It begins with a challenge

I've recently been challenged to get fit with a friend of mine from fitocracy. Sounds great right? Finally get that body I've always wanted, feel better about myself, have more energy all around, who wouldn't want that right? But it's those pre-planning stages where I get trapped. I like to go big, and I know I do it. I want to do more push-ups, pull-ups, and planks. I want to lift more weight. I want better cardio. I want those rock hard abs. I want to do yoga and martial arts. I need to hike more and no surprise through all of this I won't give up rock climbing. So how do you fit this all into a week without your entire life being dedicated to fitness? I *want* to do it all, and since I'm not interested in doing much of a diet going big is a good way to help counter act that.

Ooops I said the forbidden word...diet. Everyone needs to stop jumping up and down for a second and let me explain. Yes I understand that to lose weight you need less calories (but not starve yourself). Yes I understand that to gain muscle you need protein. Yes I understand that you need the right kinds of foods and lots of "American" foods will give you name-your-favorite-disease. But let me spell this out once: I won't do it. I have tried the counting calories and discovered that if you ask 3 different people how much you should eat you'll get 7 different answers. I have tried cutting out things from my diet and what ends up happening is I have a bad day and eat an entire pizza (or whatever). What I need to do it something I can live with. Hence the statement I made a while ago, and that's all the diet you're ever going to get out of me. I may cut out pop though. I should probably do that much.

The next step everyone seems to ask is "what do you want to look like?" this I feel is equally hard for me. I can point you to pictures easily, I want to look like that! But wait! How many of those people are real? To say it another way is it an accurate goal? Sure I'd love to look like but is that because she's a buxom tall dark exotic beauty? Because no matter how hard I workout, diet, wear different cloths, there is no way I'm becoming a tall dark exotic beauty. I know people who freak out that strong women will get big and bulky...have no fear I am not in that camp. I know better. What's more important to me is how I feel (how very zen of me) and that's not something you can really put down in a goal or track progress with. I know people who put smilies next to days to track their mood, but that's not really what I mean.

At some point I'll figure out some goals, take some measurements and share to the darkness of the internets. Who knows maybe someday I'll be able to turn heads in a dress (not just because omg she's actually wearing a dress) and have that self-confidence thing people keep talking about. Until then, it's quite possible that I'll be living at the gym or the office for the foreseeable future.

14,270 ft

I finally made it, I've now hiked a 14'er does this mean I'm a Coloradan now? Probably not until I participate in winter sports. But hey I'm getting closer! I am not going to pretend that this was easy for me, it was a brutal hike especially when I tried to keep up with those fast long legged friends of mine. I got up a 2am, managed to pull on my hiking boots and eat some oatmeal and headed out to meet everyone at the parking lot at work. We drove up, got out of the car into a much colder environment, strapped on a headlamp and started up the mountain. Round trip it's only 7-8 miles (depending on if you go up Grey's Peak *and* Torrey Peak)

I was the slow one. Legs were fine but it took about half the hike before my lungs stopped feeling like they were dying. Ironically I felt much better at around 13,000ft than I did at 11,000ft, though I could have just been delusional at that point :) The hike cleared 3000ft elevation gain, took about 5 hours, and got us back to the office before noon.

After I came down I was in awe of another friend of mine who has been up Mt. Rainier several times and runs around all the time. This is what she said to me:

Suffering is part of the bargain you make with the mountain - Anna Askren

I feel this is very apt. I got to the top of a beautiful mountain, with fresh air, friends, and just a thrill running through my entire body and soul. But I did have to suffer to get there. I think it was a good bargain. I'm already itching to do it again. Maybe I'll do more than one this year, before the cold weather sets in. Maybe Colorado will make a hiker outta me yet.

And the list continues

As I am lazily sitting here not doing much except a little house cleaning, I'll continue the list I started (which will shame me into doing both yard work and going to the gym)

11. Don't Whine or Complain I'm working on it ;)

12. Don't Overdo the "Core" Work Everything does work the core so you don't need to spend all your time doing thousands of crunches. I know from climbing my core is pretty good, although insulated

13. Enjoy the Journey Yes this is important. This is one of the reasons why I never follow a strict diet, I need to still love life and enjoy every minute of it

14. Don't Rely and Curls and Extensions for Sexy Arms From what I've gathered it's all about body weight exercises and those are my favorites.

15. Don't be Afraid to Get Strong For those who know me... not a problem

16. Eat Food. Real Food Read back a few posts and I've already figured this one out

17. Eat your Protein Steaks for Dinner!

18. Embrace the Power of Rows Yes Ma'm

19. Don't be Afraid to Train Alone I have no problem training alone... it's the training in a crowded gym that always turns up my shyness

20. Someday's You Won't Feel Like Training. Suck it up, Sister I struggle with this one, but I guess I need to get a little more aggressive about sticking to schedules

Empty Your Mind

Rock climbing is about stripping away the complexities of the day to day and focusing on the simple joy of moving against gravity. It’s pulling with your arms. Pushing with your legs. It’s moving fast and light, diving headlong into a challenge, rather than backing away. It’s finesse and strength, technique and skill. And when all the hoopla and preconceptions are removed it’s about having fun. Pure and Simple.

