Chelkie

Gardening is such a great goal! I've always wanted to learn how, as I think it's one of those things that's slowly dying in our culture. Plus, you never know when the Zombie Apocalypse will strike and it'll be a useful thing to know.

Be More Badass.

I would say the occasions one gets to lift a black bear are probably pretty slim. Unless you like to hunt, and instead of field dressing you just carried the whole bear back to the small plane/vehicle beast mode style. That or while it's mauling your face off, you could pick it up and body slam it. Either way, i'm intrigued and frightened by the thought too.

So looking around at everyone's quest threads, it seems most of you put something about your plans for the new year. I'm not really a big new years resolutions person, mostly I just strive to be happier than I was the year before. I do have a lot of plans though. I've got a trip to Japan scheduled for October 10-24th, which is beyond exciting. I've started a new trend of going somewhere awesome and out of the country every year for my two weeks of paid vacation. Last year was Australia, which was so much fun, I definitely recommend it to everyone. In Australia I went on a bunch of adventure activities like snorkeling, scuba diving, rock climbing, rafting, sandboarding ect. This trip will be a bit more tame, but i'm going to make it a point to go hiking and climbing around in the country side looking at temples and such. Also this year I have a small list of things i'd like to check off my To Do list. 1. Get better at rock climbing. I'm probably going to make this one of my challenges this year, I find I just have so many physical activities that I like, that I don't have the time or the energy to fit them all into a regular schedule. 2. Get better at shooting. Also one of those activities I really enjoy, but I prefer outdoor ranges, and the weather hasn't been cooperating much this winter. Definitely something i'm going to try to work practice on into my schedule on a semi regular basis. 3. Earn at least 2 half marathon medals this summer. Pretty self explanatory, i've already signed up for two races this summer so all I have to do is train. This is going to start up on my next challenge for sure. I'm starting to miss my weekly Zombies Run stories already. And last but not least, 4. Learn to alter/make my own clothes. I have some moderate sewing skills, but i've never tried anything as complex as clothing. I'm really petite though, so I find it extremely difficult to buy clothes that fit properly and am always walking around with my pants dragging on the ground. Also I have to shop in the juniors department, which makes finding my own personal style of clothing difficult. As an added bonus i'll be able to make awesome halloween costumes too. So yeah, that's going to be 2014 for me.

Hahaha, and then you went from "player" to "strange guy who rubs himself on foam noodles?" I actually managed to find the foam rollers at my gym last night! They are short fat grey ones though, which was different from most that i've seen that look like pool noodles. I think they should still work though. It's over in the stretching section too so less people can hear...assuming of course these noodles feel as awesomely painful but good as i've heard.

There are so many Rangers! I don't know whose Quest thread to read first...

Also, yay official start of the challenge! Feels good to be back after our break, but I must admit I slacked more than I thought I would. Getting back into going to the gym 4+ times a week will be difficult. I stretched once this weekend, and it made me laugh pretty hard. The start of my side splits is so awful I might as well still be standing. I have a loooooot of work to do on this one. I'll make my bf take a picture of it tonight at the gym, so you can all have a good chuckle too. Plus, it's nice to have picture proof of progress.

Quirky! I thought I might see you around here. I don't know if i've exactly come up with a stretching routine, but probably a mix of this site and this site http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/splits.html http://www.flipyeahparkour.com/2012/03/how-to-become-flexible/ The first one I think you showed me and that has a lot of good information on isometric stretching and things to think about, but it's for front splits. So the second one has quite a few side splits stretches that i'll try. It's been ages since i've done any sort of flexibility training, so I think it'll take a bit of trial and error to work out a schedule. Though if you've managed to have other sites with better information or some pointers of your own, that would be very helpful too! Machete - I've heard foam rollers would help, but i've never used one and i've never seen one at my gym. Do they sell them at regular fitness stores, or is it more of a yoga/pilates sort of thing? Maledictus - Haha poor Legolas, forever picked upon for his girly looks. The red hair would indeed match, and Tauriel is a badass, but I'm not too into elves. The pointy ears give me the wiggins.

Haha yeah, running outside when it's -7 and you have to wear yaktrax is just no fun. So, lame boring old treamill for me for at least the next three months. Wow! Yes! That! On chairs even...looks precarious.

