Raptron Rages On

[raptron]

Hi, I'm Raptron! One of your friendly neighborhood flipperdoos. I'm in the middle of a hot, hot summer of action, but still trying my best to make time for gymnastics, lifting, friendships, prepping for a road race, bachelorette parties and weddings, non-wedding related travels, etc. 

 

Things are going to be a little wild the next few weeks:

• 7/31 - 8/2: Overnight work retreat
• 8/2 - 8/5: DC trip with childhood friends
• 8/9 - 8/11: Tennessee for gymnastics camp
• 8/17 - 8/19: Cape Cod for 7 mile road race on Sunday
• 8/31 - 9/2: Bachelorette weekend in Rhode Island
• 9/7: Wedding (local)
• 9/8 - 9/12: Possible trip to ??? for my friend's birthday

I also have signed up for a powerlifting meet on October 12. Once the 7 mile race happens, I'll have 8 weeks to meet prep, so I can't really be slacking before that either! I need to be in a good spot to get my prep in gear. And finalize what I want my meet prep approach to really look like. I'm in something of an in-between program at the moment. 

 

With these things in mind, I'm going to try not to lose my mind. I love a fast pace and I love travel, but I can't ignore the things I have on my plate -- mostly my workouts, the fact that I'm trying to get a new job before the year's out, and maintaining sanity by saving downtime to digest my thoughts, try to divine my feelings (we're pretty estranged), and work on some personal projects. 

 

1. Jog at least 3 times before the 7 mile race

2. Lift 3x per week 

3. Journal 2x weekly + write 2x weekly (planes are a good place for writing!)  

4. Work on new job applications 2x per week 

 

And that's that! Given my schedule, I may not be updating at the normal frequency this challenge. But, I'll do my best and I have a good record of sticking around.

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Wohoo powerlifting meet!

 

Following.

[sylph]

Your lifting meet is on my birthday. I will send you good birthday vibes to help the bar be light and your form be tight.

[KB Girl]

That's a lot! I bet you'll handle it with awesomeness

 

59 minutes ago, raptron said:

try to divine my feelings (we're pretty estranged)

laughing with you but also sending some hugs :* 

[WhiteGhost]

9 hours ago, raptron said:

With these things in mind, I'm going to try not to lose my mind.

Good luck!  

[@mu]

Yihaa! You are going to kill that meet with the load you have been adding this past year!

[Mad Hatter]

Exciting times ahead!!  

[Harriet]

Following for flipperdoddery and OMG you're doing a powerlifting meeeeeet <3 

[raptron]

18 hours ago, sylph said:

Your lifting meet is on my birthday. I will send you good birthday vibes to help the bar be light and your form be tight.

Ahhh, yay! I will be so lucky to enjoy the bday vibes.

 

18 hours ago, KB Girl said:

laughing with you but also sending some hugs :* 

Hahah. I'm getting better at figuring them out, but sometimes they still elude me. ;)

 

Day 0.2

I headed out to get a haircut after work because I've finally admitted my long "beachy" hair was mostly just bristly split ends. :P We chopped off a good 4 inches, so goodbye mermaid dreams. I walked to the gym for my workout, about 2 hours later than normal.

 

Squats: 5 x 255, 5 x 245, 2 x 5 x 235#

Bench: 5 x 138.5 (yes, I broke out the microplates), 3 x 5 x 135 <-- 140 is going up for 5 next week, ok, world?!!? 

Walking lunges: 10 per side x 35# DBs

Curls: 3 x 8 x 20#

Chin-ups: 3, 3, 2

 

I have been eating mountains of fresh tomatoes, mostly in the form of caprese salad, so that was my dinner at like 10 pm after the late workout. In bed by 11:30 ish, but I was up at 7 am because of the cats and the heat, as we're in yet another heatwave in Boston. Hottest July on record! (:   (consider that my upside down emoji face) 

 

Jog: 0/3 

Lift: 1/3

Write: 0/2 writing, 0/2 journaling

Job applications: 0/2

[Mike Wazowski]

Wooooo meet prep! Can we get a virtual confetti cannon when 140 for 5 happens on bench?

[Stronkey Kong]

 

You had me at rage.

[KB Girl]

The pile of tomatoes looked absolutely delicious on insta. (:

 

Also I suspect most mermaids just put in hair extensions. 

[doctorake]

HOLY BUSY!

 

following, wishing I could grow tomatoes here.

[CourtnieMarie]

LOTS OF BREATHING idk, that's my best advice for busy crazy times  

[Raxie]

Oooh so excited for the power lifting comp!

[raptron]

OK, I'm not back yet but I can update.

 

Day 0.3

Lifting workout after work:

 

Deadlifts: 4 x 290#, 3 x 290#, 3 x 5 x 275#

Close-grip bench: 4 x 8 x 115#

Hypers: 4 x 20 x 55#

One arm db rows: 4 x 10 x 45#

DB press: 4 x 8 x 35#

 

Then I headed home, showered, ate more caprese salad.

 

Day 0.4-0.5

Up at 6:30 (early for meee) to head to our work retreat, which was at a lovely meeting center in the woods near the ocean/salt marsh. Most of the two days was full group strategic planning, small group discussions, org strategy, and some trainings. My coworkers are lovely, but I was exhausted by the end of it. 

 

I swam and played volleyball on Thursday.

