Becoming a Superhero

[imjustarogue]

UPDATE

 

So, this week’s been a rough one. Super-urgent deadline project had me up until 3am one morning which made me extra super tired for about the next two days (damn! I’m so old…..) And yesterday, my daughter had her wisdom teeth removed, so I spent most of it taking care of her, which wasn’t so bad, but it also took up a bunch of my day. And on top of that, my shins have been achy since the 5k last week. I really need to get a massage (which requires monies… /sigh) since it’s the main thing that helps the super crazy tight muscles in my leg. My PT exercises help with the leg strengthening, but that’s about it, so I still get super tight calves/shin muscles and after so many runs, the ache/pain comes back unless I get a massage.

 

Today, I’m planning on working on my PT exercises, along with some stretches and maybe some yoga and hopefully get back on this thing.

[imjustarogue]

Realized yesterday that I have been 15 days free of migraines. Considering the two weeks prior I had somewhere around 9 and this is my longest migraine-free streak since I started tracking, this is amazing.

 

I don't really know what my triggers are (with the exception of allergies), so I'm not sure if it's something I'm currently doing with this challenge - like (attempting) to exercise more or drinking more water than diet soda, but it's been nice to be free of them for a while.

 

Unfortunately, it does feel like I'm on the edge of one today, which is kind of a bummer.

[Elastigirl]

yay for the no migraine streak, hope it continues. Great job on cutting back on diet soda  too! Did you know that for some people diet soda can be a migraine trigger?

[imjustarogue]

I don't think I'd heard that about diet soda being a trigger, but given all the other stuff people say about aspartame and such, I don't think I'm really surprised. I'm not 100% sure that it's a solid trigger for me because I could drink a bunch of diet soda and have no issues one day, and on another be hit with a blazing migraine. Figuring out triggers sucks.

 

The two I know of are allergies (which is unfortunate since I live in the Midwest and have Spring to Fall allergies) and occasionally exercise (which really sucks). Over the past two years (since I've started tracking them), I have noticed a drastic uptick of migraines in the April-May months compared to Winter and they taper off a bit through Summer and Fall, so it's possible that the ones I had this year in May/beginning of June were still allergy related. The exercise ones pop up on occasion when I go for a run and I would bet are related to a combination of dehydration and overheating. But that's all I've been able to determine as actual triggers. :/

[imjustarogue]

Week 4 - Begin!

 

Meant to post this yesterday, but it was another late work night, so here’s my start of the week post (and end of last week summary).

 

Week 3 was tough. I don’t know if it was tough because it was “week 3†or because lately, I’ve had superimportantdeadline after superimportantdeadline which means I stay up way too late working on things and end up tired the next day (not tired to the point of not being able to work, but tired to the point of not having energy to workout). On top of that was my 15-yr old daughter getting her wisdom teeth out. That was an adventure - apparently, she’s a crier when she comes out of anesthesia. And she’s very dramatic about pretty much everything, so it’s been a ride.

 

Anyway, last week wasn’t as good as I wished it was. I managed one jog and one walk, only one strength training (boo) and a couple balances (which you would think that since it’s the easiest of everything I’d have aced that one…).

Water/hydration was actually surprisingly good! I’m still trying to figure out a better way to grade it based off of what I learned about hydrating in the last recruit mini-challenge, and am hoping my sister has some good advice. I have almost completely cut out the diet soda - with the exception of a bottle here or there more as a treat - and it’s all because of those fancy water flavors. I do have one that has caffeine, which I’m ok with because my goal wasn’t to cut caffeine completely, but rather to move away from the stuff in diet sodas. I think I’ve had one bottle of soda in the past 5 days. This is so cool.

 

Ok - onto this week.

 

Monday, I had to drop the car off for maintenance which resulted in a walk home and then back later to pick it up (#thingsiloveaboutsmalltowns). It resulted in a 30 minute walk total, so I’m counting it as my “run.†Later in the day, forcing myself to take a break, I spent about 30 minutes doing strength training/PT exercises. I had one 20-oz bottle of soda, but other than that, yay water!

