrong. I told my boys they were coming outside with me more and I didn't want to hear any complaining. One starts his 6 week basketball league next weekend the other one starts track at the end of the month. They're going to be hurting. I need to figure out how to keep them from injuring themselves.

 

My morning blood sugar freaked me out on Saturday. I haven't seen a number that high in almost a year. Not sure why. But, after lifting weights and hiking around the park it was back where I want it. I guess I need to move more and eat less as well.

 

Sunday - I tried to go for a run after taking the dog for a walk. My calves just wouldn't loosen up in the cold and I was afraid I was going to pull my left one since it was super tight. So, I called off the running after two slow miles. I figured it was better to stop and come back another day than mess up my calf and spend the next 6 weeks waiting for it to heal. See, nearly 47 years on this rock and I'm finally learning a thing or two.

[Elastigirl]

Hoping spring comes soon! Good for you for motivating the kids to get moving.

[Salinger]

Yes great job exercising and with the kids, important they have a solid base to work from. 

 

I hope the snow goes away soon xx

[Xena]

Wow, yeah, sad if the kiddies can't keep up. Good that you got them outside.

The tight calf sounds annoying, but you were definitely right to call it.

[jstanlick]

23 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Hoping spring comes soon! Good for you for motivating the kids to get moving.

 

22 hours ago, Salinger said:

Yes great job exercising and with the kids, important they have a solid base to work from. 

 

I hope the snow goes away soon xx

 

15 hours ago, Xena said:

Wow, yeah, sad if the kiddies can't keep up. Good that you got them outside.

 

To be fair, one of the kids had hit the ski hill in the morning before the hike, so he was pretty worn out going in. I give him a pass. My kids on the other hand make me mad at myself for not dragging their butts outside this winter whether they want to or not. I really want to blame video games, but part of it is just this crazy weather. Really makes it take a lot of willpower to actually get outside and do something. I mean, just got back from the vet with my dog and she has once again put on pounds this winter and she is actually willing to come outside with me. Yep, kind mad at myself for not making things happen on the movement front for the whole family. Mostly just me and my daughter, but we're (at least lately anyway) better self motivators.

 

15 hours ago, Xena said:

The tight calf sounds annoying, but you were definitely right to call it.

We'll find out. Still cold out, so I think a treadmill run is on the docket for today.

 

Yesterday I managed to get to my StrongLifts. I'll update the BRUTAL spreadsheet shortly. Keep getting stronger since I'm spending more time indoors than a usual winter. I need to go purchase more iron before the next one. I've maxed out all of the weight I have for deadlifts. Last time I even put the 2 1/2 pound ankle weights on the ends of the bar to get 5 more pounds. Those things just sit there collecting dust anyway so I was glad I thought of a use for them. But, I'll either need a bunch more reps or more weight. For some reason, a lot of reps with deadlifts just doesn't seem like I'm doing it right.

 

Blood sugar is back where it needs to be the last couple of days. I'm still not sure what happened over the weekend. I mean, morning blood sugars are always higher for me than the rest of the day, but that was unusually high. Maybe I was sleep eating over night or something. HA!  

[jstanlick]

Oof. Once again Cindy kicked my ass and took my lunch money. But, I got more reps this go ‘round than last. So, strength is getting better and better. Cindy is a 20 minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 body weight squats. I made 13 rounds plus 5 pull-ups and 10 push-ups of round 14 for a total of 405 reps if my math is correct.

 

After that I tried some running on the treadmill. Same problem as my last run. 1.5 miles in the left calf tighten up again. Soooo frustrating. Fortunately, I already had an appointment with the massage therapist today and she worked on both my calves (as well as my neck and shoulders). They feel good now. I’m not sure what will happen I run next time, but right now they’re good. 

 

I published her another blog post yesterday. I have some ideas and directions for my next few posts as well. Now I just need to write them. 

[Salinger]

Hey there J, you are doing so well proud to see you achieving things xx

[jstanlick]

12 hours ago, jstanlick said:

They feel good now. I’m not sure what will happen I run next time, but right now they’re good. 

Yep, I just quoted myself on my own thread. Not sorry.

 

Anyway, they felt good last night. Then I slept. No need to wait until the next time I run because they of course stiffened up while I wasn't moving them. So, I'm now using my standing desk at work to keep them from getting tighter and I packed my foam roller in my gym bag. Today might be a less intense workout than per my usual, and I'm okay with that. Plus, being a Friday in Lent means all the fasting and lots more finger pricks to keep an eye on blood sugar. A bunch of intense exercise on top of that might be too much of an overload for the system. Certainly would shock me out of homeostasis, but probably not in a good way.

 

7 hours ago, Salinger said:

Hey there J, you are doing so well proud to see you achieving things xx

Right back at ya! And the NF challenges in general. I see lots of good stuff happening all over the place!