Xena pushes, preps and plans

[Novaurora]

22 hours ago, Xena said:

I finally decided to stop worrying about what to get people for Christmas and just made some decisions.

My family is pretty straight forward.  We all make wishlists and just pick things off of them.

 

I'm glad you were able to get everything sorted with your running coach.

41 minutes ago, Xena said:

He makes my schedule for the week on Monday nights...sometimes surprising me with a hard workout on Tuesday. I don't like that...I like knowing what's coming so I can prepare for it. Maybe it would be good for me to learn to be more flexible, but running is my hobby and I want to enjoy my own hobby 🙂

That would drive me nuts too.  If my week isn't planned out Sunday, I go a bit crazy.  I used to have a job at a tutoring agency that would let parents schedule all week and they would send out a new schedule every day.  I stayed at their beck and call way too long

[Xena]

The past couple of days have been productive and good. I'm still working on my pushup program. They are getting a little easier. I can almost do 5 sets of 8...think I will manage that tomorrow. Once I hit that milestone, I'll start decreasing the rest interval.

 

Also been doing well on mobility...I mean, I don't think I'm any more mobile, but I've been doing the stuff I said I would. Much better about switching up my position at work (some standing desk time, sitting on the floor for some of my zoom meetings) and have done a few days now of the GMB program.

 

On the decluttering front, I finally got my printer to work so I could print the shipping label (to recycle my old phone). Took a big excursion today to a FedEx drop site. The first place I've driven since Monday.

 

On Tuesday I finally hopped onto the pandemic craze of bread baking (about 10 months after everyone else). Set up the dough to rise and forgot about it until MANY hours later. Finally dealt with it, and it came out ok. Not sure that bread baking is really my thing.

 

 

[Maigs]

12 hours ago, Xena said:

On Tuesday I finally hopped onto the pandemic craze of bread baking (about 10 months after everyone else). Set up the dough to rise and forgot about it until MANY hours later. Finally dealt with it, and it came out ok. Not sure that bread baking is really my thing.

Haha, I did this with pizza dough once. Haven't tried since. I have a bread machine for those times I feel like making homemade bread. Which really should happen more often, except then I eat an entire loaf of bread while it's still warm  

[Mistr]

Following.

 

I have had the same problem you did with bread dough. A warm place to let it rise is often out of sight. Dumbledore decided to get good at making bread by practicing with the same recipe over and over. He has the timing down now.

 

I'm doing a push-up challenge too. I will be watching your experience with interest.

[Xena]

4 hours ago, Mistr said:

A warm place to let it rise is often out of sight. Dumbledore decided to get good at making bread by practicing with the same recipe over and over. He has the timing down now.

 

That was EXACTLY the problem. It was in the utility closet.

I would like to try again with the more basic version of this recipe. I see how it could become a routine.

 

4 hours ago, Mistr said:

I'm doing a push-up challenge too. I will be watching your experience with interest.

 

I finally managed 5x8 negatives today! I've improved a lot since Thanksgiving.

 

Today was pretty good. I'm not sure I got all that much done, but I decided I'm ok with that.  I ran a hard loop around the pond. The time wasn't stellar, but the effort was about the right level. Later in the day I took a break to take a walk on a trail with a friend. We wore masks the whole time. It was good to see my friend, but the mask was annoying (felt damp and gross after a while). Not sure quite why I'm sharing that...I guess just that it didn't feel like such a fun break.

 

I don't have a lot of plans for the weekend, but I'm looking forward to some time away from Zoom meetings.

[Xena]

Yoga today. AND I could actually feel the benefits of my push-up training. I wasn't doing the full chataranga (sp?), but my form was much better pushing from up-dog/cobra/whatever into down dog.

 

Lots of work on the BuJo set-up today because it's 2020 and I had some time on my hands.

 

Also worked on my decluttering list. You know how sometimes on the internet you go through a series of steps but some how miss one last essential click? I thought I had posted a bunch of stuff on a FB group last week (old furniture and stuff to donate to a good home) and was waiting for mod approval. Turns out it wasn't actually posted. Today I took care of that. Also measured a carpet remnant that's sitting in my closet and added that to the list. I'm still shaking my head about that carpet remnant. I got new carpet in my bedroom last year and kept the remnant, thinking I might want to put tread pads on the stairs. The carpenter convinced me that tread pads were a terrible idea, but now I have a giant roll of carpet sitting around collecting dust.

 

I've been listening to Tina Fey's "Bossypants" as an audiobook. It's good, but I'm starting to get tired of it.

[Xena]

Week 1 Report

 

Push-up challenge: Yes! After the first couple super rough workouts, they've been coming back well. Today managed 9-9-8-8-6 negatives with 45 s rest between sets.

