Juni's Battle Log

[Agidyne]

Day 51

 

Review

 

Wow, well, today was an extremely lazy day.  Didn't go running or do my DVD.  I did do my pushups, however, and the first time I did 7, but when I tried again later I only did 6.  Still, both are better than my previous 5!

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

Definitely going running.  No excuses!

[Agidyne]

Day 52

 

Review

 

I went for my run today.  I ran all the way to the top of the two hills, then proceeded to walk down them and do hill sprints for a while.  Also, I did 7 standard pushups today.  Win!

 

Oh!  And I just signed up for Erie's 5k Glow Run and 10k Barber Beast on the Bay!  It's happening!

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

Go for nice walk.  Still do my pushups, and maybe some free weights.

[Agidyne]

Day 54 - yep, missed yesterday.  Bad me

 

Review

 

Well, I've hit the winter/holiday slump.  I should have run today and I didn't, and ever since the holiday, I haven't really gone on an official walk like I used to go around the neighborhood.  But hey, I'm acknowledging it and I am going to fix it because I'll be damned if I let everything I've worked towards the past two months go to waste!  I just read up on Steve's latest blog posts about the holidays too, so I'm feeling extra motivated.  At least I've been keeping up with my pushups.  

 

But I have been getting lazy.  I let my walks slip, and now I let my run slip today.  I won't allow this decline to slide further.

 

So for my attack plan for tomorrow, I get off work at noon.  I will come home, change, and immediately leave for the trail to go run.  I have no excuse - it's going to be in the 40s or 50s.  I've ran in the low 30s just last week.  When I run, I am going to run to the end of the trail and then for practice, run up those hills a few extra times, at least twice.  

 

When I am done with my run, I will do my pushups - 15 on my knees, and attempt 8 standard.  Then, I will clean up, call my brother because it'll be his birthday, and then get ready to go over our friend's house for game night.

 

Thursday I am going to finally make those phone calls I've been putting off and I am going to drive to the gym to take a tour and sign up if I like it.  I've been putting that off too since the weather has been unusually warm, but I really need to have a back up plan incase it rains or snows and I try to talk myself out of a run.  Also, I will go for a nice walk around the neighborhood - preferably in the evening rather than my usual afternoon strolls.  Maybe there will be lights and decorations up, and that will help entice me to get outside because I love looking at holiday lights.

 

I will not let winter and the holidays win.  I signed up for my May 5k and September 10k a few days ago.  I don't want to walk either one, so I need to stick with this.

[Agidyne]

Day 55

 

Review

 

I did what I set out to do.  Stayed at work a little later (calls offs and such) than planned, but when I got home, I instantly changed and was out the door.  I ran the whole trail in 20 minutes (seems to be my average, with my average pace at ~11:20) and on my way back I stopped to run up that hill a few times for practice.  I did notice today that during my distance run, I had an easier time.  Especially with the hill - up until this point I could run it but would go very slow after I reached the top.  Today I still slowed down, but not as much and for not as long.  

 

Then, when I got home I did my pushups.  I barely did 7 standard, I tried for 8 but my arms shook until I lowered myself to the floor.  I also did my knee pushups to help build that arm strength.   Left my brother a voicemail and now I'm going to go get ready for game night!

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

To go out and just walk.  I haven't walked the neighborhood in a while, and I will do that tomorrow for sure.

[Agidyne]

Day 56 & 57

 

Review

 

Yesterday I did walk some, not a lot, and not around the neighborhood but I did move around the apartment a lot.  Today was originally a running day, but had to drive my boyfriend 2 hours to Pittsburgh for a CT scan I forgot we had scheduled for him.  So the day was pretty much a bust running-wise, but that just means I will tackle it full force tomorrow.  I started a new drawing yesterday and made a lot of progress on it.  I'm currently coloring more of it now until I decide to go to bed.  I want to have it done by Wednesday for our next game night.  It's a request our friend made from a scene that happened last time.  So far I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

Running for sure.  I work until noon, so when I get home I want to hit the trail.  Also, I want need to figure out my health insurance for next year so I have to get onto the website for that.  I have a lot of places I need to call and sort out and schedule appointments for, so my goal is to have everything done this coming week so I don't have to worry about it anymore.  Tomorrow also will be a chore day.   Lots of laundry to do, dishes to wash, and I really need to sort through my closet.   

