Alaysia Rises Again

[Alaysia]

 

I am headed to New Orleans for five days at the end of this challenge. And, like my beloved Brat Prince, I have risen again!

 

While I took my little sabbatical, I was able to keep up with a food plan and some cardio. But I dropped the iron. I have to start at square one, but since I was only on square three at the most, not a lot of ground to recover. My only real issue is regaining the habit. That'll be the hardest part.

 

 

Challenge!

 

1) Lift three times a week. (Let the flesh instruct the mind.)

2) Drink my water. (Drink from me and live forever.)

3) Stay on food plan. (All I need to find you, Louis, is to follow the corpses of rats.)

4) Walk at least 7000 steps every day. (I walked the streets, savoring that long lost perfume.)

 

Basic, but needed.

[Grymm]

While I'm usually all for all sources of protein, I think I draw the line at rats.  Welcome back!

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

You GOT this! 

 

(Plus I love Anne Rice.)

[Alaysia]

My goal today was to go to the gym and lift anything. Intimidation has crept back up on me, weirdly. So I was just gonna go, promising myself just to lift a few somethings and leave if I wanted to.

But our foster dog didn't want to go in her crate. I got my shoes on, grabbed my keys, and saw her hiding down the hall with her tail between her legs. She hates the crate. But she has horrible separation anxiety and will we're concerned with her safety while she runs around the house in a panic, as well as the safety of our curtains when she jumps up to see out the window.

I mean, this face!

I felt so guilty putting her in there just for a jaunt to the gym. So we went for a walk, instead. Hot, humid, and uphill. We both came back sweaty and panting. Then I did ten pushups on the bathroom counter before and then after my shower. And two sets of ten crunches on my ball.

Monday I start classes again and the college is right next to my gym, so I'll be going right after. Bonus, I won't have to be the one to put her in the crate. Yes, I'm a coward.

[ManicSpider]

14 hours ago, Alaysia said:

 

3) Stay on food plan. (All I need to find you, Louis, is to follow the corpses of rats.)

4) Walk at least 7000 steps every day. (I walked the streets, savoring that long lost perfume.)

 

Basic, but needed.

 

Ha! My friend is reading through old comic books and posting funny bits on Facebook, and at the same time I read your post he put up this:

 

 

Good luck with the challenge! I am on a similar challenge in terms of focusing on getting the basic pattern right

[Alaysia]

5 hours ago, ManicSpider said:

 

Ha! My friend is reading through old comic books and posting funny bits on Facebook, and at the same time I read your post he put up this:

 

 

Good luck with the challenge! I am on a similar challenge in terms of focusing on getting the basic pattern right

 

LOL! Olden times people were so funny! I don't know, man. Why you hassling a simple gerbil-eater?

Good luck to you, too! May the habits of good be formed easily and make way for great gains!

 

[RedStone]

Yeh back!!! HUZZAH!!!! BULLY!!!! Go Martin Go! 

 

(Sorry I'm travel delirious and just saying nonsense, but great to see you all the same!!! Kick it up and conquer girl!!!!!!)

 

[ixaera]

Hmm, I suppose I should watch this movie~

Great challenge! \o/ Here to cheerlead!

[Alaysia]

Oh, yes. The movie was beautiful and captured the vibe of the book. The second movie, though, was, ahem, on its own in every way. Still a cool movie, just had practically nothing in common with the source material. I watched it with my thumb on the pause button, stopping every few minutes to "correct" it for my fellow watchers. And when I say "watchers" I mean those of us watching the movie. Not The Watchers, who, of course, I would be honored to watch a movie with.

 

 

...

My traveling companion knows I'm an Anne Rice groupie and is prepared to deal with me during this trip to my mecca. I will attempt not to squee all over my challenge or anyone else, though.

 

[Alaysia]

On 8/19/2016 at 11:31 AM, Grymm said:

While I'm usually all for all sources of protein, I think I draw the line at rats.  Welcome back!

 

 

I dunno. Could give any protein smoothie/shake a nice boost.

[Alaysia]

Went to class this morning. Normally I choose evening classes because that is where all the grown-ups are. For scheduling reasons, I went with a morning class. 9:30 am on Monday morning of the semester. Half the class were in their very first college class. Oi vey. Worse: our final is a group project. I nearly ran, I can tell you. How I loathe group projects. These things only teach misanthropy, not how to work together.

