UH60guy seeks his Groundhog Day

[UH60guy]

Well, it's Groundhog Day... again... and that must mean that we're up here at Gobbler's Knob waiting for the forecast from the world's most famous groundhog weatherman, Punxsutawney Phil, who's just about to tell us how much more winter we can expect. I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.

 

 

 

I need to do something I can maintain the rest of my life. The last challenge, I tried to exercise outside of my routine. I thought I was getting bored with my workouts as well. We just had a baby, and everything was thrown out of whack, so I tried to roll with it and be adaptable. Time off from work, travelling, the holidays- you name it- nothing spoke routine. I lasted about 5 days and failed utterly and completely. After a 10-miler the first weekend of December, I haven’t run once. I think I’ve been to the gym twice in eight weeks. Turns out I need the routine. I need to wake up every day the same mindless way, turn on the autopilot, and make it to my goals.

 

What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?

 

I would master a few talents. For this challenge though, I need to relearn and master the art of routine. I’ll set the goals independent of accomplishment, instead the act of just getting out there will be the goal, with the resulting strength a benefit:

Goal: 3 gym workouts per week (STR+4)

Goal: 3 runs per week. (STA+2, DEX+2)

 

 

 

“Yeah, three cheeseburgers, two large fries, two chocolate shakes and one large coke.â€

 

I haven’t been eating that well lately. Even my eating habits I need to get back into a routine. Cut out the restaurants, cut out the snacks and desserts.

 

Goal: Eat “real food†each meal (CON+2, CHA+2). Get a point for each healthy meal made of recognizable ingredients not from a package in a reasonable portion size. Lose half a point for each dessert or snack. The goal is 100 points.

 

 

I'm a god. I'm not the God I don't think.

 

… Meaning I need to at least have some long term plan. Well, we’re moving, selling a house, and buying a new one in April. This is also my long-term goal (getting set up in the new city). So, saving some money would be really nice. We’ve been hit hard with new baby expenses and some car maintenance, so we’re low in savings and the last few months we have been living paycheck to paycheck. Big ticket items are hopefully out of the way so this is a prime chance to save up for closing and moving costs.

 

Goal: Put $400 per paycheck into the savings account (WIS+3).

 

 

 

Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties because it's COOOLD out there.

 

That's right, woodchuck-chuckers - it’s… GROUNDHOG DAY!

 

Let’s get started!

 

Summary:

Long term: Move and start new job, be physically fit when I arrive.

3 gym visits.

3 runs.

Eat well.

Save money.

 

My motivation: I have a two month old baby- she’s both my motivation and my adversary here. On one hand, my wanting to help out and be around her is hurting my exercise regimen. On the other hand, I want to be healthy and around for a long time, so I need to get back into things.

 

[QuirkyDM]

Groundhog day- what an awesome movie. Great theme!

 

Mindless autopilot in the morning is the way to go. If you have a 2 month old and can still get up in the mornings, the more power to you! I'm trying to do about the same number of workouts per week, so I'm on board with your there. Good luck!

[starpuck]

Welcome back UH60!    Good goals.   We share some similar ones.  And similar mindsets again too.   I'll be following along for sure!

 

Can we get a pic of the bebe at some point?  

[UH60guy]

Oh of course!

Today I'm home alone with her at the mother in laws house. No gym to get back into things until thursday, but no one at the moment to derail my eating plans And regardless of location, I ain't running in this cold- would probably do more harm than good.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, sorry for short choppy sentences!

[tenaciousglee]

Welcome back, UH! Super cute kid. I bet she's fun!

It was admirable of you to try and workout and eat healthy right after having a newborn, but I'd say it's even more admirable that you're back again after getting a face-full of reality!

Seriously, it looks like you've got some solid goals and I know you can rock the routine.

[wildross]

Glad for you to be back.  Are you a UH60 pilot?

[UH60guy]

Well, that's a long story for another day... Yeah, I'm a UH-60 pilot in the Army, though I'm currently in a job flying a desk.

