365

Days of burpees.

The challenge was to start with 1 burpee on the first day of the year, and add a burpee everyday until the last day of the year: 365. The prize: 6-pack of my choice.

I didn't know how I'd be able to do 365 burpees in one day, when I couldn't make myself do even 1 burpee on the first day of the year. As I watched Michael Mock, Josh Wagner and Stephen Koch do push ups and jumps after hiking all day in -20ºF weather looking for non-existing ice, I thought about how I had collapsed in the middle of the approach on the previous climb, and how I had to turn around yet another time that day. I felt cold, nauseous with fatigue, and was unable to move. 12 that day seemed like an utterly impossible task.

I decided to take on the challenge. Partly just for the hell of it, to see if I could do it… and partly out of frustration with myself.

I made up the lost days, and catched up. And continued. At the beginning I was really sore. Really really sore. Shoulders mainly. And Achilles tendon. So tight that I had to walk back and forth instead of jump-backs for days, until my ankles got used to the impact. My hips also complained. Hip flexors. So I had to learn to jump lightly and land softly, to keep the flexors happy. Just my body getting used to changes. Oh yes, also neck. Tight for several weeks- horrendous tightness. I just wanted to hang on anything I could see in front of me just to release the tension.

I was recovering from a pronator injury, so at first I used a clenched fist to keep the injured wrist stable, straight, and stress free. Not fun. But slowly the soreness actually went away, my wrist became stronger, and I could play with different push up positions that suited me best for that particular day. Burpees became a vital part of my recovery, strengthening my body as I worked through methodical wrist rehab: arms, forearms, shoulders, back, legs, feet- everything.

Burpees kept me steady through school; they gave me something to look forward beyond the everyday studying. Study requires so much brain power that at the end of the day I feel completely exhausted even though all I did was sit for hours on end. But at the end of the day, I still had my burpees. I hated them so much. Ok get up. Do 1. Do 10. Do 20. Open a beer. Do 10 more. Feeling better. Beer interfering with jumps but it's ok, it's late at night and I really don't care. More burpees. Finish beer, shower, collapse in bed. Sleep solid.

Burpees gave my body an outlet to vent; they let my body move, jump, feel rusted, crappy, then warm up, and feel good, and great, and want to keep moving, and get outside to go run even if it was in the middle of the night. Feel peaceful again to study; feel focused again for a class or exam in the middle of the day. Burpees became my go-to 1-minute-meditation-break.

As the numbers grew to 200s, I could no longer maintain the 30 sec on, 30 sec off pace. So I decided to break them up: 2, and then eventually 3 sets throughout the day so my shoulders would not get too sore. I went to school wearing jogging bras instead of nice outfits so I could keep up with the morning and afternoon numbers. I did them in school emergency stairwells, empty class rooms, hallways, back alleys, gas stations, rest stops, trails in the woods... anywhere I could find a little quiet space. I just kept on doing them.

To my surprise, there came a point when I no longer was sore. It happened around number 200. It was around August, when I was working in the Tetons during school break. I realized I was able to hike up and down to 13,000 feet in a day without having to specifically train for it. When December came, around 330, I was in shape to ski every day. I hadn't planned it that way, but it happened.

On the last day of burpees, day 365, I was given tickets to the lifts for the whole mountain. I had planned to rest that day to prepare for a ice climbing trip the next day. Instead, I skied blues with my son, up high on Rendevouz, for the first time in my life. It was absolutely beautiful.

Day 1, 2014. Wake up at 4am to prepare for a long drive and approach to reach ice. Excitement and dread. I knew I had collapsed in that hike the year before, and had again turned around on another attempt from sheer cold. My head began the battle: "I didn't sleep enough. I didn't ice climb for a whole year. I didn't rest my legs. I don't remember how to remove ice screws… I don't have a nice warm jacket with a hood. My shoes are heavy and hurt my shins. I didn't train in them. I didn't train the same way as last year. I'm tired. I don't know how I can so this..." On and on.

As I started hiking, I realized I knew exactly what to do. Quiet the mind by focusing on my legs. They were fine. They didn't hurt at all, and kept going just fine despite my head. They had spring to them, the muscles were awake. They had been trained throughout the year, one step at a time. One day at a time. Amazing discovery. Trusting my body and letting my mind go. We climbed all day, and ended up continuing to walk into the night to find help as our truck died and we had no reception. Walking in dark, the ski was full of stars, shooting stars, and the trail was light from the snow. It was an incredible climbing day, from beginning to end.

