DAY 42

Trouble sleeping last few nights. Last night I was soundly asleep then my radiator started clanking louder than it's ever been, for minutes on end. When it became apparent it was possessed to torment me, I tried turning the knob to, I don't know, make something change, to no avail. I gave up, tried to go back to sleep (but only after smacking it a couple of times with a blunt object and crying) and it finally turned off on its own. What made it incredibly frustrating is that it had taken me a long while to fall asleep initially because of the cats' shenanigans. Le sigh. 

Good news, the 4-5-6 train is fully restored! GO MTA! Wow, NEVER thought I'd say that.

Gotta head to work early in a second, because even though service is restored, I'm sure it's clogged as hell, and I still need to figure out how to get to Atlantic Center.

Did some different stuff today, just to switch it up:

Workout Summary:
Jumping Jacks
50
50

Superman
60 sec

30 sec

Half Pistol Squat (really need to up the ante on leg work; these seem to be the ticket)
6 reps
6 reps

Decline Push-Up (these were good/tough; I think they're what I need to move through my plateau)
8 reps
10 reps
5 reps
6 reps

Frog Stand

8 sec (slipped out of this one, then my second attempt I almost fell on my face. But I prevailed!)
35 sec

-C

DAY 41

Didn't make it to volunteering, slept in too late, which I feel shitty about, but I made up for it by organizing clothes to donate. I'm about to run to the grocery store before catching a ride into Manhattan with my friend's boyfriend.  Apparently they have a 3 person per car minimum for crossing the bridges. Crazy.

Also, cranked out my 1600 words for the day for NaNoWriMo. Gotta do some brainstorming in my downtime at work; I get that the point is to just crank out material, but I think I need to make some world-building decisions before progressing much further.

Also, my Frog is coming along nicely.

Workout Summary
Jumping Jacks:
50
Mountain Climbers:
10 reps
12 reps
10 reps
Burpee:
6 reps
8 reps
6 reps
Frog Stand:
17 sec
39 sec
37 sec
One-Arm Dumbbell Row:
8 lb x 20 reps
8 lb x 20 reps
8 lb x 20 reps

Peace and love to all,

C

DAY 39 & 40: NaNoWriMo; Volunteering; Halloween!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Two of my four costumes:

DragRobin Returns for All Hallow's Eve!

PETER PAN NOT LINK DAMMIT

I may have gotten carried away this year, but thanks to Sandy, Halloween has been extended until through next week. I have yet to pull together my Poison Ivy and Devil costumes, but at least one of them will make an appearance.

Today is the start of NaNoWriMo! I signed up! If you're one of my many creative friends and you're reading this, you should too! Misery loves company. I mean, the more the merrier! No, but RealTalk: I've wanted to write a novel for a reaaaaally long time, and I am absolutely determined to have something finished at the end of November.  It will be rough. But instead of thinking of it as a terrifying, half-formed-scaly-blob-harlequin-fetus of a novel; I will look forward to December 1st as the day my adorable, wobbly newborn giraffe of first draft stands up on its spindly baby-legs for the first time and totters around bumping into things. See?! Cute! Baby giraffe. Baby giraffe. That will be my NaNoWriMo mantra.

Yesterday was a rest day, and today I tackled Day 3 of Week 2 of the Push Up challenge. I think I am going to Do-Over Week 2,  because the fifth set literally had me crying in a heap on the floor. I managed to get out the 15 reps of the last set, but the last 5 of those were spaced out. I haven't pushed myself that hard in a while, but it felt good. It was really cleansing, actually.  I look forward to the end of next week when those 15 reps will be waaay easier.

A big part of why my progress slowed has been, well, the insanity of this past week.  Stuck in my neighborhood of Brooklyn (and having gotten absurdly lucky, what with still having power, water, heat, etc), I've gotten a bit stir crazy and have just been staying up way too late, drinking more than usual and eating candy and other junk. I don't regret the candy last night, because it was an awesome childhood regression moment, but I digress.

Starting tomorrow, I am rising at a godly hour and making myself productive.  I was really hit by a blast of survival guilt today as I heard sirens in the distance for what seems like the hundred thousandth time. Tomorrow I am going to Hunter College in the morning to see if they still need volunteers to help with the people camping out there (Come with me!).

Today's Workout:
Jumping Jacks:
50-50
PushUps:
12-13-10-10-15(I'm not counting the 15 as consecutive though; I had to take a few rests and the last 5 were all stand alone)
RollingPlankofDoom:
20sec-30sec-15sec
Jump Squat:
11-15-9-9-17

My forearms already hurt. Time to hot/cold shower it up, then crank out another 800 words for NaNoWriMo.

Peace
C

DAY 38

My workout yesterday was far more mild, so today I upped the ante. I'm especially proud of my 37 second Frog Stand (I had my friend time me with a stop watch on  those, for the record).

Workout Summary (Fitocracy)

Jumping Jacks
50 jumping jacks

Superman
30 sec
60 sec
25 sec

One-Arm Dumbbell Row
8 lb x 20 reps
8 lb x 22 reps
8 lb x 21 reps

Body Weight Bulgarian Split Squat
11 reps
16 reps
8 reps

Static Wall Sit
45 sec
60 sec
25 sec

Mountain Climbers
10 reps
10 reps
6 reps

Frog Stand
19 sec
37 sec
10 sec

Subways are still down, though we have limited bus service. Doesn't look like I'll be leaving Brooklyn till at least the weekend; time to catch up on Supernatural, write some new cover letters, and be productive.  Though tonight I believe I will put on make up with my other actor friends down the street and take photos. Make your own fun, kids!