 

Anyway, went to the gym afterwards (okay, I stopped at a craft store first because I started a Bullet Journal so I can better track all the stuff I probably still won't do. But, you know, gel pens...). So I change into my gym clothes and as I'm tying my shoes I remember why I charged my electric razor the night before. So I'm wearing capris and hairy legs. Not winter hairy legs. But I'm from Hungarian stock. The women in my family can have five o'clock shadows. This would have been a perfect reason to bail, but I just shrugged and went out to do my thang. I figured if anyone looked too long at my legs I'd just deepen my voice and say, "I'm still transitioning." Teach them to stare. But of course, nothing like that occurred because I choose workout times that are uncrowded and perfect for my introvert soul.

 

I started way light for my glorious return.

Squat

1x5 bodyweight

1x5 20lbs

3x5 30lbs

 

Bench Press

5x5 45lbs

 

Barbell Row

2x5 20lbs

3x5 30lbs

My form is still pretty gross. This is the one time I wish we had mirrors in our gym. I'm gonna need more video research and figure out how to record myself, as well. I just am sure I'm doing it so very wrong.

 

My legs were pretty wobbly when I left. Felt like a Chicken Walker dealing with logs on Endor, so I'm quite pleased with my workout.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

I just laughed so hard reading about your legs that I woke up my husband.  

 

 

[Alaysia]

23 hours ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

I just laughed so hard reading about your legs that I woke up my husband.  

 

 

 

It was funnier to watch me try to navigate the three shallow steps out of my gym. Had to hold the hand rail.  Apologies to Mr. Dragonfly!

[Jord]

I want to know where people are in the gym that they are so close they can see your leg hair.  You were smart not to worry about it. I also LOL'd. 

 

Legs are near the ground, so I hope no one is kneeling down peepin' at your leg hairs. Armpit hair and OHP on the other hand... 

[Alaysia]

On 8/24/2016 at 7:16 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

I want to know where people are in the gym that they are so close they can see your leg hair.  You were smart not to worry about it. I also LOL'd. 

 

Legs are near the ground, so I hope no one is kneeling down peepin' at your leg hairs. Armpit hair and OHP on the other hand... 

 

If I wasn't so pale I'm nearly see-through, or if I wasn't a brunette, it wouldn't be an issue, really. I'm just genetically blessed in that way, I guess. *long-suffering sigh* My father, who I take after so much that strangers have approached me asking if so-in-so is my dad, is referred to as Mountain Man. My mom once worried about him being shot when they were camping and he went out to investigate a noise in the wee hours. He doesn't sleep in much of anything. My mom was whispering, "Get a shirt on! They'll think you're a bear! Or get some pants!" 

 

So, yes, I'm the daughter of a bear.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

[Alaysia]

Well, guess what I did this week!

 

It was a nasty head cold. I was told I could push through if it was a head cold. The advice was, "If it's the neck up, you can still work out." Except that every time I bent over to grab a weight, my nose faucet would turn on and the Indiana Jones stone ball in my head would roll to the front of my skull. So, I went back to bed. (I did not go to the gym, because eww. Not only was I not fit to be seen, but there would not be enough wipes or towels in the world to de-germ anything I was near!)

 

I slept most of Wednesday and all day Thursday. My throat hurt bad.

So in short:

Goal one: Lift three times a week. FAIL

Goal two: Drink my water. FAIL.

Goal three: Track my food. WIN

Goal four: Walk 7000 steps a day. FAIL.

 

Trying not to feel too bummed about falling flat on my face on the first week. I'm feeling much better today and at least did the last day of the first week in a winning way.

[ixaera]

Feel better soon~

And yeah, snotty barbells are never fun for the next person XD

[RedStone]

Aw, bad timing  But don't you dare feel badly about having to rest up! Colds happen, and it's best for you to just let yourself heal! And now you are, and now week 2 begins, huzzah!  

[Jord]

21 hours ago, ~RedStone~ said:

Aw, bad timing  But don't you dare feel badly about having to rest up! Colds happen, and it's best for you to just let yourself heal! And now you are, and now week 2 begins, huzzah!  

 

I constantly lose track of the weeks. I'm glad I have other warriors here to keep me on track!

[Alaysia]

Gym day!

It was also Be Loud at Gym Day!