 

Mobility: Good overall. The goal was to sit on the floor 30 min per day. In practice, this makes more sense for the weekdays than the weekends. I did it each week day and not on the weekends. I also recently started the GMB mobility program and did 3 of the sessions this week. Today they finally had a video kind of explaining how you are supposed to use the time, which was very helpful. There have been a couple times when they have 4 minutes allocated for a single exercise and that seemed crazy to me. Now I understand that the time can include rest between bursts of effort (though I still think 4 minutes is pretty long...I mean seriously 4 minutes in cobra pose??). I'm not sure the program is the absolute best use of my time...so far I don't think the focus on bear/frog/monkey is really getting to the core of my mobility limitations, but we'll see how it feels when I get farther into the program.

 

De-cluttering: Yup...posted a bunch of stuff to try and donate (7/10 more-or-less done). This week...figure out if I can order a new charging cord for my noise-cancelling earbuds. If they aren't functional, they are just clutter.

 

BuJo: Yes! Lots of work on it this week. All the year-long spreads are more-or-less ready to go. Next week I can probably start working on setting up the pages for January.

Here's the cover (I copied something I saw online and liked).
 

Spoiler

 

 

Kindness. Hmmm... uh....

 

[Xena]

Did my run today and more training for the pushup challenge. Gonna do some mobility work after this.

Two good things today:

 

1. A lady just messaged that she might want some of my free stuff.

2. I finally figured out a way to work on pull-ups. I'm really weak on this motion and can't even hang above the bar for a useful amount of time. I have a couple bands, but neither one gives the right amount of assist for full pull-ups or negatives. Discovered today that I could hang above the bar using the weaker band for assist. At least it's a starting point I can build from.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Be careful. Mrs. Sloth joined a buy nothing FB group to get rid of some clutter, but we have a whole lot more coming in than going out. 
 

Hanging is great for your shoulders and I used it to get over the sticking point when I started pull ups - I used inverted rows to work up pulling strength for chin ups and then pull ups. 
 

Maybe I missed it, how do you like GMB compared to plain old yoga?

[Mistr]

Yay for progress on push-ups and getting rid of stuff. I'm sure we still have old carpet in the attic that came with the house. The only thing I might use it for is a cat scratching post, but I don't want the cats to associate our carpet with scratching.

[KB Girl]

Did you know that pushups actually also help you work towards a pull-up? sounds weird, but it's partly the same movement chain. 

Love your art work! It's so nice that you take the time for that. And thank you for sharing, love seeing it. 

[Xena]

On 12/15/2020 at 9:45 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Be careful. Mrs. Sloth joined a buy nothing FB group to get rid of some clutter, but we have a whole lot more coming in than going out.

 

Hah!! So far it's been a one-way street, but we'll see. I do always have my eye on the exercise equipment.

 

On 12/15/2020 at 9:45 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Hanging is great for your shoulders and I used it to get over the sticking point when I started pull ups - I used inverted rows to work up pulling strength for chin ups and then pull ups. 
 

Maybe I missed it, how do you like GMB compared to plain old yoga?

 

I don't have a good set-up for inverted rows, but once I get a little stronger, I'll be able to work on negatives or holds in different parts of the movement.

 

I'd love advice from any of the NF'ers who like GMB. I hates it Precious. I did their focused flexibilty program and thought it was the most boring thing ever. The mobility program is better, but I still find it really clunky. Some of their suggested times seem way too long, and it's weird that the video lengths don't match with what they want you to do. It would be so much easier if they were just the same length and you could just let it play. Instead you have to flip through the videos to get to the end of a section or listen to them loop over and over. I'm hoping it might get better after I get farther into it. I'll admit that sometimes I cheat and start adding in other exercises that seem to work similar aspects of flexiblity. I don't want to spend 4 minutes doing side angle pose, so I add in a twisted version for example. (TL:DR: I don't like it very much, but I'm giving it a chance).

 

On 12/16/2020 at 2:38 PM, Mistr said:

Yay for progress on push-ups and getting rid of stuff. I'm sure we still have old carpet in the attic that came with the house. The only thing I might use it for is a cat scratching post, but I don't want the cats to associate our carpet with scratching.

 

Yeah...the reason I have this big carpet remnant is that my cat scratched the heck out of my old carpet and I replaced it with a non-looped version. BUT I learned something. I had one room left with the looped carpet, so of course the cat started scratching that. I found some kind of herbal spray at the pet store. It's non toxic, seriously just normal herb oils with a smell that cat doesn't like. You spray it on the carpet where the cat scratches. It works!!! Could have saved myself a lot of money if I had figured that out 10 years ago 🙂

 

On 12/16/2020 at 5:40 PM, KB Girl said:

Did you know that pushups actually also help you work towards a pull-up? sounds weird, but it's partly the same movement chain. 

