Run Raptron Run

[raptron]

The world is still in full on pandemic mode and you're telling me it's time for another challenge?! I'm supposed to have GOALS? And actually work toward these things? 🤔

 

HOWEVER, time continues to move forward so I guess we better also keep moving forward. And for the past few weeks, I've been taking that pretty, uh, literally.

I'm running 3-4x per week and have been doing a pretty good job of progressing pretty gradually. I don't like running and after 7 weeks of running, I still don't like it. But I can make myself do it and as such an active person who loves both goals and tangible progress, it's giving me things to work toward that have obvious and clear improvements. Especially compared with the handstands I've also been working on over the past two months which I could tell you are better? maybe? 😝

 

I've been approaching this whole thing week by week and I'm going to continue to do so. However, I've been chasing the same things week-to-week, it turns out.

• Jogging 3-4x per week
• Pull-ups and chin-ups 3-4x per week
• Handstand practice and drills 5-7x per week
• Flexibility practice 2x per week
• Leg strength training 2x per week 

 

I've been killing it on the top 3, but the bottom 2 continue to be challenging for me. I haven't found something that works to really incorporate them into my new schedule of being in my house most of the got-dang day. But, that's the name of the game, right? A challenge? 

[starsapart]

33 minutes ago, raptron said:

 

I think this every time I read one of your updates, honestly.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

  

[sylph]

Here for this.

[dancezwithkittehz]

Following as alwaaaaaays

 

[KB Girl]

This challenge title is just soo wrong 😅

What makes handstands easier to get done than some leg work? Just the enjoyment factor? 

[raptron]

1 hour ago, KB Girl said:

What makes handstands easier to get done than some leg work? Just the enjoyment factor? 

Mostly that! And I find them to be a nice break during the work day whereas I feel like leg stuff has to be more dedicated. Which I think is just a fallacy, lol. I also get sad/annoyed doing what feels like measly leg work when I could be doing sets with like 275# while handstands just remind me that I love being upside down and working on silly human tricks.

[raptron]

Zero Week Updates so far

💪Chin-ups on Monday: 8, 6, 6, 5, 7

 🏃‍♀️Jog on Monday: 5.25 at ~8:38 pace (LIGHTNING FAST)

🚶‍♀️1 long walk on Monday

💤Monday naptime

📚Reading at home before bed

 

🚶‍♀️2 long walks on Tuesday

🍲Cooked a bunch of black bean and sausage stew

🙃Straddle and pike handstand practice

🐉D&D NF Heist game day 2 -- this time with far less technical difficulty! And some combat! And lots of intel collecting! 🔍

 

 💪Neutral grip pull-ups today: 7, 6, 6, 6, 6

🧘‍♀️40 minute team stretch including thoracic mobility work, psoas and hamstring work, and splits

 

Jog and walks today yet to come. I also might join a glute focused workout and do have another D&D session today that should be about 70% spectating and 30% running the show. 

[miss_marissa]

 

[KB Girl]

32 minutes ago, raptron said:

Mostly that! And I find them to be a nice break during the work day whereas I feel like leg stuff has to be more dedicated. Which I think is just a fallacy, lol. I also get sad/annoyed doing what feels like measly leg work when I could be doing sets with like 275# while handstands just remind me that I love being upside down and working on silly human tricks.

Ah yes the painful reminder.. makes sense. But yes it is ofcourse a fallacy. How about 2 pistols each leg before you’re allowed to get upside down? 😝

[starpuck]

Here to follow along.    This doing running plus strength, plus gymnastics stuff.   Seems like you're a real ... jack of all trades these days.   So I best keep an eye on things here...

 

Nice work on dem pull ups!   I was thinking I couldn't get 10 by end of this challenge, but I snagged 8 on my final set today!! This could be a thing!

 

 

[bigm141414]

I now have Black Eyed Peas - Let's get it Started stuck in my head because of your thread. And raptron keeps, runnin', runnin'. And runnin' runnin'. And runnin', runnin'.

