Lou_Be finds her mojo

[Lou_be_Lou]

And I'm back! Late for the challenge, but I'm here.  And that is the important thing.

 

Life got complicated and busy and I've not been here for a while.......

 

I'm not going to make this a massively complicated challenge - and I'm allowed some wriggle room.  After being complicated and busy, I then ended up feeling quite bleugh - tired and not right and a bit post viral (of course after being crazy busy I got sick, cause thats how it works) and generally faded.  Not how I like to be.  So I've tried to remember to do stuff that makes me feel good, and I've started cleaning up my diet , and all of this has helped.  Feels like I'm heading in the right direction......

 

Goals:

1) MOVE - ideally 6 days a week, the big movements are a selection of martial arts (jujitsu and kickboxing), running, biking and yoga.  The little movements are going to be back care exercises, feet care exercises, and stretches (focussing on shoulders, hips and lower back rotation).  Monday is most likely to be my don't move much day, aka rest day.

2) Play that bass - ideally 7 days a week, but 6 or 5 is ok, less than that and I never thrive......  Who knew music was addictive?

3) Look after me - if I need more rest, take it.  Block out time for baking (I do better on home made gf bread, gf crispbreads and my own muesli, so make them!) and cooking (having a pot of something in the fridge for quick meals works for me). 

4) Play time - two strands to this, carving out a good amount of time to spend with my lovely man (who I thought I had an abbreviation for, but it didn't look right here, possibly HP cause he'll hate that almost as much as the bailed from abbreviation), and cat therapy - cause that makes both me and them happy.  Walks with the cats definitely come under play time rather than movement, cause yes I'm not sitting down during it, but its on the leisurely side of vertical.

 

Bonus: my next kickboxing grading is approaching (I don't have a date, and the coach is much keener than I am for me to do it, I suspect that she'll win, so I need to get my head around this) and it involves a couple of my own combinations and a 10 opponent kata that I need to work out.  Each week I'm planning on sorting out 2 opponent worths of kata.  They don't have to be perfect, they just need to be a starting point for further tweaking.  They also have to be simple as I suspect I'll have to do the kata at least 20 times in the grading.  Knew there were reasons for putting this off........

 

Phew.  Lets do this thing.

 

[Lou_be_Lou]

Instant update!

I posted late, but I'd mentally started already.

Sunday and monday were non-moving days (well sunday had 2 hours of rehearsal and a gig, so loads of bass playing, but none of the specified movements, not even post-bass stretching, cause I was a zombie after).

But I've cooked up a couple of big batches of food, a modified persian chicken porridge for breakfasts (ok, and some dinners), and a persian mince and bean and rice dish.  Plus still have bread, crispbreads and muesli in the cupboard, so my food for this week is good.  I just need to add veges and salads and fruit on a daily basis.

 

Tonight was jujitsu (first class since the summer break - and I only managed 2 of the summer classes), it was fun, fairly random in structure, and I suspect I'll be sore tomorrow.  I was pleasantly surprised - yes I blew up, but I blew up later than many of the others in the class - so I've started regaining some condition.  Definitely a win.  Plus some of my throws felt good.

 

Today I also had a bass practise. 

And cat walking is go - yesterday and today - bonus crazy cat lady points.  One of my cats is a bit outdoors only at the moment (he does this in summer), so I don't get indoors games or cuddles.  However, if I time it right he is happy to go for an accompanied stroll, and I'm allowed to stroke him and pick him up at intervals during the stroll.  Absolutely worth the neighbourhood thinking I'm odd for that reward.  One of the walks was accompanied by my girl cat, so she's also had attention, and right now she's being a lap cat, so all of the cat cuddles are go.

 

Now for sleep.

[RisenPhoenix]

LOU!

 

*hug*

 

That is all. 

 

Welcome back.

 

challenge looks great.

[sarakingdom]

Looooooooou!

 

Wow, your cats go on walks with you?  That is awesome.

[Mistr]

Yay! Lou is back!

 

I see you are still doing All The Things. Good for you on playing a lot of gigs and getting ready for your grading. I love that your cats will walk with you outside.

 

Am I correct in thinking that the lovely man is a new addition to your life? 

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 24/08/2016 at 3:21 AM, RisenPhoenix said:

LOU!

