#they all take ~2 min each but that's still 60 FUCKING ACTIVITIES

[anteaterthinksabouteatingants]

god I hate this class so much it's almost unreal

[berlinaura]

The preparations for March have begun! I have booked a trip to Zagreb-Lubljana-Venice! I am also in the process of booking some more. I was thinking of going to Athens but I’ll see what’s gonna happen. Also, 2 more days until Scotland! I am so relieved right now because the exam week was last week and looks like I am going to pass all courses (4/5 are already passed, I still need to wait for the result from the last one)

I have been out with friends every weekend now the past 2 months I think. Somehow we just always end up at Que Pasa... One Tuesday I had a movie date and went to see Knives Out which was actually really good movie! The trailer did not do it any justice. I always get asked whether the movies here are all dubbed. Most of them are but there are also options for non-dubbed versions so watching movies in original language is no problem as long as you make sure beforehand which version it is going to be :)

On Valentine’s day we went on a sushi date and then just stayed in with drinks. This was the first time I celebrated Valentine’s day on a non-platonic way. 

This week my parents visited Berlin. I had the most intensive study period because of exams but I managed to see them on three days. We visited the most common touristic places like Brandenburg gate, Reichstag and the holocaust memorial. The next day we went to the natural history museum of Berlin. The dinosaurs were impressive! One room was full of jars filled with sea creatures and that place was too much for me. That looked like a place straight from my nightmares :/ Afterwards we went to the oldest block in Berlin, Nikolaiviertel, for “a coffee” but ended up in a traditional pub and had beers and bratwurst. Third day I joined them for their hotel breakfast and got to eat something else than dry toast :D After my exam I met up with them again and we went bowling. This was the same place as I visited in early fall but I forgot how old fashioned the place was. The screens were straight from the 80s, showed false scores and the machinery used for clearing out pins jammed basically every minute. No wonder the place got a rating for 2 stars, lol. For an occasional amateur bowling this place is suitable I think.  

My exams went well. The oral exam I had could have gone better. We were assigned 10 minutes and I felt like I was in a job interview. We had pre-written questions but the teacher didn’t let me answer my answer to the end because he was already bombing me with additional questions. I despise oral exams compared to written ones because I crave for a paper and pen to organize my thoughts. I felt like I didn’t have any time to think what I was going to say. Additionally, the teacher asked super vague questions such as “and how does this relate to the framework of the lecture...?” I started thinking which framework he was referring to because that word had been used to address like 5 different things. Then he asked a more specific question to “help me out” and I knew all of the answers. His feedback afterwards was “I wished you had guided the conversation more, I felt like I had to continuously ask you things for you to say the right things!”  well no shit! 

After the exam they asked me whether I preferred working in group 1 or group 2 (we had to group works in this course and different groups each time). When i said I preferred group 2, they were BAFFLED. “Really!? Even though the first group was so much better”. I said “I evaluate my experience through the group dynamics and fair allocation of work, not based on the final grade” and they were speechless, lol. Also, they used such a long time justifying the grade (which was 1,7 going in to the category “good”) and weren’t interested in my overall experience of the course. Rather than asking if I found the course useful etc, they asked me if I am satisfied with the grade and if I feel like it was fair. I mentioned that I am really in that point where I have no energy for stressing over grades and I am here to learn rather than polish up grades. I said that the course was interesting and I feel like I had been learning a lot of new things, which is totally true, I liked the course very much! I also said the grade is going to be “pass” for me in any case so to begin with, I attended the courses for my own learning and not for the grade. This concept seemed to be hard for them to grasp.

I have noticed this as a big difference in my home university and TU Berlin. Here, people seem to obsess way more about grades. Even the teachers are grade-oriented. I don’t understand how people survive in a system like this, especially when the written tests are 60-75 mins and TENS of pages long. The environment of actually learning rather than proving memorizing skills is something that I will definitely appreciate better when getting back. 

