Elennare Tries Rangering

[Elennare]

Hi Rangers!  I'm Elennare.  I've been on Nerd Fitness for a while now, and have spent that time with the Assassins.  I had a hard time picking between there and the Rangers when I joined, but at the time the Rangers seemed to be focused a lot on running, which I was not into, so I went with Assassins.  I think my real class is Waywatcher, which in my head at least is a hybrid class between the two.  And now my training has most definitely shifted more to the Ranger side of things, so I'm going to come play with you for a bit.

 

What I want to do:  I play roller derby.  My season is coming up soonish.  Slightly less soon than originally thought, as our "fun" bout in May got cancelled, but we start in about 4 months.  I am currently eligible to get drafted to a team, and that will hopefully happen prior to the season starting (the next draft is most likely in May).  I need to get in better shape before the season starts, and that will also help my chances of getting drafted.  I would also love to reduce my body fat %, but I've decided to focus more on improving my sport performance for now.

 

How I'm going to do it:

Roller Derby:  Attend at least 6 practices and/or scrimmages over the course of the challenge.  They can be any combination of league practices, league scrimmages, team practices, and PFM (Potential Fresh Meat - a non-competitive derby club) practices.

 

Weight Lifting:  One session of weight lifting and/or other conditioning exercises with my trainer per week.

 

Diet:  Track what you eat.  Bonus points for staying mostly paleo or for recording calories.

 

Bonus goals:  Run or do yoga on non-practice or weight lifting days.  These will probably become "normal" goals next challenge, depending on how this one goes.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

All I know about roller derby is that it's hardcore. Welcome to the Rangers. I hope you enjoy your stay with us!

[Emerald Eagle]

Nice challenge! Welcome to the Rangers  

 

I completely understand having a hard time choosing a guild! If I'm honest I'm still working mine out. 

[Elennare]

Well, week 0 has been...interesting.  I had to reschedule my lifting session (actually, I think it's been cancelled for this week at this point) because I had a (thankfully mild) cold at the start of the week.  Wednesday morning, Little One (my 3 y.o.) threw up after complaining Tuesday night that his stomach wasn't feeling well. He only did that once and was fine afterwards.  Thursday morning, Husband woke up with the stomach bug.  He was feeling bad enough he needed me to stay home from work to watch the boys.  Yesterday evening, Little Bug (my 5.5 y.o.), got sick.  He had a miserable night, and was still sleeping when I left for work, but probably still not feeling well.  So now I'm REALLY hoping I don't catch it, because I'm sure I'd end up getting it just in time for the challenge to start.   But if I say enough times that I won't get sick, I won't, right?

[Elennare]

I was wrong. The stomach bug got me last night.

 

So today has been laying in bed and eating very little. Not going to practice tonight, and scrimmage tomorrow is currently questionable. I'm going to track my food, though, so the day won't be a complete loss!

[Elennare]

I'm more or less over the stomach bug.  I think.  I hope.  Little One came down with a cold yesterday, which meant Husband and I had to get up multiple times last night to give him medicine.   And it also brought the realization that I am exhausted, mental and physically.  And no real chance for a break any time soon that I can see.  Just lots more stress on the horizon.

 

Challenge status (as of last night):

Roller derby: 0/6

Diet tracking: 2/28

Workouts: 0/4

Bonus points: 0

[Elennare]

Update through day 4:

Roller derby: 0/6

Diet tracking: 4/28

Workouts: 0/4

Bonus points: 0

 

I've got my workout scheduled for this week, so that's good.  Things are going fairly well, so far, especially considering I started the week sick.   I was able to get a bit more sleep, too, so even though things are still crazy, I'm not feeling quite so bad/stressed out.  But I'm ready for everyone to be healthy again.

[Elennare]

Week one wrap-up:

Roller derby: 1/6

Diet tracking: 7/28

Workouts: 1/4

Bonus points: 0

 

Things are going pretty well so far.  Lifted this morning, then went to a team practice.  I'm dead now.   Not sitting somewhere I can use my computer too well at the moment, so I'll come back and add more details later.

[Elennare]

Proper week-one recap:

Started out kinda slow, because I got sick.  There seems to be a LOT of that going around right now.  Didn't get to practice at the start of the week like I expected to, because I needed to work on getting better.  Did that, and also tracked my food.  I have so far actually managed to track everything I've been eating.  And, it's been a lot of junk.  I really need to find a way to be able to stick to eating well when life is crazy, because that seems to be the default setting now.   I'm toying with the idea of starting up calorie counting again...

 

I've somewhat recovered from the complete exhaustion I mentioned a few days ago, but I'm somewhat mystified as to how.  I won't complain, though.

 

Lifted on Saturday.  Lots of upper body stuff.  I found out I can bench more than I thought I could (65lbs!), and also that my elbows can apparently hyper extend.  That makes some exercises interesting, because I hit "almost straight" well before it feels like I do.  So I really need to watch that.

 

Then I went to derby practice.  Got invited to practice with the team I'm hoping to get drafted to, and afterwards I got told that I've improved noticeably since the last time I practiced with them!

 

Then league practice yesterday, where we worked on something I'm really bad at.  It was awesome, though frustrating.  But that's how you get better!

 

I have scrimmage tonight (which I'm kind of debating on going to, because I'm tired, but I really should go so I'll most likely do that), and Little Bug has practice tomorrow, then I'm going on a business trip, then Saturday I have a class, Little Bug has his second bout, and it's my birthday.  How is there so much stuff all at once?!?

