Tourennatrix goes to the Xavier Institute - P2

[tourennatrix]

 

Term is just about to start and I've got my schedule. Doesn't look like a whole lot on paper, but if there's one thing I've learned about the institute in the past month of getting settled, it's that looks can be deceiving. The Science of Mutation with Dr McCoy looks to be a real challenge, and Mutant Heritage: Explorations Through Sound with Ms. Monroe looks to be a pleasant diversion before lunch. Though I think it mentions something about a performance as part of the final grade? Yeep! The last class on the list is simply called Danger Room Prep. The only class description I could find was “required for admittance into Danger Room.” I tracked down one of the other students taking the class and they said it was pretty brutal- they drop tests on you without notice (really, it could be in the middle of another class or while you're asleep!), and you have to pass some number of them in a row before they will allow you to pass the class. Crazy! Looks like I'll have to work extra hard outside of class to make sure I can keep up!

 

Oh, and I may have gone a little overboard with spending my sponsorship money last month, so I have to be extra frugal this month. Looks like fewer trips off campus to get snacks, and I'll just have to see what sort of grub I can find at the mansion.

 

It's going to be a doozy of a month, and the challenge has multiple parts to it. There are parts to deal with the fact that mornings are freaking harrrd and parts that embrace the fact that maybe, just maybe, I can have a few good mornings here and there. There are parts that deal with husband leaving town for nearly 2 weeks, parts that will help me get in touch with my musical creativity, parts that will get me bendy. Oh right, and this part:

 

 

 

*Kermit flail*AAAAH I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING (but apparently I'm studying to get a personal trainer certification? Meep?)

 

So without further ado, let's get on to the actual challenge. Warning: some of this might look familiar.

 

DAILY STUFF

Morning routine

Evening activity

Snacks & H2O

Bedtime routine

 

WEEKLY STUFF

Weekly plan X1

Music practice X3

Study 30 min X4*

Yoga X3*

Workout X2

Something about Arm Balances and another something about Flexibility Challenge?

 

DEETS

 

 

Morning:

Pick 1: (30 min) yoga or study*

Pick 2: Breakfast, Sun Salutations, PT, Shower

 

Evening: (or, post-morning)

Capoeira, bodyweight training, dance, evening yoga, etc. Basically, movement to make up for sitting at a desk all day.

 

Bedtime:

Tooth brushins

Select something from my arsenal of relaxation techniques and do them as needed. Yoga Nidra, I'm looking at you.

Bed by 11 or earlier on work nights.

 

Snacks & H2O:

Snacks monitored on workdays. Just trying to limit bad juju.

Water tracked daily, 8+ cups/day

 

Music:

Music practice can be anything, inside or out of class: playing my pandeiro (and trying new things), mimicking instruments I don't have, singing (added focus on breathing/volume).

 

Extra Credit (or lack thereof!)

I am revoking my own rights to my credit card for the month of January. I haven't gotten behind on my balance, but it's letting me ignore all the hard work I'm putting into my budget every weekend, and getting dangerously close to turning into debt debt. I will certainly be missing out on accruing points, but hopefully I will only need one month to get my mind back on my budget This should help in the breakfast and snacks department as I will be planning my groceries a little more carefully!

 

Other challenges:

Husband will be going to Seattle for almost 2 weeks. During this time I will be temporarily vacating my apartment and going back to the house to keep an eye on things- namely Atlas, Cave Johnson, and Monkey. I expect these weeks to be a challenge, but hopefully not super hard. Only time will tell.
 

 

 

*some of this stuff is HARD MODE, and I am not allowed to feel guilty about missing it. Mornings are Hard. I liked the idea of studying in the morning because intellectually it's a good time for it. However, if I don't do it in the morning, that's fine. My weekly goals, especially yoga, are aggressive. So if I don't meet them, it's okay.

 

Bring it!

 

[Cataleya]

Following along, both here and on instagram! I promise I'll be around more this time.

[Jonesy]

Omg I love your Spider Gwen hoodie! PS following you on Instagram.  

