jstanlick keeps on keeping on

[jstanlick]

My last challenge went pretty well. And more overall goal of running faster than before was achieved. However, I want more. I want to run faster, yes. But, I've lost enough weight that I can actually start to envision my weight under 200 pounds. It's been 18 years since that happened. I probably won't make it this challenge (currently at 208), but I want to take a bite out of what's left. To do that, I'm going to recycle most of my goals and try out a different one on the nutrition front since that's the one part of the last challenge that needed lots of improvement. If it's working, why change it? So, the keeping on part:

 

Goal #1: Meditate.Every.Day

I missed 2 days last challenge and while that is SOOOOOO much better than ever before, I was so close to perfection on that goal and let it slip out of my hands because I was lazy 2 measly days. Not this time!

 

Goal #2: Sprint twice a week.

Sprinting seems to make me very hungry those days, but damn if it doesn't make me feel great afterwards. I feel like I accomplished something those days. So, I'm gonna have at least 2 of those days a week.

 

Goal #3: Lift twice a week.

My daughter likes lifting with me and its quality time I get to spend with her. If I can help gift her with strength that she can lean on in years to come, I will gladly do it.

 

Now the tweaking it part:

Goal #4: Keep a diet journal every day.

I was not doing a great job with my IF last challenge, but on the last week I started logging my food again and a funny thing happened. When I had to write down what I was eating, I stopped just throwing crap down my pie hole. I had to make a conscious decision if that's what I wanted to eat or not. And that simple step, had me making better decisions. I'm still going to stick with the IF as it has helped in the past, but I'm not tracking that. I'm tracking what actually goes in my mouth.

 

There you have it. Once again the stretch goal will be 5 pounds off the scale and a faster 5K run time than before. My run yesterday set the bar high for me on the 5K time, but if I beat it, that's another thing I can check off my epic list.

[jstanlick]

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I have a side goal: Be better about updating this thread and checking in on other people's threads!!!

 

My only problem is that I seem to lose subscriptions when I use Tapatalk and I'm not always at a computer. But, to hell with that, if I think its important, I will prioritize it and get it done.

[Mr_Willes]

11 hours ago, jstanlick said:

Goal #1: Meditate.Every.Day

I missed 2 days last challenge and while that is SOOOOOO much better than ever before, I was so close to perfection on that goal and let it slip out of my hands because I was lazy 2 measly days. Not this time!

 

Keep this thought when for some reason you are just not feeling it! Also make sure you don't set yourself up for failure. It can be very demotivating to not ace a goal because life just hit you hard (things completely out of your hands). That's why i like to give myself 1 or 2 days leeway, especially for a goal i have to make every single day. And regarding the big picture, does it really make that much a difference 26 or 27 instead of 28 days meditated? (Disclaimer: I don't meditate myself so it could be that i'm uttering complete BS, please let me know if this is the case  )

 

12 hours ago, jstanlick said:

My daughter likes lifting with me

 

I'm real envious about this, my kids aren't at the right age for lifting yet, but i surely hope this will be something i can do with them in the future!

 

12 hours ago, jstanlick said:

There you have it. Once again the stretch goal will be 5 pounds off the scale and a faster 5K run time than before. My run yesterday set the bar high for me on the 5K time, but if I beat it, that's another thing I can check off my epic list.

I just love this, solid goals, not overreaching, down to earth SMART goals!

 

Have a great challenge, i will try to jump in once in a while!

[jstanlick]

9 hours ago, mr_willes said:

And regarding the big picture, does it really make that much a difference 26 or 27 instead of 28 days meditated

It's true. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make that big of a difference. I still feel really good about make it a big enough part of my routine to be habit-like. On days that I get in my meditation time I feel more relaxed and patient. On days I don't, I'm more irritable. But, irritable 2 days in a month is orders of magnitude better than before. After the fact, I looked at it and thought, "I was really close to acing that thing. Let's see if we can do that this go 'round."

 

9 hours ago, mr_willes said:

Have a great challenge, i will try to jump in once in a while!

Stop by any time!

