Jeff's Battle Log

[jstanlick]

Ima just gonna put this here. Cuz I just read it, and I really like it. Maybe someone else will enjoy it as well.

 

"Many people seem to worry themselves a great deal more over the things they cannot help than over the things that they can. . . . This want of proportion is doubtless observable in myself. Do I think more of the accidents of birth, fortune, and personal appearance than of the self that I have created? For I myself am responsible for myself. 'To be born a gentleman is an accident; to die one is an achievement.' Other things, then, I may not be able to help, but myself I can. As I am at this very moment, as my character is—truthful or untruthful, pure or impure, patient or impatient, slow to wrath or quick-tempered, eager, enthusiastic, energetic, or lazy and dull and wasteful of time—I have no one to thank but myself . . . the fact remains that I myself alone am responsible for my own character; for character is an artificial thing that is not born, but made."
— Fr. Bede Jarrett

 

[erawka]

Nicely put. There is a lot of wisdom in that, which I think relates nicely to the serenity prayer. There is a lot of wisdom in letting go what one truly can't control and taking responsibility for what one can control. The difficulty is in the doing, but it's a do-able thing.

[jstanlick]

I found it to be a good reminder of focusing on the right things. We only have so much energy on a given day. Wasting it on things that we cannot change or using it to lament about why someone else has it better than we do, is just that -- a waste.

 

Making yourself better, using your energy to become the best version of yourself is a far more admirable pursuit and better use of the day's energy.

[jstanlick]

Been a while since I updated this, but since I signed up for the 10,000 Swings Challenge and KB stuff is not in my current challenge, I figured I should track it here. Well, and in the Swings thread as well.

 

So, yesterday I dusted off my trusty, old KB and started some 1 arm swings. After 3 sets of 30 for each arm I was starting to notice the form was not as good as when I started. So, I switched to snatches and did 10 each arm followed by 10 clean & presses for each arm. I followed that superset 3 times for a total of 300 reps (180 swings + 60 snatches + 60 clean & pressess). It was far more tiring than I remember the last time using my KB. Good! I'm gonna get this old body into shape one way or another.

 

Or, die trying

[jstanlick]

Alright, this 10,000 Swing Challenge is going to be even harder than I thought. Why? My body aches. I did only swings last night because my shoulders were sore with all the clean & presses and snatches.

 

After catching up on my chin-ups and pull-ups for my regular challenge, I started in on 1 arm swings. After 250 (I switched hands every 25 and stopped to rest shortly every 50), my back and shoulders were spent. That leaves me at a total of 550 after 2 days. That puts me on pace to get to 10,000 after 37 days. I had given myself 31. So, after a mere 2 days of the challenge, I'm already behind.

 

I'm debating using a lighter KB while doing snatches and clean & presses. The sheer volume of exercises may necessitate lowering the weight. On the other hand, if I can tolerate it, it should lead to much greater strength, yeah?

 

To be continued...

[jstanlick]

Updates on the 10,000 Swing Challenge.

 

After getting some advice form folks on the sheer volume and muscle soreness, I decided to lower the weight and do swings daily. That was the plan anyway.

 

Saturday, I got up, went for a run, did my BW exercises and cranked out 300 1 arm swings with my wife's 20# KB. That felt pretty good with the muscle soreness. I had to drive my daughter halfway across the state for a volleyball tournament and back again. I planned on doing another 300 that night. But, they played in a pressurized building with an inflatable roof that held 20 volleyball courts. By the time the day was over, I had such a splitting headache that the drive home was only tolerable after a couple of Excedrin.

 

Sunday, I got up and the headache had not gone away. In fact, it was bordering on a migraine as I was even a little dizzy and not seeing straight. Some rest, my son's Pinewood Derby race and some fresh air (it was finally over 40 degrees outside!!!!) seemed to send the headache to the curb. I managed 300 swings last night as well.

 

That puts me behind my scheduled plan a bit. I'm at 1150 exercises for the first 5 days. I should be at 1625 to be on track for 10,000 swings by my birthday (April 15th). I've some stuff to make up I guess. I think I can make that up with the lighter KB. If I stuck with the 45# bell, being behind 500 swings would be damn tough to make up.