 

OK, now that I'm back at work, holidays are over, and the trip to the DC area is behind me, I got back into things. I went to the gym over lunch today for probably the first time since the baby was born. Unfortunately I tried to hop back in where I was, not where I am now, and probably overdid it. I'm quite sore from the squats, and wondering if and how I'll be able to run tonight. I think I pulled my hamstrings, but thankfully no sharp pain, so it'll likely just be really sore for a few days.

 

The pull ups went fine, though I could only get 4-5 at a time for 3 sets, and the fourth set I only got 3. I used to be at 5-6 for four sets regularly, so we'll see if I can get back there. At least no soreness on the arms. I wasn't able to get a spare bench, so no bench presses today, but I did dips. Two sets of 8, two sets of 5. Not great, but again, not sore at least. Finally, I went on to planks. I did two at a minute each, and two at 45 seconds. I used to be up to all four at a minute, and sometimes the first one for a minute and a half. Not a huge loss there, but definitely a step backwards.

 

It's going to be critical to not think of this as a loss of former capability, but a gain in being regular at the gym and running again. I have to take the emphasis out of the results and focus on making the routine a routine. We'll see if I can get a run in tonight. If I do, I'm not even going to take a watch with me- I don't want to focus on a loss in pace, but need to just put the miles behind me.

 

The food front's been a little rough. Monday, all three meals were fine, but had a snack and a dessert (2 pts). Tuesday was 2/3 on meals, and minus a half point for a snack (1.5 pts). Wednesday was 3 good meals, but again both a snack and dessert to lose 1 point. So, for the first three days, I'm at 5.5 out of a possible 9. Not good. I need to resist those urges and get my eating back under control and routine. Of course I say this as I am finishing off a tall Starbucks latte (-0.5 pts).

[QuirkyDM]

Definitely tough to tell your mind that it's OK not to be at the place you were before. I know exactly how you feel- I killed my legs with squats after holidays, too.

 

Think of it this way- you should see huge gains over the next while as your body moves back to where it was before. Take this as your new start point and it'll be much more encouraging.

[starpuck]

First of all, HOLY MOLY!  CUTENESS.

This comes from a babyophobe, so seriously good work there!  Wow!   Total cutie, and you cant totally tell she's head over heels for you.

 

Second of all, if I had a dime for every post I've read about 'getting back into too hard and fast' I'd ... have at least enough to buy me a breakfast burrito.    Myself among the guilty!   I even THOUGHT I had scaled back my loads to be 'a safe getting back into' and nope... I am brutally sore.   Like you, my legs were so bad from Tuesday's workout that I had no chance of running on Wednesday.  I did force myself to do some dancing, and today, they are still just as sore and miserable.

 

Also, totally the same on the pull up progress.   I finished 5 sets of 5 during week 4.5 in last challenge.  (Bailed on the last week.   Then bailed on 2-3 more weeks) and could only pop out 3 sets of 4 on my first day back.   And again, total twinsies here.   Arms/shoulders were 'normal' tight/stiff/sore -- so all good.   Nowhere near the brutal leg sore I got going on.

 

This is going to help me NOT take such long breaks in the future.  Because this sucks.   LOL. I don't want to go through this again.

 

And yeah ... looking at it not as a loss of progress is critical.   I remind myself that LAST challenge I had a first week back to the gym where my numbers were lower, and I ended up having a really good progress kick on the pull ups by the end of it.   It's temporary - and does not figure in to the overall scale of progress/success.

[UH60guy]

Wow, I'm still struggling with getting into a routine. At least some of this I can chalk up to overdoing it at the gym Thursday- I was too sore to run or work out through the weekend (could barely get up the stairs!), so I failed on that front. Same goes for the eating, I just keep going for desserts.

 

Well, I feel better again, so I'm off to the gym in 15 minutes, for what I hope will be getting back into my old routine of Mon-Wed-Fri workouts over lunch.

 

The runs are going to be tricky. As much as I hate running while at lunch and coming back to work a little sweaty, it might be more reliable than trying to do it when I get home and have the baby concerns.