[Mad Hatter]

The challenge might be on hard mode but you're going to do amazing. Because you're awesome. And squeee personal training cert! That's great. (And it will come in handy when you'll start teaching all those budding capoieristas one day. )

[tourennatrix]

Week zero prep is a go! This evening I went to the grocery store pretending I had a plan and so far it looks pretty good. Biggest hurdles with the no credit card thing and the morning thing and the snacks thing is that I need food figured out, realistically. 

 

Since I'm not focusing specifically on limiting/eliminating certain kinds of foods, or tracking calories at the moment, prep looks a bit like this:

 

Breakfast:

Oj, frittata (in the oven now)

 

Snacks:

Cottage cheese, nut crackers. Also a couple clif bars left over from last week.

 

Lunch and dinners:

Baked chicken (just came out of the oven, should last a number of meals), butternut squash ravioli (a treat!), Some veggies left over from the frittata plus some broc for my new steamer, and plenty of quinoa and pasta for filler. 

 

Dinner on Thursday is budgeted for a cheap restaurant close to my therapist's office.

 

Definitely not ideal fitness-wise, but seems to fit the budget reasonably. As long as I don't have a meltdown of "ANYTHING BUT THIS" in the middle of the week, I should be set

 

Now to munch on some chicken before going to capoeira!

[karinajean]

I am having butternut squash RISOTTO this week, what a beautiful coincidence!

 

Nice to see another budget-tightener, January is going to be THE THRIFTIEST.

[tourennatrix]

5 minutes ago, karinajean said:

 

Nice to see another budget-tightener, January is going to be THE THRIFTIEST.

It really will be (or better be). I have rent budgeted out a month ahead but everything else is just squeaking by at the moment. Things like gym membership and capoeira intensive dues are coming up and I need to find ways to cover this stuff!

[raptron]

YOU GOT THISSSS.

[imjustarogue]

Super proud of my sister stepping out of her comfort bubble to learn fitness training (even if the book is super horribly designed with copy in justified, double-space, and early 90s graphic design cover). <3

[tourennatrix]

Oh right, I started that neat daily recap thing last challenge and that helped keep track of things. I should keep doing that. 

 

Day 0.1 Sunday

Morning: ACTION, breakfast, shower

Evening: Dance

Snacks: N/A

H2O: Yes

Evening: N/A

 

This was my New Years Eve v2.0, because NYE was just kinda bleh. Lots of drinks and tuna pizza, lots of dancing, lots of playing Final Fantasy XI with Husband just like old times. WAS AWESOME.

 

Day 0.2 Monday

Morning: ACTION, Sun salutations

Evening: PT, Capoeira

Snacks: N/A

H2O: yes

Evening: yes

 

Mostly chill day. Ended with a trip to the grocery store and making frittata and chicken and portion out some snacks for the week. 

Capoeira was a bit more productive than Saturday, in that we actually practiced some basics and I didn't get dizzy  I just ended up super exhausted because L is talkative. But it was good. And animal drills. L hated animal drills. It was awesome XD

Did a body scan to chill out before bed. Didn't do too much to relax, but felt really good.

 

*whew*

[tourennatrix]

Day 0.3 Tuesday

Morning: YOGA, breakfast, shower

Evening: workout (including PT)

Snacks: yes

H2O: yes

Evening: yes

 

Oh lordy this was hard you guys. 

(1) I need to get it through my head that if I feel just an inkling OK with getting up, 7-15 minutes more in bed is not going to make me more OK with getting up. In fact it is likely to make it that much worse. Either get up at 5:54 when the sleep tracker thinks it's safe to wake you up, or throw in the towel on all of the things you wanted to do in the morning and set the next alarm for a full hour (or more) later and you might feel more rested. (Don't do that second option.)

(2) Yoga first thing in the morning was surprisingly uncomfortable I think maybe next time I will shower first to get my muscles warmed up first?

(3) Protip: when eating frittata cold, take it out of the fridge a good 10 minutes before eating. Otherwise it's like biting into, I dunno, cold okra lasagna. So cold. So slimy.

(4) I realized how "pleasant" work was last week with one of our number off on vacation. Today she walked in and it took some effort to not immediately reach for my therapy headphones. I waited at least 3 minutes.

