Rainbow Dragon's Lair

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 24:

Daily HIIT Challenge day 13
Fighter's Codex day 5
3km with Shelby

writing: 1442 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

This night was pizza night!





So time-consuming to make. But so, so yummy to eat!

As a result: Shelby's walk was cut short again, dinner was way late, my workout was late, my word count was a bit short, and I missed GBOT (but still made it to bed before midnight). Definitely not ideal on a regular basis. But for a once in a while treat, definitely worth it!


FC report:

The push-ups were not pretty. But I got them all done as full push-ups. The rest of this day was fun for me. My form is showing significant improvement on my right (non-dominant) side already. Even the double turning kicks went pretty well. Side leg raises were higher than I usually do them, without any increased effort.

 

[Anek]

What nice pizzas!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

What nice pizzas!

It was indeed very nice pizza! (And still is. I always make enough to have leftovers.)

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 25:

Daily HIIT Challenge day 14
Fighter's Codex day 6
6km with Shelby, 1.5 km errands

writing: 2960 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Short and sweet. No push-ups, so a fun day for me. I like the timed days too: they're more zen, with no need to siphon off any mental focus to counting. Mental focus still needed to get the combos right though! (Going at speed I catch myself sometimes trying to combine two moves instead of doing them sequentially.)

Late night again due to late dinner and then not wanting to work out immediately after dinner. Still in bed before midnight. So not too bad. But something I want to get back on track all the same.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 26:

Daily HIIT Challenge day 15
Fighter's Codex day 7- standard protocol
6km with Shelby

writing: 2020 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

A good sweaty workout tonight! I think my turning kick is coming along nicely. I did well with all the combos involving familiar kicks (including the turning kicks ones), including mostly getting my foot in the desired position (something that has often gotten away from me in the past when switching quickly between different kicks, as in workouts like these). Got some nice chest-high kicks in too!

My hook kicks were a hot mess. I at least understood what I was trying to do with them, however (thanks to another excellent video from Damer). I did some extra reps of the final combo to practise these more. (Was taking 30 second breaks between sets and just had one timer running throughout the entire workout. So I did extra double backfist hook kick combos at the end of most sets to bring the timer to an even :00 or :30 number = more practice with the new kick + less math.)

Ended my evening with a nice little burpees* finisher (Daily HIIT Challenge). And made it to bed on time!

*Dear Santa (if you're reading this): I do NOT love burpees. (But I do them sometimes 'cause they're good for me.)

 

[Nevetharine]

Maybe once I've proven to myself that I can do the Olympian I might do Fighter's Codex again. I did it a few years ago, but my fitness level was pretty different from what it is now.

But oh well, adapt and conquer, right?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 27:

Daily HIIT Challenge day 16
Fighter's Codex day 8
3km with Shelby, 1km errands

Had an appointment to get a vaccine in the middle of the day. Which I somehow thought was a good time when I booked it. But it ended up breaking up my day in a way that meant I did not have time to do a full walk with Shelby either before or after the appointment. And by the time I did get around to walking her, it was cold and windy, and I was already running late on making dinner. I might give up on doing the woodlot route for the winter and try to take Shelby out for two shorter walks each day instead. (The woodlot is on school property, so unavailable to us between 8AM and 4PM on school days. But getting there before 8AM or after 4PM means being out in the dark during the winter. Which is not always desirable. Plus: it's just cold. And I'm a wimp about the cold. Shelby is braver than me. But I don't want her outside for too long in the really cold weather all the same.)

writing: 985 words
French: Netflix

Since my father died, I have been sitting with my mother to eat dinner every night, and we watch a show together while we eat. When my father was alive, we had not all eaten together in a long time. (He needed to be spoon fed. So we could not. Plus the job of feeding him was stressful for multiple reasons. So when it was my mother's turn to feed him, that was my night off. And I absolutely wanted to eat my own thing in my own time in my own room. And vice versa: when it my my turn to feed my father, that was my mother's night to do what she wanted for herself.) Now dinner is relaxing and our social time. (We still don't always eat the same food, because I like spicy food, and my mother does not. But we still sit down together, even if we're eating different things.) Usually I try to pick something for us to watch that is less than an hour long (because I always have work still to do in the evenings). But this night we had decided to watch Forrest Gump. I had forgotten that movie is over 2 hours long! Hence my writing was rather short for the day. But I still made it to bed on time!

