Workout Log (9)

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/25 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

I keep a “to-do” list on my phone.  For the longest time, I had “Pass APFT” on there.  Today, I am very happy to say that I crossed that off my list!  *insert crazy person happy dance here… too tired to actually do so*

I’ll let this picture do the talking.  If you click on it, you’ll see two previous test results with today’s at the top.  Pass!  And you know what?  That’s only 90 points away from a perfect score.  I think I’ll get there.  With a little extra work and some time.

I tried something a little different with my push ups today.  Instead of pumping out as many as I could before needing a break (front lean rest position), I did 5 at a time, taking a rest in between up until I could only do 2 and then 1 at a time.  Not sure I liked that since it takes some out of me just to be in the rest position.  I kind of like the idea of just getting as many as I can and then two at a time until I can’t do any more.

As for my run, you can see I did it on the track again.  Since I’m having trouble knowing when exactly to stop, I’ve changed the setting on MapMyRun from minutes (it updated me every 5 minutes with my distance, pace, and time) to distance (it should now update me every mile).  It’s next to impossible to see the screen outside in the sun and before I could hit the pause button, the screen went blank and that little extra time kept running.  So from my computer I looked at exactly the 2 mile mark and it said 18:34.

Here’s proof!

I’m glad I pushed myself to run until I was finished.  That’s right, boys and girls, this moi didn’t walk.  It was still an incredibly slow pace but now I have no excuse to walk for the next time.

Now that I got that out of the way, I can focus on studying, cleaning and getting to the clinic.  I need to get a release form so that my previous doctor’s office can fax over my medical documents since I cannot seem to find those anywhere despite my mom saying she gave them to me prior to me getting married and moving out here.  I’m going to need them so I don’t have to get every shot under the sun and the biggest reason; because I tore my ACL in 2004 and had surgery for that.  I know I had those documents when I enlisted with the Marines in 2008 but they seem to have gone missing.  I do have an appointment set up to have a physical to be cleared that way, just in case I can’t find the original documents.  But the hunt continues for those because I know it will only help to have them.

Workout Log (8)

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/22 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

This morning I did the Tabata Something Else CrossFit workout.

Pull Ups: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0 = 7

Push Ups: 10, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5 = 45

Sit Ups: 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6 = 54

Squats: 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 12 = 89

Total Score: 21

The lowest set per exercise is the number you base the total score on.  So for pull ups, since my lowest was 0, I received a 0.  For push ups it would be 4, sit ups is 6, and squats is 11.  My husband didn’t inform me about the scoring until just now.  Which is fine.  But I might have tried to be more consistent with number of reps per set.

The pull ups were jumping pull ups and I aimed for 1 each because each time was hurting my hands.  Round 8 I didn’t get myself up all the way.  20 seconds isn’t a long time to workout but when you get to the 10 second rest, you’re wishing that was longer!  I definitely was.

Immediately after the tabata workout, I took Luna out for a 3 mile walk.  We were leisurely again since the walks are mostly for her.  I let her smell things often since I knew that just having sensory overload would tire her out just as much as the walk itself.  More or less.  May or may not go for a second walk later in the day.  Just depends on if she starts to get restless.  I need to study for the ASVAB, though.

A Sort Of Workout Log

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/21 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

  Went for a mile run with Luna today.  It wasn't terrible but immediately after I finished, my stomach started to hurt.  This has happened before but not recently.  Not sure why it does that.  Maybe I didn't warm up enough (or at all).  I can't remember but I may have had a little trouble keeping my breathing pattern even.  Not a great run, and not my fastest time.

  After lunch Luna and I went for a 3 mile walk.  Another warm day so she was pretty tired after, even though we were at a very leisurely pace. While grilling dinner, a hummingbird came to the feeder several times.  The first three times I didn't have my camera or phone so I missed out but I was patient and waited after grabbing my camera.  Thankfully he came back and I was able to snap a few pictures.  One of the perks of living in the desert, I guess.  We may not have many critters around but some of them are pretty cool.  Like wild donkeys.

Not a very exciting day and I was hoping to do more in terms of working out.  C made fun of the blog post title when he saw it since he knew I didn't do much more than a short run.  I guess he's right in finding the humor in the title... not very worth of a "Workout Log" title.  Therefore it went from "Workout Log (8)" to "A Sort Of Workout Log."  Much more realistic.

Today's Grand (Mis)Adventure

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/19 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

As you may have seen in previous posts, I was scheduled for the ASVAB… Well, let me start from the beginning.