[jstanlick]

Alright, so we had the failed sump pump and subsequent water in the basement. That took some of my time. We had the clogged utility sink in the laundry room that led to a warped floor and water everywhere. That took some of my time to put in a new floor and coordinate some new plumbing for the washing machine. And now I'm sick. It's very hard to push things to far when you can't breathe.

 

However, I have managed to do some swinging and keeping up with the BW movements. My current running total on the swings is 4350. I'm not sure I'll make 10,000 by 4/15/2015. But, we'll keep tryin'.

 

The BW movements have become kind of routine. I find it a good way to wake up in the morning as opposed to standing in the shower half asleep for 10 minutes. But, the repetitive nature of the everyday thing seems to be taxing that stupid right bicep tendon. It's just always tight now. Perhaps I need to switch from pullups and chinups to lat pulldowns at a weight less than I weigh until it gets back to normal flexibility. Chronic injuries just suck. I hurt the stupid thing in August. It just doesn't want to heal completely. Getting old sucks too. I used to recover from all kinds of aches and pains so much faster before. Oh well, as Bette Davis said, "getting old ain't for sissies." My grandpa was kind enough to add to it on his 90th birthday, "but it ain't like I got other choices." 

[jstanlick]

Hey, look! This thing is still here! Sweet.

 

I have met my walking goal 16 days in a row now, bringing my November total to 19 of 24 days. It's weird. As the weather has gotten colder, I've actually done a better job of moving more. Over the last 11 months I have now walked 1,568.05 miles. How long is it to Mordor? 1770? 200 more miles and I can chuck that ring in the fire. I have met my monthly distance goal every month since May with October having been the most miles and 6 more days left in November. I need 21 more miles to pass October. Should not be a problem. If only the first 1/3 of the year hadn't been so poor. October was more miles than January and February combined. BOO!

 

Additionally, I've spent most of the fall months working on my resistance training...slowly. Previously, I've always done too much too fast and ended up with an injury. So, its been a lot of walking (about 5-6 miles a day), some running (about 5 miles a week) and lifting a couple of days a week. I've been doing that for a couple of months now and feel like I'm ready to get more serious about the weights. If the weather continues to stay as mild as it has, I might swap some walking miles with running miles. I haven't had a lot of ice to deal with so far this year and as a result that thought has crossed my mind.

 

So, I'm working on adjusting my training schedule and have been doing more and more studying of my current nutrition "plan".  I will do awesome for a few days and then completely blow it for a day or two and then back to awesome for 3-4 days again. Obviously something is amiss with my definition of awesome since it appears to be something I cannot maintain for even a week. I'm trying to decide if I need to tweak it a little or completely blow it up and start something else. But, I'll probably hold off on changes until I get into a habit with the new training schedule to make sure the nutrition goes hand in hand with the training. Right now, it is not the end of the world as my weight has stayed consistent most of the year not the ups and downs of previous years. So, its not the worst plan in the world, but something is not right about it.

 

What is said plan you ask? Well, its mostly just eating things that haven't been processed or have been minimally processed. But, once I do grab something like that either at work that someone brought in or work paid for due to some all day meetings or someone bakes something at home, its all down hill. It usually takes an entire day or two for me to right the ship again. Sure sounds like an addiction, doesn't it?

[erawka]

What is said plan you ask? Well, its mostly just eating things that haven't been processed or have been minimally processed. But, once I do grab something like that either at work that someone brought in or work paid for due to some all day meetings or someone bakes something at home, its all down hill. It usually takes an entire day or two for me to right the ship again. Sure sounds like an addiction, doesn't it?

 

Something that takes time and self-compassion to beat, addiction is. And 3-4 days of awesome are more awesome days than you had before. Your walking is all awesome from the looks of it!

[jstanlick]

Wow, has it been a whole month without an update? I suck at this. Well, anyhoo, here's my update. I've got a training/nutrition plan kinda worked out. Sounds convincing right?

 

I'm going to continue walking and my consecutive days streak lasted from November 9th to December 13th. That's the only day I missed in December so far. Although, my FitBit's battery seems to be dying every since I let the firmware update run. It used to last about 5 days before needing to be charged and now it's down to about 2. It's not the most useful step counter, sleep monitor and alarm if it's plugged into the wall. But, since I got it last Christmas as a gift, now's a good time to see how I've done. I'm up to 3,380,956 steps for the year. That's an average of 9,263/day. Considering my 3 month average is 11,044 steps and my 1 month average is 12,843 steps you can see where the majority of the steps is coming from this year. It also brings my yearly mileage total to 1,663.7 miles. About 100 more miles and I will have completed the walk to Mordor. How'd those hobbits cover that distance with much smaller legs? Anyhoo, there's my walking/stepping update for the year.

