100 Day Burpee Challenge: Day 87

It's been a LONG challenge.

I pick this Day 87 as a benchmark, as we are within the 2-week mark....only 13 days remaining. Also, we have completed more than 75% of the total burpee repetitions!  

I am tired. I have been doing the 100 Day Burpee Challenge since August 1st.  I have skipped only three days, and made them up the following day. Those were for: a half-marathon, a 10-hr adventure race, and a 16-mile backpacking hike on vacation.  I feel pretty proud about keeping up with the totals day in and day out.  Then on Day 74, I began the 30-day Prison Workout.  I've been doing double-duty with burpees in the morning and the PWO in the afternoon/evening.  

My strategy with the burpees is this: knock them out!  I hear tales of other participants spreading them out throughout the day. I hear of them setting 60-minute alarms, and dropping where ever they are to do 10 burpees.  I hear of planned rest days, only to catch up the next day with a huge number.  On the few days I didn't do them all at the crack of dawn, I felt the "burden of burpees" all day until I finished them.  I'm sticking with my strategy.

One way I've been doing them is: find three different spots to switch up the scenery. I use my work's gym, a meeting room, and a hallway.  I do 5 burpees at each station. It gives me about a 30-sec rest to walk between each station. I keep my journal with tick marks at one station and make sure I don't lose count.  The mental imagery of 85 burpees is more daunting than 17 stops at the stations.  Something easier about reaching 17 than 85!

Another way I've done them is: set a repeating alarm for 2 or 3 minutes. While checking email, watching television, cooking dinner, or doing laundry..... drop and do 5 burpees when the alarm sounds. My watch actually has a counter for how many cycles it's gone through, so I don't even have to keep count!  It takes a bit longer, but the short rest is welcomed.

I have been quite surprised to see my progress throughout these weeks.  I never would have guessed I could have done all these daily burpee repetitions so quickly, with as little rest as I have been allotting.  With the gradual increase in numbers, it has allowed me to gain the stamina and repeated explosiveness of such high numbers. The gradual increase has also given me the confidence in my abilities. The complete absence of recovery days has beat me down from time to time, but overall the experience has been super!

Well, November 8th is my last day of the challenge. So, since I'm the guy designing the PWO, guess what?  Plan on November 8th's daily PWO being "100 burpees, for time." And remember.....Nov 9th......Rest.

For those of you participating in a 100 Day Burpee Challenge, whether on Ann M's schedule like me, or whether you started later (I know some of you are in Day 40's), please post a quick note to let everyone know about your experiences.