 

And wow, I finally had the courage to step on the scale this morning for the first time in like 2 months. I'm up 15 pounds. I'm sure some of that is water weight from pizza and bowling with friends yesterday, but it was a wake up call that I needed. I will endeavor to track the weight daily as a reminder that it's something I have to work at. Denying or hiding from it made it too easy to justify extra helpings, extra desserts, not running, and more.

 

Week 1 status:

0/3 runs complete.

1/3 work outs complete.

13 food points (need to average 16.7 per week to meet goal of 100)

Savings- will judge on next payday, the 14th, but it looks like slightly less than $300 will be saved of the $400 goal.

[starpuck]

I'm right there with ya on the weight gain.   And I hadn't thought about the idea of using the scale daily as a reminder to be mindful of it.   I've typically been of the mindset of don't do it every day because it will get you down.    I think I will hop on, on Wednesday, after a couple of days of getting back to healthy fueling.   Then maybe try that.

 

You're new life is going to be learning how to adjust, to adjusting!  Hehehe.  Soon you will figure out how to juggle it all.   

 

I was finally 'not sure' by Saturday - and then I did a 5K race and hit the gym afterward.   What was I thinking?  Sore again and just totally physically wiped.  Gonna hit the gym anyway tonight, and just maybe take it easy a bit hee.

 

We're such dorks.

[UH60guy]

The benefit to the scale every day is you can weed out the fluctuations and see the trend. Like if one Sunday I see myself as the same weight as last week, I wouldn't know I lost two pounds over the time and the Sunday upturn was just a normal fluctuation. I'd see the downward trend and be ok with it, rather than just two data points and being disappointed in no change.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, sorry for short choppy sentences!

[QuirkyDM]

The benefit to the scale every day is you can weed out the fluctuations and see the trend. Like if one Sunday I see myself as the same weight as last week, I wouldn't know I lost two pounds over the time and the Sunday upturn was just a normal fluctuation. I'd see the downward trend and be ok with it, rather than just two data points and being disappointed in no change.

I hear you. I can find my weight fluctuates by +/- 1 lbs on a day to day basis, and I measure at the same time each day. This last week, I saw my weight dip and then shoot up 3 lbs over the next 3 days. I measure each day, but I don't worry too much about it except as you've said- to give more stability in case my weekly recordings look out of whack.

 

Running at lunch isn't too bad- you're already doing gym workouts at lunch anyway. Maybe you could do it when you leave for the night- take your running gear to work, change when you're ready to go home and either run at the office or go home and start running before you go in the door. If you're on public transport, you can do the same thing and get off at an earlier stop to do the same thing.

[Fonzico]

I'm sure it'll be quite a challenge balancing your fitness goals with new-daddyhood, but good for you for trying, and not using the difficulty as an excuse to give up.

 

Are there perhaps some dessert-substitutions you can make so you can keep the ritual to less detriment? I'm a fan of the coconut milk ice cream thing - just pour some over frozen berries, or if you have time, blend with bananas and/or nut butter and freeze for a couple hours.

[UH60guy]

It's weird about the snacks and desserts- usually I avoid them, and I've been good about that lately. The problem is other people offering me crap, and me not turning it down. It's convenient to blame them, but I know I'm the one who has to say no. For example, the person in the office next to me bakes cheesecakes. She offers me a slice, I politely decline and say I've gained 10 pounds, but then she says "just a little slice" and I've already used up my willpower reserve on the first denial. Same at home- the wife bought cookie mix, so each night she bakes 2 for each of us. I should say no, I just don't. On the plus side, I found it very easy to turn off the "Starbucks every day" switch, by buying a variety pack of tea and keeping a cup at my desk. That helped with cutting out the snacking too.

 

On the weight front, the good news is my initial fears of a 15 pound gain were unfounded- I guess the first time back on the scale was one of those fluke days. More self-confirmation of why I like to check every day (mindfulness and to watch the trend). Turns out I'm "only" up ten pounds in the two months since the baby was born.

