Training for ANW but also the rest of life.

One thing I've been struggling with for quite some time is how to fit in the rest of life, with my training. I'm sure it's literally what every competitor, every athlete, every musician, everyone who is trying to upskill themselves to the exclusion of pretty much all else.

I struggle, not for my own benefit, but for my partners.  I honestly don't care for fancy food, I don't crave deliciousness nor partyingness or ever really need to drink.  Honestly, I'm happiest when I'm training hard, resting well and eating properly.  All the things that make a great athlete.

However, my partner is not wired that way at all, she doesn't care about what she can or can't do, she cares about what she can experience.  She loves amazing food, it's almost orgasmic for her, she loves a great white wine, she's very social and loves to be out, to see bands, to experience restaurants and bars.

Since moving to America, she easily put on 20 pounds from sampling all the new cuisine available to us, and is now working hard to get back to her pre-America weight.  I try and be supportive and take her out to nice places, but it so feels like a huge waste of time, money, energy and calories.   Not only that, but because I see my trainer on Sunday mornings, I train my hardest on Thursdays so I'm recovered for Sunday.  Saturday is my rest day so I work hard on Fridays too, which means by Friday night (tonight!) I'm totally beat.

We've been invited out by some of my partner's work friends, that she really does want to be close to, but one of them won't arrive in town until 9pm, so the funness doesn't really start by then. It's barely midday now and I'm already ready for bed.  I've always laughed at party-girls that really want to hook up with professional athletes, who probably don't quite understand that their lives are diametrically opposed.

I can see why athletes often end up marrying other athletes, because they both understand the sacrifices required.  I want to be a good partner, but I'm also really worried that compromising just leads to mediocrity.  It's a tough call...
 

Jigsaw puzzles - now on www.jspuzzles.com

Soooooo, for the long weekend that we spent down at the coast, being the crazy drunken party animals that we are, we attempted two jigsaw puzzles, both going late into the night as five of us remembered that you grab all the edges, and start from there.

The jigsaw puzzles were already at the holiday house thingo we grabbed through AirBnB, and so it was total devastating dismay that at 1am in the morning, after everyone else had gone to bed that my partner and I only got this far:

I had an inclining early on that there wasn't nearly enough pieces since we couldn't get all the edges and therefore didn't know how big it was... so I lost interest... but after everyone else went to bed, we just wanted to get as far as we could.

It was fun and super frustrating all at the same time. 

The next night, a Saturday night no less, after being completely amazing by the little pub we found with the blind Hawaii piano player, and our server who stopped service for a while to play the entire Chicken Dance song on liquor bottles, we started a new puzzle.

Again, fun, then frustration hit us at 2am.  Look at the beaver's face.  LOOK AT IT.

That one felt so much more personal.. someone stole that piece on purpose.

So, with an itch that needed to be scratched, I went in search for a puzzle that couldn't be ruined by jerkkids, and found this... and OMG, suddenly competitive puzzle solving is now in my life:

I present to you, Jigsaw Puzzles Online, found at : http://www.jspuzzles.com/

 

 

How anyone finished this in 22 seconds is absolutely beyond me, but it's definitely got the competitive fires burning in a dude. Also, best thing ever, check out these bad boys:

 

You can add your own jigsaw puzzles!!!! So good!

Lucy really gets me y'know:

I've got 3 puzzles, you can access the photo of me here. The photo of young Kacy smashing obstacle courses here... AND a special puzzle just for you gentle blog reader.  Click on me.

So, the message of this little post is, http://www.jspuzzles.com/ is so good!  Get on it!

 

 

 

Training - Taking a few days off

 

I haven't seen my personal trainer for a few weeks for various reasons, and so eventually when I caught up with him over the phone, he was concerned that I had taken on all his recent exercises plus my usual exercises plus a new rock climbing course... I was kinda complaining that my hands were always tired and sore, and when he mentioned it was way way too much, it totally dawned on me that I was heading thick and fast towards injury.

I always do this, I get so involved with what I'm doing and making progress, that I don't really let my body heal.  And the whole mattress thing hasn't helped. I tend to only take breaks from training when I get sick and I'm forced to take breaks.

I think part of the reason is that I don't see myself even close to being ready for American Ninja Warrior and so I'm pushing pushing pushing to get to a good place.  I need to remember that I've still got 9 months or so before I have to actually prove myself... and so I have time to progress without pushing myself to injury.  It's hard, my enthusiasm is probably my best skill and my most dangerous quality.

I always struggle with the concept of resting, 'cos, that's what everyone else is doing all the time right?

So... with my personal trainer totally alarmed, we decided that I would take 5 days off over the Memorial Weekend (30th of May).  I was going away with some friends down to the coast of Oregon over the long weekend, so it all worked out perfectly.

In the few times I've taken a break from training for reasons of injury, after about the 2nd day I'm raring to go, and my back hurts from lying around and my legs are jumpy just crying out for some jumping.  This time (somewhat alarmingly to me) I've hit day 5 and I still don't feel ready to get back into exercising.   Did I get fat and lazy?  I totally took a break from my diet, so I might just be feeling the effects of Sudden Carbs and Secret Sugar, but yeah, weird.

I hope my body has enjoyed rest time, because mentally, I am ready to punch it again... especially with ANW kicking off tonight.   Yeewwwwwwwwww!