DAYS 31-37

Final week of the challenge, and this has been the longest I've gone between updates.  I'm sitting here hunkered down in my apt as Sandy rages outside; I'm pretty far inland in Brooklyn and fortunately still have power.  I've done all my emergency prep and I'm pretty sure my former Boy Scout brothers would approve of my work. I'm sitting here in cargo pants with a flashlight and knife at my waist, batteries and matches in my pockets, with a backpack full of supplies ready should the worst occur. At this point it seems unlikely, but I kind of had a lot of fun preparing; imagining myself as bad ass military personnel, ready to leap into action.

I've been lax on the updates because I was travelling and then when I returned from my three day DC trip had to go straight into two long back to back shifts at the bar. And then this whole hurricane business started up. I've kept up with my workouts, though not my diet.  While visiting my family I indulged in my mother's cooking to the fullest extent; most of it was stuff I eat anyway so it wasn't "cheating; at least not up until the chocolate chip cookies came out. So. Good.

I caught up with a close a friend while in DC, and her roommate, coincidentally, was able to give me some awesome tips on my frog-stand as well as show me how to do a tripod headstand.  I think it will be some time before I attempt that on my own, but it was a great feeling and I now feel that it's closer to my reach.

On Thursday my mom drove me and my friend up to southern PA where my folks own a small house, and it wascompletely invigorating. The air was so fresh and it was so quiet, I felt completely mentally reset. We even worked out there, outside on the side of the hill; we did jump lunges and sprints up the hill; leaping over giant hillhocks and through the grass. It was freaking awesome.

Push ups are going well; my current max is 13. I think if I really make sure I sleep enough this week and approach my workouts well rested, I will be able to get to at least 18 reps. We'll see.
Still over the moon about my newfound frog-standing abilities:

Alright, back to catching up on the Walking Dead. Hope everyone affected by the storm is staying safe!

DAYS 28, 29 & 30

I'm really dragging my heels folks, but I attribute that to the fact that since late September I have been going at break neck speed, and well, sometimes shit gets put off and fallen behind/etc.  More importantly, I am progressing on at least two of my goals for the challenge, and am confident that I will at least accomplish my Push Up goal. So that's great! Everything else has been a good lesson about my habits, what my weak spots are and what I need to work on.

I had quite a work day Sunday and as a result over-indulged in food and drink after work. I kind of saw it coming, but it was the one day and not a week long binge, so I'm not going to worry about it. I definitely needed to let off steam; just don't want to make that particular method a habit, hahah.

I don't see a point anymore in just logging my workouts here, as I already do that on Fitocracy, so I'll focus on making this more about logging what I've learned from said workouts than just logging data.

I just started week 2 of the Push Up Program I'm following and already upped my max rep! I was able to crank out 12 reps in the last set of my most recent push up workout; that felt beyond beast. Think I might have mentioned this, but I'm really focusing on making sure I A) get 8 hours of sleep every night and B) eat enough good things, especially on my rest day, and C) streeetching.

I've also started experimenting with hot/cold showers and I have to say, maybe it's placebo effect but I definitely noticed less leg stiffness & soreness than before.

I've been working at the bar a lot to make up for the time I took off and I feel like I'm letting other areas (acting) take a hit because I don't have the energy to focus and get the work done that I need to. I'm going to DC to visit my parents, youngest brother, and big sis for a few days; leave tomorrow morning (after an audition!) and come back Saturday. When I get back, I go straight into working 4 days in a row, which is good as I need the money. I'm taking the DC trip as a mental break, but when I get back, I'm coming back swinging.  I really need to step up my approach to my career. I'm getting antsy about pilot season around the corner.

Overall, I think my main take away from this challenge so far is that I need to learn how to moderate myself. I tend to go all in, which works great for a short time, and then I crash completely.  So I need to work on focusing on just doing little things to work towards a more balanced lifestyle.

Last but not least: I CAN DO A FROGSTAND. I was literally sitting here, about to go on a search for advice on how to progress, because my last attempts I couldn't even get my toes off the ground, and I thought "I wonder if my push up progression has improved my forearm strength and core balance." So I got on the floor and DID LIKE FOUR SECONDS OF FROG. AHHH I'M SO EXCITED.

PEACE MOFOS
C

DAYS 26/27

Just got hit by a giant dose of tired; I was on a night schedule all week (working late/being up late, sleeping late) and it made it impossible to sleep last night; so after a day of work I am now suitably exhausted.

BUT! This morning, before the exhaustion kicked in, I busted out a SICK workout and upped my max rep for push ups.  This push-up plan is really doing its thing, I'm pleased to say.

Push Ups:
9-11-8-8-12(!)
Bulgarian Split squats:
9-13-9-6-10
Rolling Plank of Doom:
20 s(all 4 sides) / 35 s (4 sides)/ 15 s(4sides)

So that's awesome.  Also, one of our delightful regulars brought us homemade sweet potato pie and OH MY FREAKING GOD. So yummy. Definitely had two slices. So worth it.

I have never been more confident that I'll be reaching my goal of 20 consecutive push ups by the end of the challenge. I can hardly wait!