Librarian of Doom's Staying Connected challenge

[BeastMistres]

Awesome! Been lurking and cheering you on silently. Congrats!

[Librarian of Doom]

Day 20 (10/13/12):

So, as previously stated, I got my shoulder stand today!!! Before, I could pull my legs over and get up on my shoulders, but I'd fall down as soon as I let go of my feet. This time I managed to catch my hips with my hands and get my legs almost vertical. My elbows were on the floor, so I wasn't sure that it counted, but then I looked it up and all the pics I could find showed elbows on the floor. So WOOT!!! Pics as soon as A gets wifi and can send them to me.

Today was a good day. Started of with yoga with A, then the shoulder stand, then dragged A to free CrossFit intro class while I practiced double-unders and pushups. Went grocery shopping for some produce, came home, watched the CrossFit Invitational, unloaded a box of DVDs that's been sitting in our master closet for months into the entertainment center, made pumpkin muffins from Nightlight's recipe, and now am nursing K to sleep (C fell asleep in the chair because she didn't nap).

Need to start doing planks to build up my core for pushups; I can't even do kneeling ones with perfect form. Going to try for planks every day for the rest of the challenge.

[jimmie65]

Congrats on the shoulder stand!

[Librarian of Doom]

Awesome! Been lurking and cheering you on silently. Congrats!

Congrats on the shoulder stand!

Thanks!!! I was so excited (as you can probably tell from the giant font )

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

So, as previously stated, I got my shoulder stand today!!! Before, I could pull my legs over and get up on my shoulders, but I'd fall down as soon as I let go of my feet. This time I managed to catch my hips with my hands and get my legs almost vertical. My elbows were on the floor, so I wasn't sure that it counted, but then I looked it up and all the pics I could find showed elbows on the floor. So WOOT!!! Pics as soon as A gets wifi and can send them to me.

Yeap, that sounds right - congrats!!

[Librarian of Doom]

Yeap, that sounds right - congrats!!

Thank you!!!

Aaaand, we're back!

Days 21-24 (10/14-10/17):

Little to relate. Did pushups in the mornings on the side of the bathtub while waiting for water to warm. Not seeming to get any easier. Need to throw planks into the mix?

Tried making Nightlight's paleo pumpkin muffins on Saturday. The flavor was good, but the texture just didn't do it for me. I have issues with the texture of coconut flour things, I've found. On Sunday, made these (minus the cocoa; I need a good source of organic/free trade cocoa around here so I'm not subsidizing child slavery) and the texture was much more what I wanted. It tasted a lot like my grandma's pumpkin bread, with a bit of nut butter taste, but without the white flour, white sugar, and canola oil. So win!

No CrossFit Monday or Tuesday because life. Went yesterday (Wednesday) and did what I have decided to call OMG Tabata sprints. 8 rounds of Tabata sprints, rest for 3 minutes, 4 rounds of Tabata sprints. Scored on how many whole lengths of the alley behind the box we could cover in that time. I got 3 complete lengths and was halfway through a 4th. I didn't pass out, I didn't puke (it was a near thing) and I did better than I expected (better than my 22-year-old sister, who usually kicks my butt on WODs) so w00t. Goal for next time is 5. After I got home, I opened the giant pile of mail that I'd been procrastinating on; was rewarded by 2 checks, 2 birthday cards with money, and finding out that two medical bills I'd been dreading were each under $10. So I felt virtuous and productive.

Enjoying my first day of fall break; gonna hit up CrossFit tonight.

Pic of the shoulder stand as my avatar now, but gonna add it here too because I'm still ridiculously proud. The expression on my face is from A saying "Smile like it doesn't hurt!" while taking the picture.

[Seabright]

The best part about this isn't the shoulder stand. It is the little tiny helper there in the background! So cute!!

Congrats congrats congrats congrats!!!!

[cline]

Woots on shoulder stand!!!!!! Yahoo!!

As for tabatas... I just laugh when people talk about them ... Yes laughing with you... It's all we have during tabata. Dan John has the best tabata quote....

"And remember this: you really shouldn't consider doing much after the Tabata workout. Your lungs will be going like a locomotive engine. Go ahead and plan anything you like, but don't be surprised if it just doesn't happen. I keep the family dog nearby to chase the carrion birds away while I rest on the sidewalk."