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Balance training is my jam! Usually I do it through yoga poses or--during the summer months--slacklining, and sometimes by doing yoga poses on my slackline. It was fun to mix it up with a new modality. Also I will note: kicking super slowly sure makes for some excellent strength training too! [Which I always try to work with my yoga practice as well, in which I generally favour unsupported holds (such as one-legged mountain) over the supported variations (like standing hand-to-big-toe).]

I did the eyes-closed balance on both legs. It was significantly easier on my right leg, as expected.

 

[PetiteSheWolf]

It's nice that you are building this dinner and together-time with your mom, I hope it helps build your relationship through the change you two have had to go through.

 

[avianCatastrophe]

Hi ! Fellow bard coming to cheer you up !

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 28:

Daily HIIT Challenge
Fighter's Codex
3.5 km with Shelby
15 minutes easy yoga

writing: 3182 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report: skipped today. too tired.

My arm did not start bothering me from Monday's injection until bed time. After that, it was sore enough that it was somewhat disruptive to my sleep. Arm continued to be sore enough all day that I did not want to attempt the push-ups in FC. But by late afternoon, I started to feel exhausted. Shelby's walk felt tiring. (Normally a 3.5 km walk is nothing for me. This felt like I was pretty seriously anaemic, which I know I am not at present.) Ate leftovers for dinner because I was too tired to cook. Could barely stay awake to watch a 50 min. Netflix show. Too tired to clear my dishes afterward. I fell asleep face down on the sofa for > an hour. After that I did clear my dishes, brush my teeth, and do 15 minutes of easy yoga before bed. I was way too wiped to do anything else.

WTF? My sleep the night before was not that disrupted!

Anyhow... I did get some writing done before the exhaustion hit. And I filmed the final indoor shots I need for my Kickstarter intro video. (Still have to do some outdoor stuff. But it was below freezing outside, and I want the outdoor shots wearing the same outfit I wore for the previous outdoor shoot a month ago. So I'm waiting for things to warm up a bit--we have several above freezing days predicted for the week ahead.) Plus I kept up my workout (barely) and French streaks. So there's that at least.

P.S.: Last night I slept great. And I feel fine this morning. So should be back to business as usual today.

 

[Nevetharine]

Hope you feel better soon! Good job on the writing. 3000 words takes a long time, for me at least.

 

[PetiteSheWolf]

Hope the vaccine reaction is short and your energy comes back fast.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Thank you @Nevetharine @PetiteSheWolf .

I was fine and back to my usual self by the next morning. Slept over ten hours Tuesday night though (between bed and the whole drooling on the sofa bit).

I've never had a reaction like that to a vaccine before. Heard so many stories from friends saying the Covid vaccines wiped them out--in some cases for multiple days. My side-effects ranged from a mildly twingy arm if I raised it above my head to nothing at all. I was half afraid I was getting a placebo! ("Am I secretly in a trial that no one told me about, and I've been stuck in the control group?" ) Sixth time's a charm, I guess! (I did get a different flavour this time: Moderna as opposed to Pfizer all the other times. But they were all mRNA shots.)

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 29:

Daily HIIT Challenge day 17
Fighter's Codex day 9 (partial) - half Pomodoro protocol
2 x 3 km with Shelby, .5 km errands

writing: 1418 words
French: Netflix, text translation

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

I slept over 10 hours Tuesday night. Awoke Wednesday feeling just fine. I knew FC9 was a day I should do with my Pomodoro protocol, due to all the push-ups. But Pomodoro protocol really only works when I have large periods of uninterrupted time. Which I did not this day.

(My mother--who cannot resist a bargain--was looking through a sales flyer and discovered that a local store had kitchen countertop appliances on sale. I have been bugging her for years to get rid of the gas stove. Which she will not do. But she has decided instead to get a bunch of countertop appliances that we can just use instead of using the main oven. So this day turned into one of discussing options with her, driving her to the local store to pick up one of the items, ordering another one online (that was out of stock in our local store), setting up the first purchase while she drove out of town to pick up the second, then taking Shelby for her first walk, then setting up the second appliance. That needed to be turned on outside for 15 minutes to burn some manufacturing coating off the elements, then allowed to cool down before I could bring it back inside to use it to cook my dinner. So dinner was late again. And then Shelby got her second walk. Then my mother decided she wanted to purchase one of the on sale appliances for my brother...)

Long story short: I was late getting to both my workout and my writing this day. I cut both short in the interest of still getting to bed on time. So I completed only 3 sets of Fighter's Codex (it took me 8 minutes per set) and did ten minutes of writing between sets.. 90 total push-ups, all done as full push-ups. But all were part of combos, which makes them a lot easier for me.