Love your art work! It's so nice that you take the time for that. And thank you for sharing, love seeing it. 

 

Thanks KB Girl! My upper body tends to be pretty weak, so anything I do has to help!

[Xena]

Nothing too interesting to report. Someone picked up a couple of my items. A different person was supposed to grab the rest, but we had snow and she bailed. Hopefully she comes back.

 

I did my pushups and pull-up work today and some GMB. Yesterday I forgot to sit on the floor, but I remembered tonight!

 

Kindness...nothing all that amazing. I watched a couple presentations by students today and made a point to write to them afterward with some specific positive feedback. [that's more along the lines of something that's garden-variety nice and kind].

[Xena]

Week 2 Report:

 

Push-up Challenge: Yes...been doing this every other day. Haven't made a ton of progress, but a little bit each time. Up to 10,10,10,7,3 negatives with 40-45s between sets.\

 

Mobility: Like before, I've been mostly good about sitting on the floor during the week (I forgot one day this time). I did GMB mobility twice and yoga once. Today's GMB program was the best so far...finally got to try a sort of interesting movement (twisted bear). Program still seems weird (e.g., the division of things into practice vs. play sometimes makes no sense), but any mobility work is better than nothing.

 

Decluttering: Someone picked up a couple of things. Someone was supposed to pick up the rest but cancelled due to snow. I gotta get back on this. The stuff I have left to do won't take long.

 

BuJo: Yes! Spent some time yesterday setting up my January spreads. Also made a page for my marathon training plan, and found a new plan on the Runner's World website to use for inspiration. Have it all sketched out. Wrote the plan in pencil so I can adjust week-by-week if things come up.

 

Kindness...well haven't really interacted with anyone today...

 

Quick Strength...yup, did my two workouts for the week.

 

TL:DR  So far so good. I've been phoning it in a little bit, looking forward to starting fresh in 2021. Writing up my marathon plan got me kind of excited about training. I'm happy to be going back to self-coached. I think it's the scientist in my. I want to know the plan and how the different parts are building to something bigger, Getting my workouts week-by-week started to become less motivating.

 

[Xena]

Today: Quick strength workout (from the book), pushups (finally did 4x10 negatives with 40-45s rest), pull-up work (I'm pathetic here...have worked up to 3x7 sec bent arm hang WITH a light resistance band). Ran ~ 3 miles.

 

Getting a bit frustrated with reading everyone's reactions to the upcoming changes to the forums and ideas about how people might communicate differently. The changes will happen, and we'll all figure out how to use the re-vamped forums in the way that works best for us. People totally have the right to express their opinions...I was just getting inexplicably stressed out reading them.

 

I guess it was stressful because it made me less sure of how to support others. There's been a push from some to have "more meaningful" conversations and not make "throwaway comments." Some threads are easier to comment on than others. I like to check in on some of the quieter threads. I think it's nice to say a couple encouraging words even if they aren't particularly epic. There was also a suggestion to spend more time in subforums. I'm not all that interested in doing that. I joined NF because I wanted to set my own challenge goals and have a way to keep track of them with some encouragement and accountability. I don't really have a lot of time for the subforums and am not looking for more to do.

 

It will all be ok. I just wanted to post this on my own thread because I didn't want to debate any of it.

[fitnessgurl]

Good job on your workout.

[Kestrel Grey]

On 12/17/2020 at 6:05 PM, Xena said:

 

I'd love advice from any of the NF'ers who like GMB. I hates it Precious. I did their focused flexibilty program and thought it was the most boring thing ever. The mobility program is better, but I still find it really clunky. Some of their suggested times seem way too long, and it's weird that the video lengths don't match with what they want you to do. It would be so much easier if they were just the same length and you could just let it play. Instead you have to flip through the videos to get to the end of a section or listen to them loop over and over. I'm hoping it might get better after I get farther into it. I'll admit that sometimes I cheat and start adding in other exercises that seem to work similar aspects of flexiblity. I don't want to spend 4 minutes doing side angle pose, so I add in a twisted version for example. (TL:DR: I don't like it very much, but I'm giving it a chance).

 

I am afraid that I don't have any advice.  I want to like it, but the video setup drove me bonkers and I have yet to finish more than a couple weeks of Elements.  I also have Focused Flexibility but that is just a list of stretches and instructions to pick 4 (2 for each area) and reassess occasionally.  Have you tried it on Praxis yet?  They claim it is all better on that platform but I haven't tried it yet.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I missed that discussion.  They better not take the gif button away.  
 