(5) first day back after vacation and [everyone wants everything done and phone calls too frequent to do our main work and "my computer is broken" and "I can't log in" and "corporate is never tells us anything" and "IT doesn't know what they're doing"] and then I go to the bathroom and almost start crying at the shock of how quiet it is in comparison. (This, my friends, is the reason for the headphones. Sadly, while they do help me drown out some of the distractions, they don't actually block any of the sound. It was rough.

(6) but then I went to the gym and BAMFED SHIT UP.

 

2 laps

2 minute abs X2
20sec plank

Cable chops 2x10 up and down

Chin up negatives 3x3*
Forearm leg raise x5
Forearm knee raise x5
2x set:
-5/ea shrimp squats
-10 TRX row

 

*Super slow. Like the first one took like 30 seconds to full extension? I dunno, I wasn't timing. But I WAS breathing. And I kept my shoulder blades active and my core tight. My neck totally did that strained popping tendons look, and I had to stop a number of times to stretch out my forearms- then had Husband massage them thoroughly afterwards. I'm going to feel this one later.

 

Worth it.

 

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, tourennatrix said:

(2) Yoga first thing in the morning was surprisingly uncomfortable I think maybe next time I will shower first to get my muscles warmed up first?

 

I hate doing basically anything first thing in the morning as I just feel weak and stiff and uncoordinated. Takes a bit of time for me to warm up. But it's completely natural, it's just our circadian rhythm. Typically hoomins are in top shape around early afternoon, though of course that will depend hugely from person to person. But you could either try doing it after a shower like you said, or just add a reaaally long warm up. It could also have been an off day, some mornings will feel worse than others. Or accept the discomfort.  

 

1 hour ago, tourennatrix said:

*Super slow. Like the first one took like 30 seconds to full extension? I dunno, I wasn't timing. But I WAS breathing. And I kept my shoulder blades active and my core tight.

 

NICE!!! That's about the point when I started doing eccentrics. 

[RogueLibrarian]

9 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

(6) but then I went to the gym and BAMFED SHIT UP.

 

YES. THIS is what I've learned: this makes everything better.

 

Good work, Trix.

[otterbyte]

9 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

but then I went to the gym and BAMFED SHIT UP.

 

Hells yeah! 

[Asa Pond]

Mornings are the worst and I am super bad at pressing that snooze button. I feel you. 

 

I'm super excited to be motivated by your success for my next challenge.  

[tourennatrix]

This morning I woke up, did some movement to continue waking up, and sat down to study with my mug of oj. 20 minutes of actually reading and noting new material, then like half an hour of drawing and coloring a heart diagram, because this was obviously Very Important XD

 

 

[RedStone]

On 1/1/2017 at 11:41 PM, tourennatrix said:

 

*Kermit flail*AAAAH I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING (but apparently I'm studying to get a personal trainer certification? Meep?)

 

 

LONG over do, but here for all the reasons, ESPECIALLY THIS! ^^^ omg I have no idea. Yet here we are. STUDY BUDDIES! Lets rock this ish!!!  

[tourennatrix]

5 minutes ago, RedStone said:

 

LONG over do, but here for all the reasons, ESPECIALLY THIS! ^^^ omg I have no idea. Yet here we are. STUDY BUDDIES! Lets rock this ish!!!  

!

 

Which cert are you going for/how long have you been studying? 

[tourennatrix]

I finished reading chapter 1! Took about a week and a half, and I've still got the 1.5 hour video class to watch and some review materials online to browse through. The summary of the chapter basically said "you have to understand your client on a cellular level in order to not fuck them up royally."

 

Other nuggets of knowledge from tonight's reading include:

* The two lungs, located in the chest cavity, are essential respiratory organs.

* Breathing, or ventilation, is the actual process of moving air in and out of the body.

 

I'm having fun with this. It is also super terrifying. 

 

I got this...

