roninspirit

8/4/14: Main Quest: Skipped workout and no yoga. Haven't done yoga since 7/29/14. 8/5/14: Rode bike 9 miles (4 miles each way to and from work, and 1 mile from train station to coffee house) Ran 4.5 miles during lunch. Want to pack in several more runs before next Saturday's Tough Mudder.

8/1/14 No exercise happened today. I forgot it was my cousin's wedding and I had to devote the latter half of the day to that (so much for that thing about special occasions not getting in the way). 8/2/14 Didn't do anything related to goals, but I did ride my bike 8 miles (4 miles each way from my friend's house to Levi's Stadium to watch the first game ever to be held there, San Jose Earthquakes vs Seattle Sounders). 8/3/14 3x12 pushups 1x20 dead bugs 1x20 something similar to V-ups 1x20 Bicycles

7/30/14 Main Quest Progress: Worked out in the gym at my job. 3 x 12 pushups 1 x 20 Dead Bugs 1 x 20 Leg Raises 1 x 30 Bicycles 3x3 Pull Ups - I'm way out of shape now when it comes to pull ups. I used to be able to do 5-10 no problem as recently as last year. The last set was incredibly hard. I'm going to incorporate some more targeted exercises during my workout (dumbbell work, dips, etc) Life Quest Progress: Worked on novel and short story for 3-4 hours. Did dialogue work with two of the characters in the novel and did research for the background concept of my short story. 7/31/14 Ran 4 miles at lunch time Didn't do yoga at home because it was ridiculously hot at home high 80s-low 90s up until I went to bed. Plus I had to tidy up the house as my wife comes home tomorrow from her business trip, and I don't want it to look like I sat around playing Skyrim for two weeks.

Hey Villikissa, I'm your fellow Apprentice from the Renaissance Rebel Apprentice thread. We seem to be the only two apprentices there. Looks like you're doing pretty well on your challenge so far. By the way, I love your Day 3 song from Chennai Express. Anyway, how's that bookcase looking?

Hi Ryoko, I'm returning the courtesy and stopping in to say "hi" as well as throw in my support for you in completing what looks like a challenging set of goals. Like you said, we seem to have some overlap in our goals. I'm no yoga expert by any means, but feel free to drop in on my thread to talk about it anytime. You said you go to a class on Wednesday and Saturdays. I'm just doing one class a week, and I alternate between Beginner Flow (to work on technique) and Vinyasa (to challenge myself). When you do it at home, do you go off memory from what you learned in class or do you follow along with a video or something?

7/29/14 Main Quest Progress: Did a 45 minute vinyasa sequence from Shiva Rea's Daily Energy DVD. The Earth + Fire sequence. Kicked my ass, though I did discover that the Fire sequence finishes with Crow and Side Crow, so continuing with that will be beneficial to completing this challenge. Life Quest Progress: Wrote for 30 minutes, but was sleepy and only got one page down. Was so sleepy that I fell asleep immediately after putting the pen down.

I walked so much that if I take one more step, it will be the farthest away from home I've ever been, obvs.

Hey Nerds, I'm running Tough Mudder in Lake Tahoe on 8/16/14. I'm wondering if any other nerds are running it as well. I'm running with group of friends (Team Name: Tutu Pirates), but it seems like none of them are taking it seriously, i.e., they haven't really been training and they're not really cognizant of what they're getting themselves into (distance, elevation, intensity of obstacles, etc). I'm pretty certain it's going to be slow going with them, but I've come to terms with it. I'm just going to go out and have fun with it. I'd love to meet up with other nerds if any are going. Tough Mudder Tahoe -roninspirit

I'm going to sign up next year. I want it to be my first marathon.

I thought about it, but I waited too long to sign up and now I don't want to pay $200 bucks for a Sprint, considering I paid $0.00 for the Beast I ran two years ago. There was a Groupon, but I missed out on it. You don't happen to have a heavily discounted promo code, do you?

Cool, thanks for the tips. I'll figure out the best way to interact after spending some time in there. And yeah, I think I'll do the weeklies for the Challenge thread and keep the dailies on the Battle Log.

Hi Blaidd, Thanks for giving me the option of joining the Druids, but like you said, I'd like to stick it out with the rest of the L1s. I think I'll just tool around in the chat threads for the other guilds I'm interested in so I can get to know them for when I do challenges within those guilds.

Hey all, I'm here because I have a writing goal as my part of challenge (30 mins/day towards either my novel or a specific short story I'm working on). As this is my first challenge that I plan on completing (see my challenge page for details on my previous failed attempt), I'm looking forward to completing it as well as encouraging you all to complete yours. However, I'm not entirely clear how the accountability system works. Can someone please explain it to me? Thanks in advance.