I think about this every time I do a tabata... And I laugh and then die

And WOOT you didn't puke!!!!

[Librarian of Doom]

The best part about this isn't the shoulder stand. It is the little tiny helper there in the background! So cute!!

Congrats congrats congrats congrats!!!!

Thanks! Yeah, the picture was taken just before C and K decided that they really should push Mommy down. K thinks yoga is "sit on Mommy's head" time

Woots on shoulder stand!!!!!! Yahoo!!

As for tabatas... I just laugh when people talk about them ... Yes laughing with you... It's all we have during tabata. Dan John has the best tabata quote....

"And remember this: you really shouldn't consider doing much after the Tabata workout. Your lungs will be going like a locomotive engine. Go ahead and plan anything you like, but don't be surprised if it just doesn't happen. I keep the family dog nearby to chase the carrion birds away while I rest on the sidewalk."

I think about this every time I do a tabata... And I laugh and then die

And WOOT you didn't puke!!!!

Now I'm going to think of that every time I do a tabata. I seriously thought I was going to die. By the second to last rounds, I was making horrible death groan noises as I ran. By the last rep I couldn't get enough air to do the horrible death groans. Tabatas redefined brutal.

Days 25 & 26 (10/18-10/19)

Thursday was kind of awesome; I got the Kindle Paperwhite that I'd won in a blog contest in the mail a good week ahead of the shipping estimate, and a $25 Amazon gift card, so I got to buy two ebooks and preorder a third that I'd been eyeballing longingly but not able to buy because of financial crunch. So that was awesome, and it impelled me to go through my ebook library and delete the ones I'm never going to read (I "buy" a lot of those ebooks that are free, but sometimes I forget to delete the ones that are complete and utter sh!t). The "no disposable income" itch was temporarily soothed.

Went to CrossFit for 5 attempts at the shoulder trifecta. My sister H and I got a little overly ambitious and went with 65# since that's what we were OHPing back when we did StrongLifts regularly. I am way, way too slow on my overhead presses; I need to work on just getting it up there quickly. And I really need to work on getting my jerks instead of getting the weight halfway up and giving up. But I got a "great form" from the coach on my strict press, so that was nice. H did about twice as many reps as I did on each set. I have to keep reminding myself that she's 8 years younger and she's always been more active than I was (cheer and tumbling). But I smoked her at tabata sprints, so it's not like she always owns me. Just most of the time.

No CrossFit on Friday; various life crap that I didn't get done in time and extreme frustration + sleep deprivation from trying to get K night-weaned. Did get some quality time in with C, who has been feeling like "you never pay attention to ME anymore" lately.

Weekend ahoy!

[cline]

Hey you still made it to crossfit!

And you win a kindle????!!!! Yahoooooo

[Kinder]

Nice job on the shoulder stand. Glad you are making time for all your important things, kids and workouts and reading, oh my!

[jimmie65]

Love the new profile picture; especially the 2 different socks. Reminds me of my daughter.

[cacklesmadly]

Kids helping are what makes working out at home fun and functional. You mean yoga isn't sit on mommy's head time, or planks aren't an invitation for laying on a full body hug? Then the littlebuggeralienchild does push ups and grins big with ' Im excersizing like mommy'. and we remember WHY we are rolling around on teh floor. So we can live longer and healthier for them. Good luck on night weaning. That 4 am nom time was the last to go for me.

[Zatchmo]

Sometimes we still have trouble getting our 4-year-old to sleep in her own bed, but at least she eats on her own. :-p

[Librarian of Doom]

Hey you still made it to crossfit!

And you win a kindle????!!!! Yahoooooo

I was very excited to win the kindle; I didn't think I had a shot at winning the contest. And the timing on when it came in was perfect--first day of fall break.

Nice job on the shoulder stand. Glad you are making time for all your important things, kids and workouts and reading, oh my!

Thanks! Yeah, I'm trying to juggle it all; I couldn't survive without reading.

Love the new profile picture; especially the 2 different socks. Reminds me of my daughter.