 

*hug*

 

That is all. 

 

Welcome back.

 

challenge looks great.

Hug right back at you!  It is good to be back!

 

On 24/08/2016 at 4:26 AM, sarakingdom said:

Looooooooou!

 

Wow, your cats go on walks with you?  That is awesome.

 

Its more a case of the cat tolerating my company while he explores.  Though he doesn't understand why I'm not also standing in each of the neighbours' gardens!  We had another random slow wander tonight.  Its a good way of slowing down from work pace.  I'm enjoying it still being daylight when I get home - much less likely to indulge the cat in wintertime.

 

On 24/08/2016 at 5:52 PM, Mistr said:

Yay! Lou is back!

 

I see you are still doing All The Things. Good for you on playing a lot of gigs and getting ready for your grading. I love that your cats will walk with you outside.

 

Am I correct in thinking that the lovely man is a new addition to your life? 

Yep, the lovely man still feels brand new - we've been seeing each other for just over 10 months.  He makes me smile a lot.    YAY!

[Lou_be_Lou]

Progress:

1) MOVE - Three days of managing back care and foot care exercises in the morning.  Plus commuted by bike wednesday and today.  Jujitsu last night (not a great class, I managed to not swear in the "is my arm broken or was it just a really nasty lock" moment - phew, just a horrendous wrist lock by a big bloke "I hadn't even put the lock on" - had he? F**K! - got sympathy from his other recent victims, especially as some brusing popped out almost immediately - but wow, had to give myself a bit of a talking to, I was tempted to walk away and not come back - nope, I'm not going to get put off.), and yoga (but not as we know it) today (the usual instructor is on holiday - so the classes are weird, but I got there!).

Movement done.  Next goal is parkrun tomorrow morning.

 

2) Play that bass - played in a jazz session last night, practised a tiny bit this evening.  Not enough, but something.

 

3) Look after me - hmmmmm, not so much.  But I've still been eating well.  Yum.

 

4) Play time - yep, spent time with HP and with the cats, though we did work out that the cat walks will just be a treat for me and the cats - we tried one with 2 cats and 2 people, and nope, the cats weren't to impressed with divided attention and HP found it a bit slow and boring.  He might not quite be ready for crazy cat man points.

 

Kata prep?  Hmmmmm, none.  Oops.

 

[Kishi]

I dunno, I'd think that the novelty of walking outside with cats would make up for the slow pace.

 

That's just me, though.

 

Anyway, hey! Welcome back! Good to see you again. Glad to see a daily movement goal - that consistent practice does wonderful things for a body.

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 26/08/2016 at 11:06 PM, Kishi said:

I dunno, I'd think that the novelty of walking outside with cats would make up for the slow pace.

 

That's just me, though.

 

Anyway, hey! Welcome back! Good to see you again. Glad to see a daily movement goal - that consistent practice does wonderful things for a body.

oh yes re regular practise being amazing - just so long as I actually do do it!

 

The weekend was mixed - big exercise was a win:

- parkrun (5k) on saturday, I was slower than my last one (a fortnight ago), but faster than 3 weeks ago - and I was pleased to manage to run the whole thing as just before we started my lungs were revolting - had a bit of random asthma kick off - not ideal for running, but weirdly controlling my breathing and running slowly worked out much better than I hoped. 

- Today we had kickboxing training - it was a good class, some of my techniques felt sharper than they have for a while, and our coach was mixing things up a bit, it was good.

 

Small exercise = oops, none.

Bass playing - only one practise (saturday) and it was a bit revolting.

 

Selfcare - oops I ate yoghurt, and now have a melon sized belly, I think the two things are correlated.  Plus my guts have been a little antisocial today.  So I think the avoiding dairy thing is worth continuing.  Good to know, but I probably did know it already.  Damn.  It did taste amazing (ginger yoghurt with buckwheat porridge cooked with rhubarb, orange and cinnamon).  I wish dairy tasted horrid, it would make quiting it easier......

 

Playtime - win and win.  YAY.

 

However this exercising more malarky - I've been exhausted!  Am heading off to sleep very soon, so should manage another massive one.  I obviously have to get the hours in right now, cause wow, very tired.

 

Roll on week 2!

[Chen Wangting]

Swooping in for a high five...