 

I still haven't run this challenge- and I really need to as I have an 8k and half marathon on St. Patricks day weekend. I'll try again tonight.

 

And today I completely forgot about the gym. It wasn't until the lunch hour ended (where I didn't do anything anyway) that I realized I completely forgot to go. On the plus side, I just noticed the mini challenge workout today with the burpees, jumpting jacks, etc. I will try to make up for the missed workout by including it in my run. I used to be good about running two miles or so, doing bodyweight exercises, and finishing another mile or two. This mini-challenge seems to allow it. I'll have to see how I feel during the run, I don't want to overdo that for the first time back like I did with the gym last week.

 

On the savings side, we had $273 of the planned $400 from my last pay period able to go into savings when yesterday's paycheck came. Not bad, but not great. A few things made it harder, but that shouldn't be an excuse- our water bill comes every two months, (so this was one month it was harder to reach the target), we had to travel to house hunt (2-3 extra tanks of gas), as well as the fact that I'm not the only one in on this goal. The wife's spending it counting against me here, even though it's not like she went on a spree or anything this month. The downside to a joint account I guess. Hopefully we'll be able to bring it up to a total of $800 in two more weeks, but we have car maintenance and a $250 house appraisal that will impact the budget too. We'll see!

[starpuck]

Woo, good news on the scale.  I know how you feel.  I was so glad to be up only 10lbs, instead of the usual 20 and the feared 15.     Sadly I am not doing so well out of the gate on this challenge.  Dunno what the issue is.  I am feeling nesty today, so maybe I can get organized and turn a new leaf starting tomorrow.

 

Be careful on the run lol!    My Polar Dash last weekend left me with long-nearly-forgotten joys of shin splints!  Ugh.    I managed to keep active after, though it was tight and painful, and plan on running tomorrow at lunch.  NO EXCUSES.

 

On the being offered things front ... I hear (and am trying to implement this year) that changing the phrasing can do wonders for your OWN sake.   Instead of saying 'No because I gained,' or "No I can't have that" - try changing it to something like, "No thanks, I don't care to have one today."   Or, "Thanks, but I don't want one."   

 

I had some success with that last March (that will be close to my 1 year NF anniversary.)    I said no to a bowl full of cookies that one of the girls made for a hockey tournament.  Sure, I could easily have rationalized that playing 4 hockey games in 2 days would override a cookie or two.   BUT, I knew that I wouldn't stop at one or two, and so I just said, "NO thanks, I don't eat that kind of stuff."    (Even if it wasn't entirely true, using THAT phrase, at that moment, seemed to give me bolstered resolve without the guilt.)

[UH60guy]

Thanks for the tips- that sounds a little easier to say than the "I don't eat that" type of response, which is a lie. I do eat cookies. I eat them, I eat some more, and some more, and I love every minute of it. The "not today" option you mention sounds great- it turns it down, but keeps it from being this forbidden fruit (from now on I will consider cookies fruit) and therefore more binge-worthy when I do have them.

 

the run went... well, it went. I left my GPS at home and brought my iPhone just on Zombies, Run! which tells me of the time only after each mile. Not sure of my distance, but it probably was close to 3 miles. I was hurting, and I didn't attempt the workout inserted in the middle. I think I was back up to 9-minute miles, but enough stuff went wrong I could't really tell. In the first mile, a car backed out into the street and onto the shoulder, forcing me to stop. I stood there, but he turned into me. Apparently his driveway wasn't good, so he wanted to park on the street where he forced me to stop. I had to hop in the mud before going again. At mile 1, I was at 9:27.

 

During the second mile, the app unexpectedly quit. I could get the music playing again- and the timer was still counting, but the distance tracking and story from the app stopped. I had no idea how far I would go from that point on. Worse, when I put it back in my waist pouch (I hate having it on the arm band, it makes it heavy and sweaty), the zipper came off when it was closed. I mean, it sealed the iPhone in the pouch, tracks completely closed, and the entire zipper came off, leaving my iPhone trapped inside. Now I had no distance and no timer. It was uneventful after that, but when I got home and pried the tracks apart, it was around 28 minutes. I can only assume with the stops in there that it was around 3 miles.