[Agidyne]

Day 58

 

Review

 

Change of plans.  I woke up with a sore throat and while at work, my head started to feel very stuffy and I was feeling very tried/a little weak.  I was trying to pump myself up for running when I got home, but instead my body was revolting and telling me to sleep, so I ended up napping.  I do feel a little better, my throat is still on the beginnings of getting scratchy again, but I don't feel as out of it.  I ended up taking a small stroll outside to get some moving in, but I think running the trail will be saved for tomorrow.  

 

I did get my foot pod in the mail today so tomorrow I can calibrate it during my run, so that's something to look forward to!  

 

I will do some housework as planned and I'll work on my drawing tonight, too, so it's not a total bust of a day.  I'll just sip on some hot tea a lot and maybe take some NyQuil before bed.  

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

If feeling better I will definitely hit that trail.  I've been getting better at my hills so I need to keep improving as much as I can before snow comes in.

[Agidyne]

Day 59

 

Review

 

I ran to the top of the second hill before slowing to a walk.  I can tell these off days I had took a toll on me, but I know I'll bounce back next time.  Just proves to myself I can't miss my running days.  On my way back I bumped into a few friends.  I usually am in my own zone and not paying attention to who exactly is around me (just that there are people to avoid while running) and I think I ran past them on the trail before.  I recognized their pugs, haha.  It was nice seeing them, as it had been about a month since I saw them last.  They go to the gym I'm joining, so maybe I'll see them there, too.  I'm glad I have people around me that are also keeping fit - it helps me feel like I really am doing something right and not being judged or something weird.  

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

Mail in the paperwork needed for my health insurance for next year (finally made those calls I had to make yesterday!) and to take a nice walk.  It's been a while since I took a leisurely stroll.  Also, I think I'll hang up my Christmas lights.

[Agidyne]

Day 60

 

Review

 

I did it - took my walk around the neighborhood.  It felt nice going out for a walk again.  It had been a while since I had gone.  I had gotten into a bad habit thinking the walking I did on errands and at work would count, and while yes, those are activities that get me moving, it's not the same as just going out for a walk.  It was also nice seeing all the lights up for the holidays.  I hung up my lights today, too.  Got a lot of other chores done, so today was very productive.  I even finished coloring an illustration I had started months ago that I thought I was never going to bother finishing.  

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

I have to stop at the store on the way home from work, so if all goes well I should be home between 3 and 3:30.  Perfect time to go for a run.  I'm going to run the whole trail and take note of the time it takes me to complete it because once I get to the end, I'm going to try my best to keep going around the loop and to see how far I can go on the way back before I stop to walk.  I want to start working on phase two of my trail running goals.  Phase one was running it one way nonstop.  Phase two is running it out and back nonstop, and phase three is starting across the street on the other trail that links to the one I currently run on and run that one way nonstop.  Phase four is to run the whole thing nonstop out and back.  Phase four will be the equivalent of a 10k, which is my goal for next September because that's when my race is.

 

I know I can run the trail out and back, I've done it before, but it was done with a break in between when I was learning some take downs.  I definitely want to be able to run it without the break.  I see a guy running sometimes while I'm out and I get the impression he runs it nonstop out and back because of the timing of when he passes me by.  That'll be me soon!

[Agidyne]

Day 61

 

Review

 

Went on my run and I did a lot better than last time.  Got all the way to the end and began looping back.  Didn't get too far, but At least I began the loop back.  Progress!  Tonight is going to be an early night however.  Not feeling too well again.  Already took the NyQuil so I'm sure I'll be sleeping soon.