Last Friday, after my last exam I threw a WG party! We were supposed to play board games but since ONE of us had something against Monopoly, we played Exploding Kittens as well as normal card games and beer pong. I taught “Hitler” (which we translated to “Stalin” to be more acceptable) and “Fuck the dealer”. We tried our best to drink all of my leftover booze but there’s still some left! After opening up about our lives, playing the coin game, doing worm dance, sharing our sex preferences, clearing out what is wrong with Whisky sours and Pewdiepie’s accent, making drunk calls for friends and drawing each others, we did NOT follow the original plan of going to a pub and headed home. It was a successful night! I left my phone home though as we left to the night and worried everybody for the next day while I was just peacefully chilling and watching movies.

* a month passes by *

Okay so I don’t even know where to start. I am currently in Finland and my exchange year is over. I passed all exams but I left a lot of erasmus stuff unfinished as I had to leave Berlin due to Corona virus. 

In the end of February we did the trip to Scotland. First we flew to Edinburgh from where we took a bus to Glasgow. This place was super cozy but also very cold. The trip was extremely relaxing. We drank beer and coffee, visited some sights and ate the best pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life. I also took the first Uber trip of my life. After 2 days we took a bus to Stirling, a random small town in Scotland. We wanted to spend the day there because we wanted to see a real Scottish castle. Stirling was the best getaway vacation where you can just relax in old fashioned boutiques and cafes and listen to birds. We walked up to the castle but didn’t enter because it cost 16 pounds each “:D”. After a few hours we continued our journey with a train to Edinburgh where we spent 2 more days. 

Honestly, I enjoyed Edinburgh a bit more than Glasgow. Our hostel was in a perfect location, about 200m away from the Edinburgh castle. We visited the castle (from the outside, again), went to movies to see “Jojo Rabbit”, drank beer and played board games in pubs. One day we were supposed to go shopping but decided to climb up the extinct volcano, Arthur’s seat. The road was super muddy but a lot of people seemed to be climbing up there, even in late February. Some dude gave us a snarky “Starbucks is over there” comment on top of it because my friend expressed her concerns getting down the muddy hill because it started raining... This quickly became our go-to line to say whenever we saw a Starbucks in the city. 

After this trip I had 2 days in Berlin which I used for doing laundry and chilling. Then I headed to Zagreb, Croatia. This time I was traveling by myself so I engaged with the activities my hostel had to offer. The hostel choice was superb! They had just the kind of common room and activities I was looking for. We sang karaoke, played beer pong and just chatted in the common room. I don’t think I’ve never felt so young, wild and free than then, lol. I used one day basically for shopping at the mall and walking there. I ended up buying tights and an overall badge. 

After 2 days in Zagreb I took a Flixbus to the neighbor country, Slovenia. Ljubljana surprised me positively. I had no expectations whatsoever but this city was beautiful and lively! I think I could have spent one more day in Ljubljana. I climbed up to the Ljubljana castle at night and watched the city which seemed HUGE from up there. There were city lights as far as I could see, yet the city has under 300 000 residents. The prices were also super cheap. 

The next day I went shopping again and.. BOUGHT TIGHTS. There is this shop that only sells tights and socks. As I had been buying a bunch of skirts from Berlin, I felt a need to buy a few pairs of special tights so I did. The room in my backpack was limited so I also had to consider my buying urges a bit more than usually. Of course I also bought a badge from Ljubljana, too. In the afternoon I took a bus to Bled, a city in North-West Slovenia. This bus trip took around 1,5 hours and I was so confused because it was a mixture of tourists and pre-teens coming from school. There was no board that announced the stops so I tried looking at signs to know when to get off. Eventually I got off at the Bled lake which was one of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. I read that a lot of people get married in these surroundings and no wonder! 

I walked around the lake, taking pictures from time to time and enjoying the view of the lake, alps and a beautiful castle in a small island in the middle of the lake. After I left Bled, the cloudy sky cleared up to a beautiful sunset with a few pink clouds and I just could get my eyes off the mountains. The teens in the bus didn’t seem to appreciate their surroundings but I guess that’s just the way it goes.

