jstanlick Switches Things Up

[jstanlick]

Life:

Sometimes, you're just minding your own business and out of the blue, you get sucker punched (BTW - Who know pumpkin bowling was such a contact sport?). So, I've been sitting out of challenges a bit this year while I try to figure out what to do. But now, I'm out of the battle log and back into the challenges. I've spent some time trying to figure out where I wanted to go and rather than creating challenges with the same goals as the previous one, I just kept doing my thing and checking in on others. It has helped me figure out what I think I need to do to move forward. So, here goes.

 

Goals:

1. Cardio - 1 (at most 2) run(s)/week, 2 HIIT workouts/week
2. Strength - 2 resistance workouts/week, may or may not be part of HIIT workouts.
3. N=1 Experiment #1 - No food after 8 PM every day of the week.
4. N=1 Experiment #2 -No food before 12 PM at least 3 days/week.

 

Explanations:

1. I need to let my heel heal. So, I need to cut back on the running. Hence the capping of the running at 2 rather than bringing the counting to 3. Thou shalt not count to 4 and 5 is right out. However, without the running, I still need something intense to burn the sugar out of the system. So, the HIIT workouts.
2. As long as I'm not running, let's build a bigger furnace. While the resistance workouts themselves don't seem to burn through as much sugar, they do have better long term effects. More muscle = more sugar burned when it is brought to bear as well as when I'm just sitting on my ass. Plus, did anyone see Matt Fraser today with how easy he made those 185 pound snatches look after doing a bunch of rope climbs? My God! Those guys in his heat are all elite athletes and he put a ton of time between himself and the rest of the field on that Olympic lift. He made the other guys in his heat look like scrubs even though a bunch of them beat the previous heat winners' times. If you didn't see it (why aren't you streaming it while you're at work?), it's worth watching the 15 minutes it took him to cruise through those 4 rounds. Strength is just cool, that's all there is to it. So, why not try to get me some?
3. Weird thing happened to me today. I didn't eat anything after 8 PM last night. Previous nights I did. My wake-up glucose number was 30 points lower than previous mornings. I'm gonna see if that helps keep those numbers lower. When I did eat something it was always something low carb. But, nothing at all is even lower carb. I am to find out if this morning was an anomaly, if it is something helpful, or eating wasn't what brought the numbers down.
4. Fasting is something I keep wanting to get back to, but have been afraid to do with the diabetes and all. However, tons of good stuff happens to a body that's fasting, including increased insulin sensitivity. So, we'll start slow. If it works, then I'll try increasing the number of days per week in a subsequent challenge. If it doesn't, well then I can go back to a small breakfast in the morning.

 

[Salinger]

HEYYYYYY welcome back  

 

Good to see you, great goals, im following you of course xx

[jstanlick]

4 hours ago, Salinger said:

HEYYYYYY welcome back  

 

Good to see you, great goals, im following you of course xx

It's good to be back. I feel like I have a little more concrete direction. Plus, having a challenge of my own makes it easier to keep up with other people. When you're on the Battle Logs, I'm not logged in often enough and when there's something I feel I could contribute to, it was a conversation that essentially ended days ago.

 

Anywho, glad you're here Sal!

[TGP]

i've been seeing you on strava.

 

you have a really sustained diverse athletic program going on right now.  its really very inspirational!  

 

so

i'd love to read your challenge as your further define and accomplish your goals.  regarding #2.... who is Matt fraser?

 

is this event your talking about the 2019 "crossfit championships"

 

I see some references to the crossfit championships but I know so very little of the crossfit world.

 

[jstanlick]

37 minutes ago, TGP said:

i've been seeing you on strava.

 

you have a really sustained diverse athletic program going on right now.  its really very inspirational!  

Wow. I don't know that I've ever considered myself inspirational. Thank you!

 

As far as the diversity goes, I'm a Ranger at heart. I must do all the things! I really love running, but there are so many other things I want to do that I can't just concentrate on that. Hence, I'm not a Scout. Plus, the idea of running more than an occasional 10K (like once or twice a month at most) makes me cringe at the thought of what training for that means. I might not like running after that. 3-5 miles is kind of my sweet spot. Plus, then I can work on improving my speed and less on timing out when to conserve energy and when to pour it on. Plus, the older I get the more I realize that functional strength is sooooooo important. On of these days I'll realize the same thing about mobility and flexibility too. But, for now, lifting the things. Which brings me to:

46 minutes ago, TGP said:

i'd love to read your challenge as your further define and accomplish your goals.  regarding #2.... who is Matt fraser?