Woke up around 0500 and got myself ready.  I left the house at 0610 and made my way off post.  It did not even occur to me that there might be school buses driving off post for the high school students.  I got lucky and was stuck behind one going 45 mph in a 60 mph zone with minimal passing lanes and oncoming traffic so heavy, passing that way wasn’t an option.  But I was patient and waited for my chance, which happened after the bus stopped to let students on.  Another car behind got right up on me obviously wanting to go faster.

I have only had one speeding ticket and do not plan to receive any more.  So I try to stay at the speed limit or 5 over.  And no more than 10 over if possible.

They pass, speed off, and I continue on my way.  Probably 10 minutes later, I see the same car pulled over by a cop.  I laughed inwardly to myself because being pulled over definitely did not get them where they were going any faster than if they had gone the speed limit or a little faster.  Not 80+.  Sweet justice!  Crazy and/or bad drivers is one of my pet peeves.

Anyway, I get to the recruiting station right around 0730.  I see two other cars with people sitting in them so I waited around in my car figuring the office was probably locked.  Around 0740 I decide to get out and check.  Locked.  So I go back to my car to wait.  Not too much longer a car pulls up right next to mine and a recruiter gets out.  I still hang back until one of the guys that had been waiting in one of the two cars comes out from the office toward my car.  I opened my door to see what he had to say knowing it’d be to inform me that I could go inside.

The three of us wait inside while the recruiter pulls up some paperwork.  We each are called up to confirm our social security numbers on the sheet and sign in three places.  Before we left, we were handed those sheets folded into an envelope with our last names written on the front.  We then leave and get into one of the government vehicles and head off stopping first at a gas station nearby.  The guy in the front passenger seat got out to smoke while the recruiter filled the tank.  The guy in the back seat with me started to talk to me by introducing himself and then asking if I had taken the ASVAB before.  Beyond that, the trip was quiet.   Well, except for the recruiter singing somewhat quietly to the radio.

About 45 minutes later, we arrive at the school where we were scheduled to take the test.  Before sending us into the room, the recruiter handed each of us his business card.  Thank goodness for that!  I’ll get to that in a second.  I go in and take a seat until the guy proctoring the test calls me up.  I hand him my photo ID, social security card and the envelope from the recruiting station.  A minute later and the guy tells me I’m not on his roster for today and that I wouldn’t be able to take the test.  My reaction was something along the lines of a confused “Oh really?”  I walk out of the room, pull out the business card and call the recruiter’s cell phone.  He’s just as surprised as I am.  He comes back into the building and makes a few calls.  He then tells me that it was a “failed projection.”

Thankfully he was nice enough to take me back to the recruiting station instead of making me wait 3 hours for the two others to finish since I drive an hour just to get to the station.  I was able to ask a few questions about jobs and various other things on the drive back so at least my day wasn’t completely wasted… right?  We get back to the recruiting station and I’m rescheduled to take the test for next Tuesday.  I like to look at the silver lining of this that I get another week to study.  And I’m honestly not surprised something like this happened because, well, we’re dealing with the military here.  You get the “hurry up and wait” and things going wrong for no reason.

And that was my morning.  I made it back on post around 1130 and was confused when the guy at the gate said “good morning” thinking that there was no possible way it could still be morning.  Long morning.  Also, apparently I had to be really elaborate about my morning and write in the present tense… or some weird, mixed up version of it.  Sorry about that.

Stopped to smell the desert wildflowers.

After all that and a giant burrito for lunch, I took Luna out for a walk.  I grabbed a bag and packed the normal dog walking essentials and her water bottle (has a detachable part to pour the water into for easy lapping) and a bottle for myself.  We completed six miles.  It wasn’t too hot but it was just enough that we took our time and took plenty of breaks for shade and water.  I’m really loving this mid 70° weather.  When it hits triple digits, it won’t be as fun, at least in the middle of the day.

Upon coming home, Luna found her water bowl, drank a little and then laid down beside it.  Poor puppy!  But an entire morning in her kennel made her antsy.  All in all, not the day I foresaw having but not terrible either.

ASVAB - General Science

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/17 at indianajane87.wordpress.com/)

I’m a visual/hands-on learner.  So while reading through the General Science section of the ASVAB For Dummies (AFD) book, I decided to look up the charts about what I was reading about.  There is way too much to memorize in the subject that even though I hope to do well so that I can get a MOS that I would enjoy, I’m not all that worried.  I’m hoping a lot of it comes back to me when taking the test.  And if not, then I’ll be making a lot of educated guesses!