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

Hopefully I'll feel better.  I'll take a small walk and continue working on my to do list of chores and projects.  Thankfully while tomorrow is an early start for work, my shift at least ends by noon.  

[Agidyne]

Day 62 & 63

 

Review

 

Yesterday I did get a lot of my chores done, but ended up missing my walk as I was invited last minute to another Toys for Tots event by my friend.  It was actually really cool - it was a bartender war at TGI Fridays.  I never saw one before and it was fantastic!  

 

As for today, it was supposed to be a running day, but I ended up just going for a walk.  I fell asleep after work since I didn't sleep much last night due to the event, and I'm still fighting off the last bits of whatever sickness I got.  I'll get back on track again.  I actually think I'll take my measurements again soon...I noticed my jeans feel slightly looser lately.  Or maybe I just didn't have my belt on as tight as normal.  Not sure, haha.  But it has been about 2 1/2 months or so since I began my running routine.  

 

Gonna go do my push ups now.  I'm trying for 8 strict ones, but it's still hard to do.  Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.  I'm still aiming to complete 10 by the end of January.  I have time, but it's slowly ticking away!

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

No work tomorrow, yay!  Since I walked today, I'll go for a run.  I want to get farther than last time, at least to the forest line.   

[Agidyne]

Day 64

 

Review

 

Went for my run today.  Didn't do as well as I hoped, but it was still nice.  I can't believe it's still 60 degrees out and in the middle of December.  Usually it's snowing by now but I am not complaining at all!

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

If the weather is still beautiful, I'll go for another run.

[Agidyne]

Day 65

 

Review

 

I ran again today.  I didn't run the whole trail.  While I want to be able to run it out and back, I realized I was keeping the same pace and sometimes allowing myself to go slower because the distance would be greater.  I want to up my speed, so today instead of focusing on finishing the trail one way, I decided to up my pace and see how far I'd get before burning out.  I made it to the top of the first hill and didn't bother attempting the second hill.  Also, I didn't take my time and slowly plod up the hill either - I poured all my power in and sprinted to the top.  Now if I can do that each time and get myself to go farther, that'd be awesome.  My average pace went from 11:30 to 10:30.  That's the speed I need to be running at so eventually I can up it again, because a goal of mine is to run a mile under 9 minutes.  I could probably do that on a track, but I want to be able tot do it on the uneven trail, because then I know I could do it on a track easily.  

 

I'll probably switch it up - run the whole trail some days and on others push myself to go faster and not be upset if I don't get to the end.  Also, that second hill is still a monster some days, and I realized it's the days I control my breathing better than I can get up it easier, so I'm going to research on breathing exercises and see if that helps.  I already know I need to breath more deeply and when I do, I perform a lot better. It's just getting into the habit of doing it consistently. 

 

I think it's time I can go ahead and update my little character sheet I made before, and I know I definitely need to update and discuss past and future goals so I have all my thoughts organized.  There's a lot of things I want to work on, but I need to see it all in one spot for me to focus and decide on a direction.  That'll be my homework for tomorrow.

 

Plans for Tomorrow

 

I'll be updating my character sheet and looking at my goals and revisit why I'm even doing all of this.  And actually, I'm going to do my measurements again and compare them to when I first started, too.  No idea if there's a difference, it doesn't matter too much to me since I already know I've improved so much since I started, but I'd like to see the results.  So it'll probably be a massive post of my own thoughts and ideas. Also, tomorrow is a walking day.  I'm treating myself to a massage tomorrow morning for keeping up with my routine for almost 3 months now.  That's huge.  I think that's even a quest goal in the academy that I can check off soon!  I haven't checked anything off in there for a while since I'm at this limbo area where it takes me about 20 minutes to run the trail and if I pushed it I know I could hit that 30 minute mark, but instead I want to lower my time.  Ah, well, I'll probably talk about all this tomorrow.  Lots of rambling thoughts ahead.