The next day I was supposed to take the bus to Venice, but due to corona outbreak I adjusted my trip and took the bus to Vienna instead. I was in the Flixbus for 4 hours but the time flew by. I think I want to make another trip like these because honestly, Flixbuses are so cheap, yet they are modern and traveling through small European countries goes by so quickly. It also allows me to look at the views or Netflix, eat snacks and get fresh air in breaks. From Vienna I flew to Berlin, though. I was surprised I found a flight for 20 euros because I booked it so late. 

I was supposed to spend 4 days in Berlin before going to Munich with my sister but the corona situation got so much worse that I decided to wrap up my school stuff (which I couldn’t because my school closed its doors and I didn’t get an answer from a professor that I needed a signature from). I moved my flight from the end of the month and flew to Finland feeling fucking depressed. The overall atmosphere in the whole Europe (and world) is now melancholic, chaotic and uncertain. At first I was feeling annoyed because of my canceled Munich and Athens trips but then I started panicking if I’d even get back to Finland so now I am glad I got home safe. I am spending the next 1,5 weeks in quarantine - I got home just in time before 

This whole month has been hectic and I am going through a lot of positive and negative feelings at the moment. I’m gonna make one more post after I have gathered my thoughts.

[behardonyourself]

My Ironman Training and Nutrition

As I have mentioned numerous times here on this blog and in my social media profiles, I am training for a full Ironman 140.6 in November, and I am doing so on a plant powered diet.  Recently, I have been asked quite a bit about what that entails and what does a typical day look like for me.  I am going to set up a full training log that’ll be easy to navigate, but here I am going to lay out my outline, strategy, and mindset.

First, a little background about me.  Like many, I have a family:  My elementary school teacher wife, coach, and therapist Lisa, my 14 year old son Peyton, and my 9 month old daughter Ava.  In June, it was only me and Lisa and our pets, Knox (coon dog that barks entirely too much) and Izzy (Juliana piglet that thinks he is a human).  Ava was born in July.  Of course, adding an infant to the mix drastically changes any family.  Peyton came to live with us full time in October.  So our empty nest became a full nest seemingly overnight.

Of course, I have the challenges that any parent has:  Get Kid A to Point B at Time C.  Make sure homework is done, kids are fed and bathed, the animals are walked, the house is taken care of, bills are paid, etc.

I also have a very rewarding, yet very demanding career.  I am in new homes sales here in the DFW.  My schedule is very demanding, requiring me to work 8 hour days a couple of days during the week, a 10-12 hour day on Thursday for training, and a minimum of 25-30 hours on the weekend, every weekend.  Similar to most retail jobs.  I am also involved in the mortgage and financing portion of the job, and assisting clients with becoming ready to buy a new home.  Even if I’m not at work, I’m typically doing something work-related.  I am typically REQUIRED to be at the office 55-60 hours per week and spend another 4-6 hours per week when I’m “off” meeting clients for loan applications, closings, or on the phone providing whatever service they need.

I give you my background NOT to have a pissing contest with people that do more or less than I do, but to make a simple point:  THIS IS LIFE.  On the surface, TIME is not easy to come by.  But training and reaching the goal of becoming an Ironman is a top priority to me, so I don’t look for time:  I make time.

Sometimes I wake up at 3:30am for a run or a ride on the Peloton or to hit the rower.  

Sometimes I get in a session at 6pm.  

8pm.  

10pm.  

It isn’t the perfect “routine” that so many people strive for - but it is what it takes for me to get what I need to do done.

A few questions that I probably should answer now.

First:  What the fuck IS an Ironman 140.6?

An Ironman 140.6 is a Triathlon that consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run (a full marathon) which equals 140.6 miles.  They are completed in that order, consecutively, with little to no break in between.  Competitors have 17 hours to complete the race with cut-offs for each of the 3 events during the race.

What is a plant powered diet?

Plant powered is exactly what it sounds like.  In short, I don’t eat foods that come from animal products.  This includes all meat, seafood, and dairy.  Initially, I shifted to being plant powered because I just felt better.  I’ve never felt like I could perform optimally on a typical bodybuilder style diet, and the immediate improvements that I felt completely sold me on this lifestyle.  

