In Which Sarah Barr Gets Ready for her First Samhuinn

[Sarah Barr]

Last challenge, I used the Idiot Jar to great effect - I only failed a goal four times over the whole challenge, so since that was under five fails, I didn't have to go to the gym in a terrifying leotard. 

 

This challenge, I'm going to be eyeball deep in preparations for my first Samhuinn fire festival. This is an annual night of fire spinners, drummers, acrobats, and miscellaneous monsters celebrating the change of the seasons in Edinburgh on the 31st of October, and I somehow managed to get into one of the performance groups. You're not going to get any spoilers from me on my costume (I signed a thing to that effect) except that there's quite a lot of leather.

 

The preparations mean my previous training routine is up in the air a bit - I usually work out in the mornings, but practice is quite late at night, so my sleep schedule is all over the place and I need to use this challenge to get it working smoothly again. 

 

You may not see much of me this month, sorry!

ILOVEYOUIAMSORRYIAMNOTREADINGYOURTHREADHAVEAGREATCHALLENGEILOVEYOU

 

Goal 1: Remain capable of fitting into my costume.

Same as always. I'm expecting/hoping to be about half a stone lighter by the festival, so my costume's adjustable, but I need to make sure I'm not too big for it, because there are some bits that might, er, ping off, if I expand from present size. 

     - 1600kcal/day; bonus 200kcal after workouts, to be consumed straight after.

     - 5 freggies/day

     - 2 litres water/day

     - Prep at least one dish (4 portions) each weekend for the following week. 

 

Goal 2: Stay strong enough to pick people up. 

While I was sane enough to not apply for the acrobatic group this year, my group will be picking people up. I need to not drop them on the cobblestones, so although I did seriously consider suspending lifting training for the next six weeks (I'm knackered), I think it's best I keep it up. I need to focus on grip strength, maintaining ab tension, and squats/OHPs. Which fits in nicely with what I was doing anyway, so I don't actually need to change much:

• I'm switching back squats for front so I can work on stability with weight in front of me, and adding goblet squats too.
• I'm changing my dumbbell farmer carries from 3-4 sets of 80 metres to 8 sets of 20 metres, and aiming for heavier weights. (I'm doing [2x16kg] for the 80 metre carries right now, we'll see what I can manage for the short carries, but I'm planning to attempt [2x20kg] and work up from there.)
• Switching the usual bicep curls and shoulder shrugs on bench day for Arnold presses. Not sure why. Variety is nice. 
• After a lot of deliberation, I'm temporarily cutting out deadlifts. I could argue with myself back and forth about what lifts are directly applicable, and wise use of my finite energy, and how the deadlift is about the best all round exercise you can do, but in the end it comes down to the fact that I still cock up my form sometimes, and I REALLY can't afford an injury. BUT we have a lifting session at the Edinburgh Nerd-Up on the 8th, and if I can confidently deadlift with decent form after that session, I'll add them back in to squat day.

 

With group practice factored in, my workout schedule now looks like this:

     - Monday: Ab work, Goblet squats, Front squats, OH Presses, good mornings

     - Tuesday:  DB row, DB bench press, farmer carries, leg press, Arnold press

     - Wednesday: Ab work, Goblet squats, Front squats, OH Presses, good mornings

     - Thursday: Proper rest

     - Friday: Rest/possible group bonding games that, like many things in my life recently, seem to mostly involve jumping and being confused

     - Saturday: Pick people up and be scary. 

     - Sunday: Rest/any extra running about being scary planned for that day

 

 

Goal 3: Sort out your sleeping patterns

I was so happy when I finally got used to waking up at 6am. It is now screwing me over because practice runs very late sometimes. 

- Maintain consistent firm waking time of 6am (shakes fist)

- Consistent firm bedtime of 11:00pm. 

- No caffeine after 5pm. 

- Caffeine restriction of 1 portion per day still in force (1 portion being considered here as 500ml soda, or 2 cups of tea, or 1 cup of coffee. I can have all the portions of decaf tea I want. Which is none. I want none portions of decaf tea.)

 

 

Life Goal: We are not at home to Mr. Cock-Up. 

I would like to survive this festival, please. Therefore, I have some general goals related to that, but I'm not going to make myself add any more culture to my brain than I already am.