Thanks, I think At least they were kind of similar different socks. I was in a hurry that morning

Kids helping are what makes working out at home fun and functional. You mean yoga isn't sit on mommy's head time, or planks aren't an invitation for laying on a full body hug? Then the littlebuggeralienchild does push ups and grins big with ' Im excersizing like mommy'. and we remember WHY we are rolling around on teh floor. So we can live longer and healthier for them. Good luck on night weaning. That 4 am nom time was the last to go for me.

Yeah, we're still working on the night weaning. I suspect unless Husband of Doom is prepared to take over all night-time duties, she's not going to be completely weaned for awhile.

Sometimes we still have trouble getting our 4-year-old to sleep in her own bed, but at least she eats on her own. :-p

Sometimes I remember how I kept crawling in my parents' bed at night until I was 8 and despair.

Days 27-31 (10/20-10/24):

The weekend was relatively uneventful. I did some thrift store shopping on Saturday to find elements for my Halloween costumes. Yes, costumes, plural. Because my book fair is the week of Halloween, so I'm dressing up in a different costume each day. Because I'm awesome, that's why. I got a button-down shirt and sweater for my Hogwarts costume, some pieces to cut up for my Very Hungry Caterpillar costume, and a shirt for my Camp Jupiter costume (I already have a pirate costume from the Ren Faire and all the fabric I needed for my Red Riding Hood cloak - fabric stash ftw!) Spent <$20 even with the pretty silk skirt I may keep if BFF doesn't want it when I go visit her this weekend. Sunday made peanut butter pumpkin muffins; between me, C, and K, there were 3 left by the end of the day. Seriously good stuff. Got my RRH cape sewn, except for a tie/clasp; need to find the cloak clasp I bought back in the day because it was pretty and on sale. Didn't get as much done as I should have because HoD was fighting off some kind of sinus plague and unable to run a lot of interference. Oh, well.

Monday was a long day, the first day back after fall break, but not horrible. No CrossFit because I had to go grocery shopping and both the girls went with me. That took awhile.

Tuesday was cu-RAZY. First I slept through my alarm, and HoD woke me up at 7:30 when he woke up, which is when I usually leave for school. And I needed to be there on time because I was taking academic team to a competition at another school and we had to leave by 8. Quickest shower ever, threw some grapes into the container with the last pumpkin muffin to eat when I had a chance, and ran out the door. Still made it before a couple of the kids. Losing my mind. But we left on time, and we weren't the last or even the second to last school to show up, so it was okay.

This competition is renowned for having the best hospitality room ever for the coaches (read: most sugary, carb-laden junk). I did pretty well, ate mostly fruits and veggies, with a little bit of decidedly mediocre cheese, but I did have a few cream puffs and a doughnut. They were delicious. Walked the kids to and from McDonalds for lunch (1.6 miles round trip!) because the principal was driving our bus, and he couldn't stay there with us all day. I had a burger only, no fries or pop. Kids did pretty well, and we got back in time for last hour, which was a mixed blessing, because last hour is the 5th grade class straight from you-know-where.

CrossFit Tuesday night, we did Jackie, which meant I got to do thrusters for the first time! I did my 1000m row in 4:56, which impressed the coach, and then I had him talk me through thrusters, because I'd never done them before, or at least not with weight (I don't remember for sure if we covered them in on-ramp). He said my form was beautiful and that if I hadn't told him, he never would have realized I hadn't done them before.

I had made the mistake of forgetting to eat before I went to CF, and I definitely started feeling it during the thrusters. I got 2 sets of 10 but between shakiness and my wrists screaming at me I had to do the rest in sets of 5. Then I did ring rows instead of pullups.

Total time for Jackie: 18:01

Wednesday has been a good day work-wise; I got some things knocked out and was able to help some teachers with things, which as a people-pleaser makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Then I went to CrossFit and we got to flip tires!!! WOD was Death By Tire Flip. I got up to 8 before the coach tapped me out. Seeing my chest and shoulders, I think I'm okay with that. At least I remembered to eat first. Now I've gotta get a tire for the back yard. C and K can use it as a fort/jungle gym when I'm not flipping it.

Night all!

[cline]

Good progress on the crossfit!! Yea thrusters!!