FC10 is only punches, which will go by quickly in spite of the high volume. So I figure I can squeeze in a couple extra sets of FC9 as well. (There aren't any more push-ups in this program until day 13. So I'll still get a couple of days recovery.)

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

November 30:

Daily HIIT Challenge day 18
Fighter's Codex day 9 (partial) & Day 10
7km with Shelby (4.2 km +3km -- 'cause I forgot on our first walk that I had decided to do 2 shorter walks instead of 1 long one!)

writing: 2025 words
French: Netflix, text translation

So National Novel Writing Month is over. I hit the 50K goal with one day to spare. Did not get a lot out of it that's useful, however. I went into the month as a "rebel wrimo" with the intention to work on multiple different projects, not one long one. But I fell behind on my word count early on, and then there were a lot of days in which I just wrote whatever came to mind that day to get my words done quickly, instead of pushing through on a WIP. The result? I now have a bunch of story starts, many of which I have no interest in finishing. Also: the preview page for my upcoming Kickstarter campaign, which I had hoped to have ready by today, is not ready. (Because getting this ready involves a lot of work, most of which is not writing new words.)

In theory, I'm meant to be able to do both writing-adjacent work (like the KS campaign) and also write 10K new story words in a week. But I'm not there yet. And I want to run the KS campaign in January (important to line up with all the New Year's resolutions to "get fit" and also to ensure that my birthday--when Facebook will encourage my contacts to interact with me, and when I do a special birthday workout that I can invite others to participate in--falls in the middle of the campaign). Which means getting the KS campaign ready to launch now needs to be my #1 priority. This likely means that I'll lose my 10K words per week streak this month and possibly my write-every-day streak as well. And this is okay. (Not ideal. But okay.) The Kickstarter campaign needs to come first.

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

I finished day 9 (including 60 total push-ups, all done as full push-ups) and did day 10. For the punching I focused on full body engagement: staying light on my feet, and moving into each cross.

I need to stop waiting until after dinner to do these workouts! I'm meant to be doing yoga in the evenings. Not cardio. I drank a litre and a half of water during the hour before bed last night. Which did not exactly lead to uninterrupted sleep.

 

[Nevetharine]

The result? I now have a bunch of story starts, many of which I have no interest in finishing.

I need to stop waiting until after dinner to do these workouts! I'm meant to be doing yoga in the evenings. Not cardio. I drank a litre and a half of water during the hour before bed last night. Which did not exactly lead to uninterrupted sleep.

That's how I felt about the story I'm currently writing. It happens when a) The story is half-baked and I need to brainstorm more ideas, which I do through mindmaps or b) I get overwhelmed with an arbitrary word count. Or telling myself that certain things must happen in the story, or it needs to be x amount of words long, or sound a certain way.

Once I decide that I'm in fact writing this story for myself, as a hobby, and it's just a bonus when other people read it, I can focus better and suddenly get a whole lot of ideas.

I workout early in the morning these days, right after my first cup of coffee. When I workout at night, I don't fall asleep, because of adrenaline probably. Problem when I'm working, because it means I have to get up super early in the morning to workout, before work.

And I really feel it when I get less than 8hrs of sleep a night. Even an hour makes a huge difference in my appetite the next day. And now drinking so much especially with the heat, is why I take Sole salt at night. Otherwise I will get up between 4 and 7 times.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

That's how I felt about the story I'm currently writing. It happens when a) The story is half-baked and I need to brainstorm more ideas, which I do through mindmaps or b) I get overwhelmed with an arbitrary word count. Or telling myself that certain things must happen in the story, or it needs to be x amount of words long, or sound a certain way.

Once I decide that I'm in fact writing this story for myself, as a hobby, and it's just a bonus when other people read it, I can focus better and suddenly get a whole lot of ideas.

@Nevetharine I go back and forth on whether or not I should set myself a word count goal. In theory it's meant to push me to spend more hours writing, so that I can meet the goal. In practice: I can write junk very quickly. But the stories that I care about, that I want to tell, that I think are good enough I want to share them with the world--these stories take me much longer to write. I want to get faster at writing good stories. But I think I perhaps need to trust that practice will get me there, instead of trying to force it with a word count goal that hasn't been working well for me.

I workout early in the morning these days, right after my first cup of coffee. When I workout at night, I don't fall asleep, because of adrenaline probably. Problem when I'm working, because it means I have to get up super early in the morning to workout, before work.

