Guess Who's Back

How long has it been since I posted a blog. Blogger says 7 years. Seven years?!? What the actual fuck have I been doing for seven years? 

Oh right. The horrors.

I mean also working 1-3 health care jobs, raising 3 kids, trying not to be a shitty wife, travelling the world, knitting socks, lifting weights, avoiding cardio.

Salkantay Pass, Peru

Mostly the horrors, though.

I just turned 48 and participated in my first powerlifting meet in a minute. After a spring cycle that didn't go super well and some health issues, I finally sort of found my groove again. The meet went reasonably well, and as usual was a fun way to meet semi-old ladies from around the Midwest. Society doesn't like middle aged ladies very much, but middle aged ladies who lift are almost universally bad bitches and I am here for it. 

Since my body decided to stop being stupid and my meet felt pretty solid, I've set a goal for myself. I'm going to try to qualify for Master's Nationals the year I turn 50 (2027). This gives me some time to dial in my diet, focus on some hypertrophy, and try to drive my squat and deadlift numbers back to where they were last year (and beyond). Also bench exists, but I don't like to think about it. 

I know. I'm sexy. Don't be weird about it.

I'll be doing a long, tortuous cycle in pursuit of this goal. Lifting both at home and in the gym with my intrepid powerlifting coach who is probably in line for sainthood. Let me be clear, I like lifting but I bitch a lot. I'm also doing Hyrox twice a week to keep my cardio engine running. It's been fun-adjacent so far, mostly because fantastic husband agreed to go with me and there are plenty of middle aged baddies at the evening classes. I also bitch a lot at Hyrox. Complaining helps pass the time (burpee broad jumps again?)

I'm also making a good faith attempt to clean up my diet. I've been pretty lazy about eating the last couple of years, and this past spring I got food poisoning (from carrots! Donuts would never) followed by a viral illness that took me out for a while. I lost weight, lost my appetite, and felt like shit. I gained it all back (yay?) but developed some bad habits during that time and I've been working on reestablishing my good habits since. 

Can a slightly squishy 48 year old woman transform into a slightly jacked 50 year old? Idk, but we can try to find out?

This morning I consumed nutrition.

Recently I hacked all my hair off.  I mean, I didn't hack it off, I paid someone to do it. You wouldn't know this, because I've been absent for 7 years, but my hair got quite long. I bleached the absolute shit out of it and dyed it fantasy colors and it was super fun but left my hair completely fucked. So I cut it off. It'll grow back. Probably. So now I'm doing all the serums and rosemary oil or some shit, plus hair growth supplements. I decided last year that I will only take supplements in gummy form, so here's a shot of my nightly supplements. 

Sometimes you need joy, and not horse pills.

I take a multiple vitamin, magnesium, spirulina, pumpkin seed oil, melatonin, creatine, and iron. I'm not anemic, but I sometimes bloodlet for profit (aka plasma donation). Not pictured is the Viactiv chewable calcium supplement I take at a different time because iron and calcium don't play nice together. No idea if any of the hair supplement stuff actually works, but my pixie went full Karen hair in pretty short order so it's not hurting anyway. 

My nails have benefited at least.

So that's it. I don't know how often I'll actually write, but this is going to be a long slog towards the goal and having some place to vent and record the process might be helpful. Not for you, but almost certainly for me. Feel free to ignore it. 

Ok. Back to the horrors.