[Agidyne]

I don't even know what day I'm on.  Okay, math, let's do this...!

 

December 12th was exactly 2 weeks ago, so 65+14... Day 79!  Wow!

 

Okay, so I should explain my absence, mostly for myself.  I don't know who reads this, but everything I type is for me to get everything in my head sorted out.  What can I say, I'm a visual person. Well, I'll admit I have not run at all in these 2 weeks, and didn't do my pushups for my first week of absence.  I have been doing them during my second week though, so there's that.

 

I knew I was running out of steam for whatever reason, so I just let it happen to get it out of my system.  Maybe not the best choice, but it was easier than fighting it and feeling miserable.  It's like I needed to hit pause for a few.  I knew I wouldn't let everything go, I mean, there's no way I'd let 2 1/2 months of training go down the drain, so once I saw it had been two weeks, I went into the basement and did level one of Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30.  I'll tell you, I still got it because that dvd used to kick my butt and it felt easy.  Next time I'm going to bump it to level two and see what happens.

 

I did get a lot of art done though in those two weeks, and I also started sprucing up my training area in the basement.  I have a nice motivational board hanging on the wall now with my goals and my stat sheet.

 

Another note of improvement:  I am determined to hit my goal of 10 pushups by the end of January.  I set that goal a while back because that's when my co-op mode buddy is moving to California and I want to show off how far I've come since when he first ran with me I couldn't even do one standard push up.  I can do anywhere between 6-8 depending on the day.  I've found it to be more difficult after 5, so what I'm doing now is instead of doing them only once a day, I'm doing them 3 times.  So I wake up and do a set, come home from work and do another set, and I do my last set before bed.

 

I still haven't joined the gym.  I've been talking about that thing for month or so now, haha.  Oh well, let's face it, I really don't want to spend the money on it right now since finances are a little tight.  I really do want to join eventually because I want to take advantage of the pool, but for now I can at least do home workouts.  It is still surprisingly warm (40s & 50s) so I can still go running outside.  It only snowed once, which was actually quite terrible and scared me really bad because I spun out twice on my way to work.  Thank goodness is was extremely early and no one else was on the road.  My car is not equipped for the winters up here and I feel like that was a warning for what's to eventually come.  I can't afford it this year, but by next year I really want a car with all-wheel drive.  Whew.  And after that long tangent, that's actually another reason why I haven't joined the gym yet...in the back of my mind I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get there once it does start snowing and then I'd be wasting my money.

 

Okay, Plans for Tomorrow!

 

Gonna continue my 3 sets of pushups.  Today I had done 6 each time, so tomorrow I'll do another 6 to make sure I can do them without struggling.  Once I can, then I'll bump it up to 7 and so on.  Tomorrow is also going to be an off day since I worked a lot of different muscles during my dvd today.  

[Agidyne]

Day 81

 

So since I felt level one was too easy on my dvd last time, I bumped it up to level two today.  It totally kicked my butt.  Which means I'm excited for when it begins to feel easy and I can up it to level three!  And as for my pushups, I did 7 during each set today.  I can tell I'll have to do that for another 3-4 days I'm guessing before I feel ready to bump it up to 8.  We'll see if that estimate is accurate or not.  I'm just so pumped for when I reach 10.  

 

Tomorrow will be a resting day.  Also I have an eye doctor appointment!  One reason (besides the cold and rain and hail) that I stopped running outdoors is because i really hate running with my glasses on.  I hate working out with them on in general, but I've been sucking it up for my dvds.  Since I have my appointment tomorrow, I'll get to place an order for my contacts and they should hopefully arrive in a few weeks.  

 

But for now, I am going to retire to bed quite early, considering it's not even 8pm yet.  I've been dealing with some emotional stress since my last post and I'm trying my best to distract myself from it because thinking constantly too much about it just makes it worse.  Tomorrow is a new day. 

