Idealistinfire's 2% challenge

[idealistinfire]

An upgrade on my 1% challenge in January

 

1) walk 1.5 miles daily for 30 days in a row

    As of 2/1, I am 18 days into this goal, and have walk outside my comfort zone for 48 days straight

 

2) Eat a bag of veggies a week, of which 2 must be leafy greens

 

3) Bodyweight workout 1x per week (1 upper move, 1 lower, 10x3 or until fail)

 

4) 1 assassin's related activity per week

 

Sorry for the sparse writing style, my tablet crashed 3 times while I was writing this, so had to use shorter and simpler posts to get it to work . May update later as better technology becomes available:p

[idealistinfire]

Walking continues

 

Completed 51 bodyweight squats, surpassing the 25-bw squat assassin's quest I was aiming for Also completed 10 box jumps. Legs are feeling pretty weak now, but in a good way.

 

Veggies = 1.5, no leafy greens

 

Had a nasty Saboteur's spawn attack just before the bodyweight moves - thought about doing the above exercises since I had both time and energy and walks were done and got hit with a shocking amount of fear. As in, "sat on my couch unable to move for a few minutes". Thought about posting on the NF Academy's FB page since that helped last time. Sat there a bit longer until the thought "this feels like a Saboteur attack" passed through. Told the scared-s-less feeling "f-off", gathered my courage and did my 2 exercises. Damn happy I did

[annyshay]

Well done, Jedi!

 

[Waanie]

Your goals are really nice again this challenge . I really love your assassins related activity goal! What do you do for that this week?

[idealistinfire]

So last week I did the bw squats / leg challenge. This week I'll do arms and maybe core. I've also updated my NF character sheet to add some smaller goals that'll get me through this month at least. Depending on my shoulder, I may attempt a handstand - I miss doing those.

 

Did not make my veggie goal last week by about half and boy do I feel it - I've been craving roasted veggies something awful so that's what I'm making tonight.

 

Also missed my arm workout last week  totally forgot.

 

Walking is currently at 20 days of 1.5 miles straight, and 50 days of walking outside my comfort zone.  

[idealistinfire]

Yesterday, I completed the assassin's initiation tasts. Attempted a beginners piston leg thing and almost did 3, but I don't think dropping uncontrollably to the floor counts had fun though. Also started the recipes challenge for that, but it's all handwritten atm

Today I ate two big salads for lunch but as there was no real protien, I was uber hungry for dinner, stuffed myself silly on teriyaki bento plate and am still suffering the consequences 3 hours later.

On the plus side, I got home late after stuffing myself silly and realized my walk was short of my 1.5 mile goal - as in, I had only walked 1.13 miles. So despite being very close to puking due to gluttony, I went walking for over 1.5 miles. That makes day 56 of walking past my comfort zone complete so glad I did that

[Waanie]

Once you're used to vegetables, there's no way back .

 

Good job on walking every day, 56 days is almost 2 months already . Do you walk faster than two months ago as well/is it getting easier as time progresses?

[idealistinfire]

I thought I was walking faster, but my JawboneUp says "not so much".  Sad times. I am, however, getting the urge to run a bit, so my next upgrade is to continue the 1.5 miles but jog at least 3 minutes of that mileage (1 sounds like too little and 5 minutes too daunting, so we'll go for 3 )

 

Polished off the bag of leafy greens today, so just 2-3 more veggies to go to meet this goal for the week.

 

Did 3x10 leg exercises this morning after my walk: 1 set assisted pistol squats (ACK!!! I actually did them!!!!) and 2 sets squats.  

 

Still need my walk - I was .35 miles short this morning  Apparently I hadn't recovered from last night, so the shorter walk felt much longer and I overestimated my mileage. Normally I underestimate it, so dang.

 

Edit: walk completed, though I worked super late and just wanted to have a beer when I got home. So compromised - downed the beer, then went for a walk until super tired. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

[Waanie]

Way to go! 10 assisted pistol squats sound impressive, good job!

Running a few minutes during your walk is a good idea, it will help your leg muscles on top of your stamina . I find that whenever I'm walking to slowly in daily life, the first episode of any c25k programme helps me to walk faster again. If possible, start with short intervals of running instead of trying to get it all in one go, your joints will thank you for it .

[annyshay]

Intervals? Sounds like progress to me.

[idealistinfire]

Oh my gosh, I was so sore today! My hips hurt a lot, and my back was super stiff. My least favorite walking day ever; even my counselor was all "maybe you should count something other than walking today". But i did it anyway - just 2 days shy of my 60 day goal!

