challenge

atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 30

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Mission completed! Not only the race but the entire 30 days.

Today was another bike day. I didn’t feel up to running after moving some furniture to clean out clutter and pushing a desk up into the attic. I didn’t want to mess up my back for future workouts.

But that’s it! I did it. 30 days in a row of workouts. Now, I’m going to scale it back to 3 runs a week and weights or bike on alternating days. I’m impressed with myself that despite the unusual circumstances and several serious cases of “I dunwanna” I still made it through. I probably won’t ever do this to myself again. I decided just to try the 5k trainer with the Zombies Run chases on. That should be interesting.

In the end, I went from 220 pounds with 42% body fat to 216 pounds and 39% body fat. Not bad, if I do say so myself. I didn’t even do this to try and lose a bunch of weight but I did. I hope I don’t gain any back now that I won’t be pushing so hard. And the blog will go back to mostly book reviews with occasional fitness stuff.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 28

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From the sound of things, it looks like this will be the last Home Front mission and I’m sad about that. I really like these. I’m hoping they continue them in some form even though lockdown seems to be ending in some places.

A new thing for me in this session was the wall sit. I don’t do that or even think to do that in my regular routine. I didn’t have to hold the sit long so my knees seemed to tolerate it. I may have to start doing wall sits regularly. I’ll just have to make sure to use a timer to see if I make any progress.

As to why I’m not running as much? Honestly, I haven’t been up for it. Mentally, I’m trashed with all the terrible things happening in the world right now. I need a news detox or to just force myself on that treadmill no matter how I feel. I’m almost done with c210k so I might as well give that final push to finish it.

atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 27

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This time, I followed the mission exactly with some extra barbell moves thrown in. I also did some high knees and leg lifts in-between sets in the mission.

These types of workouts don’t feel as intense as running until the next day. Then I’m wondering why my arms feel like noodles. But it is worth it because I can see the change in the way my arms look already. Not so much in my abs yet, though but I know that will take a lot more than just 30 days to see results.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 26

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Today was supposed to be another c210k but I did not have the stamina for it. As I’m doing this challenge, I’m also doing intermittent fasting using the Body Fast app. I was supposed to fast until 4pm (starting from 8pm the night before) but I ran around 1. I just couldn’t make it six miles when I was struggling at mile 2.

In the future, I’ll make sure to time these long runs better. I know running on a full stomach is a bad idea but still. I had zero energy and shitty form. Not doing this again.

Later on tonight, I’ll add some arm workouts before bed. Only my legs hurt after a run so I have no problem taking on 15 more minutes or so at the end of the day.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 25

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I guess it’s logical to assume that since I suck at push-ups, I can’t stay in a plank position very long. Every fitness video or article I’ve come across about your core says to do them so I made the attempt.

It lasted… Maybe 10 seconds? Just yikes. If this challenge has shown me anything is I have a long way to go.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 24

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I have to admit to cheating a little on this one. Instead of more leg hops, I kept up with the push-ups to strengthen my arms. I also pulled out my kettlebell and the 5-pound weights to do some tricep kickbacks, bicep curls, and stuff like that.

I also threw in some crunches to work on my abs so the calorie burn was totally off in my fitness diary. I think I’ll live with that, though. It’s also Memorial Day weekend so I’ll just have to watch what I’m eating so I don’t undo all this work.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 18

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This is week 12 of c210k and holy SHIT; do I ever feel this in my hips. Maybe it’s pairing these with the long bike rides but I ache in a way that makes me concerned but I don’t wanna skip a day. I did try adjusting my posture as I ran and it did seem to help.

I misplaced my posture belt in my cleaning bouts so I have to rely on self-checking to make sure I’m keeping my core engaged and I don’t hurt my back. It’s working so far but I’m still on the lookout for it. It really is the best way to keep my form.

With these runs being so long, I’m still impressed I can make it through them without any extra breaks. I did screw up this one by accidentally pausing the app and not noticing for 10 minutes but that’s my own fault for repeatedly checking the app to see my progress. I need to learn to leave it alone.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 17

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Today I let the mission play while I got on the bike so I’ll probably repeat it and do the exercises in the mission properly that time.

I also snuck in some arm exercises with my 5 pound weights so I can tone there as well. Since I’ve been clearing away a lot of junk in my room, I have more space to workout and it just feels better to have some clear areas. The only problem is going through things kicks up dust I didn’t know what were and I keep sneezing all over the place. Not a big deal since I have a minivan to get rid of it all.

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 15

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It’s the official halfway point! And what better way to mark the occasion by running my fastest mile EVER. I finally passed the one-mile mark in under 14 minutes! I don’t remember the exact number (I should have made a note of it) but I beat my previous fastest mile; which was 14:03.

Halfway in and a few things to note:

  1. Everything from my hips down aches. All the time. I’m not nearly as sore as when I was trying to make it through P90X; but still.
  2. I am starting to notice sagging skin in my inner thighs and the muscles in my legs are getting really pronounced. This makes me think I need to re-evaluate and spend more time to toning and building muscle. Running and biking are all leg work. I need to do abs and arms.
  3. I sincerely doubt this will be sustainable once I go back to working out of the house. It’s easy to do a shift, use my lunch hour to run, then eat while at the laptop. Not so much once we return to “normal.”
  4. I honestly do not think I could be dealing with this whole pandemic deal as well without choosing to take up this challenge. It gives me a firm goal with visible results. It’s a thing I can control when everything else is out of control.

I didn’t do a weigh-in or take measurements since this is PMS week and any numbers I take will be WAY off. All that bloat is real so we’ll have to wait a week or so before I trust the scale again.

All in all, it’s been an interesting experiment so far. And I think this is the first self-imposed challenge I actually stuck to. Yay for me!

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atthequillsmercy

30 Day Challenge Day 14

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Today was more work on the bike. I’m finding it more and more comfortable sitting in it but even so, that 8 mile ride was too much. One thing I’ve learned it pushing my body like that will only harm me in the long run. Especially since next week’s C210K runs will be over an hour.

I also coupled this with some ab work. It annoys me to still have a belly after all this work. And I have all these adorable outfits that I don’t fit into and my belly is the problem. I’m gonna really focus on changing that.

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