 

is this event your talking about the 2019 "crossfit championships"

 

I see some references to the crossfit championships but I know so very little of the crossfit world.

Fraser is the 3 time defending Crossfit champion. If he wins again this year he will tie Rich Froning record of 4 titles. Froning now competes solely in the team competitions, and his team generally wins those. The Championships are going on right now in Madison, WI. I wanted to go this year (I mean, they're only 45 minutes from house down the ol' Interstate), but once again family obligations have sidetracked me. One of these days I will be able to go and they will likely have moved the Championships to another locale. This year CrossFit didn't team with ESPN or Fox to broadcast the games. They are doing open source streaming instead. Fortunately, my boss is a triathlete and doesn't mind if I stream this at my desk while working (as long as the work gets done). Here's the live feed on YouTube if you're interested in streaming later: 

The first event of the second day starts in about 5 minutes. I have no illusions (delusions?) of ever competing in one of those, but watching what they're able to do with the human body inspires me to get my ass to the gym when I don't feel like it. Plus, I never long legged people winning these. Mechanics of long legs make those Olympic lifts harder. That's why a guy like Brent Fikowski is one my favorite competitors. His body is shaped more like mine. Well, except for his dense musculature and the appalling lack of fat around his midsection  But that doesn't mean I can't watch Fraser and Froning and marvel at their ability.

 

But, I digress. They run, they swim, they row, they lift, they climb, they do everything. To me, they are the ultimate Rangers, and the ones at the Championships are the cream of the crop. Which is why when one of them just runs away from the field, its that much more impressive. I like the way they accumulate points in each event and it's the total points that count. For example, Annie Thorisdottir (probably my favorite female competitor, I don't think she ever stops smiling) didn't finish in the top 3 in either of yesterday's events, yet she sits at second place on the leaderboard. Kind of reminds me of the Decathlon only with less running pursuits and more strength pursuits. If you're interested, here's a link to a decent rundown of what happened yesterday, links to YouTube clips of the events and even an Instgram post of the two reigning champions, Matt Fraser and Tia Clair Toomey (also one of my favs to watch).

[Elastigirl]

Glad to see you back. Great goals. I agree , the CrossFit athletes are amazing and inspiring

[jstanlick]

8 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

Glad to see you back. Great goals. I agree , the CrossFit athletes are amazing and inspiring

Good to be back.

 

Granted, most of the folks at the Championships do this for a living. Your average person isn't going to hold down a full time job and spend 4-6 hours a day in a gym and optimizing their nutrition. Chandler Smith kinda does, but he's in the military. So, staying in shape is part of his job description. But, still, very inspiring to see what the human body (and mind) is capable of achieving.

[Sylvaa]

19 hours ago, jstanlick said:

Plus, did anyone see Matt Fraser today with how easy he made those 185 pound snatches look after doing a bunch of rope climbs? My God! Those guys in his heat are all elite athletes and he put a ton of time between himself and the rest of the field on that Olympic lift. He made the other guys in his heat look like scrubs even though a bunch of them beat the previous heat winners' times. If you didn't see it (why aren't you streaming it while you're at work?), it's worth watching the 15 minutes it took him to cruise through those 4 rounds. Strength is just cool, that's all there is to it. So, why not try to get me some?

 

I mean, historically, that is where his strength lies (the lifting pieces). I just have enjoyed how much better he's gotten at everything else over the years. So crazy!

[jstanlick]

2 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

 

I mean, historically, that is where his strength lies (the lifting pieces). I just have enjoyed how much better he's gotten at everything else over the years. So crazy!

True, he started off as an Olympic lifter so the snatches right after the rope climb didn't really faze him while other folks started to falter in the 3rd round or so. He didn't even have to run that fast with the 400m runs in between each round because he made up so much time on the lifts. But he has gotten a lot better with everything else. Last year he did well with the biking in the first event and the swim in a later event.

[Jarric]

On 8/1/2019 at 9:14 PM, jstanlick said:

(BTW - Who know pumpkin bowling was such a contact sport?). 

 

Who know pumpkin bowling was /a/ sport?

 

Great balance on the goals, it's a cool variety of stuff you've got going on.

[jstanlick]

11 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Who know pumpkin bowling was /a/ sport?

Good point!

 

11 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Great balance on the goals, it's a cool variety of stuff you've got going on.