Thanks for the good luck everyone! Xena - Yeah I think I should be right on schedule for running a sub 2 this summer, i've been going off this calculator someone showed me http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ which seems to indicate if I can run an 8min/mile pace for a 5k I can run a 9min/mile for a half. Definitely going to need my next challenge to focus on running though, if i'm going to start adding enough mileage to get me back up to half marathon distance. I just hate the treadmill so much! The only thing that keeps me interested on it is Zombies, Run! Mikroftt - Agreed, trying to do too much at once is a great way to burn out and fail half way through. I mean as of now I eat a decent amount of meat and vegetables, just not enough to feel like i'm really being as healthy as I could. So i'll make a little change now and try to eat more protein with each meal, and maybe next challenge focus on adding that last bit of greenery to my diet. Erick - Did you notice any significant change in your lifting after upping your protein so much, or did it just help you lean out by eating less junk calories?

This will be my first mission in the Rangers guild, and I hope to make you guys proud to welcome me to the fold! I’ve always loved Aragorn, he’s agile, a master swordsman, brave, romantic…dreamy…you get the picture. So I thought I’d base my first Quest here on trying to imitate this studly ranger. Though of course I’ll maintain better overall personal hygiene, it’s like he never heard of bathing in a stream or something! Main Quest: Become Agile, Strong and Healthy Like A Female Aragorn Specific Goals: Progress in Side Splits – Stretch 10-20min Every Day +5 DEX It’s important as a Ranger to be agile and bendy, you never know when you’re going to have jump chasms, leap boulders, kick people and impress the ruggedly good looking gentlemen in the Inns at night. This is my sad picture of my starting splits - aka still standing pretty much upright. We all have to start somewhere though I guess! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/space_monkey287/Progress%20Pics/20140107_203117.jpg Also in the album is my starting photo for last challenge, I haven't gotten around to taking an after/this time around before picture, but I don't think much has changed because of the loss of steam over the holidays. 95g Protein a Day (1g/1lb LBM or .82g/lb regular body weight) +3 CON Living off the land involves eating a lot of meat and gathered vegetables, something I don’t get enough of. I’d like to up my protein consumption (veges too but one step at a time people!), and after a lot of reading and combing through page after page of debates on the subject, I’ve settled on 95g a day. Whether this will turn out to be too much or too little, I’m not sure but you never know until you test it out and see how your body responds. Follow Strength Training Schedule – 3x Week +4 STR Being a Ranger is a grueling lifestyle, and I need to get stronger to keep up. Not only do you have to swing redonkulously heavy swords, but you never know when you’ll be called on to toss a dwarf or two. I’ll be following the weight lifting schedule below, which I’m definitely open to help on, because I’m new to strength training and worry that I’m doing everything completely wrong. I plan on doing it 3 times a week, leaving a day between each session to let my muscles recover. I’ve used this schedule for about two months off and on now, and it seems to be working though. Squats – 45lb/bar Lunges – 20lbs Calf Raises – 20lbs Bench Presses -45lb bar Bent-Over Rows (single arm) – 15lb Overhead Barbell Presses – 35lb Incline Dumbbell Flys – 20lb Stiff-Legged Deadlifts -35lbs Barbell Curls –30lb bar Skullcrushers -20lb bar Pull ups – 85lbs Ab work Three week cycle as follows: The first week do all 4 sets for 8 reps. The second week do all 4 sets for 9 reps. The third week do all 4 sets for 10 reps. If you got all of the required reps on the third week then increase the weight by 10% and repeat the cycle. I’ll also be running once or twice a week for a 5k at an 8min/mile pace to keep up the progress I made from my last quest. Decided not to make this a solid goal because I burnt out a bit and I’m needing a breather from running before I hop back into my sub 2hr half marathon training. Life Quest: Prep More Meals in Advance – 3x a Week at Least +3WIS (Saving $ and Eating Healthy, it's Smart!) Eating at inns all the time is expensive! As a Ranger I should practice frugality and remember to pack more breakfast and lunches. Also, on a long journey I can’t expect to be able to pick up provisions every day, I need to plan ahead and bring enough food to last me. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of not bringing food to work with me for the day, and I end up eating out a lot more than I should. I’m going to shoot for bringing at least 3 meals a week to work, but ideally it will be more than that. My starting stats: Height: 5’2†Age: 24 (Both not really a changeable stats, but included for informational purposes) Weight: 117 Waist:? Hips:? Upper Arm:? Upper Thigh:? Body Fat: 19.9% - (Measured by gyms electrode system, so this number is relatively suspect) Grading System: A 100-90% B 89-80% C 79-70% D 69-60% F 59% -below 85.69%85.69% Progress in Side Splits – Stretch 10-20min Every Day 99.98%99.98% 95g Protein A Day (1g/1lb LBM or .82g/lb regular body weight) 83.31%83.31% Follow Strength Training Schedule – 3x Week 99.98%99.98% Prep More Meals in Advance – 3x A Week At Least Thanks for reading my ramblings and good luck fellow Rangers!