[Agidyne]

Day 84

 

Did level 2 of my DVD again today and once again, it kicked my butt which is a good thing.  Still working on my pushups and still on 7, but I am noticing it's getting a little easier.  I've been looking into martial arts, but so far everything in the small city I live in doesn't look like good places to go to.  You know, they all claim to not do sparring or they have kids earning back belts.  Or they don't do take downs or ground fighting.  Pulling punches.  That sort of stuff.

 

I really want to learn how to fight properly, and I've been lucky enough to have my Marine friend go over some basics with me, but we've only been able to do it a few times and it'd be weeks apart so I don't remember everything he covered.  That and he's moving in a few weeks across the country so I won't have access to him as a semi-part-time trainer anymore.   I really enjoyed learning, and I think it's important to learn how to handle oneself in a situation if attacked.  But all the schools in my stupid small city don't look very promising.  

 

Oh well, maybe I'll be surprised.  I'll keep looking~

[Agidyne]

Day 87

 

Oh, just noticed the Scout badge changed.  I like it!  

 

Did my level 2 workout today.  It's still hard but I'm getting better...I think!  Also, I hit 8 pushups yesterday!  Working on 8 again today

 

As for the rest of the day, I'm going to be cleaning up a bit...taking down all the Christmas decorations and with tomorrow being my day off, I'll be doing some laundry and making some phone calls.  I'm so tired of dealing with all this health insurance stuff.  I was told I only would have it until the end of December but now I'm getting billed for January?  I didn't even think I qualified for the plan I was on anymore.  Oh well~  We'll see what they say when I call.  

[Agidyne]

Day 89

 

Today I completed something that I agonized over for years.  I finally published my art website!  It's official.  It has a real domain name and a Facebook page and everything.  I still need to get my shop open, but this is a HUGE step for me and I am so proud of myself.  I might even have to go over to the woot room and celebrate

 

I tried something new lately, and it is working.  I'm all about improving over all, and not just physically, which is why about 80 days ago (wow I've come so far!) I posted an image of a character sheet modeled after myself.  My stats haven't changed too much since, in my opinion, but it got me thinking about life goals and what I want to complete.  So to take better control over that, I decided to make a quest/goal list for each month.  For January I picked 8 things:

 

1 - complete 10 consecutive pushups

2 - complete an illustration I was working on

3 - upload new pictures of my art onto my website

4 - fix the dimensions for my paintings on my website

5 - continue to use mouthwash and floss everyday

6 - read one book

7 - backup files onto an external hard drive (I'm very lazy about computer maintenance)

8 - update to the latest OS X

 

So I picked those because they were both small goals and big goals.  There's not too many so I wouldn't get overwhelmed.  But I also picked those because they would easily lead me into other projects...and that's exactly what happened.  I did numbers 3 and 4 and didn't want to just stop there and I ended up finishing my whole website!  

 

Also, I completed number 2, which was bittersweet for me, because I had a whole slew of illustrations I thought I'd never finish or even want to finish, but here I went and finally finished coloring my very last one.  They are now all scanned and I made prints to give to my friend as a going away present

 

I'm still working on number 1.  I'm at 8 still, but I can tell I'm getting better.  Also, level 2 on my DVD was still hard...but not as hard as it was the last time.  Improvement!

 

And to top off all my excitement, my new job starts tomorrow!  And also tomorrow I get to go out with a friend, so it'll be a great way to end the night  For all the emotional highs and lows I was feeling last week, I feel on top of the world right now.  

 

Go, me!  

[Agidyne]

Day 90

 

No new workout news - but I do want to celebrate the first day of my new job!  It went so well!  I am a contract artist for a nonprofit organization that sends artists to nursing homes to do projects with the residents there.  They were so kind and welcoming and so happy to have me with them today.  It went so well that the organizer is going to contact my boss and tell them they want me back each month!  

 

I really feel like I made a difference today.  I always loved making art, but after some soul searching, I realized I love creating art because it is a way for me to make other people happy too, and I was able to share a lot of that today.  I feel really good and really proud.