And i've decided that I'm going to give myself a choice in the next upgrade; walk 1.5 miles OR walk 1 mile with at least 2 jogging intervals (as in start stop start). Today's weariness reminded me I do need rest days even if I am aiming for 100 days straight and I'm worried that running everyday for 30 days on top of the last 6ish days of walking will result in injury. So with the option, I can either take it easy but go longer or opt for a quicker, harder workout. We'll see how it goes.

Made awesome vegetable beef soup using homemade vegetable stock - so happy Totally improved my day which was full of stress and helped me get my evening walk in.

Arm workout comes tomorrow - I just don't have the mental energy to tackle amother day of soreness and exhaustion.

Now off to down multiple glasses of water and crash earlier-ish and hope tomorrow is better.

[idealistinfire]

Walked 2 miles by accident, completed 10 assisted pistol shots per leg, 8 "stand up straight and pull bar to chest level" things (20lbs) and 5 "push the bar from chest level to over-head" things (20lbs). Feeling shaky and muscles are all pleasantly tired, so going to call that a complete workout

[Waanie]

That sounds like a nice work out . I also like your plan to not run every day, but maybe every other day. No point in getting burned out .

[idealistinfire]

Made my 60 days of walking straight

Bad news is my motivation to keep going is still nil. But I decided I have to keep going until I can come up with a better reason to stop than "I don't want to". Today was a good day of walking (nicer weather, cooperating dogs), so that helps. Currently on day 62

Made an amazingly yummy pasta dinner with homemade tomato sauce, asparagus, Swiss chard and brats. Adding that meal to my morning hash of potatoes, carrots, Swiss chard, bell pepper, and eggs, and my veggies intake for the week is already up to 4, with two being leafy greens:)

Also, spontaneous dancing happened today and I accomplished a few much- procrastinated chores.

All in all, a good, healthy day with progress despite my "I just want to sit at the beach and read the day away"-ness.

[idealistinfire]

I ran today. Actually ran for a 1/3 a mile straight. I take back all the nasty things I thought/said about my walking challenge because I actually ran. And loved it. And realized how much I f-ing missed it. Even the burning sensation in my lungs, a feeling I thought I'd never be happy to feel again

Another win - I made steak and potatoes for dinner instead of eating out, then pre-cooked carrots for my inevitable late-night munchies so that I can pass up tortilla chips/bean dip. A little more expensive all around by about $3, but hey, I didn't buy my coffee today, so it's all good.

[idealistinfire]

Had a spectacularly crappy night of sleep last night, woke up to a thoroughly unsettling dream that took all morning to shake off, and struggled with productivity the whole day. Decided to say"screw you" to the Saboteur attacos and walked dogs at the dog park until my legs were sore and the older dog was tired (~45 minutes). Then by passed the fast food option and made steak with a side of fried eggs on toast with spicy bean dip (it's awesomely delicious). Oh, and did 3x10 squat and 10+5+5 counter push-ups (arms could have done more but shoulder said 'nope') while dinner was cooking because I knew I wouldn't be moving after dinner. End the evening with some relaxation and the NFA'S book and went to bed early.

Slept heavily for 20 minutes and woke up sore that's what I get for skipping my warm-ups. Oh well, the day still ended better than it started. Huzzah

[idealistinfire]

Trying to wrap my head around the Assassin's Light Saber Building Mini-Quests and getting a wee bit overwhelmed (but in a good way).

 

As far as I can tell, my current assassin-related challenges are:

1) complete 50 basic burpees (not all at once, but before March 11th)

2) complete a rep of a push/pull/legs/core exercise.  There are progressions, so I'm going to attempt:

• Push = Standard push-up
• Pull = find a park, use the pull-up bars for negative or assisted pull-up
• Legs = assisted shrimp squat
• Core = Flat leg raise, unless I find someplace to do forearm knee raises.

Also ran a short distance in my 1+ mile walk this morning  Freaked myself out thinking I was getting sick, realized I'd had only coffee and beer to drink the day before.  Silly me, letting myself get dehydrated like that.  Reminded my tired self that "I don't want to" and "I'm too tired" are not acceptable excuses for the walk/run quest any more, so went out the door with the dragging pup (she dislikes the faster pace because she wants to stop and sniff 3 times per house )

 

Need 3 more servings of veggies by Sunday evening - man, I'm lagging behind!