Alrighty, end of the challenge post! So I stuck to my plan and hit my 8min/mile pace for my 5k (woot!) and went to the gym and lifting/did abs 3 times this week. This brings my totals to B's in strength training and extra ab work, and an A for my running and life quest. I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. I had a bit of a rocky road, but with everyone's help on here I think I managed to pull off my first quest! I definitely learned a lot, and now i'm feeling relatively confident when I walk in the weight room, which is a great feeling. Sure i'm not squatting huge plates like some of the beast women who I run across at the gym, but I know i'll get there some day. Looking forward to a more relaxed schedule for the next two weeks, and then getting back up on the quest horse and rocking my new goals. I'll see you fellow NFers around, and if you also decide to join the Rangers, I look forward to questing with you.

I bought a new couch yesterday, and my boyfriend and I managed to muscle it up the three flights of stairs to our apartment no problem. He couldn't stop saying how impressed he was, and that I was a beast. Go strength training exercises!

Hmmm I could probably do a lot of those in my spare bedroom, though i'm not sure how my below neighbors would feel about jumping jacks in the PM. Oh well, i'm sure it'll figure something out. If NF is good for anything it's getting help working through all the little details of your plan that you originally didn't account for. This week has been going pretty good so far, though exceptionally busy due to work, moving, holidays and having my parents in town. Pushing through it, but i'm definitely going to be ready to wrap this challenge up on Sunday. The couple week break between now and the next challenge will hopefully rest me up enough that i'm ready to face another 6 weeks. I don't plan on slacking though! I think mostly my two week break will just consist of me not feeling guilty if I make it to the gym 4 days instead of 6 days a week.

What do you do to warm up for stretching? I kind of like the idea of stretching before bed on the days I don't go to the gym because usually i'll have been gaming for a few hours and am stiff and have a grumpy body anyways.

I definitely will! I haven't done much research, but hopefully I can find a guide or some sort of walkthrough on the best stretches. Did you find it best to just stretch a bit every day or did you choose specific days that went along with your workout schedule? I think for the next challenge i'm going to put running onto maintenance and maybe run a 5k once or twice a week at 8min/mile pace to just keep from losing all my stamina. Going to focus more of nutrition/strength training and stretching for the next 6 weeks, as I feel a bit burnt out of running as of late. The next challenge gets out in Feb and I think then I shall transition into a half marathon training schedule again and start to get back into the groove for races in April/May.

Quirky- Thanks for the link! I think I might try to do the side splits instead of the front splits like you did, I haven't decided yet though. I would imagine both are equally as difficult to master. Okay, last Monday update before the end! This week was crazy. I moved into a new apartment, I let my bf drive my car and he managed to rear end someone and jack up the front of it, my parents got into town for Christmas and they met said boyfriend for the first time, and I attended a raucous Christmas party. It was a lot, and I let it get in the way of my gym schedule. Bad me! So this week I lifted twice at the gym, but I spent one day lifting heavy boxes and couches up three flights of stairs, so i'm going to count that as a strength training day. My arms definitely ached like it was. I only ran once this week, and I didn't quite hit my target goal of a 8:20/mile pace, so i'm only going to give myself half credit on that one. I also only did ab work twice this week. My life goal is already complete (and obsolete ) so no movement on that. The plan for this upcoming last week of the challenge is going to be as follows: mon, wed, fri are lifting/ab days, tues/thur/sat are running days, and i'm going to try to ease into my running time so tue will be 8:40/mile, thur will be 8:20/mile and i'll finish out my challenge with sat at 8:00/mile. With some of the ups and downs i've experienced these past 6 weeks I think i'll probably only finish my goals with B's, but you know, at least i've stuck with it, even if it was spotty at times.

