[Alanna]

I'm back with a low-key challenge after disappearing due to a combination of illness, stressors, and having other priorities. Going to keep the challenge set up and design simple because the priority is just making progress.

 

Things have been happening offline - I've greatly improved our garden (we have grass now!), mostly painted another room in the house, and we got a DOG! The latter has been both disruptive and helpful when it comes to routines. I need to get back into the habit of doing strength/skill sessions, but thanks to regular dog walks I am at least getting ~5-8k steps in most days. My endurance is definitely better and my weight is in a good place, too.

 

The other big to-do in my life is career planning/development, as I will be job-searching this summer. Right now I'm focusing on picking up more skills (adjacent to my current ones) so I have more options. I also need to build a portfolio that demonstrates those skills.

 

So, goals for this challenge will be

1. Figure out new routines for strength/skill/mobility work. By the end of the challenge, I'd ideally like to be training 2-3x/week. Sessions can and will be short while I figure out how to allocate spoons. I will also experiment with making my walks more difficult by rucking (which is completely new territory for me), and I will count that as a strength training option for this challenge. 
2. Do skill or career development at least 4x/week, with at least two "creative" sessions (i.e., making something that's not an example/tutorial, although it can use those as a basis). Again, these sessions don't need to be long or arduous - I just need to make consistent progress. 

 

As usual I will use emojis to track my progress:

💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 1 (starting Monday)

⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

  📚 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

 

[TiogaGirl]

Yay doggo!!!

Best of luck with your challenge, and if you want to drop a dog pic or two, i don’t think any of us would mind 🐾

[Sovalis]

Echoing TiogaGirl: Definitely won’t mind seeing pupper pics.  

Glad to see you back, Alanna!

[Alanna]

20 hours ago, TiogaGirl said:

Yay doggo!!!

Best of luck with your challenge, and if you want to drop a dog pic or two, i don’t think any of us would mind 🐾

 

17 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Echoing TiogaGirl: Definitely won’t mind seeing pupper pics.  

Glad to see you back, Alanna!

 

Thank you! I love sharing doggo pics, but since he's somewhat identifying I'll find a way to do so that's not publicly accessible. I could have sworn there used to be private albums on here, but can't find an option for that anymore... and instagram photos can't be directly embedded here anymore either, right? 

 

If nothing else, I can PM you a couple photos before the end of the challenge!

 

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Week 1, Tuesday update:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 1 (starting Monday)

⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

📚 🎨 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

Did a ~20 minute bodyweight session before my evening walk consisting of some mobility work, basic GMB locomotion movements, and a couple rounds each of long-legged monkey and front scales. My ankles are a bit tight, but they should loosen back up soon with regular sessions. A large part of this goal isn't just doing the sessions, but also figuring out what works, so today's thoughts: my available time to do these sessions during week days will be mornings before work, lunch time, or early evening. Early evening has always worked best for me - I just also need to work around dog walks now. I'm going to try fitting training in before my evening dog walk, which also tends to be our shorter walk. That means I need to make sure I wrap up work at a good time, which ultimately means starting work at a decent time to make sure there's no domino effect of things getting pushed back. I may also want to have some sort of protein drink during the sessions to make sure I don't get too hungry during the ensuing dog walk.

 

Also got in some coding. I'm actually off work this week, so I don't have any excuses for not hitting this goal!

[Scaly Freak]

11 hours ago, Alanna said:

Thank you! I love sharing doggo pics, but since he's somewhat identifying I'll find a way to do so that's not publicly accessible. I could have sworn there used to be private albums on here, but can't find an option for that anymore... and instagram photos can't be directly embedded here anymore either, right? 

 

I use imgur, set the pictures to unlisted, and hide them in spoilers. Note that this does not make them private, and if you're concerned that you could be self-doxxing by posting dog pictures, I would advice to err on the side of caution. Never share anything online if you're not comfortable with the idea of it becoming public information.

 

And, welcome back. Good to see you again!  

[Harriet]

Hello again! Good luck with the goals! Is your job coding? It that the same as programming?

