The 12 Week Year: 2022 round 2 wrap up

For the original goals in this cycle, check out the kickoff post. If you don’t know what any of this is, check out my goals page.

12 week goals: April 4 – June 26, 2022

Overall takeaways:

• Starting a new job went well but took more out of me than I expected. It didn’t leave much mental energy for other goals in my life.
• Bulking at a slow and steady rate is harder than I thought. I either seem to gain weight way too fast, or not gain at all. I need to figure out my exact TDEE.
• Summer messed with my running and lifting routine a good bit. I underestimated how much having the kids at home would change things.

Goal 1: Ramp up at my new job 🎉

How it went: SUCCESS! And I’m loving it at GitHub so far, and I feel like I’m off to a great start.

Weekly tactics:

✅ Weeks 1-3: Re-read An Elegant Puzzle to brush up
✅ Week 4: Onboarding
✅ Weeks 5-8: Meet everyone, build relationships, ask questions, build a 60 day plan with manager
✅ Weeks 9-12: Start delivering on my 60 day plan

Goal 2: Do six 40-before-40 adventures

How it went: HALF SUCCESS and HALF FAILURE

Weekly tactics:

✅ Weeks 1-2: Live sports game (probably hockey)
❌ Weeks 3-4: Volunteer at a race (I signed up but had to cancel due to a short notice weekend trip)
✅ Weeks 5-6: Clear out the attic 😱
❌ Weeks 7-8: Rock climbing gym (I just never made this one happen because I suck)
❌ Weeks 9-10: Compete in a Savage Race (I signed up but it ended up being the day after getting back from a work offsite so I was jet lagged and didn’t have it in me).
✅ Weeks 11-12: Swim in a lake

Goal 3: Do the most important house things

How it went: SUCCESS!

Weekly tactics:

❌ Weeks 1-4: Get a new fridge (didn’t do this but it was a conscious decision to focus on other areas of the house which we did do, so I don’t call it a loss.)
✅ Weeks 5-8: Convert our garage into a gym (this has been awesome)
✅ Weeks 9-12: Move my office downstairs into the old nursery

Goal 4: Build five pounds of lean muscle

How it went: MEH!

Mixed results here. Things that went well:

• I stuck with the lifting routine
• The garage gym helped a lot
• I bulked for the first 6 weeks as planned

Things that didn’t go well:

• I bulked too hard and gained ~13 pounds in 6 weeks
• For the next 6 weeks, I have stagnated without bulking or cutting
• I haven’t gone to the actual gym as planned

So I definitely gained some decent muscle, but I also gained more fat than planned, and now I have to cut longer than I hoped for.

Goal 5: Run a half marathon in 1:50

How it went: SUCCESS-ish!

I ran the Mountains to Main Street HM in 1:51 which obviously isn’t 1:50 but it’s close enough for me to call it a win. It was an 8-minute PR for me, and the first three miles are really hilly so I feel confident that I would have broken 1:50 on a flat course.

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By the way, I’m going to wait a month before starting a new 12WY cycle because I have a week-long vacation and a week-long work offsite in July.