Way too much on my mind recently, on top of that work is stressful and things I had completely forgotten have resurfaced in my brain. I've always had an active mind, I think in general it's a great thing, however it's now trying to take it's toll on me between the stress and the lack of sleep. Something must be done about it, going to have to get a bit creative about it this time. If nothing else I can use it as motivation to keep working out, maybe if I step it up I'll exhaust myself into sleeping!

Alright, back to boring workout stuffs. Nia Shanks yet again came up with an awesome list (or maybe she got it from somewhere else, honestly I don't remember) that needs to be up front on my mind instead of all the other crap. I like to think of it to the tune of that song "Sunscreen" (which also reminds me, no matter what a stripper tells you, there is no sex in the champagne room)

1. Lift Heavy Stuff One of my favorites, still in double digits but those triples are coming up very soon

2. If you're going to do conditioning, do real conditioning While I understand the concept, dear lord do I hate running. I keep getting told that there is a sweet spot in there somewhere, one can only hope

3. Train for Performance Running into my old climbing coach reminded me of my skill, being graceful, so I'm training towards that end and I am seeing some improvements. Still need to jump a bit though :/

4. Squat Sure thing

5. Deadlift Why not?

6. Dominate your Bodyweight One of my proudest items, I can always do at least 1 pull up, non-girl pushups, etc. That and I climb all the time if that doesn't dominate my body weight nothing will!

7. Be the Best You Possible This one I struggle with... so...um.. yeah, it's on the list

8. You're Never too Good for the Basics Well I'm at the basics, so this one is a bit moot

9. Work that Booty Been told I have a nice ass... ;)

10. Get Off the Scale With pleasure

Alright, there are 20 more, not interested in listing them all out tonight, and I'm sure it would bore anyone bothering to read this. So I'll bore you another day. Until then I'll try and see if I can actually get to sleep tonight. If not...it's going to be a long weekend.

Home Again, Home Again

I read an article once that said that you shouldn't take a vacation at the end of the project, you should do it before the end when you need it most. Though I didn't have that in mind, it's kinda what I did. Work is getting a bit crazy and I'm looking at a lot of hard work and potentially long hours. With that in mind I jetted off for the weekend to visit some friends for their first annual pig roast!

This event was the roasting of a 62lb pig in a china box. Basically you place the pig in a box, put the coals on top, seal it up and let it roast for 4+ hours. Makes a convection oven, super awesome. The pig came out wonderful, crisp skin, tender meat. Wonderful.

In addition to the pig there was a fully stocked bar, giant jenga, and cornhole (to which I became part of an undefeated team, right combination of witty banter and booze I hit the sweet spot of the bell curve)

All in all, it was a great trip. Now I can get back to the grind stone of work and exercise. Yard work too. Fun times.

Go Big, Limp Home

I’m on day 3 of beautiful badass and today I did my first jog/run (with the aid of zombies) I find it amusing how the badass program (selected the weight loss one for starters because well that’s the first goal aside from becoming crazy strong) is a nice easy workout (easy also means low fitocracy points, oh well). Yes I am sore and it’s working, but it’s not like a pumped up hour long workout, it’s easy to finish and I feel the burn afterwards. Then there’s the C25k program, which right now has me intimidated to even start. I’m glad I signed up to do a 5k.. .that might actually force me to do it.. but in the same breath... wtf did I get myself into? It should be a fun 5k, not the Run for Your Lives obstacle 5k, this one is just run and get covered in colors and end up looking light an art class gone wrong. It’s quite possible that when I go into work the next day (or week) I will still be colored at least a little bit. Better make sure not to touch the cat before I’ve jumped in the shower for an hour or so.

Doing a crazy amount of climbing... I’m getting better and moving on to some of the more challenging climbs. Pretty good recovery given my sprained ankle in February, and I’m thinking more mental here than actual sprain recovery time. I love this sport so much, it’s like a breath of fresh air every time : ) I did manage to cut up my one hand from climbing so frequently, and during my run today I cut my ankle. Hard core or stupid, take your pick.

Been eating food, which is good. Cooking more which is also good. On other non-healthy/fitness news I’ve picked up my violin again. As of right now I’ve managed to play a scale and break my E string while tuning it. Not bad for having the violin sit in a closet untouched for 10+ years. I’m getting new strings for it and hopefully I’ll be able to re-string it and tune it up (again) and start playing more things.

Got a lot of work to do this week (at work) along with general working out. Then fly to Seattle for a party! Woot!