[jstanlick]

Yesterday, my daughter found a kettlebell Tabata workout she wanted to try. So, we spent 30 minutes, warming up, Tabata style exercises and cooling down. I'm not sure I enjoyed it. Mostly because the first exercise was side lunges. My non-surgically repaired knee -- also goes by the aliases of left knee and the "good" knee -- was not a fan. My surgically rebuilt knee, ya know the "bad" one, was just fine. Regular lunges, split squats, squats of any kind for that matter, running, etc. do not bother either of my knees at all. But, I've noticed lately that even if I bend over to pick something up off the floor, if my weight balance is off slightly and my knee isn't properly positioned over the foot, that knee complains. So, if she ever wants to do that one again, I'm going to have to modify that exercise.

 

But, both of us were tired afterwards and today my abs are reminding me they did some work last night without being in pain. So, other than the knee, I guess it was a decent workout. Zero week started well.

[Xena]

It's super cool that she cared enough to pick the workout and that you were willing to give it a try. Absolutely modify it next time.

[Mr_Willes]

Take good care of the knee, especially when you have this plethora of exercises you can choose from which doesn't aggravate it. Good job on the workout!

[Mr_Willes]

Hopefully the rest of 0-week was as good as the start. Now it's Week 1 day 1. Let's kick this challenge into gear!

[Raxie]

Oh a diet journal what an awesome plan!  And congrats on being so close to the 200 mark!! You've got this Following!

[jstanlick]

Okay, I'm a complete moron. For the last 2 days, I've put my updates in last challenge's thread! Maybe I do need some more sleep! It also explains why I didn't see the kind posts you all made.

 

So, rather than re-typing my posts, I'm just going to quote them in this thread and then respond to your posts. I'm such an idiot.

 

22 hours ago, jstanlick said:

Quick update here as it seems the last 4 days have been moving at a break neck speed. I promise to get to everyone else's threads soon. Although, some of you will take a while to read through all the pages.

 

I rested the knee for most of last week and it felt pretty good by the weekend. I ran some sprints Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the day on some uncomfortable bleachers watching my daughter play volleyball. Knee was kind of stiff when I went to bed, but I don't know if that was it previously hurting, the sprints or the sitting in the bleachers that bothered it. I'm thinking it was either the sprints or the bleachers as both my legs were kind of stiff when I went to bed. Feels good today, so I'm trying not to think about it (See previous post).

 

Meditation has gone well. I think I've needed it with the way the last few days have gone. I might have bit someone's head off otherwise.

 

I'm gonna see if my daughter wants to workout tonight. If so, it'll be some kettlebells tonight. If not, I'm gonna do some bigger compound movement lifts instead.

 

More info later.

 

11 minutes ago, jstanlick said:

I think I need a bed under my desk, kinda like George Costanza. Ah, maybe not. That didn't work so well for George.

 

So, last night my daughter wanted to workout, but more specifically a kettlebell workout that emphasized the core. Why? Her volleyball coach told the team they all need stronger cores for serving and hitting. So, today my abs and obliques are sore. Which is good, because last night it was my lower back. Which all tells me, my core could use some strengthening too.

 

In light of the Ranger mini, I decided to add more running to this week, but in keeping with the theme of the mini a trail run (or at least trail miles) seemed more appropriate. So, today's lunch was sprint intervals followed by a 2 1/2 mile run on a trail that's close to where I work. This after interviewing 2 people for the opening on my team and working on 2 different issues that I hadn't planned for this morning. Thus, the nap needing.

 

The MFP food diary keeping is interesting as usual. If you break it down into macros, yesterday was too many carbs, just about right on the fats and not enough protein. If you keep it just at the high level, 200 calories too many. But, as a result of looking at yesterday's numbers, today is tracking better. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

 

Yesterday's meditation went well. I still need to take a break and meditate today. Although, the midday break to go for a run was stress relieving in its own right. I'm just not sure my mental focus was where it needed to be to count as meditation

[jstanlick]

On 9/20/2016 at 7:51 PM, Xena said:

It's super cool that she cared enough to pick the workout and that you were willing to give it a try. Absolutely modify it next time.

