5 Hour Workout Yesterday: ITG, DDR, Running, and 100 Day Challenge

After work yesterday, Sean and I spent roughly 5 hours working out. Here are the details:

ITG: I decided to check out the Girls Coast Stamina 3 pack. With difficulties ranging from 9 to 19, I played two of the three 19s (including Dodgeball for the billionth time 😂), kept working on my footspeed with some easier stuff, and messed around with a few good-sounding songs to warm up and for breaks between harder ones. I still have the 222 bpm 19 to get another day. A lot of fantastic packs have come out recently too and SRPG4 is reopened, so that should help with dance game motivation for the next few months. 

Running: Relaxed 1.5 mile jog. Doggies came with me for the first part but got tired after a few minutes and started refusing to move, so I dropped them off halfway before jogging on a little more. Though this wasn't much, it was a nice way to break up the workout session and actually get out of the house for a few minutes today, plus the baby steps back into regular running feel good.

DDR Extreme Pro: Sean and I played a bunch of Oni and other 1x stuff — something it's taken me 17 years to come around to and appreciate. Our trips to the Mesquite, NV DDR Max 2 machine in recent months have me improving at old school DDR a little and finally finding a little enjoyment there again! (We've been spending ~4 days per month in Mesquite these past several months, and their old Max 2 is one of the best ways to exercise there when it's over 100 degrees outside.) Despite their worsening pad issues, I did Maxx Unlimited on extra stage and some challenging songs, such as Insertion, while playing Oni with Sean last visit. Back on my own pad last night, it was easier than ever before. I still can't do lots of stuff I try on Oni, I'm not good at DDR by any means, and I probably won't get into playing very regularly again, but I'm having fun dabbling when it's presented to me. :)

100 in 100 Days Challenge: I'm getting the left-foot-in-front side splits pretty regularly now. I'm still inconsistent with other splits, can't quite get on the floor other directions, and always feel sore. Not much else to report except that I feel a little healthier and stronger thanks to the daily miles and various exercises. With less than 2 weeks left in this challenge, it's time to start thinking of the next thing to keep my fitness goals on track! 

From my Maxx Unlimited extra stage pass in Mesquite. 😂:

East Coast Stamina 9 - Lower: 3rd Overall / 1st Female

Now that I'm getting back on my feet after East Coast Stamina 9, I guess it's about time I share the video of my set and post about how I did!

As for results, I placed:

-3rd out of 58 overall in Lower. (In reality, I'd say this means I was 21st place out of 76, as there were 18 people in Upper.)

-1st place female out of 14 in Lower. (Amy was the only female in Upper, so this should technically place me 2nd female out of 15.)

Video: JOKR - East Coast Stamina 9 - Raw Output (ITG ECS9) on YouTube https://youtu.be/5aKohk3jldY

My ECS9 set this past Saturday literally floored me. I gave it all I had, finishing my 7 song max/1 hour set with one 19 and six 18s. (I'm used to taking longer breaks between songs when I play, so this was as much as I could've demanded of myself.) Though the support I got from Sean Gee and friends in the Twitch chat and elsewhere was what really inspired me to push through the pain, my biggest achievement was unquestionably not quitting when times got tough, and ooohhhhhh did they ever! The FA (well, lack thereof) says it all. 😂 Anyway, MASSIVE thanks to Sean for playing coach and supporting me, Jean-Philippe Moal for the song recommendations when I needed them most, Ian Pyles and all the other contributers for making this all possible, and all the friends who messaged and joined in on Twitch to hang with us and cheer me on. Maybe if you guys cheer harder next year, I'll do a set of solid 20s or 21s. 😝❤

Stamina RPG 4: Final Results

While stamina is always in season 'round here, and ECS9 is now underway, SRPG4 is now done and dusted. I won't pretend that I achieved great things; in fact, I was relatively disappointed in my performance this year. I didn't make any huge gains or exceptional breakthroughs. What I did do, however, was give it my all every chance I got to play. Perhaps that all-or-nothing attitude — playing either hard or not at all — was actually what held me back, or maybe I'm just getting old and eating too many corn dogs. 😄 Either way, it seems I'll need a new strategy going forward, and I'm all ears for any suggestions and constructive criticism people have to offer! For now though, I'm just going to allow myself a moment to smile over the small wins — that I made some footspeed progress, that my stamina probably didn't get any worse, that I stayed in fairly decent shape amidst all the event cancellations and everything going on in the world, and that I stuck it out with you guys through SRPG4 from start to finish! I managed to pass a new 20 called Space Box For Business too. Thank you to everyone who participated for keeping me company in the rankings and to everyone else who cheered me on, despite how silly my dance pad shuffling must've looked to many of you. Now, on to ECS9!