MasterOfCows becomes MasterOfFitness

[CourtnieMarie]

ugh, sorry to hear the good feelings didn't last. but am glad there's nothing that seems overly concerning about the pain. we are going to have a virtual party when you stop dealing with knee pain all day e'ry day.

 

those pictures are so beautiful! and dat bear! crazy. i am soooo bad at taking pictures when i'm out/away, so thanks for holding up my end too!

[MasterOfCows]

Not going to lie, I'm pretty bummed.  Why can I just be better already?  ugh.  I wish I could have gotten a better answer than basically "just hang in there" but nothing to be done for it I guess.

I'm not sleeping all that well and I'm drinking (and eating) too much, so I've started counting cals again as of yesterday.  

 

I take tons of pictures, I just forget to post them!!  I couldn't believe what a weird colour those small ponds/lakes were due to the algae, I'm glad my phone captured it fairly accurately.

[MasterOfCows]

So with the idea that I can go back to free weights next week, I've decided I need a program to follow for at least a bit.  I'm going with a modified 5/3/1 2 day a week program.  I'll be subbing BSS and RDL (eventually single leg RDL) for squats and deadlifts to target my specific weak points, limitations and equipment access.

 

The tricky bit was figuring out where to start with weights for legs.  So what I did was figure out a calculated 1RM from before the surgery and halved it, and then plug it into the spreadsheet that TinMan made.  It might be a little low, but I'd rather be safe than sorry at this point.

[karinajean]

Oh poo, I am seriously sorry that you are feeling so bummed out. I think that getting back to free weights and as much as it's horrible, counting calories, will really help you with your mind space. At least then you will be doing something productive that you like to do (okay maybe not the calories).

[MasterOfCows]

It's a process.  It would help if I was sleeping through the night I think.

 

Calorie counting is fine I guess.  I'm working on being better on the weekends (she says as she completely gave up counting anything on Sunday and drank far too much rum).  I'm aiming for 1500 every day, but I usually end up being 1700-1900 Fri-Sun.  Gonna try to reel that in.  Bonus points as it limits alcohol intake kind of by itself, as long as I don't ignore the plan.

 

Note to self: Don't ignore the plan, dummy.

[Hermione Gainser]

Glad you'll be able to get back to weights! Hope that will help the knee's progress with the stretching, too. 

 

Those pics are beautiful. I want to be there. Right now. 

[MasterOfCows]

Soon there will be no more hiking  I have yet to see the appeal of snowshoeing, but I guess you never know... I might get into it more if I don't have to worry about my knees so much.

Speaking of snow - it's supposed to snow on Saturday.  *shakes head*  It won't stick around, but that is the sign that winter is coming, and not just in Westeros.

After a slow start, my hot pepper crop is finally coming to fruition (haha).  I should have enough for a few batches of hot sauce, plus putting them in all the dinners.

 

So let's recap the week so far:

Monday I had physio.  I am now running (1 min on, 1 min off, increase as able), one leg jumps from side to side (about 3 ft), bouncing off a bosu - you jump off one leg, and use the other to land on the bosu and then push off, landing back on the original leg... reading that I'm not sure that description makes sense, but whatever.  Also do that laterally, so not just front and back.  Plus the regular stuff.  I was 129 flexion and wait for it.... 0 extension!!!  Finally.  Only after a bunch of a horrible, horrible, horrible stretch.  Seriously ouch.

 

Tuesday - gym.  First day of 2 day modified 5/3/1

Observation: 5/3/1 with dumbbells is a bit awkward. Legs is fine but for arms, when it's odd weight (like 45, or 55) you have to use a 20 and a 15 or 30 and a 25, so you have to make the number of reps even so each arm gets the same reps with the heavier DB.  No biggie.

 

DB BSS (each leg):

5X20 lbs

5X25 lbs

5X30 lbs (I f'd up, this was supposed to be 3, but whatever)

5X30 lbs

5X35 lbs

9X40 lbs

 

This was reasonably OK.  The end set had a good burn going on.