[Alanna]

On 3/29/2023 at 7:23 AM, Scaly Freak said:

I use imgur, set the pictures to unlisted, and hide them in spoilers. Note that this does not make them private, and if you're concerned that you could be self-doxxing by posting dog pictures, I would advice to err on the side of caution. Never share anything online if you're not comfortable with the idea of it becoming public information.

 

Yeah, I err on the side of caution when it comes to sharing things publicly online. The guild survey questions implied there may be a way to increase the privacy settings using the current forum software, so I shared some preferences/request (e.g., ways to share photos with specified users). Not sure if it will be feasible, but it would be a nice addition if so!

 

On 3/29/2023 at 7:23 AM, Scaly Freak said:

And, welcome back. Good to see you again!  

 

2 hours ago, Harriet said:

Hello again!

 

Thanks, I missed my fellow nerds!

 

2 hours ago, Harriet said:

Is your job coding? It that the same as programming?

 

That's a great question and one I hadn't really thought about - I had to look up the exact distinction! Coding is a subset of programming - it's translating our instructions into something that is understood by our computer (i.e., writing lines of text in a specific "language" that the computer understands). Programming is the more general process of designing something that will be performed by the computer, which often means figuring out how to break down that task into smaller chunks, stringing together a lot of code, and also testing/documenting the final product. To use a digital painting analogy... coding is the process of drawing brush strokes with your stylus (which still requires a lot of technique and choices - e.g., choosing the brush size and colour, as well as positioning neighbouring brush strokes in a way that makes sense). "Programming" would also include processes like finding and selecting brushes,  choosing whether and how to decompose the work into different layers, choosing references/inspiration, deciding on composition and making practice sketches, choosing an overall colour palette, figuring out how to evoke a certain mood, and checking proportions (e.g., with a grid or using tricks like flipping the canvas).  At least, I think these would be the equivalents - I don't have a ton of (digital) art experience! You could also probably make a case for art "coding" to also include the process of making shapes that are recognisable to the viewer - e.g, "that's a cat" even if the cat is abstract.

 

I am an academic researcher, but a good chunk of my work involves coding and more general programming. The new skills I'm learning largely involve figuring out how to "say" what I want in a new (to me) computer language (i.e., coding). 

 

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Week 1, Wednesday update:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 1 (starting Monday)

⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

📚 🎨 🎨 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

The creative part of yesterday's work was minimal, but still counts because I played around with some new tools I learned from a tutorial and accidentally made some funky psychedelic pictures.

 

No training, but I did do about an hour of gardening - I'm currently on a rampage against bulbs. Bulb flowers keep sprouting up everywhere! They are pretty, but unfortunately they have to go because they are toxic to dogs.

 

[Emissary2Ornj]

Sliding in to follow along! Welcome back. I'm here for the gardening, definitely (but not only the gardening).

[Alanna]

20 hours ago, Emissary2Ornj said:

Sliding in to follow along! Welcome back. I'm here for the gardening, definitely (but not only the gardening).

 

Thanks! I need to catch up with your battle log - I always forget to check that forum.

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 1, Saturday update:

 

💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 1 (starting Monday)

⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ 💪 💪 ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

📚 🎨 🎨 ⬜ 🎨 🎨 ⬜ [Career skills]

 

Gardening kept me busy on Thursday.

 

Friday I did a session of GMB monkey, push up/push up progressions, and Bulgarian splits squats, and I potted some lettuce seedlings in between sets. Today I fit in a small session for habit building - just stretching and some GMB bear variations.

 

I also did quite a bit more coding the past two days and started learning another relatively easy language that I'll need for most jobs - it's just not used as often in academia so I haven't had to learn it!

[Alanna]

Week 1 Recap

 

💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 1 (starting Monday)

⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ 💪 💪 ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

📚 🎨 🎨 ⬜ 🎨 🎨 🎨 [Career skills]

 

Weee I'm strength training again.