 

I hope you're happy.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

40 minutes ago, bigm141414 said:

I now have Black Eyed Peas - Let's get it Started stuck in my head because of your thread. And raptron keeps, runnin', runnin'. And runnin' runnin'. And runnin', runnin'.

 

I hope you're happy.

Your brain didn't go straight to Forest Gump?

[WhiteGhost]

Here for all the running!

 

OK, I think we all know that isn't true, I'm just here for all the other stuff  

[@mu]

ha ha excellent thread title

 

11 hours ago, raptron said:

I also get sad/annoyed doing what feels like measly leg work when I could be doing sets with like 275# while handstands just remind me that I love being upside down and working on silly human tricks.

 

It's hard. I still miss deadlifts a lot even though I made the choice to focus on body weight training. I haven't found any equivalent. I have played with lifting my sofa until it nearly broke. It's just not the same.

[raptron]

20 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Ah yes the painful reminder.. makes sense. But yes it is ofcourse a fallacy. How about 2 pistols each leg before you’re allowed to get upside down? 😝

UGHHHH I GUESS that makes sense, hahah...... FINE.

19 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Nice work on dem pull ups!   I was thinking I couldn't get 10 by end of this challenge, but I snagged 8 on my final set today!! This could be a thing!

HELL YEA. 

 

8 hours ago, @mu said:

It's hard. I still miss deadlifts a lot even though I made the choice to focus on body weight training. I haven't found any equivalent. I have played with lifting my sofa until it nearly broke. It's just not the same.

Hahah. I am definitely not trying to break sofas over here but I could maybe give some furniture a shot. 🤔🤔🤔 jk, jk.

 

WFH Day 8.3

My Wednesday was suuuuper busy. I had a ton of work to do at very specific times during the day, but also a lot of personal things I needed to/wanted to get done. I went out for a jog, participated in team stretch, picked up a fancy wine order, and then had to go back out to pick up a less fancy burger and fry order from my favorite bar that has started doing very limited takeout. I wound up working until 8:30 because I underestimated how long it was going to take me to get something done, but at least I had delicious fries to eat while I did so, haha.

 

Pulling the first two from the update above just for my own sorting/sanity reasons

💪Neutral grip pull-ups 7, 6, 6, 6, 6

🧘‍♀️40 minute team stretch including thoracic mobility work, psoas and hamstring work, and splits

🏃‍♀️4.2 mile jog

🚶‍♀️Additional walking of about 4 miles

🙃Brief handstand practice and like 5 pistol squats per side 😝

🐉Short D&D night and the bedeviled crew is firmly back into my hands for the next few sessions

 

I'm going to run again either today or Friday and then do my long run on Sunday. I'm doing a handstand class tomorrow after work which presumably will involve some real stretching. I have my bugbear D&D game tonight for a #3daystreak haha. 

[raptron]

WFH Day 8.4

Yesterday was another busy work day. However, it was pretty nice out, so I spent a while working on the porch outside in the morning and then again later in the afternoon. Yay for some sunshine. The wifi even managed to reach pretty well out there for once. I went on a walk after work, did some very necessary shopping, and actually got a free bike from a friend of mine. This is the second time I've said "I'm thinking about buying a bike" out loud and someone was just like "wait, I can just give you one." So, thanks universe. I cooked up a bunch of rice and ground turkey to go with the black bean and sausage stew I've been eating, played D&D, and stayed up late after chatting. 🤷‍♀️

 

🚶‍♀️Morning walk with GC

💪Pull-ups: 6, 6, 6, 5, 4 <-- oohhh. I did these two days in a row accidentally. I was like WHY WERE THESE SO HARD.