 

DB Bench

5X40 lbs

6X45 lbs (so reps with the heaver DB were the same for each arm)

4X55 lbs (see above)

5X60 lbs 

5X70 lbs

7X80 lbs

 

Lat pulldown

2X5@96 lbs

1X3 @ 96 lbs

1X2 @ 84 lbs

felt really weak on these for whatever reason

 

Tricep extension 1X6@25 lbs

1 min plank

physio stuff

Running 11 mins, 1 min on, 1 min off.  Speed 5 mph.

 

Wed 

20 min stationary bike, easy pace about 5 km.

physio stuff

 

Thurs - that's today!!  Gym time.

 

I'm taking Friday as a full on rest day.  Only stretching and foam rolling.

[Hermione Gainser]

Speaking of snow - it's supposed to snow on Saturday.  *shakes head*  It won't stick around, but that is the sign that winter is coming, and not just in Westeros.

 

 

 

No! It's too soon! 

[CourtnieMarie]

 

No! It's too soon! 

agreed!

 

it got so cold so fast here too.

 

HG- better bundle up for your trip!

 

MoC- starting to look at flights to germany and london as we have friends in both places that would put us up. any recommendations since i think you just went through buying flights? that shit is mad expensive. or are you not at that point yet?

[MasterOfCows]

agreed!

 

it got so cold so fast here too.

 

HG- better bundle up for your trip!

 

MoC- starting to look at flights to germany and london as we have friends in both places that would put us up. any recommendations since i think you just went through buying flights? that shit is mad expensive. or are you not at that point yet?

 

 

I have a few, but it turns out that flights dropped a bit after I bought (of course!!).

Germany - I found Munich the cheapest place to fly into, but this could vary depending on where you're leaving from.  Although there are periodic deals for Frankfurt (and I saw a few for London) if you aren't overly picky about dates.

In Europe it seems like everyone fucks off for the summer - so while it might be the nicest weather it is the time with the least amount of locals and most tourists, so shoulder seasons are better (April-May, Sept - Oct).  Christmas gets mad pricey again.

There are about a billion "cheap flight" search engines.  However, they don't all search the same flights, which is a huge pain in the ass.    Flight Network offers price protection, as in when you book, if the price goes down after, they'll refund you in terms of more flight credit with them.  But you have to use it within a year, so that wasn't good option for us, as we're blowing most of our travelling money on this trip!!

I found Google Flights to be the most reliable in terms of the best price.

Umm.. there might be a few more things.  Questions?

 

 

[CourtnieMarie]

Nope! Sounds like we'd be in the same boat as you in terms of using flight network. I did my pre-research on google flights as I've found it the most representative as well. I'll have to look into Frankfurt as a cheaper option! Thank you. Dusseldorf was the cheapest I found in Germany so far and my friend is near there so that'd be convenient. But London was definitely cheaper than that. Thinking Sept '16 so I'll probably wait a while before purchasing and watch the prices. Thank you!!

[MasterOfCows]

Yeah, we didn't really look into some of the smaller airports, because that meant more days wasted traveling to the places we wanted to be.

 

I found that generally if I could get to Munich from Calgary for around 600 bucks/person it was a good deal.  Which was just over $500 in USD at that time.  But again it depends on where you leave from - you're in Boston right?  I just checked and holy yikes.  I wonder if you could get a better deal by city hopping a bit in the U.S. first.  Like if there was a super cheap flight somewhere in the U.S. and then a cheaper flight out of that city overseas.  If you have the time.

 

Sept '16 was our 2nd choice for dates - did you pick it because of Oktoberfest?  That's why we ultimately went in May - didn't want to have to deal with all the other tourists  
I think you should reconsider and come in May so we will be there at the same time haha

 

In other news I'm planning on booking an escape room for my birthday in Nov.  They look like so much fun!!  I just hope I'm as smart as I think I am, haha.