[Agidyne]

Day 95

 

I hit 9 pushups a few days ago.  I am determined to complete 10 by Wednesday.  When I got home from work, my boyfriend set me a timer for 5 minutes and every time it goes off, I do as many as I can without straining myself.  Once I got down to only being able to do 2, I got an hour break.  I'm on that hour now.  Then it'll be every 5 minutes again.  

 

My prints and business cards that I ordered came today!  The prints look lovely, but I'm not as happy with my business cards as I'd like.  They looked centered on my proof, but the border around my text is off center...as in the top is wide, the sides skinny, and bottom border isn't even visible.  I hate making a fuss, but I think I'm going to email them and see if I can get it fixed.  

 

Also, through some connections my boyfriend has, I might be able to score a booth at an arts festival for $50 this summer.  I'm really excited about that and will be painting and drawing my little heart out.

[Agidyne]

Day 96

 

10 consecutive strict pushups - complete!

 

This is HUGE for me!  Looking back, I can't believe that I was so weak that I couldn't even do one.  I feel so powerful now.  And with this goal completed, I have a new one to challenge myself with:  complete 50 consecutive strict pushups by December 31st, 2016.  So, a whole year to get to 50.  I can do it.  I can do it!

 

Winter is in full swing now, so I haven't been running at all since about mid-December, so I've been focusing on my strength and my artwork.  And when spring arrives, I'll hit the trail again and maybe if finances are better, I can even go swimming at the local gym.  

 

I definitely find myself to be my fiercest competitor as I am constantly striving to do better than the day before, but I also have a bit of pride in me that totally wants to crush my friend.  Not sure when I'll see him again after tomorrow (totally going to show off my 10 pushups since it was my goal to be able to complete them before he moved) but when I do, even if it's ten years from now, I want to be a little beast.  I don't want him to match my pace, I want to be able to match his (unless I am running faster, haha).   I want to be strong and agile and proud to be physically fit.  I want to see it in myself (right now I feel it, but I don't really see it), I want my friend to see it whenever we meet again since he saw where I began, I want my boyfriend to see it and have to chase off other guys (lol), and I want my family to see it during our beach trip in 2017.  For all the times I talk about how I'm running when we have family gatherings, I want them to be like, oh wow, so you really were running.  Good for you!

 

One of the quests was to figure out the big why.  I want to feel good, look good, be acknowledged that I'm both of those things.  I've always been small, shy, quiet, the person who doesn't like being the center of attention, but I want to be noticed now.  I joke around and tell my boyfriend I want to be the alpa female, but it's partly true.  I feel bad admitting it because I feel so shallow when I do, but I want to be the best in the room.  And if I'm not, I get excited and think, wow, when will I get there?  And it ends up being a huge inspiration for me.  Which, I think, is what I want to be too.  I don't want to rub anything in anyone's face and make them feel bad.  I want to be an inspiration.  It's kind of like my art - I make art because I want to share happiness.  I also want to share inspiration.  

 

So there it is.  That's all been in my mind but I never took the time to actually get it written down.  

 

And going back to my January Quest List I mentioned a few posts back - I can now cross off my 10 pushups and I also can cross off reading a book for January.  I started small and only read while I was in the bath (haha), but I finished my first book of the year - Stephen King's Colorado Kid.  I have a whole stack piled up in the corner of my room.  Time to sort through them and pick out my book for February.  I'd start early, but my copy of Steve's Level Up Your Life came today, so I'm all over that  I'm not counting it towards my book count only because it's something I know I will return to over time and not power through all at once.  I'm even thinking about busting out my highlighters and highlighting my favorite parts that inspire me so they are easy to find when I revisit it.

 

So, over all it was a good day.  Time to wind down and do some housework.