 

BBW excercises for leg and arms completed this week

 

My real questions is: why do I always get exhausted and demotivated at around the 2/3rd's finished mark?  It's like Saboteur attacks triple the closer I get to reaching a goal.  So annoying, but I'm on to him now....

[Waanie]

My real questions is: why do I always get exhausted and demotivated at around the 2/3rd's finished mark?  It's like Saboteur attacks triple the closer I get to reaching a goal.  So annoying, but I'm on to him now....

It's the same for me! The first and last week I'm all enthusiastic, but in the middle I can barely motivate myself to update or to read other people's thread. New goals are great and fun, but I'm having trouble keeping at them instead of looking for new shiny goals. I really like it that you have been walking every day for months now, it's great to see your persistence. It's fantastic that you see the benefits as well, being able to run again is great!

 

Those exercises look nice . I heavily prefer assisted pull-ups over negatives, because it's easier to maintain good form, but that's my two cents. It's actually the same with all those exercises, there is a huge gap between being able to do them with bad form and doing them with good form . How are you assisting your shrimp/pistol squats? I'd like to try those variations as well at some point, my legs are way too weak for my liking, so training them extra would be good for me. Currently I'm doing box-pistols, but I would like to add more range of motion without making the exercise too hard. Where are the assisted shrimps/pistols compared to bulgarian split squats?

 

You can add 3 servings of vegetables to a meal easily, and if you have two or more meals available it should not be a problem. If you're longing for recipes with many vegetables, you can try European recipe sites such as bbcgoodfood. Their recipes are delicious and not as extreme as the American recipes I see on the internet. It seems that Americans eat either no vegetables or some keto-variant. I don't like either side too much, so I'm fortunate that the standard diet over here is in the middle of that .

[idealistinfire]

Um, the pistol squats are assisted in the way that I use my coffee table as balance

I like the idea of assisted pull-up actually and researching new recipe sites:)

Accidently ate curry two nights ago and got puke-y and sick and finally recovered today. So yesterday's walk was a little short but still tiring, so yay?

Ran a twice in my mile+ today, so huzzah!

Got my veggies in an extra large taco salad, so yay.

Not quite up to burpees today but maybe tomorrow

[Waanie]

Great work . 

[idealistinfire]

Yesterday was a true recovery day:

- ate veggie-based skillet for breakfast

- spent 45 minutes at the dog park having fun with the pup and the guy

- meandered around the local state park for 1+ hour looking at gardens just beginning to bloom (total of 11,00 steps for the day!)

- read Level Up your life for 1.5 hours in the sunshine

- played Lego Marvel Avengers and then watched Avengers for a relaxing evening

 

Feeling up to normal - just need to get home from work and do my burpees / kicks and punches

[idealistinfire]

Made extra large Salad with lettuce, purple cabbage, red onion, chicken and tahini sauce for dinner - super yummy, though I was a touch bored with the flavors halfway through. Still, 3 veggies down

Walked this evening though I worked late and didn't want to

Completed part of the Assassin's mini challenge

And I have to take more time off work because my boss doesn't approver of workaholism the week is looking up

[idealistinfire]

Dislike the Saboteur, he's messing with my head again. Despite that, I had a lovely evening in that I made dinner instead of eating out, ate another raving of veggies, hung out with Mom, made plans to hang out with a friend next week, walked over the minimum distance quickly and completed another set of kicks and punches for the mini-challenges

[Waanie]

 

- ate veggie-based skillet for breakfast

Omnomnom skillet. It shows true dedication that you're willing to eat iron instead of just the stuff in it . 

 

Anyway, you're doing great this week! I like it that your new boss is sending you home because you're working too much, that's a sign of a good manager .

Spring is so great, I totally feel like going outside more regularly now as well, the sun and flowers/trees really make outside more welcoming again .

[idealistinfire]

Well, you know, women often have low iron count, so thought I'd just nip that one in the bud and give me a reason to buy a new cast iron skillet

And thanks for the encouragement! I feel okay but like I'm teetering on the edge of collapse. Probably just my head going into worst-case-scenario mode and not an actual reflection on my work.

***moment of inspiration*** I have my performance review tomorrow. With my new boss at my new job, the first new job I have had in 7 years and the first new boss in over 3. The last person at my new work who had a performance review was fired. Now, I give it a .001% chance that I'm getting fired, but performance reviews always make me nervous - I always feel like I'm behind in my work and then when I'm told I don't give myself enough credit, I feel like a bad feminist. Anyway, that's why it feels like I'm about to fall off an cliffside. Cool. Glad I know