 

Now, it’s lunchtime and then I have to get more work done, so that’s my day. I’m looking at the forecast, and temps are telling me that I’m not going to get an outside run today or tomorrow (due to rain), so I might hop up on the treadmill for an episode of Supernatural this afternoon.

[imjustarogue]

Week 4 Mini-Challenge: Checking Your Starting Credits

So, after much looking and figuring and mathing, I’ve got my quest four numbers figured out. I am not doing as well as I wish I was, but I know it’s on me, so it’s up to me to change it around for the next three weeks.

 

One of the things I’m doing, after talking it through with my sister, is adjusting my Hydration goal. After reading the article I found for the previous challenge, it got me thinking about what I was really trying to accomplish. My goal wasn’t to drown myself in ALL THE WATER!!!1!1!1!!!1 It was more of a goal to cut back on my diet soda consumption and replace it with healthier choices - one of which, being water, but also allowing juice and such.

 

What I’m going to do as a result of this revelation is to adjust how I’m recording my hydration. I will still receive 1pt per 8oz of water, 1pt per 8oz of healthy beverage (such as juice), and .5 pt per 8oz of soda. This way, I am still counting the soda as hydration, but because it’s not a healthy choice, it is worth less. My total max is still 336pts for the 6 weeks.

 

However - with that said, below I am counting hydration using my previous scoring since I haven’t been tracking the soda at this point anyway. I am also only allocating 8 of the 10 points because I have not done well at all for two of my quests which fails the life quest at this point as well.

1. Goal allocation:
   Q1: Balance = 2STR | 2DEX
   Q2: Hydration = 2CON | 1STA
   Q3: Exercise = 2STR | 2STA
   LQ: Stick with it and follow through = 2CHA | 2WIS
    
2. Mid Challenge Summary:
   Q1: Balance = B+ (87%)
   Q2: Hydration = D (65%)
   Q3: Exercise = C (73%)
   LQ: Stick with it and follow through = Fail at the moment
    
3. Challenge allocation:
   Q1: B+ (87%) = 2STR | 2DEX
   Q2: D (65%) = 2CON | 1STA
   Q3: C (73%) = 1STR | 1STA
   LQ: F (0%)

 

Ugh. Butt. You need to stop letting me sit on you so much and start moving! I do not want to fail my life quest!  /sadface

 

[ElemHH]

Rethinking a goal that isn't working right and modifying it is a good idea, that alone should be worth a wisdom point.

 

I can't remember what the documentary was, but I remember seeing one that said we shouldn't obsess over our fluid intake as we get a lot of our required fluids from the food we eat. Staying hydrated is good, but don't make yourself uncomfortable. I went through a stage of drinking a 500ml bottle of water every hour or so, I went to the toilet so much that I quickly knocked that new habit on the head.

[ElemHH]

I found the documentary, in case you are interested. The part about water requirements starts at 35min 20 to 40 min 35.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUqyCY2N8fs

[imjustarogue]

Thanks ElemHH! That bit of the documentary was interesting and falls in line with some of the stuff that was said in the article.

 

And, you know what? I'm gonna give myself that +1WIS you suggest, because you're right. Recognizing that something you set up isn't working quite the way you thought it would is important - especially since I tend to be harsher on myself if it's not working ("I'm not doing as well on my goals, so no points!" for example). I need to reward myself for the good things.

[Elastigirl]

Thanks ElemHH! That bit of the documentary was interesting and falls in line with some of the stuff that was said in the article.

 

And, you know what? I'm gonna give myself that +1WIS you suggest, because you're right. Recognizing that something you set up isn't working quite the way you thought it would is important - especially since I tend to be harsher on myself if it's not working ("I'm not doing as well on my goals, so no points!" for example). I need to reward myself for the good things.

Learning how to do goals that work for you is  a total win.

[ElemHH]

How is everything going?

[imjustarogue]

How is everything going?

Update time!

 

So, I’m not great at doing updates on a regular basis, but I’m still trying to keep up on my quests.