Well, don't tell my kids (especially my boys), but she's daddy's little girl. There's not much I wouldn't do for her if she asked nicely enough

 

On 9/21/2016 at 1:04 AM, mr_willes said:

Take good care of the knee, especially when you have this plethora of exercises you can choose from which doesn't aggravate it. Good job on the workout!

The knee seems okay after last night's lifting and the last couple of runs. So, I think I'm just going to avoid side lunges from now on.

 

On 9/26/2016 at 0:39 AM, mr_willes said:

Hopefully the rest of 0-week was as good as the start. Now it's Week 1 day 1. Let's kick this challenge into gear!

2 days in, 2 well lived days. So far, so good.

 

22 hours ago, Raxie said:

Oh a diet journal what an awesome plan!  And congrats on being so close to the 200 mark!! You've got this Following!

I really dislike journalling the diet. But, every time I've done it I've gotten great insight from it. And it has altered my eating decisions just by knowing I have to write it down and stare at it after the fact.

[maegs]

I love that you and your daughter work out together, it's so awesome!

[jstanlick]

I am once again trying to do better with my updating of a challenge. Lately, that usually goes well for the first week or two and then ends with a summary writeup. We'll see if this challenge is better than the last few. But, I gotta do well the first weeks to match the previous challenges, so here goes.

 

So, my links had yesterday's lunch time run -- man I really love have a gym with a locker room and showers available at work -- as well as where I was headed with my food diary. Food diary finished up pretty well last night. Upon examination, there are things I don't like about MFP. OK, other than having to do the logging, there's one thing I don't like about it. Since I integrated it with RunKeeper and FitBit, it takes into account any exercise recorded by those apps and adjusts my daily goals by "allowing" more food. That's not quite what I'm after. So, I really need to compare it to a day's starting goals and not the adjusted ones it displays on the screen. So, in that light, Monday really sucked. WAAAAYYYY too many carbs. Looking at Tuesday, my carb numbers looked much better until I looked at the original daily goals and things look much less positive. But, they looked better than the day before regardless and that's what I'm hoping to get from logging my food.

 

Came home from work stressed out from trying to get work done and interview candidates for my team (more of those today and tomorrow as well). It would be super easy if most of them just failed the interview in spectacular fashion. But, so far 2 candidates look really good which means it won't be an easy decision. That's good in the long term for my team and the company, but short term I'm going to agonize over which one to pick. Plus, there's 3 more first interviews to do. Our HR department really loaded up on internal candidates. Maybe that's what has me stressed. I'm going to see whoever I don't pick on a regular basis. Hiring is the second most stressful thing for me as a manager -- firing being the most stressful. Because I don't want to ever fire someone, I tend to ruminate over the hiring decision longer than I probably should. So, meditation was definitely necessary. I was so much more relaxed afterwards.

[jstanlick]

20 hours ago, maegs said:

I love that you and your daughter work out together, it's so awesome!

It is pretty awesome. I've tried to get my kids to workout with me in the past. But, only one of them is willing to run with me and he's not willing to do it when his favorite cartoons are on. None of them are very keen on the barbell or even dumbbells. But for some reason, she really likes kettlebells. So, I'll do KB's with her. I get a decent workout and its made even better when she does it with me. My wife is also a KB fan, but she tends to workout during the day while the kids are in school. In fact, she's the one who keeps helping my daughter find different workouts. I'd try to make it a family workout time otherwise.

[Mr_Willes]

Work with what you've got, if you enjoy working out with the family (and who doesn't) change your routine to KB. Go running on your own if you need the cardio. I think your maximizing the challenge to the fullest, way to go!

[jstanlick]

41 minutes ago, mr_willes said:

I think your maximizing the challenge to the fullest, way to go!

I'm certainly trying. Thanks!

 

Wednesday I had to forego lifting for a haircut. I've needed one for a couple of weeks and I had enough time to fit one in between other errands if I skipped lifting. But, tonight its me and the boys at home while my wife and daughter go to watch a volleyball game. So, maybe they'll workout with me. Or at least be close enough by to call 911 if I drop a barbell on my neck

 

Yesterday I got in my sprints and another 2.5 miles of trails for the mini challenge which gets me to the extra 5 miles I said I'd do this week. I'll have to update the group thread when I'm done with this. So, this has been a good start to the challenge thus far on the exercise front.