 

But let me preface this with a story. Gather 'round, children. So, I've been feeling more and more stressed about gym day because I go right after class. Since the two places are so close, it's very convenient so you'd think it'd be an easy thing. But packing a gym bag was seriously stressing me out, for some reason. Today, it was as hot as Satan's anus and I just couldn't deal. So I went to class in my gym clothes. This is a big huge thing since wearing tight clothes in public is a big non-no for me. I also showed my arms. Like, I walked around campus and stood up in front of my class (which I knew I'd need to do for a short presentation) in a tank top. My bare arms were just out there. But I was all...

Me on campus, except I had bare arms.

I kinda sorta love mental shifts. They are pretty stellar. And since I was dressed for it, I happily went off to the gym.

Now for the part with the loudness. See, I stopped into the restroom and as I was washing my hands, a lady goes into the stall and sighs in relief. Loudly. Now, I've been very happy to see a toilet before. Road trip, had to pee for the last 100 miles, happy to see a toilet. But I've never sighed out loud in happiness in a public restroom. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was a sigh that said, "Yesterday was leg day. I may not be able to get up off this toilet." I dunno. I just thought it was funny since normal bathroom etiquette is to pretend that none of us are doing what we are doing.

 

In the weight section, there was a couple in there, a man and a woman. I can only assume this guy was out to impress his lady, because he was grunting and huffing like a buffalo. And banging around and making huge amounts of noise. I'm like, "Dude. You're on the Smith Machine. Chillax. You're gonna break it or faint. Maybe both." I've never heard such a ruckus before and I've been in there in the peak hours when every buff person is in there. Some grunts, some huffs, no big. But every lift for this dude was, like, orgasmic or torture. However, he was able to stand up and chat with his woman with barely a pant, so my money is on dude was frontin'.

 

Anyway, it was Squats at 25lbs, OHP at 25lbs, and deadlifts at 65lbs. A huge drop from where I was at, previously on the deadlifts, which was a little disheartening. But better to getting a running start that run into a wall of debilitating and demoralizing DOMS. The squats worried me a bit. On my fourth set, I started to roll backwards. Maybe I wasn't braced, or was unfocused, but I started to lose the weight and roll back. I corrected just before I thought my ass was going to literally hit the grass. That kind of scared me. I've never done that before in squats. I'm going to chalk it up to challenging myself. That weight was hard and I had to rest longer than I've ever had to before. Again, tad disheartening since I was squatting heavier than that before, but it's all good.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

Bathroom etiquette.  I can't even.

 

Great job figuring out how to get sh*t done.  :-)  the numbers will come; you know this.  Keep on keeping on - you are doing wonderfully well!

[Angie_Phoenix]

The mental shift you are describing is awesome. I'm happy you had that moment.

 

 

[Phoenix91]

Following along!  I'm going to new orleans next year for a convention and can't wait to annoy my friends with Anne rice squee.  

 

Very cute foster dog face.

 

Good luck with the challenge.

[Alaysia]

1 hour ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

Bathroom etiquette.  I can't even.

 

Great job figuring out how to get sh*t done.  :-)  the numbers will come; you know this.  Keep on keeping on - you are doing wonderfully well!

 

Apparently, I needed the heat of the sun to motivate me into doing the right thing.

 

And, yes. Yes, the numbers will come. Must keep to the path and keep the faith. Just need to remember that!

 

1 hour ago, Angie_Phoenix said:

The mental shift you are describing is awesome. I'm happy you had that moment.

 

 

 

Me, too! I guess sometimes you grow a little faster than you think you thought you could!

 

1 hour ago, Phoenix91 said:

Following along!  I'm going to new orleans next year for a convention and can't wait to annoy my friends with Anne rice squee.  

 

Very cute foster dog face.

 

Good luck with the challenge.

 

<-- Me when I was invited to New Orleans.

 

I was moments away from buying tickets for my high school reunion because I was desperate to go on a vacation when my friend IMed me with the invite. When the last book came out, Prince Lestat, I ordered it from a NOLA bookshop after Anne Rice signed it. I'm going to be on the look for vampires, witches, Watchers, ghosts., everything! I am sure I will come back with the cheeziest vampire souvenirs that I will treasure forever! I will tell you where to find them!

 

Thank you for the dog compliment! I'm very fond of her. She's hilarious and loving and sweet. I'll be very sad when someone adopts her.