Thanks. It's 50% out of necessity as I try to let the foot heal, and 50% out of curiousity with the nutrition stuff. It's 100% Rangerly to do all the things. But, I like your term of "balance" better  

[Xena]

On 8/2/2019 at 10:57 AM, jstanlick said:

As far as the diversity goes, I'm a Ranger at heart. I must do all the things! I really love running, but there are so many other things I want to do that I can't just concentrate on that. Hence, I'm not a Scout. Plus, the idea of running more than an occasional 10K (like once or twice a month at most) makes me cringe at the thought of what training for that means. I might not like running after that. 3-5 miles is kind of my sweet spot. Plus, then I can work on improving my speed and less on timing out when to conserve energy and when to pour it on.

 

po-tay-to po-tah-to. You have at least a bit of Scout in your heart.

 

In addition to your running, I remember some mention of leading various cub *scout* activities :-)

[Salinger]

Hope your weekend is going well ! xx

[jonfirestar]

Good to see you back in the challenges. Following you on more than just Strava! 

[jstanlick]

On 8/3/2019 at 9:59 PM, Xena said:

 

po-tay-to po-tah-to. You have at least a bit of Scout in your heart.

 

In addition to your running, I remember some mention of leading various cub *scout* activities :-)

 

There may be some Scout crying out in there somewhere, but it can't be heard over the wailing and gnashing of teeth exhibited by the ADD toddler ranger that setup shop there.

 

On 8/4/2019 at 1:50 AM, Salinger said:

Hope your weekend is going well ! xx

Lots of driving this weekend. But, everyone got to and fro without incident so I'm calling it a win.

 

10 hours ago, jonfirestar said:

Good to see you back in the challenges. Following you on more than just Strava! 

Always good to be seen...anywhere for that matter!

[jstanlick]

Alright! It's Week 1! Let's go. What's that? You wanna know how Week 0 went? Why would you wanna go there?

Yes, let's not go there. Well, alright. 

 

On 8/1/2019 at 3:14 PM, jstanlick said:

• Cardio - 1 (at most 2) run(s)/week, 2 HIIT workouts/week
• Strength - 2 resistance workouts/week, may or may not be part of HIIT workouts.
• N=1 Experiment #1 - No food after 8 PM every day of the week.
• N=1 Experiment #2 -No food before 12 PM at least 3 days/week.

Hmm, let's see.

1. Well, there were 3 runs and 1 HIIT workout.
2. That would be 4 resistance workouts, one of them was included with the aforementioned HIIT workout. More than I planned on. That's interesting. I don't remember that many, but there they are in my log. I guess going over means I hit my goal right?
3. Every day, eh? Hmm, I might have been a bit overly enthusiastic with that one. Managed it 3 days last week
4. Aha! I got one! 3 days on the nose!

Hmm, not as bad as my memory wants to tell me it is. Good thing I write these things down, cuz my memory is apparently faulty.

[Teros]

On 8/1/2019 at 4:14 PM, jstanlick said:

(BTW - Who know pumpkin bowling was such a contact sport?)

 

Well I've heard of Punkin' Chunkin' but not pumpkin bowling.

 

 

16 hours ago, jstanlick said:

Every day, eh? Hmm, I might have been a bit overly enthusiastic with that one. Managed it 3 days last week

 

Timing my food is near-impossible.  IF in the mornings are easy-peasy but having a night cut-off is way more difficult for me.

[jstanlick]

I kinda gotta agree. It seems far harder to stop by 8:00. Dinner time around here can be anywhere between 4:30 and 8:00 depending on what everybody’s schedule for the day is. I really dislike it when it’s really early. And not just because it makes me feel like I’ve turned into my grandparents. No, it has more to do with getting hungry again around 9:00.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Salinger]

Defo know what you mean - i eat later too xx

[jstanlick]

On 8/6/2019 at 8:16 AM, Teros said:

Well I've heard of Punkin' Chunkin' but not pumpkin bowling.

 

 

That is pretty fantastic. I mean, you could argue that money and research time could've been spent on something that would help mankind more, but it's still pretty fantastic.

[jstanlick]

It's Wednesday so that seems like a good time to check in.

 

Monday was mostly a rest day. Not the intention, but that's how it worked out and I'm probably the better for it. Yesterday I got in a 3.5 mile run as the weather was beautiful. Not my best run. Not a terrible run, but not my best. The heel complained for the first 1/2 mile or so and after the first two miles I swear the temperature jumped up. The thermometer claimed it didn't, but it sure felt that way. So, there was about 1 1/2 miles in the middle there that were on point. Today I'm planning on hitting the gym for some lifting and hopefully some HIIT. We'll see how much time I have when I actually get there. So, I've got 1 of 1 runs and 0 of 2 resistance workouts (last one was Sunday) and 0 of 2 HIIT workouts.