🧘‍♀️Pancakes and bridges

🦵Some number of pistols, lunges, reverse lunges, and slow split squats

🙃Super solid feeling straight handstand holds (!), 5 slow and controlled(ish) crow to flying crow and back per side, and 5 attempts to THINK about getting into a handstand from a crow position. My brain and body thought REALLY REALLY HARD and didn't move at all, hahah. I kind of wriggled my legs off a couple of times into very rapidly collapsing bent arm tuck planches

🐉Short D&D session while drinking one of bottles of natural wine I got the day before (yum)

 

Jogging 2/4

Pulls 3/4

Handstand 4/7

Flexibility 2/2 

Leg: 1/2 

 

Jog + handstand class today. Hanging with QP later on and we're supposed to get some kind of gross polar vortex situation, so boooo. 

[WhiteGhost]

16 hours ago, raptron said:

My brain and body thought REALLY REALLY HARD and didn't move at all, hahah. I kind of wriggled my legs off a couple of times into very rapidly collapsing bent arm tuck planches

I see you are copying my normal attempts here  

[KB Girl]

On 5/8/2020 at 4:30 PM, raptron said:

5 attempts to THINK about getting into a handstand from a crow position. My brain and body thought REALLY REALLY HARD and didn't move at all, hahah. I kind of wriggled my legs off a couple of times into very rapidly collapsing bent arm tuck planches

Hah! That's the thing with all these bodyweight skills, there's a phase of this for all of it xD 

 

Yay for the free bike!

 

[Harriet]

On 5/6/2020 at 5:46 PM, bigm141414 said:

I now have Black Eyed Peas - Let's get it Started stuck in my head because of your thread. And raptron keeps, runnin', runnin'. And runnin' runnin'. And runnin', runnin'.

That's odd, I assumed the thread was named for another song. He'll get by, without his raptron pie... so run raptron run raptron run run run

[Mad Hatter]

Following!

 

On 5/7/2020 at 6:49 PM, raptron said:

Hahah. I am definitely not trying to break sofas over here but I could maybe give some furniture a shot. 🤔🤔🤔 jk, jk.

Couldn't you maybe find a nice rock or branch and do strongman stuff outside? 🤔

[Manarelle]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:30 AM, raptron said:

My brain and body thought REALLY REALLY HARD and didn't move at all, hahah. I kind of wriggled my legs off a couple of times into very rapidly collapsing bent arm tuck planches

 

On 5/9/2020 at 2:36 AM, WhiteGhost said:

I see you are copying my normal attempts here  

 

Same here. The brain goes "Ok, GO!" and the body goes "HNNNNNRRRRGH no," /flop. But one day....!

[JuiceeTarget]

Following along... but not too close as I can't run that fast yet

[starpuck]

On 5/8/2020 at 9:30 AM, raptron said:

I was like WHY WERE THESE SO HARD.

Omg, relatable!       And sometimes, I've had days where I am like, "Oh crap, I last did these 5 days ago, I am going to be down a rep for sure!"  And then I say, "Orr, I can get +2 max?  Ok then!"    Bodies.   I wish they spoke the same language as us! Hahah.

 

Nice job on things Raptron!

[raptron]

On 5/10/2020 at 2:07 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Couldn't you maybe find a nice rock or branch and do strongman stuff outside? 🤔

I could see what I can find on the boulder front. I am at least 2 miles away from any pseudo-wilderness, so it would have a heavy journey home with me, unless I start pilfering decorations from parks, haha.

4 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Same here. The brain goes "Ok, GO!" and the body goes "HNNNNNRRRRGH no," /flop. But one day....!

ONE DAY! For sure.

 

WFH Day 8.5

Friday was busy but in a good way, I think. I had a number of things I wanted to wrap up before the week ended at work and focused on them, but still took some time off during lunch for a walk, and then wrapped up early so I could get a run in before my handstand class at 5:30 PM. It was not a very good run, IIRC, but I had been up late and my first two runs of the week were awesome so I can't complain. I got home just in time to join the virtual handstand class. It was an all levels class that included a ton of body shaping drills, which literally everyone can always benefit from. We did drills for tuck, straddle, and straight body handstands plus various holds against the wall and free-stranding. We did a bunch of hollow body work, hip flexor stuff for straddles, etc. It was nice to have someone else dictate my handstand practice and actually make me do the drills I always neglect. Once I wrapped up there, I hung out at QP's for the night. 

