Life Among the Elements

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12535647

I know I’ve gotten pretty quiet. I guess I should admit that I’m something of a lurker. I read all of the blogs (mostly fitblrs) to which I am subscribed. I’ve been thinking about how I should post. In the past two weeks, I finally joined a gym here in the UK, I’ve been going with regularity and taken up rowing (on a machine).

As I was thinking about how I would start yet another post with an apology about not posting, I realized that the blogs I like the most are ones where people seem to apologize…for making non-health related posts, for posting about political causes, for talking about their lives in general. I think health is important and it is a priority for me, but I find it fascinating how compartmentalized people seem to make it. One’s life is one’s health…they aren’t separate. Stop apologizing. Even if it isn’t exercising or eating, if it’s you, it’s health-related. Health isn’t some separate thing from the rest of one’s life, and if one tries to treat it like it is, I think it is harder to be successful.

So I’m coming back with a rant, hopefully people won’t hate me for it.

It’s been over a month since my last post. No excuses, but I have been somewhat busy moving to a new country and getting settled here. I am now officially in the UK. Labwork is really exciting, and I am happy to be getting to know people here. I am planning on signing up at a gym soon, but waiting til I have a functional source of money. Hopefully things will get updated on at least a weekly basis again. Glad to be back.

Random questions welcomed. I’m stuck in lab with an experiment tonight and would like the “company.”

In an effort to be more reliable about all of this blogging business, I decided I would make a Tumblr Tuesday comeback. Today, I gave my official nod to JonathanDoesLife. I had the esteemed pleasure of getting to meet him while he was in San Diego for a conference. It was really neat to get to talk with someone who just completed his first marathon. He was able to give a lot of good advice and is a really inspiring guy. In addition to that, I think he is a really positive force on here, supporting others. If you have managed to avoid following this guy, you should start following him now.

Happy Christmas Eve^4!

Also, I’m kind of moving to the UK for the second half of my PhD in less than a month (which I just recently found out). With trying to finish my project, move, see my family for (close to) the holidays, and working out, I will probably not be posting with extreme regularity until after the new year, but I will not be disappearing by choice anytime soon.

Sorry to write such a long post…a lot to say…

Short Version:

I’ve been fine. Haven’t been cheating. Finished week 7 of c25k/week 1 of 10k training. Continuing lifting 4x per week. Changing the name of my blog. 

Long Version:

I keep putting off writing a new entry for my blog, because I’ve been trying to figure things out and keep everything under control. I wanted (and continue to want) to be sure that I say everything I want to and don’t say something else by mistake.

I’ve been avoiding tumblr. Not because I’ve been messing up (any more than normal), but for a number of stupid reasons. Most of my posts are pretty “strictly business.” I have a pretty good sense of humor (if you like corny humor), but I have a pretty competitive side as well, and I think I got a little caught up in all of the challenges that presented themselves. I joined tumblr, because I was interested in adding running to skill set, and I think I’ve made strides in that arena (see below), but I got caught up in pushups, situps, planks, plank variations, 30 day shred. All of these are good things, but I lost sight of what my goals are. Those are what I should be working towards, not succumbing to my competitive side. I felt like if I decided to not do things people might think I needed to MTFU, but I realized that this place is really all about support, and in a way, I’m M(ing)TFU (MTFUing?) by sticking to my own guns…I mean goals.

My goals: run, gain muscle mass (by lifting weights).

Progress: If you made it to the long version, you probably read the short version. I ran another 5k last weekend (Jingle Bell on 11.12), and I cut my time by almost 3 min. I had a pace of 11:08 which is not bad considering it was the first time I’ve run the entirety of a 5k (rather than run/walking). Since I reached the point in c25k where it is just running the whole time, I thought about what I want to do, and I think it makes sense to start running longer distances, so I started HH’s 10k novice plan. Finished week 7/1 today. 2 weeks until c25k graduation.

My current weightlifting split is back, chest/bis, legs/core, shoulders/tris. I have seen some significant gains in the amount I can lift. I am consuming a lot more protein…it’s almost disgusting, but I am getting better and more consistent.

The Name Change:

I was talking to my long-distance training buddy the other day, and she asked me if I still liked “Do Life.” I said I like what it means to me, and she wanted (not shockingly) to know what it meant to me. I think it can be summed up as doing what you want to do whether you think you can or not. It’s a philosophy I can get behind, but like I said above, I think I need to stick to my goals and not worry about being competitive. For that reason I wanted to pick a more personal blog name, and I selected Life Among the Elements. The Life is so it’s still a nod to the philosophy that took my journey from being personal to being on tumblr. The elements are because I’m a chemist…so there you go.

Again, I apologize for the long post, but I hope it gives something of an update.

So, I took a bit (or more than a bit) of a T-giving hiatus. It is kind of ironic as I spent a lot of the break trying to get things done for school. Anyway, I would say it was a particularly successful break in terms of health. I didn’t celebrate with food on Thanksgiving, but instead did my first 5K. I stuck to the c25k week 4 intervals and finished with a time of 37:10. Not bad considering that I walked for a third of the time! I finished week 2 of the 100 pushup challenge. Did the endurance test (25 this time vs. 6 for the first test). I would say that is substantial improvement. For the 200 situps challenge, I did 217 for my endurance test: read as done! I am going to keep working core, but going to do more variety rather than insane numbers of standard situps. As far as the plank, I had a PR yesterday of 1:54, but I am consistently breaking 1:30, so I am pleased with that for the time being. All in all, I would say things are on course.

I thought about taking on this 30DS challenge that is all the rage, but I think it is better for me if I focus. I like having goals, but I think c25k, pushups and planks will suffice for the time being. I want to push myself, but I don’t want to push to the point where I want to quit. All of these challenges are fantastic, but I think it is important that each of us recognizes the line between pushing his/herself and spreading his/herself too thin. It is a marathon, not a spring, after all.