Update time:

Thursday:

DB OHP (standing!!!)

6X 25 lbs

5x 30 lbs

4X35 lbs

5X40 lbs

6X 45 lbs

6X 50 lbs

 

DB RDL

5X30 lbs

5X35 lbs

3X40 lbs

5X45 lbs

5X50 lbs

20X 55 lbs

totally too light, but I had hamstring DOMS for DAYS and DAYS.

 

Cable row: 3X5 @ 96 lbs

Hammer curls: 1X5 @ 25 lbs, 1 X 4@ 20 lbs, 1X2 @ 15 lbs

treadmill running 1 min on, 1 min off 6 MPH pace

physio stuff

 

Friday - rest

Saturday - snow day and a fire, all the netflix

Sunday - 20 min stationary bike 5.25 km easy pace, physio stuff

Monday - 20 min stationary bike 5.5 km easy/moderate pace w/some sprints, physio stuff

Tuesday - today, gym!!

 

Last weeks cals avg: 1552 (363 over for the week).  

I had one monster day on the weekend, but was able to even it all out from deficits early in the week and on Sunday.

[CourtnieMarie]

Ah! that's would've been awesome! no, we're not going for oktoberfest (SO is gluten free and I don't particularly love beer) but we can't go in May because of a bachelorette party we're taking to harry potter world in FL. lol

 

we actually have no idea what we want to do in germany (beside eat chocolate and sausages?) but our friend in the Dusseldorf/Cologne area has extended the invite, so we said why not! we're thinking we may want to fly into Brussels for the first night/day and explore there. And apparently Cologne is all about the gay pride but that happens in July and flight prices are just even more ridiculous then.

 

might have to look into leaving from another city. $600/person roundtrip for flights?! that'd be awesome!

 

****

 

yay standing OHP!

 

you had a snow day AND a fire?!

 

1552 cal average is amazing. you rock.

[MasterOfCows]

Well Harry Potter World also sounds fun

 

The cool thing about Europe is that once you get there, it is pretty cheap to get most everywhere else.  Like flights under $100 CDN/person if you find the right deal - easy jet and ryanair are the main budget airlines in Europe, but double check the "extra" fees.  So if you've got the time, it might work out just to fly to wherever cheapest for your dates and then move on from there.  And in Germany the train system is amazing - if you book two or three weeks in advance you can get train tickets for 28-48 euros/person on the fast ICE trains. My physio was on a cruise through the Rhine earlier this year, and she said it was just gorgeous.  Lots of fun outdoorsy stuff to do in that area too I think.  

 

I feel like that's a pretty steep cut for me, but it's really only ~500 cal/day from my estimated TDEE before surgery, which was 1900-2100.   I do know I'm cold all the time though!  And weight really hasn't budged yet, but give it time.  It'll probably whoosh a bunch at once.

 

For a not so good thing, I realized that my left leg (most recent surgery) is still significantly weaker than the right (first surgery).  There's this bench outside my office building and for fun I thought I'd do some one-legged squats to the bench, pause on the bench briefly and then rise back up.  Right went fairly well, stable, no knee caving, no "plunking" down on bench and minimal upper body sway to get back up.  Left was wobbly, got about of a third of the way down, and 'plunked' hard.  Could not get back up, even with upper body momentum until I used a bit of a hand push off. 

this makes me sad.  
 

[MasterOfCows]

To not end on such a downer note - for my birthday next month we're going to do an escape room!  They basically lock you in this room with a scenario, and you have an hour to figure out all the clues and solve puzzles to get out.  Turns out they are super hip right now or something.  That's right, I'm cool.