 

Now for other training. The year is almost over and so far I have kept my goal of a minimum of 1 run per week that was at least a 5k distance. 1 more week to go. Yes, there have been weeks where that has been my only run, but it still counts As far as future plans, I'm planning on keeping the 1 run minimum and adding more interval runs. Waaaaaayyyy back (almost 15 years ago now) I began my intense like of running by doing interval running as part of the Body For Life program. Now, that's only 20 minutes of running and I certainly can't cover a huge distance in that time anymore. But, the 1 minute interval running at various intensity levels really helped my cardiovascular strength and endurance. So, I'm gonna go back to that 2 times a week. First day was today. In 20 minutes of switching between jogging and sprinting I covered almost 2 miles, and I feel pretty good today as a result.

 

I'm also going to get back to lifting the way I know how to lift. For the past 12 - 18 months I've tried different programs. Whether they were body weight programs, SL 5x5 and other programs, I had a hard time sticking to them. After reminiscing with my brother last week, we both realized that we were at our strongest when we lifted weights the way we learned to lift long ago (we're old). And yes, we were younger then, but you know what else we were then? Consistent. Is the way we learned to lift the most optimum way to lift today? I'm not sure it was then and it probably doesn't fit with the latest research now either. But, we were consistent in our alternating upper and lower body workouts with higher rep schemes. And what I need most now is consistency. A wise workout warrior once told me the best exercise program is the one you can stick to the next day. So, I'm going back to the one I was best able to stick to in my life. We'll see how it goes.

 

Lastly, food. I've come to the realization that my difficulties has a lot to do with portion size. I either eat very little, can only handle that for so long and then eat waaayyyyy too much. So, more consistent portions is what I'm going for now. I don't eat a lot of crap...most of the time. I just don't eat a consistent amount of it. So, I'm either starving my body or overfeeding it. I believe that if turn that around, I will actually consume less calories on a weekly basis and that will have a positive impact as I will be less likely to binge on foods and let some of the crap into my diet.

 

There you have it. Not really New Year's resolutions given that its December 21st, but I've got some new goals and plans for the foreseeable future.

[jstanlick]

Hey look at me, updates 2 days in a row! If I were you, I wouldn't get used to it. I'm just trying to something useful here at work. There's hardly anyone here, and there's even less stuff to take care of. So, I figured I'd try an update and perusing the NF site/forums in general.

 

So, the FitBit continues to suck at staying charged. I now seem to be down to a single day as it's currently charging back up again after a full charge yesterday. Rats. Didn't really want to have to buy a new one, but I've kinda gotten used to having it around. Plus, my wife likes the fact that my alarm is no longer audible to wake her up too. It just starts vibrating on my wrist when it's time to get up. That feature alone seems to be worth having one in my house. But, I got in 13,000 steps recorded with it plugged in on my desk at work for 2 hours. So, not a bad day.

 

After interval training yesterday, today was leg day. Can you believe it? I actually managed to get up out of my nice warm bed to go lift legs of all things! And now I sit at my desk with my legs sore and jello-y. Hopefully I didn't overdo in a zeal for rediscovering what works...hopefully rediscovering anyway. It got the juices flowing enough for me to get out of bed and do legs, so it can't be that bad.

 

Alright, so we'll see if there are any more updates during the holidays, but regardless, know that I wish you and yours a most blessful Christmas and the most awesome start to 2016 possible!

[AgentsSka]

Goals, and getting out of warm beds, and feeling good! 

 

YeESSSSS

[jstanlick]

Well, I was getting up, doing stuff, even when it was cold...and it was awesome! Then...we got a ton of snow. The snow blower was not working (stupid thing would stall whenever the auger was engaged) and the family had reserved seat tickets to The Force Awakens. It took 3 hours just to clear a path from the garage to the road that I could fit the car through. Lifting that much heavy, wet snow (seriously, it was like those big snowfalls we get in March that you just leave there because it will warm up and melt) left me with a right arm tendon that is still sore, a driveway that still is not completely cleared, and feeling less motivated to get out of bed with every muscle sore and stiff.