 

Meditation is going well...I think. If you're more relaxed and focused than you feel you would be without it, you're doing it right. Right? Well, I feel better for doing it, and I guess that's what's important.

 

Food diary is going well. On the days I've done sprints and my 2 1/2 mile trail run, I've eaten more food. That's not entirely bad as 11 miles running is closer to what I normally do in a week and I still have my weekend fun run -- which tends to be longer -- to do for this week. That one's not part of my goals. I just go for a long run on the weekends to make sure I take in this wonderful world around me and get alone with my thoughts. 

 

On a side note, I was given a copy of The Biohackers Guide by Anthony DiClementi. Well, as long as I've got it, I figured I'd start reading it. So far (I'm only 35 pages into the 500 page tome) it's fairly similar to Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body. If I find something interesting that stands out, I'll be sure to share. I have noticed that the first biohack all of these authors seem to mention is getting more sleep than I currently do and that without enough sleep the rest of the info isn't as helpful as it could be. Sigh.

[Xena]

5 hours ago, jstanlick said:

 So, maybe they'll workout with me. Or at least be close enough by to call 911 if I drop a barbell on my neck

 

On a side note, I was given a copy of The Biohackers Guide by Anthony DiClementi.

 

I hope you've been nice to them...

 

I think @DJtrippyT was doing some Biohacks (maybe from the same book) a few challenges back. It sounded interesting if somewhat random.

[DJtrippyT]

On September 30, 2016 at 9:24 PM, Xena said:

 

I hope you've been nice to them...

 

I think @DJtrippyT was doing some Biohacks (maybe from the same book) a few challenges back. It sounded interesting if somewhat random.

 

Mine was from the four-hour body, but they're probably similar! 

[Mr_Willes]

On 9/30/2016 at 9:22 PM, jstanlick said:

I just go for a long run on the weekends to make sure I take in this wonderful world around me and get alone with my thoughts. 

 

That's one of my main reasons to go running. Just me myself and my music, very satisfying! Hope you had a good weekend!

[Raxie]

Sleep is sooooo important and so often overlooked. Definitely try to work on that if you can it makes such a difference

 

Sounds like you're doing awesome though, hope you had a great weekend!

[jstanlick]

On 9/30/2016 at 8:24 PM, Xena said:

I hope you've been nice to them...

Its not so much being nice to them as it is them paying attention to anything else when there are moving pictures on a screen in their vicinity. So, I did squats and lunges until my legs cried uncle. Weird, huh? I chose leg day. Something ain't right upstairs in this brain.

 

On 10/2/2016 at 10:54 AM, DJtrippyT said:

Mine was from the four-hour body, but they're probably similar!

So far they are, but I'm not very far into it. The biggest take away so far is, don't bother with specific hacks until you get a foundation set with sleep, nutrition and exercise.

 

22 hours ago, mr_willes said:

That's one of my main reasons to go running. Just me myself and my music, very satisfying!

^^^ Yes! See no one in my family gets this. They look at running as this boring, loathsome, masochistic thing you have to do to yourself. But there's a freedom in just being out there with your thoughts.

 

12 hours ago, Raxie said:

Sleep is sooooo important and so often overlooked. Definitely try to work on that if you can it makes such a difference

Yeah, I pretty much suck at sleep. Unless it is a specific goal so I prioritize it over other things, it often comes up short. But, when I am getting enough sleep, I more focused, I can lose weight without actually doing anything other than sleeping, I feel fresher and less worn down, I don't get sick as easily, etc., etc., etc. It's good for ya, don't get me wrong. Yet, despite all that, I suck at making it a priority.