 

[Toshimi]

On 8/28/2016 at 1:05 PM, Lou_be_Lou said:

 

Selfcare - oops I ate yoghurt, and now have a melon sized belly, I think the two things are correlated.  Plus my guts have been a little antisocial today.  So I think the avoiding dairy thing is worth continuing.  Good to know, but I probably did know it already.  Damn.  It did taste amazing (ginger yoghurt with buckwheat porridge cooked with rhubarb, orange and cinnamon).  I wish dairy tasted horrid, it would make quiting it easier......

 

 

I'm going through the same thing with the realizing dairy and I dont get a long, the thing so far that's saving me is Ghee... I love butter and Ghee has little to no milk solids in it so it tends to be okay with some people who can't do milk. Can be purchased at the store, or I've been making mine for the last month or so. 

[sarakingdom]

Celiac and lactose intolerance often go together, which is a pain.  If it is actually the lactose, and not an allergy to the proteins or whatever, you may have some options.

[Lou_be_Lou]

18 hours ago, Chen Wangting said:

Swooping in for a high five...

 

YAY!!!!!

 

17 hours ago, Toshimi said:

 

I'm going through the same thing with the realizing dairy and I dont get a long, the thing so far that's saving me is Ghee... I love butter and Ghee has little to no milk solids in it so it tends to be okay with some people who can't do milk. Can be purchased at the store, or I've been making mine for the last month or so. 

Fortunately I'm an olive oil fan, so I don't miss butter too much - yoghurt and cheese, oh me oh my I miss you.

 

14 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Celiac and lactose intolerance often go together, which is a pain.  If it is actually the lactose, and not an allergy to the proteins or whatever, you may have some options.

Oh yes, so very much so re coeliac (sorry, grew up on british english) and lactose issues.  For me it seems to be cyclical, sometimes I can have some, then I tend to get carried away and have too much, then I go back to not tolerating it.  Especially weird as the rest of my gut is pretty good at the moment (tmi: I'm having beetroot and asparagus pee these days - a new phenomenon for me!).

 

This week is going well so far:

Move: 2 x back care and feet care

monday = rest day, DONE! Today I've run already (a slow 5k) and tonight I should be at jujitsu.

Cat play time = yep.

Bass = a decent practise last night

Self care = batch cooked last night, yum, have porridge for breakfasts (buckwheat, pear, apple and cinnamon), and a split pea and carrot spicy thing for lunches.

Bonus kata construction - 2 opponents sorted, now for the next two........ plus I'd better start learning it......

 

Now I just need to keep this up.........
 

 

 

[sarakingdom]

39 minutes ago, Lou_be_Lou said:

Oh yes, so very much so re coeliac (sorry, grew up on british english) and lactose issues.  For me it seems to be cyclical, sometimes I can have some, then I tend to get carried away and have too much, then I go back to not tolerating it. 

 

It might be worth just keeping some Lactaid tablets around, then.  An allergy would be a lot harder, but lactose intolerance is treatable.  And, honestly, when you've had to cut so much out of your diet already, having to do it again is annoying.

[Lou_be_Lou]

4 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

 And, honestly, when you've had to cut so much out of your diet already, having to do it again is annoying.

This!  Absolutely!!!!!!!!  And you know what, I've never tried lactaid.  This week I'll try just avoiding dairy (its weird, apart from gut things I get happier off dairy - another good reason for avoiding it).  But when I get desperate (it'll probably be for a trashy meal of cheesy gf pasta) I'll try some.

 

Much better jujitsu training today - lots of slightly brutal circuits, and some random fitness stuff, but also loads of syllabus work, and I was partnered with someone my own size!  No injuries.  Phew.  It was good fun. I've also bitten the bullet and ordered a new gi, cause if tuesday classes keep being this intense then i'm going to have  a stinky gi on thursdays - I just can't get it dry by thursday (unless the sun god makes a rare appearance and I risk line drying while at work - last time I did that a bird decorated the gi!).

Oh and yep, I played some bass, not enough, but it was a decent practise.

[Lou_be_Lou]

The week is going well. 

Another two day of footcare and backcare done. 

Yesterday I also managed a kickboxing practise before work - it was good - everything felt better afterwards, and I was drenched and happy.  Need to do this again.  I also added in opponent number three - only 7 to go!