 

The arm thing really pisses me off because it feels like it did last year around this time and that pain took until May to completely go away. It is damn hard to lift much with a biceps tendon issue. Grrrr. But, it was feeling better yesterday, so I was out breaking ice to clear the rest of the driveway (I don't live in the city, so I have a driveway that is twice the square feet of my house). And now the arm is sore again. But, I have really sore hands and a back that's telling me I overdid it to go along with the arm. Double Grrrrr.

 

So, I haven't been doing the runnings. I haven't been doing the liftings (other than ice and snow for a few hours). I haven't been doing the getting up and stuff doings. But, I have been doing the walking. Including besting all of my co-workers the week of Christmas. So, I'm hanging my hat on that, and sticking to meeting my step goals every day. Additionally, all of the crappy food that I'm tempted to eat is no longer in the house. Hopefully, that helps as well.

[Aquamom]

Hey Buddy!

 

Bummer about the arm.  

 

How did you like The Force Awakens??

[jstanlick]

Hey Buddy!

 

Bummer about the arm.  

 

How did you like The Force Awakens??

 

Yeah, the arm is still being a brat. Stupid snow seems to aggravate it every time I need to shovel. Maybe I just need to convince the family we should move somewhere warmer

 

I really liked The Force Awakens. I could nitpick the plot a bit, but maybe some things will get explained in Episodes 8 & 9. But, there were no annoying characters, no superfluous CGI thrown in just because it could be done. The characters seemed more real and more like the original 3 movies then the newer ones. Like I said, a few things I could pick at but I'm not going to because it was still a quite enjoyable. Although, my brother-in-law tells me I need to go see it again in 3D. He thought the 3D version cranked up the excitement another notch.

[AgentsSka]

I saw it in 2D, 3D, and then 60 foot 2D screen as part of Regal's RPX.  And, that final viewing in the RPX theater was my favorite.

 

I've seen it three times.  Clearly, I am pleased with the movie, as well.

 

Get that arm better!

[jstanlick]

Ooo, 60 ft Ultra screen...drool...

 

Um anyway, the arm is starting to feel better. I even managed some pull-ups yesterday and I'm no worse for the wear. Now if I could just figure out what's wrong with the knee. Wait, I didn't post that here did I? That's the problem with a battle log and a challenge thread. I never remember what I posted where.

 

Short version: woke up Friday morning with a super sore, super wonky knee. Almost a week later with no running, still sore, still wonky.

 

Might have to go see a doctor. This has happened before over the years since having my ACL reconstructed. But, it usually lasts a day or two and gets better. This time it doesn't seem to want to get better and walking the dog in the snow and ice on uneven ground last night made it worse. Maybe I need to sit on my ass for a bit and put the walking on the same shelf as running for a little bit. But, I really don't want to. On the plus side, squats don't seem to make anything feel worse. Which is just bizarre.

[AgentsSka]

Damn joints.

[jstanlick]

Damn joints.

 

Yeah, they have this irritating habit of reminding me that I'm not getting younger. I'd prefer it if they would just leave me to my delusions.

 

On the plus side, something popped in my knee yesterday and it feels better today. Still stiff and sore, but a lot less wobbly. I don't know if some cartilage got impinged or what. They had removed some of it when I had my ACL rebuilt o' so long ago, so it may have gotten stuck in there somehow during my interval workout a week ago. But, hopefully I'm finally on the mend with this thing.

[jstanlick]

Quick update on the knee: it was better. Was.

 

Longer update: It was pain free for a few days. Today its stiff and sore again. What did I do to it? Not much. I used my standing desk at work yesterday more than I had been, so maybe that's it. But, I had what I thought were decent shoes on. Maybe its time for new shoes. Or a trip to the doctor. But, I feel like there are just going to tell me to rest it even more than I have been -- no interval workouts and only 1 short run. Don't really feel like paying money for obvious advice.

 

So, for now, more resting and maybe some shoe shopping. 2016 is not starting on the right foot.

[jstanlick]

Stupid knee. Now it feels fine. I don't know what's going on.