[jstanlick]

Ugh, this week is full of suck. Hopefully a great first week can build some momentum to carry me through this week, but yesterday was not a great start. This is what's on tap for the remainder of the week: working tonight to roll out software upgrades (see the aforementioned sleep post and how I suck at it), Wednesday is a funeral (getting pretty sick of cancer ending the lives of people I like), Friday is another funeral visitation, Thursday my daughter has a volleyball tournament quite a ways from our house, Saturday a funeral mass to go to, Saturday is also the day of the cub scout campout and the forecast is currently calling for rain, Sunday is the final day of my daughter's tournament, our God son is getting confirmed and my FIL's singing group has a performance. Not too mention a ton of other crap during the work day this week as well. My time has been gobbled up by many things beyond my control. As a bit of a control freak, this has me stressed out. On top of that, our dog has been sick (she's getting better) and woke me up twice last night so I have less sleep than usual. When usual is not enough, and you have less than that...well...I'm a wee-bit cranky.

 

But, I have my tea here with me in the conference room I have commandeered for a few moments to get my head straight and meditate for a little while. I feel less edgy than when I walked through the door this morning, so hopefully I'm now in the right frame of mind to go kick some ass here at work and get that out of the way.

 

As far as updates go, the weekend was as full as my upcoming week and yesterday I had to clean up a lot of people's shit at work. Managing a team that's short a person sucks. The work still needs to get done, but if I'm doing it, I'm not looking for a replacement. If I'm not doing it, work's not getting done. I can't stand it when my team is the reason work is bottle necked. Did I mention I might have control issues?

 

Where was I? Oh yeah, no exercise since Friday's squats. That could be another factor in the crankiness. But, with Friday's squats I managed 3 resistance, 2 sprint interval runs and 5 additional miles of trails on the week. I've meditated and logged all of my food to date. So, the challenge has started well. Wish me luck for keeping it going for the rest of the week.

[Xena]

Wow! That sounds ROUGH!! When I have stress like that, any suggestions from other people about sleeping, relaxing, etc. just piss me off. So I have two comments that are hopefully not too annoying.

(1) You did a very smart thing by trying to find a little bit of quiet time in the conference room for yourself. Two extra hours in your day (one for more sleep and one for more exercise) would probably be nice, but great job working with what you have.

(2) Is there any way to pull in other members of your team to make them part of the solution? I'm assuming they are already carrying part of the extra load, or maybe that they don't have the skills needed to help pick up for the extra person. But anything you can do to leverage the people around you to help might make things a little easier.

[jstanlick]

20 minutes ago, Xena said:

I'm assuming they are already carrying part of the extra load

They're stepping up, but what frustrates me is that as the team lead and the senior worker-bee, if I'm spend time recruiting and interviewing people to fill the open position, then I'm not getting my work type stuff done on top of the additional work type stuff. So, they end up picking up additional work from losing someone as well as me not being able to get to all of it.

 

We lost a member of our team clear outta the blue. One week he was telling me he was so happy and felt so lucky to be here and the next week he resigned. So, now we have to start over. It's a lesson to me that I need to spend more time networking and building a pipeline so that we're able to pick up the phone and talk to people immediately. Except, then I'm spending less time doing stuff. The last interview we have is tomorrow and then it's up to me to pick someone from 3 good candidates. Of course, then we have to get them up to speed, but I'm hoping there will be less HR type duties of my job to perform in the next month or so ('cuz then it's review/bonus time). 

 

I'm trying very hard to fall back on my meditating. It feels like something I can take 10 minutes to do and regain my sanity. It's not a perfect solution or the solution I want to have, but it is what I've got and that's better than nothing. I'm also trying to channel my inner Mark Twain by remembering, "Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe." Everything is going to work out how it's going to work out and I need to let go of my need for control. So, we'll see how I do as that's not one of my strong suits

[maegs]

8 hours ago, jstanlick said:

Yeah, I pretty much suck at sleep. Unless it is a specific goal so I prioritize it over other things, it often comes up short. But, when I am getting enough sleep, I more focused, I can lose weight without actually doing anything other than sleeping, I feel fresher and less worn down, I don't get sick as easily, etc., etc., etc. It's good for ya, don't get me wrong. Yet, despite all that, I suck at making it a priority.

 

Hello, self  

Hopefully things calm down soon, it sounds like you're super busy at work and in your non-work life! It sounds like meditating is really helpful for you, keep comandeering conference rooms if that's what you need to do!