In short, I eat what would be considered a “Vegan” diet.  I don’t like that label for a few reasons, but I’m not going to get into that here.  I do know that a lot of people think of vegans as scrawny, spindly types and I am obviously not that.  In fact, more and more pro athletes are shifting to this style of nutrition and are able to maintain (and even increase) lean body mass without issues.

Hell, I’m still a bad ass and have a lot more muscle than those guys chugging down protein shakes, slamming steaks and consuming 1g-1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight.  I’m just able to run a lot further than they are...

But how do you get your protein?

The same way a motherfucking silverback gorilla gets his - by eating fucking plants!  Beans, seeds, nuts, veggies, grains - they provide more than enough readily absorbed and useful protein to provide us with what we need to fuel and recover.

What is your training program?

Unless you are planning to compete in an Ironman, my training should not matter to you.  I do a lot of shit.  Although I hadn’t done much in the previous 5 years, I had 20 plus years of training experience prior to that and thankfully, my body quickly remembered life before I became a fat ass.  Yes, I lost 60lbs in under 4 months.  But if you are untrained and looking to mimic what I did/do, you may fucking die or get seriously injured.

With that being said, my training is very specific.  To become a better runner, one must run.  To become a better swimmer, you gotta swim.  To become a better cyclist, you have to put the bike miles in.

In October, running 1/2 mile almost killed me.  I own a Peloton and had ridden it frequently (even fat and drinking every day), but I had never been on a good road bike.  I hadn’t swam a meaningful lap since Air Force Pararescue training in 1995.  Needless to say, I was starting from ground zero.  Hell, I was in the basement.

One important thing to realize is the actual breakdown of the Ironman.  The water is about 10%, the bike about 50%, and the run is about 40% of the race.  Now, we obviously need to focus on our weaknesses.  If I can’t swim 1/4 of a mile without drowning, nothing else matters.  So there is a minimal level of competence required.  But I do focus a lot on the bike, because a) I have a Peloton in my home and it allows me to get miles no matter the weather, my schedule, etc. and b) the bike is the lion-share of the race, c) cycling is low impact and tends to help me increase training volume without increasing injury risk while also facilitating recovery and d) I am actually not terrible in the water or as a runner.

My training typically runs about 15-25 hours per week.  Yes, that is a lot.  I view my training cycle as a two week breakdown vs one week, because that gives me a better picture for assessing where I am at and how I am doing.  I mix in a couple of “accessory” training days to focus on overall strength (resistance training), variety (I love the row machine), core, etc.  Here is a typical training breakdown for me.  

Know that I walk my dog nightly (1-2 miles) and sometimes do that weighted with 65-75lbs of weight.  My days off change every week, so I’m listing everything by Days 1-14.  Days 6-7 and 13-14 are weekends (since those never change) and days 4 and 11 are Thursdays, which also never change.  The other days may change depending on what time I have to work or get off, but my Thurs, Sat, Suns are fairly consistent.  These are days I’m typically up at 4am. 

Current Benchmarks: Last week I ran 20.2 miles right at a 10 min per mile clip.  I was fine and could’ve run 20 more miles, but my goal was 20.  

My swims are usually 1200-2000 yards.  I am not swimming until complete fatigue, just staying comfortable in the water and focusing on technique.  Once it warms up a bit, I will be swimming in open water at Lake Ray Roberts.

I feel that I am becoming a very good cyclist.  100 mile days don’t hurt me much.  