- Do not be on fire

- If already on fire, do not remain on fire

- Do not strangle yourself with a spaulder strap

- Do not take a hot flaming rod to the face (ho ho ho, fire spinning jokes. I'm not even fire spinning.)

- FLAME TEST ALL OF YOUR COSTUME PARTS

- Waterproof test your badass skull helmet to make sure you don't end up with a sadass blob helmet if it rains

- Jiggle test your costume parts (I have learned from the mistakes of others)

 

 

Tracking:

- Idiot Jar. £1 in the jar for every bullet point failed per day.

- Idiot Jar forfeit for this challenge is... yet to be decided. 

 

RIGHT! Challenge starts on Friday for me, because I'm off to my parents' tonight and they have neither barbells nor vegetarian food that isn't, er, hummus. 

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Hurrah!

[Terah]

Love your challenge. Giggled at your life goal (although I understand the importance of not catching fire)

[Einar]

Not sure how much you're needing to pick people up, but you could consider overhead squats for added core and stability work, plus the added practice at holding something above your head

[Sarah Barr]

6 minutes ago, Björn Járnhamar said:

overhead squats 

Sounds like a good plan, never tried those before and there's no time like the present!

[Einar]

5 minutes ago, Sarah Barr said:

Sounds like a good plan, never tried those before and there's no time like the present!

If I remember correctly, @Rurik Harrgath has some pretty good Overhead squats so maybe you could pick his brain, that or I'm sure there are plenty of warriors that are familiar with any peculiarities they have

[Shello]

So get into costume, lift people up, sleep, and don't get set on fire?  Those are great goals!!

[DJtrippyT]

OMG what a fantastic challenge! I especially like this bit:

 

9 hours ago, Sarah Barr said:

- Do not be on fire

- If already on fire, do not remain on fire

- Do not strangle yourself with a spaulder strap

- Do not take a hot flaming rod to the face (ho ho ho, fire spinning jokes. I'm not even fire spinning.)

 

 

I mean, you really can't go wrong with that as a guideline. I wish you were performing in the States so I could see it! But from the pound and stone references I'm guessing you're in the UK (Is a stone 20 pound-weight? I feel like it is)

 

Anyway good luck!

 

(edited to add: derp, it says Edinburgh right in the challenge. I'm an idiot)

 

 

[deftona]

23 hours ago, DJtrippyT said:

But from the pound and stone references I'm guessing you're in the UK (Is a stone 20 pound-weight? I feel like it is)

 

A stone is 14 lbs. 

 

And following along again Sarah! 

[DJtrippyT]

1 hour ago, deftona said:

 

A stone is 14 lbs. 

 

 

 

Thanks! If I weren't such a slacker I probably could have answered that with the google machine

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Following for fire and leather.

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[Man-At-Arms]

I really really really want to learn fire staff.

 

Love the challenge. Here to cheer you on!

[ManicSpider]

Yay, there was a picture for this! 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, deftona said:

 

A stone is 14 lbs. 

 

 

As an Australian: *sighs* *goes to google what 14 pounds is in kilos*

 

(It's about 6 kilos )

[deftona]

1 minute ago, ManicSpider said:

As an Australian: *sighs* *goes to google what 14 pounds is in kilos*

 

(It's about 6 kilos )

 

In true British fashion, we steal whatever measurements we fancy and use those. In the medical industry, we use metric measurements these days. So kilograms for weight and mililitres for liquid. Our alcoholic drinks are measured in imperial measurements, so we drink pints of beer. Our roads are in miles per hour but our petrol is sold in litres. Our pre-packaged meat is sold in grams but our loose fruit and veg is usually in pounds. Our milk is sold in pints but other bottled drinks are sold in litres. Human height is still in feet and inches but our horses are still measured in hands

 

 

[Terah]

51 minutes ago, ManicSpider said:

 

As an Australian: *sighs* *goes to google what 14 pounds is in kilos*

 

(It's about 6 kilos )

We use kg's in the Netherlands too *high five!*

 

And you Brittish folks are weird (I'm referring to the mixed measurement standards off course )

[deftona]

1 hour ago, Terah said:

We use kg's in the Netherlands too *high five!*

 

And you Brittish folks are weird (I'm referring to the mixed measurement standards off course )

 

We're just trying to confuse you damn Mainlanders.

