Unleash the Monkey Army

A lot has changed in the last twelve months. But in other ways not much! This time last year I was barely more than a week away from cracking the 100-day burpee ladder. Yes, in twelve months I have not managed to kick my burpee habit! On 29th December 2012 I reached a decision about trying to round out the total reps for the 100 days to 6,000. In order to achieve that I had to amplify my daily burpee count. That day I did 250 and on the 31st I did 257. I remember feeling a) pretty pleased with myself and, b) pretty destroyed! Between that point and the end of the ladder , on January 8th, I only did more than 200 burpees twice more. A year later and I am routinely doing 280 burpees per day. And that is only extra burpees to the tune of single digits! Not only that, but because of what can best be described as another of my f£$%ing bright ideas, I am working my way through the 12 burpees of Christmas. 12 Burpees of Christmas?! Well, like the traditional carol, my tr...

Being a little bit geeky I have a whiteboard and markers at home. I have used it to keep track of my numbers - which has been especially important as the year has gone on! (I am pretty certain that by the end of the year my dreams will be decorated with tally charts and punctuated by the beep of the timer.) I have tended to make some incidental notes on the whiteboards as the mental juices start to flow but these incidental notes have been wiped off almost daily, otherwise I have kept a running view of up to three weeks. Last Sunday (when I first journalled this piece), the day signalled the end of week 37 and coincided with the end of space on the whiteboard. As I wiped it off the thought occurred to me that maybe there ought to be a hint of sadness at the ease with which that much works is cleared away. But actually I found it quite satisfying, having done the work, to set up a clean sheet for the next phase. The sweeping away of a footprint doesn't remove the fact of the...

End of November. Eight months done. It's quite satisfying to write that. I know I have been going for a while, certainly it feels like ages. Counting down the days as I have been keeps the journey ticking along but they are just numbers and, if I'm honest, it feels like measuring a long road-trip by the lamp-posts you drive past. But to write 8 months is like being given a gift that you weren't expecting! It is only two-thirds done but four months to go seems within arm's reach. OK, maybe for a gibbon rather than a T-Rex but nonetheless it is within sight. One of the things that I had not expected on this voyage was the down-times. Given my constant fight to keep the darkness pushed to the back corners of my mind, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but it did. There are many things that contribute to its exacerbation - sleep and nutrition are two crucial components in keeping the hormones in check. Recovery, mobility and tissue work would not hurt ei...

Woah, we're halfway there Oh-oh, burpees on a prayer! 26 weeks down, 6 calendar months. Get in! The day after my birthday in March, while I still hadn't yet thought of/settled on this burpee year thing, I wrote "I still don't know" in response to the question "what's next?". Separate to that blog post I wrote that I want to do something out of the ordinary I want to do something that will challenge me. And so I have! The 1st April saw us, that is me; a band of misfits who came together on Facebook and one or two people who follow the blog, kick off the challenge. Some dug in, declaring themselves in for the full-on twelve months. Others set out their stall for 30 days, 100 days or a little beyond, taking them up to weddings and shoulder surgeries amongst other events. Sheldon (http://goaliesareweird.blogspot.com) and I are still going. Going strong? Some days, but definitely with a hint of missing self-preservation! We have been rejo...

"And worse I may be yet: the worst is not So long as we can say 'This is the worst'" William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 4 scene i We're in to week 26 now, and have racked up over 16,500 burpees in the year to date (since 1st April). When I say it out loud it seems, by equal turn, a trifle and a ludicrous thing. I tend to do my burpees in one session and, depending on what the day throws at me, there are days when I feel pretty flat before I start. Calvin and Hobbes by the outstanding Bill Watterson It is close to unbelievable to think that I have come this far. It is not that I ever thought that I wouldn't, but that is down to a lack of imagination rather than a devastating self-confidence. I'm still firmly of the belief that the single biggest danger to this endeavour is my almost limitless capacity to be distracted by something shiny and have a pop at another challenge along the way.  A case in point. No need, just no need! ...

The numbers are nudging up. My predilection for rounding up has seen me rattle along the tracks, past 11,000 for the year to date. That's more than 900 more than double regulation in the 100-day challenge which I completed in January.  There are days when I am stiffer and achier than others. On those days the burpees start wooden and clunky, you know, like watching Kristen Stewart "act". However, so far at least, even at its worst the first 50 seem to knock the rust off. My in-laws stayed with us for a week during the period since the last blog post and I can't decide whether it is a sign of everything else they have going on at the moment, or more that over the last 17 years of knowing me they have developed a high threshold for concern. Even after wandering into the utility room midway through my double-bill day (280, thanks to an accidental night off the day before), or even enduring the edifying sight of watching me sit still for 30 minutes afterwards with the...

Day 70 in the book. That's ten weeks in and as good a time as any to check in. My last check-in was eight weeks ago. That in academics is approximately a term, so let's have a loom at the report card.  Not altogether surprisingly, there is the customary "must try harder" and "could do better". But what else? Well, it's hard to say really. At risk of sounding arrogant and blasé (I have been accused of both before, and recently), it has been a little bit of something and nothing. That sounds appalling, let me rephrase. Remember, I did the #100dayburpeechallenge before, and relatively recently at that. So while my belly still jiggles, my lungs burn and my breath rasps, it is all with half an eye in the facts that a) I know this is doable, and b) this will get a lot worse. Actually that thought has cast an ugly shadow a couple of times. Something along the lines of "December will really suck!" It has been despatched. Sent away with thought "Pr...