 

This week has been pretty tiring on the career skills front. Today I experimented with some more code, got to a reasonable stopping point, tidied it up, and published it - it's not much at the moment, but it's infinitely better than how much I previously had to demonstrate this skill (nil). And now that I'm organised, it should be easier to build on what I've already published. I also cleaned up and proofread my CV. 

[KB Girl]

Good to have you back on the forums Alanna! 

[Alanna]

On 4/2/2023 at 9:24 PM, KB Girl said:

Good to have you back on the forums Alanna! 

 

Thank you!

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 2, Monday - Wednesday update:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 2 (starting Monday)

💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

⬜ 🎨 🎨 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

On Monday I worked on monkey/long-legged monkey, rolling into a pistol squat position (and partially standing up), and a GMB back exercise that involves squeezing and extending your shoulder blades in a plank position. I surprised myself by standing all the way up out of the pistol squat position for one attempt, but I wasn't able to replicate it!

 

Took a break from career development on Monday and repotted some seedlings instead, but otherwise I've been back to the grindstone. I'll count job applications for this task too, as some jobs are popping up that I'd like to apply for (eek).

 

I also seem to have picked up a cold, so strength/skill training will probably be light for the rest of the week!

 

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

I wish you fortitude and and resilience in your job search.

[Harriet]

I hope the cold quits quickly and that the seedlings grow mighty.

[Alanna]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:25 AM, Scaly Freak said:

I wish you fortitude and and resilience in your job search.

 

On 4/6/2023 at 1:00 PM, Harriet said:

I hope the cold quits quickly and that the seedlings grow mighty.

 

These are excellent blessings for my endeavours - thank you

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 2, Thursday/Friday update:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 2 (starting Monday)

💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

⬜ 🎨 🎨 📚 📚 ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

I'm still not 100%, but feeling somewhat better, so I did a light training session - some GMB locomotion movements, front scales, and rolling into the pistol squat bottom position (which actually felt fairly stable on one side).

 

Nothing super exciting career wise - mostly just reading some articles and working on my CV.

 

In other news - I HAVE A PULL UP BAR NOW! Well, I've had a pull up bar sitting on my garage floor for a while, but it's actually IN the wall and usable now! We have tradespeople working on our house at the moment, and my husband asked them for advice since bricks are their thing - they kindly offered to just install it. It's super secure now - I think it has around a dozen resin anchors.

[Sovalis]

How kind of them to just install it for you. That is awesome! 

[Scaly Freak]

7 hours ago, Alanna said:

In other news - I HAVE A PULL UP BAR NOW! Well, I've had a pull up bar sitting on my garage floor for a while, but it's actually IN the wall and usable now! We have tradespeople working on our house at the moment, and my husband asked them for advice since bricks are their thing - they kindly offered to just install it. It's super secure now - I think it has around a dozen resin anchors.

 

That's awesome. That's one less thing to worry about  

[Alanna]

On 4/7/2023 at 8:13 PM, Sovalis said:

How kind of them to just install it for you. That is awesome! 

 

It was! We offered to pay but they were happy to do it in between the other work (which is large and rather expensive - but much less exciting than having a working pull up bar). 

 

On 4/8/2023 at 2:56 AM, Scaly Freak said:

That's awesome. That's one less thing to worry about  

 

Yes, and I've tried it out and it feels very very solid - no worries about bringing it down on me  

 

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Week 2 Recap

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 2 (starting Monday)

💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ 💪 💪 💪 [Bodyweight strength and skills]

⬜ 🎨 🎨 📚 📚 🎨 📚 [Career skills]

 

"Training" on Saturday and Sunday was just one chin-up and one set of scapular retractions (Saturday) and two chin-ups at different times (Sunday), but I'm counting it for now because 1) pull up bar! and 2) I found out I can still do a chin up! Pull-ups are a no go, but that's not terribly surprising. I'll do more thorough sessions and get my rings out once we rearrange the garage - the tradespeople are still using a lot of space for their supplies.