 

Surprisingly, the one I thought at the beginning would be the hardest has become the easiest - Hydration. It’s amazing how much the Mio (and store brand flavorings) help. I have a couple that have some caffeine, so I’m not going through any withdrawals there, but I also don’t feel the need to caffeinate all the time like I did with drinking my diet soda. I did drink soda yesterday because of the holidays, but because of my adjustment last week, it doesn’t feel like a huge step back.

 

Went for a run Friday. I was pretty tired, and about ½ way through I wanted to head home, but I just started season 2 of Zombies, Run! and I just had to know how it was going to end so I kept going - even if it was more walking than running. And, man, it was an awesome episode!

 

The quest I’m doing the worst at was the one I thought would be the easiest - Balance. I mean, it only takes a minute and yet I find I’m not doing it hardly at all. :/

 

The other thing I’m struggling with is my strength training. I don’t like doing the same thing over and over again, which makes it difficult to stick to any sort of goal, but by not sticking to a certain thing (like planks or pushups or whatever), I’m never making any progress. This is both difficult and frustrating and I haven’t figured out a good way to adjust for it. I need variety to keep me interested, but consistency to see progress. Needless to say, this particular issue is a little bit of a downer.   /sigh

 

As a note, my strength training is pretty much done at home with bodyweight and a couple of 5lb dumbbells. I don’t have a gym membership and I don’t leave the house much - though I feel like I should for a few exercises like inverted rows.

[imjustarogue]

Ok. To try and get out of the struggle of getting fit at home, I'm giving the Darebee Hero's Journey another shot. I've tried this once before, but only made it through a week just because of lack of follow through. I figure I've got 14 days until the end of this challenge, so let's see if I can get to day 6 of the journey. That'll be at least 3 trainings each week. I just did day 1, so I'm a day ahead of that goal.

[ElemHH]

Ok. To try and get out of the struggle of getting fit at home, I'm giving the Darebee Hero's Journey another shot. I've tried this once before, but only made it through a week just because of lack of follow through. I figure I've got 14 days until the end of this challenge, so let's see if I can get to day 6 of the journey. That'll be at least 3 trainings each week. I just did day 1, so I'm a day ahead of that goal.

I took a look at Hero's Journey, it looks interesting. If I ever find myself not knowing what to do for the next challneg, I'll give it a shot.

I looked at day one and saw it has levels 1-3. Are you supposed to go through it three times, increasing in level each time? Or do you just pick the level that you can currently do?

Good luck with it. I'll be interested in hearing your review after you have done it a few times.

[tourennatrix]

I took a look at Hero's Journey, it looks interesting. If I ever find myself not knowing what to do for the next challneg, I'll give it a shot.

I looked at day one and saw it has levels 1-3. Are you supposed to go through it three times, increasing in level each time? Or do you just pick the level that you can currently do?

Good luck with it. I'll be interested in hearing your review after you have done it a few times.

With most of Neila Rey's workouts, they have the 3 levels and you can just pick whichever one you feel most comfortable (or challenged but not deaded) doing. For the programs this can be a little tough to figure out sometimes (if you've been doing doing more strenuous workouts regularly for a while) because they're scaled back in difficulty *just* a tad because they're designed to be done 7 days/week (with built in "active rest days") instead of having harder stand-alone workouts to be done ~3 times/week.

 

In the first incarnation of this program, on the last day it said something like 'if you complete this at level 1, go back and do it at level 2". It looks like the phrasing has been removed (Which I'm rather ok with, I think the phrasing was a little off-putting in version 1, like 'level one, you fail, try again' which is a whole lot of commitment (2 months) for 'failure' even if you do complete the program...) BUT version 2.0 got rid of that and seems to have added more stuff for the 'pick your weapon' part. I may have to check it out again later

 

**Edit** Oh my goodness, they've also added a point system and Karma points and... Now I'll really have to see about checking this out again. 

[ElemHH]

Thanks for the info. That makes sense, working through it once for each of the three levels would be a long running fitness commitment, picking your own level is much better.

[imjustarogue]

Yesterday, I fought a migraine that started in the morning. Didn't have any of my migraine medicine since I used the last of it Friday evening and it was a holiday weekend so my pharmacy was closed. >.<

 

Anyway, I started off with a migraine, took some tylenol. It faded into a generally bad headache. Which then stuck around until I went to bed. Woke up and the migraine, still low level, was hanging on. (Didn't manage to get to the store to pick up my meds - I'll be doing that in a bit today.)

