Goal + Action = Reality

[PetiteSheWolf]

Ah, nice new flock! And not surprised, the way you react also emotionally kickstarts your reflexes - or slows it, lowers the immunity - or decreases it ... Resilience plays so much. Hence the importance of a disciplined mind doing some effort every day, even if it's not a full blown marathon or black belt preparation

 

[MadamMeow]

Thank you for the photos of the chickies!

 

[NancyTree]

definitely 'awww experience'!

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 5
- Upper Body Blast Day 12
- Dead Hang Day 12
- Chest press 3 x 10
- Tricep push-downs 2 x 10
- DB bicep curls 3 x 10
- OH DB tricep extensions 2 x 10
- Walk, 3km (includes some brief running intervals).

Feeling pretty tired today. Garmin nags about 'overreaching'. Perhaps I'll get to bed an hour earlier tonight...

 

[Damer]

I have such an enormous TBR non-fiction pile atm - hard to know where to start!

You and I both, we could probably start a club measuring whose pile is highest!

 

[SwimMeow]

How is your foot doing today?

Thanks for the pics, your chickens are lovely!

Totally agree with your last consideration.

 

[TopNotch]

You and I both, we could probably start a club measuring whose pile is highest!

New DAREBEE challenge?

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 6
- Upper Body Blast Day 13
- Dead Hang Day 13
- Hike, 5.13km. Did a lot of brief run episodes, mostly where it was relatively flat, but occasionally on inclines, less often on declines. Felt good. (And totally gross! Garmin's decided to give me a new metric - how much I've sweated out! Some things I do not need to know.)

- Stretching - this time I actually did an 'offical' post-run stretch. Not so different from what I generally remind myself to do but easier because I didn't have to think.

So, just for a bit of fun, I added up the non-fiction I want to read (this doesn't include those books I've already begun) and there are 34. In the "Really want to read" pile, as opposed to the "when I get around to it, I'd like to have a look at these" pile. And I started trying to work out how long it would take me to read them. Not enough data. So then I totted up the total number of books I have read this year (mostly fiction), not including those I finished this year but started last. That added up to 82 books. But it takes me longer to read non-fiction, particularly if I'm taking notes (which I do, depending on the topic and what I need it for) or trying things out or looking things up (today's concept was orographic lift), so I reckon time-wise, I read about three fiction books in the same time I'd read one non-fiction. But maths and estimates are all very well and good but I'm not giving up my fiction books to devote myself to non-fiction so how long it'll take me to read all this - well, that's anyone's guess!

 

[Lady Celerity]

Do you read each book one at a time? I'm never disciplined enough to do that. I've got five books going now...

 

[TopNotch]

Do you read each book one at a time? I'm never disciplined enough to do that. I've got five books going now...

Oh no! I may have two or three (or perhaps...five?) non-fiction books going at one time (sometimes something crops up that I simply have to know about!) and sometimes I have more than one fiction book. Not so common with that, unless the one I'm reading doesn't really grip me or I find I've read too much of this particular author recently and need a bit of a break. Of course, if any book doesn't grip me at all, I have absolutely no problem in simply tossing it away. There are way too many books to read to struggle through ones that aren't for me.

 

[CODawn]

Happy Belated Birthday!

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 7
- Upper Body Blast Day 14
- Dead Hang Day 14
- Lat pull-downs 3 x 10
- Single-arm DB rows 3 x 10
- DB shoulder presses 3 x 10
- Lateral Raises 3 x 20

Not the sort of day I had planned, but there were major stresses going on (none of my causing and I tried to stay on the side-lines and observe). Finished my last new jigsaw, and Laurence Gonzales's Deep Survival which was quite interesting and I'll have to read his Surviving Survival once I've finished Unbeatable Mind. Knocked two other books off my TBR list - started both but they were rubbish so I got rid of them. But I did add another couple to the pile so I suppose the status is quo!

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 8
- Upper Body Blast Day 15
- Dead Hang Day 15
- Chest presses 3 x 10
- OH tricep extensions 3 x 10
- Bicep curls 3 x 10es
- Hand-release push-ups 3 x 5 - squeezed them in because why not?
- Walk, 3km with a few running intervals but it's really hard to run as slow as Garmin suggests. Must take smaller steps...

Up to day 17 of the Medito 30-day challenge. It's only ten minutes but sometimes it's surprising how quickly that time goes by!

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 9
- Upper Body Blast Day 16
- Dead Hang Day 16
- Hand-release push-ups 2 x 10
- Walk, 3.35km.

I realised that I probably ought to have gone for a bike ride today but my mind had that scheduled for Wednesday but I hadn't factored in... Anyway, had to go shopping instead (I hate shopping). Eldest came with me and, as she was hungry and it was about lunchtime, she decided that she wanted hot chips for lunch, and a soft drink. Well, it was nice as it was all going down... There are some things I am glad I don't do very often - not because I don't enjoy them or I feel guilty about having done them, but simply because I seem to have reached a point where things I used to enjoy just don't sit so well with me anymore. Fortunately scoffing an entire bag of jelly snakes isn't one of them!

So many books I want to read. Sometimes I wish I could hear them while I sleep and wake up knowing all about them, but that didn't work so well in Brave New World, so perhaps I'll give it a miss and just read, read, read instead. There is a scene in Hamlet where Polonius asks Hamlet what he's reading, to which Hamlet replies, "Words, words, words." Sometimes I feel that's what I'm reading and then I know either I'm not concentrating or the book's simply not working for me (and so I'll dump it). But often I'm not reading words. I'm absorbing concepts, distilling the essence, really sucking the marrow from the bones, and when I finally re-emerge into the real world, it can seem a shock to have to make dinner or change the kitty litter. I'm so glad I learnt to read when I was a kid!