 

Plus I had a good bass practise - never enough and it always surprises me how long it takes for me to do simple things, plus I've started working through a study book that I've been using for students - it has weird fingerings.  I keep having to figure out what the purpose of the fingering is - once it makes sense then I can work with it - apparently I've become very stuck in my ways re favouite ways of getting between notes - the study book will be good - its definitely shaking some habits up.  But wow, the editor has a twisted brain.  Very deceptive exercises, they look straightforwards, but nope.

 

Jujitsu tonight - hope its a good one.

[karinajean]

hi Lou! I'm having a real couple of weeks so am delayed getting in here. xo. love that you are walking with cats. I wish mine was leash trained and I could take her everywhere, but alas, she is not.

[Lou_be_Lou]

11 hours ago, karinajean said:

hi Lou! I'm having a real couple of weeks so am delayed getting in here. xo. love that you are walking with cats. I wish mine was leash trained and I could take her everywhere, but alas, she is not.

YAY for you finding me!  I haven't checked out your recent challenges yet - keep on hanging in there - i'm looking forwards to being impressed by everything you're always up to.  And my cats walks are short and close to home as they're not leash trained - I can't even keep collars on them.  Gave up on the magnetic cat flap after Sid shed yet another collar and magnet in a PB of 30 min after attachment.

 

JJ last night was good - lots of useful hints, lots of technique work, plus plenty of focus.  It was fun.  Plus the big man with the hard wrist locks was training with one of our coaches - who then bollocked him after one of the wrist locks!  Oh yes, big man put it on too hard.  He might finally start believing all of us.  Nup, just saw a flying pig.

 

Anyway, I think the coaches now realise whats been going on.

Yesterday I only managed a short practise, but I managed some faster patterns.  YAY.

 

Today, footcare, backcare, kb technique practise (I added up after, it works out at about 560 kicks, a few more punches, fewer blocks, and if I get a day with more time [oh, another flying pig!] then it feels like its time to increase the number of reps) all done. YAY.

[Kishi]

Yeah, people are kind of dumb sometimes when it comes to grappling. They'll throw their full weight into something that they really, really shouldn't, and they won't believe you when you tell them not to do that. It's very poor form, you know?

 

But hopefully the coaches see what's going on and the world will be given from On High. That should manage things nicely. Here's hoping!

[Lou_be_Lou]

22 hours ago, Kishi said:

Yeah, people are kind of dumb sometimes when it comes to grappling. They'll throw their full weight into something that they really, really shouldn't, and they won't believe you when you tell them not to do that. It's very poor form, you know?

 

But hopefully the coaches see what's going on and the world will be given from On High. That should manage things nicely. Here's hoping!

So very much yes to all of this.  Hoping the coaches finally do something.  We've reached the point of telling him that he can throw us but no locks.  And yes he finds that immensely frustrating. But I think he's been thinking that we're feeble little women (one of us powerlifts - she deadlifts something like 130kgs, bench presses 2kg below the scottish record for her age class  - just to demonstrate how bonkers this man is!).  Hopefully sorted out soon.  He is running out of training partners.

 

Weekend update: 

Move: oh yes, kayaking yesterday - we were out on the water for about 5 hours!  I'm amazed that I'm not too sore today.  Initially I was all wide eyed and tense (its only my 2nd kayaking experience, and the last one was something like 14 years ago).  Beautiful day - mixed weather, but not much wind, some sun and only a light touch of rain for about 20 min.  Lovely.  We were out on a millpond of a loch, and wow, what a difference a day makes.  I went from freaked out and going in circles to mostly going in straightlines and being much more relaxed and jolly.  I reckon I'll try this again (much to HP's delight - he kayaks rivers when he can, and while millponds aren't rivers, he's still happy to be out on the water, I think he's aiming for a long game here - planning many years (yes that is quite a big concept for me to grasp) of holidays involving some water).

 

And today was kickboxing training - very good fun tonight, a more challenging class, interesting combinations, some big sets of punches or kicking. Loved it.

 

Play that bass:  none yesterday, because of much kayaking and much travel to the loch.  Today though I had a good play, ramped some tempi up, mostly managed things faster (so its about time to move on to new material.... oh dear, that means slow and confused again for a while).  Good practise today.  Plus I had a first lesson of the new academic year with one of my students - it was good.  Felt like a clear, good start to the year.  Plus I even managed a tiny bit of bass guitar practise today.  I'm fairly newbie at this, always a challenge.