Day 1 Light Peloton (20-30 minutes, hr +-115) Long ride (Currently 40-50 miles)  Short run (1-2 miles) Intensity is low here (10 min mile) Yoga/Stretching (30-90 minutes)

Day 2 Moderate Peloton (40-60 minutes, hr +-140) Swim (1250-1500 yards) Resistance Training (full body) Optional short run Yoga/Stretching

Day 3 Light Peloton Long Run (8-20 miles, 10 min miles, hr < 140) Yoga Stretching

Day 4 Long Peloton 60 min+ (hr depending upon how I feel post-run) Yoga Stretch Optional swim

Day 5 Light Peloton Medium Ride (20-30 miles) Short run (6 min miles, 1-3 miles) Stretch/Yoga

Day 6 Medium Peloton ride (45-60) Resistance Training + Rower (20ish minutes) + Core work Optional Short run (10 min mile pace) or Hill runs Yoga/Stretch

Day 7 (Active Recovery Day) Medium Peloton Ride Yoga Stretch

Day 8 Light Peloton Bike ride (20-50 miles) Optional short run (inversely intense based on the ride - short ride, hard run, long ride, slow run) Stretch/Yoga

Day 9 Medium Peloton Resistance Training + rower Short Slow run Yoga/Stretch

Day 10 Light Peloton Long Run (8+ miles) Yoga/Stretch

Day 11 Long Peloton Short Slow run Yoga Stretch

Day 12 Swim Med-Long Cycle Yoga Stretch

Day 13-14 (repeat Days 6-7, may throw a moderate run in on Day 13 if I’m feeling it).

A couple of notes: -I do yoga and stretch every single day, a minimum of 30 minutes per day.  Sometimes my stretch sessions are over an hour.  Sometimes, I stretch 2-3 times per day.  Nothing affects my recovery more than my stretching - if I skimp, I feel it in my hips and legs.  

-90% of my showers are ice cold.  

-I sleep at least 7 hours per night

-I monitor and chart my resting heart rate, my sleeping heart rate, and my body temperature as an indicator of how well I am recovering.  (That is a lengthy post in itself).  

Once I start logging the actual training, the above schedule should make a bit more sense to you.  For those that think they could never do an Ironman, well, you can if you decide to.  It’s 100% between your ears and has little to do with the current condition your body is in.  

One bit of advice I’d give is to find something, pay for it, and start fucking training for it right now.  My initial catalyst was a simple 3.5 mile obstacle course race on June 22.  I didn’t want to die doing it, and I talked a bunch of friends into doing it with me, including my son Peyton.  Once I started training (not actually doing the races, simply fucking training for them) and seeing how I was progressing, I simply said “fuck it” and got the bug.  Just the fucking IDEA of doing something new changed my entire life’s trajectory.  That is all it took.  

Now my race schedule is: -June 22 - 3.5 mile OCR Texas Stadium, Arlington, TX -Aug 10 - 8.5 mile OCR Boston, MA -Oct 22 - 50k OCR (yeah, 50k motherfucker) Dallas, TX (this race will complete my Spartan Race Trifecta) -Nov 24 - Ironman Tempe, AZ

Is it smart to run a 50k a month out of Ironman?  Probably not.  I don’t know, and I don’t really give a shit.  I do know that when I put my credit card down for each of these events I was scared to fucking death and at that time I had no idea how in the fuck I’d ever be ready.  That was before I had remembered that I am not a pussy and I am one bad motherfucker, just like you are.  So stop being a pussy - it is holding you back more than you’ll know.

[athleisure-aesthetic]

Ugh I did the thing again where I was busy all week and forgot to post on here. So here’s a lightning fast recap of my workouts from the past week, if you care at all. I actually think I worked out (ish, except Friday kinda) every day which is a first in a while. Bless.

Tues Mar 21 Abs and shopping. I went home after work to get my car so that I could drive to trainings the next two days, but went out to Target as soon as I got home, cause duh. Stupid idea to try on like real clothes tho, my self-conscious ass was like ohhhhh no way you need to tighten up those saddle bags and that back fat before you get any of this. So. I got a crop sweatshirt and athletic leggings, felt bad about myself but hadn’t had dinner, so I went to Wawa. Woof.

