NeverThatBored: Never Gonna Give You Up

[NeverThatBored]

Unchallenge time! 

 

I've been having a hard time making myself do goal-y things or even post updates for a bunch of challenges now, so I'm doing an un-challenge with no goals this time around. Because I just can't stay away from NF even when I barely post.

 

And I wouldn't be Captain Rangerbrain if I didn't have a laundry list of general things I'm working on either. These aren't goals so much as things I may or may not actually update about during this challenge:

 

• I'm going to Crossfit 5 days a week. That will continue for a few more weeks, and then I'll be staying with family in California where Crossfit is less convenient, so I'll probably drop down to 3x/week. This is routine by now. 
• Pullup work 2x/week after class
• I need to do more mobility - yoga videos at home, stretches from the GOWOD app, freeform stretches, actual yoga classes, whatever. 
• I want to walk/get outside more. I've had issues with my calves burning lately even on short walks, but I think that can be fixed by wearing different shoes. 
• I've got two more weeks of Japanese class (3 classes) and then I'm done for the year. I've got lots of studying to do until then. 
• Food hasn't been great lately and I need to reverse that trend. Fruits and veggies and proteins, oh my! 
• I need to do more things that are fun

[deftona]

Following for the Rick Roll vibes!

[Sloth the Enduring]

I love a good unchallenge.

[NeverThatBored]

 

[Maigs]

Following. I could basically copy and paste your first post for my challenge, just replace crossfit with kickboxing

[Lara]

On 10/25/2019 at 12:58 AM, NeverThatBored said:

I'm going to Crossfit 5 days a week

How can you even survive to this?

[NeverThatBored]

5 hours ago, zenLara said:

How can you even survive to this?

 

You get used to it! I built up from going 2x/week at first. I actually never intended to go 5x/week, it just kind of happened. 

[Xena]

On 10/24/2019 at 6:58 PM, NeverThatBored said:

Because I just can't stay away from NF even when I barely post.

Nice!!

[Jarric]

A very happy unchallenge to you!

 

On 10/24/2019 at 11:58 PM, NeverThatBored said:

I need to do more things that are fun

 

Sounds like a very good idea.

[NeverThatBored]

So for those of you don't know how the Cfit Open works - there's a new workout announced on Thursday nights every night for 5 weeks. You have until Monday night to complete the workout with the supervision of a judge (anyone in your box) and submit your official score. Within that time, you can attempt the workout multiple times if you'd like to. 

 

Usually I don't repeat anything (and don't want to) but today I decided to repeat Friday's workout, and I did better by about 10 reps! I normally hate doing workouts once I have a benchmark (because it means I can lose!) so I'm really pleased with how this went~ 

[NeverThatBored]

In other news, this weekend was nice! I had the apartment to myself on Sunday, and I did lots of things~ I slept in, then I went and studied Japanese at Starbucks for a couple of hours. I did meal prep and various other chores, went to a yoga class (yay mobility work), deep conditioned my hair, and watched a movie. 

 

For dinner, I made butternut squash simmered in apple cider and put it on toast with some ricotta cheese and it was so yummy~~ I was going to use the remaining squash to roast for salads, but this was so yummy that I might just make more of it instead.

 

In other OTHER news, I took my car in to get a safety inspection on Friday, and I still don't have it back. They had to do some things to it and it took them a long time to get to it, so one of my Cfit friends offered to give me a ride to work out this morning, which was super nice~ The car place says I should have my car back today though. 

[fleaball]

11 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

For dinner, I made butternut squash simmered in apple cider and put it on toast with some ricotta cheese and it was so yummy~~ I was going to use the remaining squash to roast for salads, but this was so yummy that I might just make more of it instead.

Whaaaaaat. Is there a recipe/process for this?

[NeverThatBored]

12 hours ago, fleaball said:

Whaaaaaat. Is there a recipe/process for this?

 

Yes! https://www.thekitchn.com/ricotta-toast-cider-braised-squash-22943251 

 

Basically just sautee squash cubes in butter until they soften then pour on some apple cider mixed with other things and simmer a little longer.

[NeverThatBored]

I got my car back last night. Goodbye, money. T_T 

 

This morning I thought it was making a weird noise and rattling a bit, but then it stopped. Maybe I was just imagining things? I sure hope so. 

 

Crossfit was good, but gosh am I sore! And I'm feeling really frustrated with my legs lately. My shins are a mess, and when I go on walks my calves often start burning, which shouldn't be a thing. Today we were jump roping, so that's a fun combo. I like jumping, but my rope form is really bad - I'm not even close to getting double unders because my single under form is still so bad. I'm generally not comparing myself to other people there, but I can't help but feel kind of down about my lack of progress on them compared to literally everyone else. 

 

Speaking of walks, I've been going on more lately! The walking habit used to be easy for me, but for a while now I just haven't been able to get into any kind of routine with it. My options are pretty much to take a walking break during the day or to go after work. Maybe next time I get the urge to take a nap, I'll try going on a short walk instead. 

