Holiday Challenge Complete!

Against my realistic expectations, I managed to row 100,000 meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Even though I started two days late and took several days off in the middle for being sick.

And technically, I finished on Sunday and got to over 106,000 by the end of Tuesday 12/24. So I rowed more than I actually needed to. 

I didn't finish the challenge without some issues. A lot of my friends complained about rowing messing up their backs. While I don't feel my back got messed up, I could tell it was a lot more sore than usual thanks to the rowing. My biggest issue was with hamstring tightness, especially towards the end. My right hamstrings cramped up when I rowed 10,000 meters one day and never really loosened up after. It got to the point that I couldn't sit down for very long without my butt tingling on the right. And I'm pointing the finger at the hammies because the tingling was relieved if I put a ball under the hamstrings. 

Overall, I feel good about the rowing challenge. I'm not sure I could do the 200,000 meter version, but then again I want sure I could do this one and I did. 

Just Keep Rowing...

I took several days off of working out for this illness. Along with several days off of work. And days off of rowing. And yet... I'm still working on the 100K row before Christmas. The charity part of the challenge doesn't actually add up to all that much per individual person, but I'm more interested in doing it to challenge myself. That a bit of money will go to the Sierra Club if I make the 100K is just a bonus.

And it's looking like I'm going to be able to make it. As of the end of the day Tuesday, I'm just over 81K. And I know I can get another 5K on Thursday, and at least 5K on Saturday and Sunday. And I'll be doing CrossFit workouts in around that which can add meters (Monday's certainly did). This is completely doable!

Which means, I guess, that I could have potentially done a lot more than 100K if I were well. And if I started on Thanksgiving instead of waiting until two days later. Oh, and if this were a more typical year, where Thanksgiving fell earlier in November, that would probably help quite a bit as well.

Could I get to 200K, assuming ideal conditions? And without owning an at-home rower, which I think would make it pretty easy to reach that kind of goal because it's just a matter of making time in the seat. And, of course, with more time between Thanksgiving and Christmas...

It could be possible, but I don't think I'll be going for that next year. It's all about incremental goals with this one. I'll see how far I can get this year and then set a higher goal for next year. When I'll have a whole nother 2 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas to work with.

100,000 Meters!

I've decided to try and do the 100K meter holiday challenge from Concept2. It's a simple challenge. Row, ski or bike erg 100,000 meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. I started on November 30th and in just 9 days, I'd managed to get to 50K, mostly by being kind of crazy.

See, I set a goal of doing 30 minutes of rowing on Saturdays and Sundays, then going on the ski erg for another couple thousand meters, depending on how I felt on the particular day. And then another 30 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays during my exercise release at work. Plus whatever rowing I'd end up doing at CrossFit and boom. 50K in 9 days of that (from 11/30 to 12/8).

And then I got sick. I haven't actually done a single meter since 12/8. But I know that I can do 50K in 9 days, and I have more than 9 days until the 24th. So as soon as I stop excreting mucous all over the place, I'll be ready to get on the rest of that 100K.

Home Exercise

During the Open back in October, I experienced a regression. In 2018, I was able to do handstand push-ups, but here in 2019, I couldn't get a single rep during the workout. I wanted to get myself to the point where I could do a strict handstand push-up, so I was neglecting holding onto the skill at kipping that I had somehow figured out. So it went away and was gone.

And while I was talking about that with my buddy, I mentioned how I didn't like to do any workouts at home because I live in a studio apartment and that meant sweating up some part of my small living space. She agreed that that didn't sound ideal.

And then I went home and decided that I was going to do the Power Abs program and I was going to do the workouts that didn't require a pull-up bar right at home, preferably in the evenings.

I'd snagged Kari Pearce's Power Abs program during a brief promotional period over the summer when it was offered for free. I got it for free for two reasons; number one being that I am a cheapskate, and number two being that I did not truly believe that any program, no matter how advanced and scientific and calculated, would give me a six pack in 30 days. I've just got too much padding, and I'm not ready to optimize my diet for fat loss. (Spoiler - I was right about that.)

I didn't do the program when I first got it because I didn't know where I could fit it in. I really didn't want to work out in my apartment and get all sweaty there. It didn't seem right to try to do it at Arbor, and I didn't fancy going to the rec center every day for just ten minutes. I decided that doing the program would help me get over the whole not wanting to work out at home thing. And I'd also get a chance to improve my core strength. ...And maybe I'd lose some fat by doing an evening workout in addition to a morning workout.

I took measurements and pictures for before and after, because there was a contest going for the best transformation. I thought about sending in my photos, but when I had gotten through the 30 days my photos didn't really have a discernible difference. I mean, I did lose 3/4 of an inch around my waist, and I felt stronger, so something happened, but it wasn't six pack abs.

Working out at home in the evenings was not as difficult as I'd thought it would be. Some days were harder than others, especially the ones where the workout included a set of 80 burpees. On the first day, I managed to tear up my elbows on the carpet - after that I used a blanket over the carpet to prevent such issues in the future. I mostly did the Level 1 movements, which are scaled versions of the Level 2 movements, such as knee push up instead of regular push up and bending the knees for straight legged movements.

So, I didn't get a six pack. But that wasn't what I set out to do. I set out to do a 30 day workout program at home and change my mindset of where and when I can exercise. I accomplished that. (And lost 3/4 of an inch off my waist.) Now I just need to figure out what to do at home next.

Yes, that waist on the right is a whole 3/4 of an inch less in circumference :)