 

Saturday was mostly gardening - I rescued a plant from a smothering jasmine and even uncovered a step that we didn't know we had - but I also fit in a bit of reading and experimenting. Sunday has been finessing a job application. I'm not thrilled with this process. It reminds me a lot of writing grad school and funding applications (one of the most stressful times in my life), except the success rates are even worse if LinkedIn application numbers are anything to go by...

[Alanna]

Quick update before I forget what I've done...

 

Week 3, Monday - Wednesday:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 3 (starting Monday)

💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

🎨 ⬜ 📚 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

[Alanna]

Week 3, Thursday - Saturday:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 3 (starting Monday)

💪 ⬜ ⬜ 💪 💪 ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

🎨 ⬜ 📚 📚 📚 📚 ⬜ [Career skills]

 

Having a less creative week because I've been working on more on stuff for job applications than skills - looking forward to getting back to coding and experimenting.

 

Strength training has mostly been some locomotion, one-legged squat variants, push ups, and a few chin ups. I need to clean up the area around my newly installed bar and put my rings up! That will probably be the focus for next challenge.

[Harriet]

You can do whole chin ups? I'm envious. Did it take you a long time to achieve? Do you have to be a certain weight?

[Alanna]

39 minutes ago, Harriet said:

You can do whole chin ups? I'm envious. Did it take you a long time to achieve? Do you have to be a certain weight?

 

Chin ups plural is a little generous right now, but yes I can still do one! It took me around 2.5 yrs from when I first started seriously strength training (i.e., powerlifting) to get my first one, but I probably would have done so a lot faster if I'd prioritised them in my training - I just occasionally did assisted variations as an accessory, when my muscles were already pretty fatigued. Most of my strength for the first ones probably came from getting my deadlifts high enough - if I remember correctly, my heavy, low-rep working deadlift sets were around 120-140 kg at the time.

 

I used to be able to do pull-ups, too, either on gymnastic rings or with a neutral grip (on parallel bars with my palms facing each other). I'm rather surprised I still had enough strength for a chin-up - I've only been doing "floor" work since the pandemic, and inconsistently at that.

 

I was 84 kg when I got my first one, so you don't have to be super light .  I think I'm several kg lighter now, though - I'm not sure I could have done one at the heavier weight due to the aforementioned lack of consistent training. 

[Alanna]

 

Week 3 Recap:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 3 (starting Monday)

💪 ⬜ ⬜ 💪 💪 ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

🎨 ⬜ 📚 📚 📚 📚 🎨 [Career skills]

 

Didn't do much training over the weekend because I took advantage of the nicer weather to do a ton of gardening - I prepped several feet of a garden bed, moved some flower seedlings to bigger pots, planted out about 30 lettuces and a few flowers in the bed and planters, and planted some more seeds indoors. 

 

 

Week 4, Monday - Tuesday:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 4 (starting Monday)

⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

⬜ 🎨 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

Week four already??

 

Today's strength/skill session was focused on my pistol squat progression, with a few chin-ups (well, 2.8ish) and bar hangs/scapular retractions thrown in at the end.

[Sovalis]

I'm so envious of everyone's gardening. We just lost our snow, it won't be warm enough to garden until into May here. Nice progress! 

[Alanna]

On 4/18/2023 at 10:28 PM, Sovalis said:

I'm so envious of everyone's gardening. We just lost our snow, it won't be warm enough to garden until into May here. Nice progress! 

 

Oh wow, it's been quite cold then! The UK only tends to have brief periods with snow cover. It's still chilly here, but definitely been a lot sunnier the past couple of weeks. I'll try to post some non-identifying macro shots of my veg - if someone tracks me down based on the texture of my lettuce, good for them 😆.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Week 4,  Wednesday - Thursday:

 

 💪 bodyweight strength/skill session

📚 career skills session

🎨 creative career skills session

 

Week 4 (starting Monday)

⬜ 💪 ⬜ 💪 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Bodyweight strength and skills]

⬜ 🎨 📚 🎨 ⬜ ⬜ ⬜ [Career skills]

 

Took a break from my pull-up bar to work on more pushing motions today (bear, twisting bear, and push-ups) plus some front scales.