3x each 15 reps straight leg raises 15 reps roll ups leaning camel x 45s bird dogs x 45s 60 reps heal touches plank 35s, 40s, 45s 10 reps assisted push up 40 reps russian twists 8# alternating superman 1 min 15 reps single leg pulses

Wed Mar 22 Run on the trail after this horrific training class in which I was literally the only student for an all day session. And I had to go back the next day 😩 went to Marshall’s before my run to see if I could find any cold weather gear bc I only had my sweatshirt, gloves, wool earwarmers, and thin leggings. Didn’t find any of that, but got those AMAZING NEON PINK LEGGINGS IN THAT ONE PICTURE and some other ones too. You know me, can’t stay away from that athleisure ish.

It was hella freezing and took me so long to warm up once I started on the trail. Fortunately it was so picturesque and my music was bangin so. I survived.

2.78 mi 9'55" min / mi

Thurs Mar 23 6 x 200m sprints on the trail. Bless up, convinced my instructor to finish early bc tbh he was not really all that helpful once I started following the book that was included, so I went to the mall and got some more athleisure (deh), cheap sunglasses, athletic ear warmers for $.50 each, a VERY cute lightweight rain jacket, and (!!!!!) these black leather slip-on sneakers I’ve been looking for for like 6 months. I just caved and got the name brand ones but stILl omg I’m so excited about them I finally found them.

Started the sprints in the cotton leggins I was wearing, then after like maybe 9 or 10 strides I was like oh FUCk no they suddenly lost all their elasticity and I was having to pull them up for my life. So after completely embarrassing myself hoisting those mothereffers up for my first sprint, I jumped in the car and changed into spandex pants, then zoomed back to the trail start and actually did my workout. Good thing my house is only 8 minutes away from that part of the trail.

I think I may have mis-read what my Nike app was telling me to do, but I’m pretty sure it said to do 6 x 200m sprints with 4:45 min in between. So that’s essentially what I did, I sprinted for the 200m and ran / jogged in between. Although the app only recorded the distance for the sprints, I wanna say I did a little more than the day before, since I went further on the trail. I hate that you can’t go back and check what it told you to do; you only see how you actually ran according to the app. Lame af. Though I was proud, I increased my sprint speed at almost every length except the 3rd.

0.77mi 6'59" min / mi (lol can’t believe I actually ran a mile faster than that at one point in my life holy shit)

Fri Mar 24 No real workout here, since I had to leave work early to take the train back to le Nova for Palooza. I scarfed down a Snap pizza (the classic spot) right before the show, and somehow stayed away from the dangers of late night college food. Though I did get all my steps in my showing one of our friends’ home friend around campus, and apparently that little tour counted for a nice brisk walk. Obvi the Snovas killed it, as a great opener for what my friends and I dubbed AcaWeekend. Saturday they’d be competing at ICCA regional semifinals #pitchperfect for the first time ever, which was so exciting. Palooza the day before was just their warmup, but fortunately we got to see two new songs from them. It kinda sucked for them though bc they went first out of the seven groups and the sound guys always need a few groups to warm up before they actually refine the balance, and they just sounded muddled. Womp. Oh well. Everyone knows they’re/we’re the best anyway. Proud alum.

Sat Mar 25 Run in the morning before the day’s festivities. This was a quick workout before most of the humans who stayed in my apartment became humans, a brief mile ish to the waterfront and back. I realized I’d been wearing a blueish shirt and black leggings in literally all of my pics lately so I spiced it up with these fun stripey ones. Lol.

We adventured to brunch, where I had a yummy spinach and goat cheese salad with fig dressing, and wandered around the city for the afternoon before we had to head to semis. I splurged on Hunger Burger at RTM because I told myself that this was my indulgence for the weekend, and I wasn’t going to be drinking anymore for the next few months (it’s not like I do it that often anyway, I just want to try it to see how it helps my training/weight loss, if at all), so I got a specialty thin mint shake. Woops. Honestly, it was so worth it though, and I didn’t even end up eating most of the fries anyway, so it wasn’t the worst I could’ve done.