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Cat and dog have taken up the duties of child when it comes to working out at home - I fear there is no respite from assisted workouts.

[cacklesmadly]

You are doing awesome. Wow yoga and crossfit. Great job.

[Kuiken]

CONGRATS on the shoulder stand!!! And the smile makes it look like "this is easy-I could do it all day!".

Cat and dog have taken up the duties of child when it comes to working out at home - I fear there is no respite from assisted workouts.

Agreed-the cat who ignores me except for when it's feeding time suddenly is all over me when it's yoga time. It makes the poses more advanced-if you can keep a plank with a cat's tail tickling your nose or hold your shoulder stand with a kid sitting on your head, then you're a PRO!

[Librarian of Doom]

Good progress on the crossfit!! Yea thrusters!!

Yeah, I love thrusters. And wall balls. And pretty much anything involving squats

Cat and dog have taken up the duties of child when it comes to working out at home - I fear there is no respite from assisted workouts.

Note to self: no pets

You are doing awesome. Wow yoga and crossfit. Great job.

Yeah, I'm excited for CrossFit yoga. Its gonna kick my ass

CONGRATS on the shoulder stand!!! And the smile makes it look like "this is easy-I could do it all day!".

Agreed-the cat who ignores me except for when it's feeding time suddenly is all over me when it's yoga time. It makes the poses more advanced-if you can keep a plank with a cat's tail tickling your nose or hold your shoulder stand with a kid sitting on your head, then you're a PRO!

That's what I tell myself. If I can do downward dog with a toddler sitting on my head, I can do it anywhere, anytime

Quick updates, since I'm at my BFFs house on my tablet:

Thursday was date night and feeling like death warmed over because of sinus crap. No CrossFit.

Friday was Fall Festival at school/Family Night at the book fair. Didn't get home til after 7. No CrossFit

Today A and I drove to Wichita and did a zombie 5k with my BFF. I have come to the conclusion that I like obstacle course races, but not running from zombies. And little kid zombies are the worst. My asthma did not like the cold, but it was a fun experience.

[Seabright]

Bummer about no CrossFitting these last cuppla days, but that tire flipping thing sounds freakin' awesome. I say, definitely get that tire for your backyard! How cool will that be?

You are doing so great, LoD! Keep it up!

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Note to self: no pets

On the other hand, since the cat loves to explore the basement while I'm working out (the door is otherwise closed), he encourages me to go lift.

[EmCee]

Trying to catch up - sounds like you are kicking ass!!

[Seabright]

Hey, LoD! Just checking in to see how the last few days of your challenge went. Hope you and the family are doing great!

[Librarian of Doom]

This is so embarrassingly late that probably no one will read it, but oh, well. Book fair last week made me drop off the face of the earth, and now academic team season is in its super hectic time. But no excuses; I was just not making posting a priority

Goal 1 - Sub-40 minute 5k

Giving myself a C for this one. The zombie 5k was not conducive to continuous running, and the cold air gave my asthma fits. I went to the track to try this the Sunday before the challenge ended, but C went with me, and she had a meltdown at me running without paying attention to her. I did ~11 minutes with an average pace of 13:26 and I was just getting warmed up when meltdown occurred, so I really feel like I could have done it. But I didn't. I had the ability, but the opportunity wasn't there. So I'll carry this goal over to the next challenge.

Grade: C

Points Awarded: 1.5 STA, 0.5 CON

Goal 2: Do a shoulder stand

A!!! Got this one with surprisingly little trouble. So very exciting!!!

Grade: A

Points Awarded: +3 DEX

Goal 3: Do one regular pushup with good form

F. I did not do the work I needed to get my abs where they needed to be for this one. It may have also been an overly ambitious goal; after 2 c-sections, my abs are definitely my weakness. But I still didn't do the work.

Grade: F

Points Awarded: Nada

Goal 4: Bedtime routine and chore chart for C

C here. Bedtime routine yes. Chore chart planned but not executed; HoD and I have slightly different ideas on it. But I really need to get on it; she's definitely old enough for it and needs the structure.

Grade: C

Points Awarded: +2 WIS

Overall grade for challenge: C. Not great, but better than it could have been. I need to buckle back down!!!