Summer Hikes... so far :)

So far this year I have completed 3 hikes (sad, I know, but I'm renewing my dedication as you will read below)

The first hike was up in Boulder outside of NCAR. I went up with Leigh and Adam and his task master of a dog, Junior. This hike wore me out badly, we went a bit longer than we originally planned (though we didn't really plan...problem #1) but I still had a blast.

Second hike was in Deer Creek Canyon and was super close to home. I did this one with some new friends: Ed(from Fitocracy), John and Liz. I ended up not taking any pictures but that doesn't diminish the beauty of the area. I plan to go back and I'll be taking tons of pictures when I do. It was a short hike only around 3 miles, but at least I didn't die like I did with #1.

The third hike I did by myself. I've never done a hike by myself before but I've always seen people on the trail by themselves so I figured I would give it a shot. Wow what an experience! You get to take the time to chase butterflies, talk with chipmunks, and just stop and watch the trees blow in the breeze. I had a wonderful time and didn't really see anyone on the trail. It was 11 miles which ended up hurting my feet (grabbed the wrong socks and got 2 blisters on each foot) in the end though I loved it and will be going out again as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll hit something this weekend, even if it isn't a long hike (11 miles was pretty long for me right now) but just to get out, be moving, and enjoy that fresh air!

Turning Over a New Leaf

So I haven’t written here in a long time, but I’m turning over a new leaf and I do find that writing is a very cathartic activity so maybe I’ll actually continue and stick with this for a while. A lot of stuff on here will be semi-fitness and health related. Not because I find it so utterly fascinating to talk about but because I’m hoping that writing it out will force me to be held accountable to the unknown masses of the internet. I’ll also touch on my garden, life with foxes in the back yard, knitting, and general thoughts and wonderings that I come across. That being said, let’s start with this fitness thing....

Recently I’ve jumped back onto the fitness bandwagon. Largely thanks to Fitocracy... incredibly addicting (at least to me) and really motivates me. (I also just got ‘Zombie’s Run!’ so I might be addicted to that soon and increase my non-existent running program. Because of this I have lost about 20 lbs and have received several comments that I’m looking much better. That being said I still have a ways to go. I did get a personal trainer, who is an awesome person, but we just don’t agree on many fitness points of view. For instance, I shouldn’t lift heavy because then I’ll get big... yeah... from everything I’ve read and real people I’ve looked at, that’s not actually true. Yet I can’t argue it with her because she believes she’s right (and technically I was paying her for that kind of information) and so we clashed a bit. So now I’m doing things on my own. I’ve setup a ridiculous workout schedule in my google calendar which covers the C25k program (might not do) and one of the Beautiful Badass workouts (www.niashanks.com/beautiful-badass/) which covers the next 2 months of my life. Trying to fit in swimming in there too so I can get my scuba certification. This sounds like a lot, but one of the days is already a “fun day” with hiking or biking, several of the days are just wake up and go for a brisk walk in the morning. And unlike with the trainer, I can do these workouts over lunch and often times they only take about 30 minutes instead of 60. All kinds of pluses!

In addition I’m going to go back to my old “diet” strategy from Michael Pollan: Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not to much. It sounds simple and isn’t complicated like all the other meal plans out there that I should be able to stick with (also mentioned in the Beautiful Badass program, under a different name). I’ve got nothing against those who are interested in Paelo, or macros, or some other eating strategy...though some of the fad diets I do take offense to. I’m sure that Paelo works great for people, counting calories I’m sure works great too, but you know what? I won’t be able to sustain that kind of living for the rest of my life. I can eat food and not go out to fast food all the time. I can make sure there is a vegetable on the plate (my mom will laugh because that was always the big challenge when I was growing up) and I can not eat a huge portion followed by 2nds or 3rds. That is something I can do for the rest of my life. (Another thing my trainer and I butted heads against.... I needed to eat 1500+ calories even before working out, this is a huge amount of food for me and guess what...didn’t drop a lb working with her)

I will not go all out and constantly write about what I am eating or how much I weigh or what my measurements are. That being said I will post once a month or so my progress (as shy as I am to post such things, it is about that accountability right?) I will have it on the side bar and I'll do my best to take those measurements tomorrow morning (since morning is better ;) )

I have also eaten real food with vegetables for the past 2 days. The hot weather here has really made me eat too much fast food, mostly because I don’t want to turn on the stove or oven to cook and there’s only so many “cold’ foods I enjoy. I’m also adding to my calendar a meal plan for the week with some ingredients. The biggest problem I have is that I’m ready to leave work and I’m trying to think of what to have for dinner and I can’t think of anything, Or the things I think of I don’t have the recipe in front of me so I can’t figure out what I need to get. So I thought, what if I made a list of a few things and put the ingredients into my calendar? I’ll give it a shot. Never been a meal planner before, but lets see if this doesn’t help a bit.

That’s it for now. Turning over my new fitness leaf and trying to get back to being super awesome (physically). Lots of climbing, lifting, maybe some running or kickboxing or swimming, and getting back to my love of cooking!