Now I am done with the challenge. I wasn't sure what I was going to do after it… and I ended up continuing with them. 100 a day. Not every day… but almost every day. When I am at the climbing gym, I play with combining them with pull ups for variety. Half the amount, double the breathlessness. Because even if I have days when school work keeps me from achieving any kind of ''getting outside for fresh air and movement,'' I still have my 10 sacred minutes of super intense jumping around.

I want to thank my guide and friend who encouraged me to challenge myself, and supported me through the daily frustrations that brought about the end result. Strength, endurance, confidence.

The challenge continues.

As I open up the blog and check my last entry, I notice that I was then doing 140 burpees a day. Today I have 240 burpees to do. 240 burpees seemed impossible in the past, absolutely impossible. The thought of doing that many push ups and jumps every day, increasing one a day for a whole year, up to 365, seemed absurd. But it is not. The secret is to break it down.

The same holds true for food. The secret to eating well is merely breaking it down to many tiny tasks, instead of one overwhelming chunk of time that no one, including me at the moment, seems to have, or even want to have. I don't blame anyone. Why spend hours toiling in the kitchen when one can be outside enjoying the end of summer? Or studying, which is more like my own reality right now. 

But eating well is essential to keeping good health, and to not gain weight, which is another reality I face as a 42-year-old woman. There is no way around it. It does not matter how much I may exercise, if I don't eat well I will get sick, and/or gain weight, and break out into pimples on top of it. I say it, because I have experienced it. When I don't eat well, my face becomes oily, and I break out. Simple. I start to eat better, my face becomes clearer/cleaner, no pimples. And I fit into my pants. Easy to maintain, hard to fix. 

So how do I break down food? Cook in the morning. In the evening I am too tired to deal with anything except for what is absolutely necessary, which means the exam of the day that I am freaking about. Use the mornings! While I make coffee, I make brown rice. Or cook beans... or roast beets, eggplants, sweet potatoes, squash, cauliflower, garlic, onions... any hardy vegetable that I can coat with olive oil and sea salt, I will roast. I roast in my cast iron pan, so that way I don't have to worry about clean up and scrubbing. Just wipe it down with a paper towel when done cooking- courtesy tip from a climber who camps and cooks in his camper. And yes HE cooks. Don't have to be a woman to cook, or a housewife to cook- anyone can cook. A lot of it has to do with just getting into a habit, so that there is no thinking involved. Just doing...

What about all the chopping? The chopping... I do it while I heat up the food that I precooked in the morning. It takes about 5 to 15 minutes to heat up anything, so I use that time to chop: cabbage, red onions, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, parsley, cilantro, celery, tomatoes, green onions, peppers... any vegetable that can be eaten fresh. Or sautéed... kale, collards, chard, spinach, chinese cabbage, onions, mustard greens, turnip greens... 

I usually chop a little extra, so that I have some left over for the next day- call it a bonus. Have enough containers, even if they are yogurt containers, to keep the left overs. Good storage is important for eating well. Because there is always something in the fridge or freezer waiting for me at the end of the day... even if I am completely wiped out from a long school day, and don't feel like doing any extra work other than opening a beer. And studying some more, of course. 

But why go through all that trouble anyway? Cooking , chopping , storing... because I want to feel good everyday, because I want to have energy everyday. Because I want to stay lean and look good, and because I don't like to get sick. Simple. 

It is so easy, especially here in the south, to go and buy fried chicken, fried food, barbecue, go to Chick-fil-A... people: Chick-fil-A is JUNK FOOD!!!! eat chips, a cold cut sandwich, a snack, a bar... but remember, our bodies don't magically make vitamins. We need to eat them to have them. And we need to eat them in real food, not vitamin complexes that we buy at the store. That is processed food at its best. Eat food. Eat clean- less animal food, more grains, vegetables, beans, fruit, nuts, seeds. 

You will thank yourself years from now, when you are still active and well, instead of... insert your own future dream image of yourself, and how you want to look and live when you are older... and live to fulfill that dream.