[Raxie]

Unchallenges are honestly really the best sometimes.  Following along!

[NeverThatBored]

So during the Open, every Thursday we do something called "Goat Day" where you can pick any two movements you want to work on. Last Open, I was working on box jumps and making good progress, so I'm doing the same thing this time. I haven't gotten full height box jumps yet because they're scary. But today we measured and I'm up about 18.25 inches, so I'm getting really close to the standard 20 inches! We have one more Goat Day next week, so I'm hoping to increase the height at least a little more! 

[NeverThatBored]

Open workout #4 completed! This one had a lot of heavy clean & jerks (you end with the barbell overhead) - it starts light at 35# and increases by 20# each time until you end at 135#. As far as I can tell, the heaviest weight I've ever jerked is 85#, but today I got all 10 reps of the 95# clean & jerks!! 

 

It was also my day to supply post-workout treats, so I made oreo balls, which were a big hit! 

[NeverThatBored]

The last workout of the Crossfit Open is done! I really liked this one. It was interesting because you could complete the movements in any order you wanted, so there was potentially a lot of strategy involved and everyone could do it very differently. 

 

One of the (scaled) movements was 40 pullups (lol) but I was able to do 2, so I'm pretty pleased with just that! And my friend J got her very first pullup today!! AND after the WOD I tried a few more times and was able to do my first 2 kipping pullups ever. 

 

Then we feasted on cupcakes.

 

[NeverThatBored]

In other news, I did some yoga yesterday. It was good. 

 

I've got my last Japanese class today. I don't anticipating doing very well on our final quiz - the class was condensed from 10 weeks to 7 and I just don't feel like I've had enough time to get a good grasp of all the different grammar points we've covered. 

 

Then on Sunday I'm leaving on a weeklong trip! 

[Elastigirl]

Woot for pull ups!

[Xena]

HOpe you are going somewhere fun!

Great job getting through all the Open workouts!

[Kestrel Grey]

On 11/8/2019 at 9:28 AM, NeverThatBored said:

In other news, I did some yoga yesterday. It was good. 

 

I've got my last Japanese class today. I don't anticipating doing very well on our final quiz - the class was condensed from 10 weeks to 7 and I just don't feel like I've had enough time to get a good grasp of all the different grammar points we've covered. 

 

Then on Sunday I'm leaving on a weeklong trip! 

I hope you are having a great time!

 

With classes sometimes it all gels a week or two after the class ends. While it is very nice to continue to get better, it would be nicer if that understanding was shown on the final test...

[NeverThatBored]

Ok, my trip is over and I've landed in California for 2 weeks. The trip was cool! We did a road trip from Joshua Tree to Death Valley to Vegas. Joshua Tree is probably my new favorite national park. It was so pretty and I want to go back~

 

I'm doing a weird thing were I'm here for 2 weeks, flying back to Virginia for 2 weeks, and then returning to CA around Christmas. Our trip ended in Vegas, which is a short/cheap flight to CA. It feels ridiculous to go back and forth so much (and pay to do it), but I just didn't feel ready to drop everything and spend a straight 6 weeks in CA. It was eating at me for months before I decided to do this. So even though it seems ridiculous, it also felt like my best option. 

 

I'm back to work tomorrow, which is a tiring thought. I've got a bunch of stuff to get done before the end of the year that I'm a bit behind on. Work in general also has felt kind of lonely and unsatisfying lately. I'm hoping my sort-of boredom during my time in CA will actually help me to be super productive and get ahead on everything. 

 

I'm starting to get into holiday mode - Christmas shopping and thinking about goals for the new year and all that. I've got some ideas for a different way to approach challenges instead of doing the same unsuccessful thing over and over. 

[NeverThatBored]

On 11/11/2019 at 6:43 PM, Kestrel Grey said:

 

With classes sometimes it all gels a week or two after the class ends. While it is very nice to continue to get better, it would be nicer if that understanding was shown on the final test...

 

Yeah, I don't fully understand her approach to final tests. There's some questions that test the grammar we learned, essential vocab, etc. and that's fine. But there are also a lot of parts based on things we never explicitly studied in class, but that were "in the book." Like - she'll include tricky questions about kanji arranged in ways we've never actually studied, or she'll use kanji for all the verbs she wants us to conjugate, even though we never actually studied those particular kanji. So then we can't read them even if we know how to do it. I have no idea what the point of doing that is - for her or for us. 

 

But the class overall is good and it's not a graded class or anything, so that final quiz doesn't matter too much. 

[Xena]

23 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

I'm starting to get into holiday mode - Christmas shopping and thinking about goals for the new year and all that. I've got some ideas for a different way to approach challenges instead of doing the same unsuccessful thing over and over.

 

I'm pretty excited for the holiday season and new year too. Do you really think you've been particularly unsuccessful? From an outside perspective, it seems like you do really well! Your shins keep nagging and you don't always do everything you hope (you often have very "Rangerly" challenges), but in general you seem to be winning for sure.