[DJtrippyT]

On 9/22/2016 at 5:42 AM, ManicSpider said:

 

 

 

 

As an Australian: *sighs* *goes to google what 14 pounds is in kilos*

 

(It's about 6 kilos )

 

but what is it in poods? (kettlebell weights)

 

The people need to KNOW

[stepping_out]

Following because the whole "not catching fire" thing seems to make this basically an anti Hunger Games challenge. Refreshing!

[Sarah Barr]

Hi guys! Thanks for following!

 

Let's get cracking!

 

(I didn't even look at the scales after that week 0, was very hectic and therefore full of convenience foods.)

 

Tripped over the very first hurdle - woke up in sneezing fits, so no gym today for safety. I swear I'm allergic to something in my room, going to investigate thoroughly tonight. No Idiot Jar penalty because it's skipped due to illness rather than being a lazy bugger. 

 

This week's evenings are going to be a bit nuts:

- Today I'm going tent shopping and baking a cake, since...

- Tomorrow is boyfriend's birthday party

- Wednesday is the read-through for a play I wrote for a feast (gulp)

- Thursday is for finishing my helmet, which I need for this weekend

- Friday is packing for camping/food prep

- Saturday and Sunday are camping with my Samhuinn group to go over choreography (I need the helmet to see if I can do the people-lifts without it being knocked off, and I need it soon so someone has the chance to replace me if it does get knocked off.)

 

I'm looking forward to sleeping already.

[Terah]

1 hour ago, Sarah Barr said:

I swear I'm allergic to something in my room

Does it pass when you go outside? Have you tried antihistamine?

Sneezing can also come from something you ate. My dad get's a sneezing fit when he eats eggs. Maybe you should get yourself tested by a doctor. They can tell from your blood what it is you're allergic to. 

 

Looks like a busy week  Congratulations on your boyfriends birthday!

 

1 hour ago, Sarah Barr said:

I'm looking forward to sleeping already.

Don't we always?  

 

[Rurik Harrgath]

On 2016-09-20 at 9:49 AM, Björn Járnhamar said:

If I remember correctly, @Rurik Harrgath has some pretty good Overhead squats so maybe you could pick his brain...

 

Hi, I'm Rurik and I like to Overhead Squat sometimes. 

[Einar]

8 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

 

Hi, I'm Rurik and I like to Overhead Squat sometimes. 

I started to wonder how long it would take you to respond, but I forgot you were going to camp this year

[Einar]

I've noticed a lack of marine related articles this time, but that won't stop me from sharing something interesting I've read. Showdown at Sea

[Sarah Barr]

That's pretty fascinating!

I know there've been no confirmed attacks by orcas on humans in the wild, but honestly, I'm way more scared of killer whales than sharks. 

(And yeah, I should probably post marine things with my updates this challenge too, it's a great way to get me to learn things. Too knackered today, though. Soon!)

 

 

Challenge update:

Well, that was a ridiculous false start. I am pretending Monday and Tuesday didn't happen. Today is Wednesday and day 1 as far as I am now concerned. Sneezing too much for gym again - I'm taking antihistamines but uuugh, I just want it to stop. At least the sneezing clears up around midday so it won't stop me going to the lifting meet-up on the 8th. 

Was boyfriend's birthday yesterday, and I cunningly made Eve's pudding instead of plain old cake, so it was about 50% apples. I'll stick the recipe in my recipe book thread (see signature). Meant I had to get up pretty early to catch the bus to work, so I'm a bit of a zombie today. 

Sleep goal's on track, so is the not being on fire goal, and I'm determined to make sure I meet my diet goal every day until the end of the challenge.

 

Did I set up a forfeit for this challenge? No? No, I didn't... I need something evil and devious and other things with evi in the name, will think of one and post it in a bit. 

 

My Gawain and the Green Knight play's getting a read-through tonight - I really want to go, because it's really helpful having the writer there to clear up any confusing bits I've missed, but it also starts at 9pm and I'm so sleepy. 

[Einar]

That's pretty fascinating!

I know there've been no confirmed attacks by orcas on humans in the wild, but honestly, I'm way more scared of killer whales than sharks. 

(And yeah, I should probably post marine things with my updates this challenge too, it's a great way to get me to learn things. Too knackered today, though.  

Orcas do seem to be more malicious, granted if I was kept in captivity and made to do tricks for food I would try to kill things too. Especially if I am a carnivore/hunter.

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