 

I jogged on Friday morning before breakfast. I meant to do 4+ miles, but miscalculated my route and wound up squeaking in only 3.75 miles.

 

Day 0.6-0.7

Flew to DC on Friday night but my flight was delayed a bit, so I went right from the airport to the bar. Lots of walking, lots of drinking (whattup bottomless mimosas), some shopping, some karaoke, etc. I meant to find a lifting gym and get a workout in, but I didn't figure out a good spot and also I had barely slept since idk, Tuesday night. On Sunday night, my friend who lives in Bethesda wanted to hang out, but I was exhausted and didn't feel up for it. Instead, I chatted with my other friend I stayed with and her roommate for a while and went to bed around 10:30 pm, FINALLY. Phew. 

 

Jog: 0/3 (I'm not counting the zero week jog in this)

Lift: 0/15

Write: 0/10 writing, 0/10 journaling

Job applications: 0/10

 

I fly back tonight and have to go right from the airport to a gymnastics meeting with the director of our program who is considering some big moves. The Board is meeting with her to discuss what she's thinking and what it means for our schedule. I have no idea how it is going to go, but my group texts have been VERY busy. I may get there in time to do a bit of gymnastics or get some stretching in. 

 

M - gymnastics stretching + meeting

T - lift

W - jog + belated bday celebrations with a friend 

Th - lift

F - fly out to Nashville for 3 days of gymnastics and fun at gymnastics camp  

[KB Girl]

Dear lord you're busy! 

The big moves have me curious, I hope the meeting went well. 

[raptron]

5 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Dear lord you're busy! 

The big moves have me curious, I hope the meeting went well. 

It turned out her potential plan of moving at least some portion of the program to a nearby gym (that was 100% NOT going to work for our team) fell through the same day we met with her. She didn't cancel the meeting though, so we were all ready to negotiate/throw down/otherwise explain that the team would not be following her if that was the case. BUT IT TURNED OUT TO  BE FOR NOTHING! 

 

Day 1.1

On Monday, I worked from our DC office which is in one of the shared coworking spaces. My coworker who I adore is based out of DC, and we had a nice lunch chatting with our summer intern who is really deep in diversity, equity and inclusion work. It was a very hearty, but lovely conversation about personal experiences, our workplace, backgrounds, etc. I wrapped up a bit early to head to the airport. Of course my plane was delayed -- as they all seem to be these days -- but only for an hour. 

 

I listened to the You're Wrong About podcast episodes about Tonya Harding, which had some nice digressions about gender and sports that I enjoyed, while delayed.

 

When I got to Boston, I was too late to go to the gym and stretch, so I just met folks at the restaurant for the meeting (and a marg or two and some food), which as I mentioned above was totally useless. I went home, journaled, unpacked a little, and got to bed a bit later than I meant to, but it was good to decompress. 

 

Jog: 0/3 (I'm not counting the zero week jog in this)

Lift: 0/15

Write: 0/10 writing, 1/10 journaling

Job applications: 0/10

 

[Raxie]

2 hours ago, raptron said:

I listened to the You're Wrong About podcast episodes

 

Oh yay a new podcast to add to my ever growing queue!

 

Hooray for the potential gym drama being actually nothing! That sounds like it could have gotten messy.

[raptron]

 

Day 1.2

I felt SO OFF at the gym -- kind of clammy and nauseous. I felt like I was squatting through molasses. I cut my prescribed sets of 5s into 3s and did 5 sets instead, just so I could keep the total volume up. By the time I got to other things, I felt less like warmed over trash, but still not 100%. I'm not really sure what was going on. 

 

Squats: 4 x 240#, 4 x 3 x 240#

Bench: 4 x 140# <-- this was supposed to be 5 and I definitely have it next time, 3 x 5 x 135#

BSS: 3 x 20 w/o weight just because I was trying to shake out some funny hip feelings

Ab sliders: 3 sets of stuff

Curls: 3 x 8 x 20# DBs

 

I got some groceries -- mostly bread -- went home, made a nice sandwich and stir fried broccoli, did a big load of laundry, and packed maybe 1/3 of the stuff I need for the trip to gymnastics camp on Friday. 

 

Jog: 0/3 

Lift: 1/15

Write: 1/10 writing, 1/10 journaling

Job applications: 0/10

 

Fingers crossed that I hit 5 miles during my run during lunch! I'll also try to run once at gymnastics camp and then once more mid-week before the race next Sunday. 

[CourtnieMarie]

ugh sorry about the crappy feelings. hopefully dinner and rest helped? have fun this weekend!

[doctorake]

I read that you ate a broccoli sandwich.

[Raxie]

Boo, I hate off gym days.  Hope you get back to your regular energy levels quickly!

 

Also, I'm dying over that barbarian meme XD

[WhiteGhost]

On 8/5/2019 at 10:41 PM, raptron said:

but I was exhausted

Finally some evidence that Raptron does not have unlimited energy

 

 

 

[@mu]

14 hours ago, raptron said:

I felt SO OFF at the gym -- kind of clammy and nauseous. I felt like I was squatting through molasses. I cut my prescribed sets of 5s into 3s and did 5 sets instead, just so I could keep the total volume up. By the time I got to other things, I felt less like warmed over trash, but still not 100%. I'm not really sure what was going on. 

 

Good call! Hope it's just a bit of fatigue and not some bug hiding under the hoods!