 

But boy did it hurt. I was really doing well with running before- I could run 5 or 6 miles without much effort. Now I'm struggling with this 2-3. It really shows how much a few weeks off can set you back. I really have to get after it as I have an 8k on March 15 and a half marathon the next day. Hopefully I can build back up to it.

[Fonzico]

Wow, that sounds like a really frustrating time! So much for exercise being a de-stressor, eh?

 

On the other hand though, I suspect that you will get your endurance back up fairly quickly - that short of a break will set you back considerably, but it won't take nearly as long to get back up to speed (hehe pun totally intended) as it did to get there in the first place.

 

This will be the worst of it, it only goes up from here

[starpuck]

UH60 -sometimes we are such twins.

 

Finally dragged my butt to the indoor track to run today.    First run (outside of the Polar Dash the past Sat) in like 4-5 weeks.    I opted to ditch counting laps and just tell myself to run for 10 minutes.  (I was doing the ranger mini challenge in between the 10 minute segments).    SO HARD.  Sooo sooo hard.  Everything was a struggle.   The breathing, the running, the gasping, the pounding heart.    Makes me so mad to have to reclaim an efficiency level I previously had. 

 

But, this isn't the first or last time in life I'll have to do that, so might as well get used to the feeling of overcoming the hiccup.

 

We'll get there/get it back/get past it!

[UH60guy]

Yikes, more time away from the house, more time away from the routine.

 

We had a 4-day trip up to Washington DC Thursday through Sunday. My wife had an interview for one of her doctoral internship sites, and we combined the trip with a full day of house hunting over the area. The real estate agent took us to 14 houses! It was a long day.

 

However, what this 4-day journey meant was two days away from work (and my usual workout over lunch), so no gym time was accomplished. We're still in the freezing cold snap, so I ain't gonna run in that. I better start running somewhere soon0- I have a 5 miler in 44 days and a half marathon in 45.

 

Now that I'm back at work, I did make it back to the gym! So at least I know when I'm in my comfort zone, I can achieve things. It's just a lot of change and time away from the routine that is killing me.

 

Trying to calculate my eating and goal progress- I had a minor snafu with my challenge tracker sheet where it's not calculating properly on Google Drive (I keep it there so I can update via iPhone), so I'll have to look at it again.

 

It looks like after the first 3 weeks, I've only run once and gone to the gym three times (not counting today). Eating was meh- 42 points, meaning I'm on track for a B or C on the challenge. At least that's something. And on the savings front, that's going surprisingly well. The next payday is Thursday, and I anticipate we'll have around $700-800 in the account, depending on the electric bill at the end of the month. We did that even with travelling and putting the dog in boarding too. That means we will have made up for the lackluster savings from the first paycheck, and might hit our goal of $400 per paycheck (averaged in this case). Definitely a big achievement, as we needs the dough for closing costs and the move!

[UH60guy]

Ok, shoveling the whole driveway out of a foot of snow with a garden shovel (don't have a snow shovel) counts as a workout, right? I'm beat.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk, sorry for short choppy sentences!

[starpuck]

Oh heck yes.    I had to count it as my workout last week because it wore me out so much there was nothing left for a proper gym-date!

 

Definitely.  

[QuirkyDM]

With a garden shovel? Um, yeah that counts. Glad you had that at least. But if that gets too easy, feel free to move up to the next level- use a piece of plywood and plow your drievway instead. Great leg workout!

 

I

[UH60guy]

That's a good idea

This was the thin powdery stuff, but it was a foot deep. I ended up doing more of a combination of squatting/sweeping motions, some shovelling, and some slapshot-style stuff to mainly just fling it to the side.  I'm pretty sore though!

 

Still, not looking good for my run schedule with all this snow and ice