My body does not like working out first thing in the morning. I'd need to do a really long warm up first to avoid injuring myself at that hour. In the summer I sometimes accomplish this by walking Shelby first thing. Which is desirable in the summer to beat the heat. This time of year, however, it's cold and still dark outside when I get up. I could perhaps begin my day with some dancing. That would get me limbered up enough to do the more intensive work.

The other issue though, is beyond my control. I live with an 82-year-old who does not sleep regular hours. Some days she sleeps in past 8:30. Other days she gets up before 5:00. She tries not to disturb me if I am still asleep when she gets up. But she absolutely will come in and interrupt whatever I am doing if I am awake. After dinner she watches television and rarely interrupts me at all. Hence why so much of my personal stuff gets pushed to the end of the day.

But there are often times during the day when I could workout. I just need to manage my time (including my eating schedule) better.

And I really feel it when I get less than 8hrs of sleep a night.

Yup. Same. Unfortunately, these days I rarely make it 8 hours at night without needing to pee, even when I've scheduled my food and fluid intake well. But having to get up three times in one night can definitely be avoided if I make better choices regarding my evenings.

 

[Nevetharine]

I go back and forth on whether or not I should set myself a word count goal. In theory it's meant to push me to spend more hours writing, so that I can meet the goal. In practice: I can write junk very quickly. But the stories that I care about, that I want to tell, that I think are good enough I want to share them with the world--these stories take me much longer to write. I want to get faster at writing good stories.

For me the best way to do that has just been to make writing everyday, even if it's 5 minutes, a habit. And to write what I'd want to read, instead of what I think other people want.

My best stories often end up being ~30,000 words, sometimes less. But then I've said all there is to say, there's no fluffing. My readers told me one thing about them is that nothing is hidden. You get insight into the villian and what's happening, but the characters don't, which builds tension.

But with a word count I spend way too much time thinking of extras which end up being below par compared to the really clear parts.

On my previous profile on Inkitt, I had a lot of followers. And I was also unemployed, which meant I turned writing into a "job". Everyday I set a goal to upload a chapter (1400 - 3000 words).

They got used to that, and I eventually got burned out having to bake all those ideas so quickly, where they would've become baked in their own time, probably in a better way too. Plus, I wrote a romance novel, everyone loved it and that's all they wanted. So I wrote more...

And then got sick of them, because I also write fantasy and scifi. I disappeared, deleted the profile.

Now made a new one with fewer followers, but I'm writing for me this time around. I don't want writing to become like my pencil art did. Drawing for other people and then I ended up hating it. Haven't picked up a pencil in several years. Expectations suck the creativity right out of me.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 1:

Fit December day 1
Power Squats Challenge day 1
Daily HIIT Challenge day 19
Fighter's Codex day 11
6km with Shelby (3+3 - a rainy day so no forgetting and accidentally doing extra off-road mileage this day)

I decided for once to do Fit December and the December challenge from December 1 along with all of you doing the new stuff this month. No push-ups in the new stuff means I can safely add them on to what I was already doing. And I'm on track to complete Fighter's Codex the same day the Secret Santa workout gifts are released. I think FD and PS will make a nice compliment to working through some of those gifts during the back end of the month. (I always try to complete a few extra gifts to make it harder for my giftee to figure out who I am. Sneaky right? )

Speaking of Secret Santa: today is the last day to sign up! We already have a good group of people registered. So it should be a lot of fun! If you were considering participating but have yet to take the plunge (or you're just reading this now for the first time and think it sounds interesting) don't delay! Due to the nature of the gift exchange (organizational work behind the scenes to match everyone up) I won't be able to accept late entries.

writing: 1015 words
French: Netflix, a wee bit o' text translation

Worked on the script for my Kickstarter campaign intro video this day. Not all new words, since many of them were repurposed from the intro I already wrote for the book. But I'm counting them due to the re-work into a different format, and the need to figure out how everything will fit with the action shots I already filmed in October. Now I just need to shoot the talking head stuff (couldn't do that the same day I did the action shoot with my friends who played the zombies due to a.) not wanting to keep my friends outside in the rain longer than necessary and b.) my camera batteries draining too quickly--I only had the one day to shoot the scenes with my friends, so that's what got prioritized in October) and then figure out how to combine video from one clip with audio from another without the need to purchase expensive video editing software. (Anyone know of a free option that will do this easily? Must run on Windows OS.)

GOBOT
GBOT

GOBOT/GBOT is completely messed up again. I lose my grip on this so easily!

FC report:

This was a fun one for me. I love these days when I can just press play and go, working up a good sweat without needing to worry about whether or not I'll be able to peel myself back up off the floor after that next push-up. 240 knee strikes + 200 side leg raises makes for some great hip flexor and abductor tendon strengthening work too.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

It's perfect weather outside this afternoon to film the remaining outdoor scenes for my Kickstarter video.