 

[Elennare]

Week 2 (plus a day) summary:

Roller derby: 3/6

Diet tracking: 10/28

Workouts: 2/4

Bonus points: 0

 

Week 2 is over, and I'm not dead.  That alone counts as victory!  Got derby practice and scrimmage in, took Little Bug to his practice, went on a 3 day business trip, and then took an all-day class and coached/ref'd Little Bug's bout in the same day (also my birthday).  Food tracking fell off for a few days, but I'll get that straightened out.  Didn't actually do a workout with my trainer, because traveling, but I did some yoga and pilates while I was at the hotel, so I'm counting that as a workout.  Spent pretty much all day yesterday feeling like I'd been hit by a truck (thanks crazy time change/jet lag!) doing nothing, but I really needed it.  Today I only feel like I've been hit by a small car.   Oh yeah, and it's shark week now.  So, I did not go to practice last night, but I will make myself go to scrimmage this evening.  And I'm starting over (yet again) on a concerted effort to eat healthy, because I really haven't been and that's not ok.

 

On to week 3!  With hopefully more frequent updates!  And more exclamation points!

[Elennare]

I did not go to scrimmage last night.  I was not feeling so great on the way home from work, and decided it would be better for my health to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  Plus, I didn't really feel safe to skate and it would ruin everyone's fun if I got hurt, AND Husband and the boys had a rough day and needed me at home.  So, yeah, didn't skate.  That was the right decision.

 

I will be going to the open scrimmage after Little Bug's practice tonight, though!

[Elennare]

Current status:

Roller derby: 4/6

Diet tracking: 12/28

Workouts: 2/4

Bonus points: 0

 

The flat-track scrimmage was fun, but...interesting.  I'm finally getting to the point where I feel like I'm an ok banked track player, but last night I was a hot mess strategy-wise for most of the scrimmage.  "We're stopping?  Oh, right, we stop in this rule set.  Am I supposed to skate backwards to join the other blockers?  There goes the jammer, too late now!" was the tone of the evening.  I was starting to figure it out by the time we finished.  I at least helped get my team's jammer out of the pack a couple of times, and was a bit of an obstacle to be avoided/moved for the other team, so not entirely useless.  And my big bird (basically a skater mentor) was there, and she said she could see improvement from the last time she really watched me skate, so that was cool, too.  It also served as a reminder, though I didn't really need one, of why I prefer banked track.

 

And then Little Bug did my pull up challenge exercises with me.  I thought he was just trying to get out of going to bed, but he actually did the exercises to the best of his ability, with a surprisingly small amount of goofing off!   Yay passing on good habits.

[Elennare]

Week 3 summary!

 

Roller derby: 4/6

Diet tracking: 17/28

Workouts: 3/4

Bonus points: 0

 

Well, I'm still here and I'm still trying.  My food journal hasn't made it's way back into my everyday bag yet, which is why food tracking is falling off.  I got 5ish days tracked, on little slips of paper here and there, though.  Didn't meet with my trainer because he got tickets to a hockey game, sitting two rows behind the bench, for the one time that our schedules lined up this week.  And before anyone gets upset about him being unprofessional, 1) I told him to go to the game instead of working with me, and 2) he's my brother and is working with me for free (he is a professional trainer, though).   You'll notice I did mark off a workout for week 3. That's because I did a fair bit of exercise on my own.  Working on getting a pull up.  I did enough stuff that it counts. 

 

Aside from tracking, my diet is terrible right now.  I know it, but I've just been so tired lately that it's really hard to plan and cook to eat well.  Also, my allergies have been going NUTS the last week or so, which isn't helping matters.  Especially since it's now gotten to the point where I need to take Benedryl for at least a day or two to get it under control, which totally knocks me out.  Still trying, but it's hard.  And frustrating.  Because I know I should be doing better, but the easy choice has been winning lately.  That post from near the start of the challenge about being exhausted?  That's still true, and it is not helping things.  I don't know how I can fix it, though.  Just keep doing what I can, I guess...

[Sloth the Enduring]

Tracking is the worst; it's too bad it's so effective.

[Elennare]

I don't think it's really helping me at the moment, though.  Because I'm writing stuff down, but all I'm doing is looking at it going, yep, I ate that.  Probably not the best choice.  And then continuing on.  I'm really debating right now between taking another stab at eating paleo, or counting calories.  I've had success with both methods, and I have issues with both methods.  I like paleo because I don't really have to try to measure everything on my plate and (at least the first time I did it) it works as long as I make sure to eat lots of veggies, and I feel pretty good eating that way.  Calorie counting is good, too, because I have a bit more flexibility in grabbing stuff when I'm busy and/or just too tired, but it's really hard to do when I'm cooking food.  *sigh*  I know I need to change something, but it needs to be a something I can stick with, and I am having a really hard time figuring out what that is right now.

[Elennare]

Challenge wrap up!

 

Started out pretty well, and then crashed and burned. I end the challenge with the cold I've been fighting off for a week and a half having got me. I tried to pretend it was just allergies, but it was not. And I've been burning the candle at both ends for too long, so of course I get sick. Just in time for Easter. Probably not going to practice tomorrow, which means I'll have to hit all the rest of them plus a makeup or I won't meet my minimum attendance for the month. :/

 

Anyway, I think my family is home with soup for me, so I'm going to eat that and probably go back to sleep. Better luck next challenge, I guess.