[deftona]

5 hours ago, Xena said:

I guess it was stressful because it made me less sure of how to support others. There's been a push from some to have "more meaningful" conversations and not make "throwaway comments." Some threads are easier to comment on than others. I like to check in on some of the quieter threads. I think it's nice to say a couple encouraging words even if they aren't particularly epic. There was also a suggestion to spend more time in subforums. I'm not all that interested in doing that. I joined NF because I wanted to set my own challenge goals and have a way to keep track of them with some encouragement and accountability. I don't really have a lot of time for the subforums and am not looking for more to do.

 

I was surprised people seem to have so many opinions on what other people should and shouldn't be posting. I kind of feel like once you  join a place like this, or put a post up somewhere then you get the reactions you get, and people can relate to it however they like. It's not for me to tell people how they should and shouldn't respond to posts I make and it's not for other people to do that either. That goes in complete opposition to the point of this thing, and for what it's worth I appreciate any and all engagement with my content.  I'm interested in everyone's natural response to things I post, there is no secret script I am expecting people to follow. Because that's not how relationships work. 

[Harriet]

5 hours ago, Xena said:

Getting a bit frustrated with reading everyone's reactions to the upcoming changes to the forums and ideas about how people might communicate differently. The changes will happen, and we'll all figure out how to use the re-vamped forums in the way that works best for us. People totally have the right to express their opinions...I was just getting inexplicably stressed out reading them.

 

I was also reading the responses. I don't feel like I have an opinion yet because I haven't found the best ways to use the new setup, which I assume will happen with some practice. But I also feel the challenges are the most important part of the forums.

 

 

[sarakingdom]

12 hours ago, deftona said:

 

I was surprised people seem to have so many opinions on what other people should and shouldn't be posting. I kind of feel like once you  join a place like this, or put a post up somewhere then you get the reactions you get, and people can relate to it however they like. It's not for me to tell people how they should and shouldn't respond to posts I make and it's not for other people to do that either. That goes in complete opposition to the point of this thing, and for what it's worth I appreciate any and all engagement with my content.  I'm interested in everyone's natural response to things I post, there is no secret script I am expecting people to follow. Because that's not how relationships work. 

 

I feel similarly. And, honestly, I feel like you speak to people in their language. Not always, but, you generally try. I'm going to use way more gifs to chat with, say, Willes, than I do with Mistr, who writes very clear, personal prose. It would be speaking the wrong language to her. And the reverse would be just as wrong. Like, you meet people where they're at. And maybe swirl in a bit of you. But conversation is using the same dialect, at least enough to keep the conversation going.

 

I also sort of feel... you get back what you nurture? Like, the way I post will change the responses I get. If I don't open many conversational doors, I'm not going to get much conversation. If I don't like what I'm getting, maybe think about what I'm putting out there. (And I have: when I fall into a rut of posting non-prose daily updates, I don't get much conversation, and when I start to miss it, I kind of need to ask if I'm simply not making an effort to have a conversation myself. And the answer is no, I'm in a dry stats rut.)

[Xena]

18 hours ago, fitnessgurl said:

Good job on your workout.

 

Thanks Fitnessgurl!

 

16 hours ago, Kestrel Grey said:

I am afraid that I don't have any advice.  I want to like it, but the video setup drove me bonkers and I have yet to finish more than a couple weeks of Elements.  I also have Focused Flexibility but that is just a list of stretches and instructions to pick 4 (2 for each area) and reassess occasionally.  Have you tried it on Praxis yet?  They claim it is all better on that platform but I haven't tried it yet.

 

Sounds like we have similar opinions! I originally got focused flexiblity. I went through a couple cycles but then got bored. I'll give it a try on Praxis once I finish the mobility program.

I hadn't thought of that.

 

16 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I missed that discussion.  They better not take the gif button away.  
 

 

The GIF button seems pretty universally loved 🙂

 

14 hours ago, deftona said:

 

I was surprised people seem to have so many opinions on what other people should and shouldn't be posting. I kind of feel like once you  join a place like this, or put a post up somewhere then you get the reactions you get, and people can relate to it however they like. It's not for me to tell people how they should and shouldn't respond to posts I make and it's not for other people to do that either. That goes in complete opposition to the point of this thing, and for what it's worth I appreciate any and all engagement with my content.  I'm interested in everyone's natural response to things I post, there is no secret script I am expecting people to follow. Because that's not how relationships work. 