So of course one of my neighbours is going at it with a frakking leaf blower.



(Those things should be illegal.)

 

[Gandhalfit]

Yeah, what's the point of leaf blowers anyway? They just blow them away. If he used a rake he could have used it to make compost.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Yeah, what's the point of leaf blowers anyway? They just blow them away. If he used a rake he could have used it to make compost.

Yup. They are obnoxious. And they burn fossil fuels to do a task which itself is useless and bad for the environment.

Oh! But we must have our manicured lawns!

In Canada, most communities actually have by-laws that make it very difficult for any property owner to not maintain a lawn. They're horrible monoculture that destroy biodiversity and require copious amounts of water and (most often fossil-fuel-powered) energy to maintain. And we're actually forcing people to have them.

 

[Gandhalfit]

Wow. Around here lawns are evil because they take too much water.
I never had a garden myself but some family members have them and they always rake the leaves but only before hosting garden events. Otherwise they are so useful for the garden.

 

[Maegaranthelas]

I have one neighbour who has all of the noisy garden tech.
I dislike the sound immensely, but I try to focus on the fact that he voluntarily goes around the entire little cluster of houses to clear the paths of leaves and weeds, so that the older and mobility-limited people (which I think is all of us except for him) can walk around more safely. This is very kind.

Conversely, I have at some point cycled past people using a leaf blower in an autumn storm... Some people xD

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Conversely, I have at some point cycled past people using a leaf blower in an autumn storm... Some people xD

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Dear Santa,

I hope you are well and that you are managing to make some time to practise self-care during this busy holiday season.

I have tried to be a good girl this year, Santa. But the first eight months of my year were extremely stressful, and I'm afraid I fell off the wagon on the workout front during that time. Now that things have calmed down, however, I am working on creating and adjusting to a new normal that enshrines daily physical exercise in my life once again.

My main workout loves are running, dancing, and flow styles of yoga (including vinyasa, yes--but I prefer more creative flows that find ways to transition smoothly from pose to pose without constantly resorting to the same sequence). I have not been doing any of these things nearly enough lately. But I do want to get back to them! I have also really been enjoying combat training lately with Fighter's Codex. (Except for all the push-ups. I do not love push-ups!)

Having said the above, I will add that I like to mix things up in my training activities and try new things. Variety is the spice of life!

My special birthday workout is coming up next month--and at my age it is getting to be intense! The next installment will include 53 reps or seconds of 53 different exercises. It's a fair bet someone will decide to gift me with push-ups, and I'll likely receive burpees for my birthday as well. (My friends love me and want to fill my life with things that are good for me.) So an important training goal for me right now is building the conditioning base I will need to be able to handle that workout.

My exercise equipment includes:

• Swiss ball (stability ball)
• yoga mats
• yoga blocks (cork & foam)
• yoga wheel
• resistance bands
• pull-up bar (the kind that hangs in a doorframe--so no kipping!)
• hand weights (3lb. and 8lb. dumbbells)

I am really looking forward to whatever gift you decide to leave for me this year, Santa. (If you decide I have been good enough to have earned more than a lump of coal--which I hope you do!) I am sure it will be awesome!

Sincerely,

Laura Rainbow Dragon

P.S.: I won't leave cookies out for you and the reindeer this year, because I think we are all too sweet already to need so much extra sugar in our lives. So I'm thinking of something more substantial, with a bit of protein to help sustain you all through your long night of gift-giving. How does a nice plate of black bean brownies with cashew nut butter sound?

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 2:

Fit December day 2
Power Squats Challenge day 2
Daily HIIT Challenge day 20
Fighter's Codex day 12
6km with Shelby (3+3)

writing: 962 words
French: Netflix, a wee bit o' text translation

Got a bit of video shot for my KS campaign. But I was losing the light by the time the leaf blowers stopped. And then my camera batteries drained. So I had to call it quits. We've a fair bit of precipitation in our forecast for the next few days. But hopefully I'll get suitable weather (without leaf blower noise!) to get the video finished soon.