 

Look after me: batch cooking done (mung bean curry and rice for some lunches, buckwheat porridge for breakfasts).  I need to make more muesli and crispbread sometime this week.  Did have a slight naughtiness = gluten free fish and chips.  This was AMAZING - greasy and salty and tasty and just delicious.  Plus it didn't sit in my stomach too much, and no bad reaction.  I've eaten there once before, and that time asked all of the questions re cross-contamination avoidance, and they sounded thorough.  Fortunately they're a 90 minute drive from home so no risk of regular temptation.  Just what was needed after much kayaking.

 

Playtime: plenty of time with HP this weekend, and some time with the monsters, including some garden time where they were very helpful (one likes sitting on my back while I garden, the other decided that the mower grass catcher was a good nap location).

 

Week summary:

Move: backcare/footcare 5 days of 7 (this is plenty for these, I'm never likely to manage 7/7 as I get too bored).

big movement = the 6 days I'd planned.  YAY!

Play that bass = 6 days, which fits what I'd planned.  Feels like I'm making some progress.

Look after me = seems to be going ok.  Batchcooking done and eaten, it was even tasty.

Playtime = slightly squeezed by exercise, but pretty good.  Loads of talking (mainly with HP, some with cats).

 

I'm very happy with this - felt like a good week.

 

 

 

 

[Kishi]

Oooh, kayaking. That is a lot of fun, and being able to do that out on a lake sounds like great fun.

 

Sounds like you ended up trading one kind of play for another, which isn't necessarily a trade you'd always want to make... but at the same time, it happens, right? And not a bad trade for all that.

 

Cool. Glad to see it all ended up well for you! Great way to end the weekend.

[Lou_be_Lou]

On 05/09/2016 at 1:14 AM, Kishi said:

Oooh, kayaking. That is a lot of fun, and being able to do that out on a lake sounds like great fun.

 

Sounds like you ended up trading one kind of play for another, which isn't necessarily a trade you'd always want to make... but at the same time, it happens, right? And not a bad trade for all that.

 

Cool. Glad to see it all ended up well for you! Great way to end the weekend.

I'm very happy to have swapped bass playing for kayaking - and thats exactly why I like aiming for close to practising every day, but with wiggle room - this way, I haven't failed at a goal and have no guilt for what was a mighty fine day.

 

This week is going ok.

2 x backcare and footcare. 

Loads of bass playing yesterday (today's happens later).

Rest day from big exercise yesterday (oh I enjoyed this)

And I've been for a 5k run this morning.

YAY.

[Lou_be_Lou]

Ok, wiggle room required.

Since my last update I've managed, 2 x bass playing, 1x footcare, 1 x backcare.

 

But I had a small procedure at my gp's and it wiped me out - I hadn't expected it to zonk me - so I've been cancelling things - had a sick day yesterday, didn't get to jujitsu tuesday or tonight, bailed from jazz tonight.   And you know what, getting de-zonked matters way more.  So I'm taking a free pass, I'll exercise if I feel up to it, and if not, no guilt.  I want to do backcare and footcare tomorrow morning because they're a good way of calibrating in the morning, after that, I'll just play it by ear.

 

On a more positive note, I got a new toy today - I've been eyeing up Radial Tonebone Bassbone V2 for ages (website here:http://www.tonebone.com/bassbonev2.php), its a bass preamp, but with amazing features like a pzb booster which changes the signal level and impedance from piezo pickups (which I have on my jazz bass) to make it more compatible with amplification, and an effects loop that you can blend with the unmodified input (wet/dry mix) - anyway - I've been wanting to buy something like this for years, finally spotted this on-line months ago, finally was paid for some work that meant I could splash out.  First reaction to it - wow, I don't sound soggy through my amp. The sound is crisp and clear, and cool sounding.  And that is before I even start playing with the effects loop.  Money extremely well spent.  YAY for new toys!!!!!

[Toshimi]

yay for new toys! Hopefully you feel better soon. 

[Kishi]

Yay for new toys that you use! They make the things you do better, and that's the whole point.