[Agidyne]

Day 98

 

It's still early in the day, so this is more of a review for yesterday.  I was able to do my 10 pushups at my friends house and then kept going!  I was just about to complete 13 when my boyfriend said something stupid to make me laugh and I couldn't hold it.  But that's way more than my original goal of 10!  Now to see if I can do that again later today when I'm home from work...

 

My friend said while he's away at school he's going to be working on the pushup challenge to the Bring Sally Up song.  I had never heard of it before so he explained it to me and I just youtubed it a few minutes ago.  Wow it looks intense.  He said when I visit him that we're going to do it together so I guess I have a lot to practice.  But here's the best part - instead of being intimidated by it and not wanting to attempt it (like how I used to think before I started all of this), I do want to attempt it and I want to keep trying until I can complete the whole song.  Challenge accepted!

 

EDIT:

 

I attempted the Bring Sally Up challenge and lasted for 30 seconds, haha.  I have a long way to go, but I'll get there.

[Agidyne]

Day 99

 

My shoulders are so sore, but it feels kind of good, haha.  I took it a step down from the pushup challenge and am trying to be able to complete the whole song in plank first, starting on my forearms and when they say "up", raise to my hands, and on "down" go back to my forearms into plank.  My best was lasting for 1 minute and 20 seconds, but I started out only being able to last for about 45 seconds.  I've been setting a timer and giving it a go every hour.  Did 4 attempts so far.  I'll do one more tonight and then rest it out tomorrow.  I'm thinking of alternating:  on days I'm not working shoulders and arms, to do squats and sit ups.

 

I really like how my mind has transformed during all of this.  I always used to start working out because I felt like I should, and it would only last for a few weeks.  But when I began running, it was because I wanted to and it was fun.  And now, I am finding all forms of working out to be fun and I'm proud of how serious I'm taking the challenge.  It also helps too that I have some competition with my friend, so its like I'm being held accountable for.  I'd be super embarrassed if I reverted back to not being able to do one pushup and not being able to run very far whenever I see him again in a year or two.

 

My biggest challenge, I think, is remembering to rest my muscles.  I just get so excited on wanting to do better that I jump the gun a bit.  No arm workouts tomorrow.  None.  Gotta let them rest, no matter how tempting it is to try again. 

[Agidyne]

Day 101

 

Wow, over 100 days!  Go, me

 

Yesterday ended up being a very unexpected wonderful surprise.  Our friend stopped over before he had to go into work (I didn't think I'd be seeing him again) so the three of us spent the afternoon talking and then he mentioned doing one last session of ground fighting at the dojo on base.  I had to work that night, but not until 6:30, so I grabbed my work clothes into a bag, threw on some athletic clothes under my street clothes and suddenly off we all went!  I had a solid 2 hours of training.  We went over everything we had covered over our random sessions back in November, which was really helpful as I forgot a lot of it, and then he had us do a sparring session where we tried to get the other to tap out.  We did about 5 or 6 rounds of it, starting back to back sitting on the floor.  My boyfriend would say "start" and then we'd go.  He tapped me out each time, but I think I made a valiant effort.  While I wasn't able to get him to tap out, I did get his arms trapped once or twice and I was able to wiggle myself out of some of his holds, and once I was even able to get him to let go completely and gain distance between us by using my legs to push him up and away.  I feel really good about that, especially since this guy is practically twice the size of me!  My boyfriend is closer to my height so for some of the drills I was able to practice on him, too.

 

We were careful not to hurt each other, but I am sporting a nice bruise on my right arm and a smaller one on my left, heh.  I'm so gonna miss this guy.  I am going to write out each move to the best of my memory and email it to him and see if I have the steps right.  That way I'll have something to hopefully jog my memory if I am training and forget what to do.  I'm also looking into another martial arts gym I found that does  grappling so I think I might sit in on a session or two. I'm not in a position financially where I could just join up, but hopefully by summer I can treat myself to some lessons.  I actually think I was there a few years ago when my boyfriend was leaning Brazilian Jujitsu before he injured his neck.  I got punched in the nose twice in a row and teared up (a combo of crying because it really hurt as I was never punched in the face before and my eyes tearing up on their own for just getting hit in the nose) and was really embarrassed and didn't want to go back.  But well, time to set aside my pride and continue learning because that's more important to me.  That and I'm way more prepared this time.