 

But, I have new shoes. Not the shoes I was planning on buying. Mostly because the store didn't have any Pure Connects, Pure Cadence and the one pair of Pure Flows they had was too small. I didn't want to order online without knowing what size I need. But, as long as I was there I tried on some other shoes. I put one pair on, walked around the aisle and my knee stopped hurting. So, I tried them on the treadmill and they were very comfortable. I never would've looked at Nike Free's if they had the Brooks. But, after going up a 1/2 size, they fit really well, are lightweight and have a very neutral ride. I took them out for a sprint interval run on Sunday. The first such run since the knee flared up. They worked really well. We'll see how durable they are between now and summer.

 

I am back to lifting via circuits. Trying to get back to doing training I like and will therefore keep doing rather than trying to change things up to see if I can get better results. Better results don't happen if you don't do the work.

[jstanlick]

One child's birthday on the 14th, another on the 21st, huge presentation at work today and vacation in 10 days, has led me to not create a challenge this go round. So, I'll post things here.

 

Monday night, my daughter and I did a simple KB/DB workout together. It's so cool she wants to lift weights with me! Tuesday was coaching the boys' baseball teams with a quick jaunt across town between the games. Yesterday was a 3.25 mile run to clear my head before this morning's presentation that I've been working on for the last month. Almost melted during the run, stupid humidity. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any of the kiddos to go running with me. Maybe they're just smarter than I was.

[Xena]

Hope you get a cool day soon. The miles will feel like magic once you get some cool dry air!

[jstanlick]

Back from vacation. Who knew I could do a better job sticking with my exercise goals and losing weight on vacation?!? I thought I ate like a pig and consumed numerous adult-type beverages over the course of the week. Yet, the scale says I weighed 2 pounds less when I got back than when I left. Perhaps it's IF? I did skip breakfast and lunch most days, started eating snacks around 2 PM, ate supper around 7 PM and went to bed around 11 PM feeling like I ate too much. Apparently not.

 

I did also manage 2 days of playing basketball with my son, 1 day of playing volleyball with my daughter, 5 days of swimming and playing with all 3 kids, a day walking around the flea market with my wife, a 3.6 mile trail run, a 4 mile run and 2 KB workouts with my wife. Oh, and there was plenty of water skiing (all the kids knee boarded, and my daughter was able to do a deep water starts on the long line by the time the week was over) as well as lots sand castle building with my youngest and water fights with all 3 of them. Also, the 4 mile run was on a day when the temps were only 63 degrees and cloudy. Some of my fastest split times of the summer! It's amazing how hungry you can get when you move all day long. It's also amazing how long I was able to go before hitting a wall...which happened after we got back on Sunday. That day's 3.5 mile run was sllllloooooowwwww. Some of my slowest split times of the year. My legs just refused to go any faster regardless of what I told them.

 

Twas a good week. That one will be hard to top, what with all the adult type stuffs like working, commuting, back-to-school shopping, etc. taking up chunks of time. That's okay.

[jstanlick]

Hey look! This thing is still out here!

 

Haven't being doing the challenges as they require thought and updating. But, I have been doing stuff that has left me in a quandary. I did a lot of running this summer and have gotten pretty comfortable running at an 8:15 pace for about 4-5 miles. However, the weather is getting colder and I've cut back my running in the last month or so. Mostly, I do one set of sprints and 1 5K a week. I've also started eating whatever I feel like and not concerning myself too much with what it is. I've only concerned myself with how much it is. I have some days where I eat waaaayyy too much. I don't need MFP to tell me that. Other days, I just tell myself I'm not hungry and don't need to eat so much. So, by most standards, I've been exercising less and eating like an ass hole. Guess what happened?

 

In the last month I've lost 8 pounds according to the scale. Kind of leaves me scratching my head. I don't really think I was overtraining this summer, nor do I think I was eating in such a way that would be packing on the pounds. Yet for most of 2017, I was stuck around 211 pounds. Now, I'm at 203 pounds. In one month. Of eschewing most of my fitness plan. Is it the sprints? Less long distance cardio? Less food in general? All 3? That would be awesome if it is, cuz this is a super simple way of losing weight. Plus, it's winter time. More resistance training, more sprints, less running outside. It just feels weird. Last year at this time, I was struggling with trying to get my weight under 205 that I was trying everything all at once and I watching my weight go back up. This year, I threw it out the window and I have better results?!?! Hmm, well, let's see where this goes.