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Stretching day. I took it easy. Used my hands to assist with the side lunges in the interest of finishing faster and getting to bed on time.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 3:

Fit December - not claiming a Hall Pass yet--will try to catch up
Power Squats Challenge day 3 - done w. Norma
Daily HIIT Challenge day 21
Fighter's Codex day 13 - special protocol--see FC report below
6km with Shelby - one long walk, since we can go behind the school whenever on Sundays, and rain was expected later in the day

w/o w. Norma:

balance exercises for seniors
some ankle strengthening exercises
Power Squats Challenge - still logging this above with my stuff, my mother will only do it on the days she works out with me
30 Days of LIIT day 1 - restarting this, since it's been so long since our first attempt

My mother and I started back working out together this day--but only on the days when she doesn't have exercise classes at the seniors' centre. (She's doing I think 5 classes a week there now. So you won't see reports of me working out with her too often.)
We had tried to start back earlier. But then her doc put her on a new blood pressure med which caused her to feel too unwell. She's stopped taking that one now and is back on her game.

writing: 600 words
French: Netflix, some writing

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

I had forgotten Day 13 was a push-ups day.

I've marked all the push-ups days on my calendar, since they are so much harder for me than all the other days. And then I forgot to check my calendar. Had a busy day with Secret Santa stuff, household chores, working out with my mother, doing all of Shelby's walk early, etc. And so did not look at FC until after dinner.

I wasn't ready to do the jumping around type of exercises right after eating. But I need to take longer breaks between sets when there are push-ups involved. So to avoid getting to bed late again, I started on the push-ups first. Did them in sets of 10 (usually with one of my down dog breaks mid-set, but I did make it to 8 straight push-ups before taking down dog in one set) throughout my evening. Then completed the rest of FC, followed by Daily HIIT at the end of the night.

As usual: all of FC that was not push-ups was fun. Got some nice height on my side kicks and I think good form with turning kicks on both legs.

I am liking the little food-for-thought texts at the bottom of each workout page. Gives a nice focus to each day's workout.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Weekly Summary November 27 - December 3:

Daily workout: 7/7
Daily French: 7/7
Daily writing: 7/7
Total words: 10,187
GOBOT: 3/7
GBOT: 5/7


Streaks as of December 3:

Consecutive days of working out: 29
Consecutive days of French: 1118
Consecutive days of writing work: 445
Consecutive days of minimum 250 new story words: 33
Consecutive weeks of writing study: 16
Consecutive weeks of minimum 10K new words: 4
Consecutive weeks of story-a-week: 0 <-- I need to start prioritizing this one better!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 4:

Fit December days 3 & 4
Power Squats Challenge day 4
Daily HIIT Challenge day 22
Fighter's Codex day 14 (3 sets only)
6km with Shelby - one long walk - we headed out at just the right time to be late enough to go to the school yard, yet early enough to make it back out of the woodlot before dark

writing: 1579 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

A fun day. But I only did three sets because I ran out of time.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 5:

Fit December day 5
Power Squats Challenge day 5
Daily HIIT Challenge day 23
Fighter's Codex day 14 (2 sets only)
3km with Shelby - cold and wet day. Shelby got shortchanged

writing: 782 words
French: Netflix, wee bit o' writing (@graoumia has generously offered to muddle through my attempts to write to her en français)

GOBOT
GBOT - No, Laura. Climbing onto your bed on time but then staying up to play Wingspan while sitting on the bed does NOT qualify as GBOT.

FC report:

I had meant to start my workouts early this day, finish up Day 14 and then tackle the dreaded Day 15. But that did not happen.
I am more than a little bit afraid of Day 15.

I had Fighter's Codex lined up all nicely such that on December 17, when I will be driving out of town to visit a friend, spending the afternoon hiking with her, and then dancing all evening at Boreal's winter show, FC would be one of the super short punching only days. I don't know if I'll be able to catch up to make that line up again now. (There are a lot of push-up days in the program between now and then, and I really do need the rest days between high volumes of push-ups.)

Not that I really need to do FC on December 17th, I suppose. I will, after all, be spending most of the day hiking and dancing!

Eleven more sleeps until:

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Fighter's Codex day 15 set 1 done. All full push-ups. But I took down dog after each 5. Also: I conveniently forgot that the 2nd exercise is push-ups and the 3rd exercise is also push-ups. So I fully stood up after the first 20. Then I whimpered for ~10 seconds before getting back down on the floor to start in on the 3rd exercise. 11:34 in total to complete the set. Was 10:19 after I finished the 5th exercise. Don't remember the exact time when I started on the 2nd. But definitely completed 50 full push-ups within the space of 10 minutes. Which is a lot for me!