Captain's log... 7/28/14 Completed: 3x10 pushups 1x20 Dead Bugs 1x20 Leg Raises 1x20 Bicycles Pullups: We recently remodeled the downstairs area of our house, and ended up inverting the door in the only doorway in the house that could support the Iron Gym and I just discovered that I have nowhere in my house where I can do pull-ups now (the ceiling on the accessible side is now flush with the top of the doorway). So instead I put the Iron Gym on the ground and did modified Dips. I may have to start doing my workout at work so I can use the pull-up bar in the gym. 3x10 Dips Wrote for 30 minutes on Project SB. Got two pages written down and discovered that I get about 1 page per 15 minutes.

This is Red 5; I'm going in.

Hi RogueWelkin, Thanks for the words of welcome. It feels nice to be back. I'm looking forward to eating my challenge alive this time around. Yeah, aside from Druids and Assassins, I have goals on deck that line up with the Monks and Scouts (running is my specialty), but I don't know what a Scout/Druid/Monk/Assassin would be. So I'll probably just bounce around until I start to extend my skill tree in a particular direction. Thanks for pointing me towards the general chat threads. I'll be sure to check them out. I signed up for your Rogue Squadron Recruit group, as well as the Renaissance Rebel Apprentice group since my life quest is a writing goal, but even after reading the instruction thread, I'm still not entirely sure how the accountability groups work. I'm also not sure how I'm going to update my challenge. Since I have a Daily Battle log, it doesn't make sense to post my daily progress in both places. Maybe I'll do a weekly summary for the challenge thread and keep the dailies on the Battle Log. I've followed your Challenge as well, so I'll likely pop in on yours to see how you're doing as well. Cheers!

SMART Analysis for 6WC (Some sort of formatting error converted all the numbers to 1) S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable/Achievable R = Realistic/Reasonable T = Timeous Here are some questions to put your goals to the test: Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? Yes, this quest is achievable over a 6 week period. The focus is gaining the ability to hold a singular difficult yoga pose for 60 seconds. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? Yes, all 3 quests build towards achieving the goal of holding side crow for 60 seconds. One goal is geared towards building the upper body and core strength required for the pose, another is geared towards regular yoga practice at home, and the final goal is a structured yoga practice, where I receive instruction and feedback from a certified professional who can correct any mistakes I’m making with my individual practice. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? Focusing on one pose is realistic. I don’t think it would be beneficial to scale it back. Maybe shortening the duration from 60 seconds to 30 seconds would be better. But I’d like to tackle the 60 second goal. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? Yes, they are measurable and trackable. Did I do the workout or not? If so, did I complete the number of reps and sets that I committed to doing? Did I do a yoga sequence or not? Did I go to yoga class or not? I can likely track these all in Fitocracy, which I've linked to in my signature. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? The two yoga quests are pass or fail. I either did them or I didn’t. The workout is Y/N, and then further graded by how many sets/reps I completed. 70% must be competed to considered Passing. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Don’t get injured. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? There are no upcoming special occasions which will affect progress. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? Nope. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? Yes. I set aside time every evening to exercise. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? Yes, for my life quest, I’m trying to build a writing habit. Your mini quest: Make sure your goals are definitely SMART. For completing this mini quest you will receive an additional +1WIS at the end of the 6 weeks.

Greetings. My name is RoninSpirit. I'm a nerd who writes and dabbles in filmmaking and photography. I've signed up on the Accountabilibuddy spreadsheet as a Level 1 Apprentice for this group. My fitness activities are mainly focused around running, as that's what I'm currently best at. I could be better with habit. I've dabbled in yoga, and have committed to a regular practice with this challenge. At some point, I want to pick up a martial art (capoeira or some form of kung fu) and become skilled at parkour. But those will be for future challenges. My Life Quest for the current challenge is to write everyday for 30 minutes. Just last week I completed a beginner's class on novel writing. I've been working on a novel for the past 7 years or so and I signed up for this class to force myself to go back to it and make some progress on it. In that respect it was a success. Having to read newly written material to an audience of strangers is the best form of accountability. There's this narcissistic tendency to write your best material and show it off in that situation. Anyway, now I'm dedicated to finishing it. When I'm not trying to become a superhero bard, I work as a scientist doing private sector research in clean technology. Feel free to check out my introduction, challenge and other information in my signature links. -RS

I thought about starting a new Battle Log to wipe the memory of my first failed challenge, but I thought that was dishonest. In order to get better, we have to look at our failures and analyze them in order to rebound from them and overcome them. So I'm just going to keep adding on to this original one. Progress update will come later as it's 8AM and I'm at work.

