Aeryn claims lucky thirteen

[Aeryn]

I took a while off, but I think I could use a little extra motivation and focus for the next six weeks. Been keeping up the climbing/swimming/juggling regularly, eating what I want when I want it and discovering how awesomely that works for me. Came back today on a whim, only to discover it's the beginning of a new challenge - and it's my thirteenth. AWESOME. 

 

Goals:

 

1. Pull-up power. I've let this hang out at a maintenance level of 4 pull-ups while I've focused on actually climbing - time to build some more muscle, get some more reps. I also want to move my rings upstairs from the basement - having them more available should mean using them more. Ten pull-ups a day, every day for the first week. We'll see where it goes from there.

 

2. Core strength. While I'm hanging out doing pull-ups, might as well add some skin the cat/lever/toes to bar work in there. 

 

3. Juggling math. I love club passing so much, my ball juggling skills have been atrophying. Now that I understand siteswap a little more, I'm going to work on at least one new pattern a week. Learned 531 on Saturday, so that's my first step.

 

4. Bonus points for handstand work, which I've entirely neglected for months.

 

Looking forward to getting back on the challenge path!

[Nymeria]

Welcome back!  I didn't know that you had rings.  I'm playing with rings a bit too, and working on my back lever, offset pull ups, and other stuff.  

[Aeryn]

Hey Nymeria! Thanks for the welcome - great to see your recovery from the ACL surgery! We'll have to share fun things to do with rings. I got mine a while back - somehow they seem more like playing than the pull-up bar does.

[Elastigirl]

Yay Aeryn's here!  

[Aeryn]

Yay Aeryn's here!  

Indeed I am! It's good to be back... though I clearly need to go through the assassins and figure out who else is still here - and meet some of these new people. Y'all have done great things with this guild in my absence!

[Aeryn]

Day 3 - so far so good on the pull-ups, though I did all 10 of yesterday's after 9:30 at night - gotta think about it earlier in the day! So far I'm doing them in sets of 2 with the occasional set of 3 when I'm feeling strong. Haven't moved my rings yet, so I'm still running down to the basement for pull-ups. Little bit of lat soreness, nothing major.

[obax]

You people and your rings.... I just might be a little jealous... Someday....

 

Oh, and also, yay Aeryn's back! Lookin' forward to following along!

[Aeryn]

You people and your rings.... I just might be a little jealous... Someday....

 

Oh, and also, yay Aeryn's back! Lookin' forward to following along!

Rings are awesome, you should get some.

 

Glad to be back!

 

Swam at lunchtime today - got to race a coworker for a couple of laps, which is always awesome motivation to go fast. 

[Aeryn]

Did my ten pull-ups Wednesday and Thursday, I'm at 3 so far today. Bouldered at the campus gym yesterday evening and got three moves farther on my project route, so that's exciting. Also did a traverse all the way around the room and back, which was great endurance training. 

[KB Girl]

Hey good to see you! Still better at pull-ups than me, darn it

 

Nice clean challenge. I did a whole period of eating what I wanted when I wanted.. it really helped reset some issues for me, glad to hear it's working for you too!

[0gravity]

Sub'd! Best of luck with your pullups and climbing! Excited to see what you will achieve!

 

Edit to add: Oh! I see you are in NC! So I hear there is some climbing there...

 

[Aeryn]

Hey good to see you! Still better at pull-ups than me, darn it

 

Nice clean challenge. I did a whole period of eating what I wanted when I wanted.. it really helped reset some issues for me, glad to hear it's working for you too!

Haha, I may have you beat at pull-ups, but I'm pretty sure I have no idea what to do with a kettlebell. 

 

Yeah, the food thing started in May when I went on vacation and didn't want to try to track a lot of unfamiliar foods, and has been working well all summer. Sometimes I miss having the data, but I don't at all miss the little counter in my head that was constantly doing math to figure out what I "should" eat.

 

Sub'd! Best of luck with your pullups and climbing! Excited to see what you will achieve!

 

Edit to add: Oh! I see you are in NC! So I hear there is some climbing there...

 

Thanks! yeah, NC's got some climbing - I've only been to one outdoor area, but it's pretty fun. 

 

Did well on my pull-ups this weekend, plus moved my rings upstairs, so I ended up doing 20 pull-ups yesterday because I kept walking past the rings and doing a set.

 

Worked on 6424 as my juggling pattern for the weekend - 6s are a lot higher than I'd thought. Need higher ceilings!

[KB Girl]

What do those numbers mean?

[Aeryn]

What do those numbers mean?

Ah, siteswaps. They're a numerical representation of a juggling pattern. The simplified explanation is that each number is one throw, and the number tells you how high the throw goes. A 1 is just handing a ball across from one hand to the other. 3 is a standard throw, the height you would juggle 3 balls. A 4 is a throw that goes to the height you'd juggle 4 balls. 5 is a throw that goes to the height you'd juggle 5 balls, and so on. Odd numbers cross, even numbers stay on the same side. 2s are weird because you can either do a very low throw (like you're juggling 2 balls in one hand), or you can just hold the ball - since it comes back to the same hand, holding the ball is effectively the same as a low throw.

 

So 531 is a pattern with a high throw, a medium throw, and a handacross. 6424 is a really high throw on one side (the 6), a medium height throw on the other side (4), a hold (2), and another medium height throw. What it actually looks like is I'm juggling 4 balls and then throw one really high.

 

I hope that vaguely makes sense!

 

Did 14 pull-ups yesterday, plus 3 hours of climbing. My fingers are sore today!

[KB Girl]

Yea it makes some sense its always interesting to find out other things are so much bigger than you think.

[Aeryn]

Yea it makes some sense its always interesting to find out other things are so much bigger than you think.

Yup - true nerdiness, it's always bigger than it looks.

 

Pull-ups are going well - I've done 12 each day this week, feeling good. Occasional sets of 4, mostly sets of 3.

 

Juggling festival this weekend - looking forward to learning some new things!

[Harika]

Have you made any progress with juggling or handstands?

[Aeryn]

Have you made any progress with juggling or handstands?

Just got back from a juggling festival, worked on a few passing patterns with interesting site swaps - 576 is kind of the bane of my existence at the moment, but it was getting better by the end. Haven't done any handstand time yet... ah well.

 

Week 3 begins! Still on track with pull-ups, upping my numbers to 15 a day this week. Allergies are messing with me, I'm thinking I may try out an over-the-counter antihistamine.

[obax]

Boo allergies! I definitely feel ya on that one, I feel like this year has a bumper crop of all the major allergen-producing plants.... I find the side effects of OTC antihistamines to be as bad or worse than my allergies, but I know a lot of people who swear by them, so hopefully they work for you!