[MasterOfCows]

 

For a not so good thing, I realized that my left leg (most recent surgery) is still significantly weaker than the right (first surgery).  There's this bench outside my office building and for fun I thought I'd do some one-legged squats to the bench, pause on the bench briefly and then rise back up.  Right went fairly well, stable, no knee caving, no "plunking" down on bench and minimal upper body sway to get back up.  Left was wobbly, got about of a third of the way down, and 'plunked' hard.  Could not get back up, even with upper body momentum until I used a bit of a hand push off. 

this makes me sad.  

 

Turns out sister can't do it on her surgery leg either and she's a year and a half out.  So I don't feel so bad, because I can do it on one surgery leg, just not the most recent one.

And for more fun, my mother is a complete moron.

So it turns out like 2 years ago she had a couple of MRIs.  The first apparently showed some demyelination.  So they made her get a 2nd one to see if it was getting worse.  She never went back to the doctor.  She is also somehow convinced that she has MS, despite never getting any sort of diagnosis of anything, because clearly that is the only thing it could possibly be.  Not any one of the other dozens of things it could also be.  Some of which are entirely curable by the way, you know, if treated.  That's kind of key.  Even if it is MS, treatment has come a long way and it doesn't mean you're stuck in a wheelchair forever anymore.  But you know, you actually have to GET treatment.

 

Not to mention that a lot of neurological diseases have a genetic component, which is kind of important for TheSister and I to know when giving medical histories.

 

I'm assuming because the doctor wasn't phoning her constantly (or maybe they were, how would I know?!) to come back in, that it is probably nothing that serious and she is being an idiot over nothing.  Because it doesn't seem right to me that a doctor's office would be like, 'oh yeah, this person totally has MS, but hasn't come back yet to find that out.  oh well, i'm sure she'll be totally fine."  That doesn't seem like how the medical system works.

And she had the fucking balls to tell me I need help because I get a bit down about my knee sometimes??  So I made her a deal, I said I would keep a "positive outlook" if she would go to the doctor.  That was a month ago.  When asked, "I was too busy, I had to mow the lawn and dig the carrots and potatoes."  Give me a fucking break you dildo.

I'm *this* close to cutting off all contact with her unless she fucking straightens out her shit.  Fine, you want to ignore that there may be some sort of issue, not even find out what it is, much less explore treatment options because you "don't want to waste days at doctor's offices?"  Fine, you go right ahead, but I'm not going to talk to you again.  I will come out to the farm, I will help out, but I will not speak another word to you until you grow up and act like a fucking adult.  

And yes, I do realize the irony of the childish act of threatening never to speak to her to try and elicit adult behaviour.  But I'm not sure what else to do at this point... she said she'd go before Christmas, so I guess that's the timeline we're working with here.

My mother sucks so fucking hard.

[MasterOfCows]

To not end on such a downer note - for my birthday next month we're going to do an escape room!  They basically lock you in this room with a scenario, and you have an hour to figure out all the clues and solve puzzles to get out.  Turns out they are super hip right now or something.  That's right, I'm cool.

Intentional double post!!  I don't have anything else to "not end on a downer on" at the moment.

[CourtnieMarie]

It sounds like you're actually in a good place with the knees! You worked so hard to get back to "normal" with the first and you're there! Unfortunately that means you have to do the same with the second but you're totally doing it! Keep it up [emoji4]

Sorry to hear that your moms being totally outrageous about her health. I hope she goes and gets some answers.

That escape room sounds like a perfect nerd outing. I may have to plan that for a winter activity!

And good to know about the ICE! I did see that it was fairly cheap and even faster than driving. The trains around here stop so many places that it's either equal or faster to just drive. I'd like to do some outdoorsy stuff there since I'm not a history buff and don't drink beer soooo lol I'm really only going to Germany because the friend that lives there

[MasterOfCows]

There are some really good german wines out of the Rhine I hear... the rieslings originated there, so there might be wine tour in the cards?

[MasterOfCows]

Holy hell I been neglecting this place.