[tourennatrix]

Day 0.4 Wednesday

Morning: ACTION, breakfast, shower

Evening: capoeira (including music), more Action

Snacks: yes

H2O: yes

Evening: yes

 

Class was super fun Girafa and L were there, so he kept us going on the fundamentals (in a much more cohesive way than I would have). We ended up doing some back-and-forth kicking/escaping "mini games" which eventually turned into real games for me and Girafa because we hadn't *really* played in over a week or two. It felt cool to be the senior student (when I was more on my game) but L showed me up by buying into games without being prompted. Gah, I still can't tell when to be a good "quiet student" and observe, and when to be a good "outgoing student"

 

When I got home, I fixed some dinner and finished the last section of my chapter (woot!). At bedtime I practiced some belly breathing which either relaxed me or bored me, because I did get sleepy fairly quickly  (also likely: I was SUOER exhausted from the last 2 evenings XD )

 

 

 

As the weather turns to another cold snap, I am finding temperature regulation overnight to be tricky. It's chilly at bedtime, so I need my extra blankie, but by morning the apartment heating has overcompensated and I need neither of my blankies. Before I am awake enough to fix this, I overheat and my dreams go even more crazy than normal. *Sigh* I will either figure it out or I will just have weird sleep until it warms up again >_<

 

This morning's Protip: don't try to yoga right after applying lotion. Downward dog is not pretty when your hands slip on the mat and you faceplant (note: this did not actually happen, but felt like it would )

[SkiBlue]

Human bodily functions... *shudder* Props for getting PT cred. That's awesome! Imma bug you for advice to test you!  

 

What I usually do when it gets really cold is take a hot shower or bath right before bed. This warms me up so that I don't need but the basic bed necessities. I try to keep the room on the cool side, like I usually would at any other point in the year, and I've warmed up underneath the blanket without much temperature change by the time I fall asleep, because the spots that are unbearably cold have been heated by the water earlier. I'm getting even more progressively closer to the cave-like bedroom for sleeping. 

[RogueLibrarian]

23 hours ago, Asa Pond said:

Mornings are the worst and I am super bad at pressing that snooze button. I feel you. 

 

I've been *so* bad about the snooze button this week. Students aren't back yet, I have no appointments all week, and literally nobody cares if I show up on time. Dangerous combination.

 

10 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

I'm having fun with this. It is also super terrifying. 

 

That's a great combination, though! It means you're doing something new and big.

[imjustarogue]

10 hours ago, tourennatrix said:

I finished reading chapter 1! Took about a week and a half, and I've still got the 1.5 hour video class to watch and some review materials online to browse through. The summary of the chapter basically said "you have to understand your client on a cellular level in order to not fuck them up royally."

 

Other nuggets of knowledge from tonight's reading include:

* The two lungs, located in the chest cavity, are essential respiratory organs.

* Breathing, or ventilation, is the actual process of moving air in and out of the body.

 

I'm having fun with this. It is also super terrifying. 

 

I got this...

LET ME MAKE SURE YOU ARE VENTILATED!

[tourennatrix]

I am also highly amused by the concept of "life is an (almost) endless cycle of inspiration and expiration" 

 

Yay vocabulary! #cunninglinguist

[tourennatrix]

Well guys, I did it. It took nearly every dish I had to figure out what the heck I was doing, but I made a meal. Not just dinner; a meal. Like with multiple parts. And it didn't taste like ass by the end  (and I have at least 2 more meal's worth left over, geeze)

 

Butternut squash ravioli.

Vodka sauce (actually warmed up instead of just dumped cold from the jar into the pasta) with some of my baked chicken cut up and thrown in. Then spooned nicely in top of the ravioli.

Steamed broccoli and cauliflower with butter and light seasoning.

Served on a plate instead of mashed into a bowl.

 

...And then I ate it on my yoga mat because that's the second most comfortable spot in the apartment XD

 

***

 

I want to add "clean sink" to my nightly goals, but I hesitate to really add anything else, for sanity's sake. Especially since the next 2 weeks I will be going back to my house to watch the pets in Husband's absence. Damn we have a weird living situation to talk about >_>

 

THAT BEING SAID, I have managed to remember to brush my teeth every night this week, thanks ENTIRELY to the challenge. I'd be crawling into bed and I'd suddenly remember that I wanted to keep that streak going. As simple as it seems, I don't really recall being this compelled by any other challenge component. Perhaps because it is just SO simple? And in the evening when I have more energy, rather than trying to do things that are SO simple first thing in the morning