 

🚶‍♀️Lunchtime walk

🏃‍♀️Jogged 4.5 miles, a bit slow

🙃1-hour handstand class

🏁Caught up on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race finally

 

WFH Day 8.6

Pleasantly slow morning with pancakes (the eating kind, not the stretching kind for once) and watching Great British Bake Off. When I got home, I went for a long walk in the moody, windy weather. I swung back around for the Zoom workout my friend ran and then headed back out for more walking, as the sun had finally come out. I'm still trying to get a decent amount of walking in every single day. My shoulders were pretty tired from the handstand class on Friday, so I didn't do any upper body work outside of what was in the HIIT class (push-ups, db overhead press, curls, plank shoulder taps). Everyone's dogs were very excited that there was so much floor work -- it was very cute. 

 

🚶‍♀️2 long walks

🦵 45 minute Zoom workout with friends with the main thing being 30 minutes of HIIT circuits

🙃Handstand tuck hold practice -- trying to turn this into a hollow tuck instead of an arched tuck and it's way harder for me

🎥Movie night with friends 

 

WFH Day 8.7

Movie night went late the night before so I slept in until around 11 AM, which was glorious. We had a nice sunny day with a good breeze -- perfect for my long run. I took my time getting up, reading while I had my coffee and pb&j to fuel up before the planned 9 mile run. I had been waffling between doing a 10k again or doing the 9 miles, as the program I'm somewhat following gave the option to do a 10k race pace instead of a longer run than the week before. I decided I wanted to take advantage of the nice day and put in the miles instead of going for speed.

 

My run started off great, but unfortunately about 2 miles in, I tripped. I caught myself with the other foot and manage to stop from faceplanting on the concrete, but the force was maybe too strong for my somewhat flimsy shoes and tore the upper away from the sole. They were fine for walking home, but there was no way I could keep running in them. I hemmed and hawed on my walk home about what I should do next. I ultimately decided to at least try a few miles in a different pair of shoes to see if they would work as a stop-gap before I could get new running shoes. It turned out I had a pair of similar shoes aimed for trail running instead of road running. Once I put those on, I decided I would do the 7 remaining miles to get my total mileage up to the 9 I was aiming for. It was not a very good run, but like I said, the weather was great. My overall pace for both segments was 9:24/mile, which is ~20s/mile slower than my long run the week before. That's ok. I had a shoe swap crisis and am really proud of myself for not letting it derail me. 😁Plus, I am an amateur. Everything should just be about getting miles under my belt, not about speed. (Something I have to continue to remind myself of.)

 

When I got home, I had about 20 minutes to chug a smoothie and get ready for another handstand class -- this one with a different instructor from the local circus school that was aimed for a more practiced audience. It had more actual inversion time including free hold straight body and low straddle handstands. It also included planche slides, ab conditioning, straddle press drills and practice (I was too fatigued to do them from the floor, but my yoga block was fine!). My perpetual cue is "where is your hip lock?" which is A GOOD QUESTION. I do not set my hips very well. I dump into my low back constantly. It'll be my main thing to watch during my practices on my own. 

 

 🏃‍♀️Jogged 2 miles, changed shoes, jogged another 7 miles

🙃1-hour handstand class

🥖Made biscuits

📺Watched some Insecure

 

Week 0 Summary

Jogging 4/4

Pulls 3/4

Handstand 7/7

Flexibility 2/2 

Leg: 2/2 

 

This was my most physical week of quarantine yet, for sure. I actually felt REALLY GOOD and felt like I did enough for the first time since the gyms closed. My body was fatigued by the end of Sunday, but in that REALLY GOOD WAY that I didn't realize how much I missed until I felt it again. I first felt it after doing Friday's handstand class after my run -- like an audible deep sigh of "YOU SUCCESSFULLY CHALLENGED YOURSELF." I'm stoked.