 

[Lady Celerity]

But often I'm not reading words. I'm absorbing concepts, distilling the essence, really sucking the marrow from the bones, and when I finally re-emerge into the real world, it can seem a shock to have to make dinner or change the kitty litter. I'm so glad I learnt to read when I was a kid!

Well said. I heartily agree.

 

[Damer]

To add a little scientific context to @TopNotch's words. When we read, either fiction or non-fiction but especially fiction our brain is busy running "what-if" scenarios that help it better understand the world. It's like running simulations where we play-act situations and imagine our actions in them. This, in turn, changes the synaptic connections in our brain that determine our perception of reality and guide our decision-making. Once a book is done, weeks later, we can barely recall a passage from it or a character's name (there are some exceptions with books that resonate so deeply with us that they stay with us all our life) but our brain is different. We're different as a result of having read it. Each book we read changes our neural architecture.

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 10
- Upper Body Blast Day 17
- Dead Hang Day 17
- Bike ride, 15.92km. Beautiful day. We do great autumns here! Curious, though, as to why it always seems I spend more time going up than coming down! There was a slightly unfortunate incident when I had to pass a woman who was walking her little dogs on the small narrow track (slightly wider than the width of a car tyre). I went around through the grass and hit a ditch. The horn of my bike seat hit a part of me that really didn't appreciate that! It's alright though; I've already had children.

My dodgy knee was giving me gyp after this though, reminding me that I really need to do proper rehab on it. As well as my foot. I have plans. Let's see if I can make things happen!

Realised that I was a little disinclined to do longer workouts in my training room because (shameful confession) it was not tidy! It's a large, essentially empty room (apart from all my exercise stuff...) so things tend to get dumped there. I took a good look at it last night and realised this, so today I began heaving stuff out, moving things around to give a good sweeping and dusting. This seems to be a workout in itself! The work continues...

@Damer Probably explains why I prefer action books to touchy-feely, emotional stuff! Things I can relate to. I can remember a lot of things about books I have read; I simply can't always remember which book it was or who wrote it! I just really love how books make my brain feel.

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 11
- Upper Body Blast Day 18
- Dead Hang Day 18
- Walk, 3km. Worked hard to make this a slow walk, trying to get what Gamin calls 'low aerobic'. So it took me 35 minutes. There was a bit of a chilly wind, though, reminding me that at this time of year, if I'm not working hard, I need to wear a jacket!

Spent the entire day cleaning my training room. Hit my step goal just doing that - and, of course, having a couple of pots of tea. Finally decided to get rid of my balance beam. I really don't use it anymore, other than for things like tricep dips and I can do those on my weights bench, so I posted it on Gumtree. Amazingly, just over 4 hours later, it was being driven away by a man with an ecstatic 10-year-old in the passenger seat, and I had a few more dollars to put towards a new rowing machine.
And my training room looks lovely again, just waiting for me. The two 1x1m mats are neatly held on the other side of the room but are easily accessible. If I leave them down, the cats use them as scratching mats and that's so not cool! Not quite sure exactly where that elliptical should go - right now it's a bit of a shag on a rock. Maybe it'll stay there, though, because it's not in the way of anything.


Feeling a bit flat tonight. Probably a bit tired, what with hauling all those stuff around, but now it's done and that's good. Time to relax with a cup of tea and a book.

 

[MadamMeow]

So jealous of your training room!

My little guy made me have to get rid of a mat like that in my kitchen that was for preventing fatigue while standing.

Ripped it all up. Glad you can put yours out of their way.

 

[TopNotch]

- Cardio and abs Day 12
- Upper Body Blast Day 19
- Dead Hang Day 19
- Walk, 3km. Another gentle stroll but a little faster than yesterday.
- Side leg raises, 2 x 10es while waiting for the pasta to cook.

Last night, when I was listening to my Medito meditation (day 20!), something James said really struck me, so much so that I actually wrote it down! He said:
"consciously commit to prioritising your physical wellbeing and making choices that support an active lifestyle."
Yeah, not earth-shattering, right? But then I really thought about those words. Doing deadhangs, cycling, going hiking - all good fun and keeping me relatively fit and healthy, but there are bits of me that are not performing optimally. Ignoring those bits and continuing blithely along ultimately will do me no good. I must rein in my ego, my desire to push, and step back. I must do those really dull and boring and uninspiring rehab exercises - go all the way back to the simplest thing until I can do things with poise and without any pain. Pushing through is not, I have come to think, a choice that will support an active liefstyle, at least not for as long as I want mine to be! My foundation must be rock-solid. Now, I know I can do X, Y and Z, but perhaps I ought to step back to - well, not quite as far back as A, B and C. For example, I know how much I can shoulder press but when I do, my shoulder grates. A lighter weight doesn't cause that, so maybe it might be beneficial to use a lighter weight for a while, really building up the reps before increasing the weight again, and look at other exercises to support the joint. Who knows? Friday night thoughts. But if I truly want to prioritise my physical wellbeing and make appropriate choices, then this seems to me the way to go.
Perhaps the Rehab collection should be my starting point! Together with all the stuff from my physio...

Just watched the Video of the Week. Hmm, was @Damer talking to me?!