 

Now as for today, I bumped up my time!  For the plank challenge I was just under 2 minutes at a strong 1:55.  I tried it out with squats and I can complete the whole song, but wow it's hard standing up afterwards, haha!  Holding the squat during the last minute really burns.

[Agidyne]

Day 103

 

I realized I've been doing my pushups all wrong.  My elbows flare out to the side when I go down and they should be closer to my body making a 90 degree angle instead.  It makes doing the challenge a heck of a lot easier, and it doesn't cause the sharp pain in my left elbow I'd sometimes feel.  It's taking a little getting used to, but I want my form to be correct.  

 

So far my best time for the pushup challenge is :43 seconds.  Much better than my previous :30!  Even if I can improve little by little, I'll get there.  

 

And my best time for the plank challenge is 2:12!  Only a little over a minute to go!  Whoohoo!

 

I don't work today, so I'm going to set my timer for a full day of workouts and then tomorrow I'll rest it off.  I've been taking baths a lot more lately to help my sore muscles, and I think I'm gonna give the NF Yoga a shot.  Maybe do them in the evenings, and actually, on days I don't work do a session in the morning as well.  

 

My morning job is working in retail, and the summer clothes are starting to come in.  I saw a really cute tank top and my first thought was "This summer I'll have arms I'll be proud to show off!"  There's only one in my size though, and our store doesn't always get the same goods in.  But I refuse to buy it until I can complete the plank challenge the whole way through.  I know there's a good chance it'll be gone by the time I meet my goal, but it'll help me practice my self discipline.  I'm not a big impulse shopper, but every now and then I'll pick something up even if I don't need to, and I want to break that.  Especially since I've been slowly going through my clothes and getting rid of a lot to have more space.  I don't need to get more just cause I'm throwing out or donating some.

[Agidyne]

Day 108

 

I'm typing this report on my boyfriend's laptop.  Luckily he trusts me with it, even though I feel as if I should be banned from my computer privileges.  I'm in a state of mourning as last night I accidentally spilled juice all over my Macbook Pro.  I'm so sad

 

My first thought was, "How will I be able to afford another one?  They're so expensive!"  And then my next thought was, "And so fragile!  I might break it again!"  And so I decided I will buy a Mac Mini and go back to the land of the desktop computer.  Except I still can't afford it XD 

 

But it's kickstarting me into job searching, as I've been putting it off.  The two jobs I currently hold just aren't enough hours to pay all of my bills, and over time I've been having to dip into my savings account.  I knew eventually I'd need to either find a better job or find a third job before I end up bankrupt, and while I still have some time, I figure I'm going to begin anyway as I can't even afford to get myself a new computer.  Oh how I have fallen in one year.  It's amazing how things can change when you get laid off from a really nice job with benefits.  

 

I'm not too worried about multiple jobs cutting into my training as right now I'm just focusing on strength, but when it finally gets back into spring, I'm going to have to be really careful about planning my days so I can still run.  Because as I'm retyping up my resume (yep, can't open my Pages file on this Windows notebook) I started updating it with recent volunteer hours and included my pre-registration for the Barber Beast in September as the money is all going for a good cause.  And when I went to the website to make sure I had all the info right, I realized it isn't a 10k like I thought, but a 10 MILE obstacle course!  Oh my!  It clearly says 10 miles, but I guess since I registered at the same time as the 5k, I had it in my mind the course was a 10k.  

 

And I'm pretty sure on the forums here and when I posted my registration on Facebook I said it was a 10k.  Nope.  It's 10 miles.  

 

Oh well.  Bring it on!  I just...will have a lot more training to do.