At semis, there were literally so many good groups and we were all like oh shit how are they going to stack up?? But Snovas SLAYED even better than they did last time and ENDED UP IN THIRD PLACE WHICH IS THE CRAZIEST BEST HONOR WE’VE EVER GOTTEN AND IT’S JUST SO COOL!!!!! A cappella is the shit, guys, I swear. I’m so proud of those kiddos, and they get to submit a wildcard video for a chance at Finals in NYC which is like legitimately insane. They’re somewhere in the top 18-27 groups in the country right now, and coming from a school where we legit don’t have music majors and a joke of a music activities staff / support, this coulD NOT be cooler. They murdered it. And so did all the other groups at semis, like damn. We weren’t even sure anything was gonna happen for them, but they clearly did some things right. Ugh so obvi we celebrated when we got back to Philly, going to a few bars and ending up at Frankford, where we got some amazing soft pretzels and other snacks. Best day ever.

1.26 mi 9'21" min / mi

1.32 mi 10'03" min / mi

Sun Mar 26 Long ish run and relaxing. Got up and was worried about the weather forecast for Monday because I was supposed to be doing my long run for next week then, and it was going to be torrentially downpouring all day, so I was hoping to switch my days because the weather was decent enough that I could’ve done it on Sunday. But then I updated my app and A, it changed my schedule for this week anyway, and B, I remember I could’ve moved it anyway if I wanted to. So instead I went and did that 5K Sunday challenge thing that it introduced. And I ran back from there, so it actually was closer to the 5 miles I had wanted to do anyway. So ya.

I felt a little subconscious in these leggings because, though they are a spectacularly bright and amazing color, they also show my cellulite on the back of my legs… but I thought, fuck it, people will see me, and if they give me a look, I’ll just push harder and show them that cellulite means nothing if you’re fast and capable and strong. So. I used it to empower me, I guess.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching ICCA videos, still hyped up on the Snovas victory. Legit it’s still coming to me in waves, it’s actually incredible.

3.11 mi 9'41" min / mi

1.53 mi 9'44" min /mi

Mon Mar 27 Full body circuit and a benchmark run. Work is starting to bore me so much lol on Monday I think I may have done approximately 2 work related things all day, otherwise I was just distracted. I decided to do a NTC workout and then my benchmark, so I chose Body Flexor 2.0, which worked a lot of different areas and was pretty fun. Then I ran on the treadmill for my benchmark for the first time, which was weird knowing my exact speed at certain times and being able to force myself to a certain pace. If I have to do it that way again, next time I’ll just cover the numbers and just focus on how it feels to push hard. The picture up there is me literally dying because of how sweaty I was. Plus fun leggings from Marshall’s.

1.54 mi 9'49" min / mi

Tues Mar 28 Abs / some arms, plus 20 minutes on the elliptical. I was an idiot today, and not only forgot a hair tie after my shower, but I left my phone at home, which I realized too late in the elevator on the way to work. Nice. So I had to go without both all day, though Kelly let me borrow a hair tie so I could work out thank GoD cause I was looking at using a legit rubber band, which would’ve been awful. The moves I chose for abs today ended up also working my arms a lot, which was nice to combo them. Because I didn’t have my phone, I just kind of had to make up my elliptical workout, which was meh but whatever. Next time I’ll be prepared. That’s definitely not my favorite type of cardio anyway.

Tonight I made these AMAZING baked zucchini fries, I probably could’ve eaten like 90 million in one sitting they were so crunchy and good. My sweet potato fries didn’t turn out so good (I actually burned the shit out of them, but I’m going to attempt to eat them tomorrow for lunch anyway 🙃) but I’m happy I’m trying new things in the kitchen, even if it’s taking me like 3 hours each time lolol.

I’m down a few pounds from last week, though, which is kind of nice! A little affirmation after working hard every day.

3x each 15 reps dumbbell side bends alt. sides 8# 15 reps twisting core stabilizers alt. sides 8# 15 reps bow extensions alt. sides 8# 15 reps woodchops 8# 10 reps windmills 5# 40 reps russian twists 8# 30 s plank 7 reps full extension inch worms 15 reps in-&-outs

Wooooof I’m going to try to post more often now that I’m all caught up. Lol it may last for a day but you know. #Goals.