 

So, I pretty much felt like a lump all day yesterday. I decided, before I went to bed, that I would do Day 2. Due to the day-long headache, I opted to "mind my own business". I didn't quite hit 60 reps of half jacks on the first round (hit 50), but for the other sets, I stopped at 40. That was plenty of bouncing with a headache. >.> Arm circles were fine.

 

Headache's let up some today - even after only 5 hours of sleep due to having to take my husband to the airport. I'll see how the rest of the day goes for things.

[Elastigirl]

Hope the headache goes away completely. Awesome job on the zombie run! 

[tourennatrix]

Siiiiister! Do the updating thing!

[imjustarogue]

More Updates!

 

So far, I’ve made it through Day 4 of the Hero’s Journey. Yay!

 

Water consumption’s been ok this week, though I’ve had a bit more soda this week. >.>  Ah, well.

 

I’ve done a bit more balancing this week too. Yay!

 

I haven’t done any running this week because I just got a new phone (huge Nexus 6!) and don’t have any way to carry it just yet. I’m getting a Spibelt to carry it for my jogs coming this week and then I can get out there again - just in time for the heat wave.

 

Next Saturday is our Insane Inflatable 5k. Super excited! So far, the weather looks like it will be between 80-86 and mostly sunny, so it’ll be so super warm out! o.o  ...still excited.

 

Also to add my Week 5 Recruit challenge.

 

The Cafeteria

Last week, I made a really scrumptious dinner. It was super simple and easy.

 

Slice some chicken breasts, cut up an onion into large chunks, saute them in a pan (I didn’t add any oil or anything), and then, when everything’s mostly cooked, I added a spoonful of diced garlic, some powdered ginger and a few spoonfuls of a delicious marinade.

 

Once everything was cooked, we ate it.  This would be really good with some more veggies topped on rice.

 

[ElemHH]

Next Saturday is our Insane Inflatable 5k. Super excited! So far, the weather looks like it will be between 80-86 and mostly sunny, so it’ll be so super warm out! o.o  ...still excited.

 

That sounds fun, exhausting, but fun.

 

Well done on getting more balancing work done. I'm not sure what you do for that, but this is usually what I end up picturing:

 

[imjustarogue]

Hehe I'm working my way up to that. Sometimes I just randomly stand on one leg until I lose balance. Sometimes I do it standing on my little foam pad. The softness of the pad adds a little uncertainty to the balancing. A while back at my family's reunion, I was doing my balancing on those cement blocks at the end of parking spaces while waiting for some of them. That worked out pretty well. Sometimes I add in the complexity of picking up jacks with toes of one foot while standing on the other. I'll video that someday to show how awkward it is.

[imjustarogue]

This week'll be fun.

 

Daughter has cheer practice every morning from 9-10 and it's only about .5 mile away, so I'm walking with her there, walking back home, walking back at 10 to keep her company on the final walk home. In 80+ degree weather. With super high humidity.

 

It's just practice for the 5k this weekend, right?

 

This morning, I did do a bit of jogging on my way home, but the humidity just made me want to nope. So the rest of the walks today were just that.

[imjustarogue]

Yesterday's walk didn't happen due to major work thing that started the night before and needed figured out asap (which means I also didn't get that great of a night's sleep). I did do day 5 of the Hero's Journey (well, 4 of the 5 sets because my legs just couldn't take any more.)

 

But today's walk was pretty nice. It's a tiny bit cooler, but still humid as ever. Walking there and back, twice, gives me just over 2.5 miles, so really not a bad haul. Google Fit is really happy with that.

[ElemHH]

Well done on getting out for a walk in the conditions you don't like.

 

I have never thought about working on balance, although i did some accidental balance work when I was trying to get over my fear of going up a step ladder at work. I opened it up, climbed on the top, held my arms out to the side and just stood there for a minute or so, eventually moving my arms around, or bending my legs. I still don't like climbing to the top, but can handle it better now.