 

Update time:

Tuesday (over a week ago) - gym - I don't have my notebook it was fine I think

Wednesday - Stampede Committee meeting

Thursday - gym - again fine and met a friend for dinner after

Friday - rest

Saturday - hair trim and mall (ugh) walked a nonsense amount

Sunday - stationary bike and physio

Monday - gym even though it was a holiday (go me!) - it was heavy week, but I didn't PR my bench for reps, then drove to Edmonton for a conference

Tuesday - conference and dinner at Brazilian place, all you can eat meat, yay!!  I ate so much meat, it was awesome.

Wednesday - conference and another meeting, get home super late

Thursday - gym - PR standing OHP (I have lifted 55 for reps before, but my form was just abysmal)

Friday - today!  All you can eat shrimp at Red Lobster

Saturday - delayed Thanksgiving dinner at the farm (hopefully bike and physio)

Sunday - bike and physio

 

Last weeks cal avg: 1586, still in the acceptable range

Needless to say tracking did not happen at the beginning of this week, and I'm not going to bother for the rest of it. Pick it up next week.

The only story I have is that my knee is acting up - I had to cut out all of the running and jumping this week because it was too painful.
 

[Stronkey Kong]

Stampede committee meeting?

 

Is that a comment about the format of the meeting, or was it a meeting about stampede?

 

Is there enough stampeding?

[Hermione Gainser]

So much catching up! 

 

Standing OHP!!!!!!!!! 

 

Sorry about Mom.  Moms can be a giant pain in the ass, man. UGH. 

[MasterOfCows]

Stampede committee meeting?

 

Is that a comment about the format of the meeting, or was it a meeting about stampede?

 

Is there enough stampeding?

There is entirely too much Stampede if you come to Calgary in July.  ugh.

But I'm on a committee that gives out scholarships to youth livestock exhibitors.  So it was a meeting about that stuff.

In other news, I ate 85 shrimp.  Sister made it to 100.  We each had to do one of all of the options (and eat our starter salad), and then it was a free for all from there.

We are nonsense.  Note for next time, stick to the teriyaki over the garlic.  I am glad that is only once a year.

Sat went to gym.  Sunday did not do anything as knee was still being ouchie.

Today I have physio and voting.

Then I'm on the road again for work.

[karinajean]

There is entirely too much Stampede if you come to Calgary in July. ugh.

But I'm on a committee that gives out scholarships to youth livestock exhibitors. So it was a meeting about that stuff.

In other news, I ate 85 shrimp. Sister made it to 100. We each had to do one of all of the options (and eat our starter salad), and then it was a free for all from there.

1. You are accidentally creating a fairly compelling reason to travel to Calgary in July.

2. SHRIMP WHAT EVEN!

That is hilarious!

Sent from my iPhone while riding a unicorn through the cosmos.

[MasterOfCows]

They don't call it the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth for nothing.  It's actually a pretty cool experience, the midway is something else entirely.  But it's one of those things where I've been exposed to it for so long you don't really notice the good parts anymore, and it's more like "gah, all these people are blocking my way, why are they walking so slow?  Move already!" and "this beer cost $10? Where's the cheap beer tent?"

 

So physio last night - I'm back to -3 extension, whatever is going on at the back of my knee (combination of calf, hamstring and other back of the knee muscles) is pulling things all out of whack.  I'm banned from any direct hamstring or impact stuff for 5 days, and then start adding things back in slowly.  It actually works out well workout wise, because I won't get back to the gym until Friday (and it's deload week on 5/3/1 anyways) and I'll just do lunges instead of RDLs for the deload.

 

Canadian politics are weird.  No one predicted a majority government in any form, but here we are.  It was hard for me to get excited about voting, because I found major things I disliked about all the party platforms and leaders, so it was like "vote for the one that might, just maybe, be the least terrible."  I'm just glad all the political FB posts will start to go away now, it was getting fairly annoying.  Once everyone realizes that the sky isn't falling, we can get back to posting cat memes and what we ate for dinner.