You know, it's a good thing you want to become a Ranger too Quirky, because I would miss your rousing and encouraging speeches! Your right though, only one more week, so I better buckle down and get to it huh. Went to the gym last night and lifted. Definitely felt like I hadn't been in awhile, but at the end I felt fantastic. I'll probably try to go running tonight and see how badly my stamina has suffered from 10 days of no running. *fingers crossed* after that I'm going to do my very best at working out every day next week. Thinking ahead to my next challenge, I definitely want to try the splits. I have atrocious flexibility right now which is sad because I was quite bendy in high school when I was on the gymnastics team. Given they are only six week challenges though, I think i'll probably set my goal to "get lower into the splits" instead of "do the full splits" because as of right now my splits would still be considered standing.

Well it's Thursday and I haven't been to the gym yet this week, feeling rather upset with myself. Though I just moved out of the warzone divorce house, so I think the combination of stress relief and lifting all the heavy boxes up 3 flights of stairs probably counts in some way.

I actually have been pretty terrible the past week and half and haven't done one zombie run! This weekend though, i'm going to force myself back into it, so i'll let you know. So far i've been really liking season 2 though, getting more wrenches so that you can do something after pretty much every run is so rewarding. Also I feel like they are starting to answer more questions, though in a bit of a Lost fashion where one answer brings three more questions. Kan- True! Maybe my next challenge should include rucksack tossing practice, you know, so i'm sharp.

Yay! I'm glad I can be motivating to someone, usually its just me in here going "Quirkkkky help me!" *flails around trying to figure out what I should do* I definitely felt like even just one session with a personal trainer was worth it, just so I can be pretty confident i'm not doing an exercise so horribly wrong i'll injure myself. The body fat thing is super cool too, it's nice to know that even though I haven't lost any weight, i've definitely lost body fat, and thus jiggly bits. Just be careful not to let them pressure you or steam roll you into doing all cardio! Those are great ideas! Except we don't have either of those stores here. Alaska sucks for all things shopping related, we don't even have a Victorias Secret. So sad. Definitely something I miss about my college days spent in California. I managed to find something pretty close to what I wanted at Target, the pocket is in the back and really low, so I crush my phone a lot when I lay down, but I figure i'm not THAT heavy, so it should be okay. HA! If you made one of those, i'd buy it. If only for the pure comic value of it. So how has your climbing been going? i still haven't gotten back into it, I always mean to go to the rock gym but it's so hard when I pay for a gym membership elsewhere, feel like i'm not getting my money's worth.

I think with all that stuff weighing you down, your more likely to get caught by the zombies in the first place though! Unless your like Laura Croft and can somehow manage to put a whole military arsenal into your itty bitty teeny weeny rucksack and then carry it as if it's light as air.

You know what Kan, you are right. Both on the awesomeness of creating fire from air and also on there not being too many ways to make a fire. I mean, in the zombie apocalypse you've got to have a backup plan or you could accidentally drop your swedish firesteel while escaping and then freeze to death!

Oh man, that is a great idea Quirky! He actually really needs some tokens he can use instead of the scraps of paper he uses now. I bet I could create some custom ones that he could play with. I would assume you could play with them all the time considering what I know about tokens you can use anything you darn well please as long as it's easy to count. Kan - I had to google that, never heard of a fire piston before. After looking around though i'm not sure I understand the allure over some swedish firesteel or the basic flint. Is it just more fun?

On an unrelated to fitness note, I can't decide what to get my boyfriend for Christmas. He's made it a bit of a test to how well I know him by not giving me a list, and telling me I can't get him anything he's mentioned wanting in the past month. He's a pretty big awesome nerd whose into Magic the Gathering and scifi stuff, but he's also big into outdoorsy stuff too. The problem is he pretty much has everything ever as he's one of those people that just buys everything he wants as he wants it. Worst people to shop for ever. If you fellow nerds have any ideas it would be greatly appreciated!