 

[avianCatastrophe]

Fighter's Codex day 15 set 1 done. All full push-ups. But I took down dog after each 5. Also: I conveniently forgot that the 2nd exercise is push-ups and the 3rd exercise is also push-ups. So I fully stood up after the first 20. Then I whimpered for ~10 seconds before getting back down on the floor to start in on the 3rd exercise. 11:34 in total to complete the set. Was 10:19 after I finished the 5th exercise. Don't remember the exact time when I started on the 2nd. But definitely completed 50 full push-ups within the space of 10 minutes. Which is a lot for me!

It's not just a lot, it's awesome!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Thank you @avianCatastrophe

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Je me souviens du 6 décembre 1989.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Fighter's Codex day 15 set 2 done. All full push-ups again. Down dog after each 5 in exercise 2, including between the last one and the first push-up of exercise 3. It is difficult for me to type right now because my arms are shaking. 12:43 in total to complete the set.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Fighter's Codex day 15 set 3 done. 13:40 total time. Still doing full push-ups. Down dog after every 2 for the first 10, then after just about every rep. May have done a couple of extra squat-turning kick combos to delay the inevitable. Might have indulged in a bit of whimpering in a football huddle supported squat mid-way through the push-up--uppercut combos.

It's after 9PM now. Which means I'm going to need to complete the final two sets with less break than I've been taking between the first 3. (I actually had a nap and walked Shelby between the first two sets!) We'll see how this goes!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Fighter's Codex day 15 set 4 done. 13:05 total time. Started with full push-ups. Down dog after every rep. Failed on rep 7. Switched to kneeling for remainder of set of 20. Push-ups in combos were done as full controlled negatives, chest-to-deck, then pushing back up from my knees.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Cannot lift arms. Am typing with tongue.
(j/k--but only just)

Fighter's Codex day 15 is done! 13:00 to complete set 5. 20 kneeling push-ups in sets of 5. The rest done as full negatives with kneeling push back up.

It is past my bedtime now. Could not complete the day in time for GBOT but did not want to not finish.

Going to try to hold my arms up for long enough to brush my teeth now. Then:



Good night all.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 6:

Fit December day 6 - thank goodness this was a leg day in Fit December!
Power Squats Challenge day 6
Daily HIIT Challenge - could not face even basic burpees after doing 250 push-ups!
Fighter's Codex day 15 - the beast day is done! Survival protocol.
6km with Shelby

writing: 1153 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Mostly covered in my blow-by-blow posted yesterday, but yeah: this one was tough. 250 total push-ups. I made it through 156 of them before I had to drop to my knees. Not a record, but certainly the most push-ups I have done in one day in several years. I'm halfway through FC now (but 59% of the way through the push-ups--yeah, you better believe I'm tracking this!). This almost certainly will have been the toughest day of the program for me.

The high push-up volume days are tiring on my arms and shoulders, as one would expect. But I'm also feeling them in my wrists, which is less than ideal. Time to go back to doing these regularly again:



(Probably would be a good idea as warm-ups for push-ups days!)

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 7:

Fit December day 7
Power Squats Challenge day 7 - done w. Norma
Daily HIIT Challenge day 24
Fighter's Codex day 16
6km with Shelby

w/o w. Norma:

Posture - 2 x Dragon Protocol (DP)
30 Days of LIIT day 2
Power Squats Challenge - still logging this above with my stuff, my mother will only do it on the days she works out with me
Ankle Recovery - 2 x DP
Wrist Pain - DP each side
Hand Tendons - 2 x DP

Dragon Protocol (DP) = 30 seconds per exercise per set. For a number of reasons, when working out with my mother it is better to just set one looped 30 second interval timer and do all exercises according to that.

writing: 1030 words
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Blessed balance day. Unlike the Shaolin monks, I did not spend hours on this workout. But it was still pretty zen.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 8:

Fit December
Power Squats Challenge day 8 - done w. Norma
Daily HIIT Challenge
Fighter's Codex
6km with Shelby, 2.5 km errands

w/o w. Norma:

Back Pain Relief - 2 x Dragon Protocol (DP)
30 Days of LIIT day 3 - 3 sets DP
Power Squats Challenge - still logging this above with my stuff, my mother will only do it on the days she works out with me
Sore Feet - 2 x DP
Talk to the Hand - DP each side
Hand Tendons - 2 x DP

writing: - don't know how many words yet, since this was done longhand, and I've not transcribed it yet
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Day off. Will catch up on weekend.

So this was a day. Did not sleep great. (No serious problem. Just a result of messing up GBOT the night before and then napping during the day.) Awoke to the noise of several large vehicles manoeuvring on the street in front of our house. It was a crew of arborists come to remove a tree on the front lawn of our neighbour across the street. A huge tree. Huge as in trunk significantly larger than a metre in diameter. What followed was 4 hours of almost non-stop chain-sawing and wood-chipping.