Hello fellow Nerds, I first signed up for this site over a year ago, and committed to doing a 6 week challenge in April of 2013. It ended in disaster. Well, disaster is a little harsh. In reality, I just didn’t stick with it for very long and abandoned the challenge along with the site. Not because the goals were hard, but because I wasn’t committed to the things I had set out to do. I hope to change that with this 6WC. I intend to be a cross-class Nerd, and I wanted to train with the Druids for this 6WC, but it appears that some changes have been implemented since I last visited this site with the Level 1 Group. My goals for this challenge are geared towards the Druids, as I’ve rediscovered yoga, though I’ll probably bounce around guilds from challenge to challenge. It took me a year to use up the 12 class Groupon I had for my local yoga studio (just used my last session on Wednesday), and the instructor led us through Parsva Bakasana (Side Crow), which I had never been able to do in the past. However, this time I was able to hold it for a few seconds before falling over. Those few seconds invigorated me and filled me with a sense of determination: I need to master this asana. And so I signed up for a monthly membership with the studio, and I purchased a selection of Shiva Rea DVDs with which to practice at home. Main Quest: Perform and hold Side Crow for 60 seconds. As far as I can tell, this asana requires upper body and core strength. Therefore, my mini quests will be as follows: 1. Workout consisting of 3 sets of 10-15 pushups, 3 sets of core exercises taught to me by wife (fire hydrants, dead bugs, throw downs, leg lifts, bicycles), 3 sets of pull ups - Every other day 2. On alternate days from above mentioned workout, do a yoga sequence, following one of the DVDs I bought. 3. Attend one class at the studio per week to gauge progress and receive feedback. Life Quest: Write for 30 minutes per day towards the short story I’m working on (Project ZC) or the novel I’m working on (Project SB) Motivation: I play a lot of video games. While I enjoy them, I feel that spending so much time on them is a waste. I spend hours leveling up my Vault Dweller, or my Courier, or Grey Warden, or Dragonborn, or whoever. The thing is I have other things I'd like to do with my life, things that require time to get good at. If I'm spending time in game, I'm not spending time on my life. Somewhere along the line I became an adult in his 30s, married, working a full time job, and all the time I thought I'd have to create the life I wanted disappeared. So I have to be strategic with the little free time I do have and use it on myself. "I am my own avatar." So there you have it. Strike hard and true.

4/15/13 While trying to figure out how to use Fitocracy yesterday, I logged my bodyweight workout before actually doing it. Told myself I'd do it when I got home. Had bad headache and passed out on the couch while watching Red Cliff. Wrote on the train for one hour. 4/16/13 Did bodyweight workout when I got home today. Leg raises were harder than I thought, but I should have remembered that from when I took yoga. 3x3 pull ups was the right choice. Was barely able to complete them. 10x3 is currently impossible. No writing occurred on train today. Thought tablet had full charge minus 1 hour of use yesterday, but the battery was dead today. Homework and housecleaning was required when I got home, so no writing today.

I decided to give Fitocracy another chance in order to keep track of my bodyweight workout goal. I wasn't sure how it worked and tried to enter the workout that I want to do when I get home and accidentally logged the workout as completed before I did it. Oops. Now I have to do it when I get home, otherwise I'm a liar. Technology....I swear.

And he stepped out on to the road...

I personally love the Nike+ running app. It was one of my favorite apps on iOS, and when I switched to a Nexus 4, I was sad that they didn't have the Nike app yet. But then they got it shortly after I switched and all was right again. I love all the information I have access to on the Nike+ site after syncing a run. My girlfriend likes MapMyRun. She really likes it. I can't speak to the quality of it or Runkeeper, but my feeling is that they all do similar things and provide similar access to data on their websites. I just happen to prefer Nike's interface. You should try them all and go with the one you like best. I understand your hesitation to pay $3.99 for an app. I want the Zombies, Run app too, and if it was on iOS, I wouldn't hesitate, but since I have no intention of sticking with Android and will jump back to an iPhone the first chance I get, I am hesitant to pay for Android apps.

Thanks for the words of welcome and encouragement, Monks. I'm looking forward to training my body with all of you, as well as my writing hand. Yeah, I figure the bodyweight workout will become easy at some point, and will likely ramp it up throughout the 6 weeks. Since it's my first challenge, I wanted to give myself one slightly easier goal to help ease myself into the process, especially since the other three will be fairly challenging. I'm already thinking about how to increase it for the next challenge.