Types of Clouds

Layers of the Earth

Animal Cell

Plant Cell

Scientific Method

Classification of a Grizzly bear using Linnaeus’s System of Classification

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species = King Phillip Came Over For Great Spaghetti

According to the AFD book, you need to know these three units of measurement (hooray for the metric system):meter (m) is the unit of length, liter (L) is the unit of volume, and gram (g) is the unit of mass.

I know I learned how to convert temperatures from one scale to another but I saw the formulas and barely recognized them.  Another thing the AFD book says to commit to memory. So here you go:

To convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit:

F= 9/5C + 32

To convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius:

C= 5/9(F-32)

And I’m really hoping there’s nothing on the Kelvin scale but here it is anyway:

K= C + 273.15

To go from kelvins to Celsius, subtract 273.15 from the kelvin temperature.  (I don’t think I’ll be memorizing this before Tuesday!)

I should be able to make educated guesses on a  lot of the other parts of this subtest.  A lot has to do with vocab and root words.  And a lot of it is common knowledge.  There’s also a lot more to this chapter in the AFD book but this is what I felt I needed to see visually.

Credits for Images:

Layers of the Earth, Animal Cell, and Types of Clouds

Plant Cell

Scientific Method

System of Classification

Workout Log (7)

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/17 at indianajane87.wordpress.com)

For today’s workout I decided to go ahead and do another PT test.  C thinks I should start doing it once a week to see how I improve.  I’ll probably aim to do that since it will force me to run 2 miles more often than what I’ve been doing.  To pass the pt test, I need to get at least a 60 in each section giving me a score of 180.  But even though today’s score came out to be 189, since I failed the sit ups, I still failed the overall test.  Didn’t know that before but good to know.

I improved my push up score by two since the last time (28).  My sit ups decreased at 44 (I really need to just do sit ups every day).  And for my 2 mile run, I went to the track instead of running through the neighborhood.  I liked it because I was able to zone out and not worry about hills or crossing streets.  I’m glad that my run did improve (mostly because I didn’t have to deal with the incline and hills that I have to deal with on my normal route.  I lost track of how many laps I completed and went a little over 2 miles.  I completed my 2 mile at 19:28.  That’s 3 minutes off from the last test!

The rest of the day I’ll spend studying for the ASVAB.  I take it on Tuesday so I’m hoping that I’m as prepared as I can possibly be.  Wish me luck!  I’m not completely sure what MOS I want but once I know my scores, I should have a better idea as to what jobs I qualify for and taking time to learn about the ones that interest me the most.

Workout Log (6) & Recruiting Station

(Originally Posted on 2013/03/11 at indianajane87.wordpress.com)

This morning I used the Rittr Labs apps to workout.

Push up sets: 11, 11, 13, 11, 11, 9 = 66

Sit up sets: 28, 26, 29, 28, 28, 26 = 165

Squat sets: 24, 23, 27, 24, 23, 19 = 140

Today I made my way down to the recruiting station to continue the paperwork process.  Turned in my “homework” of pre-screening questions to SSGT H and we went over it a bit.  I still need to track down my medical documents in case the Indianapolis MEPS did not send the local MEPS here my old, expired documents (which still could be helpful in terms of having records of the hospital where I had my ACL surgery done).

I had my height and weight recorded.  Apparently the standards are much more lenient pre-shipping than post-BCT.  At 150 lbs, I’m within the height weight limits for my age.  That’s fine and dandy, but I still plan on losing weight before shipping so I can guarantee I make weight and because I think I could really benefit from a little weight loss.  I also had my fingerprints taken.  That was new to me.  When I went through the process in 2008, the only time I did the fingerprints was at MEPS.  Apparently this is something new as of 3-4 years ago.

While SSGT H was recording my height and weight into the computer, he was talking out loud.  ”Height, five four.”  For some reason in my head, I was thinking, “That’s not right.  I’m 64 inches, not 54 inches.”  So I said something.  He just kind of looked at me for a second and then said, “Are you sure you’re going to do well on the test?”  God I hope so!  I told him I’d just let him do his job and then we both laughed.  At least he has a sense of humor.  I’m scheduled to take the ASVAB Tuesday the 19th.  I have to be at the recruiting station by 0730.  Which means I have to leave my house no later than 0630.  Should be a fun day… but at least I don’t have to go all the way to the MEPS (4-5 hrs from here) to take the ASVAB.  It’s only about 45 minutes from the recruiting station.  Guess who will be going to bed really early on the 18th…