My bedroom / office / workout room is on the ground floor of our house, on the front side of the house, directly across the road from where this was going on. It was loud and almost constant. I could not get any work done. Started to feel a bit shell-shocked after a while. And I worried for my and Shelby's hearing. So I convinced Shelby to go into the living room to sit with my mother. (It's on the back side of the house, so the street noise was not as bad in there. But I couldn't work in there either since my mother watches television in the living room all day.) Then I went out to do some errands.

The arborists were done by the time I was back. (Well, the tree is down. But the stump is still there. My neighbour is not one to allow a huge stump to sit in the middle of his lawn indefinitely. So I'm sure there will be another day of noise soon to get that removed.) But then I had to walk Shelby, work out with my mother, have dinner, and then do a 75-minute online class.

I was way too tired at that point to do my own workout. So I just watched a bit of Netflix en français and then did some writing longhand in bed.
I will try to catch up on both Fit December and Fighter's Codex this weekend. (There are push-ups involved in FC. But 50 seems like such a small number to me now, after the Day 15 marathon.)

The morning was perfect weather for finishing the video shoot for my Kickstarter too. But I obviously could not do that with all the noise. And by the time the noise had stopped, the wind had picked up considerably, so I couldn't shoot then either. If I don't get suitable weather (and quiet!) to finish up outside within the next couple of days, I'm going to need to give up on the outdoor shoot and just film the remaining clips I need inside. (It's mostly just me talking that I still need to film. So I guess the background doesn't matter that much.)

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 9:

Fit December day 8
Power Squats Challenge day 9 - done w. Norma
Daily HIIT Challenge day 25
Fighter's Codex day 17
6km with Shelby

I just did my standard workout this day. Did not attempt to do any catching up since I saw the requirements for this year's Ornaments Event and saw that by waiting until Sunday to catch up I'd be making a good stab at the requirements for most of the ornaments on the first day of the event instead of doing all that work the day before. (FC18 will earn me the Bear in one day. FD9 will take me 20% of the way to the Bunny and, if I push myself, DH26 will get me close to another 20%. LIIT5, which I'll be doing Sunday with my mother, has jacks too. And PS of course helps progress towards the Controller every day.) Am I a sucker for gamification of my workouts? You betcha!

w/o w. Norma:

Posture - 2 x DP
30 Days of LIIT day 4
Power Squats Challenge - still logging this above with my stuff, my mother will only do it on the days she works out with me
Ankle Recovery - 2 x DP
Wrist Pain - DP each side
Hand Tendons - 2 x DP

writing: - done, but many words written longhand. Will try to get my count updated this weekend.
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

FC17 asks: What are you already good at? For me, the answer is balance, agility, and lower body strength & endurance. For the upper body? Well... I have determination and grit.

So I focused on remaining light on my feet for this workout, bouncing between punches, and powering every move from the ground up.

I cannot say the 50 push-ups were easy. But after Wednesday's 250, they were certainly mentally a lot easier to face. I made it through the first 10 in one unbroken set. (Not a PR. I once did 30 push-ups in one go back when I was 14 years old. But certainly the best I have managed this year.) Took down dog mid-set for each of the remaining sets, and an extra down dog after rep 8 on the final set.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

December 10:

Fit December days 9 & 10
Power Squats Challenge day 10
Daily HIIT Challenge day 26
Fighter's Codex day 18
4 x 30 seconds forearm plank
6km with Shelby

writing: - done, mostly longhand again. Really must do a type-in today!
French: Netflix

GOBOT
GBOT

FC report:

Punches, punches, and more punches. Aimed at some targets on the television during dinner & movie time with my mother.

Ornaments Progress:

Teddy Bear: 2000/2000 punches -
Magical Unicorn: 0/1000 kicks
Gaming Controller: 118/500 squats
Bunny Rabbit: 400/1000 jacks
Shiny Red Sports Car: 2/10 minutes planks

I'm not requesting an ornament until I have all 5 Mission Complete flags.

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[Nevetharine]

Teddy!!! Yay congratulations

 

[Maegaranthelas]

Yay for the Teddy, I look forward to seeing which one you will choose.
I was kinda planning on doing the teddy, but just had the birth control implant in my arm replaced so I think I may be forced to choose between squats and kicks xD

 

[PetiteSheWolf]

Bravo for the Teddy

 

[Anek]

Congrats on the ornament!!

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations on Teddy!