 

Last night I managed to skip eating after 7:30. Monday night, not so much. I was eating a handful of pecans almost out of habit, looked at the clock which read 9:30 PM and realized I blew it. I almost decided that as long as I had already screwed things up I should just eat a bunch of other stuff, but decided piling on to a poor choice with more poor choices was not the way to go. So, I'm at 1/7 days so far this week.

 

Today I managed to stick to the no eating until noon. So, 1 or 3 for the week there. Hopefully by the end of today, I'll have one of everything for the week.

[jstanlick]

Well, I didn't get in my HIIT workout (ran out of time), but I did get in a weight session last night before some storms rolled through. It was a good evening. I did chest, upper back and ab exercises that felt so good I went back to @Mr_Willes B.R.U.T.A.L. spreadsheet to compare my bench press max to the last time updated that. I haven't been doing a lot of heavy lifting but a lot of lighter lifts with more volume when I have been lifting. Pretty much whatever the FitBod app (I am liking that app) doles out for my next workout and I peaked at the next one - deadlifts. And wouldn't you know it? My max BP and Wilks went up. I knew it felt like a good workout!

 

Then I came up from the basement as the winds whipped through the house and the temps dropped by about 15 degrees. The humidity vanished with them. That was a great line of storms. Lasted only about an hour and the weather has been my kind of temperatures since then. Plus, running around closing windows and trying to find the dog (she runs and hides anytime there is thunder) kept me adequately distracted from eating anything after 8 PM. Even the brownies my son made and frosted. So, I get to up that count to 2 nights this week. Sweet!

[Salinger]

Great job!!!!! xx

[Charlie_Quinn]

I'm really late, but I'm following now!

 

On 8/8/2019 at 4:32 PM, jstanlick said:

My max BP and Wilks went up. I knew it felt like a good workout!

 

That's great! Well done you!

[jstanlick]

Week 1 update (it was just week 1, right?). First, the goals:

On 8/1/2019 at 3:14 PM, jstanlick said:

• Cardio - 1 (at most 2) run(s)/week, 2 HIIT workouts/week
• Strength - 2 resistance workouts/week, may or may not be part of HIIT workouts.
• N=1 Experiment #1 - No food after 8 PM every day of the week.
• N=1 Experiment #2 -No food before 12 PM at least 3 days/week.

1. I limited myself to 2 running days. WOOT! Sadly, my heel is feeling better which means I'm headed in the right direction. Why is that sad news? Well, because the weather is getting nicer and it's taking a lot of will power to not go out and enjoy it more. So, it needs to heal up faster. Only managed 1 HIIT workout which was disappointing...kinda. I spent 5 hours on Saturday in my yard edging garden beds, moving mulch, weeding, trimming some spruce trees and stacking some split wood for the firepit. I ran out of energy for anything else, and it made my wife very happy that she didn't have to do it. So, it was worth it.
2. Fit in 3 strength training sessions this week. So, kinda makes up for missing a HIIT session? Maybe. I don't know. I did hit a new e1RM on the BP. That kind of amazed me since I've been doing lighter lifts at higher volumes since the end of my SL 5x5 back in spring. Plus, I didn't lose ground on my e1RM for my DL. Lots of volume on the DL at about 75% of e1RM.
3. Better than zero week. 5 out of 7 days. Better is better.
4. 4 days. Not bad. The best day was the day full of yard work -- also was the day full of deadlifts. I managed to keep busy enough that I didn't even realize I was hungry until I stopped around 3 PM. Plus, the blood sugars weren't bad. Not as good as I would have hoped given that I hadn't eaten anything in 20 hours. But, I'll take a 94 on the glucometer.

This week ought to be interesting with my yearly diabetes eye exam on Tuesday, Wednesday is a team "meeting" at the baseball game and Thursday is a department outing to some retro arcade/bar that I have not been to before. Friday will be packing for our yearly family trek to the north woods where we spend a week where each day involves laying around on the beach, in the lake, on the lake, have a few beverages of choice, have a bonfire, sleep and repeat. It was great fun when it was just my wife and I. It was less fun with infants to take care. Now that they're getting older, it is becoming more fun and less like work again. Especially with the youngest one being 9 and swims like a fish with the oldest one being a lifeguard. I feel like I don't need to be quite as vigilant as before. Although, they still have their moments of sibling induced moronic decisions which is where the trouble usually starts. All this to say, it will be a challenge to stick to my goals this week and next. Eeek!