 

Hi Deffy, I totally agree. This discussion is welcome... it was more that I didn't want to slog into the heavier-feeling discussion on the changes-to-the-challenges forum (whatever it was called).

I think our culture (which I like) is that you get to be the boss of your own thread. People will suggest different opinions or gently call you on accountability, but the "owner" of the thread doesn't really have to defend their position too hard. Venturing into the free-for-all forum felt like too much.

 

13 hours ago, Harriet said:

I was also reading the responses. I don't feel like I have an opinion yet because I haven't found the best ways to use the new setup, which I assume will happen with some practice. But I also feel the challenges are the most important part of the forums.

 

Yeah, I agree in general. One of my own personality flaws is that I tend to resist change. The good thing is that I know this about myself. I can see good and bad with all these changes, and I know it will sort out over time.

 

1 hour ago, sarakingdom said:

 

I feel similarly. And, honestly, I feel like you speak to people in their language. Not always, but, you generally try. I'm going to use way more gifs to chat with, say, Willes, than I do with Mistr, who writes very clear, personal prose. It would be speaking the wrong language to her. And the reverse would be just as wrong. Like, you meet people where they're at. And maybe swirl in a bit of you. But conversation is using the same dialect, at least enough to keep the conversation going.

 

I also sort of feel... you get back what you nurture? Like, the way I post will change the responses I get. If I don't open many conversational doors, I'm not going to get much conversation. If I don't like what I'm getting, maybe think about what I'm putting out there. (And I have: when I fall into a rut of posting non-prose daily updates, I don't get much conversation, and when I start to miss it, I kind of need to ask if I'm simply not making an effort to have a conversation myself. And the answer is no, I'm in a dry stats rut.)

 

I completely agree with you! Sometimes I think about the threads I really enjoy and try to figure out what makes them so interesting. I really like the way you describe the different sorts of cultures that have evolved on different threads.

 

Today's update:

Did 8 miles this morning with some interval work. I was wiped out by the end. Still optimistic about doing a GMB session this evening.

I have a huge, tedious (but important) work task over the next couple weeks. Have to review a large number of detailed files...will take several hours per day. About halfway through today's slog. Not looking forward to all this work, but it pays the bills.

Something I am oddly looking forward to: a friend has organized a polar plunge for Christmas Eve Day. I'm looking forward to it in a poke-the-zombie, pull-the-tiger's-tail, I-just-want-to-feel-something-in-2020 kind of way.

 

 

 

 

[Elastigirl]

On GMB: I liked the idea of Focused Flexibility,with the assessments, but I found the program hard to stick with. I  sort of hate all stretches and find them boring though. I don't have their lastest mobility one. I have the app for Mobius, Vitamin, Elements, and the new Recovery one.  I wasn't crazy about the set up first of how you watch the video tutorial, then do it. But now I like it. And if I need to, the timer screen has a video of the person doing the movement so I just watch that rather than switching back to the tutorial. The movements on the Mobius and Vitamin take me longer to figure out, and I need more breaks so I need the full time. Today I did the recovery program, which was more stretches. I felt like it was too much time, so when I felt like I'd done it long enough, I just hit the forward arrow and moved to the next movement. I also generally choose the shorter time , when they give you a 15 minute or 30 minute option. I can always hit pause if I want to spend longer on a movement.The shorter time keeps it moving faster.

 

I have never done a polar plunge. Part of me thinks it would be cool (or just cold!) but I'm not sure I'd ever do it unless someone was paying me.  But it seems like a  way to  have something to remember in 2020 that's better than perpetual plague and lockdowns.

[Mistr]

Thank you for the heads-up about the discussion on upcoming changes. I haven't read any of that yet. I expect it would be stressful reading for me too. I think I'll wait a bit until the dust settles.

 

I admire you doing a polar plunge, especially this year.

 

My sympathy on the tedious work. Do you have a reward planned for when you finish it?

[KB Girl]

On 12/20/2020 at 11:20 PM, Xena said:

I'm happy to be going back to self-coached. I think it's the scientist in my. I want to know the plan and how the different parts are building to something bigger,

Yes, I feel this. Thanks for giving me some motivation to finish up my own plan.

 

The conversations around the forum changes just made me want to give everyone a hug so they’d feel better. Surprisingly it hasn’t bothered my resistance to change too much, partly because is already always used an activity feed instead of the sub forums and partly because I know the thing we’ve got here is too strong- it won’t lose what makes it special. Nobody’s opinion on what anyone else should post really matters much on the grand scheme of things- I don’t like everyone’s way of posting and/or interacting, that’s the same as in real life- I’ll just avoid them. We can pick and choose. And I appreciate people like yourself who go out of their way to visit the quieter threads.